You may imagine him upon Blackheath : To welcome him? much more, and much more cause, Did they this Harry. Now in London place him ; The interim, by remembering you-'tis past. [Exit. SCENE I-France. An English court of guard. Enter Fluellen and Gower. Gow. Nay, that's right; but why wear you your leek to-day? Saint Davy's day is past. Flu. There is occasions and causes why and wherefore in all things: I will tell you, as my friend, captain Gower; The rascally, scald, beggarly; lowsy, pragging knave, Pistol,-which you and yourself, and all the 'orld, know to be no petter than a fellow, look you now, of no merits,-he is come to me, and prings me pread and salt yesterday, look you, and pid me eat my leek: it was in a place where I could not breed no contentions with him; but I will be so pold as to wear it in my cap till I see him once again, and then I will tell him a little piece of my desires. Enter Pistol. Gow. Why, here he comes, swelling like a turkey-cock. Flu. 'Tis no matter for his swellings, nor his turkey-cocks.-Got pless you, ancient Pistol! you scurvy, lowsy knave, Got pless you! Pist. Ha! art thou Bedlam? dost thou thirst, base Trojan, To have me fold up Parca's fatal web ?6 Hence! I am qualmish at the smell of leek. Flu. I peseech you heartily, scurvy lowsy knave. at my desires, and my requests, and my petitions. to eat, look you, this leek; because, look you, you do not love it, nor your affections, and your appetites, and your digestions, does not agree with it, I would desire you to eat it. (1) i. e. To order it to be borne. (2) Transferring all the honours of conquest from himself to God. (3) Similitude. (4) The earl of Essex in the reign of Elizabeth. Pist. Not for Cadwallader, and all his goats. Flu. There is one goat for you. [Strikes him.] Will you be so goot, scald knave, as eat it? Pist. Base Trojan, thou shalt die. Fh. You say very true, scald knave, when Got's will is: I will desire you to live in the mean time, and eat your victuals; come, there is sauce for it. [Striking him again.] You called me yesterday, mountain-squire; but I will make you to-day a squire of low degree. I pray you, fall to; if you can mock a leek, you can eat a leek. Gow. Enough, captain; you have astonished? him. Flu. Yes, certainly; and out of doubt, and out of questions too, and ambiguities. Pist. By this leek, I will most horribly revenge; I eat, and eke I swear Flu. Eat, I pray you: Will you have some more sance to your leek? there is not enough leek to swear by. Pist. Quiet thy cudgel; thou dost see, I eat. Flu Much goot do you, scald knave, heartily. Nay, 'pray you, throw none away; the skin is goot for your proken coxcomb. When you take occasions to see leeks hereafter, I pray you, mock at them; that is all. Pist. Good. Flu. Yes, verily, and in truth, you shall take it; shall eat. or I have another leek in my pocket, which you Pist. I take thy groat, in earnest of revenge. cudgels; you shall be a woodmonger, and buy Flu. If I owe you any thing, I will pay you in nothing of me but cudgels. God be wi' you, and keep you, and heal your pate. [Exit. Pist. All hell shall stir for this. knave. Will you mock at an ancient tradition,Gow. Go, go; you are a counterfeit cowardly begun upon an honourable respect, and worn as a dare not avouch in your deeds any of your words? memorable trophy of predeceased valour,-and have seen you gleekings and galling at this gentleman twice or thrice. You thought, because he could not speak English in the native garb, he Could not therefore handle an English cudgel: you find it otherwise; and, henceforth, let a Welsh correction teach you a good English condition.9 Fare ye well. [Exit. Pist. Doth fortune play the huswife10 with me now? News have I, that my Nell is dead i’the spital!! And there my rendezvous is quite cut off. SCENE II-Troyes in Champagne. An apartment in the French King's palace. Enter, at one door, King Henry, Bedford, Gloster, Exeter, Warwick, Westmoreland, and other lords; at another, the French king, queen Isabel, the princess Katharine, lords, ladies, &c. the duke of Burgundy, and his train. K. Hen, Peace to this meeting, wherefore we Unto our brother France,-and to our sister, Most worthy brother England; fairly met :— Q. Isa. So happy be the issue, brother England, With all my wits, my pains, and strong endeavours, Her vine, the merry cheerer of the heart, And as our vineyards, fallows, meads, and hedges, To swearing, and stern looks, diffus'd' attire, K. Hen. If, duke of Burgundy, you would the peace, Whose want gives growth to the imperfections There is no answer made. K. Hen. Well then, the peace, Which you before so urg'd, lies in his answer. Fr. King. I have but with a cursorary eye O'er-glanc'd the articles: pleaseth your grace To appoint some of your council presently To sit with us once more, with better heed To re-survey them, we will, suddenly, Pass our accept, and peremptory answer. K. Hen. Brother, we shall.