sherris

I would you had but the wit ; ’twere better
than your dukedom . Good faith , this same young
sober-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 none of these demure
boys come to any proof , for thin drink doth so
overcool their blood , and making many fish meals ,
that they fall into a kind of male green-sickness , and
then , when they marry , they get wenches . They are
generally fools and cowards , which some of us
should be too , but for inflammation . A good sherris
sack hath a two-fold operation in it . It ascends me
into the brain , dries me there all the foolish and
dull and crudy vapors which environ it , makes it
apprehensive , quick , forgetive , full of nimble , fiery ,
and delectable shapes , which , delivered o’er to the
voice , the tongue , which is the birth , becomes
excellent wit . The second property of your excellent
sherris is the warming of the blood , which ,
before cold and settled , left the liver white and pale ,
which is the badge of pusillanimity and cowardice .
But the sherris warms it and makes it course from
the inwards to the parts’ extremes . 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 spirits muster me
all to their captain , the heart , who , great and puffed
up with this retinue , doth any deed of courage , and
this valor comes of sherris . So that skill in the
weapon is nothing without sack , for that sets it
a-work ; and learning a mere hoard of gold kept
by a devil till sack commences it and sets it in
act and use . Hereof comes it that Prince Harry is
valiant , for the cold blood he did naturally inherit
of his father he hath , like lean , sterile , and bare
land , manured , husbanded , and tilled with excellent
endeavor of drinking good and good store
of fertile sherris , that he is become very hot and valiant .
If I had a thousand sons , the first human principle
I would teach them should be to forswear
thin potations and to addict themselves to sack .



How now , Bardolph ?