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The Complete Works of William Shakespeare - Israel Gollancz William Shakespeare [587]

By Root 18610 0

And brother Clarence, and you, brother Gloucester,

Warwick, and Huntington, 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?

QUEEN ISABEL.

Our gracious brother, I will go with them;

Haply a woman's voice may do some good,

When articles too nicely urg'd be stood on.

KING HENRY.

Yet leave our cousin Katherine here with us;

She is our capital demand, compris'd

Within the fore-rank of our articles.

QUEEN ISABEL.

She hath good leave.

Exeunt all but the KING, KATHERINE, and ALICE

KING HENRY.

Fair Katherine, 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?

KATHERINE.

Your Majesty shall mock me; I cannot speak your England.

KING HENRY.

O fair Katherine, 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?

KATHERINE.

Pardonnez-moi, I cannot tell vat is like me.

KING HENRY.

An angel is like you, Kate, and you are like an angel.

KATHERINE.

Que dit-il? que je suis semblable a les anges?

ALICE.

Oui, vraiment, sauf votre grace, ainsi dit-il.

KING HENRY.

I said so, dear Katherine, and I must not blush to

affirm it. KATHERINE. O bon Dieu! les langues des hommes sont pleines de tromperies. KING HENRY. 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. KING HENRY. The Princess is the better English-woman. I' faith, Kate, my wooing is fit for thy understanding: I am glad thou canst speak no better English; for if thou couldst, thou wouldst find me such a plain king that thou wouldst think I had sold my farm to buy my crown. I know no ways to mince it in love, but directly to say 'I love you.' Then, if you urge me farther than to say 'Do you in faith?' I wear out my suit. Give me your answer; i' faith, do; and so clap hands and a bargain. How say you, lady? KATHERINE. Sauf votre honneur, me understand well. KING HENRY. Marry, if you would put me to verses or to dance for your sake, Kate, why you undid me; for the one I have neither words nor measure, and for the other I have no strength in measure, yet a reasonable measure in strength. If I could win a lady at leap-frog, or by vaulting into my saddle with my armour on my back, under the correction of bragging be it spoken, I should quickly leap into wife. Or if I might buffet for my love, or bound my horse for her favours, I could lay on like a butcher, and sit like a jack-an-apes, never off. But, before God, Kate, I cannot look greenly, nor gasp out my cloquence, nor I have no cunning in protestation; only downright oaths, which I never use till urg'd, nor never break for urging. If thou canst love a fellow of this temper, Kate, whose face is not worth sunburning, that never looks in his glass for love of anything he sees there, let thine eye be thy cook. I speak to thee plain soldier. If thou canst love me for this, take me; if not, to say to thee that I shall die is true- but for thy love, by the Lord, no; yet I love thee too. And while thou liv'st, dear Kate, take a fellow of plain and uncoined constancy; for he perforce must do thee right, because he hath not the gift to woo in other places; for these fellows of infinite tongue, that can rhyme themselves into ladies' favours, they do always reason themselves out again. What! a speaker is but a prater: a rhyme is but a ballad. A good leg will fall; a straight back will stoop; a black beard will turn white; a curl'd pate will grow bald; a fair face will wither; a full eye will wax hollow. But a good heart, Kate, is the sun and the moon; or, rather, the sun, and not the moon- for it shines bright and never changes, but keeps his course truly. If thou would have such a one, take me; and

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