Even fo our houses, and ourselves, and children,
Have loft, or do not learn, for want of time,
The fciences that should become our country;
But grow, like favages,-as foldiers will,
That nothing do but meditate on blood,—
To fwearing, and ftern looks, diffus'd attire,3
And every thing that feems unnatural.
Which to reduce into our former favour,+
You are affembled: and my fpeech entreats,
That I may know the let, why gentle peace
Should not expel thefe inconveniencies,
And blefs us with her former qualities.

K. Hen. If, duke of Burgundy, you would the peace,
Whole want gives growth to the imperfections
Which you have cited, you must buy that peace
With full accord to all our juft demands;

Whole tenours and particular effects.

You have, enfchedul'd briefly, in your hands.

Bur. The king hath heard them; to the which, as yet,
There is no answer made.

K. Hen.
Well then, the peace,
Which you before fo urg'd, lies in his answer.
Fr. King. I have but with a curforary eye
O'er-glanc'd the articles: pleaseth your grace
To appoint fome of your council presently
To fit with us once more, with better heed
To re-furvey them, we will, fuddenly,
Pafs our accept, and peremptory anfwer.5

K. Hen

3 Diffus'd, for extravagant. The military habit of those times was extremely fo. A&t III. Gower fays, And what a beard of the general's cut, and a horrid fuit of the camp, will do among ft, &c. is wonderful to be thought on.

WARBURTON.

Dffus'd is fo much ufed by our author for wild, irregular, and frange, that in The Merry Wives of Windfar he applies it to a song supposed to be fung by fairies. JOHNSON.

4 Former appearance. JOHNSON.

5 As the French king defires more time to confider deliberately of the articles, 'tis odd and abfurd for him to say abfolutely, that he would accept them all. He certainly muft mean, that he would at once wave and decline what he diflik'd, and confign to fuch as he approved of. author ufes pafs in this manner in other places; as in King John:

Our

But if you fondly país our proffer'd love." WARBURTON.

1

K. Hen. Brother, we fhall.-Go, uncle Exeter,-
And brother Clarence,6--and you, brother Glofter,-
Warwick, and Huntington,-go with the king:
And take with you free power, to ratify,
Augment, or alter, as your wifdoms best
Shall fee advantageable for our dignity,
Any thing in, or out of, our demands;
And we'll confign thereto.-Will you, fair fifter,
Go with the princes, or ftay here with us?
2. Ifa. Our gracious brother, I will
go with them;
Haply, a woman's voice may do fome good,
When articles, too nicely urg'd, be flood on.

K. Hen. Yet leave our coufin Katharine here with us; She is our capital demand, compris'd

Within the fore-rank of our articles.

2. Ifa. She hath good leave.

[Exeunt all but HENRY, KATHARINE, and her Gentlewoman.

K. Hen.

Fair Katharine, and moft fair!

Will you vouchfafe to teach a foldier terms,
Such as will enter at a lady's ear,

And plead his love-fuit to her gentle heart?

Kath. Your majefty fhall mock at me; I cannot fpeak your England.

K. Hen. O fair Katharine, if you will love me foundly with your French heart, I will be glad to hear you confefs it brokenly with your English tongue. Do you like me, Kate?

Kath.

If any change were to be made, I would rather read,-"Pafs or except," &c. i. e, agree to, or except against the ariticles, as I fhould either approve or diflike them. MALONE.

Pafs our accept, and peremptory answer.] i. e. we will pass our acceptance of what we approve, and we will país a peremptory anfwer to the rest. Politeness might forbid his faying, we will pafs a denial, but his own dignity required more time for deliberation. Befides, if we read pafs or accept, is not peremptory anjwer fuperfluous, and plainly implied in the former words? TOLLET.

6 Neither Clarence nor Huntington, whom the king here addreffes, has been enumerated in the Dramatis Perfonæ, as neither of them fpeaks a word. Huntington was John Holland, earl of Huntington, who afterwards married the widow of Edmond Mortimer, earl of March.

MALUNE.

Kath. Is it poffible dat I should love de enemy of France? K. Hen. No; it is not poffible, you fhould love the enemy of France, Kate: but, in loving me, you should love the friend of France; for I love France fo 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 fure, will hang upon my tongue like a new married wife about her husband's neck, hardly to be fhook off. Quand j'ay la poffeffion de France, & quand vous avez le poffeffion de moi, (let me fee, what then? Saint Dennis be my fpeed!)donc voftre eft France, & vous eftes mienne. It is as eafy for me, Kate, to conquer the kingdom, as to speak so much more French I fhall never move thee in French, unless it be to laugh at me.

