PROLOGUE.
Enter Chorus.[4836]
Chor. Thus with imagined wing our swift scene flies
In motion of no less celerity[4837]
Than that of thought. Suppose that you have seen[4837]
The well-appointed king at Hampton pier[4838]
Embark his royalty; and his brave fleet5
With silken streamers the young Phœbus fanning:[4839]
Play with your fancies, and in them behold
Upon the hempen tackle ship-boys climbing;
Hear the shrill whistle which doth order give
To sounds confused; behold the threaden sails,10
Borne with the invisible and creeping wind,[4840]
Draw the huge bottoms through the furrow'd sea,
Breasting the lofty surge: O, do but think
You stand upon the rivage and behold
A city on the inconstant billows dancing;15
For so appears this fleet majestical,
Holding due course to Harfleur. Follow, follow:[4841]
Grapple your minds to sternage of this navy,[4842]
And leave your England, as dead midnight still,
Guarded with grandsires, babies and old women,20
Either past or not arrived to pith and puissance;[4843]
For who is he, whose chin is but enrich'd
With one appearing hair, that will not follow
These cull'd and choice-drawn cavaliers to France?
Work, work your thoughts, and therein see a siege;25
Behold the ordnance on their carriages,[4844]
With fatal mouths gaping on girded Harfleur.
Suppose the ambassador from the French comes back;[4845]
Tells Harry that the king doth offer him
Katharine his daughter, and with her, to dowry,30
Some petty and unprofitable dukedoms.
The offer likes not: and the nimble gunner
With linstock now the devilish cannon touches,
[Alarum, and chambers go off.[4846]
And down goes all before them. Still be kind,[4847]
And eke out our performance with your mind. [Exit.[4848]35
Scene I. France. Before Harfleur.
Alarum. Enter King Henry, Exeter, Bedford, Gloucester, and Soldiers, with scaling-ladders.[4849]
K. Hen. Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;[4850][4851]
Or close the wall up with our English dead.[4851]
In peace there's nothing so becomes a man
As modest stillness and humility:
But when the blast of war blows in our ears,5
Then imitate the action of the tiger;
Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood,[4852]
Disguise fair nature with hard-favour'd rage;
Then lend the eye a terrible aspect;
Let it pry through the portage of the head10
Like the brass cannon; let the brow o'erwhelm it[4853]
As fearfully as doth a galled rock
O'erhang and jutty his confounded base,[4854]
Swill'd with the wild and wasteful ocean.
Now set the teeth and stretch the nostril wide,[4855]15
Hold hard the breath and bend up every spirit
To his full height. On, on, you noblest English,[4856]
Whose blood is fet from fathers of war-proof![4857]
Fathers that, like so many Alexanders,
Have in these parts from morn till even fought20
And sheathed their swords for lack of argument:
Dishonour not your mothers; now attest
That those whom you call'd fathers did beget you.
Be copy now to men of grosser blood,[4858]
And teach them how to war. And you, good yeomen,25
Whose limbs were made in England, show us here
The mettle of your pasture; let us swear[4859]
That you are worth your breeding; which I doubt not;
For there is none of you so mean and base,
That hath not noble lustre in your eyes.30
I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips,
Straining upon the start. The game's afoot:[4860]
Follow your spirit, and upon this charge
Cry 'God for Harry, England, and Saint George!'
[Exeunt. Alarum, and chambers go off.[4861]
Scene II. The same.
Enter Nym, Bardolph, Pistol, and Boy.[4862]
Bard. On, on, on, on, on! to the breach, to the breach!
Nym. Pray thee, corporal, stay: the knocks are too[4863]
hot; and, for mine own part, I have not a case of lives: the
humour of it is too hot, that is the very plain-song of it.
Pist. The plain-song is most just; for humours do5
abound:[4864]
Knocks go and come; God's vassals drop and die;[4865]
And sword and shield,[4865]
In bloody field,[4865]
Doth win immortal fame.[4865][4866]
Boy. Would I were in an alehouse in London! I would10
give all my fame for a pot of ale and safety.[4867]
Pist. And I:[4867]
If wishes would prevail with me,[4867][4868][4869]
My purpose should not fail with me,[4867][4869]
But thither would I hie.[4867][4870]15
Boy. As duly, but not as truly,[4867][4871][4872]
As bird doth sing on bough.[4867][4872]
Flu. Up to the breach, you dogs! avaunt, you cullions![4867][4874][4875]
[Driving them forward.[4867][4874][4876]
Pist. Be merciful, great duke, to men of mould.[4867][4877]20
Abate thy rage, abate thy manly rage,[4867][4877]
Abate thy rage, great duke![4867][4877][4878]
Good bawcock, bate thy rage; use lenity, sweet chuck![4867][4877]
Nym. These be good humours! your honour wins bad[4867][4879]
humours. [Exeunt all but Boy.[4867][4880]25
Boy. As young as I am, I have observed these three
swashers. I am boy to them all three: but all they three,[4881]
though they would serve me, could not be man to me; for
indeed three such antics do not amount to a man. For
Bardolph, he is white-livered and red-faced; by the means30
whereof a' faces it out, but fights not. For Pistol, he hath
a killing tongue and a quiet sword; by the means whereof
a' breaks words, and keeps whole weapons. For Nym, he
hath heard that men of few words are the best men; and
therefore he scorns to say his prayers, lest a' should be35
thought a coward: but his few bad words are matched with
as few good deeds; for a' never broke any man's head but his
own, and that was against a post when he was drunk. They
will steal any thing, and call it purchase. Bardolph stole a
lute-case, bore it twelve leagues, and sold it for three half-pence.40
Nym and Bardolph are sworn brothers in filching,
and in Calais they stole a fire-shovel: I knew by that piece
of service the men would carry coals. They would have me
as familiar with men's pockets as their gloves or their hand-kerchers:
which makes much against my manhood, if I[4882]45
should take from another's pocket to put into mine; for it[4882][4883]
is plain pocketing up of wrongs. I must leave them, and
seek some better service: their villany goes against my weak
stomach, and therefore I must cast it up. [Exit.
Re-enter Fluellen, Gower following.[4884]
Gow. Captain Fluellen, you must come presently to50
the mines; the Duke of Gloucester would speak with you.
Flu. To the mines! tell you the duke, it is not so good
to come to the mines; for, look you, the mines is not according
to the disciplines of the war: the concavities of it[4885]
is not sufficient; for, look you, th' athversary, you may discuss55
unto the duke, look you, is digt himself four yard[4886]
under the countermines: by Cheshu, I think a' will plow
up all, if there is not better directions.
Gow. The Duke of Gloucester, to whom the order of
the siege is given, is altogether directed by an Irishman, a60
very valiant gentleman, i' faith.
Flu. It is Captain Macmorris, is it not?[4887]
Gow. I think it be.
Flu. By Cheshu, he is an ass, as in the world: I will[4888]
verify as much in his beard: he has no more directions in65
the true disciplines of the wars, look you, of the Roman
disciplines, than is a puppy-dog.
Enter Macmorris and Captain Jamy.[4889]
Gow. Here a' comes; and the Scots captain, Captain
Jamy, with him.
Flu. Captain Jamy is a marvellous falorous gentleman,[4890]70
that is certain; and of great expedition and knowledge in
th' aunchient wars, upon my particular knowledge of his
directions: by Cheshu, he will maintain his argument as
well as any military man in the world, in the disciplines of
the pristine wars of the Romans.75
Jamy. I say gud-day, Captain Fluellen.[4891]
Flu. God-den to your worship, good Captain James.[4892]
Gow. How now, Captain Macmorris! have you quit[4893]
the mines? have the pioners given o'er?[4894]
Mac. By Chrish, la! tish ill done: the work ish give[4895]80
over, the trompet sound the retreat. By my hand, I swear,
and my father's soul, the work ish ill done; it ish give
over: I would have blowed up the town, so Chrish save
me, la! in an hour: O, tish ill done, tish ill done; by my
hand, tish ill done!85
Flu. Captain Macmorris, I beseech you now, will you
voutsafe me, look you, a few disputations with you, as partly
touching or concerning the disciplines of the war, the Roman[4896]
wars, in the way of argument, look you, and friendly
communication; partly to satisfy my opinion, and partly90
for the satisfaction, look you, of my mind, as touching the
direction of the military discipline; that is the point.
