of flattery about me, I cannot so conjure up the spirit of love in her, that he will appear in his true likeness. BUR. 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 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 maid to consign to. K. HEN. Yet they do wink, and yield; as love is blind, and enforces. BUR. They are then excused, my lord, when they see not what they do. K. HEN. Then, good my lord, teach your cousin to consent winking. BUR. 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 Bartholomew-tide, blind, though they have their eyes; and then they will endure handling, which before would not abide looking on. K. HEN. This moral ties me over to time, and a hot summer; and so I shall catch the fly, your cousin, in the latter end, and she must be blind too. BUR. As love is, my lord, before it loves. K. HEN. 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 my way. FR. KING. 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. K. HEN. Shall Kate be my wife? FR. KING. So please you. K. HEN. I am content; so the maiden cities you talk of may wait on her: so the maid that stood in the way of my wish shall show me the way to my will. FR. KING. We have consented to all terms of reason K. HEN. Is 't so, my lords of England? WEST. The king hath granted every article. His daughter, first; and then, in sequel, all, According to their firm proposed natures. EXE. Only, he hath not yet subscribed 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 with this addition, in French,-Notre tres cher filz Henry roy d'Angleterre, héritier de France; and thus in Latin,-Præclarissimus filius noster Henricus, rex Angliæ, et hæres Francia. FR. KING. Nor this I have not, brother, so denied, But your request shall make me let it pass. K. HEN. I pray you then, in love and dear alliance, Let that one article rank with the rest: And, thereupon, give me your daughter. FR. KING. Take her, fair son; and from her blood raise up Issue to me: that the contending kingdoms Of France and England, whose very shores look pale May cease their hatred; and this dear conjunction In their sweet bosoms, that never war advance K. HEN. Now welcome, Kate:-and bear me witness all, That here I kiss her as my sovereign queen. Q. ISA. God, the best maker of all marriages, ALL. Amen! [Flourish K. HEN. 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; CHORUS. Thus far, with rough and all unable pen, Our bending author hath pursued the story; In little room confining mighty men, Mangling by starts the full course of their glory. This star of England: fortune made his sword; Henry the sixth, in infant bands crown'd king Of France and England, did this king succeed; Whose state so many had the managing, [Exeunt. That they lost France, and made his England bleed: Which oft our stage hath shown; and, for their sake, In your fair minds let this acceptance take. VARIOUS READINGS. "They have a king, and officers of state." Mr. Collier's MS. Corrector has "state," in place of the folio, "officers of sorts." (ACT I., Sc. 2.) The officers of sorts are officers of different degrees, as afterwards enumerated - like magistrates, merchants, soldiers, and so down to poor mechanic porters. "As many arrows, loosed several ways, Come to one mark; as many ways unite." (ACT I., Sc. 2.) The original has "Come to one mark; as many ways meet in one town." The reading of the MS. Correc tor is given above. The original is a definite idea, and not a bald generality. "For his nose was as sharp as a pen on a table of green frieze." The passage in the folio reads thus: "For his nose was as sharp as a pen, and a table of greene fields." Theobald made the correction of "table" to "'a babbled" (he babbled). The emendation of Theobald has been received wherever Shakspere is known. But it is now to be rejected on the authority of Mr. Collier's old Corrector. "Writing tables," says Mr. Collier, were, no doubt, at that period often covered with green cloth; and it is to the sharpness of a pen, as seen in strong relief on a table so covered, that Mrs. Quickly likens the nose of the dying wit and philosopher-'for his nose was as sharp as a pen on a table of green frieze."" (ACT II., Sc. 3.) We have had such guesses as that of the old Corrector before now. One of the commentators, Smith, has a similar prosaic suggestion in defence of the original table, and would read "for his nose was as sharp as a pen upon a table of green fells;" for, says he, "On table-books silver or steel pens, very sharp pointed, were formerly, and still are, fixed to the backs or covers." Mr. Collier calls Theobald's emendation "fanciful;" ten years ago he called it "judicious." In our minds it is judicious because it is fanciful; and being fanciful is consistent with the excited imagination that often attends the solemn parting hour. What does Dame Quickly say in this sentence?" After I saw him fumble with the sheets, and play with "I stay but for my guard. On to the field: This is the common text, which is evidently inaccurate. One cannot see how the banner taken from a trumpet would be a substitute for the Constable's guard. (ACT IV., Sc. 2.) The substitution of "guidon" for "guard on" was the ingenious conjecture of the late Dr. Thackeray, which was obligingly communicated to us. A guidon was a leader's standard. The Constable could not wait for his guidon; and took a banner from a trumpet. "Let us die instant." This is the ordinary reading. Malone would read, "Let us die in fight." The folio has, merely, "let us die in." A word of some sort has unquestionably been omitted; and that is to be found in the text of the quarto, upon which we found our reading, "Let's die in honour." (ACT IV., Sc. 5.) To justify and explain our reading we must exhibit the greatly altered scene of the quarto; which is also a curious example of the mode in which the text of the folio was expanded and amended,-and that certainly by the poet: GEBON. O diabello! CON. Mort de ma vie! ORL. O what a day is this! BOUR. O jour del honte! all is gone; all is lost! CON. We are enow yet living in the field To smother up the English, If any order might be thought upon. |