Fal. Let them go. I'll through Gloucestershire; and there will I vifit mafter Robert Shallow, efquire: 2 I have him already tempering between my finger and my thumb, and fhortly will I feal with him. Come away. [Exeunt.

SCENE IV.

The palace at Westminster.

Enter king Henry, Warwick, Clarence, and Gloucester.

K. Henry. Now, lords, if heaven doth give fuccefs-
ful end

To this debate that bleedeth at our doors,
We will our youth lead on to higher fields,
And draw no fwords but what are fanctify'd.
Our navy is addrefs'd, our power collected,
Our substitutes in abfence well invested,

*

And every thing lies level to our wish :
Only we want a little perfonal ftrength,
And paufe us till thefe rebels, now a-foot,
Come underneath the yoke of government,
War. Both which we doubt not but your majefty
Shall foon enjoy.

K. Henry. Humphrey, my son of Gloucester,
Where is the prince your brother?

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

K. Henry. And how accompanied?

Glou. I do not know, my lord.

K. Henry. Is not his brother, Thomas of Clarence, with him?

• I have him already tempering, &c.] A very pleasant allufion to the old ufe of fealing with foft wax. WARB.

This cuftom is likewife alluded to in Any Thing for a quiet Life, a comedy, by Middleton,

"You must temper him like wax, or he'll not feal." STEEVENS.

* Our navy is addrefs'd,] i. e. Our navy is ready, prepar'd. So in Henry V.

for our march we are address'd," STEEVENS.

Glen.

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

K. Henry. Nothing but well to thee, Thomas of
Clarence.

How chance thou art not with the prince thy brother?
He loves thee, and thou doft neglect him, Thomas;
Thou haft a better place in his affection
Than all thy brothers: cherish it, my boy;
And noble offices thou may'ft effect
Of mediation, after I am dead,'

Between his greatness and thy other brethren.-
Therefore omit him not; blunt not his love;
Nor lofe the good advantage of his grace
By feeming cold or carelefs of his will.
For he is gracious, if he be obferv'd;
He hath a tear for pity, and a hand
Open as day for melting charity:

Yet notwithstanding, being incens'd, he's flint;
As 3 humorous as winter, and as fudden
As flaws congealed in the fpring of day.
His temper, therefore, must be well obferv'd :-
Chide him for faults, and do it reverently,

humorous as vinter,

-

] That is, changeable as the weather of a winter's day. Dryden fays of Almanzor, that he is humorous as wind. JOHNSON.

So in The Spanish Tragedy, 1607,

66

be not difmay'd for what is past,

"You know that women oft are humorous.”

Again, in Cynthia's Revels, by Ben Jonson,

A nymph of a moft wandering and giddy difpofi"tion, humorous as the air," &c. STEEVENS,

4

congealed in the spring of day.] Alluding to the opinion of fome philofophers, that the vapours being congealed in the air by cold (which is moft intenfe towards the morning) and being afterwards rarified and let loose by the warmth of the fun, occafion those sudden and impetuous gufts of wind which are called flaws. WARBURTON.

So Ben Jonfon, in The Cafe is alter'd, 1609,

"Still wrack'd with winds more foul and contrary
"Than any northern guft, or fouthern flaw."

Gg 4

STEEVENS.

When

When you perceive his blood inclin'd to mirth:
But, being moody, give him line and scope
Till that his paffions, like a whale on ground,
Confound themselves with working. Learn this,
Thomas,

And thou fhalt prove a fhelter to thy friends;
A hoop of gold, to bind thy brothers in;
That the united veffel of their blood,

Mingled with venom of fuggeftion,

(As, force-per force, the

age will

pour

it in)

Shall never leak, though it doth work as strong
As Aconitum, or 5 rafh gun-powder.

Cla. I fhall obferve him with all care and love.
K. Henry. Why art thou not at Windfor with him,
Thomas?

Cla. He is not there to-day; he dines in London. K. Henry. And how accompanied? canft thou tell that?

Cla. With Poins, and other his continual followers. K. Henry. Moft fubject is the fatteft foil to weeds; And he, the noble image of my youth, Is overfpread with them: therefore my grief Stretches itself beyond the hour of death. The blood weeps from my heart, when I do fhape, In forms imaginary, the unguided days, And rotten times, that you fhall look upon When I am fleeping with my ancestors. For when his headftrong riot hath no curb, When rage and hot blood are his counsellors, When means and lavish manners meet together, Oh, with what wings fhall his affection fly Toward fronting peril and oppos'd decay!

5

rah gun-powder.] Rah is quick, violent, sudden. This reprefentation of the prince is a natural picture of a young man whofe paffions are yet too strong for his virtues.

JOHNSON,

his affection] His paffions; his inordinate de

fires, JOHNSON,

Wor

War. My gracious lord, you look beyond him

quite.

The prince but ftudies his companions

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

Be look'd upon and learn'd; which once attain'd,
Your highness knows, comes to no farther use,
7 But to be known and hated. So, like grofs terms,
The prince will in the perfectness of time
Caft off his followers: and their memory
Shall as a pattern or a meafure live,

By which his grace muft mete the lives of others;
Turning paft evils to advantages.

K. Henry. 'Tis feldom when the bee doth leave her coinb

In the dead carrion.-Who's here? Weftmorland!

Enter Westmorland,

Weft. Health to my fovereign! and new happiness Added to that which I am to deliver!

Prince John, your fon, 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 fword unfheath'd,
But Peace puts forth her olive every where.
The manner how this action hath been borne,
Here, at more leifure, may your highness read,
With every courfe 9 in his particular,

K. Henry.

7 But to be known and hated.] A parallel paffage occurs in Terence,

quo modo adolefcentulus

"Meretricum ingenia et mores poffet nofcere
"Mature ut cum cognorit perpetuo oderit."

ANONYMOUS.

'Tis feldom when the bee, &c.] As the bee, having once placed her comb in a carcafe, ftays by her honey; fo he that has once taken pleasure in bad company, will continue to affociate with thofe that have the art of pleafing him. JOHNSON. 9 in bis particular.] We should read, I think, in

K. Henry. O Westmorland, thou art a summer bird, Which ever in the haunch of winter fings

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

Enter Harcourt.

Har. From enemies heaven keep your majefty;
And, when they ftand against you, may they fall
As thofe 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. Henry. And wherefore fhould these good news
make me fick?

Will fortune never come with both hands full,
But write her fair words still in fouleft letters?
She either gives a stomach, and no food;
Such are the poor, in health; or else a feast,
And takes away the ftomach, fuch the rich,
That have abundance, and enjoy it not.
I fhould rejoice now at this happy news,
And now my fight fails, and my brain is giddy :-
O me! come near me, now I am much ill. [Sinks down.
Glou. Comfort your majefty!

Cla. Oh, my royal father!

Weft. My fovereign 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 ftraight be well. Cla. No, no, he cannot long hold out thefe pangs:

this particular; that is, in this detail, in this account, which is minute and diftinct. JOHNSON,

His is ufed for its, very frequently in the old plays. The modern editors have generally made the change, but the dregs of the original chaos are not yet entirely purged off.

STEEVENS,

The