with scambling, and thou must therefore needs prove a good foldier-breeder: fhall not thou and I, between St. Dennis and St. George, compound a boy half French, half English, that shall go to Conftantinople and take the Turk by the beard? fhall we not? what fay'ft thou, my fair Flower-de-luce?

Cath. I do not know dat.

K. Henry. No, 'tis hereafter to know, but now to promife. Do but now promife, Kate, you will endeavour for your French part of such a boy; and for my English moiety, take the word of a King and a bachelor. How anfwer you, La plus belle Catharine du monde, mon tres chere & divine deffe.

Cath. Your Majeftee ave faufe Frenche enough to deceive de moft fage damoifel dat is en France.

K. Henry. Now, fy upon my false French; by mine honour, in true English I love thee, Kate; by which honour I dare not fwear thou lov'ft me, yet my blood begins to flatter me that thou doft, notwithstanding the poor and untempering effect of my vifage. 7 Now befhrew my father's ambition, he was thinking of civil wars when he 'got me; therefore was I created with a ftubborn outfide, with an aspect of iron, that when I come to woo ladies I fright them; but in faith, Kate, the elder I wax, the better I fhall appear. My comfort is, that old age, that ill layer up of beauty, can do no more fpoil upon my face. Thou haft me, if thou haft me, at the worft; and thou fhalt wear me, if thou wear me, better and better; and therefore tell me, moft fair Catharine, will you have me? Put off your maiden blushes, avouch the thoughts of your heart with the looks of an Emprefs, take me by the hand and fay, Harry of England, I am thine; which

years.

THEOBALD.

.6 Conftantinople] Shake- ry V. had been dead thirty-one Speare has here committed an anachronifm. The Turks were not poffeffed of Conftantinople be- Certainly, UNTEMPTING.

7 and UNTEMPERING effe]

fore the year 1453, when Hen

WARBURTON. word

word thou shalt no fooner blefs mine ear withal, but I will tell thee aloud, England is thine, Ireland is thine, France is thine, and Henry Plantagenet is thine; who, tho' I fpeak it before his face, if he be not fellow with the best King, thou fhalt find the beft King of good fellows. Come, your answer in broken mufick; for thy voice is mufick, and thy English broken: therefore Queen of all, Catharine, break thy mind to me in broken English, wilt thou have me?

Cath. Dat is, as it fhall please le roy mon pere.

K. Henry. Nay, it will pleafe him well, Kate; it shall please him, Kate.

Cath. Den it fhall alfo content me.

K. Henry. Upon that I kiss your hand, and I call you my Queen.

Cath. Laiffez, mon feigneur, laiffez, laiffez: ma foy, je ne veux point que vous abbaiffiez voftre grandeur, en baifant la main d'une voftre indigne ferviteure; excufez moy, je vous fupple, mon tres puffant Seigneur.

K. Henry. Then I will kifs your lips, Kate. Cath. Les dames & damoifelles pour efire.baifées devant leur nopces, il n'eft pas le coûtume de France.

K. Henry. Madam my interpreter, what fays fhe? Lady. Dat it is not be de fashion pour les ladies of France; I cannot tell, what is baifer en English. K. Henry. To kifs.

Lady. Your Majefty entendre bettre que moy.

K. Henry. Is it not a fashion for the maids in France to kifs before they are married, would fhe fay?

Lady. Ouy, vrayement.

K. Henry. O Kate, nice cuftoms curt'fy to great Kings. Dear Kate, you and I cannot be confin'd within the weak lift of a country's fafhion; we are the makers of manners, Kate; and the Liberty, that follows our places, ftops the mouth of all find-faults, as I will do yours, for the upholding the nice fafhion of your country in denying me a kifs. Therefore-patiently and yielding-[Kiffing her] You have witchcraft in your lips,

Ii 2

lips, Kate; there is more eloquence in a touch of them, than in the tongues of the French Council; and they fhould fooner perfuade Harry of England, than a general petition of monarchs. Here comes your father.

SCENE v.

Enter the French King and Queen, with French and English Lords.

Burg. God fave your Majefty! My royal cousin, teach you our Princess English?

K. Henry. I would have her learn, my fair coufin, how perfectly I love her, and that is good English. Burg. Is fhe apt?

K. Henry. Our tongue is rough, and my condition is not fmooth; fo that having neither the voice nor the heart of flattery about me, I cannot fo conjure up the spirit of love in her, that he will appear in his true likeness.

