Make claim and title to the crown of France.
Hugh Capet also, who usurp'd the crown

Of Charles the duke of Lorraine, sole heir male
Of the true line and stock of Charles the Great,
To find his title with some shows of truth,
Though, in pure truth, it was corrupt and naught,
Convey'd himself 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 tenth,
Who was sole heir to the usurper Capet,
Could not keep quiet in his conscience,
Wearing the crown of France, till satisfied
That fair Queen Isabel, his grandmother,
Was lineal of the Lady Ermengare,

Daughter to Charles the foresaid duke of Lorraine:
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,
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,

72 To find.

truth] Holinshed reads "to make his title seeme true." 74 Convey'd himself] Represented himself, passed himself off. 77 Lewis the tenth] Holinshed's error for Lewis IX (Saint Louis).

82 lineal of] lineally descended from.

88 King Lewis his satisfaction] the satisfying of King Lewis's scruples. See line 80, supra: “till satisfied."

And rather choose to hide them in a net
Than amply to imbar their crooked titles
Usurp'd from you and your progenitors.

K. HEN. May I with right and conscience make this claim?

CANT. The sin upon my head, dread sovereign!
For in the book of Numbers is it writ,

When the man dies, let the inheritance
Descend unto the daughter. Gracious lord,
Stand for your own; unwind your bloody flag;
Look back into your mighty ancestors:
Go, my dread lord, to your great-grandsire's tomb,
From whom you claim; invoke his warlike spirit,
And your great-uncle's, Edward the Black Prince,
Who on the French ground play'd a tragedy,
Making defeat on the full power of France,
Whiles his most mighty father on a hill
Stood smiling to behold his lion's whelp
Forage in blood of French nobility.

93 hide them in a net] conceal themselves in a net (of flimsy sophistries). 94 amply to imbar... titles] fully and frankly to admit the fatal

defect in (and so disown) their own unjust or false titles. Imbar, which is the Folio reading, is an emphatic form of "bar," i. e., to exclude decisively, reject. The Quartos less satisfactorily read imbace, a misprint for "embrace."

98 Numbers] According to Holinshed the archbishop "further alledged out of the booke of Numbers this saieng." The quoted verse comes from Numbers, xxvii, 8.

101 your bloody flag] your flag of war.

106 Who... play'd a tragedy] A reference to the battle of Crécy in 1346, which is mentioned again, II, iv, 54, infra.

100

110

O noble English, that could entertain
With half their forces the full pride of France
And let another half stand laughing by,

All out of work and cold for action!

ELY. Awake remembrance of these valiant dead,
And with your puissant arm renew their feats:
You are their heir; you sit upon their throne;
The blood and courage that renowned them
Runs in your veins; and my thrice-puissant liege
Is in the very May-morn of his youth,
Ripe for exploits and mighty enterprises.

EXE. Your brother kings and monarchs of the earth
Do all expect that you should rouse yourself,
As did the former lions of your blood.

WEST. They know your grace hath cause and means and might;

So hath your highness; never king of England
Had nobles richer and more loyal subjects,
Whose hearts have left their bodies here in England
And lie pavilion'd in the fields of France.

CANT. O, let their bodies follow, my dear liege,
With blood and sword and fire to win your right;
In aid whereof we of the spiritualty

114 cold for action] cold for want of action, for standing idle. This use of "for" is common. Cf. Macb., I, v, 33: "almost dead for breath" (i. e., for want of breath).

126 So hath your highness] An emphatic affirmation, corroborating, on the speaker's own authority, the truth of the strength put to the credit of the English king by his "brother kings."

129 And lie pavilion'd] And are already (in imagination) dwelling in

tents.

120

130

Will raise your highness such a mighty sum
As never did the clergy at one time

Bring in to any of your ancestors.

K. HEN. We must not only arm to invade the French,

But lay down our proportions to defend

Against the Scot, who will make road upon us
With all advantages.

CANT. They of those marches, gracious sovereign, 140 Shall be a wall sufficient to defend

Our inland from the pilfering borderers.

K. HEN. We do not mean the coursing snatchers

only,

But fear the main intendment of the Scot,
Who hath been still a giddy neighbour to us;
For you shall read that my great-grandfather
Never went with his forces into France,
But that the Scot on his unfurnish'd kingdom
Came pouring, like the tide into a breach,
With ample and brim fulness of his force,
Galling the gleaned land with hot assays,
Girding with grievous siege castles and towns;

137 lay down our proportions to] dispose our numbers so as to.

138 make road . . . advantages] make inroads at every favourable opportunity.

140 They of those marches] The inhabitants of the Scottish border.

143 coursing snatchers] scattered, unattached raiders.

144 the main intendment of the Scot] the design of the armed forces of

Scotland.

145 giddy] fickle, untrustworthy.

151 assays] assaults.

150

That England, being empty of defence,

Hath shook and trembled at the ill neighbourhood. CANT. She hath been then more fear'd than harm'd, my liege;

For hear her but exampled by herself:

When all her chivalry hath been in France,
And she a mourning widow of her nobles,
She hath herself not only well defended,
But taken and impounded as a stray

The King of Scots; whom she did send to France,
To fill King Edward's fame with prisoner kings,
And make her chronicle as rich with praise,

As is the ooze and bottom of the sea

With sunken wreck and sumless treasuries.
WEST. But there's a saying very old and true,
“If that you will France win,

Then with Scotland first begin:"

For once the eagle England being in prey,
To her unguarded nest the weasel Scot

161 The King of Scots] David II, the King of Scotland, was taken prisoner at the battle of Neville's Cross, 17 October, 1346, and was captive in England for eleven years. The text errs in sending him to France. This mistake seems borrowed from the play of Edward III, IV, ii, 55–56 and V, i, 64.

162 prisoner kings] John II, King of France, was also one of Edward III's prisoners.

163 her chronicle] The Folios read their chronicle, and the Quartos your chronicle. Johnson suggested the accepted reading.

166–173 WEST. But... eat] The Folios give this speech to "Bish. Ely," the Quartos, to a "Lord." Holinshed assigns similar remarks to Westmoreland, whose name Capell first introduced here.

160

170