Daughter to Charlemain, who was the son
To Lewis the emperor, and Lewis the son

Of Charles the great. Also king Lewis the tenth,
Who was sole heir to the usurper Capet,
Could not keep quiet in his conscience,
Wearing the crown of France, till satisfied
That fair queen Isabel, his grandmother,
Was lineal of the lady Ermengare,

Daughter to Charles the foresaid duke of Lorain :
By the which marriage the line of Charles the great
Was re-united to the crown of France.

So that, as clear as is the summer's sun,
King Pepin's title, and Hugh Capet's claim,
King Lewis his satisfaction, all appear
To hold in right and title of the female.
So do the kings of France unto this day,
Howbeit they would hold up this Salique law,
To bar your highness claiming from the female;
And rather choose to hide them in a net,
Than amply to imbare their crooked titles'

Usurp'd from you and your progenitors.

K. Hen. May I with right and conscience make this claim?

Cant. The sin upon my head, dread sovereign;

For in the book of Numbers is it writ,

When the man dies, let the inheritance

Descend unto the daughter. Gracious lord,
Stand for your own; unwind your bloody flag;
Look back into your mighty ancestors:

Go, my dread lord, to your great grandsire's tomb,

Than amply to IMBARE their crooked titles] With reference to the word "imbare," it is necessary to state the old readings. The quartos of 1600 and 1602 read imbace, and have causes for "titles:" the quarto, 1608, alters the word to embrace. These are no doubt wrong, and the folio, 1623, substitutes imbarre. The true reading seems that of Malone, supported by Steevens and M. Mason," imbare," in the sense of expose, lay bare, or lay open. The printer of the first quarto inserted, by mistake, a c for an r, and subsequent compositors, not knowing how to correct the error, the corruption of the text was only varied.

From whom you claim; invoke his warlike spirit,
And your great uncle's, Edward the black prince,
Who on the French ground play'd a tragedy,
Making defeat on the full power of France,
Whiles his most mighty father on a hill
Stood smiling, to behold his lion's whelp
Forage in blood of French nobility.

O noble English! that could entertain
With half their forces the full pride of France,
And let another half stand laughing by,
All out of work, and cold for action.

Ely. Awake remembrance of these valiant dead,
And with your puissant arm renew their feats.
You are their heir, you sit upon their throne;
The blood and courage, that renowned them,
Runs in your veins; and my thrice-puissant liege
Is in the very May-morn of his youth,

Ripe for exploits and mighty enterprizes.

Exe. Your brother kings, and monarchs of the earth, Do all expect that you should rouse yourself,

As did the former lions of your blood.

West. They know, your grace hath cause, and means, and might:

So hath your highness:-never king of England
Had nobles richer, and more loyal subjects,

Whose hearts have left their bodies here in England,
And lie pavilion'd in the fields of France.

Cant. O! let their bodies follow, my dear liege, With blood3, and sword, and fire, to win your right:

2 So hath your highness, &c.] Perhaps, says Coleridge, (Lit. Remains,

vol. ii. p. 183.) these lines ought to be recited dramatically thus :

They know your grace hath cause, and means, and might :—

So hath your highness-never king of England

Had nobles, richer," &c.

Westmoreland breaks off from the grammar and natural order from earnestness, and in order to give the meaning more passionately. Malone would poorly understand Westmoreland to confirm the opinion of Henry's "brother kings," as to his powers and resources-" So hath your highness."

3 With BLOOD,]

The folios, 1623 and 1632, have bloods, an obvious misprint, corrected in the folio, 1664.

In aid whereof, we of the spiritualty

Will raise your highness such a mighty sum,
As never did the clergy at one time

Bring in to any of your ancestors.

K. Hen. We must not only arm t' invade the French,

But lay down our proportions to defend

Against the Scot; who will make road upon us
With all advantages.

Cant. They of those marches, gracious sovereign,
Shall be a wall sufficient to defend

Our inland from the pilfering borderers.

