K. Hen. I pray you then, in love and dear alli ance, Let that one article rank with the rest: And, thereupon, give me your daughter. F. 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 K. Hen. Now welcome, Kate:-and bear me witness all, That here I kiss her as my sovereign queen. [Flourish. Q. Isa. 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! K. Hen. Prepare we for our marriage: on which day, My lord of Burgundy, we'll take your oath, Enter CHORUS. Thus far, with rough, and all unable pen, Mangling by starts the full course of their glory22, Small time, but, in that small, most greatly liv'd This star of England: fortune made his sword; By which the world's best garden23 he achiev'd, And of it left his son imperial lord. Henry the Sixth, in infant bands crown'd king Of France and England, did this king succeed; Whose state so many had the managing, That they lost France, and made his England bleed: Which oft our stage hath shown; and, for their sake, In your fair minds let this acceptance take. [Exit. 21 Our bending author. That is, unequal to the weight of his subject, and bending beneath it. Thus Milton, in his Apology for Smectymnus, speaking of Bishop Hall:-'In a strain as pitiful-manifested a presumptuous undertaking with weak and unexamined shoulders.' 22 Mangling by starts the fuli course of their glory.' That is,. by touching only on select parts. 23 i. e. France. A similiar distinction is bestowed on Lombardy in The Taming of the Shrew : "The pleasant garden of great Italy.' THIS play has many scenes of high dignity, and many of easy merriment. The character of the king is well supported, except in his courtship, where he has neither the vivacity of Hal, nor the grandeur of Henry. The humour of Pistol is very happily continued: his character has perhaps been the model of all the bullies that have yet appeared on the English stage. The lines given to the Chorus have many admirers but the truth is, that in them a little may be praised, and much must be forgiven; nor can it be easily discovered why the intelligence given by the Chorus is more necessary in this play than in many others where it is omitted. The great defect of this play is the emptiness and narrowness of the last act, which a very little diligence might have easily avoided. JOHNSON. END OF VOL. V. |