-Go, uncle Exeter,And brother Clarence-and you, brother Glos ter, Warwick-and Huntingdon,-go with the king: Q. Isa. Our gracious brother, I will go with them; Haply, a woman's voice may do some good, When articles, too nicely urg'd, be stood on. K. Hen. Yet leave our cousin Katharine here with us; She is our capital demand, compris'd 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? me Kath. Pardonnez moy, I cannot tell vat is—like K. Hen. An angel is like you, Kate; and you are like an augel. Kath. Que dit-il? que je suis semblable à les anges? Alice. Ouy, vraymeut, (sauf vostre grace) ainsi dit il. KING HENRY V. Ad F. woman. I'faith, Kate, my wooing is fit for thy un-shall never move thee in French, unless it be to Kath. I cannot tell. Kath. I do not know dat. But, promise: do but now promise, Kate, you will endeaK. Hen. No; 'tis hereafter to know, but now to vour for your French part of such a boy; and, for my English moiety, take the word of a king, and a bachelor. How answer you, la plus belle Katharine du monde, mon tres chere et divine deesse? Kath. Sauf vostre honneur, me understand well. K. Hen. Marry, if you would put me to verses, I'll ask them. Come, I know, thou lovest me: and K. Hen. Can any of your neighbours tell, Kate? or to dance for your sake, Kate, why you undid me at night when you come into your closet, you'll for the one, I have neither words nor measure; and question this gentlewoman about me; and I know, for the other, I have no strength in measure, yet a Kate, you will, to her, dispraise those parts in me, reasonable measure in strength. lady at leap-frog, or by vaulting into my saddle me mercifully; the rather, gentle princess, because If I could win a that you love with your heart: but, good Kate, mock with my armour on my back, under the correctionI love thee cruelly. If ever thou be'st mine, Kate, of bragging be it spoken, I should quickly leap into (as I have a saving faith within me, tells me,-thou a wife. Or, if I might buffet for my love, or bound shalt,) I get thee with scambling, and thou must my horse for her favours, I could lay on like a therefore needs prove a good soldier-breeder: Shall butcher, and sit like a jack-an-apes, never off: but, not thou and I, between Saint Dennis and Saint before God, I cannot look greenly,2 nor gasp out George, compound a boy, half French, half English, my eloquence, nor I have no cunning in protesta- that shall go to Constantinople, and take the Turk tion; only downright oaths, which I never use till by the beard? shall we not? what sayest thou, urged, nor never break for urging. If thou canst flower-de-luce? love a fellow of this temper, Kate, whose face is not worth sun-burning, that never looks in his glass for love of any thing 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 uncoined3 constancy; for he perforce must do thee right, because to deceive the most sage demoiselle dat is en France. Kath. Your majesté 'ave fausse French enough he hath not the gift to woo in other places; for these fellows of infinite tongue, that can rhy me themselves honour, in true English, I love thee, Kate: by K. Hen. Now, fie upon my false French! By mine into ladies' favours,--they do always reason them-which honour I dare not swear, thou lovest me; yet selves out again. What! a speaker is but a prater; a rhyme is but a ballad straight back will stoop; a black beard will turn A good leg will fall 4 a white; a curled pate will grow bald; a fair face will wither; a full eye will wax hollow; but a good heart, Kate, is the sun and 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 : take a soldier; take a so'dier, take a king: And And take me, 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. No; it is not possible, you should love the enemy of France, Kate: but, in loving me, you should love the friend of France; for I love France so 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 sure, will hang upon my tongue like a new-married wife about her husband's neck. hardly to be shook off. de France, et quand vous avez la possession de Quand j'ay la possession moi, (let me see, what then? Saint Dennis be my speed!)