SCENE V. ·

Changes to the French King's Palace.

Enter French King, the Dauphin, the Duke of Burgundy, and the Conftable.

HUS come the English with full pow

Fr. King. TH

er upon us,

3 And more than carefully it us concerns
To answer royally in our defences.

Therefore the Dukes of Berry, and of Britain,
Of Brabant, and of Orleans, fhall make forth,
And you, Prince Dauphin, with all swift dispatch,
To line, and new repair our towns of war,
With men of courage, and with means defendant;
For England his Approaches makes as fierce,
As waters to the fucking of a gulph.

It fits us then to be as provident,

As fear may teach us out of late examples,
Left by the fatal and neglected English
Upon our fields.

Dau. My moft redoubted father,

It is moft meet we arm us 'gainst the foe:
For peace itself should not fo dull a Kingdom,
Though war nor no known quarrel were in queftion,
But that defences, mufters, preparations,

Should be maintain'd, affembled, and collected,
As were a war in expectation.

3 And more than CAREFULLY it us concerns] This was a bufiness indeed, that required more than care to difcharge it. Iam perfuaded Shakespear wrote,

more than CARELESLY. The King is fuppofed to hint here at the Dauphin's wanton affront in fending over tennisballs to Henry: which, arifing

from over-great confidence of their own power, or contempt of their enemies, would naturally breed carelifnefs. WARBURTON.

I do not fee any defect in the prefent reading; more than carefully is with more than common care, a phrafe of the fame kind with better than well.

There

Therefore, I fay, 'tis meet we all go forth,
To view the fick and feeble parts of France;
And let us do it with no fhew of fear,

No, with no more, than if we heard that England
Were bufied with a Whitfon morris-dance,
For, my good Liège, fhe is fo idly king'd,
Her scepter fo fantastically borne,

By a vain, giddy, fhallow, humorous youth,
That fear attends her not.

Con. O peace, Prince Dauphin !

You are too much mistaken in this King.
Question your Grace the late ambaffadors,
With what great ftate he heard their embaffy;
How well fupply'd with noble counsellors,
* How modelt in exception, and withal
How terrible in conftant refolution,
And you fhall find, his vanities fore-fpent
5 Were but the out- fide of the Roman Brutus,
Covering difcretion with a coat of folly;
As gardeners do with ordure hide thofe roots,
That fhall first fpring and be moft delicate.

Dau. Well, 'tis not fo, my Lord high Conftable, But tho' we think it fo, is no matter.

4 You are too much mistaken in this King: &c.] This part is much enlarged fince the firft writing. POPE.

* How modeft in exception] How diffident and decent in making objections.

5 Were but the out-fide of the Roman Brutus.] Shakespeare not having given us, in the firft or fecond part of Henry IV, or in any other place but this, the remoteft hint of the circumstance here alluded to, the comparison muft needs be a little obfcure to those who don't know or reflect that fome hiftorians have told us, that Henry IV. had entertain'da

deep jealoufy of his fon's afpiring fuperior genius. Therefore, to prevent all umbrage, the prince withdrew from publick affairs, and amufed himself in conforting with a diffolute crew of robbers. It feems to me, that ShakeSpeare was ignorant of this circumftance when he wrote the two parts of Henry IV. for it might have been fo managed as to have given new beauties to the character of Hal, and great improvements to the plot. And with regard to these matters, Shakespeare generally tells us all he knew, and as foon as he knew it. WARBURTON.

In

In caufes of defence, 'tis best to weigh
The enemy more mighty than he feems;
So the proportions of defence are fill'd,
Which of a weak, and niggardly projection
Doth like a mifer fpoil his coat with fcanting
A little cloth.

Fr. King. Think we King Harry strong;

And, Princes, look you ftrongly arm to meet him. The kindred of him hath been flefh'd upon us,

And he is bred out of that bloody ftrain,

6

That haunted us in our familiar paths.

