Fal. Let it shine then.

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?

Cole. 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 rul'd 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 gratis'; and I thank thee for thee.

Re-enter WESTMORELAND.

P. John. Now, have you left pursuit?

West. Retreat is made, and execution stay'd.
P. John. Send Colevile, with his confederates,
To York, to present execution.-
Blunt, lead him hence, and see you guard him sure.
[Exit COLEVILE guarded.
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 through Glostershire; and, when you come to court, stand my good lord, pray, in your good report3.

3

2 - gavest thyself away GRATIS ;] So the quarto: the folio rejects "gratis." stand my good lord, pray, in your good report. ] The meaning seems to be, that Falstaff asks prince John to stand his good lord, or his good friend, in the report he makes to the king. This is Steevens's interpretation. The folio inserts "pray," not found in the quarto, as if to complete the measure, and as if a couplet were intended, though not so printed :

"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,

Shall better speak of you than you deserve.

[Exit.

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 two-fold operation in it: it ascends me into the brain; dries me there all the foolish, and dull, and cruddy vapours which environ it; makes it apprehensive, quick, forgetive, full of nimble, fiery, and delectable shapes; which, deliver'd 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 valour 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 devil, till sack commences it, and sets it in act and use1. Hereof

till sack COMMENCES it, and sets it in ACT and use.] "It seems probable to me," says Tyrwhitt, "that Shakespeare in these words alludes to the Cam

comes it, that prince Harry is valiant; for the cold blood he did naturally inherit of his father, he hath, like lean, steril, and bare land, manured, husbanded, and tilled, with excellent endeavour 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 principles 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 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 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,

bridge Commencement; and in what follows to the Oxford Act: for by those different names our two universities have long distinguished the season, at which each of them gives to her respective students a complete authority to use those hoards of learning which have entitled them to their several degrees in arts, law, physick, and divinity."

5

the first HUMAN principle-] The folio omits "human."

Our navy is ADDRESS'D,] i. e. ready, prepared. See Vol. ii. p. 466 and 512.

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 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 Cla

rence.

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 may'st 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 observ'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 humorous as winter, and as sudden

As flaws congealed in the spring of day'.

7 congealed in the spring of day.] "Alluding," says Warburton, "to the opinion of some philosophers, that the vapours being congealed in the air by

His temper, therefore, must be well observ'd:
Chide him for faults, and do it reverently
When you perceive his blood inclin❜d to mirth,
But, being moody, give him line and scopes,
Till that his passions, like a whale on ground,
Confound themselves with working.

Thomas,

Learn this,

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.

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? can'st thou tell that1?

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, th' 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,

cold, (which is most intense towards the morning,) and being afterwards rarified and let loose by the warmth of the sun, occasion those sudden and impetuous gusts of wind which are called flaws."

8

- give him LINE and scope,] The quarto, to the injury of the metaphor, reads, "give him time and scope."

9 Mingled with venom of SUGGESTION,] "Suggestion" here, as in many other places, (see Vol. ii. p. 288; iii. p. 264. 296, &c.) means temptation.

1- can'st thou tell that ?] These words are only in the folio.