not therefore handle an English cudgel: you find it otherwife; and, henceforth, let a Welsh correction teach you a good English condition. Fare

ye

well.

Pift. Doth fortune play the hufwife with me now? News have I, that my Nell is dead i'the spital

Of malady of France;

And there my rendezvous is quite cut off.
Old I do wax; and from my weary limbs
Honour is cudgell'd. Well, bawd will I turn,
And fomething lean to cutpurse of quick hand.
To England will I steal, and there I'll fteal:
And patches will I get unto these scars,
And fwear, I got them in the Gallia wars.

[Exit.

[Exit,

SCENE II.

Troyes in Champagne.

An Apartment in the French King's Palace.

Enter, at one door, King HENRY, BEDFORD, GLOSTER, EXETER, WARWICK, WESTMORELAND, and other Lords; at another, the French King, Queen ISABEL, the Princess KATHARINE, Lords, Ladies, &c. the Duke of BURGUNDY, and his Train.

K. Hen. Peace to this meeting, wherefore we are met! Unto our brother France,-and to our fifter,

Health and fair time of day :-joy and good wishes
To our most fair and princely coufin Katharine;
And (as a branch and member of this royalty,
By whom this great affembly is contriv'd,)
We do falute you, duke of Burgundy :-

And, princes French, and peers, health to you all!
Fr. King. Right joyous are we to behold your face,
H

Most

Most worthy brother England; fairly met:-
So are you, princes English, every one.

2. Ifa. 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 bafilisks :
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.
2. Ifa. You English princes all, I do salute you.
Bur. My duty to you both, on equal love,

Great kings of France and England! That I have la

bour'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, 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 chas'd;
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 over-grown with hair,
Put forth disorder'd twigs; her fallow leas
The darnel, hemlock, and rank fumitory,
Doth root upon; while that the coulter rufts,
That should deracinate such savagery:
The even mead, that erft 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, heckfies, burs,
Lofing both beauty and utility.

And as our vineyards, fallows, meads, and hedges,
Defective in their natures, grow to wildness;
Even fo our houses, and ourselves, and children,
Have loft, or do not learn, for want of time,
The sciences that should become our country;
But grow, like favages,-as foldiers will,
That nothing do but meditate on blood,—
To fwearing, and stern looks, diffus'd attire,
And every thing that seems unnatural.
Which to reduce into our former favour,
You are affembled: and my speech entreats,
That I may know the let, why gentle peace
Should not expel these inconveniencies,
And bless us with her former qualities.

K. Hen. 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 tenours and particular effects

You have, enfchedul'd briefly, in your hands.

Bur. The king hath heard them; to the which, as yet, There is no answer made.

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K. Hen.

K. Hen.

Well then, the peace,

Which you before fo urg'd, lies in his answer.
Fr. King. I have but with a cursorary eye
O'er-glanc'd the articles: pleaseth your grace
To appoint fome of your council presently
To fit with us once more, with better heed
To re-furvey them, we will, fuddenly,

Pafs our accept, and peremptory answer.

K. Hen. Brother, we fhall.-Go, uncle Exeter,—
And brother Clarence,-and you, brother Glofter,-
Warwick,—and Huntingdon,-go with the king:
And take with you free power, to ratify,
Augment, or alter, as your wifdoms best
Shall fee advantageable for our dignity,
Any thing in, or out of, our demands ;

And we'll confign thereto.-Will you, fair fister,
Go with the princes, or stay here with us?

2. Ifa. Our gracious brother, I will go with them; Haply, a woman's voice may do fome good, When articles, too nicely urg'd, be stood on.

K. Hen. Yet leave our coufin Katharine here with us; She is our capital demand, compris'd

Within the fore-rank of our articles.

2. Ifa. She hath good leave.

[Exeunt all but HENRY, KATHARINE, and her Gentlewoman,

K. Hen.

Fair Katharine, and most fair! Will you youchfafe to teach a foldier terms,

Such as will enter at a lady's ear,

And plead his love-fuit to her gentle heart?

Kath. Your majefty fhall mock at me; I cannot speak your England.

K. Hen. O fair Katharine, if you will love me foundly with your French heart, I will be glad to hear you con

fefs

fess it brokenly with your English tongue. Do you like me, Kate?

Kath. Pardonnez moy, 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 fuis femblable à les anges?

Alice. Ouy, vrayment, (favf vofire grace) ainfi dit il. K. Hen. I faid fo, dear Katharine; and I must not blush to affirm it.

Kath. O bon Dieu! les langues des hommes font pleines des tromperies.

K. Hen. What fays fhe, fair one? that the tongues of men are full of deceits?

Alice. Ouy; dat de tongues of de mans is be full of deceits dat is de princess.

:

I

K. Hen. The princefs is the better English-woman. I'faith, Kate, my wooing is fit for thy understanding: I am glad, thou can't speak no better English; for, if thou couldft, thou wouldst find me fuch a plain king, that thou wouldft think, I had fold my farm to buy my crown. 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 fuit. Give me your answer; i'faith, do; and fo clap hands, and a bargain: How fay you, lady?

Kath. Sauf voftre honneur, me understand well.

K. Hen. Marry, if you would put me to verses, or to dance for your fake, Kate, why you undid me: for the one, I have neither words nor measure; and for the other, I have no ftrength in measure, yet a reasonable measure in ftrength. If I could win a lady at leap-frog, or by vaulting into my faddle with my armour on my back, under the correction of bragging be it fpoken, I should quickly leap into a wife. Or, if I might buffet for my

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