Put forth disorder'd twigs: her fallow leas
The darnel, hemlock, and rank fumitory,
Doth root upon; while that the coulter rufts,
That should deracinate fuch favagery:

The even mead, that erft brought fweetly 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.

And as our vineyards,' fallows, meads, and hedges,
Defective in their natures,+ grow to wildness;.

were even-pleached, for want of trimming put forth irregular twigs; like prifoners, who in their confinement have neglected the ufe of the razor, and in confequence are wildly overgrown with hair. The hedge in its cultivated ftate, when it is even-pleached, is compared to the prifoner; in its "wild exuberance," it resembles the prifoner" overgrown with hair."

As a hedge, however, that is even-pleached or woven together, and one that is clipt, are alike reduced to an even furface, our author with his ufual licence might have meant only by evenpleached, "our hedges which were heretofore clipp'd fmooth and

even."

The line "Like prifoners" &c. it fhould be obferved, relates to the one which follows, and not to that which precedes it. The conftruction is, Her even-pleached hedges put forth difordered twigs, refembling perfons in prifon, whole faces are from neglect over-grown with hair. MALONE.

9 deracinate-] To deracinate is to force up by the roots. So, in Troilus and Creffida:

rend and deracinate

"The unity," &c. STEEVENS.

› — all —] Old copy, unmetrically-withall. STEEVENS. 3 And as our vineyards,] The old copy reads-And all our 'vineyards. The emendation was made by Mr. Roderick.

MALONE.

Defective in their natures,] Nature had been changed by fome of the editors into nurture; but, as Mr. Upton obferves, unneceffarily. Sua deficiuntur natura. They were not defective in their

Even fo our houses, and ourselves, and children,
Have loft, or do not learn, for want of time,
The sciences that fhould 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 feems unnatural.
Which to reduce into our former favour,"
You are affembled: and my speech entreats,
That I may know the let, why gentle peace
Should not expel these inconveniencies,
And blefs us with her former qualities.

K. HEN. If, duke of Burgundy, you would the peace,

Whose want gives growth to the imperfections Which you have cited, you must buy that peace With full accord to all our just demands; Whose tenours and particular effects

You have, enfchedul'd briefly, in your hands.

crefcive nature, for they grew to wildnefs; but they were defective in their proper and favourable nature, which was to bring forth food for man. STEEVENS.

diffus'd attire,] Diffus'd, for extravagant. The military habit of those times was extremely fo. Act III. Gower fays, And what a beard of the general's cut, and a horrid fuit of the camp, will do among ft, &c. is wonderful to be thought on. WARBURTON.

Diffus'd is fo much ufed by our author for wild, irregular, and frange, that in The Merry Wives of Windfor he applies it to a fong fuppofed to be fung by fairies. JOHNSON.

So, in King Lear, A&t I. fc. iv:

"If that as well I other accents borrow,

"That can my speech diffuse,.”

See note on this paffage. STEEVENS.

"Were he in favour as in humour alter'd." STEEVENS.

BUR. The king hath heard them; to the which,

as yet,

There is no answer made.

K. HEN.
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
To appoint fome of your council presently
To fit with us once more, with better heed
To re-furvey them, we will, fuddenly,
Pafs our accept, and peremptory answer."

7

we will, fuddenly,

Pafs our accept, and peremptory answer.] As the French king defires more time to confider deliberately of the articles, 'tis odd and abfurd for him to say abfolutely, that he would accept them all. He certainly muft mean, that he would at once wave and decline what he diflik'd, and confign to fuch as he approved of. Our author uses pass in this manner in other places; as in King John:

"But if you fondly pass our proffer'd love."

WARBURTON.

The objection is founded, I apprehend, on a misconception of the word accept, which does not, I think, import that he would accept them all, but means acceptation. We will immediately, fays he, deliver our acceptation of these articles,-the opinion which we fhall form upon them, and our peremptory answer to each particular. Fuller in his Worthies, 1660, ufes acception for acceptation. See fc. vii. of the preceding act, p. 459, n. 4.

If any change were to be made, I would rather read,-" Pafs or except," &c. i. e. agree to, or except against the articles, as I fhould either approve or dislike them. So, in a fubfequent part of

this scene:

"Nor this I have not, brother, fo deny'd,

"But your request shall make me let it pass." MALONE. Pafs our accept, and peremptory answer.] i. e. we will pass our acceptance of what we approve, and we will pafs a peremptory anfwer to the reft. Politeness might forbid his faying, we will pafs a denial, but his own dignity required more time for deliberation. Befides, if we read pafs or accept, is not peremptory answer fuperfluous, and plainly implied in the former words?

TOLLET.

K. HEN. Brother, we fhall.-Go, uncle Exeter,And brother Clarence,—and you, brother Glofter,Warwick, and Huntington,-go with the king: And take with you free power, to ratify, Augment, or alter, as your wifdoms beft Shall fee advantageable for our dignity, Any thing in, or out of, our demands;

And we'll confign thereto.-Will you, fair fifter, Go with the princes, or ftay here with us?

Q. ISA. Our gracious brother, I will go with them;

Haply, a woman's voice may do fome good,
When articles, too nicely urg'd, be ftood on.

K. HEN. Yet leave our coufin Katharine here with

us;

She is our capital demand, compris'd

Within the fore-rank of our articles.

Q; Is4. She hath good leave.

[Exeunt all but HENRY, KATHARINE, and her Gentlewoman.

K. HEN.

Fair Katharine, and moft fair!" Will vouchfafe to teach a soldier terms, Such as will enter at a lady's ear,

you

And plead his love-fuit to her gentle heart?

8 Aud brother Clarence,] Neither Clarence nor Huntington, whom the king here addreffes, has been enumerated in the Dramatis Perfonæ, as neither of them fpeaks a word. Huntington was John Holland, earl of Huntington, who afterwards married the widow of Edmond Mortimer, earl of March. MALONE.

9 Fair Katharine, and most fair!] Shakspeare might have taken the hint for this fcene from the anonymous play of Henry V. fo often quoted, where the king begins with greater bluntnefs, and with an exordium moft truly English:

"How now, fair lady Katharine of France!
"What news?" STEEVENS.

KATH. Your majefty fhall mock at me; I cannot fpeak your England.

K. HEN. O fair Katharine, 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?"

KATH. Pardonnez moy, I cannot tell vat is-like

me.

K. HEN. An angel is like you, Kate; and you are like an angel.

KATH. Que dit-il? que je fuis femblable à les anges?

ALICE. Ouy, vrayment, (fauf vore grace) ainfi dit il.

K. HEN. I faid fo, dear Katharine; and I must not blush to affirm it.

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

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

ALICE. Ouy; dat de tongues of de mans is be full of deceits: dat is de princess.*

K. HEN. The princefs is the better English-woman. I'faith, Kate, my wooing is fit for thy understanding: I am glad, thou can'ft speak no better English; for, if thou couldft, thou wouldft find me fuch a

dat is de princefs.] Surely this fhould be-" Dat says de princefs. This is in anfwer to the king, who afks, "What fays the, fair one?" M. MASON.

I believe the old reading is the true one. By-dat is the princess, the lady in her broken English, means—t -that is what the princes has faid. Perhaps, the fpeaker was defirous to exempt herself from fufpicion of concurrence in a general cenfure on the fincerity of mankind. STEEVENS.