Burgundy,
and his Train. The two parties, French and
English, are divided by barriers.
K. Hen. (L.C.)
Peace to this meeting, wherefore we are met!8 note
Unto our brother France,—and to our sister,
-- 89 --
Health and fair time of day;—joy and good wishes
To our most fair and princely cousin Katharine;
And (as a branch and member of this royalty,
By whom this great assembly is contriv'd,)
We do salute you, duke of Burgundy;—
And, princes French, and peers, health to you all!
[All the French party bow to King Henry.
Fr. King. (R.C.)
Right joyous are we to behold your face,
Most worthy brother England; fairly met:—
So are you, princes English, every one.
Q. Isa. (R. of F. King.)
So happy be the issue, 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 basilisks:9 note
The venom of such looks, we fairly hope,
Have lost their quality; and that this day
Shall change all griefs and quarrels into love.
K. Hen.
To cry amen to that, thus we appear.
Q. Isa.
You English princes all, I do salute you.
[All the English party bow to Queen Isabella.
Bur. (R.)
My duty to you both, on equal love,
Great kings of France and England!
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 nurse of arts, plenties, and joyful births,
Should not, in this best garden of the world,
Our fertile France, put up her lovely visage?
K. Hen.
If, duke of Burgundy, you would the peace,
Which you have cited, you must buy that peace
With full accord to all our just demands;
Whose tenours and particular effects
You have, enschedul'd briefly, in your hands.
-- 90 --
Fr. King.
I have but with a cursorary eye
O'er-glanc'd the articles: pleaseth your grace
To appoint some of your council presently
To sit with us once more, with better heed
To re-survey them, we will suddenly
Pass our accept and peremptory answer.10 note
K. Hen.
Brother, we shall.—Go, uncle Exeter,—
And brother Bedford,—and you, brother Gloster,—
Warwick,—and Huntingdon,—go with the king;
And take with you free power, to ratify,
Augment, or alter, as your wisdoms best
Shall see advantageable for our dignity,
And we'll consign thereto.—
[Barriers removed. The English
Lords, Exeter, Bedford, Gloster, Warwick,
and Huntingdon, cross to the King of France,
and exeunt afterwards with him.
Will you, fair sister,
Go with the princes, or stay here with us?
Q. Isa.
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. Hen.
Yet leave our cousin Katharine here with us:
She is our capital demand, compris'd
Within the fore rank of our articles.
Q. Isa.
She hath good leave.
[Trumpets sound.
[Exeunt all through gates, L.E.R. and L., but
Henry, Katharine, and her Gentlewomen.
K. Hen. (L.C.)
Fair Katharine, and 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?
Kath. (R.C.)
Votre majesté shall mock at me; I cannot
speak votre Anglais.
K. Hen.
O fair Katharine, 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?
-- 91 --
Kath.
Pardonnez moi, I cannot tell vat is—like me.
K. Hen.
An angel is like you, Kate, and you are like an
angel.
Kath.
Que dit-il? que je suis s emblable aux anges?
K. Hen.
I said so, dear Katharine; and I must not blush
to affirm it.
Kath.
O bon Dieu! les langues des hommes sont pleines
de tromperies.
K. Hen.
What say you, fair one?
Kath.
Dat de tongues of de mans is be full of deceits.
K. Hen.
I'faith, Kate. 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?
Kath.
Me understand well.
K. Hen.
Marry, if you would put me to verses or to
dance for your sake, Kate, why you undid me. 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. But, before
Heaven, I cannot look greenly,11 note nor gasp out my eloquence,
nor I have no cunning in protestation; only downright
oaths, which I never use till urged, nor 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 to thee plain soldier: If thou canst
love me for this, take me; if not, to say to thee—that I
shall die, is true, but—for thy love, by the lord, no; yet I
I love thee too. And while thou livest, dear Kate, take a
fellow of plain and uncoined constancy;12 note for a good leg will
fall;13 note a straight back will stoop; a black beard will turn
white; a curled pate will grow bald; a fair face will
wither; a full eye will wax hollow: but a good heart,
-- 92 --
Kate, is the sun and moon; or, rather, the sun, and not
the moon, for it shines bright, and never changes, but
keeps his course truly. If thou would have such a one,
take me: And take me, take a soldier; take a soldier, take
a king: And what sayest thou, then, to my love? speak, my
fair, and fairly, I pray thee.
