use. devil; till sack commences it, and sets it in act and Hereof comes it, that prince Harry is valiant; for the cold blood he did naturally inherit of his father, he hath, like lean, sterile, and bare land, manured, husbanded, and tilled, with excellent endeavor 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, 1 It was anciently supposed that all the mines of gold, &c. were guarded by evil spirits. See the Secret Wonders of Nature and Art, by Edw. Fenton, 1569, p. 91. 2 Ready, prepared. War. Both which, we doubt not but Shall soon enjoy. K. Hen. your majesty 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 Clar ence. How chance, thou art not with the prince thy brother? Than all thy brothers: cherish it, my boy; Of mediation, after I am dead, Between his greatness and thy other brethren.- By seeming cold or careless of his will. Yet, notwithstanding, being incensed, he's flint; As flaws congealed in the spring of day.3 1 i. e. if he has respectful attention shown him. 2 Humorous for capricious. 3 Alluding to the opinion of some philosophers, that the vapors being congealed in the air by cold (which is the most intense in the morning), and being afterwards rarefied and let loose by the warmth of the sun, occasion those sudden and impetuous gusts of wind which are called flaws. Shakspeare uses the word again in King Henry VI. and in his Venus and Adonis. When you perceive his blood inclined to mirth; And thou shalt prove a shelter to thy friends; A hoop of gold, to bind thy brothers in; Cla. I shall observe him with all care and love. Cla. He is not there to-day; he dines in London. K. Hen. And how accompanied? canst thou tell that? Cla. With Poins, and other his continual followers. K. Hen. Most subject is the fattest soil to weeds; And he, the noble image of my youth, Is overspread with them. Therefore my grief The blood weeps from my heart, when I do shape, you For when his headstrong riot hath no curb, 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 looked upon, and learned; which once attained, 1 Though their blood be inflamed by the temptations to which youth is peculiarly subject. Your highness knows, comes to no further use, By which his grace must mete the lives of others; 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. 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; The earl Northumberland, and the lord Bardolph, 1 The detail contained in prince John's letter. K. Hen. And wherefore should these good news make me sick? Will fortune never come with both hands full, Cla. [Swoons. my royal father! West. My sovereign lord, cheer up yourself; look up! War. Be patient, princes; you do know, these fits Are with his highness very ordinary. Stand from him; give him air; he'll straight be well. Cla. No, no; he cannot long hold out these pangs; The incessant care and labor of his mind Hath wrought the mure,' that should confine it in, serve 2 Unfathered heirs, and loathly birds of nature. The seasons change their manners, as the year Say, it did so, a little time before That our great grandsire, Edward, sicked and died. War. Speak lower, princes, for the king recovers. P. Humph. This apoplex will, certain, be his end. K. Hen. I pray you, take me up, and bear me hence Into some other chamber; softly, 'pray. [They convey the King into an inner part of the room, and place him on a bed. 1 Mure for wall is another of Shakspeare's Latinisms. It was not in frequent use by his contemporaries. 2 That is, equivocal births, monsters. |