K. Hen. What says she, fair one? that the my speed!)-donc vostre est France, et vous estes tongues of men are full of deceits? mienne. It is as easy for me, Kate, to conquer the kingdom, as to speak so much more French: I shall never move thee in French, unless it be to laugh at me.

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 could'st, thou would'st find me such a plain king, that thou would'st 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 further than to say-Do you in faith? I wear out my suit. Give me your answer; 'faith, do; and so clap hands and a bargain: How say you, lady?

Kath. Sauf vostre honneur, le Francois 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 merclfully; the rather, gentle princess, because I love thee cruelly If ever thou be'st mine, Kate, (as

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 flower-de-luce?
Kath. I do not know dat.

K. Hen. No; 'tis hereafter to know, but now to promise: do but now promise, Kate, you will endeavour 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, 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 no strength in measure, yet a reasonable measure in strength. If I could win a lady at leap-frog, or by vaulting I have a saving faith within me, tells me,-thou into my saddle with my armour on my back, under the correction of bragging be it spoken, I should 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 sit like a jack-an-apes, never off: but, before God, I cannot look greenly, nor gasp out my eloquence, nor I have no cunning in protestation; only downright 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 Kath. Your majeste’ave fausse French enough to true but for thy love, by the Lord, no; yet I deceive de most sage damoiselle dat is en France. love thee too. And while thou livest, dear Kate, K. Hen. Now, fye upon my false French! By take a fellow of plain and uncoined constancy; mine honour, in true English, I love thee, for he perforce must do thee right, because he Kate: by which honour I dare not swear, thou hath not the gift to woo in other places: for lovest me; yet my blood begins to flatter me these fellows of infinite tongue, that can rhyme that thou dost, notwithstanding the poor and themselves into ladies' favours,-they do always untempering effect of my visage. Now beshrew reason themselves out again. What! a speaker my father's ambition! he was thinking of civil is but a prater; a rhyme is but a ballad. A wars when he got me; therefore was I created good leg will fall; a straight back will stoop; with a stubborn outside, with an aspect of iron, a black beard will turn white: a curled pate that, when I come to woo ladies, I fright them. will grow bald; a fair face will wither; a full But, in faith, Kate, the elder I wax, the better eye will wax hollow: but a good heart, Kate, I shall appear: my comfort is, that old age, 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: 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. 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.

that ill layer-up of beauty, can do no more spoil upon my face; thou hast me, if thou hast me, at the worst; 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 empress; take me by the hand, and say,-Harry of England, I am thine: which word thou shalt no sooner bless mine ear withal, but I will tell thee aloud-England is thine, Ireland is thine; France is thine, and Henry Plantagenet is thine; who, though I speak it before his face, if he be not fellow with the best king, thou shalt find the best king of good fellows. Come, your answer in broken musick; for thy voice is musick, and thy English broken: therefore queen of all, Katharine, break thy mind to me in broken English, Wilt thou have me?

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. Quand j'ay la possession de France, et quand vous avez le possession it de moi (lot me see, what then? Saint Dennis be|

Kath. Dat is, as it shall please de roy mon pere. K. Hen. Nay, it will please him well, Kate; shall please him, Kate.

Kath. Den it shall also content me.

K. Hen. Upon that I will 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 tres puissant seigneur.

K. Hen. Then I will kiss your lips, Kate. Kath. Les dames, et damoiselles, pour estre baisees devant leur nopces, il n'est pas le coutume de France. K. Hen. Madam, my interpreter, what says she?

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?
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 of my wish, shall show me the
way to my will
[reason.
Fr. King. We have consented to all terms of
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.

Alice. Dat it is not be de fashion pour les ladies of France,-I cannot tell what is, baiser, en EngK. Hen. To kiss. [lish. 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 Alice. Ouy, vrayment. [she say? K. Hen. O, Kate, nice customs curt'sy to great kings. Dear Kate, you and I cannot be con- Exe. Only, he hath not yet subscribed this :fined within the weak list of a country's fashion: Where your majesty demands,-That the king of we are the makers of manners, Kate; and the France, having any occasion to write for matter liberty that follows our places, stops the mouths of grant, shall name your highness in this form, 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 of the French council; and they should sooner persuade Harry of England, than a general petition of monarchs. Here comes your father.

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, I cannot so conjure up the spirit of love in her, that he will appear in his true likeness.

and with this addition, in French,-Notre tres cher filz Henry roy d'Angleterre, heritier de France; and thus in Latin,-Præclarissimus filius noster Henricus, rex Anglia, et hæres Francia.

Fr. King. Nor this I have not, brother, so
denied,

But your request shall make me let it pass.
K. Hen. I pray you then, in love and dear
alliance,

Let that one article rank with the rest:
And thereupon, give me your daughter.

Fr. King. Take her, fair son; and from her

blood raise up

Issue to me: that the contending kingdoms
Of France and England, whose very shores look
pale

With envy of each other's happiness,
[tion
May cease their hatred: and this dear conjunc-
Plant neighbourhood and Christianlike accord
In their sweet bosoms, that never war advance
His bleeding sword 'twixt England and fair

France.

