Unto our brother France, and to our sister, F. King. Right joyous are we to behold your face, Q. Isa. So happy be the issue, brother England, Of this good day, and of this gracious meeting, As we are now glad to behold your eyes; Your eyes, which hitherto have borne in them Against the French, that met them in their bent, The fatal balls of murdering basilisks; The venom of such looks, we fairly hope, Have lost their quality; and that this day Shall change all griefs, and quarrels, into love. K. Hen. To cry amen to that, thus we appear. Q. Isa. You English princes all, I do salute you. Bur. My duty to you both, on equal love, Great kings of France and England! That I have labour'd With all my wits, my pains, and strong endeavours, To bring your most imperial majesties Unto this bar, and royal interview, Your mightiness on both parts best can witness, That, face to face, and royal eye to eye, You have congreeted; let it not disgrace me, What rub, or what impediment, there is, Why that the naked, poor, and mangled peace, Her vine, the merry cheerer of the heart, And as our vineyards, fallows, meads, and hedges, K. Hen. If, duke of Burgundy, you would the peace, Whose want gives growth to the imperfections Which you have eited, you must buy that peace With full accord to all our just demands; Bur. The king hath heard them; to the which, as yet, There is no answer made. Well then, the peace, K. Hen. Brother, we shall.-Go, uncle Exeter,- Q. Isa. Our gracious brother, I will go with them; Haply, a woman's voice may do some good, When articles too nicely urg'd, be stood on. K. Hen. Yet leave our cousin Katharine here with us; She is our capital demand, compris'd Q. Isa. She hath good leave. K. Hen. [Exeunt all but Henry, Katharine, and her Gentlewoman, Will you vouchsafe to teach a soldier terms, And plead his love-suit to her gentle heart? Kath. Your maiesty shall mock at me; I cannot speak your England. K. Hen. O fair Katharine, if you will love me soundly with your French heart, I will be glad to hear you confess it brokenly with your English tongue. Do you like me, Kate? Kath. Pardonnez moy, I cannot tell vat is-like me. K. Hen. An angel is like you, Kate; and you are like an angel. Kath. Que dit-il? que je suis semblable a les anges? Alice. Ouy, vrayment (sauf vostre grare) ainsi dit il. K. Hen. I said so, dear Katharine; and I must not blush to affirm it. Kath. O bon Dieu! les langues des hommes sont pleines des tromperies. K. Hen. What says she, fair one? that the tongues of men are full of deceits? Alice. Ouy; dat de tongues of de mans is be full of deceits; dat is de princess. K. Hen. The princess is the better Englishwomari. I'faith, Kate, my wooing is fit for thy understanding: I am glad thou canst speak no better English; for, if thou couldst, thou wouldst find me such a plain king, that thou wouldst think. I had sold my farm to buy my crown. I know no ways to mince it in love, but directly to say-I love you: then, if you urge me fur ther than to say-Do you in faith? I wear out my suit. Give me your answer; i'waith, do; and so elap hands and a bargain. How say you, lady? Kath. Sauf vostre honneur, me understand well. K. Hen. Marry, if you would put me to verses, or to dance for yoursake, Kate, why you undid me: for the one I have neither words nor measure, and for the oth er I have no strength in measure, yet a reasonable measure in strength. If I could win a lady at leap- || soldier-breeder: Shall not thou and I, between Saint frog, or by vaulting into my saddle with my armour en my back, under the correction of bragging be it spoken, I should quickly leap into a wife. Or, if I might buffet for my love, or bound my horse for her favours, I could lay on like a butcher, and sit like a jack-an-apes, never off: but, before God, I cannot look greenly, nor gasp out my eloquence, nor I have no eunning in protestation; only downright baths, which I never use till urged, nor never break for urging. If thou canst love a fellow of this temper, Kate, whose face is not worth sun-burning, that never looks in his glass for love of any thing he sees there, let thine eye be thy cook. I speak to thee plain soldier: If thou canst love me for this, take me: if not, to say to thee-that I shall die, is true; but-for thy love, by the Lord, no; yet I love thee too. And while thou livest, dear Kate, take a fellow of plain and uncoined constancy; for he perforce must do thee right, because he hath not the gift to woo in other places. For these fellows of infinite tongue, that can rhyme themselves into ladies' favours, they do always reason themselves out again. What! a speaker is but a prater; a rhyme is but a ballad. A good leg will fall; a straight back will