K. Hen. We do not mean the coursing snatchers only,

But fear the main intendment of the Scot,

Who hath been still a giddy neighbour to us:
For you shall read, that my great grandfather
Never went with his forces into France,
But that the Scot on his unfurnish'd kingdom
Came pouring, like the tide into a breach,
With ample and brim fulness of his force;
Galling the gleaned land with hot essays,
Girding with grievous siege castles and towns;
That England, being empty of defence,

Hath shook, and trembled at th' ill neighbourhood.
Cant. She hath been then more fear'd than harm'd,

my liege;

For hear her but exampled by herself:

When all her chivalry hath been in France,

And she a mourning widow of her nobles,
She hath herself not only well defended,
But taken, and impounded as a stray,

The king of Scots; whom she did send to France,
To fill king Edward's fame with prisoner kings,
And make their chronicle as rich with praise,

4 And make THEIR chronicle, &c.] The folio has "their," the quarto your: "their chronicle" is the chronicle of that time.

As is the ooze and bottom of the sea

With sunken wreck and sumless treasuries.

West. But there's a saying, very old and true,"If that you will France win,

Then with Scotland first begin:"

For once the eagle, England, being in prey,
To her unguarded nest the weasel, Scot,
Comes sneaking, and so sucks her princely eggs;
Playing the mouse in absence of the cat,

To tear and havoc more than she can eat3.

Ere. It follows then, the cat must stay at home:
Yet that is but a curs'd necessity,

Since we have locks to safeguard necessaries,
And pretty traps to catch the petty thieves.
While that the armed hand doth fight abroad,
Th' advised head defends itself at home:
For government, though high, and low, and lower,
Put into parts, doth keep in one consent,
Congreeing in a full and natural close,
Like music.

Cant.

Therefore doth heaven divide

The state of man in divers functions,
Setting endeavour in continual motion;
To which is fixed, as an aim or butt,
Obedience: for so work the honey bees,
Creatures that by a rule in nature teach
The act of order to a peopled kingdom:
They have a king, and officers of sorts;
Where some, like magistrates, correct at home,

5 TO TEAR and havoc more than she can eat.] The folio reads, "To tame and havoc :" the quartos have spoil. Theobald substitutes taint, but it is very evident that it is a mere misprint of "tame" for tear, which was of old spelt with a final e.

6 Yet that is but a CURS'D necessity;] So the quartos, in reference, perhaps, to the disposition of a cat. The folios read crush'd. It has been suggested to me that we might read "a cur's necessity," or necessity imposed by a cur, Scotland being afterwards called "the dog."

7 Congreeing] i. e. agreeing together, an unusual but expressive word. The quartos have congrueth. Pope substituted congruing, but the change seems for the worse.

Others, like merchants, venture trade abroad,
Others, like soldiers, armed in their stings,
Make boot upon the summer's velvet buds;
Which pillage they with merry march bring home
To the tent-royal of their emperor:
Who, busied in his majesty, surveys

The singing masons building roofs of gold,
The civil citizens kneading up the honey,
The poor mechanic porters crowding in
Their heavy burdens at his narrow gate,
The sad-ey'd justice, with his surly hum,
Delivering o'er to executors pale
The lazy yawning drone. I this infer,-
That many things, having full reference
To one concent, may work contrariously;
As many arrows, loosed several ways,

Come to one mark; as many ways meet in one town; As many fresh streams meet in one salt sea;

As many lines close in the dial's center;

So may a thousand actions, once afoot,
End in one purposes, and be all well borne
Without defeat. Therefore, to France, my liege.
Divide your happy England into four;
Whereof take you one quarter into France,
And you withal shall make all Gallia shake.
If we, with thrice such powers left at home,
Cannot defend our own doors from the dog,
Let us be worried, and our nation lose

The name of hardiness, and policy.

K. Hen. Call in the messengers sent from the Dauphin.

[Exit an Attendant. Now are we well resolv'd: and, by God's help,

And yours, the noble sinews of our power,

8 END in one PURPOSE,] The folio has And; precisely the same error as that made in "All's Well that Ends Well," Vol. II. p. 252, where "And ere I do begin" is misprinted for "End ere I do begin." The quartos have it "End in one moment.” "End" is of course right, but moment seems to have been a mere guess.