likeness, he must appear naked, and blind. Can you blame her, then, being a maid yet rosed over with the virgin crimson of modesty, if she deny the appearance of a naked blind boy in her naked seeing self? It were, my lord, a hard condition for a maid to consign

to.

K. Hen. Yet they do wink, and yield, as love is blind, and enforces.

Bur. They are then excused, my lord, when they see not what they do.

K. Hen. Then, good my lord, teach your cousin to consent winking'.

Bur. I will wink on her to consent, my lord, if you will teach her to know my meaning: for maids, well summered and warm kept, are like flies at Bartholomew-tide, blind, though they have their eyes; and then they will endure handling, which before would not abide looking on.

K. Hen. This moral ties me over to time, and a hot summer; and so I shall catch the fly, your cousin, in the latter end, and she must be blind too.

Bur. As love is, my lord, before it loves.

K. Hen. It is so and you may, some of you, thank love for my blindness, who cannot see many a fair French city, for one fair French maid that stands in

my way.

Fr. King. Yes, my lord, you see them perspectively: the cities turned into a maid, for they are all girdled with maiden walls, that war hath never entered 2.

K. Hen. Shall Kate be my wife?

Fr. King. So please you.

K. Hen. I am content; so the maiden cities you talk of, may wait on her; so the maid, that stood in

2

1 to consent winking.] Malone reads, " to consent to winking."

that war hath NEVER entered.] The folios all omit "never," clearly wanting to the sense, and modern editors have supplied the deficiency without any notice. The quarto editions have no corresponding passage.

2

the way for my wish, shall show me the way to my will.

Fr. King. 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 in sequel, all3, According to their firm proposed natures.

Exe. 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, heretier de France; and thus in Latin,-Præclarissimus filius noster Henricus, rex Angliæ, et hæres Franciæ.

Fr. King. Nor this I have not, brother, so denied, But your request shall make me let it pass.

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

3 and in sequel, all,] Then, which is not in the folio, 1623, was added after "and," most likely for the sake of the metre, in the folio, 1632; but, with a due pause after "His daughter, first;" it does not seem required: and we may infer, from the omission of so necessary a word as never on the preceding page, that the editor of the folio, 1632, corrected the play from no authority. 4 - Notre TRES CHER filz-and thus in Latin,-PRÆCLARISSIMUS filius-] It appears here as if Shakespeare intended to translate très cher by the Latin word præclarissimus; but the fact is, as Steevens remarked, he only, as usual, followed Holinshed: Malone adds, "In all the old historians that I have seen, as well as in Holinshed, I find this mistake; but in the preamble of the original treaty of Troyes, Henry is styled præcarissimus; and in the 22d article the stipulation is, that he shall always be called, in lingua Gallicana notre tres cher fils, &c. in lingua vero Latina hoc modo, noster præcarissimus filius Henricus,' &c. See Rymer's Fœd. ix. 893." In Hall's Chronicle, as Mr. Knight states, the epithet is precharissimus.

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 wit

ness 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. Hen. 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 prosperous be!

5

[Exeunt.

the PACTION of these kingdoms,] The two earliest folios have "the pation of these kingdoms," an obvious typographical error, the letter e having dropped out. The third folio, 1664, substitutes passion for pation, which has much less appearance of being the right word than " paction," which of course means, compact, or contract, and is used in that sense by our old writers.

And may our oaths well kept and prosperous be !] It may be worth while to add here the concluding lines (if such they may be called) of the quarto, 1600, to show in what manner the end of the play was there huddled up. Shakespeare, probably, added, in the MS. of this part of the play from which the folio was printed, lines which were not in the drama when it was originally acted; but it is very evident that what follows must have been mere fragments, extremely ill-combined by the party who furnished the copy of "Henry V.” to Millington and Busby, the publishers of the quarto, 1600. The subsequent follows the declaration of the style of Henry :

:

"Fran. Nor this have we so nicely stood upon,
But you, faire brother, may intreat the same.
"Har. Why then, let this among the rest

[Have

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 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.

Have his full course: And withall
Your daughter Katherine in mariage.
"Fran. This and what else

Your majestie shall crave.

God, that disposeth all, give you much joy.
"Har. Why then, faire Katherine,

Come give me thy hand.

Our mariage will we present solemnise,

And end our hatred by a bond of love.

Then will I sweare to Kate, and Kate to mee:

And may our vows, once made, unbroken bee !"

[Exit.

The whole play is printed in this manner, affording evidence, that although Shakespeare probably rendered his "Henry V." more complete, by large additions at a subsequent date, the quarto copies give but a very imperfect notion of the form in which the drama was originally produced: it was not "mangled by starts," but from the beginning to the end.

END OF VOL. IV.

LONDON:

GILBERT AND RIVINGTON, PRINTERS, ST. JOHN'S SQUARE.