for the one I have neither words nor measure; and for the other I have no ftrength in measure, yet a reasonable 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 fpoken, I fhould quickly leap into a wife. Or if I might buffet for my love, or bound my horfe 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, whofe 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, s for he perforce muft do thee right, because he hath not the gift to woo in other places; for thefe 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 straight 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;

a fellow of plain and uncoined conftancy,] i. e. a conflancy in the ingot, that hath fuffered no alloy, as all coined metal has. WARBURTON.

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.

take a foldier; take a King. And what fay'ft thou then to my love? fpeak, 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 fhould 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 sure, 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 fpeed)! donc voftre eft France, & vous eftes mienne. It is as eafy for me, Kate, to conquer the kingdom, as to fpeak fo much more French. I fhall never move thee in French, unless it be to laugh at me. Cath. Sauf vostre 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, muft needs be granted to be much at one. But, Kate, doft thou understand fo much English? canft thou love me? Cath. 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 * married wife] Every wife fhould read new married; an epiis a married wife. I fuppofe we thet more expreffive of fondnefs. 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 shall 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 faule French enough to deceive de most fage damoifel dat is en France.

K. Henry. Now, fy upon my falfe 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 befhrew my father's ambition, he was thinking of civil wars when he 'got me; therefore was I created with a ftubborn 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 fpoil 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, most fair Catharine, will you have me? Put off your maiden blufhes, 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

years.

THEOBALD.

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

' and UNTEMPERING 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 mufick, 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 pleafe le roy mon pere.

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

Caib. 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 voftre grandeur, en baifant la main d'une vostre indigne ferviteure; excusez moy, je vous fupplie, mon tres puiffant Seigneur.

K. Henry. Then I will kifs your lips, Kate. Cath. Les dames & damoifelles pour eftre baisées 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 fashion 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 she say? 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 fafhion of your country in denying me a kifs. Therefore-patiently and yielding-Killing her] You have witchcraft in your Ii2

lips,

lips, Kate; there is more eloquence in a touch of them, than in the tongues of the French Council; and they fhould fooner perfuade Harry of England, than a ge neral petition of monarchs. Here comes your father.

SCENE V.

Enter the French King and Queen, with French and English Lords.

Burg. God fave your Majefty! My royal coufin, teach you our Princess English?

K. Henry. I would have her learn, my fair coufin, how perfectly I love her, and that is good English. Burg. Is he apt?

K. Henry. Our tongue is rough, 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 fpirit of love in her, that he will appear in his true likeness.

Burg. Pardon the franknefs of my mirth, if I anfwer you for that. If you would conjure in her, you muft 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 modefty, 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.

Frankness of my mirth,] We have here but a mean dialogue for princes; the merriment is

very grofs, and the fentiments are very worthless.

K. Henry.