SCENE L

ACT I.

An Antichamber in the English Court, at Kenelworth. Enter the Archbishop of Canterbury, and Bishop

of Ely.

urg'd,

Cant. MY lord, I'll tell you, that self bill is
Which, in the eleventh year o'the last king's reign,
Was like, and had indeed against us past,
But that the scambling and unquiet time
Did push it out of further question.

Ely. But how, my lord, shall we resist it now?
Cant. It must be thought on. If it pass against us,
We lose the better half of our possession:
For all the temporal lands, which men devout
By testament have given to the church,
Would they strip from us; being valued thus, -
As much as would maintain to the king's honour,
Full fifteen earls, and fifteen hundred knights;
Six thousand and two hundred good esquires;
And, to relief of lazars, and weak age,

A fearful battle rende Turn him to any caus The Gordian knot of Familiar as his garter 5 The air, a charter'd li And the mute wonder

To steal his sweet and So that the art, and p Must be the mistress t 10 Which is a wonder, ho Since his addiction was His companies unlette His hours fill'd up with And never noted in hi

15 Any retirement, any s From open haunts and Ely. The strawber nettle;

Of indigent and faint souls, past corporal toil,
A hundred alms-houses, right well supply'd;

And wholesome berrie 20 Neighbour'd by fruit c And so the prince obsc Under the veil of wild

Grew like the summe

And to the coffers of the king, beside,

Unseen, yet crescive in

A thousand pounds by the year: Thus runs the bill. 25 Cant. It must be so

Ely. This would drink deep.

And therefore we mus

Cant. 'Twould drink the cup and all.

How things are perfec

Ely. But what prevention?

Cant. The king is full of grace, and fair regard.

Ely. But, my good How now for mitigatio

Ely. And a true lover of the holy church.
Cant. The courses of his youth promis'd it not.

30 Urg'd by the common

Incline to it, or no?

The breath no sooner left his father's body,
But that his wildness, mortify'd in him,
Seem'd to die too: yea, at that very moment,
Consideration like an angel came,
And whipp'd the offending Adam out of him;
Leaving his body as a paradise,
To envelop and contain celestial spirits.
Never was such a sudden scholar made:
Never came reformation in a flood2,
With such a heady current, scouring faults;
Nor never Hydra-headed wilfulness
So soon did lose his seat, and all at once,
As in this king.

Ely. We are blessed in the change.
Cant. Hear him but reason in divinity,

And, all-admiring, with an inward wish
You would desire, the king were made a prelate:
Hear him debate of common-wealth affairs,

Cant. He seems ind Or, rather, swaying me Than cherishing the e 35 For I have made an of Upon our spiritual con And in regard of cause Which I have open'd t As touching France,40 Than ever at one time Did to his predecessors Ely. How did this on Cant. With good ac Save, that there was no 45 (As, I perceiv'd, his gra The severals, and unhi Of his true titles to so

And, generally, to the
Deriv'd from Edward,

You would say,-it hath been all-and-all his study: 50 Ely. What was the i

List his discourse in war, and you shall hear

off?

Meaning, when every one scambled, i. e..scrambled and shifted for hin *Alluding to the method by which Hercules cleansed the Augean stables wher them. That is, his theory must have been taught by art and practice what terminates in speculation. 4i. e. The wild fruit so called, which grow creasing in its proper power. The passages of his titles are the lines of suc descend. Unhidden is open, clear.

Cant. Then go we in, to know his embassy; Which I could, with a ready guess, declare, Before the Frenchman speaks a word of it.

Ely. I'll wait upon you; and I long to hear it. [Exeunt.

SCENE

II.

Opens to the presence.
Enter King Henry, Gloster, Bedford, Warwick,
Westmoreland, and Exeter.

K. Henry. Where is my gracious lord of Can-
terbury?

Ere. Not here in presence.

K. Henry. Henry. Send for him, good uncle'.
West. Shall we call in the ambassador, my liege?
K. Henry. Not yet, my cousin; we would be

resolv'd,

Before we hear him, of some things of weight,
That task our thoughts2, concerning us and France.
Enter the Archbishop of Canterbury, and Bishop

of Ely.

Which Salique land the French unjustly gloze
To be the realm of France, and Pharamond
The founder of this law and female bar.

