Fal. I would, you had but the wit; 'twere better than your dukedom.-Good faith,' this fame young fober-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 thefe demure boys come to any proof: for thin drink doth fo over-cool their blood, and making many fish-meals, that they fall into a kind of male green-ficknefs; and then, when they marry, they get wenches: they are generally fools and cowards;-which fome of us fhould be too, but for inflammation. A good fherris-fack hath a two-fold operation in it. It afcends me into the brain; dries me there all the foolish, and dull, and crudy vapours3 which environ it: makes it apprehenfive, quick, forgetive, full of nimble, fiery, and

I believe it means, I, in my condition, i. e. in my place as a commanding officer, who ought to reprefent things merely as they of better than deserve. are, shall speak you So, in the Tempe, Ferdinand fays :

you

I am, in my condition,

"A prince, Miranda." STEEVENS.

-this fame young fober-blooded boy doth not love me; nor a man -] Falstaff fpeaks here like a veteran cannot make him laugh;in life. The young prince did not love him, and he despaired to gain his affection, for he could not make him laugh. Men only become friends by community of pleasures. He who cannot be foftened into gaiety, cannot easily be melted into kindness.

JOHNSON. 2fberris-fack] This liquor is mentioned in The Captain, by B. and Fletcher. STEEVENS.

3

the

-It afcends me into the brain, and dries me up there crudy vapours-] This ufe of the pronoun is a familiar redunSo, Latimer, p. 91, "Here dancy among our old writers. cometh me now thefe holy fathers from their counfels." was one wiser than the reft, and he comes me to the bishop." Edit. 1571. p. 75. BowLE.

-apprehenfive,] i. e. Quick to understand. So, in the Revenger's Tragedy, 1608:

"Thou'rt a mad apprehenfive knave.”

"There

Again, in Every man out of his Humour :-"You are too quick, too apprehenfive." In this fenfe it is now almost disused. STEEVENS. forgetive,] Forgetive from forge; inventive, imagina

tive. JOHNSON.

delect

delectable fhapes; which deliver'd o'er to the voice, (the tongue) which is the birth, becomes excellent wit. The fecond property of your excellent fherris is,-the warming of the blood; which, before cold and fettled, left the liver white and pale, which is the badge of pufillanimity and cowardice: but the fherris 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 fpirits, mufter me all to their captain, the heart; who, great, and puff'd up with this retinue, doth any deed of courage; and this valour comes of fherris So that fkill in the weapon is nothing, without fack; for that fets it a-work and learning, a mere hoard of gold kept by a devil'; 'till fack commences it, and fets it in act and ufe. 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 ftore of fertile fherris; that he is become very hot, and valiant. If I had a thousand fons, the first human principle I would teach them, fhould be,-to forfwear thin potations, and to addict themfelves to fack.

kept by a devil,] It was anciently fuppofed that all the mines of gold, &c. were guarded by evil fpirits. STEEVENS. 7 till fack commences it,- ] I believe, till fack gives it a beginning, brings it into action. The author of The Revifal would read-commerces it. STEEVENS.

It feems probable to me, that Shakespeare in thefe words alludes to the Cambridge Commencement; and in what follows to the Oxford At: for by thofe different names our two univerfities have long distinguished the feafon, at which each of them gives to her respective students a complete authority to ufe thofe boards of learn ing, which have entitled them to their feveral degrees in arts, law, hyfic, and divinity. TYRWHITT.

Enter Bardolph.

How now, Bardolph ?

Bard. The army is difcharged all, and gone. Fal. Let them go. I'll through Glocestershire ; and there will I vifit mafter Robert Shallow, efquire: 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 Glofter, &c.

K. Henry. Now, lords, if heaven doth give fuccefsful 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 fubftitutes in abfence well invested,
And every thing lies level to our wifh:
Only, we want a little perfonal ftrength;
And paufe us, 'till these rebels, now afoot,
Come underneath the yoke of government.

8

I have him already tempering &c.] A very pleasant allufion to the old ufe of fealing with foft wax. WARBURTON. This cuftom is likewise alluded to in Any Thing for a quiet Life, 1625, a comedy, by Middleton:

"You must temper him like wax, or he'll not feal." Again, in Your Five Gallants by Middleton, no date: "Fetch a pennyworth of foft wax to feal letters." Again, in Chaucer's Marchante's Tale, v. 9304:

66

Right as men may warm wax with bandes plie."

STEEVENS.

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

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

War

War. Both which, we doubt not but your majefty Shall foon enjoy.

K. Henry. Humphrey, my fon of Glofter, Where is the prince your brother?

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

K. Henry. And how accompanied?

Glo. I do not know, my lord.

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

Glo. 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: cherifh it, my boy;
And noble offices thou may'ft effect
Of mediation, after I am dead,

Between his greatnefs 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 humorous as winter, and as fudden

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

So, in the Spanish Tragedy, 1607:

"You know that women oft are humourous."

Again, in Cynthia's Revels, by Ben Jonfon:

"A nymph of a most wandering and giddy difpofition, humourous as the air, &c."

Again, in the Silent Woman: " as proud as May, and as humourous as April." STEEVENS.

2

As flaws congealed in the fpring of day.

His temper, therefore, muft be well obferv'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 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 vcffel of their blood,
Mingled with venom of fuggeftion,

(As, force perforce, the age will pour it in)
Shall never leak, though it do work as strong
As aconitum, or + rafh gun-powder.

4

Cla. I fhail 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.

-congealed in the fpring of day.] Alluding to the opinion of fome philofophers, that the vapours being congealed in the air by cold, (which is most intenfe towards the morning) and being afterwards rarified and let loose by the warmth of the fun, occafion thofe fudden and impetuous gufts of wind which are called flarus. 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."

Again, in Arden of Feverfham, 1592:

"And faw a dreadful fouthern flaw at hand."

Chapman ufes the word in his tranflation of Homer; and, I believe, Milton has it in the fame fenfe. STEEVENS.

3

as aconitum, ] The old writers employ the Latin word inftead of the English one, which we now use.

So, in Heywood's Brazen Age, 1613:

-till from the foam

"The dog belch'd forth, ftrong aconitum fprung." Again, "With aconitum that in tartar fprings." STEEVENS. 4 rash gun-powder.] Rafh is quick, violent, fudden. This reprefentation of the prince is a natural picture of a young man whofe paffions are yet too frong for his virtues. JOHNSON.

K. Henry.