stoop; a black beard will turn white; a curled pate will grow bald; a fair face will wither; a full eye will wax hollow: but a good heart, Kate, is the sun and moon; or, rather, the sun, and not the moon; for it shines bright, and never changes, but keeps his course truly. If thou would have such a one, take me: And take me, take a soldier; take a soldier, take a king And what sayest thou then to my love? speak, my fair, and fairly, I pray thee. Kath. Is it possible dat I should love de enemy of France? K. Hen. No; it is not possible, you should love the enemy of France, Kate: but, in loving me, you should love the friend of France; for I love France so 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. Kath. I cannot tell vat is dat. K. Hen. No, Kate? I will tell thee in French; which, I am sure, will hang upon my tongue like a new-married wife about her husband's neck, hardly to be shook off. Quand j'ay la possession de France, & quand vous avez le possession de moi, (let me see, what then? Saint Dennis be my speed!)-donc vostre est France, 6 vous estes mienne. It is as easy for me, Kate, to conquer the kingdom, as to speak so much more French: I shall never move thee in French, unless it be to laugh at me. Kath. Sauf vostre honneur, le François que vous parlez, est meilleur que l'Anglois lequel je parle. K. Hen. No, 'faith, is't not, Kate: but thy speaking of my tongue, and I thine, most truly falsely, must needs be granted to be much at one. But, Kate, dost thou understand thus much English? Canst thou love me? Kath. I cannot tell. K. Hen. Can any of your neighbours tell, Kate? I'll ask them. Come, I know, thou lovest me: and at night when you come into your closet, you'll question this gentlewoman about me; and I know, Kate, you will, to her, dispraise those parts in me, that you love with your heart: but, good Kate, moek me mercifully; the rather, gentle princess, because I love thee cruelly. If ever thou be'st mine, Kate, (as I have a saving faith within me, tells me, thou shalt,) I get thee with scainbling, and thou must therefore needs prove a good Dennis, and Saint George, compound a boy, half French, half English, that shall go to Constantinople, and take the Turk by the beard? shall we not? what sayest thou, my fair flower-de-luce? Kath. I do not know dat. K. Hen. No; 'tis hereafter to know, but now to promise: do but now promise, 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 answer you, la plus belle Katharine du monde, montres chere & divine deesse? Kath. Your majeste 'ave fausse French enough to deceive de most sage damoiselle dat is en France. K. Hen. Now, fie upon my false French! By mine honour, in true English, I love thee, Kate: by which honour I dare not swear, thou lovest me; yet my blood begins to flatter me that thou dost, notwithstanding the poor and untempering effect of my visage. Now besbrew my father's ambition! he was thinking of civil wars when he got me; therefore was I created with a stubborn outside, 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 shall appear: my comfort is, that old age, that ill layer-up of beauty, can do no more spoil upon my face: thou hast me, if thou hast me, at the worst; and thou shalt wear me, if thou wear me, better and better; And therefore tell me, most fair Katharine, will you have me? Put off your maiden blushes; avouch the thoughts of your heart with the looks of an empress; take me by the hand, and say-Harry of England, I am thine: which word thou shalt no sooner bless mine ear withal, but I will tell thee aloud-England is thine, Ireland is thine, France is thine, and Henry Plantagenet is thine; who, though I speak it before his face, if he be not fellow with the best king, thou shalt find the best king of good fellows. Come, your answer in broken musie; for thy voice is music, and thy English broken : therefore, queen of all, Katharine, break thy mind to me in broken English, Wilt thou have me? Kath. Dat is, as it shall please de roy mon pere. K. Hen. Nay, it will please him well, Kate; it shall please him, Kate. Kath. Den it shall also content me. K. Hen. Upon that I will kiss your hand, and I call you-my queen.. Kath. Laissez, mon seigneur, laissez, laissez: ma foy, je ne veux point que vous abbaissez vostre grandeur, en baisant la main d'une vostre indigne serviteure; excusez moy, je vous supplie, montres puissant seigneur. K. Hen. Then I will kiss your lips, Kate. France, I cannot tell what is, baiser, en English. K. Hen. To kiss. Alice. Your majesty entendre better que moy. K. Hen. O, Kate, nice customs curt'sy to great kings. Dear Kate, you and I cannot be confined within the weak list of a country's fashion: we are the makers of manners, Kate; and the liberty that follows our places, stops the mouths of all find-faults; as I will do yours, for upholding the nice fashion of your country, in denying me a kiss: therefore, patiently, and yield ing. [Kissing her.] You have witcheraft in your lips, Kate: there is more eloquence in a sugar touch of them, than in the tongues of the French council; and they should sooner persuade Harry of England, than a general petition of monarchs. Here comes your father. Enter the French King and Queen, Burgundy, Bedford, Gloster, Exeter, Westmoreland, and other French and English Lords. 