P. John. Thine's too thick to shine.

Fal. Let it do something, my good lord, that may do me good, and call it what you will.

P. John. Is thy name Colevile ?1

Cole.

1

It is, my lord.

P. John. A famous rebel art thou, Colevile.
Fal. And a famous true subject took him.
Cole. I am, my lord, but as my betters are,
That led me hither; had they been ruled by me,
You should have won them dearer than you have.

Fal. I know not how they sold themselves; but thou, like a kind fellow, gavest thyself away; and I thank thee for thee.

Re-enter WESTMORELAND.

P. John. Now, have you left pursuit?

West. Retreat is made, and execution stayed.
P. John. Send Colevile, with his confederates,

To York, to present execution.—

Blunt, lead him hence; and see you guard him sure.
[Exeunt some with COLEVILE.

And now despatch we toward the court, my lords;
I hear, the king my father is sore sick.

Our news shall go before us to his majesty,-
Which, cousin, you shall bear,-to comfort him ;
And we with sober speed will follow you.

Fal. My lord, I beseech you, give me leave to go

1 It appears that Colevile was designed to be pronounced as a trisyllable; it is often spelled Colleville in the old copies.

2 "At the king's coming to Durham the lord Hastings, sir John Colevile of the dale, &c. being convicted of the conspiracy, were there beheaded."-Holinshed, p. 530. It is to be observed that there are two accounts of the termination of the archbishop of York's conspiracy, both of which are given by Holinshed. He states that on the archbishop and earl marshal submitting to the king and to his son prince John, there present, "their troopes skaled and fledde ther wayes; but being pursued, many were taken, many slain, &c.; the archbishop and earl marshall were brought to Pomfret to the king, who from thence went to Yorke, whyther the prisoners were also brought, and there beheaded." It is this last account that Shakspeare has followed, but with some variation; for the names of Colevile and Hastings are not mentioned among those who were beheaded at York.

through Glostershire; and, when you come to court, stand my good lord,' 'pray, in your good report. P. John. Fare you well, Falstaff; I, in my condition,2

[Exit.

Shall better speak of you than you deserve. Fal. I would you had but the wit; 'twere better than your dukedom.-Good faith, this same young, sober-blooded boy doth not love me; nor a man cannot make him laugh ;—but that's no marvel; he drinks no wine. There's never any of these demure boys come to any proof; for thin drink doth so over-cool their blood, and making many fish-meals, that they fall into a kind of male green-sickness; and then, when they marry, they get wenches: they are generally fools and cowards; which some of us should be too, but for inflammation. A good sherris sack hath a twofold operation in it. It ascends me into the brain; dries me there all the foolish, and dull, and crudy vapors which environ it; makes it apprehensive, quick, forgetive, full of nimble, fiery, and delectable shapes; which delivered o'er to the voice, (the tongue,) which is the birth, becomes excellent wit. The second property of your excellent sherris is, the warming of the blood; which, before cold and settled, left the liver white and pale, which is the badge of pusillanimity and cowardice: but the sherris warms it, and makes it course from the inwards to the parts extreme. It illumineth the face; which, as a beacon, gives warning to all the rest of this little kingdom, man, to arm and then the vital commoners, and inland petty spirits, muster me all to their captain, the heart; who, great, and puffed up with this retinue, doth any deed of courage; and this valor comes of sherris. So that skill in the weapon is nothing, without sack; for that sets it a-work; and learning, a mere hoard of gold kept by a

1 Stand my good lord, or be my good lord, means stand my friend, be my patron or benefactor, report well of me.

2 Condition is most frequently used by Shakspeare for nature, disposition. The prince may therefore mean, "I shall, in my good nature, speak better of you than you deserve."

3 Inventive, imaginative.

use.

devil;1 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

2

To this debate that bleedeth at our doors,
We will our youth lead on to higher fields,
And draw no swords but what are sanctified.
Our navy is addressed, 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.

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 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 Clar

ence.

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 mayst 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 observed;'
He hath a tear for pity, and a hand
Open as day for melting charity :

1

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

2

As flaws congealed in the spring of day.3

His temper, therefore, must be well observed.
Chide him for faults, and do it reverently,

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;
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,1
(As, force perforce, the age will pour it in,)
Shall never leak, though it do work as strong
As aconitum, or rash gunpowder.

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? 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
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 opposed decay!

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.