And, to relief of lazars and weak age,
Of indigent faint souls past corporal toil,
A hundred almshouses right well supplied;
And to the coffers of the king beside,

A thousand pounds by the year. Thus runs the bill.
Ely. This would drink deep.

Cant.

16

'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.

21

24

The breath no sooner left his father's body
But that his wildness, mortified in him,

Seem'd to die too; yea, at that very moment,
Consideration like an angel came,

28

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;

32

22

Never came reformation in a flood,

With such a heady currance, scouring faults;
Nor never Hydra-headed wilfulness

36

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 commonwealth affairs,
You would say it hath been all in all his study:
List his discourse of war, and you shall hear

15 lazars: beggars (especially lepers)
28 Consideration: reflection

40

26 mortified: subdued 34 heady currance: headlong current 36 his: its

35 Hydra-headed: many-headed; cf. n. 43 List: listen to

A fearful battle render'd you in music:
Turn him to any cause of policy,

The Gordian knot of it he will unloose,

Familiar as his garter; that, when he speaks,
The air, a charter'd libertine, is still,

And the mute wonder lurketh in men's ears,
To steal his sweet and honey'd sentences;
So that the art and practic part of life
Must be the mistress to this theoric:

Which is a wonder how his Grace should glean it,
Since his addiction was to courses vain;
His companies unletter'd, rude, and shallow;

44

48

52

His hours fill'd up with riots, banquets, sports;
And never noted in him any study,

56

Any retirement, any sequestration

From open haunts and popularity.

61

Ely. The strawberry grows underneath the nettle, And wholesome berries thrive and ripen best Neighbour'd by fruit of baser quality: And so the prince obscur'd his contemplation Under the veil of wildness; which, no doubt, Grew like the summer grass, fastest by night, Unseen, yet crescive in his faculty.

Cant. It must be so; for miracles are ceas'd; And therefore we must needs admit the means How things are perfected.

Ely.

How now for mitigation of this bill

Urg'd by the commons?

Incline to it, or no?

64

Doth his majesty

46 Gordian knot; cf. n. 48 charter'd: privileged 52 theoric: theory

57 never noted: there was never noted

45 cause of policy: political question 47 that: so that

51 art; cf. n.

practic: practical

55 companies: companions

58 sequestration: withdrawal

63 contemplation: thoughtful nature

59 popularity: low company

66 crescive in his faculty: increasing by its own power

Cant.
He seems indifferent,
Or rather swaying more upon our part
Than cherishing the exhibiters against us;
For I have made an offer to his majesty,
Upon our spiritual convocation,

And in regard of causes now in hand,
Which I have open'd to his Grace at large,
As touching France, to give a greater sum
Than ever at one time the clergy yet
Did to his predecessors part withal.

Ely. How did this offer seem receiv'd, my lord?
Cant. With good acceptance of his majesty;
Save that there was not time enough to hear,—
As I perceiv'd his Grace would fain have done,—
The severals and unhidden passages

Of his true titles to some certain dukedoms,
And generally to the crown and seat of France,
Deriv'd from Edward, his great-grandfather.

Ely. What was the impediment that broke this off?
Cant. The French ambassador upon that instant
Crav'd audience; and the hour I think is come
To give him hearing: is it four o'clock?
Ely. It is.

Cant. Then go we in to know his embassy;
Which I could with a ready guess declare
Before the Frenchman speak a word of it.
Ely. I'll wait upon you, and I long to hear it.

73 upon our part: to our side

74 exhibiters: i.e., those who presented the bill in Parliament 76 Upon: upon the authority of

86 severals: details passages: lines of succession 89 Edward; cf. n.

93

96

Exeunt.

81 withal: with

95 embassy: message

Scene Two

[The Presence Chamber]

Enter the King, Humphrey [Duke of Gloucester], Bedford, Clarence, Warwick, Westmoreland, and Exeter [with Attendants].

K. Hen. Where is my gracious lord of Canterbury? Exe. Not here in presence.

K. Hen.

Send for him, good uncle.

West. Shall we call in the ambassador, my liege?
K. Hen. Not yet, my cousin: we would be re-
solv'd,

Before we hear him, of some things of weight
That task our thoughts, concerning us and France.

Enter [the] two Bishops.

Cant. God and his angels guard your sacred throne, And make you long become it!

K. Hen.

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

9

Or should, or should not, bar us in our claim.

12

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

4 cousin: title of courtesy used by the sovereign in
nobleman 4, 5 resolv'd

of: satisfied about

8 become: grace 11 law Salique: Salic law; cf. n.

14 wrest: pervert

16 opening: disclosing

16

addressing a

6 task: trouble 12 Or: either charge: burden

15 nicely: sophistically miscreate: dishonestly invented

19 approbation: proof

Of what your reverence shall incite us to.
Therefore take heed how you impawn our person,
How you awake our 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,

20

24

'Gainst him whose wrongs give edge unto the swords That make such waste in brief mortality. Under this conjuration speak, my lord,

28

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.

32

Cant. Then hear me, gracious sovereign, and you peers,

That owe yourselves, your lives, and services
To this imperial throne. There is no bar

To make against your highness' claim to France
But this, which they produce from Pharamond,
In terram Salicam mulieres ne succedant,
'No woman shall succeed in Salique land':
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
That the land Salique is in Germany,
Between the floods of Sala and of Elbe;

36

40

44

Where Charles the Great, having subdu'd the Saxons,
There left behind and settled certain French;

Who, holding in disdain the German women
For some dishonest manners of their life,

21 impawn: pledge

48

28 mortality: human life 40 gloze: interpret 46 Charles the Great: Charlemagne

37 Pharamond: legendary Frankish king 45 floods: rivers

49 dishonest: unchaste