Enter GRANDPRÉ.

Grand. Why do you stay so long, my lords of

France?

Yon island carrions, desperate of their bones,
Ill-favour'dly become the morning field:

Their ragged curtains poorly are let loose1,
And our air shakes them passing scornfully.
Big Mars seems bankrupt in their beggar'd host,
And faintly through a rusty beaver peeps.
Their horsemen sit like fixed candlesticks,

With torch-staves in their hand and their poor jades.
Lob down their heads, dropping the hides and hips;
The gum down-roping from their pale-dead eyes;
And in their pale dull mouths the gimmal bit
Lies foul with chew'd grass, still and motionless;
And their executors, the knavish crows,
Fly o'er them all, impatient for their hour.
Description cannot suit itself in words,

To démonstrate the life of such a battle

In life so lifeless as it shows itself.

Con. They have said their prayers, and they stay for death.

Dau. Shall we go send them dinners, and fresh suits, And give their fasting horses provender,

And after fight with them?

'Their ragged curtains poorly are let loose,] By their ragged curtains are meant their colours. The idea seems to have been taken from what every man must have observed, i. e. ragged curtains put in motion by the air, when the windows of mean houses are left open.

2 Their horsemen sit like fixed candlesticks,

With torch-staves in their hand:] Grandpré alludes to the form of ancient candlesticks, which frequently represented human figures holding the sockets for the lights in their extended hands.

3 - gimmal bit] Gimmal is, in the western counties, a ring; a gimmal bit is therefore a bit of which the parts played one within another.

Con. I stay but for my guard: On, to the field:
I will the banner from a trumpet take,

And use it for my haste. Come, come away!
The sun is high, and we outwear the day.

[Exeunt.

SCENE III

The English Camp.

Enter the English Host; GLOSTER, BEDFORD, Exeter, SALISBURY, and WESTMORELAND.

Glo. Where is the king?

Bed. The king himself is rode to view their battle. West. Of fighting men they have full threescore thousand.

Exe. There's five to one; besides, they are all fresh. Sal. God's arm strike with us! 'tis a fearful odds. God be wi' you, princes all; I'll to my charge: If we no more meet, till we meet in heaven, Then joyfully, my noble lord of Bedford,My dear lord Gloster,-and my good lord Exeter,— And my kind kinsman,-warriors all, adieu!

Bed. Farewell, good Salisbury; and good luck go

with thee!

Exe. Farewell, kind lord, fight valiantly to-day;
And yet I do thee wrong, to mind thee of it,
For thou art fram'd of the firm truth of valour,

[Exit SALISBURY, Bed. He is as full of valour, as of kindness; Princely in both.

West.

O that we now had here

4 I stay but for my guard :] It seems, by what follows, that guard in this place means rather something of ornament or of distinction, than a body of attendants. JOHNSON.

Enter King HENRY.

But one ten thousand of those men in England,
That do no work to-day!

K. Hen.

What's he, that wishes so?

My cousin Westmoreland ?—No, my fair cousin :
If we are mark'd to die, we are enough

To do our country loss; and if to live,

The fewer men, the greater share of honour.
God's will! I pray thee, wish not one man more.
By Jove, I am not covetous for gold;

Nor care I, who doth feed upon my cost;

It yearns me not", if men my garments wear;
Such outward things dwell not in my desires:
But, if it be a sin to covet honour,

I am the most offending soul alive.

No, 'faith, my coz, wish not a man from England:
God's peace! I would not lose so great an honour,
As one man more, methinks, would share from me,
For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more :
Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host,
That he, which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made,
And crowns for convoy put into his purse:
We would not die in that man's company,
That fears his fellowship to die with us.
This day is call'd-the feast of Crispian®:
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam'd,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He, that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his friends,
And say-to-morrow is saint Crispian ;

Then will he strip his sleeve, and show his scars,
And say, these wounds I had on Crispin's day.

"It yearns me not,] To yearn is to grieve or vex.

6

of Crispian] The battle of Agincourt was fought upon the 25th of October, St. Crispin's day.

Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,

But he'll remember, with advantages',

What feats he did that day: Then shall our names,
Familiar in their mouths as household words,—
Harry the king, Bedford, and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloster,-
Be in their flowing cups freshly remember'd:
This story shall the good man teach his son ;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
From this day to the endings of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered:

We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he, to-day that sheds his blood with me,
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition":

And gentlemen in England, now a-bed,

Shall think themselves accurs'd, they were not here ; And hold their manhoods cheap, while any speaks, That fought with us upon saint Crispin's day'.

7

with advantages,] Old men, notwithstanding the natural forgetfulness of age, shall remember their feats of this day, and remember to tell them with advantage. Age is commonly boastful, and inclined to magnify past acts and past times.

JOHNSON.

8 From this day to the ending] It may be observed that we are apt to promise to ourselves a more lasting memory than the changing state of human things admits. This prediction is not verified; the feast of Crispin passes by without any mention of Agincourt. Late events obliterate the former: the civil wars have left in this nation scarcely any tradition of more ancient history. 9 gentle his condition :] This day shall advance him to the rank of a gentleman. JOHNSON.

King Henry V. inhibited any person but such as had a right by inheritance, or grant, to assume coats of arms, except those who fought with him at the battle of Agincourt; and, I think, these last were allowed the chief seats of honour at all feasts and publick meetings. ToLlet.

1

upon saint Crispin's day.] This speech, like many others of the declamatory kind, is too long. Had it been contracted to about half the number of lines, it might have gained force, and lost none of the sentiments. JOHNSON.

Enter SALISBURY.

Sal. My sovereign lord, bestow yourself with speed;
The French are bravely in their battles set,
And will with all expedience charge on us.

K. Hen. All things are ready, if our minds be so.
West. Perish the man, whose mind is backward now!
K. Hen. Thou dost not wish more help from England,
cousin ?

West. God's will, my liege, 'would you and I alone, Without more help, might fight this battle out!

K. Hen. Why, now thou hast unwish'd five thousand

men;

Which likes me better, than to wish us one.-
You know your places: God be with you all!

Tucket. Enter MONTJOY.

Mont. Once more I come to know of thee, king

Harry,

If for thy ransome thou wilt now compound,

Before thy most assured overthrow:

For, certainly, thou art so near the gulf,

Thou needs must be englutted. Besides, in mercy,

The constable desires thee-thou wilt mind'

Thy followers of repentance; that their souls

May make a peaceful and a sweet retire

From off these fields, where (wretches) their poor bodies

Must lie and fester.

K. Hen.

Who hath sent thee now?

Mont. The constable of France.

K. Hen. I pray thee, bear my former answer back ; Bid them achieve me, and then sell my bones.

Good God! why should they mock poor fellows thus? The man, that once did sell the lion's skin