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SHAKESPEAHE'S 
KING    HENRY    THE    FIFTH 


EDITED  WITH  AN  INTRODUCTION  AND  NOTES 
BY  BRAINERD  KELLOGG,  LL.D.,  FORMERLY 
DEAN  OF  THE  fACULTY  AND  PROFESSOR  OF 
THE  ENGLISH  LANGUAGE  AND  LITERATURE 
IN  THE   POLYTECHNIC   INSTITUTE,  BROOKLYN 


NEW  YORK 
CHARLES   E.    MERRILL    COMPANY 


This  series  of  books  includes  in  complete  editions  those  master- 
pieces of  English  Literature  that  are  best  adapted  for  the  use  of 
schools  and  colleges.  The  editors  of  the  several  volumes  are  choser 
for  their  special  qualifications  in  connection  with  the  texts  issuec 
under  their  individual  supervision,  but  familiarity  with  the  practical 
needs  of  the  classroom,  no  less  than  sound  scholarship,  character- 
izes the  editing  of  every  book  in  the  series. 

In  connection  with  each  text,  a  critical  and  historical  introduc- 
tion, including  a  sketch  of  the  life  of  the  author  and  his  relation 
to  the  thought  of  his  time,  critical  opinions  of  the  work  in  question 
chosen  from  the  great  body  of  English  criticism,  and,  where  possi- 
ble, a  portrait  of  the  author,  are  given.  Ample  explanatory  notes 
of  such  passages  in  the  text  as  call  for  special  attention  are  sup- 
plied, but  irrelevant  annotation  and  explanations  of  the  obvious 
are  rigidly  excluded. 

CHARLES  E.   MERRILL   COMPANY 


COPTEIGHT,  1911 
BY 

CHARLES  E.  MERRILL  COMPANY 


CCU280309 


1^  /3  ~  y-y^:^ 

^^^^^ 

PAGE 

General  Notice     5 

Introduction 7 

Life  and  Works  of  Shakespeare 7 

The  Play:  lung  Henry  the  Fifth 12 

Critical  Opinions      15 

The  King 15 

The  Dauphin 17 

The  Comedy  Characters 17 

Shakespeare's  Grammar  and  Versification 20 

Plan  of  Study 23 

King  Henry  the  Fifth 27 

Notes 155 

Questions  and  Topics  for  Study 174 


EDITOR'S  NOTE 


The  text  here  presented  has  been  carefully  collated  with  that  of 
six  or  seven  of  the  best  editions.  Where  there  was  any  disagree- 
ment we  have  adopted  the  readings  which  seemed  most  reasonable 
and  were  supported  by  the  best  authority. 

Professor  Meiklejohn's  exhaustive  notes  form  the  substance  of 
those  here  used ;  and  his  plan,  as  set  forth  in  the  "  General  Notice  " 
annexed,  has  been  carried  out  in  these  volumes.  But  as  these 
editions  of  the  plays  are  intended  rather  for  pupils  in  school  and 
college  than  for  ripe  Shakespearian  scholars,  we  have  not  hesi- 
tated to  prune  his  notes  of  whatever  was  thought  to  be  too 
learned  for  our  purpose,  or  on  other  grounds  was  deemed  irrele- 
vant to  it. 


GENERAL  NOTICE 


"An  attempt  has  been  made  in  these  editions  to  interpret 
Shakespeare  by  the  aid  of  Shakespeare  himself.  The  Method  of 
Comparison  has  been  constantly  employed ;  and  the  language  used 
by  him  in  one  place  has  been  compared  with  the  language  used  in 
other  places  in  similar  circumstances,  as  well  as  with  older  English 
and  with  newer  EngUsh. 

"The  first  purpose  in  this  elaborate  annotation  is,  of  course, 
the  full  working  out  of  Shakespeare's  meaning.  The  Editor  has 
in  all  circumstances  taken  as  much  pains  with  this  as  if  he  had  been 
making  out  the  difficult  and  obscure  terms  of  a  will  in  which  he 
himself  was  personally  interested;  and  he  submits  that  this  thor- 
ough excavation  of  the  meaning  of  a  really  profound  thinker  is 
one  of  the  very  best  kinds  of  training  that  a  boy  or  girl  can  receive 
at  school.  This  is  to  read  the  very  mind  of  Shakespeare,  and  to 
weave  his  thoughts  into  the  fibre  of  one's  own  mental  constitution. 
And  always  new  rewards  come  to  the  careful  reader — in  the  shape 
of  new  meanings,  recognition  of  thoughts  he  had  before  missed, 
of  relations  between  the  characters  that  had  hitherto  escaped 
him.  For  reading  Shakespeare  is  just  hke  examining  Nature; 
there  are  no  hollownesses,  there  is  no  scamped  work,  for  Shake- 
speare is  as  patiently  exact  and  as  first-hand  as  Nature  herself. 

"  Besides  this  thorough  working-out  of  Shakespeare's  meaning, 
advantage  has  been  taken  of  the  opportunity  to  teach  his  English 
— to  make  each  play  an  introduction  to  the  English  of  Shake- 
speare. For  this  purpose  copious  collections  of  similar  phrases 
have  been  gathered  from  other  plays;  his  idioms  have  been  dwelt 
upon;  his  peculiar  use  of  words;  his  style  and  his  rhythm.  Some 
teachers  may  consider  that  too  many  instances  are  given;  but,  in 
teaching,  as  in  everj^thing  else,  the  old  French  saying  is  true: 

5 


6  GENERAL  NOTICE 

Assez  n'y  a,  s'il  trop  n'y  a.  The  teacher  need  not  require  each 
pupil  to  give  him  all  the  instances  collected.  If  each  gives  one  or 
two,  it  will  probably  be  enough;  and,  among  them  all,  it  is  certain 
that  one  or  two  will  stick  in  the  memory, 

"It  were  much  to  be  hoped  that  Shakespeare  should  become 
more  and  more  of  a  study,  and  that  every  boy  and  girl  should  have 
a  thorough  knowledge  of  at  least  one  play  of  Shakespeare  before 
leaving  school.  It  would  be  one  of  the  best  lessons  in  human  life. 
It  would  also  have  the  effect  of  bringing  back  into  the  too  pale  and 
formal  EngHsh  of  modern  times  a  large  number  of  pithy  and  vigor- 
ous phrases  which  would  help  to  develop  as  well  as  to  reflect 
vigor  in  the  characters  of  the  readers.  Shakespeare  used  the 
EngHsh  language  with  more  power  than  any  other  writer  that  ever 
lived — he  made  it  do  more  and  say  more  than  it  had  ever  done; 
he  made  it  speak  in  a  more  original  way;  and  his  combinations  of 
words  are  perpetual  provocations  and  invitations  to  originality 
and  to  newness  of  insight." — J.  M.  D.  Meiklejohn,  M.  A.,  Late 
Professor  of  Pedagogy  in  the  University  of  St.  Andrews. 


INTRODUCTION 

LIFE  AND  WORKS  OF  SHAKESPEARE 

"Shakespeare  was  born,  it  is  thought,  April  23,  1564,  the  son  of 
a  comfortable  burgess  of  Stratford-on-Avon.  While  he  was  still 
young,  his  father  fell  into  poverty,  and  an  interrupted  education 
left  the  son  an  inferior  scholar.  He  had  'small  Latin  and  less 
Greek.'  But  by  dint  of  genius  and  by  living  in  a  society  in  which 
all  sorts  of  information  were  attainable,  he  became  an  accomplished 
man.  The  story  told  of  his  deer-steahng  in  Charlecote  woods  is 
without  proof,  but  it  is  likely  that  his  youth  was  wild  and  passion- 
ate. At  nineteen  he  married  Ann  Hathaway,  seven  years  older 
than  himself,  and  was  probably  unhappy  with  her.  For  this 
reason  or  from  poverty,  or  from  the  driving  of  the  genius  that  led 
him  to  the  stage,  he  left  Stratford  about  1586-1587,  and  went  to 
London  at  the  age  of  twenty-two;  and,  falling  in  with  Marlowe, 
Greene,  and  the  rest,  he  became  an  actor  and  a  playwright,  and 
may  have  lived  their  unrestrained  and  riotous  life  for  some  years. 

"  His  First  Period. — It  is  probable  that  before  leaving  Strat- 
ford he  had  sketched  a  part  at  least  of  his  Venus  and  Adonis.  It 
is  full  of  the  country  sights  and  sounds,  of  the  ways  of  birds  and 
animals,  such  as  he  saw  when  wandering  in  Charlecote  woods.  Its 
rich  and  overladen  poetry  and  its  warm  coloring  made  him,  when 
it  was  published,  in  1593,  at  once  the  favorite  of  men  like  Lord 
Southampton,  and  lifted  him  into  fame.  But  before  that  date  he 
had  done  work  for  the  stage  by  touching  up  old  plays  and  writing 
new  ones.  We  seem  to  trace  his  '  prentice  hand'  in  many  dramas 
of  the  time,  but  the  first  he  is  usually  thought  to  have  retouched  is 
Titus  Andronicus,  and,  some  time  after,  the  First  Part  of  Henry  VI. 

*^  Love's  Labour  's  Lost,  the  first  of  his  original  plays,  in  which  he 

7 


8  INTRODUCTION 

quizzed  and  excelled  the  Euphuists  in  wit,  was  followed  by  the 
rapid  farce  of  The  Comedy  of  Errors.  Out  of  these  frolics  of  intellect 
and  action  he  passed  into  pure  poetry  in  A  Midsummer  Night's 
Dream,  and  mingled  into  fantastic  beauty  the  classic  legend,  the 
mediaeval  fairyland,  and  the  clownish  Ufe  of  the  EngHsh  mechanic. 
Itahan  story  then  laid  its  charm  upon  him,  and  Two  Gentlemen  of 
Verona  preceded  the  southern  glow  of  passion  in  Romeo  and  Juliet, 
in  which  he  first  reached  tragic  power.  They  complete,  with 
Love's  Labour  's  Won,  afterwards  recast  as  All  's  Well  That  Ends 
Well,  the  love  plays  of  his  early  period.  We  may,  perhaps,  add 
to  them  the  second  act  of  an  older  play,  Edward  III.  '  We  should 
certainly  read  along  with  them,  as  belonging  to  the  same  passion- 
ate time,  his  Rape  of  Lucrece,  a  poem  finally  printed  in  1594,  one 
year  later  than  the  Venus  and  Adonis. 

"  The  patriotic  feeling  of  England,  also  represented  in  Marlowe 
and  Peele,  now  seized  on  him,  and  he  turned  from  love  to  begin 
his  great  series  of  historical  plaj^s  with  Richard  II,  1593-1594. 
Richard  III  followed  quickly.  To  introduce  it  and  to  complete 
the  subject,  he  recast  the  Second  and  Third  Parts  of  Henry  VI 
(written  by  some  unknown  authors),  and  ended  his  first  period 
with  King  John — five  plays  in  a  little  more  than  two  years, 

"His  Second  Period,  1596-1602. — In  The  Merchant  of  Venice 
Shakespeare  reached  entire  mastery  over  his  art.  A  mingled  woof 
of  tragic  and  comic  threads  is  brought  to  its  highest  point  of  color 
when  Portia  and  Shylock  meet  in  court.  Pure  comedy  followed  in 
his  retouch  of  the  old  Taming  of  the  Shrew,  and  all  the  wit  of  the 
world,  mixed  with  noble  history,  met  next  in  the  three  comedies 
of  Falstaff,  the  First  and  Second  Parts  of  Henry  IV,  and  the  Merry 
Wives  of  Windsor.  The  historical  plays  were  then  closed  with 
Henry  V,  a  splendid  dramatic  song  to  the  glory  of  England. 

"  The  Globe  theater,  in  which  he  was  one  of  the  proprietors,  was 
built  in  1599.  In  the  comedies  he  wrote  for  it,  Shakespeare  turned 
to  write  of  love  again,  not  to  touch  its  deeper  passion  as  before, 
but  to  play  with  it  in  all  its  lighter  phases.  The  flashing  dialogue 
of  Much  Ado  About  Nothing  was  followed  by  the  far-off  forest 
world  of  As  You  Like  It,  where  'the  time  fleets  carelessly,'  and 


LIFE  AND  WORKS  OF  SHAKESPEARE  9 

Rosalind's  character  is  the  play.  Amid  all  its  gracious  lightness 
steals  in  a  new  element,  and  the  melancholy  of  Jaques  is  the  first 
touch  we  have  of  the  older  Shakespeare  who  had  'gained  his 
experience,  and  whose  experience  had  made  him  sad.'  And  yet 
it  was  but  a  touch;  Twelfth  Night  shows  no  trace  of  it,  though  the 
play  that  followed,  All  's  Well  That  Ends  Well,  again  strikes  a 
sadder  note.  We  find  this  sadness  fully  grown  in  the  later  sonnets, 
which  are  said  to  have  been  finished  about  1602.  They  were  pub- 
Kshed  in  1609. 

"Shakespeare's  life  changed  now,  and  his  mind  changed  with 
it.  He  had  grown  wealthy  during  this  period  and  famous,  and  was 
loved  by  society.  He  was  the  friend  of  the  Earls  of  Southampton 
and  Essex,  and  of  Wilham  Herbert,  Lord  Pembroke.  The  queen 
patronized  him;  all  the  best  literary  society  was  his  own.  He  had 
rescued  his  father  from  poverty,  bought  the  best  house  in  Strat- 
ford and  much  land,  and  was  a  man  of  wealth  and  comfort.  Sud- 
denly all  liis  life  seems  to  have  grown  dark.  His  best  friends  fell 
into  ruin,  Essex  perished  on  the  scaffold,  Southampton  went  to 
the  Tower,  Pembroke  was  banished  from  the  Court;  he  may  him- 
self, as  some  have  thought,  have  been  concerned  in  the  rising  of 
Essex.  Added  to  this,  we  may  conjecture,  from  the  imaginative 
pageantry  of  the  sonnets,  that  he  had  unwisely  loved,  and  been 
betrayed  in  his  love  by  a  dear  friend.  Disgust  of  his  profession 
as  an  actor,  and  public  and  private  ill  weighed  heavily  on  him, 
and  in  darkness  of  spirit,  though  still  clinging  to  the  business  of 
the  theater,  he  passed  from  comedy  to  write  of  the  sterner  side  of 
the  world,  to  tell  the  tragedy  of  mankind. 

"His  Third  Period,  1602-1608,  begins  with  the  last  days  of 
Queen  Elizabeth.  It  contains  all  the  great  tragedies,  and  opens 
with  the  fate  of  Hamlet,  who  felt,  hke  the  poet  himself,  that  '  the 
time  was  out  of  joint.'  Hamlet,  the  dreamer,  may  well  represent 
Shakespeare  as  he  stood  aside  from  the  crash  that  overwhelmed 
his  friends,  and  thought  on  the  changing  world.  The  tragi-comedy 
of  Measure  for  Measure  was  next  written,  and  is  tragic  in  thought 
throughout.  Julius  Cossar,  Othello,  Macbeth,  Lear,  Troilus  and 
Cressida  (finished  from  an  incomplete  work  of  his  youth),  Antony 


10  INTRODUCTION 

and  Cleopatra,  Coriolanus,  Timon  (only  in  part  his  own),  were  all 
written  in  these  five  years.  The  darker  sins  of  men,  the  unpitying 
fate  which  slowly  gathers  round  and  falls  on  men,  the  avenging 
wrath  of  conscience,  the  cruelty  and  punishment  of  weakness,  the 
treachery,  lust,  jealousy,  ingratitude,  madness  of  men,  the  follies 
of  the  great,  and  the  fickleness  of  the  mob  are  all,  with  a  thousand 
other  varying  moods  and  passions,  painted,  and  felt  as  his  own 
while  he  painted  them,  during  this  stern  time. 

