Cath. Pardonnez moy, I cannot tell vhat is like me. K. Henry An angel is like you, Kate, and you are like an angel.

Cath. Que dit-il, que je fuis femblable à les Anges? Lady. Ouy, vrayment, (fauf voftre grace) ainfi dit il. K. Henry. I faid fo, dear Catharine, and I must not blush to affirm it.

Cath. O bon Dieu! les langues des hommes font pleines de tromperies.

K. Henry What fays fhe, fair one? that tongues of men are full of deceits?

Lady. Ouy, dat de tongues of de mans is be full of deceits. Dat is de Princefs.

4

K. Henry. The Princefs is the better English Woman. I'faith, Kate, my wooing is fit for thy understanding; I am glad thou canft fpeak no better English, for if thou couldft, thou wouldst find me fuch a plain King, that thou wouldst think I had fold my farm to buy my Crown. I know no ways to mince it in love, but directly to fay, I love you, then if you urge me further than to fay, do you in faith? I wear out my fuit. Give me your answer; i'faith, do; and fo clap hands and a bargain. How fay you, lady?

Cath. Sauf votre bonneur, me understand well.

K. Henry. Marry, if you would put me to verfes, or to dance for your fake, Kate, why, you undid me ;

4 -fuch a plain king.] Iknow not why Shakespeare now gives the king nearly fuch a character as he made him formerly ridicule in Percy. This military groffnefs and unfkilfulness in all the fofter arts, does not fuit very well with the gaieties of his youth, with the general knowledge afcribed to him at his acceffion, or with the contemptuous meffage fent him by the Dauphin, who reprefents him as fitter for the ball room

than the field, and tells him that he is not to revel into dutchies, or win provinces with a nimble galliard. The truth is, that the poet's matter failed him in the fifth act, and he was glad to fill it up with whatever he could get; and not even Shakespeare can write well without a proper fubject. It is a vain endeavour for the moft skilful hand to cultivate barrennefs, or to paint upon vacuity.

for

for the one I have neither words nor meafure; and for the other I have no ftrength in measure, yet a reafonable measure in ftrength. If I could win a lady at leap-frog, or by vaulting into my faddle with my armour on my back; under the correction of bragging be it spoken, I fhould 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 fit like a jack-a-napes, never off. But, before God, Kate, I cannot look greenly, nor gafp out my eloquence, nor have I cunning in proteftation; only downright oaths, which I never ufe 'till urg'd, and never break for urging. If thou canft love a fellow of this temper, Kate, whose face is not worth fun-burning; that never looks in his glafs for love of any thing he fees there; let thine eye be thy cook. I fpeak plain foldier; if thou canft love me for this, take me; if not, to fay to thee that I fhall die, 'tis true; but for thy love, by the Lord, no; yet I love thee too. And while thou liv'ft, Kate, take a fellow of plain and uncoined conftancy, for he perforce must do thee right, because he hath not the gift to woo in other places; for these fellows of infinite tongue, that can rhyme themselves into ladies' favours, they do always reafon themselves out again. What? a fpeaker is but a prater; a rhyme is but a ballad; a good leg will fall, a ftraight back will ftoop, a black beard will turn white, a curl'd pate will grow bald, a fair face will wither, a full eye will wax hollow; but a good heart, Kate, is the fun and the moon; or rather the fun, and not the moon; for it fhines bright and never changes, but keeps his course truly. If thou wouldst have such a one, take me;

I believe this explanation is

more ingenious than true; to coin is to ftamp and to counterfeit. He ufes it in both fenfes; uncoined conftancy fignifies real and true conftancy, unrefined and unadorned.

5

take a foldier; take a King. And what say'st thou then to my love? speak, my fair, and fairly, I pray thee. Cath. Is it poffible dat I fhould love de enemy of France?

K. Henry. No, it is not poffible that you should love the enemy of France, Kate; but in loving me you should love the friend of France; for I love France fo 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. Cath. I cannot tell vhat is dat.

K. Henry. No, Kate? I will tell thee in French, which, I am fure, will hang upon my tongue like a * married wife about her husband's neck, hardly to be fhook off, quand j' ay le poffeffion de France, & quand vous aves le poffeffion de moi (let me fee, what then? St. Dennis be my speed)! donc voftre eft France, & vous eftes mienne. It is as eafy for me, Kate, to conquer the kingdom, as to speak fo much more French. I fhall never move thee in French, unless it be to laugh at me. Cath. Sauf voftre bonneur, le François que vous parlez, eft meilleur que l' Anglois lequel je parle.

K. Henry. No, faith, is't not, Kate; but thy fpeaking of my tongue and I thine, moft truly falfly, must needs be granted to be much at one. But, Kate, doft thou understand so much English? canst thou love me? Cath. I cannot tell.

K. Henry. Can any of your neighbours tell, Kate? I'll afk them. Come, I know thou loveft me; and at night when you come into your closet, you'll queftion this gentlewoman about me; and I know, Kate, you will to her difpraise those parts in me, that you love with your heart; but, good Kate, mock me mercifully, the rather gentle Princefs, because I love thee cruelly. If ever thou beeft mine, Kate, (as I have faving faith within me, tells me, thou shalt) I get thee *married wife] Every wife fhould read new.married; an epiis a married wife. I fuppofe we thet more expreffive of fondness. VOL. IV. I i

with

with fcambling, and thou must therefore needs prove a good foldier-breeder: fhall not thou and I, between St. Dennis and St. George, compound a boy half French, half English, that fhall go to Conftantinople and take the Turk by the beard? fhall we not? what fay'ft thou, my fair Flower-de luce?

Cath. I do not know dat.

K. Henry. No, 'tis hereafter to know, but now to promife. Do but now promife, Kate, you will endeavour for your French part of fuch a boy; and for my English moiety, take the word of a King and a bachelor. How answer you, Le plus belle Catharine du monde, mon tres chere & divine deeffe?

Cath. Your Majeftee ave faufe French enough to deceive de most fage damoisel dat is en France.

K. Henry. Now, fy upon my false French; by mine honour, in true English I love thee, Kate; by which honour I dare not fwear thou lov'ft me, yet my blood begins to flatter me that thou doft, notwithstanding the poor and untempering effect of my vifage. Now beThrew my father's ambition, he was thinking of civil wars when he 'got me; therefore was I created with a stubborn outside, with an aspect of iron, that when I come to woo ladies I fright them; but in faith, Kate, the elder I wax, the better I fhall appear. My comfort is, that old age, that ill layer up of beauty, can do no more spoil upon my face. Thou haft me, if thou haft me, at the worft; and thou fhalt wear me, if thou wear me, better and better; and therefore tell me, moft fair Catharine, will you have me? Put off your maiden blushes, avouch the thoughts of your heart with the looks of an Emprefs, take me by the hand and fay, Harry of England, I am thine; which

6 Conftantinople] Shake- ry V. had been dead thirty-one Speare has here committed an anachronifm. The Turks were not poffeffed of Conftantinople before the year 1453, when Hen

years. THEOBALD. and UNTEMPERING effect] Certainly, UNTEMPTING.

WARBURTON. word

word thou shalt no fooner blefs mine ear withal, but I will tell thee aloud, England is thine, Ireland is thine, France is thine, and Henry Plantagenet is thine; who, tho' I speak it before his face, if he be not fellow with the best King, thou fhalt find the beft: King of good fellows. Come, your anfwer in broken mufick; for thy voice is musick, and thy English broken: therefore Queen of all, Catharine, break thy mind to me in broken English, wilt thou have me?

Cath. Dat is, as it fhall please le roy mon pere.

K. Henry. Nay, it will please him well, Kate; it shall please him, Kate.

Cath. Den it fhall alfo content me.

K. Henry. Upon that I kiss your hand, and I call you my Queen.

Cath. Laiffez, mon feigneur, laiffez, laiffez: ma foy, je ne veux point que vous abbaiffiez votre grandeur, en baifant la main d'une voftre indigne ferviteure; excufez moy, je vous fupplie, mon tres puiffant Seigneur.

K. Henry. Then I will kifs your lips, Kate. Cath, Les dames & damoifelles pour eftre baifées devant leur nopces, il n'eft pas le coûtume de France.

K. Henry. Madam my interpreter, what fays fhe ? · Lady. Dat it is not be de fafhion pour les ladies of France; I cannot tell, what is baifer en English. K. Henry. To kifs.

Lady. Your Majefty entendre better que moy.

K. Henry. Is it not a fashion for the maids in France to kifs before they are married, would fhe fay ? Lady. Ouy, vrayement.

K. Henry. O Kate, nice cuftoms curt'fy to great Kings. Dear Kate, you and I cannot be confin'd wihin the weak lift of a country's fashion; we are the makers of manners, Kate; and the Liberty that follows our places, ftops the mouth of all find-faults, as I will do yours, for the upholding the nice fashion of your country in denying me a kifs. Therefore--patiently and yielding-Killing ber] You have witchcraft in your

Ii2

lips,