Jamy. It sall be vary gud, gud feith, gud captains
bath: and I sall quit you with gud leve, as I may pick
occasion; that sall I, marry.95
Mac. It is no time to discourse, so Chrish save me: the
day is hot, and the weather, and the wars, and the king,
and the dukes: it is no time to discourse. The town is beseeched,[4897]
and the trumpet call us to the breach; and we
talk, and, be Chrish, do nothing: 'tis shame for us all: so100
God sa' me, 'tis shame to stand still; it is shame, by my
hand: and there is throats to be cut, and works to be done;
and there ish nothing done, so Chrish sa' me, la!
Jamy. By the mess, ere theise eyes of mine take themselves
to slomber, ay'll de gud service, or ay'll lig i' the[4898]105
grund for it; ay, or go to death; and ay'll pay 't as valorously[4898]
as I may, that sall I suerly do, that is the breff and[4899]
the long. Marry, I wad full fain hear some question 'tween[4900]
you tway.
Flu. Captain Macmorris, I think, look you, under your110
correction, there is not many of your nation—[4901]
Mac. Of my nation! What ish my nation? Ish a villain,[4902]
and a bastard, and a knave, and a rascal. What ish[4902]
my nation? Who talks of my nation?[4902]
Flu. Look you, if you take the matter otherwise than115
is meant, Captain Macmorris, peradventure I shall think
you do not use me with that affability as in discretion you
ought to use me, look you; being as good a man as yourself,
both in the disciplines of war, and in the derivation of
my birth, and in other particularities.120
Mac. I do not know you so good a man as myself: so
Chrish save me, I will cut off your head.
Gow. Gentlemen both, you will mistake each other.[4903]
Jamy. A! that's a foul fault.
[A parley sounded.[4904]
Gow. The town sounds a parley.125
Flu. Captain Macmorris, when there is more better
opportunity to be required, look you, I will be so bold
as to tell you I know the disciplines of war; and there is[4905]
an end. [Exeunt.
Scene III. The same. Before the gates.
The Governor and some Citizens on the walls; the English forces below. Enter King Henry and his train.[4906]
K. Hen. How yet resolves the governor of the town?
This is the latest parle we will admit:[4907]
Therefore to our best mercy give yourselves;
Or like to men proud of destruction
Defy us to our worst: for, as I am a soldier,[4908]5
A name that in my thoughts becomes me best,
If I begin the battery once again,
I will not leave the half-achieved Harfleur
Till in her ashes she lie buried.
The gates of mercy shall be all shut up,10
And the flesh'd soldier, rough and hard of heart,
In liberty of bloody hand shall range
With conscience wide as hell, mowing like grass
Your fresh-fair virgins and your flowering infants.[4909]
What is it then to me, if impious war,15
Array'd in flames like to the prince of fiends,[4910]
Do, with his smirch'd complexion, all fell feats
Enlink'd to waste and desolation?
What is't to me, when you yourselves are cause,
If your pure maidens fall into the hand20
Of hot and forcing violation?
What rein can hold licentious wickedness
When down the hill he holds his fierce career?
We may as bootless spend our vain command
Upon the enraged soldiers in their spoil25
As send precepts to the leviathan[4911][4912]
To come ashore. Therefore, you men of Harfleur,[4911]
Take pity of your town and of your people,
Whiles yet my soldiers are in my command;[4913]
Whiles yet the cool and temperate wind of grace[4913]30
O'erblows the filthy and contagious clouds[4914]
Of heady murder, spoil and villany.[4915]
If not, why, in a moment look to see
The blind and bloody soldier with foul hand
Defile the locks of your shrill-shrieking daughters;[4916]35
Your fathers taken by the silver beards,
And their most reverend heads dash'd to the walls,
Your naked infants spitted upon pikes,
Whiles the mad mothers with their howls confused
Do break the clouds, as did the wives of Jewry40
At Herod's bloody-hunting slaughtermen.