Yet their own authors faithfully affirm,
5 That the land Salique lies in Germany,
Between the floods of Sala and of Elbe:
Where Charles the great, having subdu'd the

Saxons,

There left behind and settled certain French;
10 Who, holding in disdain the German women,
For some dishonest manners of their life,
Establish'd there this law, to wit, no female
Should be inheritrix in Salique land;
Which Salique, as I said, 'twixt Elbe and Sala,

15 Is at this day in Germany call'd--Meisen.
Thus doth it well appear, the Salique law
Was not, devised for the realm of France:
Nor did the French possess the Salique land
Until four hundred one and twenty years

20 After defunction of king Pharamond,
Idly suppos'd the founder of this law;
Who died within the year of our redemption
Four hundred twenty-six; and Charles the great
Subdu'd the Saxons, and did seat the French

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;
And justly and religiously unfold,
Why the law Salique, that they have in France,
Or should, or should not, bar us in our claim.
And God forbid, my dear and faithful lord,
That you should fashion, wrest, or bow your

reading,

Or nicely charge your understanding soul
With opening titles miscreate, whose right
Suits not in native colours with the truth;
For God doth know, how many, now in health,
Shall drop their blood in approbation +
Of what your reverence shall incite us to:
Therefore take heed how you impawn our person,
How you awake the sleeping sword of war;
We charge you in the name of God, take heed:
For never two such kingdoms did contend,
Without much fall of blood; whose guiltless drops
Are every one a woe, a sore complaint,
'Gainst him, whose wrong gives edge unto the

sword

That makes such waste in brief mortality.
Under this conjuration, speak, my lord;
For we will hear, note, and believe in heart,
That what you speak is in your conscience wash'd
As pure as sin with baptism.

Eight hundred five. Besides, their writers say,
King Pepin, which deposed Childerick,
Did, as heir general, being descended

Of Blithild, which was daughter to Ling Clothair,

30 Make claim and title to the crown of France.
Hugh Capet also, that usurp'd the crown
Of Charles the duke of Lorain, sole heir male
Of the true line and stock of Charles the great,-
To fine his title with some shew of truth,

35 (Though, in pure truth, it was corrupt and naught)
Convey'd hiinself as heir to the lady Lingare,
Daughter to Charlemain, who was the son
To Lewis the emperor, and Lewis the son
Of Charles the great. Also king Lewis the ninth,

40 Who was sole heir to the usurper Capet,
Could not keep quiet in his conscience,
Wearing the crown of France, 'till satisfy'd
That fair queen Isabel, his grandmother,
Was lineal of the lady Ermengare,

45 Daughter to Charles the foresaid duke of Lorain,
By the which marriage, the line of Charles the great
Was re-united to the crown of France.
So that, as clear as is the summer's sun,
King Pepin's title, and Hugh Capet's claim,

50 King Lewis his satisfaction, all appear
To hold in right and title of the female:
So do the kings of France unto this day;
Howbeit they would hold up this Salique law,
To bar your highness claiming from the female;

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,
Usurp'd from you and your progenitors.

K. Henry. May 1, with right and conscience,

make this claim?

But this, which they produce from Pharamond, - 60 Cant. The sin upon my head, dread sovereign!

In terram Salicam mulieres ne succedant,

No woman shall succeed in Salique land.

For in the book of Numbers it is writ

When the son dies, let the inheritance.

John Holland, duke of Exeter, was married to Elizabeth the king's aunt...

our mind neied with scruples and laborione disquisitions

Go, my dread lord, to your great grandsire's tomb,

From whom you claim; invoke his warlike spirit, 5 The king of Scots; wh

Ely. Awake remembrance of these valiant dead, And with your puissant arm renew their feats: You are their heir, you sit upon their throne;

Runs in your veins; and my thrice-puissant liege 20 Since we have locks tos

Our inland from the pilfering borderers. [only, 45 The poor mehanick por

The marches are the borders, the limits, the confines. Hence the Lorde presidents of the marches, &c. 2 i. e. inconstant, changeable. or a necessity to be execrated. * Consent is unison. 'The sense is, th minate in obedience, to be subordinate to the public good and general design

is his beadle, war is his vengeance; so that here men are punished, for before-breach of the king's laws, in now the king's quarrel: where they feared the death, they have borne life away; and

K. Henry. Indeed, the French may lay twenty French crowns to one, they will beat us; for hey bear them on their shoulders: But it is no English treason to cut French crowns; and, to

where they would be safe, they perish: Then if 5 morrow, the king himself will be a clipper.

[Exeunt soldiers.

they die unprovided, no more is the king guilty of their damnation, than he was before guilty of those impieties for the which they are now visited.Every subject's duty is the king's; but every subject's soul is his own. Therefore should every soldier in the wars do as every sick man in his bed, wash every moth out of his conscience: and dying so, death is to him advantage; or not dying, the tune was blessedly lost, wherein such prepa

Upon the king' let us our lives, our souls,
Our debts, our careful wives, our chi'dren, and
Our sins, lay on the king; he must bear all.
100 hard condition! twin-born with greatness,
Subjected to the breath of every fool,
[ing!
Whose sense no more can feel but his own wring-
What infinite heart's ease must kings neglect,
That private men enjoy? and what have kings,

Save general ceremony?

ration was gained; and, in hum that escapes, it 15 That privates have not too, save ceremony?

were not sin to think, that, making God so free an offer, he let him out-live that day to see his greatness, and to teach others how they should pre

pare.

