deeds any of your words? I have feen you gleeking 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 'tis otherwise; and henceforth let a Welsh-correction teach you a good English condition. Fare you well. [Exit.

4

Pift. Doth fortune play the hufwife with me now? * News have I, that my Dol is dead i' th' spittle Of malady of France,

And there my rendezvous is quite cut off;
Old I do wax, and from my weary limbs
Honour is cudgell'd. Well, bawd will I turn,
And something lean to cut-purfe of quick hand,
To England will I fteal, and there I'll steal;
And patches will I get unto thefe cudgell'd fcars,
And fwear, I got them in the Gallia Wars . [Exit".

4 Fortune doth play the bufwife.] That is, the jilt. Hufwife is here in an ill fenfe.

*News have 1, that my Dol is

dead,] We must read, my Nell is dead. Dol Tearsheet was fo little the favourite of Pistol that he offered her in contempt to Nym. Nor would her death have cut off bis rendezvous; that is, deprived him of a home. Perhaps the poet forgot his plan.

In the quarto of 1608 thefe lines are read thus,

Doth fortune play the bufwife

with me now?
Is bonour cudgel'd from my war-
like loins?

Well France farewell. News
bave I certainly,
That Doll is fick of malady of
France.

The French Court, at Trois in Champaigne.

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.

Eace to this meeting, wherefore we are

K. Henry. PEa

met 7.

Unto our brother France, and to our fifter,

Health and fair time of day, joy and good wifhes,
To our most fairly 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.

Q. 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 basilisks; 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. Q. 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 labour'd

? Peace to this meeting, where fore we are met. Peace, for which we are here met, be to

this meeting.

Here, after the chorus, the fifth act feems naturally to begin.

With all my wits, my pains, and strong endeavours,
To bring your moft imperial Majesties
Unto this bar and royal interview,
Your Mightneffes 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 nurfe of arts, plenties and joyful births,
Should not in this beft garden of the world,
Our fertile France, put up her lovely visage?
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 dies; 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 coulter rufts,
That fhould deracinate fuch favag❜ry:

The even mead, that erft brought sweetly forth
The freckled cowflip, burnet, and green clover,
Wanting the scythe, all uncorrected, rank,
Conceives by idlenefs; and nothing teems,
But hateful docks, rough thistles, keckfies, burs,
Lofing both beauty and utility;

Unto this bar.] To this barrier; to this place of congrefs.

9 Her vine, Unpruned dyes:] We muft read, yes For neglect of pruning does not kill the vine, but caufes it to ramify immoderately, and grows wild; by which the requifite nourishment is withdrawn from its fruit. WARB. This emendation is phyfically

right, but poetically the vine may be well enough faid to die which ceases to bear fruit.

* This image of prisoners is oddly introduced. A prifoner may be overgrown with hair, but wildness is contrary to the flate of a prifoner. A bedge evenpleach'd is more properly imprifoned.

And

で

And all our vineyards, fallows, meads, and hedges,
Defective in their nurtures, grow to wildness.
Even fo our houses, and ourselves and children
Have loft, or do not learn for want of time,
The sciences, that should 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 seems unnatural.
Which to reduce into our 2 former favour,
You are affembled, and my fpeech intreats,
That I may know the Let, why gentle peace
Should not expel these inconveniencies;
And bless us with her former qualities.

I

K. Henry. If, Duke of Burgundy, you would the
peace,

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

You have, enfchedul'd briefly, in your hands.
Burg. The King hath heard them; to the which
as yet

There is no answer made.

K. Henry. Well, then the peace

Which you before fo urg'd, lies in his answer.
Fr. King. I have but with a curforary eye
O'er-glanc'd the articles; pleaseth your Grace
T'appoint fome of your council presently

To fit with us, once more with better heed

diffus'd attire,] Diffus'd, for extravagant. The military habit of thofe times was extremely fo. A&t 3. Scene 7. Gower fays, And what a beard of the General's cut, and a horrid fuit of the camp, will do among t &c. is wonderful to be thought on.

WARBURTON.

Diffus'd is fo much used by our authour for wild, irregular, and ftrange, that in the Merry Wives of Windfor, he applies it to a fong fuppofed to be fung by fairies.

2 Former favour.] Former appearance.

Το

To re-furvey them; we will fuddenly

3 Pass, or accept, and peremptory answer.

K. Henry. Brother, we fhall. Go, uncle Exeter; And brother Clarence, and you, brother Glofter, Warwick and Huntingdon, go with the King; And take with you free pow'r to ratify, Augment, or alter, as your wisdoms beft Shall fee advantageable for our dignity, Any thing in, or out of, our Deruands; And we'll confign thereto. Will you, fair fister, Go with the Princes, or ftay here with us?

Q. Ifa. Our gracious brother, I will go with them; Haply, a woman's voice may do fome good, When Articles too nicely urg'd be stood on.

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

Within the fore-rank of our articles,

Q. Ifa. She hath good leave.

[Exeunt.

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

3

we will fudden'ÿ Pafs our accept, and peremptory anfwer.] As the French King defires more time to confider deliberately of the articles, 'tis odd and abfurd for him to fay abfolutely, that he would accept them all. He certainly muit

2

mean, that he would at once wave and decline what he diflık'd, and confign to fuch as he approv'd of. Our author uses pass in this manner in other places : As in King John.

But if you fondly pass our proffer'd love

WARE. Cath.