What say you? will you yield, and this avoid,
Or, guilty in defence, be thus destroy'd?[4917]
Gov. Our expectation hath this day an end:
The Dauphin, whom of succours we entreated,[4918]45
Returns us that his powers are yet not ready[4919]
To raise so great a siege. Therefore, great king,[4920]
We yield our town and lives to thy soft mercy.
Enter our gates; dispose of us and ours;
For we no longer are defensible.50
K. Hen. Open your gates. Come, uncle Exeter,
Go you and enter Harfleur; there remain,[4921]
And fortify it strongly 'gainst the French:
Use mercy to them all. For us, dear uncle,[4922]
The winter coming on and sickness growing55
Upon our soldiers, we will retire to Calais.[4923]
To-night in Harfleur we will be your guest;
To-morrow for the march are we addrest.
[Flourish. The King and his train enter the town.[4924]
Scene IV. The French King's Palace.
Enter Katharine and Alice.[4925]
Kath. Alice, tu as été en Angleterre, et tu parles bien[4926]
le langage.
Alice. Un peu, madame.
Kath. Je te prie, m'enseignez; il faut que j'apprenne à
parler. Comment appelez-vous la main en Anglois?5
Alice. La main? elle est appelée de hand.
Kath. De hand. Et les doigts?
Alice. Les doigts? ma foi, j'oublie les doigts; mais je
me souviendrai. Les doigts? je pense qu'ils sont appelés
de fingres; oui, de fingres.10
Kath. La main, de hand; les doigts, de fingres. Je
pense que je suis le bon écolier; j'ai gagné deux mots
d'Anglois vîtement. Comment appelez-vous les ongles?
Alice. Les ongles? nous les appelons de nails.
Kath. De nails. Ecoutez; dites-moi, si je parle bien:15
de hand, de fingres, et de nails.
Alice. C'est bien dit, madame; il est fort bon Anglois.
Kath. Dites-moi l'Anglois pour le bras.
Kath. Et le coude?20
Alice. De elbow.
Kath. De elbow. Je m'en fais la répétition de tous
les mots que vous m'avez appris dès à présent.
Alice. Il est trop difficile, madame, comme je pense.
Kath. Excusez-moi, Alice; écoutez: de hand, de fingres,25
de nails, de arma, de bilbow.
Alice. De elbow, madame.
Kath. O Seigneur Dieu, je m'en oublie! de elbow.
Comment appelez-vous le col?
Alice. De neck, madame.30
Kath. De nick. Et le menton?
Alice. De chin.
Kath. De sin. Le col, de nick; le menton, de sin.
Alice. Oui. Sauf votre honneur, en vérité, vous
prononcez les mots aussi droit que les natifs d'Angleterre.35
Kath. Je ne doute point d'apprendre, par la grace de
Dieu, et en peu de temps.
Alice. N'avez vous pas déjà oublié ce que je vous ai[4927]
enseigné?
Kath. Non, je reciterai à vous promptement: de hand,40
de fingres, de mails,—[4928]
Alice. De nails, madame.
Kath. De nails, de arm, de ilbow.
Alice. Sauf votre honneur, de elbow.
Kath. Ainsi dis-je; de elbow, de nick, et de sin.45
Comment appelez-vous le pied et la robe?
Alice. De foot, madame; et de coun.
Kath. De foot et de coun! O Seigneur Dieu! ce sont
mots de son mauvais, corruptible, gros, et impudique, et non
pour les dames d'honneur d'user: je ne voudrais prononcer50
ces mots devant les seigneurs de France pour tout le monde.
Foh! le foot et le coun! Néanmoins, je reciterai une autre[4929]
fois ma leçon ensemble: de hand, de fingres, de nails, de
arm, de elbow, de nick, de sin, de foot, de coun.
Alice. Excellent, madame!55
Kath. C'est assez pour une fois: allons-nous à dîner.
[Exeunt.[4930]
Scene V. The same.
Enter the King of France, the Dauphin, the Duke of Bourbon, the Constable of France, and others.[4931]
Fr. King. 'Tis certain he hath pass'd the river Somme.