"His  Fourth  Period,  1608-1613. — As  Shakespeare  wrote  of 
these  things,  he  passed  out  of  them,  and  his  last  days  are  full  of 
the  gentle  and  loving  calm  of  one  who  has  known  sin  and  sorrow 
and  fate  but  has  risen  above  them  into  peaceful  victory.  Like  his 
great  contemporary.  Bacon,  he  left  the  world  and  his  o^\-n  evil  time 
behind  him,  and  with  the  same  quiet  dignity  sought  the  innocence 
and  stillness  of  country  hfe.  The  country  breathes  through  all 
the  dramas  of  this  time.  The  flowers  Perdita  gathers  in  The 
Winter's  Tale,  and  the  frolic  of  the  sheep-shearing  he  may  have 
seen  in  the  Stratford  meadows;  the  song  of  Fidele  in  Cymbeline  is 
written  by  one  who  already  feared  no  more  the  frown  of  the  great, 
nor  slander  nor  censure  rash,  and  was  looking  forward  to  the  time 
when  men  should  say  of  him — 

Quiet  consummation  have; 
And  renowned  be  thy  grave! 

"Shakespeare  probably  left  London  in  1609,  and  lived  in  the 
house  he  had  bought  at  Stratford-on-Avon.  He  was  reconciled,  it 
is  said,  to  his  wife,  and  the  plays  he  writes  speak  of  domestic  peace 
and  forgiveness.  The  story  of  Marina,  which  he  left  unfinished,  and 
which  two  later  writers  expanded  into  the  play  of  Pericles,  is  the 
first  of  his  closing  series  of  dramas.  The  Two  Noble  Kinsmen  of 
Fletcher,  a  great  part  of  which  is  now,  on  doubtful  grounds,  I 
think,  attributed  to  Shakespeare,  and  in  which  the  poet  sought 
the  inspiration  of  Chaucer,  would  belong  to  this  period.  Cymbeline, 
The  Winter's  Tale,  and  The  Tempest  bring  his  history  up  to  1612, 
and  in  the  next  year  he  closed  his  poetic  life  by  writing,  with 
Fletcher,  Henry  VIII.    For  tliree  years  he  kept  silence,  and  then, 


LIFE  AND  WORKS  OF  SHAKESPEARE  11 

on  the  23d  of  April,  1616,  the  day  he  reached  the  age  of  fifty-two, 
as  is  supposed,  he  died. 

"  His  Work. — We  can  only  guess  with  regard  to  Shakespeare's 
life;  we  can  only  guess  with  regard  to  his  character.  We  have 
tried  to  find  out  what  he  was  from  his  sonnets  and  from  his  plays, 
but  every  attempt  seems  to  be  a  failure.  We  cannot  lay  our  hand 
on  anything  and  say  for  certain  that  it  was  spoken  by  Shakespeare 
out  of  his  own  character.  The  most  personal  thing  in  all  his  writ- 
ings is  one  that  has  scarcely  been  noticed.  It  is  the  Epilogue  to 
The  Tempest;  and  if  it  be,  as  is  most  probable,  the  last  thing  he 
ever  wrote,  then  its  cry  for  forgiveness,  its  tale  of  inward  sorrow, 
only  to  be  relieved  by  prayer,  give  us  some  dim  insight  into  how 
the  silence  of  those  three  years  was  passed;  w^hile  its  declaration 
of  his  aim  in  writing,  'which  was  to  please, '^the  true  definition 
of  an  artist's  aim, — should  make  us  cautious  in  our  efforts  to  de- 
fme  his  character  from  his  works.  Shakespeare  made  men  and 
women  whose  dramatic  action  on  each  other,  and  towards  a  catas- 
trophe, was  intended  to  please  the  public,  not  to  reveal  himself. 

"  No  commentary  on  his  writings,  no  guesses  about  his  life  or 
character,  are  worth  much  which  do  not  rest  on  this  canon  as  their 
foundation:  What  he  did,  thought,  learned,  and  felt,  he  did, 
thought,  learned,  and  felt  as  an  artist.  .  .  .  Fully  influenced,  as 
we  see  in  Hamlet  he  was,  by  the  graver  and  more  philosophic  cast 
of  thought  of  the  later  time  of  Elizabeth;  passing  on  into  the  reign 
of  James  I,  when  pedantry  took  the  place  of  gayety,  and  sensual 
the  place  of  imaginative  love  in  the  drama,  and  artificial  art  the 
place  of  that  art  which  itself  is  nature ;  he  preserves  to  the  last  the^ 
natural  passion,  the  simple  tenderness,  the  sweetness,  grace,  and 
fire  of  the  youthful  Elizabethan  poetry.  The  Winter's  Tale  is  as 
lovely  a  love  story  as  Romeo  and  Juliet;  The  Tempest  is  more 
instinct  with  imagination  than  A  Midsummer  Night's  Dream,  and 
as  great  in  fancy;  and  yet  there  are  fully  twenty  years  between 
them.  The  only  change  is  in  the  increase  of  power,  and  in  a  closer 
and  graver  grasp  of  human  nature.  Around  him  the  whole  tone 
and  manner  of  the  drama  altered  for  the  worse,  but  his  work 
grew  to  the  close  in  strength  and  beauty." — Stopford  Brooke. 


THE  PLAY:  KING  HENRY  THE  FIFTH 

Sources  of  the  Plot.  —  In  the  Epilogue  to  King  Henry  IV,  Part 
II,  it  is  said,  'If  you  be  not  too  much  cloyed  with  fat  meat,  our 
humble  author  will  continue  the  story,  with  Sir  John  in  it,  and 
make  you  merry  with  fair  Katharine  of  France';  and  in  the  play 
of  King  Henry  the  Fifth  we  have  the  fulfillment  of  the  dramatist's 
promise.  The  stage  was  already  in  possession  of  a  play  entitled 
The  Famous  Victories  of  Henry  the  Fifth,  but  Shakespeare  made 
no  use  of  this  in  the  composition  of  his  play.  He  drew  largely  for 
the  historical  facts  upon  the  Chronicles  of  Holinshed,  a  second 
edition  of  which  had  been  issued  in  1587. 

Date  of  Composition.  —  The  date  of  the  composition  of  King 
Henry  the  Fifth  would  seem  to  be  1599.  It  is  not  mentioned  by 
Meres  in  his  Palladis  Tamia,  1598;  but  that  it  was  written  shortly 
afterward  may  be  inferred  from  a  passage  of  the  Chorus  before 
Act  V,  wliich  evidently  refers  to  Lord  Essex,  who  was  sent  on  an 
expedition  to  Ireland,  April  15,  1599,  and  returned  to  London  on 
the  28th  of  September  in  the  same  year. 

The  Reign  of  King  Henry  V.  —  The  reign  of  Henry  V  extended 
over  a  period  of  somewhat  more  than  nine  years  and  five  months. 
It  began  on  the  21st  of  March,  1413,  and  terminated  with  his 
death  at  Bois  de  Vincennes,  in  France,  on  the  31st  of  August, 
1422  — 

Small  time,  but  in  that  small  most  greatly  liv'd 
This  star  of  England! 

Shakespeare  felt  how  very  inadequate  a  theatrical  representation 
was  to  portray  the  great  events  and  martial  glories  of  Henry's 
reign;  and  both  in  the  Prologue  and  in  the  concluding  address  of 
the  Chorus  he  makes  apologetic  reference  to  the  subject.  Henry  V 
was  one  of  the  most  popular,  as  he  was  among  the  bravest,  of 
EngUsh  monarchs.    As  a  conqueror  he  was  stern  and  ambitious, 

12 


THE  PLAY:  KING  HENRY  THE  FIFTH         13 

but  not  cruel,  and  won  over  his  enemies  by  tact  and  clemency. 
The  splendid  victory  at  Agincourt  embalmed  his  name  and 
memory;  and  for  generations  after  his  death,  his  magnificent  tomb 
in  Westminster  Abbey,  surmounted  by  his  bruised  helmet  and 
shield,  was  regarded  with  the  honor  and  reverence  paid  to  sainted 
reUcs. 

Construction  of  the  Play.  —  Shakespeare  begins  his  drama  with 
the  conferences  relative  to  Henry's  pretensions  to  the  crown  of 
France,  and  the  operation  of  the  SaUque  law.  The  monarch's 
claim,  as  the  representative  of  Isabella,  wife  of  Edward  II,  was 
in  reality  inadmissible  and  absurd;  but  France  was  then  in  a 
wretched  condition,  burdened  with  an  imbecile  monarch  and  torn 
by  factions,  Henry  was  ambitious  and  warlike,  and  the  English 
were  ever  ready  for  arms  and  conquest.  Ambassadors  from  the 
Dauphin  appeared,  and  fruitless  negotiations  were  entered  into, 
at  the  close  of  which  Henry  announced  to  his  great  council  at 
Westminster,  in  April,  1415,  that  it  was  his  firm  purpose  to  make 
a  voyage  in  his  own  proper  person,  'by  the  grace  of  God,  to  re- 
cover his  inheritance.'  The  poet  touches  upon  the  treasonable 
conspiracy  of  the  Earl  of  Cambridge  to  place  his  brother-in-law, 
Edmund  Mortimer,  Earl  of  March,  on  the  throne,  in  which  Cam- 
bridge was  joined  by  Lord  Scroop  and  Sir  Thomas  Grey;  but  the 
plot  failed,  and  the  conspirators  were  condemned  to  the  block. 
This  abortive  effort  retarded  but  slightly  the  expedition  against 
France,  and  Henry  with  his  victorious  soldiers  was  soon  scaling 
the  wall  of  Harfleur.  The  battle  of  Agincourt  follows,  preluded 
by  a  series  of  stirring  incidents,  and  by  speeches  breathing  martial 
ardor  and  undaunted  courage;  and  the  great  victory  is  described 
with  the  utmost  dramatic  effect  and  with  strong  national  feeling. 
The  calm  heroism  and  devotion  of  the  English  are  contrasted  with 
the  levity  and  overweening  confidence  of  the  French;  and  as  the 
latter  were  numerically  as  five  to  one,  the  English  might  be  par- 
doned for  some  national  vanity  and  exultation  at  the  result.  After 
this,  we  have  a  gap  of  between  four  and  five  years,  bridged  over 
by  the  narrative  speech  of  the  Chorus,  and  the  play  closes  with 
the  espousals  of  the  triumphant  English  monarch  and  Katharine 


14  INTRODUCTION 

of  Valois,  which  were  solemnized  at  Troyes  (in  1420)  with  un- 
wonted splendor. 

The  Comedy  of  the  Play.  —  The  comic  business  of  the  drama, 
besides  representing  Henry  as  a  lover,  where  he  is  seen  to  least 
advantage,  and  giving  us  the  badinage  of  French  nobles  and  Eng- 
Hsh  soldiers,  brings  before  us  again  the  wild  revelers  of  Eastcheap, 
Pistol  and  Bardolph,  with  Nym  and  Mrs.  Quickly,  the  hostess, 
now  married  to  Pistol.  A  new  character,  Fluellen,  a  brave,  garru- 
lous, and  pedantic  Welshman,  is  introduced,  and  heightens  greatly 
the  humor  of  the  scene.  Falstaff,  contrary  to  the  poet's  promise, 
has  disappeared  from  the  stage;  the  king  had  'killed  Ms  heart'; 
but  Mrs.  Quickly's  description  of  the  dying  scene  is  a  marvelous 
sketch  from  nature  —  a  photograph  over  which  we  may  both 
laugh  and  cry,  and  which  can  never  be  forgotten.  Strict  moral, 
if  not  poetical,  justice  is  dealt  out  to  those  marauding  auxiliaries 
of  the  camp.  Nym  and  Bardolph  are  hanged,  and  Pistol,  after 
swaggering  through  the  play  as  the  most  amusing  of  braggarts, 
is  beaten  by  Fluellen,  and  made  to  'eat  his  leek'  as  a  'counterfeit, 
cowardly  knave.'  By  this  time  Mrs.  Quickly  was  gone  —  she 
had  died  in  the  '  spital '  —  and  Pistol's  rendezvous  being  quite  cut 
off,  he  returns  to  England  to  —  steal. 

And  patches  will  I  get  unto  these  cudgell'd  scars, 
And  swear  I  got  them  in  the  Gallia  wars. 

These  scenes  of  low  hfe  and  humor  are,  by  the  plastic  powers 
of  the  poet,  made  to  harmonize  wonderfully  with  the  martial  and 
national  character  of  the  play,  besides  imparting  to  the  shifting 
scenes  an  air  of  truth  and  nature.  The  grand  object  of  the  poet 
was  to  commemorate  the  battle  of  Agincourt.  Schlegel  has  truly 
said,  'The  sympathetic  affinity  by  which  Shakespeare  came  into 
most  direct  contact  with  his  fellow-creatures  was  his  patriotism.' 
But  his  comedy  was  no  less  thoroughly  EngUsh,  and  was  as  highly 
appreciated. 


CRITICAL  OPINIONS 

''The  behaviour  of  the  King,  in  the  difficult  and  doubtful  cir- 
cumstances in  which  he  is  placed,  is  as  patient  and  modest  as  it 
is  spirited  and  lofty  in  his  prosperous  fortune.  The  character  of 
the  French  nobles  is  also  very  admirably  depicted;  and  the 
Dauphin's  praise  of  his  horse  shows  the  vanity  of  that  class  of 
persons  in  a  very  striking  point  of  view.  Shakespear  always  ac- 
companies a  foolish  prince  with  a  satirical  courtier,  as  we  see  in 
this  instance.  The  comic  parts  of  Henry  V  are  very  inferior  to 
those  of  Henry  IV.  Falstaff  is  dead,  and  without  him,  Pistol, 
Nym,  and  Bardolph  are  satellites  without  a  sun.  Fluellen  the 
Welshman  is  the  most  entertaining  character  in  the  piece.  He 
is  good-natured,  brave,  choleric,  and  pedantic.  His  parallel 
between  Alexander  and  Harry  of  Monmouth,  and  his  desire  to 
have  'some  disputations'  with  Captain  Macmorris  on  the  dis- 
cipline of  the  Roman  wars,  in  the  heat  of  battle,  are  never  to  be 
forgotten.  His  treatment  of  Pistol  is  as  good  as  Pistol's  treat- 
ment of  his  French  prisoner.  There  are  two  other  remarkable 
prose  passages  in  this  play:  the  conversation  of  Henry  in  disguise 
with  the  three  sentinels  on  the  duties  of  a  soldier,  and  his  court- 
ship of  Katherine  in  broken  French.  We  like  them  both  exceed- 
ingly, though  the  first  savours  perhaps  too  much  of  the  king  and 
the  last  too  little  of  the  lover."  —  Hazlitt,  Characters  of  Shake- 
spear's  Plays. 

