Induction Introductory scene, initial step. "Induction" first appears as a heading for Rumor's speech in F. It may be significant that this is F's only use of the title and that F identifies the speech as Actus Primus. Scoena Prima. Although Q does not formally identify act and scene divisions, it, too, sets Rumor's speech as the play's first scene. Rumor thus differs from most Shakespeare prologues, which tend to be set apart from the main body of the play (see Henry V, Henry VIII and Troilus and Cressida in F, Romeo and Juliet Q1-5, The Two Noble Kinsmen Q1). Gower in Pericles is the only other prologue-figure to be presented in print as integral to the first scene (see F3 and Q1-6). Like Gower, Rumor seems more securely attached to the play he introduces than other prologue-figures of the period. He provides important contextual information about what happened in Henry IV, Part 1, and his lines anticipate many of the key themes and political concerns of Part 2. painted full of tongues. This unusual garb signals that the opening speaker is a personification. There are various accounts of figures such as "Report" or "Fame" appearing in pageants and other performances of the Tudor period wearing costumes painted with tongues, ears and eyes. The personification can be traced back to the figure of "Fama" in Virgil's Aeneid, Book 4 (in Latin, "fama" embraces a range of meanings including reputation, infamy, gossip, and rumor as well as fame). In Virgil she is "a monster, horrific, huge / and under every feather on her body--what a marvel-- / an eye that never sleeps and as many tongues as eyes / and as many raucous mouths and ears pricked up for news." (The Aeneid, trans. Robert Fagles, London: Penguin, 2008, 4.227-230). While Virgil's figure is female, the masculine focus of Rumor's lines suggests a male speaker, like the "posts" mentioned at line 37. In performance Rumor has been presented in many varied guises. For the RSC in 2014 Antony Byrne's Rumor wore modern dress and used a mobile phone to gesture towards the proliferation of rumors online in the twenty-first century. At the National Theatre in 2005 and Shakespeare's Globe in 2010 multiple actors, male and female, shared the speech. It has been cut altogether, as in The Hollow Crown 2012, or simply heard as disembodied voices (RSC 2001), or as a voice-over with illustrative footage (BBC 1979). orient to the drooping west From east to west. That the west is "drooping" suggests sunset, thus extending Rumor's power across time as well as space. post-horse) A horse kept at a post-house or inn for the use of post-riders, or for hire by travellers (OED). still unfold Always tell. musters Gathering and enlistment of troops (foreshadowing the recruiting scene, 3.2). big Pregnant. Is thought . . . war, Is thought to have been made pregnant by the figure of war. Rumour can produce an expectation of war when in fact other troubles are brewing. pipe, Wind instrument, like a recorder, with stops or finger-holes to produce different notes. Cf. "You would play upon me, you would seem to know my stops . . . do you think I am easier to be played on than a pipe?" (Hamlet TLN 2235-TLN 2241). the blunt monster, with uncounted heads, The unthinking general populace. Rumor, driven by envy and guesswork, is an instrument anyone can play. For another discussion of the "many-headed multitude," see Coriolanus (Folio) TLN 1403. anatomize . . . household? Dissect in front of you, my people (i.e. the audience). King Harry's victory, Henry IV's victory at the Battle of Shrewsbury. Rumor establishes here that the action of this sequel play will follow directly on from the end of Henry IV, Part 1. Harry Monmouth Prince Hal. The prince is named after the Welsh town of his birth (see 1H4 TLN 2835 and TLN 3021, and H5 TLN 2536). peasant towns Rumor speaks disdainfully about the places where ordinary people live. this worm-eaten hold Northumberland's residence, Warkworth Castle. Both Q and F print hole rather than hold, however "e" and "d" were easy to confuse in Elizabethan handwriting and hold, in the sense of "stronghold," establishes the location more clearly. The emendation, first suggested by Theobald, is adopted by most modern editors. Rumor, like the Chorus in Henry V, here tranforms the bare stage into a specific location, effectively setting the scene for the action to follow. smooth comforts false, worse than true wrongs. Comforting falsehoods that are worse than the damaging truth. Rumor foreshadows the play's concern with reporting and its impact. One of the play's many ironies is that bad news makes Northumberland well, whereas good news makes Henry IV sick (see TLN 199 and TLN 2484).