Con. And if he be not fought withal, my lord,[4932]
Let us not live in France; let us quit all,
And give our vineyards to a barbarous people.
Dau. O Dieu vivant! shall a few sprays of us,5
The emptying of our fathers' luxury,[4933]
Our scions, put in wild and savage stock,[4934]
Spirt up so suddenly into the clouds,[4935]
And overlook their grafters?[4936]
Bour. Normans, but bastard Normans, Norman bastards![4937]10
Mort de ma vie! if they march along[4938]
Unfought withal, but I will sell my dukedom,
To buy a slobbery and a dirty farm[4939]
In that nook-shotten isle of Albion.[4940]
Con. Dieu de batailles! where have they this mettle?[4941]15
Is not their climate foggy, raw and dull,
On whom, as in despite, the sun looks pale,[4942]
Killing their fruit with frowns? Can sodden water,
A drench for sur-rein'd jades, their barley-broth,
Decoct their cold blood to such valiant heat?20
And shall our quick blood, spirited with wine,
Seem frosty? O, for honour of our land,
Let us not hang like roping icicles[4943]
Upon our houses' thatch, whiles a more frosty people[4944]
Sweat drops of gallant youth in our rich fields!—[4945]25
Poor we may call them in their native lords.[4946]
Dau. By faith and honour,
Our madams mock at us, and plainly say
Our mettle is bred out and they will give
Their bodies to the lust of English youth30
To new-store France with bastard warriors.
Bour. They bid us to the English dancing-schools,[4937]
And teach lavoltas high and swift corantos;[4947]
Saying our grace is only in our heels,
And that we are most lofty runaways.35
Fr. King. Where is Montjoy the herald? speed him hence:
Let him greet England with our sharp defiance.
Up, princes! and, with spirit of honour edged
More sharper than your swords, hie to the field:[4948]
Charles Delabreth, high constable of France;[4949]40
You Dukes of Orleans, Bourbon, and of Berri,
Alençon, Brabant, Bar, and Burgundy;
Jaques Chatillon, Rambures, Vaudemont,
Beaumont, Grandpré, Roussi, and Fauconberg,[4950]
Foix, Lestrale, Bouciqualt, and Charolois;[4951]45
High dukes, great princes, barons, lords and knights,[4952]
For your great seats now quit you of great shames.[4953]
Bar Harry England, that sweeps through our land
With pennons painted in the blood of Harfleur:
Rush on his host, as doth the melted snow50
Upon the valleys, whose low vassal seat
The Alps doth spit and void his rheum upon:
Go down upon him, you have power enough,
And in a captive chariot into Rouen[4954]
Bring him our prisoner.
Con. This becomes the great.55
Sorry am I his numbers are so few,
His soldiers sick and famish'd in their march,
For I am sure, when he shall see our army,
He'll drop his heart into the sink of fear
And for achievement offer us his ransom.[4955]60
Fr. King. Therefore, lord constable, haste on Montjoy,
And let him say to England that we send
To know what willing ransom he will give.
Prince Dauphin, you shall stay with us in Rouen.[4954]
Dau. Not so, I do beseech your majesty.65
Fr. King. Be patient, for you shall remain with us.
Now forth, lord constable and princes all,
And quickly bring us word of England's fall. [Exeunt.
Scene VI. The English camp in Picardy.
Enter Gower and Fluellen, meeting.[4956]
Gow. How now, Captain Fluellen! come you from the bridge?
Flu. I assure you, there is very excellent services[4957]
committed at the bridge.
Gow. Is the Duke of Exeter safe?5
Flu. The Duke of Exeter is as magnanimous as Agamemnon;
and a man that I love and honour with my soul,
and my heart, and my duty, and my life, and my living,[4958]
and my uttermost power: he is not—God be praised and[4959]
blessed!—any hurt in the world; but keeps the bridge most[4960]10
valiantly, with excellent discipline. There is an aunchient[4961]
lieutenant there at the pridge, I think in my very conscience[4961]
he is as valiant a man as Mark Antony; and he is
a man of no estimation in the world; but I did see him do
as gallant service.[4962]15
Gow. What do you call him?
Flu. He is called Aunchient Pistol.
Gow. I know him not.
