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Old I do wax, and from my weary limbs
Honour is cudgell'd. Well, bawd will I turn;
And fomething lean to cut-purfe of quick hand:
To England will I fteal, and there I'll steal;
And patches will I get unto these scars,
And fwear I got them in the Gallia wars.

SCENE

III.

The French court at Trois, in Champaigne.

[Exit

Enter at one door King Henry, Exeter, Bedford, Warwick, and other Lords; at another, the French King, Queen Ifabel, Princefs Catharine, the Duke of Burgundy, and other French.

K. Henry. Peace to this meeting, wherefore we are
Unto our brother France, and to our sister, [met:
Health and fair time of day; joy and good wishes,
To our most fair and princely coufin Catharine;
And as a branch and member of this royalty,
By whom this great affembly is contriv'd,
We do falute you, Duke of Burgundy.

And, Princes French, and Peers, health to you all.
Fr. King. Right joyous are we to behold your face;
Moft worthy brother England, fairly met!
So are you, Princes English, every one.

2. Ifa. So happy be the iffue, 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 bafilifks:
The venom of fuch looks, we fairly hope,
Have loft their quality; and that this day
Shall change all griefs and quarrels into love.
K. Henry. To cry Amen to that, thus we appear.
2. Ifa. You English Princes all, I do falute you.
Burg. My duty to you both, on equal love,
Great Kings of France, and England. That I've la-
bour'd

With all my wits, my pains, and ftrong endeavours, To bring your moft imperial Majesties

Unto this bar, and royal interview.

Your

Your Mightineffes on both parts can witness
Since then my office hath fo far prevail'd,
That, face to face and royal eye to eye,
You have congreeted; let it not difgrace me,
If I demand, before this royal view,
What rub or what impediment there is,
Why that the naked, poor, and mangled Peace,
Dear nurse of arts, plenties, and joyful births,
Should not in this beft garden of the world,
Our fertile France, put up her lovely vifage?
Alas! the hath from France too long been chas'd;
And all her husbandry doth lie on heaps,
Corrupting in its own fertility.

"Her vine, the merry chearer of the heart,
"Unpruned lies; her hedges even-pleach'd,
"Like prifoners wildly over-grown with hair,
"Put forth diforder'd twigs: her fallow leas,
"The darnel, hemlock, and rank fumitory
"Doth root upon; while that the culture rufts,
"That fhould deracinate fuch favagery:
"The even mead, that erft brought fweetly forth
"The freckled cowflip, burnet, and green clover,
"Wanting the fcythe, all uncorrected, rank,
"Conceives by idlenefs; and nothing teems,
"But hateful docks, rough thistles, keckfies, burs,
"Lofing both beauty and utility;

"And all our vineyards, fallows, meads, and hedges,
"Defective in their nurtures, grow to wildness.
Even fo our houfes, and ourselves, and children,
Have loft, or do not learn, for want of time,
The fciences, that fhould 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,
And every thing that feems unnatural.
Which to reduce into our former favour,
You are affembled; and my fpeech intreats,
That I may know the let, why gentle Peace
Should not expel thefe inconveniences;
And blefs us with her former qualities.

K.Henry. If, Duke of Burgundy, you would the peace,
Diffus'd for extravagant.

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Whofe

Whose want gives growth to th' imperfections
Which you have cited, you must buy that peace
With full accord to all our just demands:
Whofe tenours and particular effects

You have, enfchedul'd briefly, in your hands.
Burg. The King hath heard them; to the which as
There is no answer made.

K. Henry. Well, then; the peace,
Which you before fo urge'd, lies in his answer.
Fr. King. I have but with a curforary eye
O'er glance'd the articles; pleaseth your Grace
T'appoint fome of your council presently
To fit with us, once more with better heed
To re-furvey them; we will fuddenly
Pafs *, or accept, and peremptorily answer.

[yet

K. Henry. Brother, we fhall. Go, uncle Exeter, And brother Clarence, and you, brother Gloucester, Warwick and Huntington, go with the King; And take with you free pow'r 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 stay 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 urge'd, be ftood on.

