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Kath. 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 new Married. Wife about her Husband's Neck, hardly to be fhook offi Je quand fur le poffeffion de France, & quand vous aves le poffeffion de moy, (Let me fee, what then? Saint Dennis be my fpeed) Donc voftre eft France, & vous eftes mienne.

It is

as eafie for me, Kate, to conquer the Kingdom, as to speak fo much more French: I fhall never move thee in French, unlefs it be to laugh at me.

Kath. Sauf voftre honneur, le Francois que vous parlez, il eft melieur quel' Anglois le quel je parle.

K.Henry. No faith is't not, Kate; but thy speaking of my Tongue, and I thine, moft truly falfly, muft needs be granted to be much at one. But, Kate, doft thou underftand thus much of English? Can'ft thou love me?

Kate. I cannot tell.

K. Henry. Can any of your Neighbours tell, Kate? I'll ask them. Come, I know thou loveft me; and at night, when you come into your Clofet, 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 fhalt; I get thee with fcambling, and thou must therefore needs prove a good Soldier-breeder: Shall not thou and I, between Saint Dennis and St. George, compound a Boy, half French, half English, that shall go to Conftantinople, and take the Turk by the Beard. Shall we not? what fay'ft thou, my fair Flower-de-Luce.

Kath. 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 Batchelor. How ar fwer you, La plus belle Katherine du monde mon tres chere & divine deeffe.

Kath. Your Majeftee ave faufe Frenche enough to deceive de moft fage Damoifel dat is en France.

K. Henry. Now fie upon my falle French; by mine Honour, in true English, I love thee, Kate; by which Honour I dare

not

not fwear thou loveft me, yet my blood begins to flatter me, that thou do'ft; 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 ftubborn outfide, with an afpect of Iron, that when I come to woo Ladies, I fright them; but in faith, Kate, the elder I wax, the better I shall appear. My comfort is, that Old Age, that ill layer up of Beauty, can do no more (poil upon my Face. Thou haft me, if thou haft me, at the worst; and thou shalt wear me, if thou wear me, better and better; and therefore tell me, moft fair Katharine, will you have me? Put off thofe Maiden' Blushes, avouch the Thoughts of your Heart with the Looks of an Empress, take me by the Hand, and fay, Harry of Eng. land, I am thine; which word thou shalt no fooner bless mine Ear withal, but I will tell thee aloud, England is thine, Ireland is thine, France is thine, and Henry Plantagenet is thine; who, though I fpeak it before his Face, if he be not Fellow with the best King, thou shalt find the beft King of Goodfellows. Come, your Anfwer in broken Mafick; for thy Voice is Mufick, and thy English broken: Therefore Queen of all, Katharine, break thy mind to me in broken English, wilt thou have me?

Kath. Dat is as it fhall please le roy mon pere.

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

Kath. Den it fhall alfo content me. 1

K. Henry. Upon that I kifs your Hand, and I call you my Queen.

Kath. Laiffez mon Seigneur, laissez, laiffez, may foy: Je ne veus point que vous abbaissez vostre grandeur, en baifant le main d'une voftre, Seigneur, indignie ferviteur, excufez moy. Je vous Supplie mon tref puiffant Seigneur.

K. Henry. Then I will kifs your Lips, Kate.

Kath. Les Dames & Damoifels pour eftre baifée devant leur nopces il n'e't pas le Coutume de France.

K. Henry. Madam, my Interpreter, what fays the?

Lady. Dat is not to be de fashion pour le Ladies of France; I cannot tell what is buiffe en English.

K. Henry. To kifs.

Lady. Your Majefty entendre bettre que moy.

K. Henry.

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K. Henry. Is it not a fashion for the Maids in France' to kifs before they are married, would she say?

Lady. Ony verayment.

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K. Henry. O Kate, nice Cuftoms curt'fie to great Kings. Dear Kate, you and I cannot be confin'd within the weak Lift of a Country's fashion; we are the makers of Manners, Kate; and the liberty that follows our Places, ftops the mouths 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. [Kiffing ber] You have Witch-craft in your Lips, Kate; there is more Eloquence in a Sugar touch of them, than in the Tongues of the French Council; and they should fooner perfuade Harry of England, than a general Petition of Monarchs. Here comes your Father.

Enter the French Power, and the English Lords.

Burg. God fave your Majefty, my Royal Coufin, teach you our Princess English?

K. Henry. I would have her learr, my fair Coufin, how perfectly i love her, and that is good English.

Burg. Is the apt ?

