Henry V

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Original text
Enter Chorus.
Vouchsafe to those that haue not read the Story,
That I may prompt them: and of such as haue,
I humbly pray them to admit th'excuse
Of time, of numbers, and due course of things,
Which cannot in their huge and proper life,
Be here presented. Now we beare the King
Toward Callice: Graunt him there; there seene,
Heaue him away vpon your winged thoughts,
Athwart the Sea: Behold the English beach
Pales in the flood; with Men, Wiues, and Boyes,
Whose shouts & claps out-voyce the deep-mouth'd Sea,
Which like a mightie Whiffler 'fore the King,
Seemes to prepare his way: So let him land,
And solemnly see him set on to London.
So swift a pace hath Thought, that euen now
You may imagine him vpon Black-Heath:
Where, that his Lords desire him, to haue borne
His bruised Helmet, and his bended Sword
Before him, through the Citie: he forbids it,
Being free from vain-nesse, and selfe-glorious pride;
Giuing full Trophee, Signall, and Ostent,
Quite from himselfe, to God. But now behold,
In the quick Forge and working-house of Thought,
How London doth powre out her Citizens,
The Maior and all his Brethren in best sort,
Like to the Senatours of th'antique Rome,
With the Plebeians swarming at their heeles,
Goe forth and fetch their Conqu'ring Casar in:
As by a lower, but by louing likelyhood,
Were now the Generall of our gracious Empresse,
As in good time he may, from Ireland comming,
Bringing Rebellion broached on his Sword;
How many would the peacefull Citie quit,
To welcome him? much more, and much more cause,
Did they this Harry. Now in London place him.
As yet the lamentation of the French
Inuites the King of Englands stay at home:
The Emperour's comming in behalfe of France,
To order peace betweene them: and omit
All the occurrences, what euer chanc't,
Till Harryes backe returne againe to France:
There must we bring him; and my selfe haue play'd
The interim, by remembring you 'tis past.
Then brooke abridgement, and your eyes aduance,
After your thoughts, straight backe againe to France.
Exit.
Original text
Act V, Scene I
Enter Fluellen and Gower.

Gower.
Nay, that's right: but why weare you your Leeke
to day? S. Dauies day is past.

Flu.
There is occasions and causes why and wherefore
in all things: I will tell you asse my friend, Captaine
Gower; the rascally, scauld, beggerly, lowsie, pragging
Knaue Pistoll, which you and your selfe, and all the World,
know to be no petter then a fellow, looke you now, of no
merits: hee is come to me, and prings me pread and sault
yesterday, looke you, and bid me eate my Leeke: it was in a
place where I could not breed no contention with him;
but I will be so bold as to weare it in my Cap till I see
him once againe, and then I will tell him a little piece of
my desires.
Enter Pistoll.

Gower.
Why heere hee comes, swelling like a Turky-cock.

Flu.
'Tis no matter for his swellings, nor his Turky-cocks.
God plesse you aunchient Pistoll: you scuruie
lowsie Knaue, God plesse you.

Pist.
Ha, art thou bedlam? doest thou thirst, base Troian,
to haue me fold vp Parcas fatall Web?
Hence; I am qualmish at the smell of Leeke.

Flu.
I peseech you heartily, scuruie lowsie Knaue,
at my desires, and my requests, and my petitions, to eate,
looke you, this Leeke; because, looke you, you doe not loue
it, nor your affections, and your appetites and your
disgestions doo's not agree with it, I would desire you to
eate it.

Pist.
Not for Cadwallader and all his Goats.

Flu.
There is one Goat for you. Strikes him.
Will you be so good, scauld Knaue, as eate it?

Pist.
Base Troian, thou shalt dye.

Flu.
You say very true, scauld Knaue, when Gods
will is: I will desire you to liue in the meane time, and
eate your Victuals: come, there is sawce for it.
You call'd me yesterday Mountaine-Squier,
but I will make you to day a squire of low degree. I pray
you fall too, if you can mocke a Leeke, you can eate a Leeke.

Gour.
Enough Captaine, you haue astonisht him.

Flu.
I say, I will make him eate some part of my leeke,
or I will peate his pate foure dayes: bite I pray you, it is
good for your greene wound, and your ploodie Coxecombe.

Pist.
Must I bite.

Flu.
Yes certainly, and out of doubt and out of
question too, and ambiguities.

Pist.
By this Leeke, I will most horribly reuenge I eate
and eate I sweare.

Flu.
Eate I pray you, will you haue some more
sauce to your Leeke: there is not enough Leeke to sweare
by.

Pist.
Quiet thy Cudgell, thou dost see I eate.

Flu.
Much good do you scald knaue, heartily.
Nay, pray you throw none away, the skinne is good for
your broken Coxcombe; when you take occasions to see
Leekes heereafter, I pray you mocke at 'em, that is all.

Pist.
Good.

Flu.
I, Leekes is good: hold you, there is a groat to
heale your pate.

Pist.
Me a groat?

Flu.
Yes verily, and in truth you shall take it, or I
haue another Leeke in my pocket, which you shall eate.

Pist.
I take thy groat in earnest of reuenge.

Flu.
If I owe you any thing, I will pay you in
Cudgels, you shall be a Woodmonger, and buy nothing
of me but cudgels: God bu'y you, and keepe you, &heale
your pate.
Exit

Pist.
All hell shall stirre for this.