Enter Pistol.
Flu. Here is the man.[4963]
Pist. Captain, I thee beseech to do me favours:[4964]20
The Duke of Exeter doth love thee well.[4964]
Flu. Ay, I praise God; and I have merited some love
at his hands.
Pist. Bardolph, a soldier, firm and sound of heart,[4965]
And of buxom valour, hath, by cruel fate,[4965][4966]25
And giddy Fortune's furious fickle wheel,[4965]
That goddess blind,[4965][4967]
That stands upon the rolling restless stone—[4965][4967][4968]
Flu. By your patience, Aunchient Pistol. Fortune is
painted blind, with a muffler afore her eyes, to signify to[4969]30
you that Fortune is blind; and she is painted also with a
wheel, to signify to you, which is the moral of it, that she is
turning, and inconstant, and mutability, and variation: and[4970]
her foot, look you, is fixed upon a spherical stone, which rolls,
and rolls, and rolls: in good truth, the poet makes a most[4971]35
excellent description of it: Fortune is an excellent moral.[4971][4972]
Pist. Fortune is Bardolph's foe, and frowns on him;[4973]
For he hath stolen a pax, and hanged must a' be:[4973][4974]
A damned death![4973][4975]
Let gallows gape for dog; let man go free[4973]40
And let not hemp his wind-pipe suffocate:[4973]
But Exeter hath given the doom of death[4973]
For pax of little price.[4973][4974]
Therefore, go speak; the duke will hear thy voice;[4973]
And let not Bardolph's vital thread be cut[4973]45
With edge of penny cord and vile reproach:[4973]
Speak, captain, for his life, and I will thee requite.[4973]
Flu. Aunchient Pistol, I do partly understand your
meaning.
Pist. Why then, rejoice therefore.50
Flu. Certainly, aunchient, it is not a thing to rejoice at:
for if, look you, he were my brother, I would desire the
duke to use his good pleasure, and put him to execution;[4976]
for discipline ought to be used.[4976]
Pist. Die and be damn'd! and figo for thy friendship![4977]55
Flu. It is well.
Pist. The fig of Spain! [Exit.
Flu. Very good.
Gow. Why, this is an arrant counterfeit rascal; I remember
him now; a bawd, a cutpurse.60
Flu. I'll assure you, a' uttered as brave words at the[4978]
bridge as you shall see in a summer's day. But it is very
well; what he has spoke to me, that is well, I warrant
you, when time is serve.
Gow. Why, 'tis a gull, a fool, a rogue, that now and65
then goes to the wars, to grace himself at his return into
London under the form of a soldier. And such fellows are[4979]
perfect in the great commanders' names: and they will learn[4980]
you by rote where services were done; at such and such a
sconce, at such a breach, at such a convoy; who came off70
bravely, who was shot, who disgraced, what terms the enemy
stood on; and this they con perfectly in the phrase of war,[4981]
which they trick up with new-tuned oaths: and what a[4982]
beard of the general's cut and a horrid suit of the camp[4983]
will do among foaming bottles and ale-washed wits, is wonderful75
to be thought on. But you must learn to know such
slanders of the age, or else you may be marvellously mistook.
Flu. I tell you what, Captain Gower; I do perceive he
is not the man that he would gladly make show to the
world he is: if I find a hole in his coat, I will tell him80
my mind. [Drum heard.] Hark you, the king is coming,[4984]
and I must speak with him from the pridge.[4985]
Drum and Colours. Enter King Henry, Gloucester, and Soldiers.[4986]
God pless your majesty!
K. Hen. How now, Fluellen! camest thou from the[4987]
bridge?
Flu. Ay, so please your majesty. The Duke of Exeter85
has very gallantly maintained the pridge: the French is gone
off, look you; and there is gallant and most prave passages:
marry, th' athversary was have possession of the pridge; but
he is enforced to retire, and the Duke of Exeter is master of
the pridge: I can tell your majesty, the duke is a prave man.90
K. Hen. What men have you lost, Fluellen?
Flu. The perdition of th' athversary hath been very
great, reasonable great: marry, for my part, I think the[4988]
duke hath lost never a man, but one that is like to be[4989]
executed for robbing a church, one Bardolph, if your majesty95
know the man: his face is all bubukles, and whelks, and[4990]
knobs, and flames o' fire: and his lips blows at his nose,[4991]
and it is like a coal of fire, sometimes plue and sometimes
red; but his nose is executed, and his fire's out.
