mences it, and sets it in act and use. Hereof comes it that prince Harry is valiant: for the cold blood he did naturally inherit of his father, he hath, like lean, steril, and bare land, manured, husbanded, and tilled, with excellent endeavour of drinking good, and good store of fertile sherris; that he is become very hot, and valiant. If I had a thousand sons, the first human principle I would teach them, should be,-to forswear thin potations, and addict themselves to sack.

Enter BARDOLPH.

How now, Bardolph ?

Bard. The army is discharged all, and gone.

Fal. Let them go. I'll through Glostershire; and there will I visit master Robert Shallow, esquire: I have him already tempering between my finger and my thumb, and shortly will I seal with him. Come away. [Exeunt.

SCENE IV.

Westminster. A Room in the Palace.

Enter King HENRY, CLARENCE, Prince HUMPHREY, WARWICK, and Others.

K. Hen. Now, lords, if heaven doth give successful end

To this debate that bleedeth at our doors,

7

till sack commences it,] i. e. till sack gives it a beginning, brings it into action or perhaps, Shakspeare alludes to the Cambridge Commencement; and in what follows to the Oxford Act for by those different names our two universities have long distinguished the season at which each of them gives to her respective students a complete authority to use those hoards of learning which have entitled them to their several degrees in arts, law, physick, and divinity.

8

I have him already tempering, &c.] A very pleasant allusion to the old use of sealing with soft wax,

We will our youth lead on to higher fields,
And draw no swords but what are sanctified.
Our navy is address'd', our power collected,
Our substitutes in absence well invested,
And every thing lies level to our wish :
Only, we want a little personal strength;
And pause us, till these rebels, now afoot,
Come underneath the yoke of government.

War. Both which, we doubt not but your majesty Shall soon enjoy.

K. Hen.

Humphrey, my son of Gloster,

Where is the prince your brother?

P. Humph. I think, he's gone to hunt, my lord, at

Windsor.

K. Hen. And how accompanied?

P. Humph.

I do not know, my lord.

K. Hen. Is not his brother, Thomas of Clarence, with

him?

P. Humph. No, my good lord; he is in presence

here.

Cla. What would my lord and father?

K. Hen. Nothing but well to thee, Thomas of Cla

rence.

How chance, thou art not with the prince thy brother? He loves thee, and thou dost neglect him, Thomas ; Thou hast a better place in his affection,

Than all thy brothers: cherish it, my boy;

And noble offices thou may'st effect
Of mediation, after I am dead,

Between his greatness and thy other brethren :-
Therefore omit him not; blunt not his love:
Nor lose the good advantage of his grace,
By seeming cold, or careless of his will.
For he is gracious, if he be observ'd';

9 Our

navy is address'd,] i. e. our navy is ready, prepared. if he be observ'd ;] i. e. if he has respectful attention shown to him.

1

He hath a tear for pity, and a hand
Open as day for melting charity:

Yet notwithstanding, being incens'd, he's flint;
As humorous as winter, and as sudden

As flaws congealed in the spring of day3.
His temper, therefore, must be well observ'd:
Chide him for faults, and do it reverently,
When you perceive his blood inclin'd to mirth:
But, being moody, give him line and scope;
Till that his passions, like a whale on ground,
Confound themselves with working. Learn this, Thomas,
And thou shalt prove a shelter to thy friends;
A hoop of gold, to bind thy brothers in;
That the united vessel of their blood,
Mingled with venom of suggestion *,

(As, force perforce, the age will pour it in,)
Shall never leak, though it do work as strong

As aconitum, or rash gunpowder 3.

2

Cla. I shall observe him with all care and love.

K. Hen. Why art thou not at Windsor with him,
Thomas?

Cla. He is not there to-day; he dines in London.
K. Hen. And how accompanied? can'st thou tell that?
Cla. With Poins, and other his continual followers.
K. Hen. Most subject is the fattest soil to weeds;

humorous as winter,] That is, changeable as the weather of a winter's day.

3

congealed in the spring of day.] Alluding to the opinion of some philosophers, that the vapours being congealed in the air by cold, (which is most intense towards the morning,) and being afterwards rarified and let loose by the warmth of the sun, occasion those sudden and impetuous gusts of wind which are called flaws. WARBurton.

4 Mingled with venom of suggestion,] Though their blood be inflamed by the temptations to which youth is peculiarly subject.

rash gunpowder.] Rash is quick, violent, sudden. This representation of the prince is a natural picture of a young man, whose passions are yet too strong for his virtues. JOHNSON.

And he, the noble image of my youth,

Is overspread with them: Therefore my grief
Stretches itself beyond the hour of death;

The blood weeps from my heart, when I do shape,
In forms imaginary, the unguided days,
And rotten times, that you shall look upon
When I am sleeping with my ancestors.
For when his headstrong riot hath no curb,
When rage and hot blood are his counsellors,
When means and lavish manners meet together,
O, with what wings shall his affections fly
Towards fronting peril and oppos'd decay!

6

War. My gracious lord, you look beyond him quite : The prince but studies his companions,

Like a strange tongue: wherein, to gain the language, 'Tis needful, that the most immodest word

Be look'd upon, and learn'd: which once attain'd,

Your highness knows, comes to no further use,
But to be known, and hated. So, like gross terms,
The prince will, in the perfectness of time,
Cast off his followers: and their memory

Shall as a pattern or a measure live,

By which his grace must mete the lives of others;
Turning past evils to advantages.

K. Hen. 'Tis seldom, when the bee doth leave her

comb

In the dead carrion".-Who's here? Westmoreland?

Enter WESTMORELAND.

West. Health to my sovereign! and new happiness Added to that that I am to deliver!

Prince John, your son, doth kiss your grace's hand:

6

his affections-] His passions; his inordinate desires. 7 'Tis seldom, when the bee, &c.] As the bee having once placed her comb in a carcass, stays by her honey, so he that has once taken pleasure in bad company will continue to associate with those that have the art of pleasing him. JOHNSON.

Mowbray, the bishop Scroop, Hastings, and all,
Are brought to the correction of your law;
There is not now a rebel's sword unsheathed,
But peace puts forth her olive every where.
The manner how this action hath been borne,
Here at more leisure may your highness read;
With every course, in his particular".

K. Hen. O Westmoreland, thou art a summer bird, Which ever in the haunch of winter sings

The lifting up of day. Look! here's more news.

Enter HARCOURT.

Har. From enemies heaven keep your majesty;
And, when they stand against you, may they fall
As those that I am come to tell you of!

The earl Northumberland, and the lord Bardolph,
With a great power of English, and of Scots,
Are by the sheriff of Yorkshire overthrown:
The manner and true order of the fight,
This packet, please it you, contains at large.

K. Hen. And wherefore should these good news make me sick?

Will fortune never come with both hands full,
But write her fair words still in foulest letters?
She either gives a stomach, and no food,-
Such are the poor, in health; or else a feast,
And takes away the stomach,-such are the rich,
That have abundance, and enjoy it not.

I should rejoice now at this happy news;
And now my sight fails, and my brain is giddy
O me! come near me, now I am much ill.
P. Humph. Comfort, your majesty!
Cla.

:

[Swoons.

O my royal father! West. My sovereign lord, cheer up yourself, look up!

in his particular.] His is used for its, very frequently in the old plays.