Great Kings of France and England! That I have labour'd 24
With all my wits, my pains, and strong endeavours,
To bring your most imperial majesties
Unto this bar and royal interview,
Your mightiness on both parts best can witness.
Since then my office hath so far prevail'd 29
That face to face, and royal eye to eye,
You have congreeted, let it not disgrace me
If I demand before this royal view, 32
What rub or what impediment there is,
Why that the naked, poor, and mangled Peace,
Dear nurse of arts, plenties, and joyful births,
Should not in this best garden of the world, 36
Our fertile France, put up her lovely visage?
Alas! she hath from France too long been chas'd,
And all her husbandry doth lie on heaps,
Corrupting in it own fertility. 40
Her vine, the merry cheerer of the heart,
Unpruned dies; her hedges even-pleach'd,
Like prisoners wildly overgrown with hair,
Put forth disorder'd twigs; her fallow leas 44
The darnel, hemlock and rank fumitory
Doth root upon, while that the coulter rusts
That should deracinate such savagery;
The even mead, that erst brought sweetly forth 48
The freckled cowslip, burnet, and green clover,
Wanting the scythe, all uncorrected, rank,
Conceives by idleness, and nothing teems
But hateful docks, rough thistles, kecksies, burs,
27 bar: barrier; place of meeting
31 congreeted: exchanged greetings
32 view: presence
40 it: its
42 even-pleach'd: evenly interwoven
44 leas: arable land
45 darnel: a weed injurious to crops
fumitory: a weed with a bitter taste
46 coulter: ploughshare
47 deracinate: uproot
52 kecksies: dry stalks
