FR. KING. Yes, my lord, you fee them perfpec-
tively, 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; fo the maiden cities you
talk of, may wait on her: fo the maid, that stood
in the way of my wifh, fhall fhow me the way to
my will.

FR. KING. We have confented to all terms of
reafon.

K. HEN. Is't fo, my lords of England?

WEST. The king hath granted every article :
His daughter, first; and then, in sequel, all,3
According to their firm propofed natures.

EXE. Only, he hath not yet subscribed this :-
Where your majefty demands,-That the king of
France, having any occafion to write for matter of

I you fee them perfpectively, the cities turned into a
maid;] So, in Twelfth-Night, Act V. fc. i:

"A natural perspective, that is, and is not."
See Mr. Tollet's note on this paffage, Vol. V. p. 469, n. 7.

STEEVENS.

2

they are all girdled with maiden walls, &c.] We
have again the fame allufion in The Rape of Lucrece :
"This moves in him more rage, and leffer pity,
"To make the breach, and enter this fweet city."
Again, in his Lover's Complaint:

"And long upon thefe terms I held my city,
"Till thus he 'gan to fiege me."

See alio All's well that ends well, Vol. VIII. p. 214. MALONE.

3

and then, in fequel, all,] Then, which is not in the
old copy, was fupplied, for the fake of the metre, by the editor
of the second folio. MALOne.

grant, fhall name your highness in this form, and with this addition, in French,-Notre tres cher filz Henry roy d'Angleterre, heretier de France; and thus in Latin,-Præclarifsimus filius nofter Henrious, rex Angliæ, & hæres Francia.

FR. KING. Nor this I have not, brother, fo denied, But your request shall make me let it pafs.

K. HEN. I pray you then, in love and dear alli

ance,

Let that one article rank with the rest:
And, thereupon, give me your daughter.

FR. KING. Take her, fair fon; and from her
blood raise up

Iffue to me that the contending kingdoms
Of France and England, whofe very fhores look pale
With envy of each other's happiness,

May cease their hatred; and this dear conjunction
Plant neighbourhood and chriftian-like accord
In their fweet bofoms, that never war advance
His bleeding fword 'twixt England and fair France.

ALL. Amen!

Notre tres cher filx-and thus in Latin,-Præclariffimus filius-] What, is tres cher, in French, Præclariffimus in Latin? We should read—præcariffimus.

WARBURTON.

"This is exceeding true," fays Dr. Farmer, "but how came the blunder? It is a typographical one in Holinfhed, which Shakspeare copied; but muft indifputably have been corrected, had he been acquainted with the languages." STEEVENS.

In all the old hiftorians that I have seen, as well as in Holinfhed, I find this mistake; but in the preamble of the original. treaty of Troyes, Henry is ftyled Præcariffimus; and in the 22d article the ftipulation is, that he fhall always be called, "in lingua Gallicana notre tres cher fils, &c. in lingua vero Latina hoc modo, nofter præcariffimus filius Henricus," &c. See Rymer's Fœd. IX. 893. MALOne.

K. HEN. Now welcome, Kate :-and bear me witness all,

That here I kifs her as my fovereign 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 bleffed marriage, Thruft in between the paction of these kingdoms,5 To make divorce of their incorporate league; That English may as French, French Englishmen, Receive each other!-God fpeak 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 furety of our leagues.-
Then fhall I swear to Kate, and you to me;
And may our oaths well kept and profp'rous be!

[Exeunt.

5 the paction of thefe kingdoms,] The old folios have it-the pation, which makes me believe the author's word was paction; a word more proper on the occafion of a peace struck up. A paffion of two kingdoms for one another is an odd expreffion. An amity and political harmony may be fixed betwixt two countries, and yet either people be far from having a passion for the other. THEOBALD.

• Prepare we &c.] The quartos, 1600 and 1608, conclude with the following speech:

"Hen. Why then fair Katharine,
"Come, give me thy hand:

"Our marriage will we prefent folemnize,
"And end our hatred by a bond of love.
"Then will I fwear to Kate, and Kate to me,

And may our vows once made, unbroken be."

STEEVENS.

Enter CHORUS.

Thus far, with rough, and all unable pen,
Our bending author hath purfu'd the ftory;
In little room confining mighty men,

Mangling by ftarts the full courfe of their glory. Small time, but, in that fmall, moft greatly liv'd

This ftar of England: fortune made his fword; By which the world's beft garden? he achiev'd,

And of it left his fon imperial lord.
Henry the fixth, in infant bands crown'd king

Of France and England did this king fucceed; Whose state so many had the managing,

That they loft France, and made his England bleed:

Which oft our stage hath shown; and, for their fake, In your fair minds let this acceptance take.

[Exit.3

7 Our bending author-] By bending, our author meant unequal to the weight of his fubject, and bending beneath it; or he may mean, as in Hamlet: "Here Stooping to your clemency." STEEVENS.

8

* Mangling by starts-] By touching only on felect parts. JOHNSON.

9

the world's best garden-] i. e. France. A fimilar diftinction is bestowed, in The Taming of the Shrew, on Lombardy:

"The pleasant garden of great Italy." STEEVENS,

This play has many fcenes of high dignity, and many of eafy merriment. The character of the King is well fupported, except in his courtship, where he has neither the vivacity of Hal, nor the grandeur of Henry. The humour of Pistol is very happily continued his character has perhaps been the model of all the bullies that have yet appeared on the English stage.

The lines given to the Chorus have many admirers; but the truth is, that in them a little may be praised, and much must be

forgiven; nor can it be eafily discovered why the intelligence given by the Chorus is more neceffary in this play than in many others where it is omitted. The great defect of this play is the emptiness and narrowness of the last Act, which a very little diligence might have easily avoided. JOHNSON.

END OF VOL. XII.

Printed by J. PLYMSELL, Leather Lane, Holborn, London,