will you command we to use my legs? and yet that were but light payment, -to dance out of your debt. But a good conscience will make any possible satisfaction, and so will I. All the gendewomen here have forgiven me; if the gentlemen will not, then the gentlemen do not agree with the gentlewomen, which was never seen before in such an assembly. FIRST, my fear; then, my court'sy; last, my speech. My fear is, your displeasure, my courtsy, my duty; and my speech, to beg your pardons. If you look for a good speech now, you undo me: for what I have to say, is of mine own making: and what, indeed, I should say, will, I doubt, prove mine oan marring. But to the purpose, and so to the venture.-13. it known to you (as it is very well) I was lately here in the end of a displeasing play, to pray your patience for it, and to promise you a better. I did mean, indeed, to pay you with this; which if, like an ill venture, it come unluckily home, 1 break, and you, my gentle creditors, lose. Here, I promised you, I would be, and here I commit my body to your mercies: bate me some, and I will pay you some, and, as most debtors do, pro-weary; when my legs are too, I will bid you One word more, I beseech you. If you be not too much cloy'd with fat meat, our humble author will continue the story, with Sir John in it, and make you merry with fair Katharine of France: where, for any thing I know, Falstaff shall die of a sweat, unless already he be killed with your hard opinions; for Oldcastle died a martyr, and this is not the man. My tongue is good night: and so kneel down before you;-but, indeed, to pray for the queen. 1 This epilogue was merely occasional, and alludes to some theatrical transaction. custom of the old players, at the end of their performance, to pray for their patrons. ancient interludes conclude with some solemn prayer for the king or queen, house of Hence, perhaps, the Vivant Rex et Regina, at the bottom of our modern play-bills. 2 It was the Almost all the commons, &c. mise you infinitely. If my tongue cannot entreat you to acquit me, KING Lords, Messengers, French and English Soldiers, with other Attendants. The SCENE, at the Beginning of the Play, lies in England; but afterwards, wholly in France. CHORUS. For a muse of fire, that would ascend A kingdom for a stage, princes to act, And let us, cyphers to this great accompt, On your imaginary forces' work: kings, Carry them here and there; jumping o'er times; The transactions comprised in this historical play commence about the latter end of the first, and terminate in the eighth year of this king's reign; when he married Katharine princess of France, and closed up the differences betwixt England and that crown. It was writ (as appears from a passage in the chorus of the fifth act) at the time of the earl of Essex's commanding the forces in Ireland in the reign of queen Elizabeth, and not 'till after Henry the VIth had been played, as may be seen by the conclusion of this play. This goes upon the notion of the Peripatetic system, which imagines several heavens one above another; the last and highest of which was one of fire. 'i. e. this wooden circle. *The helmets. ' i. e. your powers of fancy. • Perilous narrow, in burlesque and common language, meant no more than very narrow. In old books this mode of expression occurs perpetually. ACT 11 SCENE L An Antichamber in the English Court, at Kenclworth. Enter the Archbishop of Canterbury, and Bishop of Ely urg'd, Cant. MY lord, I'll tell you, that self bill is Ely. But how, my lord, shall we resist it now? A fearful battle render'd you in music: And the mute wonder lurketh in men's ears, To steal his sweet and honey'd sentences; 10 Which is a wonder, how his grace should glean it, His companies unletter'd, rude, and shal'ow; Ely. The strawberry grows underneath the nettle; And wholesome berries thrive, and ripen best, Of indigent and faint souls, past corporal toil, And to the coffers of the king, beside, 20 Neighbour'd by fruit of baser quality: A thousand pounds by the year: Thus runs the bill. 25 Cant. It must be so: for miracles are ceas'd; Ely. This would drink deep. Cant. 'Twould drink the cup and all. Ely. But what prevention? Cant. The king is full of grace, and fair regard. Ely. And a true lover of the holy church. Cant. The courses of his youth promis'd it not. The breath no sooner left his father's body, Ely. We are blessed in the change. And, all-admiring, with an inward wish You would desire, the king were made a prelate: And therefore we must needs admit the means, Ely. But, my good lord, How now for mitigation of this bill 30 U'rg'd by the commons? Doth his majesty Incline to it, or no? Cant. He seems indifferent; Or, rather, swaying more upon our part, 40 Than ever at one time the clergy yet Ely. How did this offer seem receiv'd, my lord? You would say,-it hath been all-and-all his study: 50 Ely. What was the impediment that broke this List his discourse in war, and you shall hear 3 off? Meaning, when every one scambled, i. e. scrambled and shifted for himself as well as he could. *Alluding to the method by which Hercules cleansed the Augean stables when he turned a river through them. That is, his theory must have been taught by art and practice. Theoric or theorique is what terminates in speculation. i. e. The wild fruit so called, which grows in the woods. i.e. Increasing in its proper power. The passages of his titles are the lines of succession by whichhis claims descend. Unhidden is open, clear. Cant. Cant. The French ambassador, upon that instant, Cant. Then go we in, to know his embassy; Ely. I'll wait upon you; and I long to hear it. [Exeunt. SCENE II. Opens to the presence. K. Henry. Where is my gracious lord of Can- Exe. Not here in presence. K. Henry. Send for him, good uncle'. resolv'd, Before we hear him, of some things of weight, of Ely. There left behind and settled certain French; 15 Is at this day in Germany call'd-Meisen. 20 After defunction of king Pharamond, Cant. God, and his angels, guard your sacred 25 Beyond the river Sala, in the year throne, And make you long become it! K. Henry. Sure, we thank you. My learned lord, we pray you to proceed; reading, Or nicely charge your understanding soul sword That makes such waste in brief mortality. As pure as sin with baptisın. Eight hundred five. Besides, their writers say, Of Blithild, which was daughter to king Clothair, 30 Make claim and title to the crown of France. 35 (Though, in pure truth, it was corrupt and naught) 40 Who was sole heir to the usurper Capet, 45 Daughter to Charles the foresaid duke of Lorain: 50 King Lewis his satisfaction, all appear Cant. Then hear me, gracious sovereign, and 55 And rather chuse to hide them in a net, you peers, That owe your lives, your faith, and services, To this imperial throne ;- There is no bar To make against your highness' claim to France, Than amply to imbare' their crookd titles, K. Henry. May I, with right and conscience, make this claim? But this, which they produce from Pharamond, - 60 Cant. The sin upon iny head, dread sovereigu! In terram Salicam mulieres ne succedant, No woman shall succeed in Salique land. For in the book of Numbers it is writ- 2 Meaning, keep John Holland, duke of Exeter, was married to Elizabeth the king's aunt. our mind busied with scruples and laborious disquisitions. 'i. e. spurious. i. e. in proving and supporting that title which shall be now set up. This whole speech is copied from Holinshed. i. e. to make it shewy or specious by some appearance of justice. i. e, lay open, display to view. Descend |