Gow.
Go, go, you are a counterfeit cowardly Knaue,
will you mocke at an ancient Tradition began vppon an
honourable respect, and worne as a memorable Trophee
of predeceased valor, and dare not auouch in your
deeds any of your words. I haue seene you gleeking &
galling at this Gentleman twice or thrice. You thought,
because he could not speake English in the natiue garb,
he could not therefore handle an English Cudgell: you
finde it otherwise, and henceforth let a Welsh correction,
teach you a good English condition, fare ye well.
Exit

Pist.
Doeth fortune play the huswife with me now?
Newes haue I that my Doll is dead i'th Spittle
of a malady of France,
and there my rendeuous is quite cut off:
Old I do waxe, and from my wearie limbes
honour is Cudgeld. Well, Baud Ile turne,
and something leane to Cut-purse of quicke hand:
To England will I steale, and there Ile steale:
And patches will I get vnto these cudgeld scarres,
And swore I got them in the Gallia warres.
Exit.
Original text
Act V, Scene II
Enter at one doore, King Henry, Exeter, Bedford,
Warwicke, and other Lords. At another, Queene Isabel,
the King, the Duke of Bourgongne, and other French.

King.
Peace to this meeting, wherefore we are met;
Vnto our brother France, and to our Sister
Health and faire time of day: Ioy and good wishes
To our most faire and Princely Cosine Katherine:
And as a branch and member of this Royalty,
By whom this great assembly is contriu'd,
We do salute you Duke of Burgogne,
And Princes French and Peeres health to you all.

Fra.
Right ioyous are we to behold your face,
Most worthy brother England, fairely met,
So are you Princes (English) euery one.

Quee.
So happy be the Issue brother Ireland
Of this good day, and of this gracious meeting,
As we are now glad to behold your eyes,
Your eyes which hitherto haue borne / In them
against the French that met them in their bent,
The fatall Balls of murthering Basiliskes:
The venome of such Lookes we fairely hope
Haue lost their qualitie, and that this day
Shall change all griefes and quarrels into loue.

Eng.
To cry Amen to that, thus we appeare.

Quee.
You English Princes all, I doe salute you.

Burg.
My dutie to you both, on equall loue.
Great Kings of France and England: that I haue labour'd
With all my wits, my paines, and strong endeuors,
To bring your most Imperiall Maiesties
Vnto this Barre, and Royall enterview;
Your Mightinesse on both parts best can witnesse.
Since then my Office hath so farre preuayl'd,
That Face to Face, and Royall Eye to Eye,
You haue congreeted: let it not disgrace me,
If I demand before this Royall view,
What Rub, or what Impediment there is,
Why that the naked, poore, and mangled Peace,
Deare Nourse of Arts, Plentyes, and ioyfull Births,
Should not in this best Garden of the World,
Our fertile France, put vp her louely Visage?
Alas, shee hath from France too long been chas'd,
And all her Husbandry doth lye on heapes,
Corrupting in it owne fertilitie.
Her Vine, the merry chearer of the heart,
Vnpruned, dyes: her Hedges euen pleach'd,
Like Prisoners wildly ouer-growne with hayre,
Put forth disorder'd Twigs: her fallow Leas,
The Darnell, Hemlock, and ranke Femetary,
Doth root vpon; while that the Culter rusts,
That should deracinate such Sauagery:
The euen Meade, that erst brought sweetly forth
The freckled Cowslip, Burnet, and greene Clouer,
Wanting the Sythe, withall vncorrected, ranke;
Conceiues by idlenesse, and nothing teemes,
But hatefull Docks, rough Thistles, Keksyes, Burres,
Loosing both beautie and vtilitie;
And all our Vineyards, Fallowes, Meades, and Hedges,
Defectiue in their natures, grow to wildnesse.
Euen so our Houses, and our selues, and Children,
Haue lost, or doe not learne, for want of time,
The Sciences that should become our Countrey;
But grow like Sauages, as Souldiers will,
That nothing doe, but meditate on Blood,
To Swearing, and sterne Lookes, defus'd Attyre,
And euery thing that seemes vnnaturall.
Which to reduce into our former fauour,
You are assembled: and my speech entreats,
That I may know the Let, why gentle Peace
Should not expell these inconueniences,
And blesse vs with her former qualities.

Eng.
If Duke of Burgonie, you would the Peace,
Whose want giues growth to th'imperfections
Which you haue cited; you must buy that Peace
With full accord to all our iust demands,
Whose Tenures and particular effects
You haue enschedul'd briefely in your hands.

Burg.
The King hath heard them: to the which, as yet
There is no Answer made.

Eng.
Well then: the Peace
which you before so vrg'd, / Lyes in his Answer.

France.
I haue but with a curselarie eye
O're-glanc't the Articles: Pleaseth your Grace
To appoint some of your Councell presently
To sit with vs once more, with better heed
To re-suruey them; we will suddenly
Passe our accept and peremptorie Answer.

England.
Brother we shall. Goe Vnckle Exeter,
And Brother Clarence, and you Brother Gloucester,
Warwick, and Huntington, goe with the King,
And take with you free power, to ratifie,
Augment, or alter, as your Wisdomes best
Shall see aduantageable for our Dignitie,
Any thing in or out of our Demands,
And wee'le consigne thereto. Will you, faire Sister,
Goe with the Princes, or stay here with vs?

