A tonne of tenys-ballys I shall hym sende,
For hym to pleye with all.
Henry sends back this message:
Oure Cherlys of Fraunce gret well or ye wende,
The Dolfyn prowed withinne his wall;
Swyche tenys-ballys I schal hym sende
As schall tere the roof all of his [h]all.[[191]]
But there is a chronicler who has the tale still. Otterbourne writes: Eodem anno \[1414], in quadragesima, rege existente apud Kenilworth, Karolus, regis Francorum filius, Delphinus vocatus, misit pilas Parisianas ad ludendum cum pueris. Cui rex Anglorum rescripsit, dicens se in brevi pilas missurum Londoniarum, quibus terreret et confunderet sua tecta.
And once more, the author of an inedited “Chronicle of King Henry the Fifth that was Kyng Henries son,” Cotton MS., Claudius A. viii, of the middle of the fifteenth century, fol. 1, back:[[192]]
And than the Dolphine of Fraunce aunswered to our embassatours, and said in this maner, ‘that the kyng was ouer yong and to tender of age to make any warre ayens hym, and was not lyke yet to be noo good werrioure to doo and to make suche a conquest there vpon hym. And somwhat in scorne and dispite he sente to hym a tonne fulle of tenys-ballis, be-cause he wolde haue some-what for to play withalle for hym and for his lordis, and that be-came hym better than to mayntayn any werre. And than anone oure lordes that was embassatours token hir leue and comen in to England ayenne, and tolde the kyng and his counceille of the vngoodly aunswer that they had of the Dolphyn, and of the present the whiche he had sent vnto the kyng. And whan the kyng had hard her wordis, and the answere of the Dolp[h]ynne, he was wondre sore agreued, and righte euelle apayd towarde the Frensshemen, and toward the kyng, and the Dolphynne, and thoughte to auenge hym vpon hem as sone as God wold send hym grace and myghte; and anon lette make tenys-ballis for the Dolp[h]ynne in all the hast that the myghte be made, and they were grete gonne-stones for the Dolp[h]ynne to play wythe-alle.’