And what art thou, thou idol ceremony?
What kind of God art thou, that suffer'st more
Of mortal griefs, than do thy worshippers?

Will. 'Tis certain, that every man that dies ill, 20 What are thy rents? what are thy comings-in the ill is upon his own head, the king is not to answer for it.

Bates. I do not desire he should answer for me: and yet I determine to fight lustily for him.

O ceremony, shew me but thy worth!
What is thy soul, O adoration?
Art thou aught else but place, degree, and form,
Creating awe and fear in other men ?

K.Henry. I myself heard the kingsay, he would 25 Wherein thou art less happy being fear'd, not be ransom'd.

Will. Ay, he said so, to make us fight chear fully: but, when our throats are cut, he may be ransom'd, and we ne'er the wiser.

Than they in fearing.

What drink'st thou oft, instead of homage sweet,
But poison'd flattery? O, be sick, great greatness,
And bid thy ceremony give thee cure!

K. Henry. If I live to see it, I will never trust 30 Think'st thou, the fiery fever will go out his word after.

With titles blown from adulation?

Will it give place to flexure and low bending? Can'st thou, when thou command'st the beggar's [dream,

Will. You pay him then! that's a perilous shot out of an elder gun', that a poor and private displeasure can do against a monarch! you may as knee, well go about to turn the sun to ice, with fanning 35 Command the health of it? No, thou proud

in his face with a peacock's feather. You'll never trust his word after! come, 'tis a foolish saying.

K. Henry. Your reproof is something too round: I should be angry with you, if the time were con

venient.

Will. Let it be a quarrel between us if you live.
K. Henry. I embrace it.

Will. How shall I know thee again?

K. Henry. Give me any gage of thine, and I

That play'st so subtly with a king's repose,
I am a king, that find thee: and I know,
'Tis not the balm, the scepter, and the ball,
The sword, the mace, the crown imperial,
40 The enter-tissued robe of gold and pearl,
The farsed title running 'fore the king,
The throne he sits on, nor the tide of pomp
That beats upon the high shore of the world,

No, not all these, thrice-gorgeous ceremony,

Can sleep so soundly as the wretched slave;
Who, with a body till'd, and vacant mind,
Gets him to rest, cramm'd with distressful bread,
Never sees horrid night, the child of hell;

will wear it in my bonnet: then, if ever thou 45 Not all these, laid in bed majestical,

dar'st acknowledge it, I will make it my quarrel.

Will. Here's my glove; give me another of

thine.

K. Henry. There.

Will. This will I also wear in my cap: if ever 50 But, like a lacquey, from the rise to set, thou come to me and say, after to-inorrow, This is my glore, by this hand, I will take thee a box on the ear.

K. Henry. If ever I live to see it, I will challenge it.

Will. Thou dar'st as well be hang'd.

K. Henry. Well, I will do it, though I take

thee in the king's company.

Will. Keep thy word: fare thee well.

Sweats in the eye of Phœbus, and all night
Sleeps in Elysium; next day, after dawn,
Doth rise, and help Hyperion to his horse;
And follow so the ever-running year
55 With profitable labour, to his grave:
And, but for ceremony, such a wretch,
Winding up days with toil, and nights with sleep,
Had the fore-hand and vantage of a king.
The slave, a member of the country's peace,

Bates. Be friends, you English fools, be friends; 60 Enjoys it; but in gross brain little wots,
we have French quarrels enough, if you could
teil how to reckon.

What watch the king keeps to maintain the peace,
Whose hours the peasant best advantages.

Who twice a day their wither'd hands hold up

Toward heaven, to pardon blood; and I have built 20 A very little little let us

Two chantries, where the sad and solemn priests
Sing still for Richard's soul. More will I do:
Though all that I can do, is nothing worth;
Since that my penitence comes after all,

And all is done. Then

Imploring pardon.

25

yield.

Enter Gloster.

Enter

Via! is an old hortatory exclamation, as allons! 2 The tucket-sonuance an introductory flourish on the trumpet. 3 Grandpré alludes to the form o which frequently represented human figures holding the sockets for the light * Gimmal is, in the western counties, a ring; a gimmal bit is therefore a bit one within another. 'It seems, by what follows, that guard in this place of ornament or of distinction than a body of attendants. The following o will best elucidate this passage-"The duke of Brabant, when his standard banner to be taken from a trumpet and fastened upon a spear, the which he