And all our vineyards, fallows, meads, and hedges,
Defective in their nurtures, grow to wildness.
Even fo our houses, and ourselves and children
Have loft, or do not learn for want of time,
The fciences, that should become our country;
But grow like favages, as foldiers will,
That nothing do but meditate on blood,
To fwearing and ftern looks, diffus'd attire,
And every thing that feems unnatural.
Which to reduce into our former favour,
You are affembled; and my fpeech intreats,
That I may know the Let, why gentle peace
Should not expel thefe inconveniencies;
And bless us with her former qualities.

K. Henry. If, Duke of Burgundy, you would the
peace,

Whose want gives growth to th' imperfections
Which you have cited, you must buy that peace
With full accord to all our juft demands,

Whofe tenours and particular effects

You have, enfchedul'd briefly, in your hands. Burg. The King hath heard them; to the which as yet

There is no answer made.

K. Henry. Well, then the peace

Which you before fo urg'd, lies in his answer.
Fr. King. I have but with a curforary eye.
O'er-glanc'd the articles; pleaseth your Grace
T'appoint fome of your council presently
To fit with us, once more with better heed

diffus'd attire,] Diffus'd, for extravagant. The military habit of thofe times was extremely fo. A&t 3. Scene 7. Gower fays, And what a beard of the General's cut, and a horrid fuit of the camp, will do among ft &c. is wonderful to be thought on. WARBURTON.

Diffus'd is fo much used by our authour for wild, irregular, and firange, that in the Merry Wives of Windfor, he applies it to a tong fuppofed to be fung by fai

ries.

2 Former favour.] Former appearance.

To

To re-furvey them; we will fuddenly

3 Pafs, or accept, and peremptory answer.
K. Henry. Brother, we fhall. Go, uncle Exeter,
And brother Clarence, and you, brother Glofter,
Warwick and Huntington, go with the King;
And take with you free pow'r to ratify,
Augment, or alter, as your wifdoms best
Shall fee advantageable for our dignity,
Any thing in, or out of, our Demands;
And we'll confign thereto. Will you, fair fister,
Go with the Princes, or ftay here with us?

Q. Ifa. Our gracious brother, I will go with them;
Haply, a woman's voice may do fome good,
When Articles too nicely urg'd be stood on.

K. Henry. Yet leave our coufin Catherine here with us. She is our capital demand, compris'd

Within the fore-rank of our articles.

Q. Ifa. She hath good leave.

SCENE

IV.

[Exeunt.

Manent King Henry, Catharine, and a Lady.
K. Henry. Fair Catharine, moft fair.

Will you vouchsafe to teach a foldier terms,
Such as will enter at a lady's ear,

And plead his love-fuit to her gentle heart?

Cath. Your Majefty fhall mock at me, I cannot speak your England.

K. Henry. O fair Catharine, if you will love me foundly with your French heart, I will be glad to hear you confefs it brokenly with your English tongue. Do you like me, Kate?

3

-we will fuddenly Pafs our accept, and peremptory anfwer.] As the French King defires more time to confider deliberately of the articles, 'tis odd and abfurd for him to fay abfolutely, that he would accept them all. He certainly muft

mean, that he would at once wave and decline what he diflik'd, and confign to fuch as he approv'd of. Our author ufes pass in this manner in other places: As in King John,

But if you fondly pafs our prof fer'd love.

WARB.
Cath.

Cath. Pardonnez moy, I cannot tell vhat is like me. K. Henry. An angel is like you, Kate, and you are like an Angel.

Cath. Que dit-il, que je fuis femblable à les Anges? Lady. Ouy, vrayment, (fauf voftre grace) ainfi dit il. K. Henry. I faid fo, dear Catharine, and I must not blush to affirm it.

Cath. O bon Dieu! les langues des hommes font pleines de tromperies.

K. Henry. What fays fhe, fair one? that tongues of men are full of deceits?

Lady. Ouy, dat de tongues of de mans is be full of deceits: dat is de Princefs.

4

K. Henry. The Princess is the better English Woman. I'faith, Kate, my wooing is fit for thy understanding; I am glad thou canft speak no better English, for if thou couldft, thou wouldst find me such a plain King, that thou wouldst think I had fold my farm to buy my Crown. I know no ways to mince it in love, but directly to fay, I love you; then if you urge me further than to fay, do you in faith? I wear out my fuit. Give me your anfwer; i'faith, do; and fo clap hands and a bargain. How fay you, lady?

Cath. Sauf voftre honneur, me understand well.

