The family Shakespeare [expurgated by T. Bowdler]. in which those words are omitted which cannot with propriety be read aloud in a family, by T. Bowdler

And

as soldiers will,

SCENE II.-Troyes in Champagne. An Apart- | But grow, like savages,
ment in the French King's Palace.
Enter at one door, King Henry, BedfORD, GLOS-
TER, 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!
and to our sister,

That nothing do but meditate on blood, —
To swearing, and stern looks, diffus'd attire,
Which to reduce into our former favour7,
every thing that seems unnatural,
You are assembled: and my speech entreats,
That I may know the let3, why gentle peace
Should not expel these inconveniences,
And bless us with her former qualities.

Unto our brother France,
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! Fr. King. Right joyous are we to behold your face,

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

Q. Isa. 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.
K. Hen. To cry amen to that, thus we appear.
Q. Isa. 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
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 them 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-pleached, —
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 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;
5 Force up by the roots.

4 Barrier.

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, enschedul'd briefly, in your hands.
Bur. The king hath heard them; to the which,
as yet,
There is no answer made.
K. Hen.
Well then, the peace,
Which you before so urg'd, lies in his answer.
Fr. King. I have but with a cursory 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.

K. Hen. Brother, we shall. -Go, uncle Exeter, And brother Clarence, 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, 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?

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.

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

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

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?

me.

Kath. Pardonnez moy, I cannot tell vat is—like

K. Hen. An angel is like you, Kate; and you are like an angel.

Kath. Que dit-il? que je suis semblable à les anges? Alice. Ouy, vrayment, (sauf vostre grace) ainsi dit-il.

K. Hen. I said so, dear Katharine; and I must not blush to affirm it.

Kath. O! les langues des hommes sont pleines des tromperies.

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

[subsumed][merged small][graphic][subsumed][merged small][subsumed]

Alice. Ouy; dat de tongues of de mans is be full & quand vous avez la possession de mor, (let me see, of deceits: dat is de princess. what then? Saint Dennis be my speed!)

donc

Kath. Sauf vostre honneur, le François que vous parlez, est meilleur que l'Anglois lequel je parle.

K. Hen. The princess is the better English-vostre est France, & vous estes mienne. It is as easy woman. I'faith, Kate, my wooing is fit for thy for me, Kate, to conquer the kingdom, as to speak understanding: I am glad, thou canst speak no so much more French: I shall never move thee in better English; for, if thou couldst, thou wouldst French, unless it be to laugh at me. 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 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?

K. Hen. 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?

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: but, good Kate, mock me mercifully; the rather, gentle princess, because I love thee cruelly. How answer you, la plus belle Catharine du monde, mon très chere et divine déesse?

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

Kath. Sauf vostre honneur, me understand well. K. Hen. 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 9, yet a reasonable measure in strength. 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 for 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 jack-an-apes, never off: but, I cannot look greenly, nor gasp out my eloquence, nor I have no cunning in protestation; only down- K. Hen. Now, fye upon my false French! By right oaths, which I never use till urged, nor never mine honour, in true English, I love thee, Kate: by break for urging. If thou canst love a fellow of which honour I dare not swear, thou lovest me; this temper, Kate, whose face is not worth sun- yet my blood begins to flatter me that thou dost, burning, that never looks in his glass for love of any notwithstanding the poor and untempering effect thing he sees there, let thine eye be thy cook. I of my visage. Now beshrew my father's ambition! speak to thee plain soldier: If thou canst love me he was always thinking of civil wars; therefore was for this, take me: if not, to say to thee that II created with a stubborn outside, with an aspéct shall die, is true; but-for thy love, no; yet I love thee too. And while thou livest, 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 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. Is it possible dat I should love de enemy of 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. I cannot tell vat is dat.

K. Hen. 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. Quand j'ay la possession de France,

9 In dancing. 1 i. e. Like a young lover, awkwardly. 2 He means, resembling a plain piece of metal, which has not yet received any impression. 3 Fall away.

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 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, Ire-
land is thine, France is thine, and Henry Planta-
genet 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 de roy mon pere. 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: ma foy, je ne veux point que vous abbaissez vostre grandeur, en baisant la main d'une vostre indigne serviteur; excusez moy, je vous supplie, mon très puissant seigneur.

K. Hen. Then I will kiss your lips, Kate.
Kath. Les dames, & demoiselles, pour estre baisées
devant leur nopces, il n'est pas la coûtume de France.
K. Hen. Madam my interpreter, what says she?

Alice. Dat it is not be de fashion pour les ladies of France, I cannot tell what is baiser, en English. K. Hen. To kiss.

Alice. Your majesty entendre bettre que moy.

K. Hen. It is not the fashion for the maids in France to kiss before they are married, would she say? Alice. Ouy, vrayment.

K. Hen. O, Kate, nice customs curt'sy 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 mouths of all findfaults; as I will do yours, for upholding the nice fashion of your country, in denying me a kiss: therefore, patiently, and yielding. [Kissing 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, BEDFORD, GLOSTER, EXETER, WESTMORELAND, and other French and English Lords.

Bur. God save your majesty! my royal cousin, teach you our princess English?

K. Hen. I would have her learn, my fair cousin, how perfectly I love her; and that is good English. Bur. Is she not apt?

K. Hen. Our tongue is rough, coz; and my condition 5 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. Shall Kate be my wife? Fr. King. So please you : - we have consented to all terms of reason.

K. Hen. Is't so, my lords of England? West. The king hath granted every article : His daughter, first; and then, in sequel, all, According to their firm proposed natures. Ere. 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 filz Henry roy d'Angleterre, héritier de France; and thus in Latin, Præclarissimus filius noster Henricus, rex Angliæ, & hæres Francia. Fr. King. Nor this I have not, brother, so denied, But your request shall make me let it pass.

✦ Slight barrier.

• Temper.

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

Fr. 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.
All. Amen!

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. Hon. 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!
[Exeunt.

Enter CHORUS.

Thus far, with rough, and all unable pen,
Our bending author hath pursu'd the story;
In little room confining mighty men,

Mangling by starts the full course of their glory. Small time, but, in that small, most greatly liv'd

This star of England: fortune made his sword; By which the world's best garden 7 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.

i. e. Unequal to the weight of the subject. 7 France.

« Předchozí Pokračovat »

Knihy

The family Shakespeare [expurgated by T. Bowdler]. in which those words are ...