Doth root upon, while that the coulter rusts, [burs, Defective in their natures, grow to wildness, K. Hen. If, duke of Burgundy, you would the peace, K. Hen. Kath. Your majesty 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 à les anges? Alice. Ouy, vrayment, sauf vostre grace, 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 Englishwoman. 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 farther than to say-- -Do you in faith? I wear out my suit. Give me your answer; i' faith, do, and so clap 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 your sake, Kate, why you undid me: for the one, I have neither words nor measure; and for the other, I have Whose want gives growth to the imperfections eter, go Haply a woman's voice may do some good, into a wife. Or if I might buffet for my love, or bound my horse for her favours, I could lay [ter, on like a butcher, and sit like a jackanapes, sis-never off. But before God, Kate, I cannot look greenly, nor gasp out my eloquence, nor I have no cunning in protestation; only down. right oaths, 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 anything 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 [Alice. She is our capital demand, compris'd And plead his love-suit to her gentle heart? Kath. Your majesté have fausse French enough to deceive de most sage demoiselle dat is en France. these fellows of infinite tongue, that can rhyme to promise: do but now promise, Kate, you themselves into ladies' favours, they do always will endeavour for your French part of such a reason themselves out again. What! a boy; and for my English moiety, take the speaker is but a prater; a rhyme is but a ballad. word of a king and a bachelor. How answer A good leg will fall; a straight back will you, la plus belle Katharine du monde, mon stoop; a black beard will turn white; a curled très chère et divine déesse? pate will grow bald; a fair face will wither; a full eye will wax hollow; but a good heart, Kate, is the sun and the 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. 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, beshrew my father's ambition! he was thinking of civil wars when he got me: therefore was I K. Hen. No; it is not possible you created with a stubborn outside, with an aspect should love the enemy of France, Kate; but, of iron, that, when I come to woo ladies, I in loving me, you should love the friend of fright them. But, in faith, Kate, the elder I France; for I love France so well, that I will wax, the better I shall appear: my comfort is, not part with a village of it; I will have it all that old age, that ill layer-up of beauty, can do mine and, Kate, when France is mine and I no more spoil upon my face: thou hast me, if am yours, then yours is France and you are thou hast me, at the worst; and thou shalt Kath. I cannot tell vat is dat. [mine. wear me, if thou wear me, better and better:K. Hen. No, Kate? I will tell thee in and therefore tell me, most fair Katharine, French; which I am sure will hang upon my will you have me? Put off your maiden blushes; tongue like a new-married wife about her hus-avouch the thoughts of your heart with the band's neck, hardly to be shook off.-Quand looks of an empress; take me by the hand, jay la possession de France, et quand vous avez and say--Harry of England, I am thine: la possession de moy, (let me see, what then? which word thou shalt no sooner bless mine ear Saint Dennis be my speed!)-donc vostre est withal, but will tell thee aloud-England is France, et vous estes mienne. It is as easy for thine, Ireland is thine, France is thine, and me, Kate, to conquer the kingdom, as to speak Henry Plantagenet is thine; who, though I so much more French: I shall never move thee speak it before his face, if he be not fellow with in French, unless it be to laugh at me. the best king, thou shalt find the best king of good fellows. Come, your answer in broken music, 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? [père. 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, mock 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 ine tells me thou shalt,) I get thee with scambling, and thou must therefore needs prove a good soldier-breeder: shall not thou and I, between Saint 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 Kath. I do not know dat. [flower-de-luce. Kath. Dat is as it shall please de roy mon 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 kiss your hand, and I call you my queen. Kath. Laissez, mon seigneur, laissez, laissez: ma foy, je ne veux point que vous abaissez vostre grandeur, en baisant la main d'une vostre indigne serviteure: excusez moy, je vous supplie, mon très puissant seigneur. K. Hen. Then I will kiss your lips, Kate. K. Hen. Madam my interpreter, what says Alice. Your majesty entendre bettre que moy. Fr. 