K. Hen. We would have all such offenders so cut off:[4992]100
and we give express charge, that in our marches through[4992]
the country, there be nothing compelled from the villages,[4992]
nothing taken but paid for, none of the French upbraided[4992]
or abused in disdainful language; for when lenity and[4992][4993]
cruelty play for a kingdom, the gentler gamester is the[4992]105
soonest winner.[4992]
Tucket. Enter Montjoy.
Mont. You know me by my habit.
K. Hen. Well then I know thee: what shall I know of thee?
Mont. My master's mind.
K. Hen. Unfold it.110
Mont. Thus says my king: Say thou to Harry of[4994]
England: Though we seemed dead, we did but sleep:[4994][4995]
advantage is a better soldier than rashness. Tell him we could[4994]
have rebuked him at Harfleur, but that we thought not[4994]
good to bruise an injury till it were full ripe: now we[4994]115
speak upon our cue, and our voice is imperial: England[4994][4996]
shall repent his folly, see his weakness, and admire our[4994]
sufferance. Bid him therefore consider of his ransom;[4994]
which must proportion the losses we have borne, the[4994]
subjects we have lost, the disgrace we have digested; which[4994]120
in weight to re-answer, his pettiness would bow under.[4994]
For our losses, his exchequer is too poor; for the effusion[4994]
of our blood, the muster of his kingdom too faint a[4994]
number; and for our disgrace, his own person, kneeling at our[4994]
feet, but a weak and worthless satisfaction. To this add[4994]125
defiance: and tell him, for conclusion, he hath betrayed his[4994]
followers, whose condemnation is pronounced. So far my[4994]
king and master; so much my office.[4994]
K. Hen. What is thy name? I know thy quality.
Mont. Montjoy.130
K. Hen. Thou dost thy office fairly. Turn thee back,
And tell thy king I do not seek him now;
But could be willing to march on to Calais
Without impeachment: for, to say the sooth,
Though 'tis no wisdom to confess so much135
Unto an enemy of craft and vantage,
My people are with sickness much enfeebled,
My numbers lessened, and those few I have
Almost no better than so many French;
Who when they were in health, I tell thee, herald,[4997]140
I thought upon one pair of English legs
Did march three Frenchmen. Yet, forgive me, God,
That I do brag thus! This your air of France
Hath blown that vice in me; I must repent.
Go therefore, tell thy master here I am;145
My ransom is this frail and worthless trunk,
My army but a weak and sickly guard;
Yet, God before, tell him we will come on,
Though France himself and such another neighbour
Stand in our way. There's for thy labour, Montjoy.[4998]150
Go, bid thy master well advise himself:
If we may pass, we will; if we be hinder'd,
We shall your tawny ground with your red blood
Discolour: and so, Montjoy, fare you well.
The sum of all our answer is but this:155
We would not seek a battle, as we are;
Nor, as we are, we say we will not shun it:[4999]
So tell your master.
Mont. I shall deliver so. Thanks to your highness.
[Exit.[5000]
Glou. I hope they will not come upon us now.160
K. Hen. We are in God's hand, brother, not in theirs.
March to the bridge; it now draws toward night:
Beyond the river we'll encamp ourselves,
And on to-morrow bid them march away. [Exeunt.
Scene VII. The French camp, near Agincourt.[5001]
Enter the Constable of France, the Lord Rambures, Orleans, Dauphin, with others.
Con. Tut! I have the best armour of the world.
Would it were day![5002]
Orl. You have an excellent armour; but let my horse
have his due.
Con. It is the best horse of Europe.5
Orl. Will it never be morning?
