KING HENRY
To cry “Amen” to that, thus we appear. QUEEN OF FRANCE
You English princes all, I do salute you. BURGUNDY
My duty to you both, on equal love,
Great kings of France and England. That I have
labored 25
With all my wits, my pains, and strong endeavors
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 prevailed 30
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, 35
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 chased,
And all her husbandry doth lie on heaps, 40
Corrupting in its own fertility.
Her vine, the merry cheerer of the heart,
Unprunèd, dies. Her hedges, even-pleached,
Like prisoners wildly overgrown with hair,
Put forth disordered twigs. Her fallow leas 45
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, 50
Wanting the scythe, withal uncorrected, rank,
Conceives by idleness, and nothing teems
But hateful docks, rough thistles, kecksies, burrs,
Losing both beauty and utility.
And all our vineyards, fallows, meads, and hedges, 55
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 60
That nothing do but meditate on blood,
To swearing and stern looks, diffused attire,
And everything that seems unnatural.
Which to reduce into our former favor
You are assembled, and my speech entreats 65
That I may know the let why gentle peace
Should not expel these inconveniences
And bless us with her former qualities. KING HENRY
If, Duke of Burgundy, you would the peace,
Whose want gives growth to th’ imperfections 70
Which you have cited, you must buy that peace
With full accord to all our just demands,
Whose tenors and particular effects
You have, enscheduled briefly, in your hands. BURGUNDY
The King hath heard them, to the which as yet 75
There is no answer made. KING HENRY
Well then, the peace which you before so urged
Lies in his answer. KING OF FRANCE
I have but with a cursitory eye
O’erglanced the articles. Pleaseth your Grace 80
To appoint some of your council presently
To sit with us once more with better heed
To resurvey them, we will suddenly
Pass our accept and peremptory answer. KING HENRY
Brother, we shall.—Go, uncle Exeter, 85
And brother Clarence, and you, brother Gloucester,
Warwick, and Huntington, 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, 90
Anything in or out of our demands,
And we’ll consign thereto.—Will you, fair sister,
Go with the princes or stay here with us? QUEEN OF FRANCE
Our gracious brother, I will go with them.
Haply a woman’s voice may do some good 95
When articles too nicely urged be stood on. KING HENRY
Yet leave our cousin Katherine here with us.
She is our capital demand, comprised
Within the forerank of our articles. QUEEN OF FRANCE
She hath good leave. 100 | Henry is super-polite, but he's got a list of demands. If the French know what's good for them, they'll give into each of them. It turns out that Princess Catherine is at the top of Henry's list. |
All but Katherine, and the King of England,
and Alice exit. KING HENRY Fair Katherine, 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? KATHERINE Your Majesty shall mock at me. I cannot 105
speak your England. KING HENRY O fair Katherine, 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? 110 KATHERINE Pardonnez-moi, I cannot tell wat is “like
me.” KING HENRY An angel is like you, Kate, and you are
like an angel. KATHERINE, to Alice Que dit-il? Que je suis semblable à 115
les anges? ALICE Oui, vraiment, sauf votre Grâce, ainsi dit-il. KING HENRY I said so, dear Katherine, and I must not
blush to affirm it. KATHERINE Ô bon Dieu, les langues des hommes sont 120
pleines de tromperies. KING HENRY, to Alice What says she, fair one? That the
tongues of men are full of deceits? ALICE Oui, dat de tongues of de mans is be full of
deceits; dat is de Princess. 125 KING HENRY The Princess is the better Englishwoman.—
I’ faith, Kate, my wooing is fit for thy
understanding. I am glad thou canst speak no
better English, for if thou couldst, thou wouldst
find me such a plain king that thou wouldst think I 130
had sold my farm to buy my crown. I know no ways
to mince it in love, but directly to say “I love you.”
Then if you urge me farther than to say “Do you, in
faith?” I wear out my suit. Give me your answer, i’
faith, do; and so clap hands and a bargain. How say 135
you, lady? KATHERINE Sauf votre honneur, me understand well. KING HENRY Marry, if you would put me to verses or
to dance for your sake, Kate, why you undid me.
