Of every beardless vain comparative : *
Grew a companion to the common ftreets,
Enfeoff'd himself to popularity:"

That, being daily fwallow'd by men's eyes,*
They furfeited with honey; and began

8 Of every beardlefs vain comparative:] Of every boy whofe vanity incited him to try his wit against the King's.

When Lewis XIV. was asked, why, with fo much wit, he never attempted raillery, he anfwered, that he who practifed raillery ought to bear it in his turn, and that to ftand the butt of raillery was not fuitable to the dignity of a king. Scudery's Converfation. JOHNSON.

Comparative, I believe, is equal, or rival in any thing; and may therefore fignify, in this place, every one who thought himself on a level with the Prince. So, in the fecond of The Four Plays in One, by Beaumont and Fletcher:

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Gerrard ever was

"His full comparative.

STEEVENS.

I believe comparative means here, one who affects wit, a dealer in comparifons: what Shakspeare calls, fomewhere elfe, if I remember right, a fimile-monger. "The most comparative prince" has already occurred in the play before us; and the following paffage in Love's Labour's Loft, is yet more appofite in fupport of this interpretation:

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The world's large tongue

"Proclaims you for a man replete with mocks,

"Full of comparisons, and wounding flouts." MALONE. 9 Enfeoff'd himself to popularity:] To enfeoff is a law term, fignifying to inveft with poffeffion. So, in the old comedy of Wily Beguiled: "I protefted to enfeoffe her in forty pounds a year." STEEVENS.

Gave himfelf up abfolutely and entirely to popularity. A feofment was the ancient mode of conveyance, by which all lands in England were granted in fee-fimple for feveral ages, till the conveyance of Leafe and Release was invented by Serjeant Moor, about the year 1630. Every deed of feofment was accompanied with livery of feifin, that is, with the delivery of corporal poffeffion of the land or tenement granted in fee. MALONE.

2 That, being daily fwallow'd by men's eyes,] Nearly the fame expreffion occurs in A Warning for faire Women, a tragedy, 1599: "The people's eyes have fed them with my fight."

MALONE.

To loath the taste of sweetness, whereof a little
More than a little is by much too much.
So, when he had occafion to be seen,
He was but as the cuckoo is in June,

Heard, not regarded; feen, but with fuch eyes,
As, fick and blunted with community,
Afford no extraordinary gaze,

Such as is bent on fun-like majefty

When it shines feldom in admiring eyes:

But rather drowz'd, and hung their eyelids down,
Slept in his face, and render'd fuch afpéct
As cloudy men ufe to their adverfaries; '
Being with his prefence glutted, gorg'd, and full.
And in that very line, Harry, ftand'st thou:+
For thou haft loft thy princely privilege,
With vile participation; not an eye

But is a-weary of thy common fight,

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

P. HEN. I fhall 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 fet foot at Ravenfpurg;

3 As cloudy men ufe to their adverfaries;] Strada, in his imitation of Statius, defcribing the look thrown by the German on his Portuguese antagonist, has the fame expreffion:

Lufiademque tuens, & amaro nubilus ore.

STEEVENS.

And in that very line, Harry, ftand'ft thou:] So, in The Merchant of Venice:

"In this predicament, I fay, thou ftand'ft." STEEVENS. 5 For all the world,] Sir T. Hanmer, to complete the verse, reads

Harry, for all the world, STEEVENS,

And even as I was then, is Percy now.
Now by my scepter, and my foul to boot,
He hath more worthy intereft to the state,
Than thou, the fhadow of fucceffion: 3

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 bruifing arms.
What never-dying honour hath he got
Against renowned Douglas; whofe high deeds,
Whose hot incurfions, and great name in arms,
Holds from all foldiers chief majority,
And military title capital,

Through all the kingdoms that acknowledge Chrift?
Thrice hath this Hotfpur Mars in fwathing clothes,
This infant warrior, in his enterprizes

3 He hath more worthy intereft to the flate,

Than thou, the shadow of fucceffim:] This is obfcure. I believe the meaning is-Hotfpur hath a right to the kingdom more worthy than thou, who haft only the shadowy right of lineal jucceffion, while he has real and folid power. JOHNSON.

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

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

the fenfe would be clear, and agreeable to the tenor of the reft of the King's fpeech. 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 fucceffion bar me, father; I

"Am heir to my affection—'

fays Florizel, in The Winter's Tale.

We fhould now write-in the ftate, but there is no corruption in the text. So, in The Winter's Tale:

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he is lefs frequent te

his princely exercifes 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 fay you to this? Percy, Northumberland,
The archbishop's grace of York, Douglas, Mortimer,
Capitulate 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 deareft' enemy?
Thou that art like enough,-through vaffal fear,
Base inclination, and the start of spleen,-
To fight against me under Percy's pay,
To dog his heels, and court'fy at his frowns,
To show how much degenerate thou art.

P. HEN. Do not think so, you fhall not find it fo:
And God forgive them, that so much have sway'd
Your majefty's good thoughts away from me!
I will redeem all this on Percy's head,
And, in the clofing of fome glorious day,
Be bold to tell you, that I am your fon;
When I will wear a garment all of blood,
And ftain my favours in a bloody mask,"

4 Capitulate-] i. e. make head. So, to articulate, in a subsequent fcene, 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, Minfheu explains thus: "per capita feu articulos pacifci ;" and nearly in this fenfe, I believe, it is used here. The Percies, we are told by Walfingham, fent about letters containing three articles, or principal grievances, on which their rifing was founded: and to this perhaps our author alludes.

MALONE.

5 dearest-] Deareft is moft fatal, moft mifchievous.

JOHNSON.

6 And ftain my favours in a bloody mafk,] We fhould read-favour, i. e. countenance. WARBURTON,

Which, wafh'd away, fhall fcour my fhame with it.
And that shall be the day, whene'er it lights,
That this fame child of honour and renown,
This gallant Hotspur, this all-praised knight,
And your unthought-of Harry, chance to meet:
For every honour fitting on his helm,

'Would they were multitudes; and on my head
My fhames redoubled! for the time will come,
That I fhall make this northern youth exchange
His glorious deeds for my indignities.
Percy is but my factor, good my lord,
To engrofs up glorious deeds on my behalf;
And I will call him to fo ftrict account,
That he shall render every glory up,
Yea, even the flighteft 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 fhall perform,
I do befeech your majefty, may falve

The long-grown wounds of my intemperance:
If not, the end of life cancels all bands;

Favours are features. JOHNSON.

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

"Then let my favours hide thy mangled face:"

where the Prince must have meant his fcarf.

Again, in Heywood's Rape of Lucrece, 1630:

"Aruns, these crimfon favours, for thy fake,

"I'll wear upon my forehead mask'd with blood."

STEEVENS. Steevens's explanation of this paffage appears to be right. The word garments, in the preceding line, feems to confirm it.

6

M. MASON.

cancels all bands;] i. e. bonds, for thus the word was anciently fpelt. So, in The Comedy of Errors: "My mafter is arrested on a band.”