1 Bur. God save your majesty! my royal cousin, teach you our princess English? K. Hen. I would have her learn, my fair cousin, how perfectly I love her; and that is good English. Bur. Is she not apt? K. Hen. Our tongue is rough, coz; and my condition is not smooth: so that, having neither the voice nor the heart of flattery about me, I cannot so conjure up the spirit of love in her, that he will appear in his true likeness. Bur. Pardon the frankness of my mirth, if I answer 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 rosed over with the virgin crimson of modesty, if she deny the appear ance of a naked blind boy in her naked seeing self? It were, my lord, a hard condition for a maid to consign to. K. Hen. Yet they do wink, and yield; as love is blind, and enforces. Bur. They are then excused, my lord, when they see not what they do. K. Hen, Then, good my lord, teach your cousin to consent to winking. Bur. I will wink on her to consent, my lord, if you will teach her to know my meaning: for maids, well summered and warım kept, are like flies at Bartholomew-tide, blind, though they have their eyes; and thien they will endure handling, which before would not abide looking on. K. Hen. This moral ties me over to time, and a hot summer; and so I will catch the fly, your cousin, in the latter end, and she must be blind too. Bur. As love is, my lord, before it loves. K. Hen. It is so and you may, some of you, thank love for my blindness; who cannot see many a fair French city, for one fair French maid that stands in my way. F. King. Yes, my lord, you see them perspectively, the cities turned into a maid; for they are all girdled with maiden walls, that war hath never entered. K. Hen. Shall Kate be my wife? F. King. So please you. K. Hen. I am content; so the maiden cities you talk of, may wait on her: so the maid, that stood in the way of my wish, shall show me the way to my will. F. King. We have consented to all terms of reason. K. Hen. Is't so, my lords of England? West. The king hath granted every article : His daughter, first; and then, in sequel, all, Exe. Only, he hath not yet subscribed this :Where your majesty demands, That the king of France having any occasion to write for matter of grant, shall name your highness in this form, and with this addition in French-Notre tres cher füz Henry roy d'Angleterre, heretier de France: and thus in Latin,-Præ. clarissimus filius noster Henricus, rex Angliæ, & ha res Francia. F. King. Nor this I have not, brother, so denied, But your request shall make me let it pass. K. Hen. I pray you then, in love and dear alliance, Let that one article rank with the rest: And, thereupon, give me your daughter. F. King. Take her, fair son; and from her blood raise up Issue to me: that the contending kingdoms K. Hen. Now welcome, Kate:-and bear me witness all, That here I kiss her as my sovereign queen. [Flourish. Q. Isa. God, the best maker of all marriages, Which troubles oft the bed of blessed marriage, K. Hen. Prepare we for our marriage:-on which day, My lord of Burgundy, we'll take your oath, Enter Chorus. Thus far, with rough, and all unable pen, Mangling by starts the full force of their glory. Small time, but, in that small, most greatly liv'd This star of England: fortune made his sword; By which the world's best garden be achier'd, And of it left his son imperial lord. Henry the Sixth, in infant bands crown'd king FIRST PART OF KING HENRY VI. King Henry the Sixth. PERSONS REPRESENTED. Duke of Gloster, uncle to the king, and protector. Thomas Beaufort, duke of Exeter, great uncle to the king. Henry Beaufort, great uncle to the king, bishop of John Beaufort, earl of Somerset; afterwards duke. Edmund Mortimer, earl of March. Sir John Fastolfe. Sir William Lucy. Mayor of London. Woodville, lieutenant of the Tower. Vernon, of the White Rose, or York faction. Basset, of the Red Rose, or Lancaster faction. Comets, importing change of times and states, His brandish'd sword did blind men with his beams; Exe. We mourn in black; Why mourn we not in blood? Henry is dead, and never shall revive: Conjurers and sorcerers, that, afraid of him, Win. He was a king bless'd of the King of kings. Glo. The church! where is it? had not church-men pray'd, His thread of life had not so soon decay'd: Win. Gloster, whate'er we like, thou art protector; Glo. Name not religion, for thou lov'st the flesh; And ne'er throughout the year to church thou go'st, Except it be to pray against thy foes. Bed. Cease, ccase these jars, and rest your minds in peace! Let's to the altar:-Heralds, wait on us:- When at their mother's moist eyes babes shall suck; And none but women left to wail the dead.