Scene VII. KING HENRY V. Dau. My lord of Orleans, and my lord hign Orl. You are as well provided of both, as any constable, you talk of horse and armour,prince in the world. Harry of England, Though we seemed dead, we did but sleep; Advantage is a better soldier, than rashness. Tell him, we could have rebuked Dau. What a long night is this !---I will him at Harfleur; but that we thought not good to bruise an injury, till it were full ripe :-now we speak upon our cue, and our voice is impe- not change my horse with any that treads but on rial: England shall repent his folly, see his weak-four pasterns, Ca ha! He bounds from the earth, Bid him, as if his entrails were hairs; le cheval volant, ness, and admire our sufferance. therefore, consider of his ransom; which must the Pegasus, qui a les narines de feu! When I proportion the losses we have borne, the sub-bestride him, I soar, I am a hawk: he trots the jects we have lost, the disgrace we have di- air; the earth sings when he touches it; the gested; which, in weight to re-answer, his pet-basest horn of his hoof is more musical than the tiness would bow under. For our losses, his ex-pipe of Hermes. chequer is too poor; for the effusion of our blood, the muster of his kingdom too faint a number; and for our disgrace, his own person kneeling at our feet, but a weak and worthless satisfaction. To this add-defiance: and tell him, for conclusion, he hath betrayed his followers, whose condemnation is pronounced. So far my king and master; so much my office. K. Hen. What is thy name? I know thy Mont. Montjoy, many ye Orl. He's of the colour of the nutmeg... Con. Indeed, my lord, it is a most absolute and Dau. It is the prince of palfreys; his neigh K. Hen. Thou dost thy office fairly. Turn tenauce enforces homage. And tell thy king,-I do not seek him now; thee, I thought, upon one pair of English legs That I do brag thus !-this your air of France Stand in our way. There's for thy labour, Co, bid thy master well advise himself: blood Discolour: and so, Montjoy, fare you well. ness. Glo. I hope, they will now. Thanks to your high- K. Hen. We are in God's hand, brother, not March to the bridge; it now draws toward night : Beyond the river we'll encamp ourselves; [Exeunt. SCENE VII.-The French Camp, near Enter the CONSTABLE of France, the Lord Com. Tut! I have the best armour of the world, Ori. You have an excellent armour; but let my horse have his due. Con. it is the best horse of Europe. + Hinderance. Orl. No more, cousin. Dau. Nay, the man hath no wit, that cannot, from the rising of the lark to the lodging of the lamb, vary deserved praise on my palfrey it is a theme as fluent as the sea: turn the sands into eloquent tongues, and my horse is argument for them all: 'tis a subject for a sovereign to reason on, and for a sovereign's sovereign to ride on; and for the world (familiar to us, and unand wonder at him. I once writ a sonnet in known,) to lay apart their particular functions, his praise, and began thus: Wonder of nature, Ort. I have heard a sonnet begin so to one's mistress. Dau. Then did they imitate that which I composed to my courser; for my horse is my mistress. Orl. Your mistress bears wel!. Dau. Me well; which is the prescript praise and perfection of a good and particular mis tress. Con. Ma foy! the other day, methought, your mistress shrewdly shook your back. Dau. So, perhaps did your's. Con. Mine was not bridled. Dau. Oh! then, belike, she was old and gentle and you rode like a kerne of Ireland, your French hose off, and in your strait trossers. Con. You have good judgment in horsemanship. Dau. Be warned by me then they that ride. so, and ride not warily, fall into foul bogs; I had rather have my horse to my mistress. Con. I had as lief have my mistress a jade. Dau. I tell thee, constable, my mistress wears her own hair. Con. I could make as true a boast as that, if I had a sow to my mistress. Dau. Le chien est retournè à son propre vomissement, et la truie lavce au bourbier; thou makest use of any thing. Con. Yet do I not use my horse for my mistress; or any such proverb, so little kin to the purpose. Ram. My lord constable, the armour, that I saw in your tent to-night, are those stars, or suns, upon it? Con. Even as your horse bears your praises; who would trot as well, were some of your brags dismounted. Dau. 