End in one purpofe, and be all well borne
Without defeat. Therefore to France, my Liege;
Divide your happy England into four,

Whereof take you one quarter into France,
And you withal fhall make all Gallia fhake.
If we, with thrice fuch powers left at home,
Cannot defend our own doors from the dog,
Let us be worried; and our Nation lofe
The name of hardinefs and policy.

K. Henry. Call in the meffengers, fent from the
Dauphin.

Now are we well refolv'd; and by God's help
And yours, the noble finews of our power,
France being ours, we'll bend it to our awe,
Or break it all to pieces. There we'll fit,
Ruling in large and ample empery,

O'er France, and all her almoft kingly Dukedoms,
Or lay these bones in an unworthy urn,
Tomblefs, with no remembrance over them.
Either our History fhall with full mouth
Speak freely of our acts; or else our grave,
Like Turkish mute, fhall have a tonguelefs mouth;
Not worshipt with a waxen epitaph.

Enter Ambafadors of France.

Now are we well prepar'd to know the pleasure
Of our fair coufin Dauphin; for we hear,
Your greeting is from him, not from the King.
imb. May't please your Majefty to give us leave
Freely to render what we have in charge,
Or fhall we fparingly fhew you far off

pletion, without impeding or
jostling one another in their
courfe. Shakespeare, therefore,
mult have wrote, actions 't once
@foot, i. e. at once: or, on foot

together.

WARBURTON.

Sir T. Hanmer is more kind to this emendation by reading als at once. The change is not neceffary, the old text may stand.

The

The Dauphin's meaning, and our embassy?
K. Henry. We are no tyrant, but a Chriftian King,
Unto whofe grace our paffion is as fubject,
As are our wretches fetter'd in our prifons;
Therefore, with frank and with uncurbed plainness,
Tell us the Dauphin's mind.

Amb. Thus then, in few.

Your Highness, lately fending into France,
Did claim fome certain Dukedoms in the right
Of your great predeceffor, Edward the third;
In anfwer of which claim, the Prince our master
Says, that you favour too much of your youth,
And bids you be advis'd. There's nought in France,
That can be with a nimble galliard won;

You cannot revel into Dukedoms there.
He therefore fends you, meeter for your spirit,
This tun of treasure; and in lieu of this,
Defires you, let the Dukedoms, that you claim,
Hear no more of you. This the Dauphin fpeaks.
K. Henry. What treafure, uncle?

Exe. Tennis-balls, my Liege.

K. Henry. We're glad, the Dauphin is so pleasant with us.

His prefent, and your pains, we thank you for.
When we have match'd our rackets to these balls,
We will in France, by God's grace, play a set,
Shall ftrike his father's Crown into the hazard.
Tell him, h'ath made a match with fuch a wrangler,
That all the Courts of France will be disturb'd

*

With chaces. And we understand him well,
How he comes o'er us with our wilder days;
Not meafuring, what ufe we made of them.
We never valu'd this poor feat of England,
And therefore, living hence,' did give ourself

Chace is a term at tennis.
And therefore, living hence,
This expreflion has
ftrength and energy: He never

valued England, and therefore lived hence, i. e. as if abfent from it. But the Oxford Editor alters hence to here. WARBURTON.

Το

To barb'rous licence; as 'tis ever common,
That men are merrieft, when they are from home.
But tell the Dauphin, I will keep my State,
Be like a King, and fhew my fail of Greatness
When I do rouze me in my throne of France.
For that I have laid by my Majefty,
And plodded like a man for working days;
But I will rife there with fo full a glory,
That I will dazzle all the eyes of France,
Yea, ftrike the Dauphin blind to look on us.
And tell the pleafant Prince, this mock of his
Hath turn'd his balls to gun-ftones; and his foul
Shall ftand fore charged for the wafteful vengeance,
That fhall fly with them. Many thoufand widows
Shall this his Mock mock out of their dear husbands,
Mock mothers from their fons, mock castles down;
And fome are yet ungotten and unborn,

That shall have caufe to curfe the Dauphin's fcorn.
But this lies all within the will of God,
To whom I do appeal; and in whofe name,
Tell you the Dauphin, I am coming on
To 'venge me as I may; and to put forth
My rightful hand in a well-hallow'd caufe.
So get you hence in peace; and tell the Dauphin,
His jeft will favour but of fhallow wit,

When thousands weep, more than did laugh at it.
-Convey them with fafe conduct.-Fare ye well.
[Exeunt Ambaffadors.

