A good sherris-sack (2) hath a two-fold operation in it. It ascends me into the brain; dries me there all the foolish, and dull, and crudy vapours which environ it: makes it apprehensive, quick, forgetive,a 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 his 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 use. Hereof 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 humant principle I would teach them, should be,-to forwear thin potations, and to addict themselves to sack. How now, Bardolph ? C Enter BARDOLPH. BARD. The army is discharged all, and gone. FAL. Let them go. I'll through Gloucestershire; 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, K. HEN. Now, lords, if God § doth give successful end We will our youth lead on to higher fields, Old text, extremes. First folio omits, human. (†) First folio, illuminateth. a Forgetive, Inventive, imaginative. b The voice, (the tongue,)-] Tongue was, possibly, only an interlineation, the poet not having determined whether to adopt "voice" or "tongue." Kept by a devil,-] It was superstitiously believed formerly that mines of gold were guarded by evil spirits. d Address'd,-] Prepared. See note (a), Vol. I., p. 577. Only, we want a little personal strength; WAR. Both which, we doubt not but your majesty 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. Nothing but well to thee, Thomas of Clarence. Of mediation, after I am dead, Between his greatness and thy other brethren: Yet notwithstanding, being incens'd, he's flint; 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 that? K. HEN. Most subject is the fattest soil to weeds, If he be observ'd;] That is, respectfully treated. And he, the noble image of my youth, Is over-spread with them: therefore my grief The blood weeps from my heart, when I do shape, WAR. My gracious lord, you look beyond him quite: Like a strange tongue; wherein, to gain the language, Be look'd upon, and learn'd; which once attain'd, 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. 'T is 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 Prince John, your son, doth kiss your grace's hand: K. HEN. O Westmoreland, thou art a summer bird, 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 But to be known, and hated.-] This is very like a passage in Terence : 66 quo modo adolescentulus Meretricum ingenia et mores posset noscere, b Seldom-when-] This is usually printed "seldom, when." Mr. Singer first suggested that it was a compound word, signifying rarely, not often. As those that I am come to tell you of! 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?a I should rejoice now at this happy news, And now my sight fails, and my brain is giddy:- CLA. O my royal father! Stand from him, give him air; he'll straight be well. CLA. No, no; he cannot long hold out these pangs: Hath wrought the mure," that should confine it in, P. HUMPH. The people fear me; for they do observe Say, it did so, a little time before That our great grandsire, Edward, sick'd and died. [Swoons. [They convey the KING to an inner part of the room, and place him on a bed. (*) First folio, sheriff. But write her fair words still in foulest letters?] The quarto reads: "But wet her faire words still in foulest termes." Hath wrought the mure,-] Hath worn the wall, &c. Daniel, in his "Civil Wars," 1595, Book III. st. 116, referring to the sickness of Henry the Fourth, has a parallel thought: "Wearing the wall so thin, that now the mind Might well look thorough, and his frailtie find." The people fear me ;] The people alarm me, make me afraid. d Observe-] That is, reverence. e As the year-] As if the year. Let there be no noise made, my gentle friends; Will whisper music to my weary spirit. WAR. Call for the music in the other room. K. HEN. Set me the crown upon my pillow here. P. HEN. Enter PRINCE HENRY. Who saw the duke of Clarence? CLA. I am here, brother, full of heaviness. P. HEN. How now! rain within doors, and none abroad! How doth the king? P. HUMPH. Exceeding ill. P. HEN. Tell it him. Heard he the good news yet? P. HUMPH. He alter'd much upon the hearing it. P. HEN. If he be sick with joy, He will recover without physic. WAR. Not so much noise, my lords:-sweet prince, speak low; The king your father is dispos'd to sleep. CLA. Let us withdraw into the other room. WAR. Will't please your grace to go along with us? P. HEN. No; I will sit and watch here by the king. [Exeunt all but PRINCE HENRY. Why doth the crown lie there upon his pillow, c Some dull-] Dull here appears to signify, quiet, soft. Homely biggin-] Biggin was a coif, so named, according to Steevens, from the cap worn by an order of nuns, called Beguines. с Rigol-] A word thought peculiar to Shakespeare, signifying a round or circle. |