'Would I were able to load him with his desert! Will it never be day? I will trot tomorrow a mile, and my way shall be paved with English faces. Con. I will not say so, for fear I should be faced out of my way: But I would it were morning, for I would fain be about the ears of the English. Ram. Who will go to hazard with me for twenty English prisoners? Con. You must first go yourself to hazard, ere you have them. Dau. 'Tis midnight I'll go arm myself. [Exit. Orl. The Dauphin longs for morning. Ram. He longs to eat the English. Con. I think, he will eat all he kills. Orl. By the white hand of my lady, he's a gallant prince. Con. Swear by her foot, that she may tread out the oath. Orl. He is, simply, the most active gentleman of France. Con. Doing is activity: and he will still be doing. Orl. He never did harm, that I heard of. that good name still. Orl. I know him to be valiant. Con. Just, just; and the men do sympathize with the mastiffs, in robustious and rough coming on, leaving their wits with their wives: and then give them great meals of beef, and iron, and steel, they will eat like wolves, and fight like devils. Orl. Ay, but these English are shrewdly out of beef. Con. Then we shall find to-morrow-they have only stomachs to eat, and none to fight. Now is it time to arm: Come, shall we about it? Orl. It is now two o'clock: but, let me see,by ten, We shall have each a hundred Englishmen. ACT IV. Enter CHORUS. [Exeunt. Chor. Now entertain conjecture of a time, The hum of either army stilly sounds, Con. I was told that, by one that knows him Each battle sees the other's umber'd + face : better than you. Orl. What's he? Con. Marry, he told me so himself; and he said, he cared not who knew it. Orl. He needs not, it is no hidden virtue in bim. Con. By my faith, Sir, but it is; never any body saw it, but his lackey: 'tis a hooded valour; and, when it appears, it will bate. Orl. I will never said well. Con. I will cap that proverb with-There is flattery in friendship. Orl. And I will take up that with-Give the devii his due. Con. Well placed; there stands your friend for the devil have at the very eye of that proverb, with-A pox of the devil. Orl. You are the better at proverbs, by how much-A fool's bolt is soon shot. Con. You have shot over. Steed threatens steed, in high and boastful neighs Piercing the night's dull ear; and from the tents, Like sacrifices, by their watchful fires The morning's danger; and their gesture sad, Orl. 'Tis not the first time you were over- So many horrid ghosts. Oh! now, who will beshot. Enter a MESSENGER. Mess. My lord high constable, the English lie within fifteen hundred paces of your tent. Con. Who hath measured the ground? Con. A valiaut and most expert gentleman. -Would it were day !—Alas, poor Harry of England -he longs not for the dawning, as we do. Orl. What a wretched and peevish + fellow is this king of England, to mope with his fat-brained followers so far out of his knowledge! Con. If the English bad any apprehension, they would run away. Orl. That they lack; for if their heads had any intellectual armour, they could never wear such heavy head-pieces. Ram. That island of England breeds very valiant creatures; their mastiffs are of unmatchable courage. Ort. Foolish curs! that run winking into the mouth of a Russian bear, and have their heads crushed like rotten apples: You may as well say that's a valiant flea, that dare eat his breakfast on the lip of a lion. An equivoque in terms in falconry: he means, his valour is hid from every body but his lackey, and when it appears, it will fall off. + Foolish. hold The royal captain of this ruin'd band, tent. Let him cry-Praise and glory on his head! be. SCENE L-The English Camp at Agincourt. The greater therefore should our courage be.- Al mighty & Enter ERPINGHAM. Good morrow, old Sir Thomas Erpingham: Since 1 may say-now lie I like a king. Upon example; so the spirit is eased: both, Commend me to the princes in our camp: Glo. We shall, my liege. [Exeunt GLOSTER and BEDFORD. Go with my brothers to my lords of England: Enter PISTOL. Pist. Qui va lú! K. Hen. A friend. 