-donc vostre est France, et vous este: mienne. It is as easy for me, Kate, to conquer the kingdom, as to speak so much more French: I my blood begins to flatter me that thou dost, not- Kath. Dat is, as it shall please de roy mon pere. Kath. Den it shall also content me. K. Hen. Upon that I will kiss your hand, and I call you-my queen. (4) Fall away. (5) i. e. Though my face has no power to soften you Kath. Laissez, mon seigneur, laissez, laissez: ma foy, je ne veux point que vous abbaissez vostre grandeur, en baisant la main d'une vostre indigne|| serviteure; excusez moy, je vous supplie, mon tres puissant seigneur. K. Hen. Then I will kiss your lips, Kate. Kath. Les dames, et damoiselles, pour estre baisées devant leur nopces, il n'est pas le coûtume de France. K. Hen Madam, my interpreter, what says she? Alice. Dat it is not be de fashion pour les ladies of France,-I cannot tell what is baiser, en English. K. Hen. To kiss. Alice. Your majesty entendre bettre que moy. K. Hen. It is not the fashion for the maids in France to kiss before they are married, would she say? Alice. Ouy, vrayment. 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? K. Hen. I am content; so the maiden cities you talk of, may wait on her so the maid, that stood in the way of my wish, shall show me the way to my_will. Fr. King. We have consented to all terms of reason 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. filz Henry roy d'Angleterre heretier de France; and thus in Latin,-Præclarissimus filius noster Henricus, rex Angliæ et hæres Francia. K. Hen. O, Kate, nice customs curt'sy to great Exe. Only, he hath not yet subscribed this:kings. Dear Kate, you and I cannot be confined Where your majesty demands.-That the king of within the weak list of a country's fashion: we are France, having any occasion to write for matter of the makers of manners, Kate; and the liberty that grant, shall name your highness in this form, and follows our places, stops the mouths of all find-with this addition, in French,-Notre tres cher 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 of the French council; and they should sooner persuade 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 save your majesty! my royal cousin, teach you our princess English? 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 condition2 is not smooth so that, having neither the voice nor the heart of flattery about me, I 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 to winking. Fr. King. Nor this I have not, brother, so denied Let that one article rank with the rest : And, thereupon, give me your daughter. Fr. King Take her, fair son; and from her Issue to me that the contending kingdoms With envy of each other's happiness, K. Hen. Now welcome, Kate :-and bear me That here I kiss her as my sovereign queen. [Flourish. QIsa. God, the best maker of all marriages, K. Hen. Prepare we for our marriage :-on Bur. I will wink on her to consent, my lord, if My lord of Burgundy, we'll take your oath, you will teach her to know my meaning: for maids, And all the peers', for surety of our leagues.— well summered and warm kept, are like flies at Bar-Then shall I swear to Kate, and you to me; tholomew-tide, blind, though they have their eves: And may our oaths well kept and prosp'rous be! and then they will endure handling, which before [Exeunt. would not abide looking on. K. Hen. This moral ties me over to time, and a hot summer; and so I will 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 (2) Temper. (1) Slight barrier. Enter Chorus. Small time, but, in that small, most greatly liv'd, Which oft our stage hath shown; and, for their sake, This play has many scenes of high dignity, and many of easy merriment. The character of the king (1) France. is well supported, except in his courtship, where he has neither the vivacity of Hal, nor the grandeur of Henry. The humour of Pistol is very happily continued: his character has perhaps been the model of all the bullies that have yet appeared on the English stage. The lines given to the Chorus have many admirers; but the truth is, that in them a little may be praised, and much must be forgiven; nor can it be easily discovered, why the intelligence given by the Chorus is more necessary in this play, than in many others where it is omitted. The great defect of this play is, the emptiness and narrowness of the last act, which a very little diligence might have easily avoided. JOHNSON. |