K. Henry. Our Tongue is rough, Coz, and my condition is not fmooth; fo that having neither the Voice nor the Heart of Flattery about me, I cannot fo conjure up the spirit of love in her, that he will appear in his true likene fs.

Burg. Pardon the franknefs of my Mirth, if I answer you for that. If you would conjure in her, you must make a Circle: if conjure up love in her in his true likeness, he must appear naked, and blind. Can you blame her then, being a Maid, yet ros'd over with the Virgin Crimson of Modelty, if the deny the appearance of a naked blind Boy in her naked feeing felf? It were, my Lord, a hard Condition for a Maid to confign to.

K. Henry. Yet they do wink and yield as Love is blind and enforces.

Burg. They are then excus'd, my Lord, when they fee not what they do.

K. Henry. Then, good my Lord, teach your Coufin to confent to winking.

Burg. I will wink on her to confent, my Lord, if you will teach her to know my meaning; for Maids well Summer'd, and warm kept, are like Flies at Bartholomew-tyde, blind,

though

though they have their Eyes, and then they will endure handling, which before would not abide looking on.

K. Henry. This Moral ties me over to time, and a hot Summer; and fo I fhall catch the Flie, your Coufin, in the latter end, and the must be blind too.

Burg. As love is, my Lord, before it loves.

K. Henry. It is fo; and you may, fome of you, thank Love for my blindness, who cannot fee many a fair French City for one fair French Maid, that ftands in my way.

Fr. King. Yes my Lord, you fee them perfpectively; the Cities turn'd into a Maid; for they are all girdled with Maiden Walls, that War hath never entred.

K. Henry. Shall Kate be my Wife?
Fr. King. So please you.

K. Henry. I am content, fo the Maiden Cities you talk of may wait on her; fo the Maid that ftood in the Way for my With, fhall fhew me the way to my Will.

Fr. King. We have confented to all terms of Reason.
K. Henry. Is't fo, my Lords of England?
Weft. The King hath granted every Article:
His Daughter firft; and then in fequel all,
According to their firm propofed Nature.

Exe. Only he hath not yet fubfcribed this:

Where your Majefty demands, That the King of France ha ving occafion to write for matter of Grant, fhall name your Highness in this form, and with this addition, in French: Noftre tres cher filz Henry Roy, d'Angleterre Heretier de France; and thus in Latin: Præclariffimus Filius nofter Henricus Rex Anglia & Hares Francia.

Fr. King. Nor this I have not, Brother, fo deny'd, But your requeft fhall make me let it pafs.

K. Henry. I pray you then, in Love and dear Alliance, Let that one Article rank with the reft,

And thereupon give me your Daughter.

Fr. King. Take her, fair Son, and from her Blood raise up Iffe to me, that the contending Kingdoms

Of France and England, whofe very thoars look pale,
With envy of each others happiness,

May ceafe their hatred; and this dear Conjunction
Plant Neighbourhood and Chriftian-like accord
In their fweet Bofoms; that never War advance

His bleeding Sword 'twixt England and fair France.
Lords. Amen.

K. Henry. Now welcome, Kate; and bear me witness all, That here I kifs her, as my Soveraign Queen. [Flourish.

Q. Ifa. God, the beft maker of all Marriages,
Combine your Hearts in one, your Realms in one,
As Man and Wife being two, are one in love,
So be there 'twixt your Kingdoms fuch a Spoufal,
That never may ill Office, or fell Jealoufie,
Which troubles oft the Bed of bleffed Marriage,
Thruft in between the Paffion of thefe Kingdoms,
To make divorce of their incorporate League:
That English may as French, French English men,
Receive each other. God fpeak this Amen.
All. Amen.

K. Henry. Prepare we for our Marriage; on which day, My Lord of Burgundy we'll take your Oath,

And all the Peers, for furety of our Leagues.
Then fhall I fwear to Kate, and you to me,

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And may our Oaths well kept and profp'rous be. [Exeunt.
Sonnet. Enter Chorus.

Thus far with rough and all-unable Pen,
Our bending Author hath purfu'd the Story,
In little room confining Mighty Men,

Mangling by ftarts the full courfe of their Glory.
Small time, but in that fmall, moft greatly lived,
This Star of England. Fortune made his Sword;
By which, the Worlds beft Garden he atchiev'd,
And of it left his Son Imperial Lord.

Henry the Sixth, in Infant Bands crown'd King
Of France and England, did this King fucceed:
Whofe State fo many had the managing,

That they loft France, and made his England bleed:
Which oft our State hath fhown; and for her fake,
In your fair minds left this acceptance take.

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