453 (Exit. K. Hen. I thank you:'God be with you! K. Hen. It sorts well with your fierceness. Fla. So in the name of Cheshu Christ, Gow. Why the enemy is lond; you heard him all night. Flu. If the enemy is an ass and a fool, and a should also, look you, be an ass and a fool, and prating coxcomb; is it meet, think you that we a prating coxeomb; in your own conscience now? Gow. I will speak lower. Fin. I pray you, and beseech you, that you will. [Exeunt GOWER and FLUELLEN. K. Hen. Though it appear a little out of fashion, There is much care and valour in this Welshтан. Enter BATES, COURT, and WILLIAMS. Court. Brother John Bates, is not that the morning which breaks yonder? Bates. I think it be: but we have no great cause to desire the approach of day. Will. We see yonder the beginning of the day, but, I think, we shall never see the end of it.-Who goes there? K. Hen. A friend. Will. Under what captain serve you? K. Hen. Under Sir Thomas Erpingham. our estate? kind gentleman: I pray you, what thinks he of Will. A good old commander, and a nost K. Hen. Even as men wrecked upon a saud, that look to be washed off the next tide. Bates. He hath not told his thought to the king? K. Hen. No; nor it is not meet he should, For, though I speak it to you, I think the king is but a man, as I am the violet smells to him, as it doth to me; the element shows to him, as it doth to me; all his senses have but human conditions: + his ceremonies laid by, in his naaffections are higher mounted than our's, yet, kedness he appears but a man; and though his therefore when he sees reason of fears, as we when they stoop, they stoop with the like wing; do, his fears, out of doubt, be of the same relish as our's are: Yet, in reason, no man should heart-he, by showing it, should dishearten his army. possess him with any appearance of fear, lest Pist. The king's a bawcock, and a heart of A lad of life, an impt of fame; I kiss bis dirty shoe, and from my I love the lovely bully. What's thy name? Bates. He may show what outward courage he will: but, I believe, as cold a night as 'is, he could wish himself in the Thames up to the Pist. Le Roy a Cornish name: art thou of neck; and so I would he were, and 1 by him, at Cornish crew? K. Hen. No, I am a Welshman. Pict. Knowest thou Fluelien. K. Hen. Yes. Pist. Tell him, I'll knock his leek about his pate, Upen Saint Davy's day. your cap that day, lest he knock that about yours. K. Hen. Do not you wear your dagger in Pist. Art thou his friend? K. Hen. And his kinsman too. Pist. The figo for thee then! • Slough is the skin which serpents annually throw all adventures, so we were quit here. K. Hen. By any troth, I will speak my con. science of the king; I think, he would not wish himself any where but where he is. Bates. Then, 'would he were here alone; so wish him here alone; howsoever you speak this, Will. That's more than we know. Bates. Ay, or more than we should seek after ; for we know enough, if we know we are the king's subjects; if his cause be wrong, our obedience to the king wipes the crime of it out of us. Will. But, if the cause be not good, the king himself hath a heavy reckoning to make; when all those legs, and arms, and heads, chopped off | in a battle, shall join together at the latter day,* and cry all-We died at such a place; some, swearing; some, crying for a surgeon; some, upon their wives left poor behind them; some upon the debts they owe; some upou their children rawly left. I am afeard there are few die well, that die in battle; for how can they charitably dispose of any thing, when blood is their argument! Now, if these men do not die well, it will be a black matter for the king that led them to it; whom to disobey, were against all proportion of subjection. Will. This will I also wear in my cap: if ever thou come to me and say, after to-morrow, This is my glove, by this hand, I will take thee a box on the ear. K. Hen. If ever I live to see it, I will challenge it. Will. Thou darest as well be hanged. K. Hen. Well, I will do it, though I take thee in the king's company. could tell how to reckon. K. Hen. Indeed, the French may lay twenty Upon the king! let us our lives, our souls, K. Hen. So, if a son, that is by his father sent about merchandise, do sinfully miscarry upon the sea, the imputation of his wickedness, by your rule, should be imposed upon his father that sent him or if a servant under his inaster's coininaud, transporting a sum of money, be assailed by robbers, and die in many irre- Will. Keep thy word: fare thee well. conciled iniquities, you may call the business of Bates. Be friends, you English