That owe yourselves, your lives, and services
To this imperial throne : -There is no bar
To make against your Highness' claim to France
But this, which they produce from Pharamond,
In terram Salicam mulieres ne succedant,
"No woman shall succeed in Salique land":
Which Salique land the French unjustly gloze
To be the realm of France, and Pharamond
The founder of this law and female bar.
Yet their own authors faithfully affirm
That the land Salique is in Germany,
Between the floods of Sala and of Elbe ;

Where Charles the Great, having subdued the Saxons,
There left behind and settled certain French;
Who, holding in disdain the German women
For some dishonest manners of their life,
Establish'd then this law, to wit, no female
Should be inheritrix in Salique land :
Which Salique, as I said, 'twixt Elbe and Sala,
Is at this day in Germany call'd Meisen.
Then doth it well appear, the Salique law
Was not devised for the realm of France:
Nor did the French possess the Salique land
Until four hundred one-and-twenty years

7 To gloze is to explain or expound, as in our word gloss. So in Holinshed: The verie words of that supposed law are these, In terram Salicam mulieres ne succedant, that is to saie, Into the Salike land let not women succeed. Which the French glossers expound to be the realme of France, and that this law was made by King Pharamond."

8 Shakespeare often uses honest and honesty for chaste and chastity. So here dishonest means unchaste. So in As You Like It, v. 3: "I hope it is no dishonest desire, to desire to be a woman of the world"; that is, to get married. See As You Like It, page 97, note 6.

After defunction of King Pharamond,
Idly supposed the founder of this law;

Who died within the year of our redemption
Four hundred twenty-six; and Charles the Great
Subdued the Saxons, and did seat the French
Beyond the river Sala, in the year

Eight hundred five. Besides, their writers say,
King Pepin, which deposed Childeric,

Did, as heir general, being descended

Of Blithild, which was daughter to King Clothair,
Make claim and title to the crown of France.
Hugh Capet also,-who usurp'd the crown
Of Charles the Duke of Lorraine, sole heir male
Of the true line and stock of Charles the Great, -
To fine his title 9 with some show of truth,
Though, in pure truth, it was corrupt and naught,
Convey'd himself 10 as th' heir to th' Lady Lingare,
Daughter to Charlemain, who was the son

To Louis the Emperor, and Louis the son

Of Charles the Great. Also King Louis the Tenth,11
Who was sole heir to the usurper Capet,

Could not keep quiet in his conscience,
Wearing the crown of France, till satisfied

9 "To fine his title" may mean to embellish or dress up his title, to make it specious or plausible. See Critical Notes.

10 Passed himself off as heir to the lady Lingare. Bishop Cooper has the same expression: "To convey himself to be of some noble family.” The matter is thus stated by Holinshed: "Hugh Capet also, to make his title seeme true, and appeare good, though indeed it was starke naught, conveied himselfe as heire to the ladie Lingard, daughter to king Charlemaine."

11 This should be Louis the Ninth. The Poet took the mistake from Holinshed.

That fair Queen Isabel, his grandmother,

Was lineal of the Lady Ermengare,

Daughter to Charles the foresaid Duke of Lorraine :

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 Louis's 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 imbar 12 their crooked titles

Usurp'd from you and your progenitors.

King. 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.13 Gracious lord,
Stand for your own; unwind your bloody flag;
Look back unto your mighty ancestors :
Go, my dread lord, to your great-grandsire's tomb,
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,

See Critical Notes.
Holinshed gives it

12 To imbar is to bar; that is, to exclude or set aside. 13 The passage referred to is in Numbers xxvii, 8. thus: "The archbishop further alledged out of the booke of Numbers this saieing, 'When a man dieth without a sonne, let the inheritance descend to his daughter."

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 !14

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 enterprises.

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 :

They know your Grace hath cause and means and might.
West. 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 blood and sword and fire to win your right:

In aid whereof we of the Spirituality

Will raise your Highness such a mighty sum

As never did the Clergy at one time

Bring in to any of your ancestors.

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

But lay down our proportions to defend

14 The meaning evidently is, cold for want of action. For similar instances of language see As You Like It, page 79, note 7.

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

Cant. They of those marches,15 gracious sovereign,
Shall be a wall sufficient to defend

Our inland from the pilfering borderers.

King. We do not mean the coursing snatchers only,
But fear the main intendment of the Scot,16
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 assays,
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 17 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 her chronicle as rich with praise

15 The marches are the borders. See 1 Henry IV., page 93, note I. 16 The main intendment is the principal purpose; that he will bend his whole force against us.— A giddy neighbour is an unstable or inconstant neighbour, one not true to his promises.

17 Fear'd here means frighten'd. We have it in the same sense in other places, as in 3 Henry VI., v. 2: "Warwick was a bug that fear'd us all."