Quee.
Our gracious Brother, I will goe with them:
Happily a Womans Voyce may doe some good,
When Articles too nicely vrg'd, be stood on.

England.
Yet leaue our Cousin Katherine here with vs,
She is our capitall Demand, compris'd
Within the fore-ranke of our Articles.

Quee.
She hath good leaue.
Exeunt omnes. Manet King and Katherine.

King.
Faire Katherine, and most faire,
Will you vouchsafe to teach a Souldier tearmes,
Such as will enter at a Ladyes eare,
And pleade his Loue-suit to her gentle heart.

Kath.
Your Maiestie shall mock at me, I cannot
speake your England.

King.
O faire Katherine, if you will loue me soundly
with your French heart, I will be glad to heare you confesse
it brokenly with your English Tongue. Doe you like me,
Kate?

Kath.
Pardonne moy, I cannot tell wat is like me.

King.
An Angell is like you Kate, and you are like
an Angell.

Kath.
Que dit il que Ie suis semblable a les Anges?

Lady.
Ouy verayment (sauf vostre Grace) ainsi dit il.

King.
I said so, deare Katherine, and I must not
blush to affirme it.

Kath.
O bon Dieu, les langues des hommes sont
plein de tromperies.

King.
What sayes she, faire one? that the tongues of
men are full of deceits?

Lady.
Ouy, dat de tongeus of de mans is be full of deceits:
dat is de Princesse.

King.
The Princesse is the better English-woman:
yfaith Kate, my wooing is fit for thy vnderstanding,I
am glad thou canst speake no better English, for if thou
could'st, thou would'st finde me such a plaine King, that
thou wouldst thinke, I had sold my Farme to buy my Crowne.
I know no wayes to mince it in loue, but directly to say,
I loue you; then if you vrge me farther, then to say,
Doe you in faith? I weare out my suite: Giue me your
answer, yfaith doe, and so clap hands, and a bargaine:
how say you, Lady?

Kath.
Sauf vostre honeur, me vnderstand well.

King.
Marry, if you would put me to Verses, or to
Dance for your sake, Kate, why you vndid me: for the
one I haue neither words nor measure; and for the
other, I haue no strength in measure, yet a reasonable
measure in strength. If I could winne a Lady at Leape-frogge,
or by vawting into my Saddle, with my Armour on my
backe; vnder the correction of bragging be it spoken. I
should quickly leape into a Wife: Or if I might buffet for
my Loue, or bound my Horse for her fauours, I could lay
on like a Butcher, and sit like a Iack an Apes, neuer off.
But before God Kate, I cannot looke greenely, nor gaspe
out my eloquence, nor I haue no cunning in protestation;
onely downe-right Oathes, which I neuer vse till vrg'd, nor
neuer breake for vrging. If thou canst loue a fellow of this
temper, Kate, whose face is not worth Sunne-burning? that
neuer lookes in his Glasse, for loue of any thing he sees
there? let thine Eye be thy Cooke. I speake to thee plaine
Souldier: If thou canst loue me for this, take me? if not?
to say to thee that I shall dye, is true; but for thy loue,
by the L. No: yet I loue thee too. And while thou
liu'st, deare Kate, take a fellow of plaine and vncoyned
Constancie, for he perforce must do thee right, because
he hath not the gift to wooe in other places: for these
fellowes of infinit tongue, that can ryme themselues
into Ladyes fauours, they doe alwayes reason themselues
out againe. What? a speaker is but a prater, a Ryme is
but a Ballad; a good Legge will fall, a strait Backe will
stoope, a blacke Beard will turne white, a curl'd Pate will
grow bald, a faire Face will wither, a full Eye will wax
hollow: but a good Heart, Kate, is the Sunne and the Moone,
or rather the Sunne, and not the Moone; for it shines
bright, and neuer changes, but keepes his course truly.
If thou would haue such a one, take me? and take me;
take a Souldier: take a Souldier; take a King. And what
say'st thou then to my Loue? speake my faire, and fairely,
I pray thee.

Kath.
Is it possible dat I sould loue de ennemie of
Fraunce?

King.
No, it is not possible you should loue the
Enemie of France, Kate; but in louing me, you should
loue the Friend of France: for I loue France so well, that
I will not part with a Village of it; I will haue it all mine:
and Kate, when France is mine, and I am yours; then
yours is France, and you are mine.

Kath.
I cannot tell wat is dat.

King.
No, Kate? I will tell thee in French, which
I am sure will hang vpon my tongue, like a new-married
Wife about her Husbands Necke, hardly to be shooke off;
Ie quand sur le possession de Fraunce, & quand vous aues
le possession de moy. (Let mee see, what then? Saint Dennis
bee my speede) Donc vostre est Fraunce, & vous estes mienne.
It is as easie for me, Kate, to conquer the Kingdome, as to
speake so much more French: I shall neuer moue thee in
French, vnlesse it be to laugh at me.

Kath.
Sauf vostre honeur, le Francois ques vous
parleis, il & melieus que l'Anglois le quelIe parle.