:

Kath. Sauf voftre honneur, le François que vous parlez, eft meilleur que l'Anglois lequel je parle.

K. Hen. No, faith, is't not, Kate: but thy fpeaking of my tongue, and I thine, moft truly falfely, muft needs be granted to be much at one. But, Kate, doft thou understand thus much English? Canft thou love me?

Kath. I cannot tell.

K. Hen. Can any of your neighbours tell, Kate? I'll afk them. Come, I know, thou lovest me: and at night when you come into your closet, you'll queftion this gentlewoman about me; and I know, Kate, you will, to her, difpraise thofe 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'ft mine, Kate, (as I have a faving faith within me, tells me,-thou shalt,) I get thee with feambling, and thou must therefore needs prove a good foldier-breeder: Shall not thou and I, between faint Dennis and faint George, compound a boy, half French, half English, that shall go to Conftantinople, and take the Turk

5. e. ferambling. STEEVENS.

6 Shakspeare has here committed an anarchronism. The Turks were not poffeffed of Conftantinople before the year 1453, when Henry V. had been dead thirty-one years. THEOBALDI

Turk by the beard? fhall we not? what fay'4 thou, flower-de-luce?

Kath. I do not know dat.

my fair

K. Hen. No; 'tis hereafter to know, but now to promise: do but now promife, Kate, you will endeavour for your French part of fuch a boy; and, for my English moiety, take the word of a king and a bachelor. How anfwer you, la plus belle Katharine du monde, mon tres chere et divine deefle?

Kath. Your majesté 'ave fausse French enough to deceive de most fage damoifelle dat is en France.

K. Hen. Now, fie upon my falfe French! By mine honour, in true English, I love thee, Kate: by which honour I dare not fwear, thou loveft me; yet my blood begins to flatter me that thou doft, notwithstanding the poor and untempering effect of my vifage. 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 afpéct 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 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 emprefs; take me by the hand, and fay-Harry of England, I am thine: which word thou fhalt no fooner blefs mine ear withal, but I will tell thee aloud-England is thine, Ireland is thine, France is thine, and Henry Plantaganet is thine; who, though I fpeak it before his face, if he be not fellow with the best king, thou fhalt find the best king of good fellows. Come, your anfwer in broken mufiek; for thy voice is mufick, and thy English broken: therefore, queen of all, Katharine, break thy mind to me in broken English, Wilt thou have me?

7 Certainly untempting. WARBURTON.

Kath,

Untempering I believe to have been the poet's word. The fenfe is, I conceive that you love me, notwithstanding my face has no power to temper, i. e. foften you to my purpose. STIEVENS.

Kath. Dat is, as it fhall pleafe de roy mon pere.

K. Hen. Nay, it will please him well, Kate; it fhall please him, Kate.

Kath. Den it fhall alfo content me.

K, Hen. Upon that I will kifs your hand, and I call youmy queen.

Kath. Laiffez, mm seigneur, laissez, laiffez: ma foy, je ne weux point que vous abbaissez voftre grandeur, en baifant la main d'une voftre indigne ferviteure; excufez moy, je vous supplie, mon tres puiffant feigneur.

K. Hen. Then I will kifs your lips, Kate.

Kath. Les dames, & damoifelles, pour eftre baifees devant leur nopces, il n'est pas le coûtume de France.

K. Hen. Madam my interpreter, what fays fhe?

Alice. Dat it is not be de fashion pour les ladies of France, -I cannot tell what is baifer, en English.

K. Hen. To kifs.

Alice. Your majesty entendre bettre

que moy.

K. Hen. It is not a fafhion for the maids in France to kifs before they are married, would she say?

Alice. Ouy, vrayment.

K. Hen. O, Kate, nice cuftoms curt'fy to great kings. Dear Kate, you and I cannot be confined within the weak lift of a country's fashion: we are the makers of manners, Kate, and the liberty that follows our places, ftops 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. [Kiffing her.] You have witchcraft in your lips, Kate: there is more eloquence in a fugar touch of them, than in the tongues of the French council; and they should fooner perfuade 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.

Bur. God fave your majefty! my royal coufin, teach you our princefs English?

i. e. flight barrier. STEEVENS.

K, Her.

4