All. Amen!

[witness all,

K. Hen. Now welcome, Kate:-and bear me That here I kiss her as my sovereign queen. [Flourish.

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 you conjure up Q. Isa. God, the best maker of all marriages, love in her in his true likeness, he must appear Combine your hearts in one, your realms in one! naked, and blind: Can you blame her then, As man and wife, being two, are one in love, 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.

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 will catch the fly, your cousin, in the latter end, and she must be blind too.

So be there 'twixt your kingdoms such a spousal,
That never may ill office, or fell jealousy,
Which troubles oft the bed of blessed marriage,
Thrust in between the paction of these king-
doms,

To make divorce of their incorporate league;
That English may as French, French English-

First Part of

King Benry the Sixth.

Persons Represented.

SCENE partly in England, partly in France.

was us'd?

Glo. Is Paris lost? is Rouen yielded up?
If Henry were recall'd to life again, [the ghost.
These news would cause him once more yield
Exe. How were they lost? what treachery
[money.
Mess. No treachery; but want of men and
Among the soldiers this is mutter'd,—
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 ling'ring 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 obtained.
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 I will lend the French, instead of eyes,
To weep their intermissive miseries.

Enter another Messenger.

2 Mess. Lords, view these letters, full of bad!
mischance,

France is revolted from the English quite;
Except some petty towns of no import:
The DauphinCharles is crowned king in Rheims;
The bastard of Orleans with him is join'd;
Reigner, duke of Anjou, doth take his part;
The duke of Alençon flieth to his side. [him!
Exe. The Dauphin crowned king! all fly to
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.
Bed. Gloster, why doubt'st thou of my for-
wardness?

An army have I muster'd in my thoughts,
Wherewith already France is overrun.

Enter a third Messenger.

3 Mess. My gracious lords, to add to your la-
ments,
[hearse,
Wherewith you now bedew King Henry's
I must inform you of a dismal fight,
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.
The tenth of August last, this dreadful lord,
Retiring from the siege of Orleans,
Having full scarce six thousand in his troop,
By three and twenty thousand of the French
Was round encompassed and set upon :
No leisure had he to enrank his men;.

He wanted pikes to set before his archers;
Instead whereof, sharp stakes, pluck'd out of
hedges,

They pitched in the ground confusedly,
To keep the horsemen off from breaking in.
More than three hours the fight continued:
Where valiant Talbot, above human thought,,
Enacted wonders with his sword and lance.
Hundreds he sent to hell, and none durst stand

him;

Here, there, and every where, enrag'd he slew:
The French exclaim'd, The devil was in arms;
All the whole army stood agaz'd on him:
His soldiers, spying his undaunted spirit,

A Talbot! a Talbot! cried out amain,
And rush'd into the bowels of the battle.
If Sir John Fastolfe had not play'd the coward;
Here had the conquest fully been seal'd up,
He being in the vaward (plac'd behind,
With purpose to relieve and follow them),
Cowardly fled, not having struck one stroke.
Hence grew the general wreck and massacre;
Enclosed were they with their enemies:
A base Walloon, to win the Dauphin's grace,
Thrust Talbot with a spear into the back;
Whom all France, with their chief assembled
strength,

Durst not presume to look once in the face.

For living idly here, in pomp and ease,
Bed. Is Talbot slain? then I will slay myself,
Whilst such a worthy leader, wanting aid,
Unto his dastard foemen is betray'd.

3 Mess. O no, he lives; but is took prisoner, And Lord Scales with him, and Lord HungerMost of the rest slaughterd, or took, likewise. ford:

I'll hale the Dauphin headlong from his throne,
Bed. His ransom there is none but I shall pay :
Four of their lords I'll change for one of ours.-
His crown shall be the ransome of my friend;
Farewell, my masters; to my task will I;
Bonfires in France forthwith I am to make,
To keep our great Saint George's feast withal:
Ten thousand soldiers with me I will take,
Whose bloody deeds shall make all Europe
quake.
[sieg'd;

3 Mess. So you had need; for Orleans is be-
The English army is grown weak and faint:
The earl of Salisbury craveth supply,
And hardly keeps his men from mutiny,
Since they, so few, watch such a multitude.

Exe. Remember, lords, your oaths to Henry
Either to quell the Dauphin utterly, [sworn;
Or bring him in obedience to your yoke.

Bed. I do remember it; and here take leave,
To go about my preparation.
[Exit.

Glo. I'll to the Tower, with all the haste I can,
To view the artillery and munition;
And then I will proclaim young Henry king.

[Exit.

Exe. To Eltham will I, where the young king
Being ordain'd his special governor; fis,
And for his safety there I'll best devise. [Exit.

Win. Each hath his place and function to at-
I am left out: for me nothing remains. [tend.
But long I will not be Jack-out-of-office;
The king from Eltham I intend to steal,
And sit at chiefest stern of public weal.

[Exit. Scene closes.

SCENE II. France. Before Orleans. Enter CHARLES, with his Forces; ALENCON, REIGNIER, and Others.

Char. Mars his true moving, even as in the heavens,

So in the earth, to this day is not known: