SCENE IV.
Manent King Henry, Catharine, and a Lady.
K. Henry.
Fair Catharine, most fair.
Will you vouchsafe to teach a soldier terms,
Such as will enter at a lady's ear,
And plead his love-suit to her gentle heart?
Cath.
Your Majesty shall mock at me, I cannot
speak your England.
K. Henry.
O fair Catharine, if you will love me
soundly with your French heart, I will be glad to hear
you confess it brokenly with your English tongue. Do
you like me, Kate?
-- 479 --
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 suis semblable à les Anges?
Lady.
Ouy, vrayment, (sauf vostre grace) ainsi dit il.
K. Henry.
I said so, dear Catharine, and I must
not blush to affirm it.
Cath.
O bon Dieu! les langues des hommes sont pleines
de tromperies.
K. Henry.
What says she, 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 Princess.
K. Henry.
The Princess is the better English Woman.
I'faith, Kate, my wooing is fit for thy understanding;
I am glad thou canst speak no better English,
for if thou couldst, thou wouldst find me such a plain
King,4 note that thou wouldst think I had sold my farm
to buy my Crown. I know no ways to mince it in
love, but directly to say, I love you; then if you urge
me further than to say, do you in faith? I wear out
my suit. Give me your answer; i'faith, do; and so
clap hands and a bargain. How say you, lady?
Cath.
Sauf vostre honneur, me understand well.
K. Henry.
Marry, if you would put me to verses,
or to dance for your sake, Kate, why, you undid me;
-- 480 --
for the one I have neither words nor measure; and for
the other I have no strength in measure, yet a reasonable
measure in strength. If I could win a lady at
leap-frog, or by vaulting into my saddle with my armour
on my back; under the correction of bragging
be it spoken, I should quickly leap into a wife. Or if
I might buffet for my love, or bound my horse for
her favours, I could lay on like a butcher, and sit like
a jack-a-napes, never off. But, before God, Kate, I
cannot look greenly, nor gasp out my eloquence, nor
have I cunning in protestation; only downright oaths,
which I never use 'till urg'd, and never break for urging.
If thou canst love a fellow of this temper, Kate,
whose face is not worth sun-burning; that never looks
in his glass for love of any thing he sees there; let
thine eye be thy cook. I speak plain soldier; if thou
canst love me for this, take me; if not, to say to thee
that I shall die, 'tis true; but for thy love, by the
Lord, no; yet I love thee too. And while thou liv'st,
Kate, take a fellow of plain and uncoined constancy,5 note
for he perforce must do thee right, because he hath
not the gift to woo in other places; for these fellows
of infinite tongue, that can rhyme themselves into ladies'
favours, they do always reason themselves out
again. What? a speaker is but a prater; a rhyme is
but a ballad; a good leg will fall, a straight back will
stoop, 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 sun and the
moon; or rather the sun, and not the moon; for it
shines bright and never changes, but keeps his course
truly. If thou wouldst have such a one, take me;
-- 481 --
take a soldier; take a King. And what say'st thou then
to my love? speak, my fair, and fairly, I pray thee.
Cath.
Is it possible dat I should love de enemy of
France?
K. Henry.
No, it is not possible that you should love
the enemy of France, Kate; but in loving me you
should love the friend of France; for I love France so
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
* notemarried wife about her husband's neck, hardly to be
shook off, quand j' ay le possession de France, & quand
vous aves le possession de moi (let me see, what then?
St. Dennis be my speed!) donc vostre est France, &
vous estes mienne. It is as easy for me, Kate, to conquer
the kingdom, as to speak so much more French. I shall
never move thee in French, unless it be to laugh at me.
Cath.
Sauf vostre honneur, le Francois que vous parlez,
est meilleur que l' Anglois lequel je parle.
K. Henry.
No, faith, is't not, Kate; but thy speaking
of my tongue and I thine, most truly falsly, must
needs be granted to be much at one. But, Kate, dost
thou understand thus much English? canst thou love me?
Cath.
I cannot tell.
K. Henry.
Can any of your neighbours tell, Kate?
I'll ask them. Come, I know thou lovest me; and
at night when you come into your closet, you'll question
this gentlewoman about me; and I know, Kate,
you will to her dispraise those parts in me, that you
love with your heart; but, good Kate, mock me mercifully,
the rather, gentle Princess, because I love thee
cruelly. If ever thou beest mine, Kate, (as I have
saving faith within me, tells me, thou shalt) I get thee
-- 482 --
with scambling, and thou must therefore needs prove
a good soldier-breeder: shall not thou and I, between
St. Dennis and St. George, compound a boy half French,
half English, that shall go to Constantinople6 note and take
the Turk by the beard? shall we not? what say'st thou,
my fair Flower-de-luce?
Cath.
I do not know dat.
K. Henry.
No, 'tis hereafter to know, but now to
promise. Do but now promise, Kate, you will endeavour for
your French part of such a boy; and for my
English moiety, take the word of a King and a bachelor.
How answer you, La plus belle Catharine du monde,
mon tres chere & divine deesse.
Cath.
Your Majestee ave fause Frenche enough to
deceive de most sage damoisel dat is en France.
K. Henry.
Now, fy upon my false French; by mine
honour, in true English I love thee, Kate; by which
honour I dare not swear thou lov'st me, yet my blood
begins to flatter me that thou dost, notwithstanding the
poor and untempering effect of my visage.7 note Now beshrew
my father's ambition, he was thinking of civil
wars when he 'got me; therefore was I created with a
stubborn 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 shall appear. My comfort
is, that old age, that ill layer up of beauty, can
do no more spoil upon my face. Thou hast me, if
thou hast me, at the worst; and thou shalt wear me,
if thou wear me, better and better; and therefore tell
me, most fair Catharine, will you have me? Put off
your maiden blushes, avouch the thoughts of your
heart with the looks of an Empress, take me by the
hand and say, Harry of England, I am thine; which
-- 483 --
word thou shalt no sooner 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,
tho' I speak it before his face, if he be not fellow with
the best King, thou shalt find the best King of good
fellows. Come, your answer in broken musick; for
thy voice is musick, 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 shall please le roy mon pere.
K. Henry.
Nay, it will please him well, Kate; it
shall please him, Kate.
Cath.
Den it shall also content me.
K. Henry.
Upon that I kiss your hand, and I call
you my Queen.
Cath.
Laissez, mon seigneur, laissez, laissez: ma foy,
je ne veux point que vous abbaissiez vostre grandeur, en
baisant la main d'une vostre indigne serviteure; excusez
moy, je vous supplie, mon tres puissant Seigneur.
K. Henry.
Then I will kiss your lips, Kate.
Cath.
Les dames & damoiselles pour estre baisées devant
leur nopces, il n'est pas le coûtume de France.
K. Henry.
Madam my interpreter, what says she?
Lady.
Dat it is not be de fashion pour les ladies of
France; I cannot tell, what is baiser en English.
K. Henry.
To kiss.
Lady.
Your Majesty entendre bettre que moy.
K. Henry.
Is it not a fashion for the maids in France
to kiss before they are married, would she say?
Lady.
Ouy, vrayement.
K. Henry.
O Kate, nice customs curt'sy to great
Kings. Dear Kate, you and I cannot be confin'd within
the weak list of a country's fashion; we are the makers
of manners, Kate; and the Liberty, that follows
our places, stops the mouth of all find-faults, as I will
do yours, for the upholding the nice fashion of your
country in denying me a kiss. Therefore—patiently and
yielding—[Kissing her] You have witchcraft in your
-- 484 --
lips, Kate; there is more eloquence in a touch of them,
than in the tongues of the French Council; and they
should sooner persuade Harry of England, than a general
petition of monarchs. Here comes your father.
Samuel Johnson [1765], The plays of William Shakespeare, in eight volumes, with the corrections and illustrations of Various Commentators; To which are added notes by Sam. Johnson (Printed for J. and R. Tonson [and] C. Corbet [etc.], London) [word count] [S11001].