The  King 

''The  underlying  theme  of  the  whole  series  of  historical  plays, 
the  greatness  of  England,  here  rises  to  the  surface,  and  sweeps 
before  it  all  minor  motives.  The  king  himself  towers  in  the  fore- 
front of  the  scene  less  as  a  gigantic  personality  like  Richard  III 
than  as  the  embodiment  of  national  strength  and  glory.     He  is 

15 


16  INTRODUCTION 

even  more  than  the  'mirror  of  all  Christian  kings';  he  is  the  personi- 
fied genius  of  his  race.  What  Achilles  is  to  the  Greeks,  Roland  to 
the  Franks,  Arthur  to  the  Celts,  that  Shakspere's  Henry  V  is  to 
the  Anglo-Saxons.  And,  like  these  kindred  heroes,  he  is  typical 
of  his  folk  in  its  hour  of  triumph  over  a  dangerous  foe.  Thus  the' 
three  elements  of  interest  in  the  drama  are  the  King  himself,  the 
nation  whom  he  leads  to  victory,  and  the  rival  nation  whom  they 
jointly  overthrow. 

"Henry  V  is,  in  all  essentials,  Prince  Hal  grown  to  maturity 
and  seated  on  a  tlirone.  The  abandonment  of  the  looser  habits 
of  his  youth,  which  had  been  in  progress  during  Henry  IV,  Part  II, 
has  now  been  completed.  .  .  .  But  if  Henry  has  shaken  off  his 
youthful  follies,  he  has  retained  his  faculty  for  adapting  himself 
to  all  sorts  and  conditions  of  men.  As  in  Eastcheap  he  had  caught 
the  very  spirit  of  ale-house  freemasonry,  so  in  his  altered  sphere  he 
excites  the  wonder  of  all  hearers  by  discoursing  upon  divinity,  war, 
and  statecraft,  as  if  each  had  been  liis  peculiar  and  Ufelong  inter- 
est. .  .  .  Henry's  moral  integrity  deepens,  after  his  coronation, 
into  profound  religious  feeling,  while  his  modesty  takes  the  form 
of  humble  dependence  upon  God,  whose  name  is  henceforth  con- 
stantly upon  his  lips. 

"It  is  disappointing  to  find  that,  in  the  final  scene  of  the  drama, 
Shakspere,  by  an  unseasonable  display  of  his  comic  power,  lowers 
in  some  degree  the  dignity  of  his  hero.  .  .  .  One  does  not  expect 
Henry  to  indulge  in  the  ardent  protestations  of  a  Romeo,  to 
'look  greenly  nor  gasp  out  his  eloquence,'  but  there  is  a  mean 
between  amorous  rhapsodies  and  the  'down-right  oaths'  of  this 
very  'plain  soldier'  manner  of  wooing.  Simplicity  and  sincerity 
are  the  basis  of  Henry's  character,  but  these  alone  do  not  give 
his  figure  its  massive  proportions.  For  this  there  is  something 
more  needed  —  a  grandeur  and  glow  of  soul  which  shine  forth  in 
him  as  king,  warrior,  and  judge,  but  which  fail  him  as  a  lover. 
In  wooing  Katharine,  Henry  is  wooing  France,  which  he  loves  so 
well  that  he  will  not  part  with  a  village  of  it,  and  in  the  midst  of 
his  somewhat  highly  flavoured  banter,  he  keeps  a  vigilant  eye  on 
the  articles  of  alliance.    This  mixture  of  jocoseness  and  shrewdness 


CRITICAL  OPINIONS  17 

is  scarcely  the  fitting  final  attitude  of  the  hero  of  the  great  his- 
torical trilogy,  the  character  whose  development  from  youth  to 
manhood  Shakspere  has  traced  with  such  loving  care.  But  the 
dramatist  in  this  closing  scene  is  perhaps  occupied  less  with  per- 
sonal than  with  national  considerations;  and  from  the  latter  point 
of  view  there  could  be  no  more  appropriate  climax  to  the  historical 
plays  than  this  marriage  treaty,  whereby  England,  at  unity  with 
herself,  is  joined  in  'incorporate  league'  to  France,  and  the  enemies 
of  a  hundred  years  are  brought  together."  —  Boas,  Shakspere  and 
His  Predecessors. 

The  Dauphin 

"In  the  heir  to  the  French  throne  all  the  defects  of  the  moribund 
mediaeval  system  of  arms  appear  in  intensified  and  contemptible 
form.  The  affection  of  the  gallant  rider  for  his  gallant  steed, 
which  is  a  touching  feature  in  genuine  chivalry,  is  parodied  by  the 
high-flown  passion  of  this  carpet-knight  for  his  horse,  whom  he 
styles  his  mistress,  and  in  whose  praise  he  indites  a  sonnet.  With 
insolent  levity  he  underrates  liis  foes :  Henry  is  in  his  eyes  '  a  vain, 
giddy,  shallow,  humorous  youth,'  for  whom  tennis-balls  are  a 
fitting  tribute,  while  his  followers  are  as  little  to  be  feared  as  if 
they  were  merely  busied  with  a  Whitsun  morris-dance.  On  the 
eve  of  the  battle  he  chafes  at  the  delay  in  his  expected  triumph: 
'Will  it  never  be  day?  I  will  trot  to-morrow  a  mile,  and  my  way 
shall  be  paved  with  English  faces.'  Yet  even  the  Dauphin  may 
perhaps  rank  above  his  admirer,  the  Duke  of  Orleans,  who  extols 
him  'as  simply  the  most  active  gentleman  of  France,'  and  who 
in  virtue  of  a  superficial  smartness  in  repartee  despises  the  fat- 
brained  followers  of  the  Enghsh  king."  —  Boas,  Shakspere  and  His 
\  Predecessors. 

\  The  Comedy  Characters 

^      "Intermingled   with   the   stately  battle   scenes   are  humorous 

\  ei.:)isodes,  falling,  however,  very  far  short  of  the  brilliant  comedy 

of  Henry  IV.    The  insipid  dialogue  between  Pistol  and  his  prisoner, 


18  INTRODUCTION 

of  which  the  sole  object  seems  to  be  the  ridicule  of  French  pro- 
nunciation, is  perhaps  the  feeblest  which  the  dramatist  ever  penned. 
More  interesting  are  the  scenes  which  develop  the  character  of 
Fluellen  and  increasingly  reveal  the  good  sense  and  good  heart 
which  underlie  the  Welshnian's  uncouth  forms  of  speech.  The 
comparison  between  Alexander  the  Great  and  Henry  is  ludicrous, 
on  the  score  that  there  is  a  river  in  Macedon  and  a  river  at  Mon- 
mouth, and  there  are  salmons  in  both;  but  there  is  wonderful 
shrewdness  in  the  observation  that  '  as  Alexander  killed  his  friend 
Cleitus,  being  in  his  ales  and  his  cups;  so  also  Henry  Monmouth, 
being  in  his  right  wits  and  his  good  judgements,  turned  away  the 
fat  knight  with  the  great  belly-doublet.'  The  sturdy  Welshman 
is  irresistibly  attracted  by  the  integrity  of  the  King,  whom  he 
claims  to  be  of  his  own  blood."  —  Boas,  Shakspere  and  His 
Predecessors. 

''His  [Falstaff' s]  wake  draws  after  it  a  number  of  disreputable 
or  silly  fellows,  whom  his  audacious  humor  alone  prevails  upon 
the  tragedy  to  tolerate.  .  .  .  There  is  Bardolph  w^ho  ...  is  the 
red  mark  for  Falstaff's  raillery,  but  liquor  and  lodgings  keep  hiux 
companionable,  so  that,  when  at  last  'the  fuel  is  gone  that  main- 
tained that  fire,'  he  has  a  tear  or  two,  not  yet  evaporated,  to  help 
the  obsequies  of  his  master.  There  is  Pistol,  a  great  haunter  of 
play-houses,  where  he  has  picked  up  phrases  of  bombast,  such  as 
swarmed  in  the  bad  tragedies  of  the  period;  when  the  sack  has 
reached  his  head  it  sets  them  all  afloat,  to  ruffle  the  company.  .  .  . 
There  is  Mistress  Quickly  who  caters  for  Falstaff's  vices,  endures 
his  swindling  till  almost  all  her  goods  have  gone  to  the  pawn 
broker's,  and  then  admires  to  be  cajoled  back  into  more  lending, 
dismisses  the  suit  which  she  brought  with  such  strenuous  and 
voluble  feebleness,  and  hopes  he  will  come  to  supper.  .  .  .  Cor- 
poral Nym  will  cut  a  purse  and  drain  a  can  without  winking,  as 
the  rest  will;  but  he  admires  to  have  a  pretence  of  soldierly  blunt- 
ness,  as  when  he  says,  'I  dare  not  fight;  but  I  will  wink,  ancj 
hold  out  mine  iron.'  He  is  a  man  of  few  words,  and  has  somethirjii_ 
of  CromweU's  enigmatic  way  of  speaking  to  cover  liis  delibert 


CRITICAL  OPINIONS  19 

intention  of  doing  nothing  to  end  his  days.  'I  cannot  tell;  things 
must  be  as  they  may.  There  must  be  conclusions.  Well,  I  can- 
not tell,  .  .  .  and  that's  the  humor  of  it.'  A  silent  man,  but  not 
of  the  fighting  type  which  helped  Queen  Elizabeth's  adventurers 
to  sack  the  towns  of  the  Spanish  main  and  defray  the  expense  of 
her  countenance.  —  Weiss,  Wit,  Humor,  and  Shakspeare. 


SHAKESPEARE'S  GRAMMAR  AND  VERSIFICATION 


Shakespeare  lived  at  a  time  when  the  grammar  and  vocabu- 
lary of  the  English  language  were  in  a  state  of  transition.  Various 
points  were  not  yet  settled;  and  so  Shakespeare's  grammar  is  not 
only  somewhat  different  from  our  o'wti  but  is  by  no  means  uni- 
form in  itself.  In  the  Elizabethan  age,  "  almost  any  part  of  speech 
can  be  used  as  any  other  part  of  speech.  An  adverb  can  be  used 
as  a  verb,  'They  askance  their  eyes';  as  a  noun,  'the  backward  and 
abysm  of  time ';  or  as  an  adjective,  '  a  seldom  pleasure.'  Any  noun, 
adjective,  or  intransitive  verb  can  be  used  as  a  transitive  verb. 
You  can  'happy'  your  friend,  'malice'  or  'foot'  your  enemy,  or 
'fall'  an  axe  on  his  neck.  An  adjective  can  be  used  as  an  adverb; 
and  you  can  speak  and  act  'easy/  'free,'  'excellent';  or  as  a  noun, 
and  you  can  talk  of  'fair'  instead  of  'beauty,'  and  'a  pale'  instead 
of  'a  paleness.'  Even  the  pronouns  are  not  exempt  from  these 
metamorphoses.  A  '  he '  is  used  for  a  man,  and  a  lady  is  described 
by  a  gentleman  as  'the  fairest  she  he  has  yet  beheld.'  In  the 
second  place,  every  variety  of  apparent  grammatical  inaccuracy 
meets  us.  He  for  him,  him  for  he;  spoke  and  took  for  spoken  and 
taken;  plural  nominatives  with  singular  verbs;  relatives  omitted 
where  they  are  now  considered  necessary;  unnecessary  antece- 
dents inserted;  shall  for  will,  should  for  would,  would  for  wish;  to 
omitted  after  7  ought,  inserted  after  7  durst;  double  negatives; 
double  comparatives  ('more  better,'  etc.)  and  superlatives;  such 
followed  by  which,  that  by  as,  as  used  for  as  if;  that  for  so  that;  and 
lastly  some  verbs  apparently  with  two  nominatives,  and  others 
without  any  nominative  at  all."  —  Dr.  Abbott's  Shakespearian 
Grammar. 

Shakespeare's  plays  are  written  mainly  in  what  is  known  sa 
blank  verse;  but  they  contain  a  number  of  riming  lines,  and  a  cr" 

20 


GRAMMAR  AND   VERSIFICATION  21 

siderable  number  of  prose  lines.  As  a  rule,  rime  is  much  commoner 
in  the  eariier  than  in  the  later  plays.  Thus,  Love's  Labour  's  Lost 
contains  nearly  1100  riming  lines,  while  (if  we  except  the  songs)  A 
Winter's  Tale  has  none.    The  Merchant  of  Venice  has  124. 

In  speaking,  we  lay  a  stress  on  particular  syllables;  this  stress  is 
called  accent.  When  the  words  of  a  composition  are  so  arranged 
that  the  accent  recurs  at  regular  intervals,  the  composition  is  said 
to  be  rhythmical.  In  blank  verse  the  lines  have  usually  ten  syllables, 
of  which  the  second,  fourth,  sixth,  eighth,  and  tenth  are  accented. 
The  hne  consists,  therefore,  of  five  parts,  each  of  which  contains 
an  unaccented  syllable,  followed  by  an  accented  one,  as  in  the 
word  attend.  Each  of  these  five  parts  forms  what  is  called  a 
foot  or  measure;  and  the  five  together  form  a  pentameter.  Pentam- 
eter is  a  Greek  word  signifying  "five  measures."  This  is  the 
usual  form  of  a  hne  of  blank  verse.  But  a  long  poem  composed 
entirely  of  such  lines  would  be  monotonous,  and  for  the  sake  of 
variety  several  important  modifications  have  been  introduced. 

(a)  After  the  tenth  syllable,  one  or  two  unaccented  syllables 
are  sometimes  added;  as — 

"Me-thought|you  said  | you  neilther  lend  [nor  borjrow." 

(6)  In  any  foot  the  accent  may  be  shifted  from  the  second  to  the 
first  syllable,  provided  two  accented  syllables  do  not  come  to- 
gether; as — 

"Pluck'  the  I  young  suck'|ing  cubs' |from  the' I  she  bear' ." 

(c)  In  such  words  as  yesterday,  voluntary,  honesty,  the  syllables 
-day,  -ta-,  and  -ty  falling  in  the  place  of  the  accent  are,  for  the  pur- 
poses of  the  verse,  regarded  as  truly  accented;  as — 

"Bars'  me  I  the  right' [of  voI'-Iiui-ta'|ry  choos'|ing." 

{d)  Sometimes  we  have  a  succession  of  accented  syllables;  this 
occurs  with  monosyllabic  feet  only;  as — 

"Why,  now,  blow  wind,  swell  billow,  and  swim  bark." 


22  INTRODUCTION 

(e)  Sometimes,  but  more  rarely,  two  or  even  three  unaccented 
syllables  occupy  the  place  of  one;  as — 

"He  sayslhe  does,|6e-'ingr  then[most  flatlter-ed." 

(/)  Lines  may  have  any  number  of  feet  from  one  to  six. 

Finally,  Shakespeare  adds  much  to  the  pleasing  variety  of  his 
blank  verse  by  placing  the  pauses  in  different  parts  of  the  line 
(especially  after  the  second  or  third  foot),  instead  of  placing  them 
all  at  the  end  of  Unes,  as  was  the  earlier  custom. 

In  some  cases  the  rhythm  requires  that  what  we  usually  pro- 
nounce as  one  syllable  shall  be  divided  into  two,  as  fi-er  (fire), 
su-er  (sure),  mi-el  (mile),  etc.;  too-elve  (twelve),  jaw-ee  (joy). 
Similarly,  she-on  (-tion  or  -sion). 

It  is  very  important  that  the  student  should  have  plenty  of 
ear-training  by  means  of  formal  scansion.  This  will  greatly 
assist  him  in  his  reading. 


PLAN  OF  STUDY 

To  attain  the  standard  of  "Perfect  Possession,"  the  reader 
ought  to  have  an  intimate  and  ready  knowledge  of  the  subject. 

The  student  ought,  first  of  all,  to  read  the  play  as  a  pleasure; 
then  to  read  it  again,  with  his  mind  on  the  characters  and  the 
plot;  and  lastly,  to  read  it  for  the  meanings,  grammar,  etc. 

