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 chased,

17 fatal balls of murdering basilisks] There is here a quibble on the word "basilisks" which meant both "large cannons" and “fabulous serpents," which killed men by their gaze.

27 bar] tribunal.

31 congreeted] saluted, bid each other welcome. Cf. the equally rare form "congreeing" for "agreeing," I, ii, 182, supra.

33 rub] obstacle; a technical term in the game of bowls. Cf. II, ii,

And all her husbandry doth lie on heaps,
Corrupting in it own fertility.

Her vine, the merry cheerer of the heart,
Unpruned dies; her hedges even-pleach'd,
Like prisoners wildly overgrown 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,

40 it] its. Thus the First and Second Folios. The form " its into general use after Shakespeare's day.

42 even pleach'd] matted together, thickly interwoven, so as to present an even surface. Cf. Much Ado, III, i, 7," the pleached bower."

45 darnel] ray-grass, a weed of the open fields. Cf. 1 Hen. VI, III,

ii, 44.

rank fumitory] a weed often found in cornfields.

46 coulter] the blade of the ploughshare.

47 deracinate] root out.

49 burnet] a sweet-smelling salad plant, associated by Bacon in his essay on Gardens" with wild thyme and water mint.

66

32 kecksies] hemlock stalks.

54 And as] Capell's correction of the Folio reading And all.

55 Defective in their natures] Failing in their proper virtues.

40

50

-

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
That nothing do but meditate on blood,
To swearing and stern looks, diffused attire
And every thing that seems unnatural.
Which to reduce into our former favour
You are assembled: and my speech entreats
That I may know the let, why gentle Peace
Should not expel these inconveniences
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 enscheduled briefly in your hands.

BUR. The king hath heard them; to the which

as yet

There is no answer made.

K. HEN.

Well then the peace,

Which you before so urged, lies in his answer.

61 diffused attire] dishevelled dress. Thus the Third and Fourth Folios; the First and Second Folios read defus'd attire. "Defused" is not uncommon in the sense of confused, disordered. For the general sense, cf. III, vi, 76, supra, a horrid suit of the camp."

63 favour] comeliness.

65 let] impediment.

66

60

70

FR. KING. I have but with a cursorary eye
O'erglanced 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 Gloucester,
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:
Haply a woman's voice may do some good,

When articles too nicely urged be stood on.

77 cursorary] a unique expansion of "cursory." The Folios read curselary 81-82 we will suddenly . . . answer] we will immediately determine our definite and final answer. "Accept" is here a participle, i. e., "accepted" or "adopted."

84-85 And brother Clarence . . . Huntingdon] Holinshed notices the presence of both these noblemen among those taking part in the peace negotiations. Thomas, Duke of Clarence, was next brother of Henry V. John Holland, Earl of Huntingdon, was the re-habilitated son of John Holland, Duke of Exeter, who as an adherent of Richard II, his half brother, had been executed by Henry IV. Neither of these persons figure elsewhere in the play nor do they speak a word in this scene. They are omitted from the traditional

dramatis persona.

90 consign] seal.

94 nicely] captiously, pedantically.

K. HEN. Yet leave our cousin Katharine here with us: She is our capital demand, comprised

Within the fore-rank of our articles.

Q. ISA. She hath good leave.

K. HEN.

[Exeunt all except Henry, Katharine, and Alice.
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-moi, 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. Oui, vraiment, sauf votre 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 de tromperies.

K. HEN. 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.

120 dat is de princess] Thus the Folios. The meaning may be "that is the princess's opinion." The sentence may possibly be interrupted by the King.

100

110

120