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 sun-like majesty

When it shines seldom in admiring eyes:

But rather drowz'd, and hung their eye-lids down,
Slept in his face, and render'd such aspéct
As cloudy men use to their adversaries 3;

3

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.

same expression occurs in A Warning for Faire Women, a tragedy, 1599:

"The people's eyes have fed them with my sight."

MALONE.

3 AS CLOUDY men use to their adversaries;] Strada, in his imitation of Statius, describing the look thrown by the German on his Portuguese antagonist, has the same expression:

Lusiademque tuens, et amaro nubilus ore―. STEEVENS. And in that very line, Harry, standest thou:] So, in The Merchant of Venice:

"In this predicament, I say, thou stand'st." STEEVENS. 5 For all the world,] Sir T. Hanmer, to complete the verse, reads

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 scepter, and my soul to boot, He hath more worthy interest to the state, 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 enterprizes

6 He hath more worthy interest to the state,

Than thou, the shadow of succession:] This is obscure. I believe the meaning is-Hotspur hath a right to the kingdom more worthy than thou, who hast only the shadowy right of lineal succession, while he has real and solid power. JOHNSON.

Rather, He better deserves to inherit the kingdom than thyself, who art intitled by birth to that succession of which thy vices render thee unworthy. RITSON.

To have an interest to any thing, is not English. If we read, "He hath more worthy interest in the state,"

the sense would be clear, and agreeable to the tenor of the rest of the King's speech. M. MASON.

I believe the meaning is only, he hath more popularity in the realm, more weight with the people, than thou the heir apparent to the throne.

"From thy succession bar me, father; I

"Am heir to my affection-——”

says Florizel, in The Winter's Tale.

We should now write-in the state, but there is no corruption in the text. So, in The Winter's Tale: "he is less frequent to his princely exercises than formerly." MALONE.

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, Northumber-

land,

The archbishop's grace of York, Douglas, Morti

mer,
7

Capitulate against us, and are up.

But wherefore do I tell these news to thee?

Why, Harry, do I tell thee of my foes,

8

Which art my near'st and dearest 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.

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 in a bloody mask,

7 Capitulate-] i. e. make head. So, to articulate, in a subsequent scene, is to form articles. STEEVENS.

Rather, combine, confederate, indent. To capitulate is to draw up any thing in heads or articles. Johnson's Dictionary. RITSON.

To capitulate, Minsheu explains thus: "per capita seu articulos pacisci ;" and nearly in this sense, I believe, it is used here. The Percies, we are told by Walsingham, sent about letters containing three articles, or principal grievances, on which their rising was founded; and to this perhaps our author alludes.

8

MALONE.

dearest-] Dearest is most fatal, most mischievous.

JOHNSON.

9 And stain my FAVOURS in a bloody mask,] We should read -favour, i. e. countenance. WARBURTON.

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:

Favours are features. JOHNSON.

I am not certain that favours, in this place, means features, or that the plural number of favour in that sense is ever used. I believe favours mean only some decoration usually worn by knights in their helmets, as a present from a mistress, or a trophy from an enemy. So, afterwards, in this play:

"But let my favours hide thy mangled face: where the Prince must have meant his scarf. Again, in Heywood's Rape of Lucrece, 1630:

"

"Aruns, these crimson favours, for thy sake,
"I'll wear upon my forehead mask'd with blood."

STEEVENS.
Steevens's explanation of this passage appears to be right.
The word garment, in the preceding line, seems to confirm it.
M. MASON.
Mask can have no meaning
In Heywood, as here, the
Favours is used for features

I think Johnson is clearly right. as applied to decoration or garment. mask is the blood upon his forehead. in Richard II. p. 131:

Yet I well remember

“The favours of these men." BOSWELL.

ith it

e

If not, the end of life cancels all bands':
And I will die a hundred thousand deaths,
Ere break the smallest parcel of this vow.
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 of2.

Lord Mortimer of Scotland hath sent word 3.
That Douglas, and the English rebels, met,

I - cancels all BANDS ;] i. e. bonds, for thus the word was anciently spelt. So, in The Comedy of Errors:

My master is arrested on a band."

Shakspeare has the same allusion in Macbeth :

"Cancel and tear to pieces that great bond," &c. Again, in Cymbeline :

"And cancel these cold bonds." STEEVENS.

2 SO HATH the business that I come to speak of.] So also the business that I come to speak of, hath speed; i. e. requires immediate attention and dispatch. Mr. Pope changed hath to is, and the alteration has been adopted, in my opinion, unnecessarily, by the subsequent editors. MALONE.

3 LORD MORTIMER OF SCOTLAND hath sent word,] 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 Henry in this rebellion, and was the means of saving his life at the battle of Shrewsbury, as is related by Holinshed. This, no doubt, was the lord whom Shakspeare designed to represent in the act of sending friendly intelligence to the King. Our author had a recollection that there was in these wars a Scottish lord on the King's side, who bore the same title with the English family, on the rebel side, (one being the 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. STEEVENS.