King.
No faith is't not, Kate: but thy speaking
of my Tongue, and I thine, most truely falsely, must
needes be graunted to be much at one. But Kate, doo'st
thou vnderstand thus much English? Canst thou loue
mee?

Kath.
I cannot tell.

King.
Can any of your Neighbours tell, Kate?
Ile aske them. Come, I know thou louest me: and at
night, when you come into your Closet, you'le question
this Gentlewoman about me; and I know, Kate, you will
to her disprayse those parts in me, that you loue with
your heart: but good Kate, mocke me mercifully, the
rather gentle Princesse, because I loue thee cruelly.
If euer thou beest mine, Kate, as I haue a sauing Faith
within me tells me thou shalt; I get thee with skambling,
and thou must therefore needes proue a good Souldier-breeder:
Shall not thou and I, betweene Saint Dennis and
Saint George, compound a Boy, halfe French halfe
English, that shall goe to Constantinople, and take the
Turke by the Beard. Shall wee not? what say'st thou,
my faire Flower-de-Luce.

Kate.
I doe not know dat.

King.
No: 'tis hereafter to know, but now to
promise: doe but now promise Kate, you will endeauour
for your French part of such a Boy; and for my English
moytie, take the Word of a King, and a Batcheler. How
answer you, La plus belle Katherine du monde mon
trescher & deuin deesse.

Kath.
Your Maiestee aue fause Frenche enough to
deceiue de most sage Damoiseil dat is en Fraunce.

King.
Now fye vpon my false French: by mine
Honor in true English, I loue thee Kate; by which
Honor, I dare not sweare thou louest me, yet my blood
begins to flatter me, that thou doo'st; notwithstanding the
poore and vntempering effect of my Visage. Now beshrew
my Fathers Ambition, hee was thinking of Ciuill Warres
when hee got me, therefore was I created with a stubborne
out-side, with an aspect of Iron, that when I come to wooe
Ladyes, I fright them: but in faith Kate, the elder I wax,
the better I shall appeare. My comfort is, that Old Age,
that ill layer vp of Beautie, can doe no more spoyle vpon
my Face. Thou hast me, if thou hast me, at the worst;
and thou shalt weare me, if thou weare me, better and
better: and therefore tell me, most faire Katherine, will
you haue me? Put off your Maiden Blushes, auouch the
Thoughts of your Heart with the Lookes of an Empresse,
take me by the Hand, and say, Harry of England, I am
thine: which Word thou shalt no sooner blesse mine Eare
withall, but I will tell thee alowd, England is thine,
Ireland is thine, France is thine, and Henry Plantaginet
is thine; who, though I speake it before his Face, if he
be not Fellow with the best King, thou shalt finde the best
King of Good-fellowes. Come your Answer in broken
Musick; for thy Voyce is Musick, and thy English broken:
Therefore Queene of all, Katherine, breake thy minde to
me in broken English; wilt thou haue me?

Kath.
Dat is as it shall please de Roy mon pere.

King.
Nay, it will please him well, Kate; it shall
please him, Kate.

Kath.
Den it sall also content me.

King.
Vpon that I kisse your Hand, and I call you
my Queene.

Kath.
Laisse mon Seigneur, laisse, laisse, may foy:
Ie ne veus point que vous abbaisse vostre grandeus, en
baisant le main d'une nostre Seigneur indignie seruiteur
excuse moy. Ie vous supplie mon tres-puissant Seigneur.

King.
Then I will kisse your Lippes, Kate.

Kath.
Les Dames & Damoisels pour estre baisee
deuant leur nopcese il net pas le costume de Fraunce.

King.
Madame, my Interpreter, what sayes shee?

Lady.
Dat it is not be de fashon pour le Ladies of Fraunce;
I cannot tell wat is buisse en Anglish.

King.
To kisse.

Lady.
Your Maiestee entendre bettre que moy.

King.
It is not a fashion for the Maids in Fraunce to
kisse before they are marryed, would she say?

Lady.
Ouy verayment.

King.
O Kate, nice Customes cursie to great Kings.
Deare Kate, you and I cannot bee confin'd within the
weake Lyst of a Countreyes fashion: wee are the makers
of Manners, Kate; and the libertie that followes our Places,
stoppes the mouth of all finde-faults, as I will doe yours, for
vpholding the nice fashion of your Countrey, in denying
me a Kisse: therefore patiently, and yeelding.
You haue Witch-craft in your Lippes, Kate: there is
more eloquence in a Sugar touch of them, then in the
Tongues of the French Councell; and they should sooner
perswade Harry of England, then a generall Petition of
Monarchs. Heere comes your Father.
Enter the French Power, and
the English Lords.

Burg.
God saue your Maiestie, my Royall Cousin,
teach you our Princesse English?

King.
I would haue her learne, my faire Cousin, how
perfectly I loue her, and that is good English.

Burg.
Is shee not apt?

King.
Our Tongue is rough, Coze, and my Condition
is not smooth: so that hauing neyther the Voyce nor the
Heart of Flatterie about me, I cannot so coniure vp the
Spirit of Loue in her, that hee will appeare in his true
likenesse.