Kath.
Est il possible dat I should love de enemy de la
France?
K. Hen.
No; it is not possible 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.
Kath.
Vat is dat?
K. Hen.
Kate, dost thou understand thus much English?
Canst thou love me?
Kath.
I cannot tell.
K. Hen.
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.
If ever thou be'st mine, Kate, (as I have a saving faith
within me, tells me,—thou shalt,) shall there not be a boy
compounded between Saint Dennis and Saint George,
half French, half English, that shall go to Constantinople14 note
and take the Turk by the beard? shall he not? what sayest
thou, my fair flower-de-luce? How answer you, la plus
belle Katharine du monde, mon très chère et divine déesse?
Kath.
Votre majesté 'ave fausse French enough to deceive
la plus sage damoiselle dat is en France.
K. Hen.
Now, fie upon my false French! By mine
honour, in true English, I love thee, Kate: by which honour
I dare not swear thou lovest me; yet my blood begins to
flatter me that thou dost, notwithstanding the poor and untempting
-- 93 --
effect of my visage. 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 Katharine, 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 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, though 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, Katharine, break
thy mind to me in broken English, Wilt thou have me?
Kath.
Dat is as it shall please le roi mon père.
K. Hen.
Nay, it will please him well, Kate; it shall
please him, Kate.
Kath.
Den it shall also content me.
K. Hen.
Upon that I will kiss your hand, and I call you
—my queen.
Kath.
Laissez, mon seigneur, laissez, laissez.
K. Hen.
Then I will kiss your lips, Kate.
Kath.
Dat is not be de fashion pour les dames de la France.
K. Hen.
O Kate, nice customs curt'sy to great kings.
We are the makers of manners, Kate; therefore, patiently,
and yielding. (Kisses her.) You have witchcraft 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 sooner persuade Harry of England than a general
petition of monarchs. (Trumpets sound.) Here comes your
father.
[The centre gates are thrown open, and
Re-enter the French King and Queen, Burgundy, Bedford,
Gloster, Exeter, Westmoreland. The other
French and English Lords as before, U.E.R. and L.
Bur. (R.)
My royal cousin, teach you our princess English?
K. Hen. (C.)
I would have her learn, my fair cousin, how
perfectly I love her; and that is good English.
-- 94 --
Bur.
Is she not apt?
K. Hen.
Our tongue is rough, coz, and my condition is
not smooth;15 note so that, having neither the voice nor the heart
of flattery about me, I cannot so conjure up the spirit of
love in her, that he will appear in his true likeness. Shall
Kate be my wife?
Fr. King. (L.C.)
So please you.
Exe.
The king hath granted every article:
His daughter, first; and then, in sequel, all,
According to their firm proposèd natures.
Fr. King.
Take her, fair son;
That the contending kingdoms
Of France and England, whose very shores look pale
With envy of each other's happiness,
May cease their hatred; and this dear conjunction
Plant neighbourhood and christian-like accord
In their sweet bosoms, that never war advance
His bleeding sword 'twixt England and fair France.
K. Hen.
Now, welcome, Kate:—and bear me witness all,
That here I take her as my sovereign queen.
[The King places a ring on Katharine's finger.
Prepare we for our marriage:—on which day,
My lord of Burgundy, we'll take your oath,
And all the peers', for surety of our leagues.—
Then shall I swear to Kate, and you to me;
And may our oaths well kept and prosp'rous be! (C)8Q0089
[Flourish of Trumpets. Curtain descends.
THE END.
-- 95 --
Charles Kean [1859], Shakespeare's play of King Henry the Fifth, arranged for representation at the Princess's Theatre, with historical and explanatory notes, by Charles Kean, F.S.A., as first performed On Monday, March 28th, 1859 (Printed by John K. Chapman and Co. [etc.], London) [word count] [S35800].
