t in its pathos. Her
speech to her father-in-law, Northumberland, in which she entreats him
"not to go to the wars," and at the same time pronounces the most
beautiful eulogium on her heroic husband, is a perfect piece of feminine
eloquence, both in the feeling and in the expression.

Almost every one knows by heart Lady Percy's celebrated address to her
husband, beginning,

O, my good lord, why are you thus alone?

and that of Portia to Brutus, in Julius Caesar,

... You've ungently, Brutus,
Stol'n from my bed.

The situation is exactly similar, the topics of remonstrance are nearly
the same; the sentiments and the style as opposite as are the characters
of the two women. Lady Percy is evidently accustomed to win more from
her fiery lord by caresses than by reason: he loves her in his rough way
"as Harry Percy's wife," but she has no real influence over him: he has
no confidence in her.

LADY PERCY.

... In faith,
I'll know your business, Harry, that I will.
I fear my brother Mortimer doth stir
About this title, and hath sent for you
To line his enterprise, but if you go--

HOTSPUR.

So far afoot, I shall be weary, love!

The whole scene is admirable, but unnecessary here, because it
illustrates no point of character in her. Lady Percy has no _character_,
properly so called; whereas, that of Portia is very distinctly and
faithfully drawn from the outline furnished by Plutarch. Lady Percy's
fond upbraidings, and her half playful, half pouting entreaties,
scarcely gain her husband's attention. Portia, with true matronly
dignity and tenderness, pleads her right to share her husband's
thoughts, and proves it too

I grant I am a woman, but withal,
A woman that Lord Brutus took to wife,
I grant I am a woman, but withal,
A woman well reputed--Cato's daughter.
Think you, I am no stronger than my sex
Being so father'd and so husbanded?

* * * *

BRUTUS.

You are my true and honorable wife:
As dear to me, as are the ruddy drops
That visit my sad heart!

Portia, as Shakspeare has truly felt and represented the character, is
but a softened reflection of that of her husband Brutus: in him we see
an excess of natural sensibility, an almost womanish tenderness of
heart, repressed by the tenets of his austere philosophy: a stoic by
professi