Burg.
Pardon the franknesse of my mirth, if I answer
you for that. If you would coniure in her, you must
make a Circle: if coniure vp Loue in her in his true likenesse,
hee must appeare naked, and blinde. Can you blame
her then, being a Maid, yet ros'd ouer with the Virgin
Crimson of Modestie, if shee deny the apparance of a
naked blinde Boy in her naked seeing selfe? It were (my
Lord) a hard Condition for a Maid to consigne to.

King.
Yet they doe winke and yeeld, as Loue is blind
and enforces.

Burg.
They are then excus'd, my Lord, when they
see not what they doe.

King.
Then good my Lord, teach your Cousin to
consent winking.

Burg.
I will winke on her to consent, my Lord, if you
will teach her to know my meaning: for Maides well
Summer'd, and warme kept, are like Flyes at Bartholomew-tyde,
blinde, though they haue their eyes, and then they
will endure handling, which before would not abide
looking on.

King.
This Morall tyes me ouer to Time, and a hot
Summer; and so I shall catch the Flye, your Cousin, in the
latter end, and she must be blinde to.

Burg.
As Loue is my Lord, before it loues.

King.
It is so: and you may, some of you, thanke
Loue for my blindnesse, who cannot see many a faire
French Citie for one faire French Maid that stands in my
way.

French King.
Yes my Lord, you see them perspectiuely:
the Cities turn'd into a Maid; for they are all gyrdled
with Maiden Walls, that Warre hath entred.

England.
Shall Kate be my Wife?

France.
So please you.

England.
I am content, so the Maiden Cities you talke
of, may wait on her: so the Maid that stood in the way
for my Wish, shall shew me the way to my Will.

France.
Wee haue consented to all tearmes of reason.

England.
Is't so, my Lords of England?

West.
The King hath graunted euery Article:
His Daughter first; and in sequele, all,
According to their firme proposed natures.

Exet.
Onely he hath not yet subscribed this:
Where your Maiestie demands, That the King of France
hauing any occasion to write for matter of Graunt, shall
name your Highnesse in this forme, and with this addition,
in French: Nostre trescher filz Henry Roy d'Angleterre
Heretere de Fraunce: and thus in Latine; Praclarissimus
Filius noster Henricus Rex Anglia & Heres Francia.

France.
Nor this I haue not Brother so deny'd,
But your request shall make me let it passe.

England.
I pray you then, in loue and deare allyance,
Let that one Article ranke with the rest,
And thereupon giue me your Daughter.

France.
Take her faire Sonne, and from her blood rayse vp
Issue to me, that the contending Kingdomes
Of France and England, whose very shoares looke pale,
With enuy of each others happinesse,
May cease their hatred; and this deare Coniunction
Plant Neighbour-hood and Christian-like accord
In their sweet Bosomes: that neuer Warre aduance
His bleeding Sword 'twixt England and faire France.

Lords.
Amen.

King.
Now welcome Kate: and beare me witnesse all,
That here I kisse her as my Soueraigne Queene.
Flourish.

Quee.
God, the best maker of all Marriages,
Combine your hearts in one, your Realmes in one:
As Man and Wife being two, are one in loue,
So be there 'twixt your Kingdomes such a Spousall,
That neuer may ill Office, or fell Iealousie,
Which troubles oft the Bed of blessed Marriage,
Thrust in betweene the Pation of these Kingdomes,
To make diuorce of their incorporate League:
That English may as French, French Englishmen,
Receiue each other. God speake this Amen.

All.
Amen.

King.
Prepare we for our Marriage: on which day,
My Lord of Burgundy wee'le take your Oath
And all the Peeres, for suretie of our Leagues.
Then shall I sweare to Kate, and you to me,
And may our Oathes well kept and prosp'rous be.
Senet. Exeunt.
Modern text
Flourish. Enter Chorus

CHORUS
Vouchsafe to those that have not read the story
That I may prompt them; and of such as have,
I humbly pray them to admit th' excuse
Of time, of numbers, and due course of things,
Which cannot in their huge and proper life
Be here presented. Now we bear the King
Toward Calais. Grant him there: there seen,
Heave him away upon your winged thoughts
Athwart the sea. Behold, the English beach
Pales in the flood with men, with wives, and boys,
Whose shouts and claps outvoice the deep-mouthed sea,
Which like a mighty whiffler fore the King
Seems to prepare his way. So let him land,
And solemnly see him set on to London.
So swift a pace hath thought that even now
You may imagine him upon Blackheath,
Where that his lords desire him to have borne
His bruised helmet and his bended sword
Before him through the city. He forbids it,
Being free from vainness and self-glorious pride,
Giving full trophy, signal, and ostent
Quite from himself to God. But now behold,
In the quick forge and working-house of thought,
How London doth pour out her citizens:
The Mayor and all his brethren in best sort,
Like to the senators of th' antique Rome,
With the plebeians swarming at their heels,
Go forth and fetch their conquering Caesar in:
As, by a lower but loving likelihood,
Were now the General of our gracious Empress –
As in good time he may – from Ireland coming,
Bringing rebellion broached on his sword,
How many would the peaceful city quit
To welcome him! Much more, and much more cause,
Did they this Harry. Now in London place him –
As yet the lamentation of the French
Invites the King of England's stay at home.
The Emperor's coming in behalf of France
To order peace between them; and omit
All the occurrences, whatever chanced,
Till Harry's back-return again to France.
There must we bring him; and myself have played
The interim, by remembering you 'tis past.
Then brook abridgement, and your eyes advance,
After your thoughts, straight back again to France.
Exit
Modern text
Act V, Scene I
Enter Fluellen and Gower

GOWER
Nay, that's right; but why wear you your leek
today? Saint Davy's day is past.

