Flu. Ay, leeks is goat:-Hold you, there is a groat to heal your pate.

Pist. Me a groat,

Flu. Yes, verily, and in truth, you shall take it; or I have another leek in my pocket, which you shall

eat.

Pist. I take thy groat, in earnest of revenge.

Flu. If I owe you any thing, I will pay you in cudgels; you shall be a woodmonger, and buy nothing of me but cudgels. God be wi' you, and keep you, and heal your pate.

Pist. All hell shall stir for this.

[Exit.

Gow. Go, go; you are a counterfeit cowardly knave, Will you mock at an ancient tradition,begun upon an honourable respect, and worn as a memorable trophy of predeceased valour,—and dare not avouch in your deeds any of your words? I have seen you gleeking* and galling at this gentleman twice or thrice. You thought, because he could not speak English.in the native garb, he could not there. fore handle an English cudgel: you find it otherwise; and, henceforth, let a Welsh correction teach you a good English conditiont. Fare ye well.

[Exit. Pist. Doth fortune play the huswifet with me now? News have I, that my Nell is dead i'the spitalý 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 something lean to cutpurse of quick hand.
To England will I steal, and there I'll steal:
And patches will I get unto these scars,
And swear, I got them in the Gallia wars,

[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 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 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,

ま

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 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-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;
But grow, like savages,-as soldiers will,

* Barrier.

+ Plowshare.

To deracinate is to force up the roots.

That nothing do but meditate on blood,-
To swearing, and stern looks, diffus'd* attire,
And every thing that seems unnatural.
Which to reduce into our former favourt,
You are assembled ; and my speech entreats,
That I may know the lett, 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, euschedul'd briefly, in your hands.
Bur. The king hath heard them; to the which,

as yet,

There is uo 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 cursorary 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;

• Extravagant.
+ Hinderance.

+ Appearance.

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?

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 suis semblable à les anges?

Alice. Ouy, vraymeut, (sauf vostre grace) ainsi dit il..

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

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

K. Hen. What says she, 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.

K. Hen. The princess is the better English-woman. I'faith, Kate, my wooing is fit for thy understanding: I am glad, thou canst speak no better English; for, if thou could'st, thou would'st find me such a plain king, that thou would'st think, I had