that he is become very hot and valiant. If I had a thousand sons, the first humane principle I would teach them should be, to forswear thin potations and to addict themselves to sack.

Enter BARDOLPH.

How now, Bardolph ?

Bard. The army is discharged all and gone.

Fal. Let them go.

I'll through Gloucester

shire; and there will I visit Master Robert Shal

low, esquire: I have him already tempering 140 between my finger and my thumb, and shortly will I seal with him. Come away.

[Exeunt.

SCENE IV. Westminster. The Jerusalem

Chamber.

Enter the KING, the

PRINCES THOMAS

OF

CLARENCE and HUMPHREY OF GLOUCESTER,
WARWICK, and others.

King. Now, lords, if God 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 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

133. humane principle, rule of manliness.

5. address'd, equipped.

ΤΟ

Shall soon enjoy.

King.

Humphrey, my son of Gloucester,

Where is the prince your brother?

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

Windsor.

King. And how accompanied?

Glou.

I do not know, my lord. King. Is not his brother, Thomas of Clarence, with him?

Glou. No, my good lord; he is in presence here.
Clar. What would my lord and father?

King. Nothing but well to thee, Thomas of
Clarence.

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:

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

As flaws congealed in the spring of day.
His temper, therefore, must be well observed:
Chide him for faults, and do it reverently,

27. omit, neglect.

30. observed, courted.

34. humorous, wayward.

35. flaws, probably the thin

blades of ice which form along the edges of water on winter nights, and rapidly disappear after sunrise.

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-

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

Clar. I shall observe him with all care and love.
King. Why art thou not at Windsor with him,
Thomas?

Clar. He is not there to-day; he dines in London. King. And how accompanied? canst thou tell that?

Clar. With Poins, and other his continual followers.

King. 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,

40. like a whale on ground. The image was perhaps suggested by a vivid account in Holinshed of the stranding of 'a monstrous fish or whale' in Kent, in 1573-74 (ed. Stone, p. 156).

40

50

60

45. suggestion, provocation (to discord).

48. aconitum, aconite.
ib. rash, hasty, sudden.
64. lavish, licentious.

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 lan

guage,

'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.

King. 'Tis seldom when the bee doth leave her comb

In the dead carrion.

Enter WESTMORELAND.

70

Who's here? Westmoreland? 80

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.

79, 80. 'Tis seldom when, etc. i.e. when the bee has once placed her comb in the carrion, she

commonly stays there.

90

90. 'With every movement in detail.'

2 I

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

The lifting up of day.

Enter HARCOURT.

Look, here's more news.

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.

King. 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.
Glou. Comfort, your majesty!

Clar.

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.

92. the haunch, the latter end.