With  the  help  of  the  following  outline,  he  can  easily  draw  up 
for  himself  short  examination  papers  (1)  on  each  scene,  (2)  on 
each  act,  (3)  on  the  whole  play. 

1.  The  plot  and  story  of  the  play. 

(a)  The  general  plot. 
(6)  The  special  incidents. 

2.  The  characters. 

Ability  to  give  a  connected  account  of  all  that  is  done,  and 
most  that  is  said  by  each  character  in  the  play. 

3.  The  influence  and  interplay  of  the  characters  upon  one 

another. 

(a)  Relation  of  A  to  B  and  of  B  to  A. 

(6)  Relation  of  A  to  C  and  D. 

4.  Complete  possession  of  the  language. 

(a)  Meanings  of  words. 

(6)  Use  of  old  words,  or  of  words  in  an  old  meaning. 

(c)  Grammar. 

(cO  Ability  to  quote  lines  to  illustrate  a  grammatical  point. 

5.  Power  to  reproduce,  or  quote. 

(a)  What  was  said  by  A  or  B  on  a  particular  occasion. 
(6)  What  was  said  by  A  in  reply  to  B. 

(c)  What  argument  was  used  by  C  at  a  particular  juncture. 

(d)  To  quote  a  hne  in  instance  of  an  idiom  or  of  a  peculiar 

meaning. 

23 


24  INTRODUCTION 

6.  Power  to  locate. 

(a)  To  attribute  a  line  or  statement  to  a  certain  person 

on  a  certain  occasion. 
(6)  To  cap  a  line, 
(c)  To  fill  in  the  right  word  or  epithet. 


KING  HENRY  THE   FIFTH 


UW 


DRAMATIS  PERSONiE 


King  Henry  the  Fifth. 
Duke  of  Gloucester, 


^  T.  ,  brothers  to  the  King. 

Duke  of  Bedford,         J 

Duke  of  Exeter,  uncle  to  the  King.  -> 

Duke  of  York,  cousin  to  the  King. 

Earls  of  Salisbury,  Westmoreland,  and  Warwick. 

Archbishop  of  Canterbury. 

Bishop  of  Ely. 

Earl  of  Cambridge. 

Lord  Scroop. 

Sir  Thomas  Grey. 

Sir  Thomas  Erpingham,  Gower,  Fluellen,  Macmorris,  Jamy, 

officers  in  King  Henry's  army. 
Bates,  Court,  Williams,  soldiers  in  the  same. 
Pistol,  Nym,  Bardolph. 
Boy. 

A  Herald. 

Charles  the  Sixth,  King  of  France. 
Lewis,  the  Dawphin. 

Dukes  of  Burgundy,  Orleans,  and  Bourbon. 
The  Constable  of  France. 
Rambures  and  Grandpr:^,  French  lords. 
Governor  of  Harfleur. 
MoNTJOY,  a  French  Herald. 
Ambassadors  to  the  King  of  England. 
Isabel,  Queen  of  France. 
Katharine,  daughter  to  Charles  and  Isabel. 
Alice,  a  lady  attending  on  her. 
Hostess  of  a  tavern  in  Eastcheap  (formerly  Mistress  Quickly,  and 

now  married  to  Pistol). 
Lords,  Ladies,  Officers,  Soldiers,  Citizens,  Messengers,  and  Attendants, 
Chorus. 

SCENE  —  England;  afterwards  France. 
26 


-KING  HENRY  THE  FIFTH 


PROLOGUE 

Enter  Chorus 

Chorus.   O,  for  a  Muse  of  fire,  that  would  ascend 
The  brightest  heaven  of  invention, 
A  kingdom  for  a  stage,  princes  to  act, 
And  monarchs  to  behold  the  swelling  scene! 
/Then  should  the  warlike  Harry,  like  himself, 
^Assume  the  port  of  Mars;  and,  at  his  heels, 
Leash' d  in  like  hounds,  should  famine,  sword,  and 

fire 
Crouch  for  employment.     But  pardon,  gentles  all, 
The  flat  unraised  spirits  that  have  dared 
On  this  unworthy  scaffold  to  bring  forth  lo 

So  great  an  object.     Can  this  cockpit  hold 
The  vasty  fields  of  France?  or  may  we  cram 
Within  this  wooden  O  the  very  casques 
That  did  affright  the  air  at  Agincourt? 
O,  pardon!  since  a  crooked  figure  may 
Attest j  in  little  place,  a  million; 
And  let  us,  ciphers  to  this  great  accompt, 
On  your  imaginary  forces  work. 
Suppose  within  the  girdle  of  these  walls 
Are  now  confin'd  two  mighty  monarchies,  20 

27 


28  KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH  [Act  I 

Whose  high  upreared  and  abutting  fronts 

The  perilous  narrow  ocean  parts  asunder. 

Piece  out  our  imperfections  with  your  thoughts; 

Into  a  thousand  parts  divide  one  man, 

And  make  imaginary  puissance :  ' 

Think,  when  we  talk  of  horses,  that  you  see  them 

Printing  their  proud  hoofs  i'  the  receiving  earth; 

For  't  is  your  thoughts  that  now  must  deck  our 

kings, 
Carry  them  here  and  there,  jumping  o'er  times. 
Turning  th'  accomplishment  of  many  years  30 

Into  an  hour-glass:  for  the  which  supply, 
Admit  me  Chorus  to  this  history; 
Who,  prologue-like,  your  humble  patience  pray. 
Gently  to  hear,  kindly  to  judge,  our  play.  [Exit 


ACT  I 

Scene  I 
London.    An  antechamber  in  the  King's  palace 

Enter  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  and 

THE  Bishop  of  Ely 
Cant   My  lord,  I  '11  tell  you:  that  self  bill  is  urg'd 
Which  in  th'  eleventh  year  of  the  last  king's  reign 
Was  like,  and  had  indeed  against  us  pass'd, 
But  that  the  scambling  and  unquiet  time 
Did  push  it  out  of  farther  question. 


Scene  I]       KING  HENRY  THE  FIFTH  29 

Ely.   But  how,  my  lord,  shall  we  resist  it  now? 

Cant.   It  must  be  thought  on.     If  it  pass  against 
us, 
We  lose  the  better  half  of  our  possession; 
For  all  the  temporal  lands,  which  men  devout 
By  testament  have  given  to  the  church,  lo 

Would  they  strip  from  u§;  being  valued  thus: 
As  much  as  would  maintain,  to  the  king's  honour, 
Full  fifteen  earls  and  fifteen  hundred  knights. 
Six  thousand  and  two  hundred  good  esquires;  * 

And,  to  relief  of  lazars  and  weak  age. 
Of  indigent  faint  souls  past  corporal  toil, 
A  hundred  almshouses  right  well  supplied; 
And  to  the  coffers  of  the  king  beside, 
A  thousand  pounds  by  th'  year :  thus  runs  the  bill. 

Ely.   This  would  drink  deep. 

Cant.  'T  would  drink  the  cup  and  all     20 

Ely.   But  what  prevention? 

Cant.   The  king  is  full  of  grace  and  fair  regard. 

Ely.   And  a  true  lover  of  the  holy  church 

Cant.   The  courses  of  his  youth  promised  it  not. 
The  breath  no  sooner  left  his  father's  body 
But  that  his  wildness,  mortified  in  him, 
Seem'd  to  die  too:  yea,  at  that  very  moment, 
Consideration,  like  an  angel,  came 
And  whipp'd  the  offending  Adam  out  of  him, 
Leaving  his  body  as  a  paradise  30 

T'  envelop  and  contain  celestial  spirits. 
Never  was  such  a  sudden  scholar  made; 
Never  came  reformation  in  a  flood, 


30  KING  HENRY  THE  FIFTH  [Act  I 

With  such  a  heady  currance,  scouring  faults; 
Nor  never  Hydra-headed  wilfuhiess 
So  soon  did  lose  his  seat,  and  all  at  once, 
As  in  this  king. 

Ely.  We  are  blessed  in  the  change. 

Ca7it.   Hear  him  but  reason  in  divinity, 
And,  all-admiring,  with  an  inward  wish 
You  would  desire  the  king  were  made  a  prelate:  4o 

Hear  him  debate  of  commonwealth  affairs, 
You  would  say  it  hath  been  all  in  all  his  study: 
List  his  discourse  of  war,  and  you  shall  hear 
A  fearful  battle  rendered  you  in  music: 
Turn  him  to  any  cause  of  policy. 
The  Gordian  knot  of  it  he  will  unloose, 
Familiar  as  his  garter:  that,  when  he  speaks, 
The  air,  a  chartered  libertine,  is  still. 
And  the  mute  wonder  lurketh  in  men's  ears, 
To  steal  his  sweet  and  honey' d  sentences;  so 

So  that  the  art  and  practic  part  of  life 
Must  be  the  mistress  to  this  theoric: 
Which  is  a^  wonder  ^how  his  grace  should  glean  it, 
Since  his  a'ddiction  was  to  courses  vain; 
His  companies  unletter'd,  rude,  and  shallow; 
His  hours  fill'd  up  with  riots,  banquets,  sports; 
And  never  noted  in  him  any  study. 
Any  retirement,  any  sequestration 
From  open  haunts  and  popularity. 

Ehj.    The  strawberry  grows  underneath  the  nettle,     6o 
And  wholesome  berries  thrive  and  ripen  best 
Neighbour' d  by  fruit  of  baser  quality: 


St^^f^  H'TS 


K^  Ob    KJ    O    W  I  o   i\^   '^  ^ 

Scene  I]       KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH  31 

And  so  the  prince  obscur'd  his  contemplation 
Under  the  veil  of  wildness;  which,  no  doubt, 
Grew  like  the  summer  grass,  fastest  by  night. 
Unseen,  yet  crescive  in  his  faculty. 

Cant.  It  must  be  so;  for  miracles  are  ceas'd; 
And  therefore  we  must  needs  admit  the  means 
How  things  are  perfected. 

Ely.  But,  my  good  lord, 

How  now  for  mitigation  of  this  bill  70 

Urg'd  by  the  commons?     Doth  his  majesty 
Incline  to  it,  or  no? 

Cant.  He  seems  indifferent. 

Or,  rather,  swaying  more  upon  our  part^. 
Than  cherishing  the  exhibiteirs  against  us: 
For  I  have  made  an  offer  to  his  majesty  — 
Upon  our  spiritual  convocation. 
And  in  regard  of  causes  now  in  hand. 
Which  I  have  open'd  to  his  grace  at  large. 
As  touching  France  —  to  give  a  greater  sum 
Than  ever  at  one  time  the  clergy  yet  so 

Did  to  his  predecessors  part  withal. 

Ely.   How  did  this  offer  seem  receiv'd,  my  lord? 

Cant.   With  good  acceptance  of  his  majesty; 
Save  that  there  was  not  time  enough  to  hear. 
As  I  perceiv'd  his  grace  would  fain  have  done. 
The  severals  and  unhidden  passages 
Of  his  true  titles  to  some  certain  dukedoms. 
And,  generally,  to  the  crown  and  seat  of  France, 
Deriv'd  from  Edward,  his  great-grandfather. 

Ely.   What  was  th'  impediment  that  broke  this  off?     oo 


32  KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH  [Act  I 

Cant.   The  French  ambassador  upon  that  instant 
Crav'd  audience,  and  the  hour,  I  think,  is  come 
To  give  him  hearing:  is  it  four  o'clock? 

Ely.   It  is. 

Cant.   Then  go  we  in,  to  know  his  embassy; 
Which  I  could,  with  a  ready  guess,  declare 
Before  the  Frenchman  speak  a  word  of  it. 

Ely.     I  '11  wait  upon  you,  and  I  long  to  hear  it. 

[Exeunt 

Scene  II 

The  same.     The  presence  chamber 

Enter  King  Henry,  Gloucester,  Bedford,  Exeter, 
Warwick,  Westmoreland,  and  Attendants 

K.  Hen.   Where    is    my   gracious    Lord    of    Can- 
terbury? 
Exe.  Not  here  in  presence. 

K.  Hen.  Send  for  him,  good  uncle. 

West.   Shall  we  call  in  th'  ambassador,  my  liege? 
K.  Hen.   Not  yet,  my  cousin;  we  would  be  re- 
solv'd, 
Before  we  hear  him,  of  some  things  of  weight 
That  task  our  thoughts,  concerning  us  and  France. 

Enter  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury  and 
THE  Bishop  of  Ely 

Cant.   God    and    his    angels    guard    your    sacred 
throne. 
And  make  you  long  become  it! 


Scene  II]     KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH  33 

K.  Hen.  Sure,  we  thank  you. 

My  learned  lord,  we  pray  you  to  proceed, 
And  justly  and  religiously  unfold  lo 

Why  the  law  Salique  that  they  have  in  France 
Or  should,  or  should  not,  bar  us  in  our  claim. 
And  God  forbid,  my  dear  and  faithful  lord. 
That  you  should  fashion,  wrest,  or  bow  your  read- 
ing, 
Or  nicely  charge  your  understanding  soul 
With  opening  titles  miscreate,  whose  right 
Suits  not  in  native  colours  with  the  truth ; 
For  God  doth  know  how  many  now  in  health 
Shall  drop  their  blood  in  approbation 
Of  what  your  reverence  shall  incite  us  to.  20 

/Therefore  take  heed  how  you  impawn  our  person, 
How  you  awake  our  sleeping  sword  of  war; 
W^e  charge  you,  in  the  name  of  God,  take  heed: 
For  never  two  such  kingdoms  did  contend 
Without  much  fall  of  blood;  whose  guiltless  drops 
Are  every  one  a  woe,  a  sore  complaint 
'Gainst  him  whose  wrongs  give  edge  unto  the  swords 
That  make  such  waste  in  brief  mortality. 
Under  this  conjuration  speak,  my  lord: 
For  we  will  hear,  note,  and  believe  in  heart  30 

That  what  you  speak  is  in  your  conscience  wash'd 
As  pure  as  sin  with  baptism. 

Cant.   Then  hear  me,  gracious  sovereign,  and  you 
peers. 
That  owe  yourselves,  your  lives,  and  services 
To  this  imperial  throne.     There  is  no  bar 


34  KING  HENRY  THE  FIFTH  [Act  I 

To  make  against  your  highness'  claim  to  France 

But  this,  which  they  produce  from  Pharamond  — 

In  terrain  Salicam  mulieres  ne  siiccedant, 

'  No  woman  shall  succeed  in  Salique  land ' : 

Which  Salique  land  the  French  unjustly  gloze  40 

To  be  the  realm  of  France,  and  Pharamond 

The  founder  of  this  law  and  female  bar. 

Yet  their  own  authors  faithfully  affirm 

That  the  land  Salique  is  in  Germany, 

Between  the  floods  of  Sala  and  of  Elbe: 

Where    Charles    the    Great,    having    subdued    the 

Saxons, 
There  left  behind  and  settled  certain  French; 
Who,  holding  in  disdain  the  German  women 
For  some  dishonest  manners  of  their  life, 
Establish'd  then  this  law;  to  wit,  no  female  50 

Should  be  inheritrix  in  Salique  land; 
Which  Salique,  as  I  said,  'twixt  Elbe  and  Sala, 
Is  at  this  day  in  Germany  call'd  Meisen. 
Then  doth  it  well  appear,  the  Salique  law 
Was  not  devised  for  the  realm  of  France; 
Nor  did  the  French  possess  the  Salique  land 
Until  four  hundred  one  and  twenty  years 
After  defunction  of  King  Pharamond, 
Idly  suppos'd  the  founder  of  this  law; 
Who  died  within  the  year  of  our  redemption  eo 

Four  hundred  twenty-six;  and  Charles  the  Great 
Subdued  the  Saxons,  and  did  seat  the  French 
Beyond  the  river  Sala,  in  the  year 
Eight  hundred  five.     Besides,  their  writers  say. 


