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While his moft mighty Father, on a hill,
Stood fmiling, to behold his Lion's whelp
Forage in blood of French Nobility.
O noble English, that could entertain
With half their forces the full pow'r of France;
And let another half ftand laughing by,
All out of work, and cold for action!

Ely. Awake remembrance of these valiant dead,
And with your puiffant arm renew their feats!
You are their heir, you fit upon their throne;
The blood, and courage, that renowned them,
Runs in your veins and my thrice puiffant Liege
Is in the very May-morn of his youth,
Ripe for exploits and mighty enterprises.

Exe. Your brother Kings and Monarchs of the earth
Do all expect that you should rouze your felf;
As did the former Lions of your blood.

Weft. They know, your Grace hath caufe; and means and might (4)

So hath your Highness; never King of England
Had Nobles richer, and more loyal Subjects;
Whofe hearts have left their bodies here in England,
And lie pavilion'd in the field of France.

Cant. O, let their bodies follow, my dear Liege, With blood and fword, and fire, to win your right: In aid whereof, we of the Spiritualty

Will raise your Highness fuch a mighty fum,
As never did the Clergy at one time

Bring in to any of your ancestors.

K. Henry. We must not only arm t'invade the French, But lay down our proportions to defend

Against the Scot, who will make road upon us
With all advantages.

(4) They know your Grace hath cause, and means and might ; So hath your highness, never King of England

Had Nobles richer, -] Thus has this Speech hitherto been moft ftupidly pointed, without any regard to common Sense, As I have regulated it, we fee the Poet's Drift, and come at an eafy and natural Reasoning.

Cant.

Cant. They of thofe Marches, gracious Sovereign, Shall be a wall fufficient to defend

Our Inland from the pilfering borderers.

K. Henry. We do not mean the courfing fnatchers only, But fear the main intendment of the Scot,

Who hath been ftill a giddy neighbour to us:
For you fhall read, that my great grandfather
Never went with his forces into France,
But that the Scot on his unfurnifht kingdom
Came pouring, like a tide into a breach,
With ample and brim fulness of his force;
Galling the gleaned land with hot affays;
Girding with grievous fiege caftles and towns;
That England, being empty of defence,

Hath fhook, and trembled, at th' ill neighbourhood. Cant. She hath been then more fear'd than harm'd, my Liege;

For hear her but exampled by her felf;

When all her chivalry hath been in France,
And fhe a mourning widow of her Nobles,
She hath her felf not only well defended,
But taken and impounded as a tray

The King of Scots; whom he did fend to France,
To fill King Edward's fame with prifoner Kings;
And make his chronicle as rich with praise,

As is the ouzy bottom of the Sea

With funken wreck and fumless treafuries.

Ely. But there's a faying very old and true, If that you will France win, then with Scotland firft begin, For once the Eagle England being in prey,

To her unguarded neft the Weazel, Scot,

Comes fneaking, and fo fucks her princely eggs;
Playing the Mouse in abfence of the Cat,

To taint, and havock, more than fhe can eat. (5)

(s) To tear and havock more than she can eat.] 'Tis not much the Quality of the Moufe to tear the Food it comes at, but to run over and defile it. The old 4to reads, Spoile; and the two first folio's, tame: from which laft corrupted Word, I think, I have retriev'd the Poet's genuine Reading, taint.

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Exe. It follows then, the Cat muft ftay at home,
Yet that is but a 'scus'd neceffity; (6)

Since we have locks to fafeguard neceffaries,
And pretty traps to catch the petty thieves.
While that the armed hand doth fight abroad,
Th' advised head defends it felf at home:
For Government, though high, and low, and lower,
Put into parts, doth keep in one confent ;
Congreeing in a full and natural close,
Like mufick.