Dau. My Lord of Orleans, and my lord high constable,
you talk of horse and armour?[5003]
Orl. You are as well provided of both as any prince in
the world.10
Dau. What a long night is this! I will not change my
horse with any that treads but on four pasterns. Ça, ha![5004]
he bounds from the earth, as if his entrails were hairs; le[5005][5006]
cheval volant, the Pegasus, chez les narines de feu! When[5006][5007]
I bestride him, I soar, I am a hawk: he trots the air; the15
earth sings when he touches it; the basest horn of his hoof
is more musical than the pipe of Hermes.
Orl. He's of the colour of the nutmeg.[5008]
Dau. And of the heat of the ginger. It is a beast for
Perseus: he is pure air and fire; and the dull elements of20
earth and water never appear in him, but only in patient
stillness while his rider mounts him: he is indeed a horse;
and all other jades you may call beasts.[5009]
Con. Indeed, my lord, it is a most absolute and
excellent horse.25
Dau. It is the prince of palfreys; his neigh is like
the bidding of a monarch and his countenance enforces
homage.
Orl. No more, cousin.
Dau. Nay, the man hath no wit that cannot, from the30
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[5010]
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,35
familiar to us and unknown to lay apart their particular[5011]
functions and wonder at him. I once writ a sonnet in his
praise, and began thus: 'Wonder of nature,'—
Orl. I have heard a sonnet begin so to one's mistress.
Dau. Then did they imitate that which I composed to40
my courser, for my horse is my mistress.
Orl. Your mistress bears well.
Dau. Me well; which is the prescript praise and[5012]
perfection of a good and particular mistress.
Con. Nay, for methought yesterday your mistress[5013]45
shrewdly shook your back.
Dau. So perhaps did yours.
Con. Mine was not bridled.
Dau. O then belike she was old and gentle; and you
rode, like a kern of Ireland, your French hose off, and in50
your strait strossers.[5014]
Con. You have good judgement 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.55
Con. I had as lief have my mistress a jade.
Dau. I tell thee, constable, my mistress wears his own[5015]
hair.
Con. I could make as true a boast as that, if I had a
sow to my mistress.60
Dau. 'Le chien est retourné à son propre vomissement,
et la truie lavée au bourbier:' thou makest use of any thing.[5016]
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 in65
your tent to-night, are those stars or suns upon it?
Con. Stars, my lord.
Dau. Some of them will fall to-morrow, I hope.
Con. And yet my sky shall not want.
Dau. That maybe, for you bear a many superfluously,[5017]70
and 'twere more honour some were away.
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 to-morrow a mile, and75
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[5018]80
prisoners?[5019]
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.[5020]85
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.90
Con. Doing is activity; and he will still be doing.
Orl. He never did harm, that I heard of.
Con. Nor will do none to-morrow: he will keep that
good name still.
Orl. I know him to be valiant.95
Con. I was told that by one that knows him better
than you.
Orl. What's he?
Con. Marry, he told me so himself; and he said he
cared not who knew it.100
Orl. He needs not; it is no hidden virtue in him.[5021]
Con. By my faith, sir, but it is; never any body saw it[5021]
but his lackey: 'tis a hooded valour; and when it appears,[5021]
it will bate.[5021]
Orl. Ill will never said well.[5021]105
Con. I will cap that proverb with 'There is flattery in[5021]
friendship.'[5021]
Orl. And I will take up that with, 'Give the devil his due.'[5021]
Con. Well placed: there stands your friend for the devil:[5021]
have at the very eye of that proverb with 'A pox of[5021]110
the devil.'[5021]
Orl. You are the better at proverbs, by how much[5021]
'A fool's bolt is soon shot.'[5021]
Con. You have shot over.[5021]
Orl. 'Tis not the first time you were overshot.[5021]115
Enter a Messenger.
Mess. My lord high constable, the English lie within[5022]
fifteen hundred paces of your tents.
Con. Who hath measured the ground?
Mess. The Lord Grandpré.
Con. A valiant and most expert gentleman. Would120
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[5023]
out of his knowledge!125
Con. If the English had 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 valiant130
creatures; their mastiffs are of unmatchable courage.
Orl. 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.[5024]135
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.140
Orl. Ay, but these English are shrewdly out of beef.
Con. Then shall we 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[5025]145
We shall have each a hundred Englishmen. [Exeunt.