Scene  II]     KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH  35 

King  Pepin,  which  deposed  Childeric, 
Did,  as  heir  general,  being  descended 
Of  Bhthild,  which  was  daughter  to  King  Clothair, 
Make  claim  and  title  to  the  crown  of  France. 
Hugh  Capet  also  —  who  usurp' d  the  crown 
Of  Charles  the  Duke  of  Lorraine,  sole  heir  male  70 

Of  the  true  line  and  stock  of  Charles  the  Great  — 
To  find  his  title  with  some  shows  of  truth, 
(Though,  in  pure  truth,  it  was  corrupt  and  naught), 
^^'''^' Convey' d  himself  as  heir  to  the  Lady  Lingare, 
Daughter  to  Charlemain,  who  was  the  son 
To  Lewis  the  Emperor,  and  Lewis  the  son 
Of  Charles  the  Great.     Also  King  Lewis  the  Tenth, 
Who  was  sole  heir  to  the  usurper  Capet, 
Could  not  keep  quiet  in  his  conscience. 
Wearing  the  crown  of  France,  till  satisfied  so 

That  fair  Queen  Isabel,  his  grandmother, 
Was  lineal  of  the  Lady  Ermengare, 
Daughter  to  Charles  the  foresaid  Duke  of  Lorraine: 
By  the   which   marriage,   the  line   of   Charles   the 

Great 
Was  re-united  to  the  crown  of  France. 
So  that,  as  clear  as  is  the  summer's  sun, 
King  Pepin's  title,  and  Hugh  Capet's  claim. 
King  Lewis  his  satisfaction,  —  all  appear 
To  hold  in  right  and  title  of  the  female: 
So  do  the  kings  of  France  unto  this  day.  90 

Howbeit  they  would  hold  up  this  Salique  law 
To  bar  your  highness  claiming  from  the  female, 
And  rather  choose  to  hide  them  in  a  net 


K 


36  KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH  [Act  I 

Than  amply  to  imbar  their  crooked  titles 
Usurp'd  from  you  and  your  progenitors. 

K.  Hen.   May  I  with  right  and  conscience  make 
this  claim? 

Cant.   The  sin  upon  my  head,  dread  sovereign! 
For  in  the  book  of  Numbers  is  it  writ,  — 
'  When  the  man  dies,  let  the  inheritance 
Descend  unto  the  daughter.'     Gracious  lord,  loo  ^ 

Stand  for  your  own;  unwind  your  bloody  flag; 
Look  back  into  your  mighty  ancestors : 
Go,  my  dread  lord,  to  your  great-grandsire's  tomb. 
From  whom  you  claim;  invoke  his  warlike  spirit. 
And  your  great-uncle's,  Edward  the  Black  Prince; 
Who  on  the  French  ground  play'd  a  tragedy, 
Making  defeat  on  the  full  power  of  France, 
Whiles  his  most  mighty  father  on  a  hill 
Stood  smiling  to  behold  his  lion's  whelp 
Forage  in  blood  of  French  nobility.  no 

O  noble  English,  that  could  entertain 
With  half  their  forces  the  full  pride  of  France, 
And  let  another  half  stand  laughing  by. 
All  out  of  work  and  cold  for  action! 

Ely.   Awake  remembrance  of  these  valiant  dead, 
And  with  your  puissant  arm  renew  their  feats: 
You  are  their  heir,  you  sit  upon  their  throne; 
The  blood  and  courage  that  reno^Aiied  them 
Runs  in  your  veins;  and  my  thrice-puissant  liege 
Is  in  the  very  May-morn  of  his  youth,  ■  120 

Ripe  for  exploits  and  mighty  enterprises. 

Exe.    Your  brother  kings  and  monarchs  of  the  earth 


Scene  II]     KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH  37 

Do  all  expect  that  you  should  rouse  yourself, 
As  did  the  former  lions  of  your  blood. 

West.   They    know    your   grace   hath    cause  and 
means  and  might: 
So  hath  your  highness;  never  king  of  England 
Had  nobles  richer  and  more  loyal  subjects, 
Whose  hearts  have  left  their  bodies  here  in  England, 
And  lie  pavilion' d  in  the  fields  of  France. 

Cant.   O,  let  their  bodies  follow,  my  dear  liege,  130 

With  blood  and  sword  and  fire  to  win  your  right: 
In  aid  whereof,  we  of  the  spirituality 
Will  raise  your  highness  such  a  mighty  sum 
As  never  did  the  clergy  at  one  time 
Bring  in  to  any  of  your  ancestors. 

K.  Hen.   We  must  not  only  arm  to  invade  the 
French 
But  lay  down  our  proportions  to  defend 
Against  the  Scot,  who  will  make  road  upon  us 
With  all  advantages. 

Ca7it.   They  of  those  marches,  gracious  sovereign,     uo 
Shall  be  a  wall  sufficient  to  defend 
Our  inland  from  the  pilfering  borderers. 

K.  Hen.   We  do  not  mean  the  coursing  snatchers 
only, 
But  fear  the  main  intendment  of  the  Scot, 
Who  hath  been  still  a  giddy  neighbour  to  us; 
For  you  shall  read  that  my  great-grandfather 
Never  went  with  his  forces  into  France 
But  that  the  Scot  on  his  unfurnished  kingdom 
Came  pouring,  like  the  tide  into  a  breach, 


38  KING  HENRY  THE  FIFTH  [Act  I 

With  ample  and  brim  fulness  of  his  force,  i5o 

Galling  the  gleaned  land  with  hot  assays, 

Girding  with  grievous  siege  castles  and  towns; 

That  England,  being  empty  of  defence. 

Hath  shook  and  trembled  at  the  ill  neighbourhood. 

Cant.   She  hath  been  then  more  fear'd  than  harm'd, 
my  Hege:  ^^'V^,*^ 

For  hear  her  but  exampled  by  herself: 
When  all  her  chivalry  hath  been  in  France, 
And  she  a  mourning  widow  of  her  nobles, 
She  hath  herself  not  only  well  defended 
But  taken  and  impounded  as  a  stray  lee 

The  king  of  Scots;  w^hom  she  did  send  to  France, 
To  fill  King  Edward's  fame  with  prisoner  kings, 
And  make  her  chronicle  as  rich  with  praise 
As  is  the  ooze  and  bottom  of  the  sea 
With  sunken  wreck  and  sumless  treasuries. 

West.   But  there  's  a  saying,  very  old  and  true,  — 

If  that  you  will  France  win, 
Then  with  Scotland  first  begin; 

For  once  the  eagle  England  being  in  prey. 

To  her  unguarded  nest  the  weasel  Scot  i7u 

Comes  sneaking,  and  so  sucks  her  princely  eggs, 

Playing  the  mouse  in  absence  of  the  cat, 

To  tear  and  havoc  more  than  she  can  eat. 

Exe.   It  follows,  then,  the  cat  must  stay  at  home: 
Yet  that  is  but  a  crush' d  necessity,      ^ 
Since  we  have  locks  to  safeguard  necessaries. 
And  pretty  traps  to  catch  the  petty  thieves. 


Scene  II]     KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH  39 

While  that  the  armed  hand  both  fight  abroad, 

Th'  advised  head  defends  itself  at  home: 

For  government,  though  high  and  low  and  lower,  iso 

Put  into  parts,  doth  keep  in  one  consent; 

Congreeing  in  a  full  and  natural  close. 

Like  music. 

Cant.  Therefore  doth  heaven  divide 

The  state  of  man  in  divers  functions, 
Setting  endeavour  in  continual  motion; 
To  which  is  fixed,  as  an  aim  or  butt. 
Obedience:  for  so  work  the  honej^-bees. 
Creatures  that  by  a  rule  in  nature  teach 
The  act  of  order  to  a  peopled  kingdom. 
They  have  a  king  and  officers  of  sorts :  i9o 

Where  some,  like  magistrates,  correct  at  home, 
Others,  like  merchants,  venture  trade  abroad, 
Others,  like  soldiers,  armed  in  their  stings, 
Make  felbot  upon  the  summer's  velvet  buds, 
Which  pillage  they  with  merry  march  bring  home 
To  the  tent-royal  of  their  emperor: 
Who,  busied  in  his  majesty,  surveys 
The  singing  masons  building  roofs  of  gold. 
The  civil  citizens  kneading  up  the  honey, 
The  poor  mechanic  porters  crowding  in  200 

Their  heavy  burdens  at  his  narrow  gate, 
The  sad-ey'd  justice,  with  his  surly  hum, 
Delivering  o'er  to  executors  pale 
The  lazy  yawning  drone.     I  this  infer,  — 
That  many  things,  having  full  reference 
To  one  consent,  may  work  contrariously: 


40  KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH  [Act  I 

As  many  arrows,  loosed  several  ways, 

Come  to   one   mark;   as  many  ways  meet  in  one 

town; 
As  many  fresh  streams  meet  in  one  salt  sea; 
As  many  lines  close  in  the  dial's  centre;  210 

So  may  a  thousand  actions,  once  afoot. 
End  in  one  purpose,  and  be  all  well  borne 
Without  defeat.     Therefore  to  France,  my  liege. 
Divide  your  happy  England  into  four; 
Whereof  take  you  one  quarter  into  France, 
And  you  withal  shall  make  all  Gallia  shake. 
If  we,  with  thrice  such  powers  left  at  home, 
Cannot  defend  our  own  doors  from  the  dog, 
Let  us  be  worried,  and  our  nation  lose 
The  name  of  hardiness  and  policy.  220 

K.  Hen.   Call  in  the  messengers  sent  from  the 

Dauphin.  [Exeunt  some  Attendants 

Now  are  we  well  resolv'd;  and,  by  God's  help. 
And  yours,  the  noble  sinews  of  our  power, 
France  being  ours,  we  '11  bend  it  to  our  awe. 
Or  break  it  all  to  pieces.     Or  there  we  '11  sit. 
Ruling  in  large  and  ample  empery 
O'er  France  and  all  her  almost  kingly  dukedoms, 
Or  lay  these  bones  in  an  unworthy  urn, 
Tombless,  with  no  remembrance  over  them: 
Either  our  history  shall  with  full  mouth  230 

Speak  freely  of  our  acts,  or  else  our  grave. 
Like  Turkish  mute,  shall  have  a  tongueless  mouth. 
Not  worshipped  with  a  waxen  epitaph.  — 


Scene  II]     KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH  41 

Enter  Ambassadors  of  France 

Now  are  we  well  prepar'd  to  know  the  pleasure 
Of  our  fair  cousin  Dauphin;  for  we  hear 
Your  greeting  is  from  him,  not  from  the  king. 

Ainh.   May   't  please    your   majesty  to   give    us 
leave 
Freely  to  render  what  we  have  in  charge; 
Or  shall  we  sparingly  show  you  far  off 
The  Dauphin's  meaning  and  our  embassy?  240 

K.  Hen.   We  are  no  tyrant,  but  a  Christian  king; 
Unto  whose  grace  our  passion  is  as  subject 
As  are  our  wretches  fetter'd  in  our  prisons: 
Therefore  with  frank  and  with  uncurbed  plainness 
Tell  us  the  Dauphin's  mind. 

Amh.  Thus,  then,  in  few: 

Your  highness,  lately  sending  into  France, 
Did  claim  some  certain  dukedoms,  in  the  right 
Of  your  great  predecessor,  King  Edward  the  Third. 
In  answer  of  which  claim,  the  prince  our  master 
Says  that  you  savour  too  much  of  your  youth,  250 

And  bids  you  be  advis'd  there  's  naught  in  France 
That  can  be  with  a  nimble  galliard  won: 
You  cannot  revel  into  dukedoms  there. 
He  therefore  sends  you,  meeter  for  your  spirit, 
This  tun  of  treasure;  and,  in  lieu  of  this. 
Desires  you  let  the  dukedoms  that  you  claim 
Hear  no  more  of  you.     This  the  Dauphin  speaks. 

K.  Hen.   What  treasure,  uncle? 

Exe.  Tennis-balls,  my  liege. 


42  KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH  [Act  I 

K.  Hen.   We  are  glad  the  Dauphin  is  so  pleasant 

with  us; 
His  present  and  your  pains  we  thank  you  for: 
When  we  have  match'd  our  rackets  to  these  balls, 
We  will  in  France,  by  God's  grace,  play  a  set 
Shall  strike  his  father's  crown  into  the  hazard. 
Tell  him  he  hath  made  a  match  with  such  a  wrangler 
That  all  the  courts  of  France  will  be  disturb'd 
With  chaces.     And  we  understand  him  well, 
How  he  comes  o'er  us  with  our  wilder  days, 
Not  measuring  what  use  we  made  of  them. 
We  never  valued  this  poor  seat  of  England; 
And  therefore,  living  hence,  did  give  ourself 
To  barbarous  license;  as  't  is  ever  common 
That  men  are  merriest  when  they  are  from  home.-  . 
But  tell  the  Dauphin  I  will  keep  my  state,  JlX^^^ 
Be  like  a  king,  and  show  my  sail  of  greatness, 
When  I  do  rouse  me  in  my  throne  of  France: 
For  that  I  have  laid  by  m}^  majesty. 
And  plodded  like  a  man  for  working-daj'-s; 
But  I  will  rise  there  with  so  full  a  glory 
That  I  will  dazzle  all  the  ej^es  of  France, 
Yea,  strike  the  Dauphin  blind  to  look  on  us. 
And  tell  the  pleasant  prince,  this  mock  of  his 
IJ^th_turn'd  his  balls  to  gun-stonesj.  and  his  soul 
Shall  stand  sore  charged  for  the  wasteful  vengeance 
That  shall  fly  with  them:    for  many  a  thousand 

widows 
Shall  this  his  mock  mock  out  of  their  dear  husband^; 
Mock  mothers  from  their  sons,  mock  castles  down : 


Scene  II]     KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH  43 

And  some  are  yet  ungotten  and  unborn 

That  shall  have  cause  to  curse  the  Dauphin's  scorn. 

But  this  lies  all  within  the  will  of  God, 

To  whom  I  do  appeal;  and  in  whose  name  ^2903 

Tell  you  the  Dauphin  I  am  coming  on, 

To  venge  me  as  I  may  and  to  put  forth 

My  rightful  hand  in  a  well-hallow'd  cause. 

So  get  you  hence  in  peace;  and  tell  the  Dauphin 

His  jest  will  savour  but  of  shallow  wit, 

When  thousands  weep  more  than  did  laugh  at  it.  — 

Convey  them  with  safe-conduct.  —  Fare  you  well. 

[Exeunt  Ambassadors 

Exe.   This  was  a  merry  message. 