K. Henry. Marry, if you would put me to verfes, or to dance for your fake, Kate, why, you undid me;

4-fuch a plain king,] I know not why Shakespeare now gives the king nearly fuch a character as he made him formerly ridicule in Percy. This military groffnefs and unfkilfulness in all the fofter arts, does not fuit very well with the gaieties of his youth, with the general knowledge afcribed to him at his acceffion, or with the contemptuous meffage fent him by the Dauphin, who reprefents him as fitter for the ball room

than the field, and tells him that he is not to revel into dutchies, or win provinces with a nimble galliard. The truth is, that the poet's matter failed him in the fifth act, and he was glad to fill it up with whatever he could get; and not even Shakespeare can write well without a proper fubject. It is a vain endeavour for the most skilful hand to cultivate barrennefs, or to paint upon vacuity.

for

for the one I have neither words nor measure; and for the other I have no ftrength in measure, yet a reasonable measure in ftrength. If I could win a lady at leap-frog, or by vaulting into my faddle with my armour on my back; under the correction of bragging be it spoken, I fhould quickly leap into a wife. Or if I might buffet for my love, or bound my horfe for her favours, I could lay on like a butcher, and fit like a jack-a-napes, never off. But, before God, Kate, I cannot look greenly, nor gafp out my eloquence, nor have I cunning in proteftation; only downright oaths, which I never ufe 'till urg'd, and never break for urging. If thou canst love a fellow of this temper, Kate, whofe face is not worth fun burning; that never looks in his glafs for love of any thing he fees there; let thine eye be thy cook. be thy cook. I fpeak plain foldier; if thou canft love me for this, take me; if not, to fay to thee that I fhall die, 'tis true; but for thy love, by the Lord, no; yet I love thee too. And while thou liv❜st, Kate, take a fellow of plain and uncoined constancy, s for he perforce muft do thee right, because he hath not the gift to woo in other places; for thefe fellows of infinite tongue, that can rhyme themselves into ladies' favours, they do always reafon themselves out again. What? a fpeaker is but a prater; a rhyme is but a ballad; a good leg will fall, a straight back will ftoop, a black beard will turn white, a curl'd pate will grow bald, a fair face will wither, a full eye will wax hollow; but a good heart, Kate, is the fun and the moon; or rather the fun, and not the moon; for it fhines bright and never changes, but keeps his courfe truly. If thou wouldst have fuch a one, take me;

5 -a fellow of plain and uncoined conftancy, i. e. a conftancy in the ingot, that hath Suffered no alloy, as all coined metal has. WARBURTON.

I believe this explanation is

more ingenious than true; to coin is to flamp and to counterfeit. He ufes it in both fenfes; uncoined conftancy fignifies real and true conftancy, unrefined and unadorned.

take

T

take a foldier; take a King. And what fay'st thou then to my love? speak, my fair, and fairly, I pray thee. Cath. Is it poffible dat I fhould love de enemy of France?

K. Henry. No, it is not poffible that you should love the enemy of France, Kate; but in loving me you should love the friend of France; for I love France fo well, that I will not part with a village of it; I will have it all mine; and, Kate, when France is mine and I am yours, then yours is France, and you are mine. Cath. I cannot tell vhat is dat.

K. Henry. No, Kate? I will tell thee in French, which, I am fure, will hang upon my tongue like a married wife about her husband's neck, hardly to be fhook off, quand j' ay le poffeffion de France, & quand vous aves le poffeffion de moi (let me fee, what then? St. Dennis be my fpeed!) donc voftre eft France, & Jous eftes mienne. It is as eafy for me, Kate, to conquer the kingdom, as to speak fo much more French. I fhall never move thee in French, unless it be to laugh at me. Cath. Sauf voftre bonneur, le Francois que vous parlez, eft meilleur que l'Anglois lequel je parle.

K. Henry. No, faith, is't not, Kate; but thy fpeaking of my tongue and I thine, moft truly fally, muft needs be granted to be much at one. But, Kate, dost thou understand thus much English? canft thou love me? Cath. I cannot tell.

K. Henry. Can any of your neighbours tell, Kate? I'll ask them. Come, I know thou loveft me; and at night when you come into your clofet, you'll queftion this gentlewoman about me; and I know, Kate, you will to her difpraise those parts in me, that you love with your heart; but, good Kate, mock me mercifully, the rather, gentle Princess, because I love thee cruelly. If ever thou beeft mine, Kate, (as I have faving faith within me, tells me, thou shalt) I get thee • married wife] Every wife should read new married; an epiis a married wife. I fuppofe we thet more expreffive of fondness. VOL. IV.

I

i

with