fools, be the master the author of the servant's damna-friends; we have French quarrels enough, if yʊa tion:-But this is not so: the king is not bound to answer the particular endings of his soldiers, the father of his sou, nor the master of his servant; for they purpose not their death, when they purpose their services. Besides, there is no king, be his cause never so spotless if it come to the arbitrement of swords, can try it out with all unspotted soldiers. Some, peradventure, have on them the guilt of premeditated and contrived murder; some, of beguiling virgins with the broken seals of perjury; some, making the wars their bulwark, that have before gored the gentle bosom of peace with pillage and robbery. Now, if these men have defeated the law, and outrun native punishment, though they can outstrip men, they have no wings to fly from God: war is his vengeance; so that here men are punished, for before-breach of the king's laws, in now the king's quarrel where they feared the death, they have borne life away; and where they would be safe, they perish: Then if they die unprovided, no more is the king guilty of their damnation, than he was before guilty of those impieties for the which they are now visited. Every subject's duty is the king's; but every subject's soul is his own. Therefore should every soldier in the wars do as every sick man in his bed, wash every mote out of his conscience; and dying so, death is to him advan-Creating awe and fear in other inen? tage; or not dying, the time was blessedly lost, Wherein thou art less happy being fear'd wherein such preparation was gained and, in Than they in fearing. him that escapes, it were not sin to think, that making God so free an offer, he let him outlive that day to see his greatness, and to teach others how they should prepare. Will. 'Tis certain, that every man that dies ill, the ill is upon his own head, the king is to answer for it. not Bates. I do not desire he should answer for me; and yet I determine to fight lustily for bim. K. Hen. I myself heard the king say, he would not be ransomed. What infinite heart's ease must kings neglect, Save ceremony, save general ceremony 1-- What drink'st thou oft, instead of homage But poison'd flattery? O be sick, great great- Command the health of it? No, thon proud That play'st so subtly with a king's repose'; Will. Ay, he said so, to make us fight cheer-I am a king, that find thee; and I know, fully but, when our throats are cut, he may be ransomed, and we ne'er the wiser. K. Hen. If I live to see it, I will never trust his word after. Will. 'Mass, you'll pay him then! That's a perous shot out of an elder gum, that a poor and private displeasure can do against a mon The last day, the day of judgment. + Suddenly. tive country. to account, to punish. 'Tis not the balm, the sceptre, and the ball, Too rough. +"What is the real worth rud intrinsic value of adoration." : Farced sa stuffed. The tumid pully titles with which a king's name is introduced. No, not all these, thrice-gorgeous ceremony, Can sleep so soundly as the wretched slave; Never sees horrid night, the child of hell; And follows so the ever-running year sleep, with Had the fore-hand and vantage of a king. Whose hours the peasant best advantages. Con. Hark, how our steeds for present service neigh. Dau. Mount them, and make incision in their hides; That their hot blood may spin in English eyes, And dout⚫ them with superfluous courage: Ha! Ram. What, will you have them weep our horses' blood? How shall we then behold their natural tears? Enter a MESSENGER. Mess. The English are embattled, you French peers. Con. To horse you gallant princes! straight to horse! Do but behold yon poor and starved band, them, The vapour of our valour will o'erturn them. And all is done. Then let the trumpets sound Enter GRANDPRE. Crand. Why do you stay so long, my lords of France? Yon island carrions, desperate of their bones, And faintly through a rusty beaver peeps. jades Lob down their heads, dropping their hides and hips; [eyes; The gum down-roping from their pale dead And their executors, the knavish crows, Dau. Shall we go send them dinners, and fresh suits, And give their fasting horses provender, Con. I stay but for my guard; On, to the field: I will the banner from a trumpet take, [Exeunt. Do them out, extinguish them. + Mean, despicable. |