Exit SCENE II. France. A royal palace. Enter, at one door KING HENRY, EXETER, BEDFORD, GLOUCESTER, WARWICK, WESTMORELAND, and other Lords; at another, the FRENCH KING, QUEENISABEL, the PRINCESS KATHARINE, ALICE and other Ladies; the DUKE of BURGUNDY, and his train KING HENRY V 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 Katharine;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! KING OF FRANCE 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 V 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 labour'd, 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 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 nurse of arts 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 its own fertility.
Her vine, the merry cheerer of the heart, Unpruned dies; her hedges even-pleach'd, Like prisoners wildly overgrown with hair, Put forth disorder'd 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 every thing 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 V If, Duke of Burgundy, you would the peace, Whose want gives growth to the 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 V Well then the peace, Which you before so urged, lies in his answer. KING OF FRANCE I have but with a cursorary 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 V 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, Any thing 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 V Yet leave our cousin Katharine here with us:
She is our capital demand, comprised Within the fore-rank of our articles. QUEEN ISABEL She hath good leave.
Exeunt all except HENRY, KATHARINE, and ALICE KING HENRY V 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? KATHARINE Your majesty shall mock at me; I cannot speak your England. KING HENRY V 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? KATHARINE Pardonnez-moi, I cannot tell vat is 'like me.' KING HENRY V An angel is like you, Kate, and you are like an angel. KATHARINE Que dit-il? que je suis semblable a les anges? ALICE Oui, vraiment, sauf votre grace, ainsi dit-il. KING HENRY V I said so, dear Katharine; and I must not blush to affirm it. KATHARINE O bon Dieu! les langues des hommes sont pleines de tromperies. KING HENRY V 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 princess. KING HENRY V The princess is the better Englishwoman.
I' faith, Kate, my wooing is fit for thy understanding:
