Glou. No, my good lord; he is in presence here.
Clar. What would my lord and father?
King. Nothing but well to thee, Thomas of Clarence.
How chance thou art not with the prince thy brother?20
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 mayst effect
Of mediation, after I am dead,25
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 observed:30
He hath a tear for pity and a hand
Open as day for melting charity:[4148]
Yet notwithstanding, being incensed, he's flint,
As humorous as winter and as sudden[4149]
As flaws congealed in the spring of day.[4150]35
His temper, therefore, must be well observed:
Chide him for faults, and do it reverently,
When you perceive his blood inclined to mirth;
But, being moody, give him line and scope,[4151]
Till that his passions, like a whale on ground,40
Confound themselves with working. Learn this, Thomas,
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—45
As, force perforce, the age will pour it in—
Shall never leak, though it do work as strong[4152]
As aconitum or rash gunpowder.
Clar. I shall observe him with all care and love.
King. Why art thou not at Windsor with him, Thomas?50
Clar. He is not there to-day; he dines in London.[4153]
King. And how accompanied? canst thou tell that?[4154]
Clar. With Poins, and other his continual followers.[4153]
King. Most subject is the fattest soil to weeds;
And he, the noble image of my youth,55
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 the unguided days
And rotten times that you shall look upon60
When I am sleeping with my ancestors.
For when his headstrong riot hath no curb,
When rage and hot blood are his counsellors,
When means and lavish manners meet together,
O, with what wings shall his affections fly65
Towards fronting peril and opposed decay!
War. My gracious lord, you look beyond him quite:
The prince but studies his companions
Like a strange tongue, wherein, to gain the language,
'Tis needful that the most immodest word70
Be look'd upon and learn'd; which once attain'd,
Your highness knows, comes to no further use[4155]
But to be known and hated. So, like gross terms,
The prince will in the perfectness of time
Cast off his followers; and their memory75
Shall as a pattern or a measure live,
By which his grace must mete the lives of others,[4156]
Turning past evils to advantages.