FLUELLEN
There is occasions and causes why and wherefore
in all things. I will tell you ass my friend, Captain
Gower: the rascally, scauld, beggarly, lousy, pragging
knave, Pistol – which you and yourself and all the world
know to be no petter than a fellow, look you now, of no
merits – he is come to me and prings me pread and salt
yesterday, look you, and bid me eat my leek. It was in a
place where I could not breed no contention with him;
but I will be so bold as to wear it in my cap till I see
him once again, and then I will tell him a little piece of
my desires.
Enter Pistol

GOWER
Why, here he comes, swelling like a turkey-cock.

FLUELLEN
'Tis no matter for his swellings nor his turkey-cocks.
God pless you, Aunchient Pistol! You scurvy,
lousy knave, God pless you!

PISTOL
Ha, art thou bedlam? Dost thou thirst, base Troyan,
To have me fold up Parca's fatal web?
Hence! I am qualmish at the smell of leek.

FLUELLEN
I peseech you heartily, scurvy, lousy knave,
at my desires, and my requests, and my petitions, to eat,
look you, this leek. Because, look you, you do not love
it, nor your affections, and your appetites, and your
digestions, doo's not agree with it, I would desire you to
eat it.

PISTOL
Not for Cadwallader and all his goats!

FLUELLEN
There is one goat for you. (He strikes him)
Will you be so good, scauld knave, as eat it?

PISTOL
Base Troyan, thou shalt die!

FLUELLEN
You say very true, scauld knave, when God's
will is. I will desire you to live in the meantime, and
eat your victuals – come, there is sauce for it. (He strikes
him again) You called me yesterday mountain-squire,
but I will make you today a squire of low degree. I pray
you fall to – if you can mock a leek, you can eat a leek.

GOWER
Enough, Captain, you have astonished him.

FLUELLEN
I say, I will make him eat some part of my leek,
or I will peat his pate four days. Bite, I pray you, it is
good for your green wound and your ploody coxcomb.

PISTOL
Must I bite?

FLUELLEN
Yes, certainly, and out of doubt, and out of
question too, and ambiguities.

PISTOL
By this leek, I will most horribly revenge – I eat
and eat, I swear –

FLUELLEN
Eat, I pray you; will you have some more
sauce to your leek? There is not enough leek to swear
by.

PISTOL
Quiet thy cudgel, thou dost see I eat.

FLUELLEN
Much good do you, scauld knave, heartily.
Nay, pray you throw none away, the skin is good for
your broken coxcomb. When you take occasions to see
leeks hereafter, I pray you mock at 'em, that is all.

PISTOL
Good!

FLUELLEN
Ay, leeks is good. Hold you, there is a groat to
heal your pate.

PISTOL
Me a groat?

FLUELLEN
Yes, verily and in truth you shall take it, or I
have another leek in my pocket which you shall eat.

PISTOL
I take thy groat in earnest of revenge.

FLUELLEN
If I owe you anything, I will pay you in
cudgels – you shall be a woodmonger, and buy nothing
of me but cudgels. God bye you, and keep you, and heal
your pate.
Exit

PISTOL
All hell shall stir for this!

GOWER
Go, go, you are a counterfeit cowardly knave.
Will you mock at an ancient tradition, begun upon an
honourable respect, and worn as a memorable trophy
of predeceased valour, and dare not avouch in your
deeds any of your words? I have seen you gleeking and
galling at this gentleman twice or thrice. You thought,
because he could not speak English in the native garb,
he could not therefore handle an English cudgel. You
find it otherwise, and henceforth let a Welsh correction
teach you a good English condition. Fare ye well.
Exit

PISTOL
Doth Fortune play the housewife with me now?
News have I that my Doll is dead i'th' spital
Of malady of France,
And there my rendezvous is quite cut off.
Old I do wax, and from my weary limbs
Honour is cudgelled. Well, bawd I'll turn,
And something lean to cutpurse of quick hand.
To England will I steal, and there I'll – steal;
And patches will I get unto these cudgelled scars,
And swear I got them in the Gallia wars.
Exit
Modern text
Act V, Scene II
Enter, at one door, King Henry, Exeter, Bedford,
Gloucester, Clarence, Warwick, Westmorland, Huntingdon,
and other Lords; at another, the French King,
Queen Isabel, the Princess Katherine, Alice, and
other French; the Duke of Burgundy and his train

KING HENRY
Peace to this meeting, wherefore we are met!
Unto our brother France, and to our sister,
Health and fair time of day. Joy and good wishes
To our most fair and princely cousin Katherine;
And, as a branch and member of this royalty,
By whom this great assembly is contrived,
We do salute you, Duke of Burgundy;
And, Princes French, and peers, health to you all!

FRENCH KING
Right joyous are we to behold your face,
Most worthy brother England: fairly met!
So are you, Princes English, every one.

QUEEN ISABEL
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.
The venom of such looks, we fairly hope,
Have lost their quality, and that this day
Shall change all griefs and quarrels into love.

