The fad-ey'd juftice with his furly hum, Come to one mark: as many ways meet in one town; So may a thousand actions, once a-foot, The name of hardiness and policy. [pbin. K. Henry. Call in the meffengers, fent from the Dau Now are we well refolv'd; and by God's help O'er France, and all her almost kingly Dukedoms; Tomblefs, with no remembrance over them. Either our History fhall with full mouth Speak freely of our acts; or else our grave, Like Turkish mute, fhall have a tongueless mouth; Enter Ambaffadors of France. Now are we well prepar'd to know the pleasure The Dauphin's meaning, and our embaffie? K. Henry. We are no tyrant, but a christian King, As are our wretches fetter'd in our prifons: Amb. Thus then, in few. Your Highness, lately fending into France, Exe. Tennis-balls, my Liege. Lus. K. Henry. We're glad, the Dauphin is fo pleasant with His prefent, and your pains, we thank you for. When we have match'd our rackets to thefe balls, We will in France, by God's grace, play a fet, Shall ftrike his father's Crown into the hazard. Tell him, h'ath made a match with fuch a wrangler, That all the Courts of France will be difturb'd With chaces. And we understand him well, How he comes o'er us with our wilder days; Not measuring, what ufe we made of them. We never valu'd this poor feat of England, And therefore, living hence, did give our self To barb'rous licence; as 'tis ever common, That men are merrieft, when they are from home. But tell the Dauphin, I will keep my State, Be like a King, and fhew my fail of Greatness When I do rowze me in my throne of France. For that I have laid by my Majefty, And plodded like a man for working days; ; But I will rife there with fo full a glory, That shall have cause to curfe the Dauphin's fcorn. Exe. This was a merry meffage. [Exeunt Ambaffadors. K. Henry. We hope to make the fender blush at it: Therefore, my lords, omit no happy hour, That may give furth'rance to our expedition; For we have now no thoughts in us but France, Save those to God, that run before our bufinefs. Therefore, let our proportions for these wars Be foon collected, and all things thought upon, That may with reasonable swiftnefs add More feathers to our wings: for, God before, We'll chide this Dauphin at his father's door. Therefore let every man now task his thought, That this fair action may on foot be brought. [Exeunt. Enter Chorus. Chorus. Now all the youth of England are on fire, (10) And filken dalliance in the wardrobe lies: VOL. IV. B Now (10) Now all the Youth of England] I have replaced this Chorus here, by the Authority of the Old Folie's; and ended the firft A, as the Poet certainly Now thrive the armourers, and honour's thought And hides a fword from hilts unto the point O England! model to thy inward greatness, certainly intended. Mr. Pope remov'd it, becaufe (fays He) This Chorus manifeftly is intended to advertise the Spectators of the Change of the Scene to Southampton; and therefore ought to be placed just before that Change, and not here. 'Tis true, the Spectators are to be inform'd, that, when they next fee the King, they are to fuppofe him at Southampton. But This does not imply any Neceffity of this Chorus being contiguous to that Change. On the contrary, the very concluding Lines vouch abfolutely against it. But, till the King come forth, and not till then, Unto Southampton do we fhift our Scene. For how abfurd is fuch a Notice, if the Scene is to change, fo foon as ever the Chorus quits the Stage? Befides, unless this Chorus be prefix'd to the Scene betwixt Nim, Bardolfe, &c, We fhall draw the Poet into another Abfurdity. Piftol, Nim, and Bardolfe are in this Scene talking of going to the Wars in France: but the King had but juft, at his quitting the Stage, declar'd his Refolutions of commencing this War: And without the Interval of an A, betwixt that Scene and the Comic Characters entring, how could They with any Probability be inform'd of this intended Expedition? If Mr. Pope had ever read Monfieur Hedelin's moft curious Treatife, call'd, La Pratique du Theatre, he would have known, that one main use of the Intervals of Acts is, that fuch a Pause thould (facilite cette agreable illufion qu'il faut faire aux Spectateurs ;) facilitate that agreeable Deception, which must be put upon the Spectators. Tho a Tune between the Acts takes up but a very little time, yet the Audiences are always willing to help their own Deception fo far, to allow as much Time spent in it, as the Poet finds neceffary should be employ'd in the Conduct of his Fable. And therefore 'tis the Practice of all knowing Poets, where more Time is to be skip'd over than could be taken up in the Action upon the Stage, to fuppofe that intermediate Time spent during the Intervals of the Acts: by which Artifice the Spectators come into the Deceit, and are not fhock'd by a too flagrant Improbability. Like little body with a mighty heart; What might'st thou do, that honour would thee do, But fee, thy fault France hath in thee found out; (11) charming the narrow Seas [Exit. To give you gentle Pafs:] Ben Jonson, in the Prologue to his Every Man in his Humour, feems to me to have flurted invidiously at this Play of our Author's. He rather prays, you will be pleas'd to fee One fuch to day, as other Plays should be; Where neither Chorus wafts you o'er the Seas, &c. Now this Comedy of Ben's was acted in the Year 1598, fo that Henry 5th, confequently, had made its Appearance on the Stage earlier than that Period. |