K.  Hen.   We  hope  to  make  the  sender  blush  at  it. 
Therefore,  my  lords,  omit  no  happy  hour  /^3oo) 

That  may  give  furtherance  to  our  expedition:  ^^'^^'^ 

For  we  have  now  no  thought  in  us  but  France, 
Save  those  to  God,  that  run  before  our  business. 
Therefore  let  our  proportions  for  these  wars 
Be  soon  collected,  and  all  things  thought  upon 
That  may  with  reasonable  swiftness  add 
More  feathers  to  our  wings;  for,  God  before, 
We  '11  chide  this  Dauphin  at  his  father's  door. 
Therefore  let  every  man  now  task  his  thought. 
That  this  f^^otion  may  on  foot  be  brought.  ^310) 

"^^^^  [Exeunt 


ACT  II 

Prologue 

Flourish.    Enter  Chorus 

Chor.   Now  all  the  youth  of  England  are  on  fire, 
And  silken  dalliance  in  the  wardrobe  lies; 
Now  thrive  the  armourers,  and  honour's  thought 
Reigns  solely  in  the  breast  of  every  man. 
They  sell  the  pasture  now  to  buy  the  horse; 
Following  the  mirror  of  all  Christian  kings. 
With  winged  heels,  as  English  Mercuries. 
For  now  sits  Expectation  in  the  air. 
And  hides  a  sword,  from  hilts  unto  the  point, 
With  crowns  imperial,' crowns  and  coronets,  lo 

Promis'd  to  Harry  and  his  followers. 
The  French,  advis'd  by  good  intelligence 
Of  this  most  dreadful  preparation. 
Shake  in  their  fear,  and  with  pale  policy 
Seek  to  divert  the  English  purposes. 
0  England!  model  to  thy  inward  greatness, 
Like  little  body  with  a  mighty  heart : 
What  mightst  thou  do,  that  honour  wouki  thee  do. 
Were  all  thy  children  kind  and  natui^   * 
But  see  thy  fault!  France  hath  in  thee  found  out  20 

A  nest  of  hollow  bosoms,  which  he  fills 
With  treacherous  crowns;  and  three  corrupted  men  — 

44 


Scene  I]       KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH  45 

One,  Richard  Earl  of  Cambridge;  and  the  second, 

Henry  Lord  Scroop  of  Masham;  and  the  third, 

Sir  Thomas  Grey,  knight,  of  Northumberland  — 

Have,  for  the  gilt  of  France  (O  guilt  indeed!) 

Confirm'd  conspiracy  with  fearful  France; 

And  by  their  hands  this  grace  of  kings  must  die. 

If  hell  and  treason  hold  their  promises. 

Ere  he  take  ship  for  France,  and  in  Southampton.         so 

Linger  your  patience  on,  and  we  '11  digest 

Th'  abuse  of  distance;  force  a  play. 

The  sum  is  paid;  the  traitors  are  agreed; 

The  king  is  set  from  London;  and  the  scene 

Is  now  transported,  gentles,  to  Southampton: 

There  is  the  playhouse  now,  there  must  you  sit : 

And  thence  to  France  shall  we  convey  you  safe. 

And  bring  you  back,  charming  the  narrow  seas 

To  give  you  gentle  pass;  for,  if  we  may. 

We  '11  not  offend  one  stomach  with  our  play.  4o 

But,  till  the  king  come  forth,  and  not  till  then, 

Unto  Southampton  do  we  shift  our  scen^.  [Exit 

London.     A  street 


AdC^ 


Enter  Corporal  Nym  and  Lieutenant  Bardolph  ^ 
„^— *. —  % -—-^ 

Bard.   Well  met.  Corporal  Nym. 

Nym.   Goid  morrow,  Lieutenant  Bardolph. 

Bard.   What,  are  Ancient  Pistol  and  you  friends 

yet? 

Nym.    For  my  part,  I  care  not:    I  say  little;   but, 


46  KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH         [Act  II 

when  time  shall  serve,  there  shall  be  smiles;  but  that 
shall  be  as  it  may.  I  dare  not  fight;  but  I  will  wink, 
and  hold  out  mine  iron.  It  is  a  simple  one;  but 
what  though?  it  will  toast  cheese,  and  it  will  endure 
cold  as  another  man's  sword  will:  and  there  's  an  end.     lo 

Bard.  I  will  bestow  a  breakfast  to  make  you 
friends;  and  we  '11  be  all  three  sworn  brothers  to 
France;  let  it  be  so,  good  Corporal  Nym. 

Nym.  Faith,  I  will  live  so  long  as  I  may,  that 's 
the  certain  of  it;  and  when  I  cannot  live  any  longer, 
I  will  do  as  I  may:  that  is  my  rest,  that  is  the 
rendezvous  of  it. 

Bard.  It  is  certain,  corporal,  that  he  is  married 
to  Nell  Quickly:  and  certainly  she  did  you  wrong; 
for  you  were  troth-plight  to  her.  20 

Nym.  I  cannot  tell;  things  must  be  as  they 
may:  men  may  sleep,  and  they  may  have  their 
throats  about  them  at  that  time;  and  some  say 
knives  have  edges.  It  must  be  as  it  may:  though 
patience  be  a  tired  mare,  yet  she  will  plod.  There 
must  be  conclusions.     Well,  I  cannot  tell. 

Enter  Pistol  and  Hostess 
Bard.   Here  comes  Ancient  Pistol  and  his  wife: 

—  good  corporal,  be  patient  here.     How  now,  mine 

host  Pistol! 
Pist.   Base  tike,  call'st  thou  me  host?  30 

Now,  by  this  hand,  I  swear  I  scorn  the  term; 

Nor  shall  my  Nell  keep  lodgers. 

Host.   No,  by  my  troth,  not  long.    [Nym  draws  his 


Scene  I]       KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH  47 

sword]    0  well-a-day,  Lady,  if  he  be  not  drawn  now ! 
We  shall  see  wilful  murder  committed. 

Bard.  Good  heutenant!  good  corporal!  offer 
nothing  here. 

Nym.   Pish. 

Pist.  Pish  for  thee,  Iceland  dog!  thou  prick-ear'd 
cur  of  Iceland.  40 

Host.  Good  Corporal  Nym,  show  thy  valour, 
and  put  up  your  sword. 

Nym.   Will  you  shog  off?    I  would  have  you  solus. 

Pist.   Solus,  egregious  dog?     O  viper  vile! 
The  solus  in  thy  most  mervailous  face; 
The  solus  in  thy  teeth,  and  in  thy  throat. 
And  in  thy  hateful  lungs,  yea,  in  thy  maw,  perdy; 
And,  which  is  worse,  within  thy  nasty  mouth ! 
I  do  retort  the  solus  in  thy  bowels; 
For  I  can  take,  and  Pistol's  cock  is  up,  50 

And  flashing  fire  will  follow. 

Nym.  I  am  not  Barbason;  you  cannot  conjure 
me.  I  have  a  humour  to  knock  you  indifferently 
well.  If  you  grow  foul  with  me,  Pistol,  I  will  scour 
you  with  my  rapier,  as  I  may,  in  fair  terms:  if  you 
would  walk  off,  I  would  prick  your  guts  a  little,  in 
good  terms,  as  I  may :  and  that 's  the  humour  of  it. 

Pist.   O  braggart  vile,  and  damned  furious  wight! 
The  grave  doth  gape,  and  doting  death  is  near; 
Therefore  exhale.  eo 

Bard.  Hear  me,  hear  me  what  I  say:  he  that 
strikes  the  first  stroke,  I  '11  run  him  up  to  the  hilts, 
as  I  am  a  soldier.  [Draws 


48  KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH         [Act  II 

Pist.   An  oath  of  mickle  might;    and  fury  shall 
abate. 
Give  me  thy  fist,  thy  fore-foot  to  me  give: 
Thy  spirits  are  most  tall. 

Nym.  I  will  cut  thy  throat,  one  time  or  other,  in 
fair  terms:  that  is  the  humour  of  it. 

Pist.    Couple  a  gorge! 
That  's  the  word.     I  defy  thee  again. 

0  hound  of  Crete,  think'st  thou  my  spouse  to  get? 
No;  to  the  spital  go. 

And  from  the  powdering-tub  of  infamy 
Fetch  forth  the  lazar  kite  of  Cressid's  kind, 
Doll  Tearsheet  she  by  name,  and  her  espouse: 

1  have,  and  I  will  hold,  the  quondam  Quickly 
For  the  only  she;  and  —  pauca,  there  's  enough. 
Goto. 

Enter  the  Boy 

Boy.  Mine  host  Pistol,  you  must  come  to  my 
master  —  and  you,  hostess;  he  is  very  sick,  and 
would  to  bed.  —  Good  Bardolph,  put  thy  face  be- 
tween his  sheets,  and  do  the  office  of  a  warming- 
pan.     Faith,  he  's  very  ill. 

Bard.   Away,  you  rogue! 

Host.  By  my  troth,  he  '11  yield  the  crow  a  pudding 
one  of  these  days:  the  king  has  killed  his  heart.  — 
Good  husband,  come  home  presently. 

[Exeunt  Hostess  and  Boy 

Bard.  Come,  shall  I  make  you  two  friends? 
We  must  to  France  together:  why  the  devil  should 
we  keep  knives  to  cut  one  another's  throats? 


Scene  I]       KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH  49 

Pist.   Let   floods   o'erswell,    and   fiends   for   food 
howl  on! 

Nym.  You  '11  pay  me  the  eight  shilHngs  I  won 
of  you  at  betting? 

Pist.   Base  is  the  slave  that  pays. 

Nym.  That  now  I  will  have;  that's  the  humour 
of  it. 

Pist.   As  manhood  shall  compound :  push  home. 

[They  draw 

Bard,  By  this  sword,  he  that  makes  the  first 
thrust,  I  '11  kill  him;  by  this  sword,  I  will. 

Pist.   Sword  is  an  oath,    and  oaths  must  have    loo 
their  course. 

Bard.  Corporal  Nym,  an  thou  wilt  be  friends,  be 
friends;  an  thou  wilt  not,  why  then  be  enemies  with 
me  too.     Prithee,  put  up. 

Nym.  I  shall  have  my  eight  shiUings  I  won  of 
you  at  betting? 

Pist.   A  noble  shalt  thou  have,  and  present  pay; 
And  liquor  likewise  will  I  give  to  thee, 
And  friendship  shall  combine,  and  brotherhood: 
I  '11  live  by  Nym,  and  Nym  shall  live  by  me;  —  no 

Is  not  this  just?  —  for  I  shall  sutler  be 
Unto  the  camp,  and  profits  will  accrue. 
Give  me  thy  hand. 

Nym.   I  shall  have  my  noble? 

Pist.   In  cash  most  justly  paid. 

Nym.   Well,  then,  that 's  the  humour  of  't. 


50  KING  HENRY  THE  FIFTH        [Act  II 

Re-enter  Hostess 

Host.   As    ever   you    came    of   women,    come   in 
quickly  to   Sir  John.     Ah,   poor  heart!    he  is  so 
shaked  of  a  burning  quotidian  tertian,  that  it  is 
most  lamentable  to  behold.     Sweet  men,  come  to    120 
him. 

Nym.   The  king  hath  run  bad  humours  on  the 
knight;  that 's  the  even  of  it. 

Pist.   Nym,  thou  hast  spoke  the  right; 
His  heart  is  fracted  and  corroborate. 

Nym.   The  king  is  a  good  king;  but  it  must  be  as 
it  may;  he  passes  some  humours  and  careers. 

Pist.   Let  us  condole  the  knight;    for    lambkins, 
we  will  live.  [Exeunt 

Scene  II 
Southampton.    A  council-chamber 
Enter  Exeter,  Bedford,  and  Westmoreland 
Bed.    'Fore  God,  his  grace  is  bold,  to  trust  these 

traitors. 
Exe.   They  shall  be  apprehended  by  and  by. 
West.   How  smooth  and  even  they  do  bear  them- 
selves! 
As  if  allegiance  in  their  bosoms  sat, 
Crowned  with  faith  and  constant  loyalty. 

Bed.   The  king  hath  note  of  all  that  they  intend, 
By  interception  which  they  dream  not  of. 
Exe.   Nay,  but  the  man  that  was  his  bedfellow, 


Scene  II]     KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH  51 

Whom   he   hath    dull'd   and   cloy'd   with   gracious 

favours,  — 
That  he  should,  for  a  foreign  purse,  so  sell  lo 

His  sovereign's  life  to  death  and  treachery! 

Trumpets  sound.    Enter  King  Henry,  Scroop, 

Cambridge,  Grey,  and  Attendants 
K.  Hen.   Now   sits   the   wind   fair,  and   we   will 
aboard. 
My   Lord   of   Cambridge,    and   my   kind   Lord   of 

Masham, 
And  you,  my  gentle  knight,  give  me  your  thoughts: 
Think  you  not  that  the  powers  we  bear  with  us 
Will  cut  their  passage  through  the  force  of  France, 
Doing  the  execution  and  the  act 
For  which  we  have  in  head  assembled  them? 
Scroop.   No  doubt,  my  liege,  if  each  man  do  his 

best. 
K.  Hen.    I   doubt   not   that;    since  we   are  well 
persuaded  20 

We  carry  not  a  heart  with  us  from  hence 
That  grows  not  in  a  fair  consent  with  ours,  \.^ 

Nor  leave  not  one  behind  that  doth  not  wish        '^^ 
Success  and  conquest  to  attend  on  us. 

Cam.   Never  was  monarch  better  fear'd  and  lov'd 
Than  is  your  majesty;  there  's  not,  I  think,  a  subject 
That  sits  in  heart-grief  and  uneasiness 
Under  the  sweet  shade  of  your  government. 

Grey.   True:     those     that     were     your     father's 
enemies 


52  KING  HENRY  THE  FIFTH         [Act  II 

Have  steep' d  their  galls  in  honey,   and   do   serve 

you  30 

With  hearts  create  of  duty  and  of  zeal. 

K.  Hen.   We     therefore     have     great     cause     of 
thankfulness, 
And  shall  forget  the  office  of  our  hand 
Sooner  than  quittance  of  desert  and  merit. 
According  to  the  weight  and  worthiness. 

Scroop.   So  service  shall  with  steeled  sinews  toil, 
And  labour  shall  refresh  itself  with  hope 
To  do  your  grace  incessant  services. 

K.  Hen.   We  judge  no  less.  —  Uncle  of  Exeter, 
Enlarge  the  man  committed  yesterday  40 

That  rail'd  against  our  person:  we  consider 
It  was  excess  of  wine  that  set  him  on; 
And  on  his  more  advice  we  pardon  him. 

Scroop.   That 's  mercy,  but  too  much  security: 
Let  him  be  punished,  sovereign,  lest  example 
Breed,  by  his  sufferance,  more  of  such  a  kind. 

K.  Hen.   O,  let  us  yet  be  merciful. 

Cam.   So  may  your  highness,  and  yet  punish  too. 

Grey.   Sir, 
You  show  great  mercy,  if  you  give  him  life,  50 

After  the  taste  of  much  correction. 

K.  Hen.    Alas,  your  too  much  love  and  care  of 
me 
Are  heavy  orisons  'gainst  this  poor  wretch! 
If  little  faults,  proceeding  on  distemper. 
Shall  not  be  wink'd  at,  how  shall  we  stretch  our 
eye 


Scene  II]     KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH  53 

When     capital     crimes,     chew'd,     swallow'd,     and 

digested, 
Appear  before  us?  —  We  '11  yet  enlarge  that  man, 
Though  Cambridge,  Scroop,  and  Grey,  in  their  dear 

care 
And  tender  preservation  of  our  person. 
Would  have  him  punish'd.    And  now  to  our  French 

causes;  eo 

Who  are  the  late  commissioners? 