KING HENRY
To cry ‘ Amen ’ to that, thus we appear.

QUEEN ISABEL
You English Princes all, I do salute you.

BURGUNDY
My duty to you both, on equal love,
Great Kings of France and England! That I have laboured
With all my wits, my pains, and strong endeavours,
To bring your most imperial majesties
Unto this bar and royal interview,
Your mightiness on both parts best can witness.
Since, then, my office hath so far prevailed
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 nurse of arts, plenties, and joyful births,
Should not in this best garden of the world
Our fertile France, put up her lovely visage?
Alas, she hath from France too long been chased,
And all her husbandry doth lie on heaps,
Corrupting in it own fertility.
Her vine, the merry cheerer of the heart,
Unpruned dies; her hedges even-pleached,
Like prisoners wildly overgrown with hair,
Put forth disordered twigs; her fallow leas
The darnel, hemlock, and rank fumitory
Doth root upon, while that the coulter rusts
That should deracinate such savagery.
The even mead, that erst brought sweetly forth
The freckled cowslip, burnet, and green clover,
Wanting the scythe, all uncorrected, rank,
Conceives by idleness, and nothing teems
But hateful docks, rough thistles, kecksies, burs,
Losing both beauty and utility;
And as our vineyards, fallows, meads, and hedges,
Defective in their natures, grow to wildness,
Even so our houses and ourselves and children
Have lost, or do not learn for want of time,
The sciences that should become our country,
But grow like savages – as soldiers will
That nothing do but meditate on blood –
To swearing and stern looks, diffused attire,
And everything that seems unnatural.
Which to reduce into our former favour
You are assembled; and my speech entreats
That I may know the let why gentle peace
Should not expel these inconveniences,
And bless us with her former qualities.

KING 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 just demands,
Whose tenors and particular effects
You have, enscheduled briefly, in your hands.

BURGUNDY
The King hath heard them, to the which as yet
There is no answer made.

KING HENRY
Well then, the peace
Which you before so urged lies in his answer.

FRENCH KING
I have but with a cursitory eye
O'erglanced 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.

KING HENRY
Brother, we shall. Go, uncle Exeter,
And brother Clarence, and you, brother Gloucester,
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,
Anything in or out of our demands,
And we'll consign thereto. Will you, fair sister,
Go with the Princes, or stay here with us?

QUEEN ISABEL
Our gracious brother, I will go with them.
Haply a woman's voice may do some good,
When articles too nicely urged be stood on.

KING HENRY
Yet leave our cousin Katherine here with us;
She is our capital demand, comprised
Within the fore-rank of our articles.

QUEEN ISABEL
She hath good leave.
Exeunt all but Henry, Katherine, and Alice

KING HENRY
Fair Katherine, 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?

KATHERINE
Your majesty shall mock at me; I cannot
speak your England.

KING HENRY
O fair Katherine, 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?

KATHERINE
Pardonnez-moi, I cannot tell vat is ‘ like me.’

KING HENRY
An angel is like you, Kate, and you are like
an angel.

KATHERINE
Que dit-il? que je suis semblable à les anges?

ALICE
Oui, vraiment, sauf votre grâce, ainsi dit-il.

KING HENRY
I said so, dear Katherine, and I must not
blush to affirm it.

KATHERINE
O bon Dieu! Les langues des hommes sont
pleines de tromperies.

KING HENRY
What says she, fair one? that the tongues of
men are full of deceits?

ALICE
Oui, dat de tongues of de mans is be full of deceits –
dat is de Princesse.

KING HENRY
The Princess is the better Englishwoman.
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 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 farther 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?

KATHERINE
Sauf votre honneur, me understand well.

KING HENRY
Marry, if you would put me to verses, or to
dance for your sake, Kate, why, you undid me. 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 leapfrog,
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 jackanapes, never off.
But, before God, Kate, I cannot look greenly, 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 sunburning, that
never looks in his glass for love of anything 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 love thee too. And while thou
liv'st, dear Kate, take a fellow of plain and uncoined
constancy; 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 curled 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 would have such a one, take me; and take me,
take a soldier; take a soldier, take a king. And what
say'st thou then to my love? Speak, my fair, and fairly,
I pray thee.

KATHERINE
Is it possible dat I sould love de ennemi of
France?

KING HENRY
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.

KATHERINE
I cannot tell wat is dat.

KING HENRY
No, Kate? I will tell thee in French, which
I am sure will hang upon my tongue like a new-married
wife about her husband's neck, hardly to be shook off.
Je – quand sur le possession de France, et quand vous avez
le possession de moi, – let me see, what then? Saint Denis
be my speed! – donc vôtre est France, et vous êtes 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.

KATHERINE
Sauf votre honneur, le français que vous
parlez, il est meilleur que l'anglais lequel je parle.

KING HENRY
No, faith, is't not, Kate; but thy speaking
of my tongue, and I thine, most truly-falsely, must
needs be granted to be much at one. But Kate, dost
thou understand thus much English – canst thou love
me?

KATHERINE
I cannot tell.

KING 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
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 a saving faith
within me tells me thou shalt, I get thee with scambling,
and thou must therefore needs prove a good soldier-breeder.
Shall not thou and I, between Saint Denis and
Saint George, compound a boy, half French, half
English, that shall go to Constantinople and take the
Turk by the beard? Shall we not? What say'st thou,
my fair flower-de-luce?

