Enfeoff'd 12 himself to popularity:

That being daily swallow'd by men's eyes,
They surfeited with honey; and began

To loathe the taste of sweetness, whereof a little
More than a little is by much too much.
So, when he had occasion to be seen,
He was but as the cuckoo is in June,
Heard, not regarded; seen, but with such eyes,
As, sick and blunted with community,
Afford no extraordinary gaze,

Such as is bent on sunlike majesty,

When it shines seldom in admiring eyes:

But rather drowz'd, and hung their eyelids down,
Slept in his face, and render'd such aspéct
As cloudy men use to their adversaries;
Being with his presence glutted, gorg'd, and full.
And in that very line, Harry, standest thou:
For thou hast lost thy princely privilege,
With vile participation; not an eye

But is a-weary of thy common sight,

Save mine, which hath desir'd to see thee more;
Which now doth that I would not have it do,
Make blind itself with foolish tenderness.

P. Hen. I shall hereafter, my thrice-gracious lord,

Be more myself.

K. Hen.

For all the world,

As thou art to this hour, was Richard then
When I from France set foot at Ravenspurg;
And even as I was then, is Percy now.
Now by my sceptre, and my soul to boot,
He hath more worthy interest to the state 13,

13

12 i. e. gave himself up, absolutely and entirely, to popularity. To enfeoff is a law term, signifying to give or grant any thing to another in fee simple.

13 Interest to the state;' we should now write in the state, but this was the phraseology of the poet's time. So in The Winter's Tale, - he is less frequent to his princely exercises than

Than thou, the shadow of succession:

For, of no right, nor colour like to right,
He doth fill fields with harness in the realm;
Turns head against the lion's armed jaws;

And, being no more in debt to years than thou,
Leads ancient lords and reverend bishops on,
To bloody battles, and to bruising arms.
What never-dying honour hath he got

Against renowned Douglas; whose high deeds,
Whose hot incursions, and great name in arms,
Holds from all soldiers chief majority,
And military title capital,

Through all the kingdoms that acknowledge Christ?
Thrice hath this Hotspur Mars in swathing clothes,
This infant warrior in his enterprises

Discomfited great Douglas; ta'en him once,
Enlarged him, and made a friend of him,
To fill the mouth of deep defiance up,

And shake the peace and safety of our throne.
And what say you to this? Percy, Northumberland,
The archbishop's grace of York, Douglas, Mortimer,
Capitulate11 against us, and are up.

But wherefore do I tell these news to thee?
Why, Harry, do I tell thee of my foes,
Which art my near'st and dearest 15 enemy?
Thou that art like enough,—through vassal fear,
Base inclination, and the start of spleen,-
To fight against me under Percy's pay,
To dog his heels, and court'sy at his frowns,
To show how much degenerate thou art.

formerly.' Thou hast but the shadow of succession, compared with the more worthy interest in the state (i. e. great popularity) which he possesses."

14 To capitulate, according to the old dictionaries, formerly signified to make articles of agreement. The nobles enumerated had entered into such articles, or confederated against the king. 15 See vol. i. p. 382, note 5.

P. Hen. Do not think so, you shall not find it so ;
And God forgive them, that have so much sway'd
Your majesty's good thoughts away from me!
I will redeem all this on Percy's head,
And, in the closing of some glorious day,
Be bold to tell you, that I am your son
When I will wear a garment all of blood,
And stain my favours 16 in a bloody mask,
Which, wash'd away, shall scour my shame with it.
And that shall be the day, whene'er it lights,
That this same child of honour and renown,
This gallant Hotspur, this all-praised knight,
And your unthought-of Harry, chance to meet:
For every honour sitting on his helm,

'Would they were multitudes; and on my head
My shames redoubled! for the time will come,
That I shall make this northern youth exchange
His glorious deeds for my indignities.
Percy is but my factor, good my lord,
To engross up glorious deeds on my behalf;
And I will call him to so strict account,
That he shall render every glory up,
Yea, even the slightest worship of his time,
Or I will tear the reckoning from his heart.
This, in the name of God, I promise here:
The which if he be pleas'd I shall perform,
I do beseech your majesty, may salve
The long-grown wounds of my intemperance:
If not, the end of life cancels all bands 17;
And I will die a hundred thousand deaths,
Ere break the smallest parcel 18 of this vow.

16 Favours is probably here used for colours; the scarf by which a knight of rank was distinguished. In the last scene the Prince says:

'But let my favours hide thy mangled face.'
18 Part.

17 Bonds.

K. Hen. A hundred thousand rebels die in this:Thou shalt have charge, and sovereign trust, herein. Enter BLUNT.

How now, good Blunt? thy looks are full of speed.
Blunt. So hath the business that I come to speak of.
Lord Mortimer of Scotland 19 hath sent word,-
That Douglas, and the English rebels, met,
The eleventh of this month, at Shrewsbury:
A mighty and a fearful head they are,
If promises be kept on every hand,
As ever offer'd foul play in a state.

K. Hen. The earl of Westmoreland set forth today;

With him my son, Lord John of Lancaster;
For this advertisement 20 is five days old :—
On Wednesday next, Harry, you shall set
Forward; on Thursday, we ourselves will march:
Our meeting is Bridgnorth: and, Harry, you
Shall march through Glostershire; by which account,
Our business valued, some twelve days hence
Our general forces at Bridgnorth shall meet.
Our hands are full of business: let's away;
Advantage feeds him 21 fat, while men delay.

[Exeunt.

19 There was no such person as Lord Mortimer of Scotland; but there was a Lord March of Scotland (George Dunbar), who having quitted his own country in disgust, attached himself so warmly to the English, and did them such signal services in their wars with Scotland, that the parliament petitioned the king to bestow some reward on him. He fought on the side of King Henry in this rebellion, and was the means of saving his life at the battle of Shrewsbury. The poet recollected that there was a Scottish lord on the king's side, who bore the same title with the English family on the rebels' side (one being earl of March in England, the other earl of March in Scotland), but his memory deceived him as to the particular name which was common to both. He took it to be Mortimer instead of March. 20 Intelligence. 21 Feeds himself fat.

SCENE III.

Eastcheap. A Room in the Boar's Head Tavern.

Enter FALSTAFF and BARDOLPH.

Fal. Bardolph, am I not fallen away vilely since this last action? do I not bate? do I not dwindle? Why, my skin hangs about me like an old lady's loose gown; I am wither'd like an old apple-John, Well, I'll repent, and that suddenly, while I am in some liking1; I shall be out of heart shortly, and then I shall have no strength to repent. An I have not forgotten what the inside of a church is made of, I am a pepper-corn, a brewer's horse2: the inside of a church! Company, villanous company, hath been the spoil of me.

Bard. Sir John, you are so fretful, you cannot live long.

Fal. Why, there is it:-come, sing me a bawdy song; make me merry. I was as virtuously given, as a gentleman need to be; virtuous enough: swore little; diced, not above seven times a week; went to a bawdy-house, not above once in a quarter—of an hour; paid money that I borrowed, three or four times; lived well, and in good compass: and now I live out of all order, out of all compass.

Bard. Why, you are so fat, Sir John, that you

1 Liking is condition, plight of body. If one be in better plight of body, or better liking.' Si qua habitior paulo pugilem esse aiunt. Baret. L. 435.

2 That Falstaff was unlike a brewer's horse may be collected from a conundrum in The Devil's Cabinet Opened: What is the difference between a drunkard and a brewer's horse?-Because one carries all his liquor on his back, and the other in his belly.' Malt horse, which is the same thing, was a common term of reproach, and is used elsewhere by Shakspeare, and by Ben Jonson.