Witness our too much memorable shame,
When Crefy-battle fatally was ftruck:

And all our Princes captiv'd by the hand

Of that black name, Edward black Prince of Wales;
While that his mounting fire, on mountain ftanding,
8 Up in the air, crown'd with the golden fun,
Saw his heroic feed, and fmil'd to fee him
Mangle the work of nature, and deface
The patterns, that by God and by French fathers
Had twenty years been made. This is a ftem
Of that victorious stock; and let us fear
The native mightiness and fate of him.

Enter a Meffenger.

Me. Ambaffadors from Harry, King of England, Do crave admittance to your Majefty.

6 That HAUNTED US -We fhould affuredly read HUNTED: The integrity of the metaphor requires it. So, foon after, the king fays again,

You fee this Chafe is hotly followed.

WARBURTON. The emendation weakens the paffage. To haunt is a word of the utmoft horrour, which fhews that they dreaded the English as goblins and fpirits.

7 While that his MOUNTAIN VOL. IV.

fire, on mountain ftanding,] We fhould read, MOUNTING, ambitious, afpiring. WARBURTON.

Up in the air, crown'd with the golden fun,] A nonfenfical line of fome player.

WARBURTON. And why of a player? There is yet no proof that the players have interpolated a line.

9 The fate of him.] His fate s what is allotted him by destiny, or what he is fated to perform.

D d

Fr.

Fr. King. We'll give them prefent audience. Go; and bring them.

-You fee, this chafe is hotly follow'd, friends.
Dau. Turn head, and ftop pursuit; for coward dogs
Moft* fpend their mouths, when, what they seem to
threaten,

Runs far before them. Good, my Sovereign,
Take up the English fhort; and let them know
Of what a monarchy you are the head.
Self-love, my Liege, is not fo vile a fin,
As felf-neglecting.

SCENE VI.

Enter Exeter.

Fr. King. From our brother England? Exe. From him; and thus he greets your Majefty. He wills you in the name of God Almighty, That you diveft yourself, and lay apart The borrow'd glories that, by gift of heaven, By law of nature and of nations, 'long To him and to his heirs; namely, the Crown, And all the wide-ftretch'd honours, that pertain By cuftom and the ordinance of times,

Unto the Crown of France. That you may know, 'Tis no finifter nor no aukward claim,

Pick'd from the worm-holes of long-vanifh'd days,
Nor from the duft of old oblivion rak'd,
He fends you this most memorable Line,
In every branch truly demonftrative,

I

[Gives the French King a Paper.

Willing you overlook this pedigree;

And when you find him evenly deriv'd
From his moft fam'd of famous ancestors,

Spend their mouths,] That nealogy; this deduction of his

is bark; the sportsman's term.

* Memorable Line.] This ge

lineage.

Edward

Edward the Third; he bids you then refign
Your Crown and Kingdom, indirectly held
From him the native and true challenger.
Fr. King. Or elfe what follows?

Exe. Bloody constraint; for if you hide the Crown Ev'n in your hearts, there will he rake for it. And therefore in fierce tempeft is he coming, In thunder, and in earthquake, like a Jove, That, if requiring fail, he may compel. He bids you, in the bowels of the Lord, Deliver up the Crown; and to take mercy On the poor fouls for whom this hungry war Opens his vafty jaws; upon your head Turning the widows' tears, the orphans' cries, * The dead mens' blood, the pining maidens' groans, For husbands, fathers, and betrothed lovers, That shall be swallow'd in this controversy. This is his claim, his threatning, and my meffage; Unless the Dauphin be in prefence here,

To whom exprefly I bring Greeting too.

Fr. King. For us, we will confider of this further. To-morrow fhall you bear our full intent Back to our brother England.

Dau. For the Dauphin;

I ftand here for him; what to him from England? Exe. Scorn and defiance, flight regard, contempt, any thing that may not mif-become

And

The mighty fender, doth he prize you at

Thus fays my King; and if your father's Highness
Do not, in grant of all demands at large,
Sweeten the bitter mock you fent his Majefty;
He'll call you to fo hot an answer for it,
That caves and womby vaultages of France

* The dead mens' blood. ] The difpofition of the images were more regular if we were to read thus: upon your head

Turning the dead mens' blood, the widows' tears,

The orphans' cries, the pining maidens' groans, &C.

Dd 2

Shall