KATHERINE
I do not know dat.

KING 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 Katherine du monde, mon
très cher et devin déesse?

KATHERINE
Your majestee 'ave fausse French enough to
deceive de most sage demoiselle dat is en France.

KING HENRY
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 untempering effect of my visage. 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 Katherine, 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
music – for thy voice is music, and thy English broken;
therefore, Queen of all, Katherine, break thy mind to
me in broken English – wilt thou have me?

KATHERINE
Dat is as it shall please de Roi mon père.

KING HENRY
Nay, it will please him well, Kate – it shall
please him, Kate.

KATHERINE
Den it sall also content me.

KING HENRY
Upon that I kiss your hand, and I call you
my Queen.

KATHERINE
Laissez, mon seigneur, laissez, laissez! Ma foi,
je ne veux point que vous abaissiez votre grandeur en
baisant la main d'une – notre Seigneur – indigne serviteur.
Excusez-moi, je vous supplie, mon très-puissant seigneur.

KING HENRY
Then I will kiss your lips, Kate.

KATHERINE
Les dames et demoiselles pour être baisées
devant leur noces, il n'est pas la coutume de France.

KING HENRY
Madam my interpreter, what says she?

ALICE
Dat it is not be de fashion pour les ladies of France
I cannot tell wat is baiser en Anglish.

KING HENRY
To kiss.

ALICE
Your majesty entendre bettre que moi.

KING HENRY
It is not a fashion for the maids in France to
kiss before they are married, would she say?

ALICE
Oui, vraiment.

KING HENRY
O Kate, nice customs curtsy to great kings.
Dear Kate, you and I cannot be confined 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
upholding the nice fashion of your country in denying
me a kiss; therefore, patiently, and yielding. (He 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. Here comes your father.
Enter the French King and Queen, Burgundy, and
English and French Lords

BURGUNDY
God save your majesty! My royal cousin,
teach you our Princess English?

KING HENRY
I would have her learn, my fair cousin, how
perfectly I love her, and that is good English.

BURGUNDY
Is she not apt?

KING HENRY
Our tongue is rough, coz, and my condition
is not smooth; 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.

BURGUNDY
Pardon the frankness of my mirth, if I answer
you for that. If you would conjure in her, you must
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 rosed over with the virgin
crimson of modesty, if she deny the appearance of a
naked blind boy in her naked seeing self? It were, my
lord, a hard condition for a maid to consign to.

KING HENRY
Yet they do wink and yield, as love is blind
and enforces.

BURGUNDY
They are then excused, my lord, when they
see not what they do.

KING HENRY
Then, good my lord, teach your cousin to
consent winking.

BURGUNDY
I will wink on her to consent, my lord, if you
will teach her to know my meaning: for maids, well
summered and warm kept, are like flies at Bartholomew-tide,
blind, though they have their eyes, and then they
will endure handling, which before would not abide
looking on.

KING HENRY
This moral ties me over to time and a hot
summer; and so I shall catch the fly, your cousin, in the
latter end, and she must be blind too.

BURGUNDY
As love is, my lord, before it loves.

KING HENRY
It is so; and you may, some of you, thank
love for my blindness, who cannot see many a fair
French city for one fair French maid that stands in my
way.

FRENCH KING
Yes, my lord, you see them perspectively,
the cities turned into a maid; for they are all girdled
with maiden walls, that war hath never entered.

KING HENRY
Shall Kate be my wife?

FRENCH KING
So please you.

KING HENRY
I am content, so the maiden cities you talk
of may wait on her: so the maid that stood in the way
for my wish shall show me the way to my will.

FRENCH KING
We have consented to all terms of reason.

KING HENRY
Is't so, my lords of England?

WESTMORLAND
The King hath granted every article:
His daughter first, and then, in sequel, all,
According to their firm proposed natures.

EXETER
Only he hath not yet subscribed this:
Where your majesty demands that the King of France,
having any occasion to write for matter of grant, shall
name your highness in this form and with this addition,
in French, Notre très cher fils Henri, Roi d'Angleterre,
Héritier de France: and thus in Latin, Praeclarissimus
filius noster Henricus, Rex Angliae et Haeres Franciae.

FRENCH KING
Nor this I have not, brother, so denied
But your request shall make me let it pass.

KING HENRY
I pray you then, in love and dear alliance,
Let that one article rank with the rest,
And thereupon give me your daughter.

FRENCH KING
Take her, fair son, and from her blood raise up
Issue to me, 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.

LORDS
Amen!

KING HENRY
Now welcome, Kate; and bear me witness all
That here I kiss her as my sovereign Queen.
Flourish

QUEEN ISABEL
God, the best maker of all marriages,
Combine your hearts in one, your realms in one!
As man and wife, being two, are one in love,
So be there 'twixt your kingdoms such a spousal
That never may ill office, or fell jealousy,
Which troubles oft the bed of blessed marriage,
Thrust in between the paction of these kingdoms
To make divorce of their incorporate league;
That English may as French, French Englishmen,
Receive each other, God speak this ‘Amen'!

ALL
Amen!

KING HENRY
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 prosperous be!
Sennet. Exeunt
x

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