8

Burg. Pardon the franknefs of my mirth, if I anfwer you for that. If you would conjure in her, you must make a circle, if conjure up love in her in his true likeness, he must appear naked and blind. Can you blame her then, being a maid yet ros'd over with the virgin crimson of modefty, if she deny the appearance of a naked blind boy, in her naked feeing felf? it were my Lord, a hard condition for a maid to confign to.

K. Henry. Yet they do wink and yield, as love is blind and enforces.

Burg. They are then excus'd, my Lord, when they fee not what they do.

have here but a mean dialogue are very worthlefs. for princes; the merriment is

franknels of my mirth,] We

very grofs, and the fentiments

K. Henry.

K. Henry. Then, good my Lord, teach your coufin to consent to winking.

Burg. I will wink on her to confent, my Lord, if you will teach her to know my meaning. Maids, well fummer'd and warm kept, are like flies at Bartholemewtide, blind, though they have their eyes and then they will endure handling, which before would not abide looking on.

*

K. Henry. This moral ties me over to time, and a hot fummer; and fo I fhall catch the fly your cousin in the latter end, and fhe muft be blind too.

Burg. As love is, my Lord, before it loves.

K. Henry. It is fo; and you may fome of you thank love for my blindness, who cannot fee many a fair French city, for one fair French maid that ftands in my way.

Fr. King. Yes, my Lord, you fee them perfpectively; the cities turn'd into a maid; for they are all girdled with maiden walls, that war hath never enter'd. K. Henry. Shall Kate be my wife?

Fr. King. So please you.

K. Henry. I am content, fo the maiden cities you talk of may wait on her; fo the maid, that stood in the way for my wish, shall fhew me the way to my will. Fr. King. We have confented to all terms of reafon. K. Henry. Is't fo, my Lords of England? Weft. The King hath granted every article: His daughter firft; and then in fequel all, According to their firm propofed nature.

Exe. Only he hath not yet subscribed this : Where your Majefty demands, That the King of France, having occafion to write for matter of grant, shall name your Highness in this form, and with this addition in French: noftre tres cher fiz Henry Roy d'Angleterre,

This moral] That is, the application of this fable: the moral being the application of a fable, our authour calls any application a moral.

9 noftre tres cher filz-And I i

thus in Latin; PRÆCLARISSIMUS filius] What, is tres cher, in French, Præclariffimus in Latin! We fhould read, PRÆCAWARBURTON,

RISSIMUS.

3

beretier

beretier de France: and thus in Latin; Præclariffimus filius nofter Henricus Rex Anglia & hæres Francia. Fr. King. Yet this I have not (brother) fo deny'd, But your request fhall make me let it pass.

K. Henry. I pray you then, in love and dear alliance, Let that one article rank with the reft,

And thereupon give me your daughter.

Fr. King. Take her, fair fon, and from her blood

Iffue to me; that thefe contending Kingdoms,
England and France, whofe very fhores look pale
With envy of each other's happiness,

May cease their hatred; and this dear conjunction
Plant neighbourhood and christian like accord
In their fweet breafts, that never war advance
His bleeding fword 'twixt England and fair France.
Lords. Amen!

K. Henry. Now welcome, Kate; and bear me wit-
nefs all,

That here I kifs her as my Sovereign Queen. [Flourish.

Q. Ifa. God, the best maker of all marriages, Combine your hearts in one, your realms in one: As man and wife, being two, are one in love, So be there, 'twixt your kingdoms fuch a spoufal, That never may ill office, or fell jealousy, Which troubles oft the bed of bleffed marriage, Thruft in between the paction of these kingdoms, ! To make divorce of their incorporate league; That English may as French, French, Englishmen, Receive each other. God fpeak this Amen! All. Amen!

› Thrust in between the paffion of thele Kingdoms, ] The old Folio's have it, the fation; which makes me believe, the author's Word was paction; a Word, more proper on the occafion of a Peace ftruck up. A

Paffion of two Kingdoms for one another, is an odd Expreffion. An Amity and political Harmony may be fixed betwixt two Countries, and yet either People be far from having a Paffion for the other.

THEOBALD.

K. Henry.