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, Princess Catharine, the Duke of Burgundy, and other French.

Eace to this meeting, wherefore we are

K. Henry. PEac

met '.

Unto our brother France, and to our fifter,
Health and fair time of day; joy and good wishes,
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 bafilifks;
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 la-
bour'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 ftrong endeavours,
To bring your most imperial Majefties
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 disgrace 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! he 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 idleness; 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. • 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 with drawn 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 prisoner may be overgrown with hair, but wildness is contrary to the ftate of a prisoner. Á hedge evenpleach'd is more properly imprifoned.

And

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 stern looks, diffus'd attire,
And every thing that feems unnatural.
Which to reduce into our 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,
Whose 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; pleafeth 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& 3. Scene 7. Gower fays, And what a beard of the General's cut, and a horrid fuit of the camp, will do amongst &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 sung by fairies.

2 Former favour.] Former appearance.

Το

To re-furvey them; we will fuddenly
Pafs, 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 wifdoms best
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. Ifa. Our gracious brother, I will go with them;
Haply, a woman's voice may do some 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 fuddenly Pafs our accept, and peremptory anfer. 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 diflik'd,
and confign to fuch as he ap-
prov'd of. Our author uses pass
in this manner in other places:
As in King John.

But if you fondly pass our prof-
fer'd love
WARE.
Cath.

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 Princess is the better English Woman. l'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 wouldft 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 anfwer; i'faith, do; and so clap hands and a bargain. How say 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;

-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 barrenness, or to paint upon vacuity,

for