For the one, I have neither words nor measure; and 140
for the other, I have no strength in measure, yet a
reasonable measure in strength. If I could win a
lady at leapfrog or by vaulting into my saddle with
my armor on my back, under the correction of
bragging be it spoken, I should quickly leap into a 145
wife. Or if I might buffet for my love, or bound my
horse for her favors, I could lay on like a butcher
and sit like a jackanapes, never off. But, before God,
Kate, I cannot look greenly nor gasp out my eloquence,
nor I have no cunning in protestation, only 150
downright oaths, which I never use till urged, nor
never break for urging. If thou canst love a fellow of
this temper, Kate, whose face is not worth sun-burning,
that never looks in his glass for love of
anything he sees there, let thine eye be thy cook. I 155
speak to thee plain soldier. If thou canst love me for
this, take me. If not, to say to thee that I shall die is
true, but for thy love, by the Lord, no. Yet I love thee
too. And while thou liv’st, dear Kate, take a fellow of
plain and uncoined constancy, for he perforce must 160
do thee right because he hath not the gift to woo in
other places. For these fellows of infinite tongue,
that can rhyme themselves into ladies’ favors, they
do always reason themselves out again. What? A
speaker is but a prater, a rhyme is but a ballad, a 165
good leg will fall, a straight back will stoop, a black
beard will turn white, a curled pate will grow bald,
a fair face will wither, a full eye will wax hollow, but
a good heart, Kate, is the sun and the moon, or
rather the sun and not the moon, for it shines bright 170
and never changes but keeps his course truly. If
thou would have such a one, take me. And take me,
take a soldier. Take a soldier, take a king. And what
say’st thou then to my love? Speak, my fair, and
fairly, I pray thee. 175 KATHERINE Is it possible dat I sould love de enemy of
France? KING HENRY No, it is not possible you should love the
enemy of France, Kate. But, in loving me, you
should love the friend of France, for I love France 180
so well that I will not part with a village of it. I will
have it all mine. And, Kate, when France is mine
and I am yours, then yours is France and you are
mine. KATHERINE I cannot tell wat is dat. 185 KING HENRY No, Kate? I will tell thee in French,
which I am sure will hang upon my tongue like a
new-married wife about her husband’s neck, hardly
to be shook off. Je quand sur le possession de
France, et quand vous avez le possession de moi—let 190
me see, what then? Saint Denis be my speed!—donc
vôtre est France, et vous êtes mienne. It is as easy for
me, Kate, to conquer the kingdom as to speak so
much more French. I shall never move thee in
French, unless it be to laugh at me. 195 KATHERINE Sauf votre honneur, le français que vous
parlez, il est meilleur que l’anglais lequel je parle. KING HENRY No, faith, is ’t not, Kate, but thy speaking
of my tongue, and I thine, most truly-falsely must
needs be granted to be much at one. But, Kate, dost 200
thou understand thus much English? Canst thou
love me? KATHERINE I cannot tell. KING HENRY Can any of your neighbors tell, Kate? I’ll
ask them. Come, I know thou lovest me; and at 205
night, when you come into your closet, you’ll question
this gentlewoman about me, and, I know, Kate,
you will, to her, dispraise those parts in me that you
love with your heart. But, good Kate, mock me
mercifully, the rather, gentle princess, because I 210
love thee cruelly. If ever thou beest mine, Kate, as I
have a saving faith within me tells me thou shalt, I
get thee with scambling, and thou must therefore
needs prove a good soldier-breeder. Shall not thou
and I, between Saint Denis and Saint George, compound 215
a boy, half French, half English, that shall go
to Constantinople and take the Turk by the beard?
Shall we not? What say’st thou, my fair flower de
luce? KATHERINE I do not know dat. 220 KING HENRY No, ’tis hereafter to know, but now to
promise. Do but now promise, Kate, you will
endeavor for your French part of such a boy; and
for my English moiety, take the word of a king and
a bachelor. How answer you, la plus belle Katherine 225
du monde, mon très cher et divin déesse? KATHERINE Your Majesté ’ave fausse French enough to
deceive de most sage demoiselle dat is en France. KING HENRY Now fie upon my false French. By mine
honor, in true English, I love thee, Kate. By which 230
honor I dare not swear thou lovest me, yet my blood
begins to flatter me that thou dost, notwithstanding
the poor and untempering effect of my visage. Now
beshrew my father’s ambition! He was thinking of
civil wars when he got me; therefore was I created 235
with a stubborn outside, with an aspect of iron, that
when I come to woo ladies, I fright them. But, in
faith, Kate, the elder I wax, the better I shall appear.