- Enter a Messenger. Mes. My honourable lords, health to you all! Sad tidings bring I to you out of France, Of loss, of slaughter, and discomfiture: Guienne, Champaigne, Rheims, Orleans, Paris, Guysors, Poictiers, are all quite lost. Where valiant Talbot, above human thought, Bed. What say'st thou, man, before dead Henry's The French exclaim'd, The devil was in arms; corse? Speak softly; or the loss of those great towns Will make him burst his lead, and rise from death. Glo. Is Paris lost? Is Rouen yielded up ? If Henry were recall'd to life again, All the whole army stood agaz'd on him: His soldiers, spying his undaunted spirit, A Talbot! a Talbot! cried out amain, And rash'd into the bowels of the battle. Here had the conquest fully been seal'd up, These news would cause him once more yield the If sir John Fastolfe had not play'd the coward; ghost. Exe. How were they lost? what treachery was us'd? He being in the vaward, (place'd behind, Mes. No treachery; but want of men and money. Among the soldiers this is muttered,That here you maintain several factions; And, whilst a field should be despatch'd and fought, One would have ling'ring wars, with little cost; E.re. Were our tears wanting to this funeral, Bed. Me they concern; regent 1 am of France :Give me my steeled coat, I'll fight for France.Away with these disgraceful wailing robes! Wounds I will lend the French, instead of eyes, To weep their interanissive miseries. Enter another Messenger. 2 Mer. Lords, view these letters, full of bad mischance; France is revolted from the English quite, Exe. The dauphin crowned king! all fly to him! O whither shall we fly from this reproach? Glo. We will not fly, but to our enemies' throats :Bedford, if thou be slack, I'll fight it out. Bed. Gloster, why doubt'st thou of my forwardness? An army have I muster'd in my thoughts, Wherewith already France is overrun. Enter a third Messenger. 3 Mes. My gracious lords, to add to your laments, Wherewith you now bedew king Henry's hearse,I must inform you of a dismal fight, Betwixt the stout lord Talbot and the French. Win. What! wherein Talbot overcame? is't so? 3 Mes. O, no; wherein lord Talbot was o'erthrown; The circumstance I'll tell you more at large, The tenth of August last, this dreadful lord, Retiring from the siege of Orleans, Having full scaree six thousand in his troop, By three and twenty thousand of the French Was round encompassed and set upon: No leisure had he to enrank his men; He wanted pikes to set before his archers; Instead whereof, shary stakes, pluck'd out of bedges, They pitched in the ground confusedly, To keep the horsemen off from breaking in, More than three hours the fight continued; Bed. Is Talbot slain? then I will slay myself, 3 Mes. O no, he lives; but is took prisoner, And lord Scales with him, and lord Hungerford: Most of the rest slaughter'd, or took, likewise. Bed. His ransome there is none but I shall pay: I'll hale the dauphin headlong from his throne, His crown shall be the ransome of my friend; Four of their lords I'll ebange for one of oursFarewell, my masters; to my task will I; Bonfires in France forthwith I am to make, To keep our great Saint George's feast withal: Ten thousand soldiers with me I will take, Whose bloody deeds shall make all Europe quake. 3 Mes. So you had need; for Orleans is beseig'd; The English army is grown weak and faint: The earl of Salisbury craveth supply, And hardly keeps his men from mutiny, Since they, so few, watch such a multitude. Exe. Remember, lords, your oaths to Henry sworn; Either to quell the dauphin utterly, Or bring him in obedience to your yoke. Bed. I do remember it; and here take leave, To go about my preparation. [E Glo. I'll to the Tower, with all the haste I can, To view the artillery and munition; And then I will proclaim young Henryking. [Erit Being ordain'd his special governor ; [Exit Win. Each hath his plase and function to attend: I am left out; for me nothing remains. [Exit. Scene closes. SCENE II.-France. Before Orleans. Enter Charles, with his Ferres; Alencon, Reignier, and others. Char. Mars his true moving, even as in the heavens, So in the earth, to this day is not known: |