Cam.    I  one,  my  lord: 
Your  highness  bade  me  ask  for  it  to-day. 
Scroop.   So  did  you  me,  my  liege. 
Grey.   And  I,  my  royal  sovereign. 
K.  Hen.   Then,  Richard  Earl  of  Cambridge,  there 

is  yours; 
There  yours.   Lord  Scroop   of  Masham;    and,   sir 

knight. 
Grey  of  Northumberland,  this  same  is  yours: 
Read  them;  and  know  I  know  your  worthiness. 
My  Lord  of  Westmoreland,  and  Uncle  Exeter,  7o 

We  will  aboard  to-night.  —  Why,  how  now,  gen- 
tlemen! 
What  see  you  in  those  papers  that  you  lose 
So  much  complexion?  —  look  ye  how  they  change! 
Their   cheeks   are   paper.  —  Why,    what   read   you 

there 
That  hath  so  cowarded  and  chas'd  your  blood 
Out  of  appearance? 

Cam.  I  do  confess  my  fault; 

And  do  submit  me  to  your  highness'  mercy. 


54  KING  HENRY  THE  FIFTH        [Act  II 

Greij,  Scroop.   To  which  we  all  appeal. 

K.  Hen.   The  mercy  that  was  quick  in  us  but  late, 
By  your  own  counsel  is  suppress'd  and  kill'd:  so 

You  must  not  dare,  for  shame,  to  talk  of  mercy; 
For  your  own  reasons  turn  into  your  bosoms, 
As  dogs  upon  their  masters,  worrying  you. 
See  you,  my  princes  and  my  noble  peers. 
These  Enghsh  monsters!     My  Lord  of  Cambridge 

here,  — 
You  know  how  apt  our  love  was  to  accord 
To  furnish  him  with  all  appcrtinents 
Belonging  to  his  honour;  and  this  man 
Hath,  for  a  few  light  crowns,  lightly  conspir'd, 
And  sworn  unto  the  practices  of  France,  9o 

To  kill  us  here  in  Hampton;  to  the  which 
This  knight,  no  less  for  bounty  bound  to  us 
Than  Cambridge  is,  hath  likewise  sworn.     But  O, 
What  shall  I  say  to  thee,  Lord  Scroop?  thou  cruel, 
Ingrateful,  savage,  and  inhuman  creature! 
Thou  that  didst  bear  the  key  of  all  my  counsels. 
That  knew'st  the  very  bottom  of  my  soul, 
That  almost  mightst  have  coined  me  into  gold, 
Wouldst  thou  have  practis'd  on  me  for  thy  use;  — 
May  it  be  possible  that  foreign  hire  loo 

Could  out  of  thee  extract  one  spark  of  evil 
That  might  annoy  my  finger?  't  is  so  strange 
That,  though  the  truth  of  it  stands  off  as  gross 
As  black  from  white,  my  eye  will  scarcely  see  it. 
Treason  and  murder  ever  kept  together. 
As  two  yoke-devils  sworn  to  cither's  purpose. 


Scene  II]     KING  HENRY  THE  FIFTH  55 

Working  so  grossly  in  a  natural  cause 

That  admiration  did  not  hoop  at  them: 

But  thou,  'gainst  all  proportion,  didst  bring  in 

Wonder  to  wait  on  treason  and  on  murder:  no 

And  whatsoever  cunning  fiend  it  was 

That  wrought  upon  thee  so  preposterously, 

Hath  got  the  voice  in  hell  for  excellence: 

And  other  devils  that  suggest  by  treasons 

Do  botch  and  bungle  up  damnation 

With  patches,  colours,  and  with  forms  being  fetch'd 

From  glistering  semblances  of  piety; 

But  he  that  temper' d  thee  bade  thee  stand  up. 

Gave  thee  no  instance  why  thou  shouldst  do  treason. 

Unless  to  dub  thee  with  the  name  of  traitor.  120 

If  that  same  demon  that  hath  gull'd  thee  thus 

Should  with  his  lion  gait  walk  the  whole  world, 

He  might  return  to  vasty  Tartar  back, 

And  tell  the  legions,  'I  can  never  win 

A  soul  so  easy  as  that  Englishman's/ 

O,  how  hast  thou  with  jealousy  infected 

The  sweetness  of  affiance!     Show  men  dutiful? 

Why,  so  didst  thou:  seem  they  grave  and  learned? 

Why,  so  didst  thou:  come  they  of  noble  family? 

Why,  so  didst  thou:  seem  they  religious?  i3o 

Why,  so  didst  thou:  or  are  they  spare  in  diet, 

Free  from  gross  passion  or  of  mirth  or  anger. 

Constant  in  spirit,  not  swerving  with  the  blood, 

Garnish 'd  and  deck'd  in  modest  complement. 

Not  working  with  the  eye  without  the  ear, 

And  but  in  purged  judgement  trusting  neither? 


56  KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH         [Act  II 

Such  and  so  finely  bolted  didst  thou  seem: 

And  thus  thy  fall  hath  left  a  kind  of  blot, 

To  mark  the  full-fraught  man  and  best  indued 

With  some  suspicion.     I  will  weep  for  thee;  ho 

For  this  revolt  of  thine,  methinks,  is  like 

Another  fall  of  man.  —  Their  faults  are  open. 

Arrest  them  to  the  answer  of  the  law; 

And  God  acquit  them  of  their  practices! 

Exe.   I  arrest  thee  of  high  treason,  by  the  name 
of  Richard  Earl  of  Cambridge. 

I  arrest  thee  of  high  treason,  by  the  name  of 
Henry  Lord  Scroop  of  Masham. 

I   arrest  thee  of  high  treason,   by  the  name  of 
Thomas  Grey,  knight,  of  Northumberland.  iso 

Scroop.   Our  purposes  God  justly  hath  discover'd; 
And  I  repent  my  fault  more  than  my  death; 
Which  I  beseech  your  highness  to  forgive, 
Although  my  body  pay  the  price  of  it. 

Cam.   For    me  —  the    gold    of    France    did    not 
seduce; 
Although  I  did  admit  it  as  a  motive 
The  sooner  to  effect  what  I  intended: 
But  God  be  thanked  for  prevention; 
Which  I  in  sufferance  heartily  will  rejoice, 
Beseeching  God  and  you  to  pardon  me.  i6o 

Grey.   Never  did  faithful  subject  more  rejoice 
At  the  discovery  of  most  dangerous  treason 
Than  I  do  at  this  hour  joy  o'er  myself. 
Prevented  from  a  damned  enterprise: 
My  fault,  but  not  my  body,  pardon,  sovereign. 


Scene  II]     KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH  57 

K.  Hen.   God  quit  you  in  his  mercy!    Hear  your 
sentence. 
You  have  conspir'd  against  our  royal  person, 
Join'd  with  an  enemy  proclaimed,  and  from  his  coffers 
Receiv'd  the  golden  earnest  of  our  death; 
Wherein  you  would  have  sold  your  king  to  slaughter,    i7o 
His  princes  and  his  peers  to  servitude, 
His  subjects  to  oppression  and  contempt. 
And  his  whole  kingdom  into  desolation.  \  ' 

Touching  our  person,  seek  we  no  revenge;  '  n\ 

But  we  our  kingdom's  safety  must  so  tender, 
Whose  ruin  you  have  sought,  that  to  her  laws 
We  do  deliver  you.     Get  you  therefore  hence. 
Poor  miserable  wretches,  to  your  death: 
The  taste  whereof,  God,  of  his  mercy,  give 
You  patience  to  endure,  and  true  repentance  iso 

Of  all  your  dear  offences!  —  Bear  them  hence. 

[Exeunt  Cambridge,  Scroop,  and  Grey,  guarded 
Now,  lords,  for  France;  the  enterprise  whereof 
Shall  be  to  you,  as  us,  like  glorious. 
We  doubt  not  of  a  fair  and  lucky  war; 
Since  God  so  graciously  hath  brought  to  light 
This  dangerous  treason  lurking  in  our  way 
To  hinder  our  beginnings.    We  doubt  not  now 
But  every  rub  is  smoothed  on  our  way. 
Then,  forth,  dear  countrymen;  let  us  deliver 
Our  puissance  into  the  hand  of  God,  i9o 

Putting  it  straight  in  expedition. 
Cheerly  to  sea;  the  signs  of  war  advance: 
No  king  of  England,  if  not  king  of  France.     [Exeunt 


58  KING  HENRY  THE  FIFTH        [Act  II 

Scene  III 

London.     Before  a  tavern 

Enter  Pistol,  Hostess,  Nym,  Bardolph,  and  Boy 

Host.   Prithee,  honey-sweet  husband,  let  me  bring 
thee  to  Staines. 

Pist.   No;  for  my  manly  heart  doth. yearn. 
Bardolph,   be  blithe;  —  Nym,   rouse  thy  vaunting 

veins;  — 
Boy,  bristle  thy  courage  up;  for  Falstaff  he  is  dead, 
And  we  must  yearn  therefore. 

Bard.   Would  I  were  with  him,  wheresome'er  he 
is,  either  in  heaven  or  in  hell! 

Host.  Nay,  sure,  he  's  not  in  hell:  he  's  in  Arthur's 
bosom,  if  ever  man  went  to  Arthur's  bosom.  'A  made  lo 
a  finer  end  and  went  away  an  it  had  been  any  chris- 
tom  child;  'a  parted  even  just  between  twelve  and 
one,  even  at  the  turning  o'  the  tide:  for  after  I  saw 
him  fumble  with  the  sheets,  and  play  with  the  flowers, 
and  smile  upon  his  fingers'  ends,  I  knew  there  was 
but  one  way;  for  his  nose  was  as  sharp  as  a  pen,  and 
'a  babbled  of  green  fields.  'How  now.  Sir  John!' 
quoth  I:  'what,  man!  be  o'  good  cheer.'  So  'a  cried 
out,  'God,  God,  God!'  three  or  four  times.  Now  I, 
to" comfort  him,  bid  him  'a  should  not  think  of  God;  20 
I  hoped  there  was  no  need  to  trouble  himself  with  any 
such  thoughts  yet.  So  'a  bade  me  lay  more  clothes 
on  his  feet:  I  put  my  hand  into  the  bed  and  felt 
them,  and -they  were  as  cold  as  any  stone;   then  I 


Scene  III]  KING  HENRY  THE  FIFTH  59 

felt  to  his  knees,  and  so  upward  and  upward,  and 
all  was  as  cold  as  any  stone. 

Nym.   They  say  he  cried  out  of  sack. 

Host.   Ay,  that  'a  did. 

Bard.   And  of  women. 

Host.   Nay,  that  'a  did  not.  so 

Boij.  Yes,  that  'a  did;  and  said  they  were  devils 
incarnate. 

Host.  'A  could  never  abide  carnation:  't  was  a 
colour  he  never  liked. 

Boy.  Do  you  not  remember,  'a  saw  a  flea  stick 
upon  Bardolph's  nose,  and  'a  said  it  was  a  black  soul 
burning  in  hell-fire? 

Bard.  Well,  the  fuel  is  gone  that  maintained 
that  fire:  that 's  all  the  riches  I  got  in  his  service. 

Nym.   Shall  we  shog?   the  king  will  be  gone  from     40 
Southampton. 

Pist.   Come,  let 's  away.  —  My  love,  give  me  thy 
lips. 
Look  to  my  chattels  and  my  movables : 
Let  senses  rule;  the  word  is,  'Pitch  and  pay'; 
Trust  none: 

For  oaths  are  straws,  men's  faiths  are  wafer-cakes, 
And  hold-fast  is  the  only  dog,  my  duck; 
Therefore,  caveto  be  thy  counsellor. 
Go,  clear  thy  crystals.  —  Yoke-fellows  in  arms, 
Let  us  to  France;  Hke  horse-leeches,  my  boys,  50 

To  suck,  to  suck,  the  very  blood  to  suck! 

Boy.   And  that  is  but  unwholesome  food,  they  say. 

Pist.   Touch  her  soft  mouth,  and  march. 


60  KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH        [Act  II         ' 

Bard.    Farewell,  hostess.  [Kissing  her 

Nym.    I  cannot  kiss,  that  is  the  humour  of  it;  but, 
adieu. 

Pist.   Let  housewifery  appear;   keep  close,  I  thee 

command. 
Host.   Farewell;  adieu.  [Exeunt 

Scene   IV 
France.     The  King's  palace 

Flourish.    Enter  the  French  King,  the  Dauphin,  the 

Dukes  of  Berri  and  Bretagne,  the  Constable, 

and  others 

Fr.    King.   Thus    comes    the    English    with    full 
power  upon  us; 
And  more  than  carefully  it  us  concerns 
To  answer  royally  in  our  defences. 
Therefore  the  Dukes  of  Berri  and  Bretagne, 
Of  Brabant  and  of  Orleans,  shall  make  forth. 
And  you.  Prince  Dauphin,  with  all  swift  despatch, 
To  line  and  new  repair  our  towns  of  war 
With  men  of  courage  and  with  means  defendant; 
For  England  his  approaches  makes  as  fierce 
As  waters  to  the  sucking  of  a  gulf.  lo 

It  fits  us  then  to  be  as  provident 
As  fear  may  teach  us  out  of  late  examples 
Left  by  the  fatal  and  neglected  English 
Upon  our  fields. 

Daii.  My  most  redoubted  father, 

It  is  most  meet  we  arm  us  'gainst  the  foe; 


Scene  IV]    KING  HENRY  THE  FIFTH  61 

For  peace  itself  should  not  so  dull  a  kingdom, 

Though  war  nor  no  known  quarrel  were  in  question, 

But  that  defences,  musters,  preparations. 

Should  be  maintained,  assembled,  and  collected, 

As  were  a  war  in  expectation.  20 

Therefore  I  say  't  is  meet  we  all  go  forth 

To  view  the  sick  and  feeble  parts  of  France; 

And  let  us  do  it  with  no  show  of  fear; 

No,  with  no  more  than  if  we  heard  that  England 

Were  busied  with  a  Whitsun  morris-dance: 

For,  my  good  liege,  she  is  so  idly  king'd. 

Her  sceptre  so  fantastically  borne 

By  a  vain,  giddy,  shallow,  humorous  youth. 

That  fear  attends  her  not. 

Con.  O  peace.  Prince  Dauphin! 

You  are  too  much  mistaken  in  this  king:  .  30 

Question  your  grace  the  late  ambassadors. 
With  what  great  state  he  heard  their  embassy, 
How  well  supplied  with  noble  counsellors. 
How  modest  in  exception,  and  withal 
How  terrible  in  constant  resolution. 
And  you  shall  find  his  vanities  forespent 
Were  but  the  outside  of  the  Roman  Brutus, 
Covering  discretion  with  a  coat  of  folly; 
As  gardeners  do  with  ordure  hide  those  roots 
That  shall  first  spring  and  be  most  delicate.  40 

Dau.   Well,  't  is  not  so,  my  lord  high  constable; 
But  though  we  think  it  so,  it  is  no  matter: 
In  cases  of  defence  't  is  best  to  weigh 
The  enemy  more  mighty  than  he  seems: 


62  KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH         [Act  II 

So  the  proportions  of  defence  are  fiU'd; 
Which  of  a  weak  and  niggardly  projection 
Doth,  Hke  a  miser,  spoil  his  coat  with  scanting 
A  little  cloth. 