Exe. This was a merry meffage.

K. Henry. We hope to make the fender blufh at it. Therefore, my Lords, omit no happy hour, That may give furth'rance to our expedition; For we have now no thoughts in us but France, Save thofe to God, that run before our business.

For that I have laid by, &c.] To qualify myfelf for this undertaking, I have defcended from my ftation, and ftudied the arts of life in a lower character. 8

+ His balls to gun-ftones.] When ordnance was firit used, they dif charged balls not of iron but of ftone.

There

Therefore, let our proportions for these wars.
Be foon collected, and all things thought upon,
That may with reasonable swiftness add
More feathers to our wings; for, God before,
We'll chide this Dauphin at his father's door.
Therefore let every man now tafk his thought,
That this fair action may on foot be brought. [Exeunt.

POPE.

Now all the Youth of England] I have replaced this Chorus here, by the Authority of the Old Folio's; and ended the first A&t, as the Poet certainly intended. Mr. Pope remov'd it, becaufe (fays he) This Chorus manifefty is intended to adve tife the Spect tors of the Change of the Scene to Southampton; and therefore ought to be placed just before that Change, and not here. 'Tis true, the Spectators are to be informed, that, when they next fee the King, they are to fuppofe him at Southampton. But this does not imply any Neceflity of this Cho

And

rus being contiguous to that Change. On the contrary, the very concluding Lines vouch abfolutely against it.

But, till the King come forth,

and not till then, Unto Southampton do we fift our Stene.

For how abfurd is fuch a Notice, if the Scene is to change, fo foon

as

ever the Chorus quits the Stage? Befides, unless this Chorus be prefixed to the Scene betwixt Nim, Bardolph, &c. We fhall draw the Poet into another Abfurdity. Piftol, Nim, and Bardelph are in this Scene talking of going to the Wars in France: but the King had but juft, at his quitting the Stage, declar'd his Refolutions of commencing this War: And without the Interval of an Act, betwixt that Scene and the Comic Characters entring, how could they with any Probability be informed of this intended Expedition ?

THEOBALD.
I think

And filken dalliance in the wardrobe lies;
Now thrive the armourers, and honour's thought
Reigns folely in the breaft of every man ;
They fell the pasture now, to buy the horse;
Following the mirror of all Chriftian Kings,
With winged heels, as English Mercuries.
3 For now fits expectation in the air,
And hides a fword from hilts unto the point
With Crowns imperial, Crowns, and Coronets.
Promis'd to Harry and his followers.
The French, advis'd by good intelligence
Of this most dreadful preparation,
Shake in their fear; and with pale policy
Seek to divert the English purpofes.

O England! model to thy inward greatness,
Like little body with a mighty heart; .

What might'ft thou do, that honour would thee do,
Were all thy children kind and natural !

But fee, thy fault France hath in thee found out;
A neft of hollow bofoms, which he fills
With treach'rous crowns; and three corrupted men,
One, Richard Earl of Cambridge, and the fecond,
Henry Lord Scroop of Maham, and the third,
Sir Thomas Grey Knight of Northumberland,
Have for the gilt of France (O guilt, indeed!)
Confirm'd confpiracy with fearful France,

I think Mr. Pope mistaken in tranfpofing this Chorus, and Mr. Theobald in concluding the act with it. The chorus evidently introduces that which follows, not comments on that which precedes, and therefore rather begins than ends the Act, and fo I have printed it. Dr. Warburton follows Mr. Pope.

3 For now fits Expectation in

the ar,

And hides a ford from hilts

unto the point

With Crowns imperial, &c.] The imagery is wonderfully fine, and the thought exquifite. Expectation fitting in the ar defigns the height of their ambition; and the Sword hid from the hilt to the point with Crowns and Coronets, that all fentiments of danger were loft in the thoughts of glory. WARBURTON. And