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 for my wish, shall show me the way to my will. [of reason. Fr. King. We have consented to all terms K. Hen. Is't so, my lords of England? West. The king hath granted every article: His daughter first: and then, in sequel, all, According to their firm proposed natures. K. Hen. O Kate, nice customs court'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 yielding. [Kissing her.] You have witchcraft in your lips, Kate: there is more eloquence in a sugar touch of them, than in the tongues Exe. Only, he hath not yet subscribed this: of the French council; and they should sooner Where your majesty demands, that the king persuade Harry of England, than a general of France, having any occasion to write for petition of monarchs. Here comes your father. matter of grant, shall name your highness in Re-enter the King and Queen, Burgundy, this form, and with this addition, in French, — Bedford, Gloster, Exeter, Warwick, West- Notre très cher filz Henry roy d'Angleterre, moreland, and other French and English heretier de France; and thus in Latin,-PreLords. clarissimus filius noster Henricus, rex Angliæ, Bur. God save your majesty! My royal cou-et hæres Franciæ. Teach you our princess English? [sin, 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, 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 appearance 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 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 warm kept, are like flies at Bartholomew-tide, blind, though they have their eyes; and then 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 shall 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. Fr. 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? [denied, Fr. King. Nor this I have not, brother, so Let that one article rank with the rest ; Issue to me; that the contending kingdoms With envy of each other's happiness, [junction All. Amen! That here I kiss her as my sovereign queen. Q. Isa. God, the best maker of all marriages, To make divorce of their incorporate league ; men, Receive each other! God speak this Amen! K. Hen. Prepare we for our marriage: on be! Enter Chorus. Thus far, with rough and all unable pen, Shall time, but, in that small, most greatly liv'd By which the world's best garden he achiev'd, Of France and England, did this king sucWhose state so many had the managing, [ceed; That they lost France, and made his Eng[sake, Which oft our stage hath shown; and, for their In your fair minds let this acceptance take. land bleed: [Exit. FIRST PART OF KING HENRY VI. King Henry the Sixth. DRAMATIS PERSONÆ. Duke of Gloster, Uncle to the King, and Protector. Duke of Bedford, Uncle to the King, and Re- Thomas Beaufort, Duke of Exeter, Great Henry Beaufort, Great Uncle to the King; John Beaufort, Earl of Somerset, afterwards Richard Plantagenet, Eldest Son of Richard, Earls of Warwick, Salisbury, and Suffolk. Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March. Sir Thomas Gar Woodville, Lieutenant of the Tower; Mayor Vernon, of the White Rose, or York Faction. Reignier, Duke of Anjou, and titular king of Dukes of Burgundy and Alençon. Bastard of Governor of Paris. Master-Gunner of Orleans, General of the French Forces in Bourdeaux. Joan la Pucelle, commonly called Joan of Arc. Fiends appearing to La Pucelle, Lords, SCENE,-Partly in England, and partly in France. ACT I. SCENE I.-Westminster Abbey. Dead March. The Corpse of King Henry the Fifth is discovered, lying in state; attended on by the Dukes of Bedford, Gloster, and Exeter, the Earl of Warwick, the Bishop of Winchester, Heralds, &c. Bed. Hung be the heavens with black, yield Comets, importing change of times and states, Glo. England ne'er had a king until his time. His arms spread wider than a dragon's wings; More dazzled and drove back his enemies Exe. We mourn in black: why mourn we not in blood? Henry is dead, and never shall revive. Win. He was a king, bless'd of the King of Glo. The church! where is it? Had not churchmen pray'd, His thread of life had not so soon decay'd: None do you like but an effeminate prince, Whom, like a school-boy, you may over-awe. Win. Gloster, whate'er we like, thou art protector, And lookest to command the prince, and realm. Thy wife is proud; she holdeth thee in awe, More than God or religious churchmen may. Glo. Name not religion, for thou lov'st the flesh, And ne'er throughout the year to church thou Let's to the altar-Heralds, wait on us :- Enter a Messenger. Mess. 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. Bed. What say'st thou, man, before dead Henry's corse? Speak softly; or the loss of those great towns Will make him burst his lead, and rise from death. the ghost. Glo. Is Paris lost? is Rouen yielded up? If Henry were recall'd to life again, These news would cause him once more yield [was us'd? Exe. How were they lost? what treachery Mess. No treachery; but want of men and Among the soldiers this is muttered, [money. That here you maintain several factions; And, whilst a field should be despatch'd and You are disputing of your generals: [fought, One would have lingering wars, with little cost; Another would fly swift, but wanteth wings; A third man thinks, without expense at all, By guileful fair words peace may be obtain'd. Awake, awake, English nobility! Let not sloth dim your honours, new-begot: Cropp'd are the flower-de-luces in your arms; Of England's coat one half is cut away. Exe. Were our tears wanting to this funeral, These tidings would call forth her flowing tides. Bed. Me they concern; regent I am of France. Give me my steeled coat! I'll fight for France. Away with these disgraceful wailing robes! Wounds will I lend the French, instead of eyes, To weep their intermissive miseries. Enter a second Messenger. 2 Mess. Lords, view these letters, full of bad mischance. France is revolted from the English quite, The bastard of Orleans with him is join'd ; 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. An army have I muster'd in my thoughts, 3 Mess. My gracious lords, to add to your laments, Wherewith you now bedew king Henry's I must inform you of a dismal fight [hearse, Betwixt the stout lord Talbot and the French. Win. What! wherein Talbot overcame ? is't so? 3 Mess. O, no; wherein lord Talbot was o'erthrown: The circumstance I'll tell you more at large. They pitched in the ground confusedly, stand him; Here, there, and everywhere, enrag'd he slew: |