My comfort is that old age, that ill layer-up of
beauty, can do no more spoil upon my face. Thou 240
hast me, if thou hast me, at the worst, and thou shalt
wear me, if thou wear me, better and better. And
therefore tell me, most fair Katherine, will you have
me? Put off your maiden blushes, avouch the
thoughts of your heart with the looks of an empress, 245
take me by the hand, and say “Harry of England, I
am thine,” which word thou shalt no sooner bless
mine ear withal, but I will tell thee aloud “England
is thine, Ireland is thine, France is thine, and Henry
Plantagenet is thine,” who, though I speak it before 250
his face, if he be not fellow with the best king, thou
shalt find the best king of good fellows. Come, your
answer in broken music, for thy voice is music, and
thy English broken. Therefore, queen of all, Katherine,
break thy mind to me in broken English. Wilt 255
thou have me? | Henry has a semi-private meeting with Catherine, who's got her sidekick/personal translator with her. (That would be Alice, Catherine's lady-in-waiting.) As Henry proceeds to put the moves on Catherine (while Alice translates), he pretends that she actually has a choice about whether or not she'll marry him. During said romancing, Henry tries to pass himself off as a simple and humble "soldier" who's not much of a ladies' man or a smooth talker. (We, of course, know that this isn't true.) |
Enter the French power, the French King and Queen
and Burgundy, and the English Lords Westmoreland
and Exeter. Here comes your father. BURGUNDY God save your Majesty. My royal cousin,
teach you our princess English? KING HENRY I would have her learn, my fair cousin, 295
how perfectly I love her, and that is good English. BURGUNDY Is she not apt? KING HENRY Our tongue is rough, coz, and my condition
is not smooth, so that, having neither the voice
nor the heart of flattery about me, I cannot so 300
conjure up the spirit of love in her that he will
appear in his true likeness. BURGUNDY Pardon the frankness of my mirth if I
answer you for that. If you would conjure in her,
you must make a circle; if conjure up Love in her in 305
his true 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 310
maid to consign to. KING HENRY Yet they do wink and yield, as love is
blind and enforces. BURGUNDY They are then excused, my lord, when they
see not what they do. 315 KING HENRY Then, good my lord, teach your cousin to
consent winking. BURGUNDY 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 320
Bartholomew-tide: blind, though they have their
eyes; and then they will endure handling, which
before would not abide looking on. KING HENRY This moral ties me over to time and a hot
summer. And so I shall catch the fly, your cousin, 325
in the latter end, and she must be blind too. BURGUNDY As love is, my lord, before it loves. KING HENRY 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 330
my way. | Henry and Burgundy have a side conversation about what it will be like
for Henry to go to bed with Catherine. |
KING OF FRANCE 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. 335 KING HENRY Shall Kate be my wife? KING OF FRANCE So please you. KING HENRY I am content, so the maiden cities you
talk of may wait on her. So the maid that stood in
the way for my wish shall show me the way to my 340
will. KING OF FRANCE
We have consented to all terms of reason. KING HENRY Is ’t so, my lords of England? WESTMORELAND
The King hath granted every article,
His daughter first, and, in sequel, all, 345
According to their firm proposèd natures. EXETER
Only he hath not yet subscribèd 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 350
with this addition, in French: Notre très cher fils
Henri, roi d’ Angleterre, héritier de France; and thus
in Latin: Praeclarissimus filius noster Henricus, rex
Angliae et hœres Franciae. KING OF FRANCE
Nor this I have not, brother, so denied 355
But your request shall make me let it pass. KING HENRY
I pray you, then, in love and dear alliance,
Let that one article rank with the rest,
And thereupon give me your daughter. KING OF FRANCE
Take her, fair son, and from her blood raise up 360
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 neighborhood and Christian-like accord 365
In their sweet bosoms, that never war advance
His bleeding sword ’twixt England and fair France. LORDS Amen. KING HENRY
Now welcome, Kate, and bear me witness all
That here I kiss her as my sovereign queen. 370
He kisses her. Flourish. QUEEN OF FRANCE
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, 375
Which troubles oft the bed of blessèd 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! 380 ALL Amen. KING HENRY
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, 385
And may our oaths well kept and prosp’rous be. Sennet. They exit. | King Charles announces that he has consented to all the terms of the treaty. He gives Henry and Catherine his blessing and is all, "I can't wait to be a grandfather! Just think, honey, your children are going to be the next heirs to the French throne!" (According to the terms of the treaty, Charles gets to keep his crown. When he dies, though, Henry and/or his sons get to take over.) Queen Isabel points out how convenient the marriage will be. Henry and Catherine can join their hearts and their kingdoms "in one." (Aww. Who knew that a peace treaty could be so romantic?) |