devil;1 till sack commences 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, 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,
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. VOL. IV.

11

1

1

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 ;1
He hath a tear for pity, and a hand
Open as day for melting charity:

Yet, notwithstanding, being incensed, he's flint;
As humorous as winter, and as sudden
As flaws congealed in the spring of day.3
His temper, therefore, must be well observed.
Chide him for faults, and do it reverently,

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,

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. 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.1

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! 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, So thin, that life looks through, and will break out.

P. Humph. The people fear me, for they do ob

serve

Unfathered heirs, and loathly birds of nature.
The seasons change their manners, as the year
Had found some months asleep, and leaped them over.
Cla. The river hath thrice flowed, no ebb between:

And the old folk, time's doting chronicles,
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.