K. Henry. Yet leave our coufin Catharine here with She is our capital demand, compris'd

Within the fore rank of our articles

2. Ifa. She hath good leave.

SCENE

[us.

[Exeunt.

IV.

Manent King Henry, Catharine, and a Lady.

K. Henry. Fair Catharine, 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?

Cath. Your Majefty fhall mock at me, I cannot fpeak your England.

K. Henry. O fair Catharine, if you will love me found,

i. e. wave, or declin

ly

you

ly with your French heart, I will be glad to hear confets it brokenly with your English tongue. Do you like me, Kate?

Cath. Pa donnez moy, I cannot tell vhat is like me. K. Henry An angel is like you, Kate, and you are like an angel.

Cath. Que dit-il, que je fuis femblable à les anges? Lady. Ouy, vrayment, (fauf voftre Grace), ainfi dit-il. K. Henry. I faid fo, dear Catharine, and I mult not blufh to affirm it.

Cath. O bon Dieu! les langues des hommes font pleines de tromperies.

K. Henry. What says she, fair one? that tongues of men are full of deceits?

Lady. Quy, dat te tongues of de mans is be full of deceits dat is de Princes.

:

K. Henry. The Princefs is the better Englishwoman. I'faith, Kate, my wooing is fit for thy understanding. I am glad thou canft fpeak no better English; for if thou could't, thou would't find me fuch a plain King, that thou would't think I had fold my farm to buy my crown. I know no ways to mince it in love, but directly to fay, I love you. Then if you urge me further than to fay, Do you in faith? I wear out my fuit. Give me your answer; i'faith, do; and fo clap hands and a bargain. How fay you, lady ?

Cath. Sauf votre honneur, me understand well.

K. Henry. Marry, if you would put me to veries, or to dance for your fake, Kate, why, you undid me: for the one I have neither words nor measure; and for the other I have no ftrength in measure, yet a reaionable measure in ftrength. If i could win a lady at leapfrog, or by vaulting into my faddle with my armour on my back, under the correction of bragging be it Ipoken, I fhould 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 fit like a jac-a-napes, never off. But, before God, Kate, I cannot look· greenly, nor gafp out my eloquence, nor have I cunning in proteftation; only downright oaths, which I never ufe till urge'd, and never break for urging. If thou canst love a fellow of this temper, Kate, whofe

face

face is not worth fun-burning; that never looks in his glafs for love of any thing he fees there; let thine éye be thy cook. I fpeak plain soldier; if thou canft love me for this, take me; if not, to fay to thee that I fhall die, 'tis true; but for thy love, by the Lord, no: yet I love thee too. And while thou liv'ft, Kate, take a fellow of plain and uncoined conftancy; for he perforce muft do thee right, because he hath not the gift to woo in other places: " for thefe fellows of infinite tongue,

that can rhime themselves into ladies' favours, they "do always reafon themselves out again. What? a fpeaker is but a prater; a rhime is but a ballad; a good leg will fall, a ftraight back will stoop, a black beard will turn white, a curl'd pate will grow bald, a fair face will wither, a full eye will wax hollow; but a good heart, Kate, is the fun and the moon: or rather the fun, and not the moon; for it thines bright, and never changes, but keeps his courfe truly. If thou would't have fuch a one, take me; take a foldier; take a King: and what fay'ft thou then to my love? Speak, my fair, and fairly, I pray thee.

Cath. Is it poffible dat I fould love de enemy of France ?

K. Henry. No, it is not poffible that you fhould love the enemy of France, Kate: but in loving me you fhould 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 your's, then your's is France, and you are mine. Gath. I cannot tell vhat is dat.

K. Henry. No, Kate? I will tell thee in French, (which I am fure will hang upon my tongue like a newmarried wife about her husband's neck, hardly to be fhook off): Quand j'ay le possession de France, & quand vous aves le poffefion de moi, (let me fee, what then? St. Dennis be my fpeed !), donc voftre eft France, & vous estes mienne. It is as eafy for me, Kate, to conquer the kingdom, as to speak fo much more French: I fhall never move thee in French, unless it be to laugh at me.

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

K. Henry. No, faith, is't not, Kate; but thy fpeak

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