Cant. Therefore heaven doth divide
The state of man in divers functions,
Setting endeavour in continual motion :
To which is fixed, as an aim or butt,
Obedience; for fo work the honey Bees
Creatures, that by a rule in nature teach
The art of order to a peopled kingdom.
They have a King, and officers of fort;
Where fome, like magiftrates, correct at home:
Others, like merchants, venture trade abroad:
Others, like foldiers, armed in their ftings,
Make boot upon the fummer's velvet buds :
Which pillage they with merry march bring home.
To the tent-royal of their Emperor :
Who, bufied in his majefty, furveys

The finging mafon building roofs of gold;
The civil citizens kneading up the honey;
The poor mechanick porters crowding in
Their heavy burthens at his narrow gate:
The fad-ey'd Juftice with his furly hum,
Delivering o'er to executors pale

The lazy yawning drone. I this infer,
That many things, having full reference

(6) Tet that is but a curs'd Neceffity;) So the old 4to. The folio's read crush'd: Neither of the Words convey any tolerable Idea; but give us a counter-reafoning, and not at all pertinent. 'Tis Exeter's business to fhew, there is no real Necef fity for staying at home: he must therefore mean, that tho' there be a feeming Neceffity, yet it is one that may be well excus'd and got over. Mr. Warburton.

Te

To one confent, may work contrariously :
As many arrows, loofed feveral ways,

Come to one mark as many ways meet in one town;
As many fresh ftreams meet in one falt fea

As many lines clofe in the dial's center;
So may a thousand actions, once a-foot,
End in one purpose, and be all well borne
Without defeat. Therefore to France, my Liege.
Divide your happy England into four,
Whereof take you one quarter into France;
And you withal shall make all Gallia fhake:
If we, with thrice fuch powers left at home,
Cannot defend our own doors from the dog,
Let us be worried; and our Nation lofe
The name of hardinefs and policy.

K. Henry. Call in the meffengers, fent from the
Dauphin.

Now are we well refolv'd; and by God's help
And yours, the noble finews of our power,
France being ours, we'll bend it to our awe,
Or break it all to pieces. There we'll fit,
Ruling in large and ample empery,

O'er France, and all her almoft kingly Dukedoms;
Or lay thefe bones in an unworthy urn,

Tomblefs, with no remembrance over them.
Either our Hiftory fhall with full mouth

Speak freely of our acts;

elfe our grave,

Like Turkish mute, fhall have a tonguelefs mouth;
Not worshipt with a waxen epitaph.

Enter Ambaffadors of France.

Now are we well prepar'd to know the pleasure
Of our fair coufin Dauphin; for we hear,
Your greeting is from him, not from the King.
Amb. May't please your Majefty to give us leave
Freely to render what we have in charge:
Or fhall we fparingly fhew you far off
The Dauphin's meaning, and our embaffie?

K. Henry. We are no tyrant, but a christian King, Unto whofe grace our paffion is as fubject,

As are our wretches fetter'd in our prisons :
Therefore, with frank and with uncurbed plainness,
Tell us the Dauphin's mind.

Amb. Thus then, in few.

Your Highness, lately fending into France,
Did claim fome certain Dukedoms in the right
Of your great predeceffor, Edward the third.
In answer of which claim, the Prince our master
Says, that you favour too much of your youth;
And bids you be advis'd: there's nought in France,
That can be with a nimble galliard won;

You cannot revel into Dukedoms there:
He therefore fends you (meeter for your spirit)
This tun of treafure; and in lieu of this,

Defires you, let the Dukedoms, that you claim,
Hear no more of you. This the Dauphin fpeaks.
K. Henry. What treasure, uncle ?

Exe. Tennis-balls, my Liege.

K. Henry. We're glad, the Dauphin is fo pleasant with us. His prefent, and your pains, we thank you for. When we have match'd our rackets to these balls, We will in France, by God's grace, play a fet, Shall ftrike his father's Crown into the hazard. 'Tell him, h'ath made a match with fuch a wrangler, That all the Courts of France will be disturb'd With chaces. And we understand him well, How he comes o'er us with our wilder days Not measuring, what use we made of them. We never valu'd this poor feat of England, And therefore, living hence, did give our felf To barb'rous licence; as 'tis ever common, That men are merrieft, when they are from home. But tell the Dauphin, I will keep my State, Be like a King, and fhew my fail of Greatness; When I do rowze me in my throne of France. For that I have laid by my Majefty, And plodded like a man for working days; But I will rife there with fo full a glory, That I will dazzle all the eyes of France; Yea, ftrike the Dauphin blind to look on us.

And

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