Fr.  King.       Think  we  King  Harry  strong; 
And,  princes,  look  you  strongly  arm  to  meet  him. 
The  kindred  of  him  hath  been  flesh'd  upon  us;  5o 

And  he  is  bled  out  of  that  bloody  strain 
That  haunted  us  in  our  familiar  paths: 
Witness  our  too  much  memorable  shame, 
When  Cressy  battle  fatally  was  struck, 
And  all  our  princes  captiv'd  by  the  hand 
Of   that    black   name,    Edward,    Black    Prince    of 

Wales; 
Whiles  that  his  mountain  sire,  on  mountain  standing. 
Up  in  the  air,  crown' d  with  the  golden  sun. 
Saw  his  heroical  seed,  and  smil'd  to  see  him 
Mangle  the  work  of  nature,  and  deface  eo 

The  patterns  that  by  God  and  by  French  fathers 
Had  twenty  years  been  made.    This  is  a  stem 
Of  that  victorious  stock;  and  let  us  fear 
The  native  mightiness  and  fate  of  him. 

Enter  a  Messenger 

Mess.   Ambassadors  from  Harry  King  of  England 
Do  crave  admittance  to  your  majesty. 

Fr.  King.   We  '11  give  them  present  audience.    Go, 
and  bring  them.  — 

[Exeunt  Messenger  and  certain  Lords 
You  see  this  chase  is  hotly  follow'd,  friends. 


Scene  IV]    KING  HENRY  THE  FIFTH  63 

Dau.   Turn  head,  and  stop  pursuit:  for   coward 

dogs 
Most  spend  their  mouths,  when  what  they  seem  to 

threaten  7o 

Runs  far  before  them.     Good  my  sovereign, 
Take  up  the  Enghsh  short,  and  let  them  know 
Of  what  a  monarchy  you  are  the  head; 
Self-love,  my  liege,  is  not  so  vile  a  sin 
As  self-neglecting. 

Re-enter  Lords,  with  Exeter  and  train 

Fr.  King.  From  our  brother  of  England? 

Exe.   From  him;  and  thus  he  greets  your  majesty. 
He  wills  you,  in  the  name  of  God  Almighty, 
That  you  divest  yourself,  and  lay  apart 
The  borrowed  glories  that,  by  gift  of  Heaven, 
By  law  of  nature  and  of  nations,  'long  so 

To  him  and  to  his  heirs;  namely,  the  crown, 
And  all  wide-stretched  honours  that  pertain, 
By  custom  and  the  ordinance  of  times. 
Unto  the  crown  of  France.    That  you  may  know 
'T  is  no  sinister  nor  no  awkward  claim, 
Pick'd  from  the  worm-holes  of  long-vanish'd  days, 
Nor  from  the  dust  of  old  oblivion  rak'd. 
He  sends  you  this  most  memorable  line, 

[Gives  a  paper 
In  every  branch  truly  demonstrative; 
Willing  you  overlook  this  pedigree:  90 

And  when  you  find  him  evenly  deriv'd 
From  his  most  fam'd  of  famous  ancestors, 


64  KING  HENRY  THE  FIFTH        [Act  II 

Edward  the  Third,  he  bids  you  then  resign 
Your  crown  and  kingdom,  indirectly  held 
From  him  the  native  and  true  challenger. 

Fr.  King.   Or  else  what  follows? 

Exe.   Bloody  constraint;  for,  if  you  hide  the  crown 
Even  in  your  hearts,  there  will  he  rake  for  it : 
Therefore  in  fierce  tempest  is  he  coming, 
In  thunder  and  in  earthquake,  like  a  Jove,  loo 

That,  if  requiring  fail,  he  will  compel; 
And  bids  you,  in  the  bowels  of  the  Lord, 
Dehver  up  the  crown,  and  to  take  mercy     • 
On  the  poor  souls  for  whom  this  hungry  war 
Opens  his  vasty  jaws;  and  on  your  head 
Turning  the  widows'  tears,  the  orphans'  cries. 
The  dead  men's  blood,  the  pining  maidens'  groans, 
For  husbands,  fathers,  and  betrothed  lovers. 
That  shall  be  swallow'd  in  this  controversy. 
This  is  his  claim,  his  threat'ning,  and  my  message:       no 
Unless  the  Dauphin  be  in  presence  here. 
To  whom  expressly  I  bring  greeting  too. 

Fr.  King.    For  us,  we  will  consider  of  this  further : 
To-morrow  shall  you  bear  our  full  intent 
Back  to  our  brother  England. 

Dau.  For  the  Dauphin, 

I  stand  here  for  him:  what  to  him  from  England? 

Exe.   Scorn  and  defiance;  slight  regard,  contempt, 
And  any  thing  that  may  not  misbecome 
The  mighty  sender,  doth  he  prize  you  at. 
Thus  says  my  king:  an  if  your  father's  highness  120 

Do  not,  in  grant  of  all  demands  at  large, 


Scene  IV]    KING  HENRY  THE  FIFTH  65 

Sweeten  the  bitter  mock  you  sent  his  majesty, 
He  '11  call  you  to  so  hot  an  answer  of  it 
That  caves  and  womby  vaultages  of  France 
Shall  chide  your  trespass,  and  return  your  mock 
In  second  accent  of  his  ordnance. 

Dau.   Say,  if  my  father  render  fair  return. 
It  is  against  my  will;  for  I  desire 
Nothing  but  odds  with  England :  to  that  end. 
As  matching  to  his  youth  and  vanity,  130 

I  did  present  him  with  the  Paris  balls. 

Exe.   He  '11  make  your  Paris  Louvre  shake  for  it. 
Were  it  the  mistress  court  of  mighty  Europe: 
And,  be  assur'd,  you'll  find  a  difference. 
As  we  his  subjects  have  in  wonder  found. 
Between  the  promise  of  his  greener  days 
And  these  he  masters  now;  now  he  weighs  time 
Even  to  the  utmost  grain;  that  you  shall  read 
In  your  own  losses,  if  he  stay  in  France. 

Fr.  King.   To-morrow  shall  you  know  our  mind  at 
full.  [Flourish    140 

Exe.   Despatch  us  with  all  speed,  lest  that  our 
king 
Come  here  himself  to  question  our  delay; 
For  he  is  footed  in  this  land  already. 

Fr.  King.   You  shall  be  soon  dospatch'd  with  fair 
conditions: 
A  night  is  but  small  breath  and  little  pause 
To  answer  matters  of  this  consequence.  [Exeunt 


ACT  III 

Prologue 
Flourish.    Enter  Chorus 
Chor.   Thus  with  imagin'd  wing  our  swift  scene 
flies 
In  motion  of  no  less  celerity 

Than  that  of  thought.     Suppose  that  you  have  seen 
The  well-appointed  king  at  Hampton  pier 
Embark  his  royalty;  and  his  brave  fleet 
With  silken  streamers  the  young  Phoebus  fanning: 
Play  with  your  fancies,  and  in  them  behold 
Upon  the  hempen  tackle  ship-boys  chmbing; 
Hear  the  shrill  whistle  which  doth  order  give 
To  sounds  confus'd;  behold  the  threaden  sails,  lo 

Borne  with  the  invisible  and  creeping  wind, 
Draw  the  huge  bottoms  through  the  furrow'd  sesLyry'^^m^^' 
Breasting  the  lofty  surge:  O,  do  but  think 
You  stand  upon  the  rivage,  and  behold 
A  city  on  the  inconstant  billows  dancing; 
For  so  appears  this  fleet  majestical. 
Holding  due  course  to  Harfleur.     Follow,  follow! 
Grapple  your  minds  to  sternage  of  this  navy. 
And  leave  your  England,  as  dead  midnight  still, 
Guarded  with  grandsires,  babies,  and  old  women,  20 

Either  past  or  not  arriv'd  to  pith  and  puissance : 

66 


Scene  I]       KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH  67 

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; 
Behold  the  ordnance  on  their  carriages, 
With  fatal  mouths  gaping  on  girded  Harfleur. 
Suppose   th'    ambassador   from   the   French   comes 

back ; 
Tells  Harry  that  the  king  doth  offer  him 
Katharine  his  daughter;  and  with  her,  to  dowry,  so 

Some  petty  and  unprofitable  dukedoms. 
The  offer  likes  not:  and  the  nimble  gunner 
With  linstock  now  the  devihsh  cannon  touches, 

[Alarum,  and  chambers  go  off 
And  down  goes  all  before  them.     Still  be  kind, 
And  eke  out  our  performance  with  your  mind.   [Exit 

Scene  I 
France.     Before  Harfleur 

Alarums.     Enter  King  Henry,  Exeter,  Bedford, 
Gloucester,  and  Soldiers,  with  scaling  ladders 
K.  Hen.   Once  more  unto  the  breach,  dear  friends, 
once  more; 
Or  close  the  wall  up  with  our  English  dead! 
In  peace  there  's  nothing  so  becomes  a  man 
As  modest  stillness  and  humihty: 
But,  when  the  blast  of  war  blows  in  our  ears, 
Then  imitate  the  action  of  the  tiger; 
Stiffen  the  sinews,  summon  up  the  blood, 


.  i 


68  KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH       [Act  III 

Disguise  fair  nature  with  hard-favoured  rage; 

Then  lend  the  eye  a  terrible  aspect; 

Let  it  pry  through  the  portage  of  the  head  lo 

Like  the  brass  cannon;  let  the  brow  overwhelm  it, 

As  fearfully  as  doth  a  galled  rock 

O'erhang  and  jutty  his  confounded  base, 

Swiird  with  the  wild  and  wasteful  ocean. 

Now  set  the  teeth,  and  stretch  the  nostril  wide,  .    ^ 

Hold  hard  the  breath,  and  bend  up  every  spirit 

To  his  full  height!     On,  on,  you  noblest  Enghsh, 

Whose  blood  is  fet  from  fathers  of  war-proof! 

Fathers  that,  like  so  many  Alexanders, 

Ht^ve  in  these  parts  from  morn  till  even  fought,  20 

And  sheath'd  their  swords  for  lack  of  argument: 

Dishonour  not  your  mothers;  now  attest 

That  those  v/hom  you  call'd  fathers  did  beget  you! 

Be  copy  now  to  men  of  grosser  blood. 

And   teach  them   how   to   war !  —  And  you,   good 

yeomen. 
Whose  limbs  were  made  in  England,  show  us  here 
The  mettle  of  your  pasture;  let  us  swear 
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.  so 

I  see  you  stand  like  greyhounds  in  the  slips. 
Straining  upon  the  start.     The  game  's  afoot; 
Follow  j^our  spirit;  and  upon  this  charge 
Cry,  'God  for  Harry,  England,  and  Saint  George!' 
[Exeunt.     Alarum,  and  chambers  go  off 


Scene  II]     KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH  69 

Scene  II 

The  same 

Enter  Nym,  Bardolph,  Pistol,  and  Boy 

Bard.  On,  on,  on,  on,  on!  to  the  breach,  to  the 
breach ! 

Nyyii.  Pray  thee,  corporal,  stay;  the  knocks  are 
too  hot;  and,  for  mine  own  part,  I  have  not  a  case 
of  Hves:  the  humour  of  it  is  too  hot,  that  is  the  very 
plain-song  of  it. 

Pist.  The  plain-song  is  most  just;  for  humours 
do  abound: 

Knocks  go  and  come;  God's  vassals  drop  and  die; 
And  sword  and  sliield. 

In  bloody  field,  lo 

Doth  win  immortal  fame. 

Boy.   Would  I  were  in  an  alehouse  in  London!    I 
would  give  all  my  fame  for  a  pot  of  ale  and  safety. 
Pist.   And  I: 

If  wishes  would  prevail  with  me, 
My  purpose  should  not  fail  with  me, 
But  thither  would  I  liie. 

Boy.         As  duly,  but  not  as  truly, 
As  bird  doth  sing  on  bough. 

Enter  Fluellen 

Flu.   Up  to  the  breach,  you  dogs!    avaunt,  you     20 
cuUions.  [Driving  them  forward 

Pist.   Be  merciful,  great  duke,  to  men  of  mould! 
Abate  thy  rage,  abate  thy  manly  rage; 


70  KING  HENRY  THE  FIFTH       [Act  III 

Abate  thy  rage,  great  duke! 

Good  bawcock,   bate  thy  rage;    use  lenity,   sweet 
chuck! 

Nym.   These   be   good  humours !  —  your  honour 
wins  bad  humours.  [Exeunt  all  hut  Boy 

Boy.  As  young  as  I  am,  I  have  observed  these 
three  swashers.  I  am  boy  to  them  all  three:  but 
all  they  three,  though  they  would  serve  me,  could  so 
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  means  whereof 
'a  faces  it  out,  but  fights  not.  For  Pistol  —  he  hath 
a  kiUing  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  be  thought  a  coward:  but 
his  few  bad  words  are  match 'd  with  as  few  good  4l 
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  pur- 
chase. Bardolph  stole  a  lute-case,  bore  it  twelve 
leagues,  and  sold  it  for  three  half -pence.  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  handkerchers :  which  makes  much  so 
against  my  manhood,  if  I  should  take  from  another's 
pocket  to  put  into  mine;  for  it  is  plain  pocketing  up 


Scene  II]     KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH  71 

of  wrongs.  I  must  leave  them,  and  seek  some  better 
service:  their  villainy  goes  against  my  weak  stom- 
ach, and  therefore  I  must  cast  it  up.  [Exit 

Re-enter  Fluellen,  Gower  following 

Gow.  Captain  Fluellen,  you  must  come  presently 
to  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  eo 
is  not  according  to  the  disciplines  of  the  war;  the 
concavities  of  it  is  not  sufficient;  for,  look  you,  th' 
athversary  —  you  may  discuss  unto  the  duke,  look 
you  —  is  digt  himself  four  yard  under  the  counter- 
mines: by  Cheshu,  I  think  'a  will  plough  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,  a  very  valiant  gentleman,  i'  faith. 

Flu.   It  is  Captain  Macmorris,  is  it  not?  70 

Gow.    I  think  it  be. 

Flu.  By  Cheshu,  he  is  an  ass,  as  in  the  world:  I 
will  verify  as  much  in  his  beard;  he  has  no  more 
directions  in  the  true  disciplines  of  the  wars,  look 
you,  of  the  Roman  discipHnes,  than  is  a  puppy-dog. 

Enter  Macmorris  and  Captain  J  amy 

Gow.   Here    'a    comes;     and    the    Scots    captain, 
Captain  Jamy,  with  him. 
Flu.   Captain  Jamy  is  a  marvellous  falorous  gen- 


72  KING  HENRY  THE  FIFTH       [Act  III 

tleman,  that  is  certain;  and  of  great  expedition  and 
knowledge  in  the  aunchient  wars,  upon  my  par-  so 
ticular  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. 

Jamy.   I  say  gud-day,  Captain  Fluellen. 

Flu.  God-den  to  your  worship,  good  Captain 
James. 

Gow.  How  now.  Captain  Macmorris!  have  you 
quit  the  mines?  have  the  pioneers  given  o'er? 

Mac.  By  Chrish,  la!  tish  ill  done:  the  work  ish  9o 
give  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! 

Flu.  Captain  Macmorris,  I  beseech  you  now, 
will  you  voutsafe  me,  look  you,  a  few  disputations 
with  you,  as  partly  touching  or  concerning  the  dis- 
ciplines of  the  war,  the  Roman  wars,  in  the  way  of 
argument,  look  you,  and  friendly  communication;  lOo 
partly  to  satisfy  my  opinion,  and  partly  for  the 
satisfaction,  look  you,  of  my  mind,  as  touching  the 
direction  of  the  military  discipline;  that  is  the  point. 

Jamy.  It  sail  be  vary  gad,  gud  feith,  gud  cap- 
tains bath;  and  I  sail  quit  you  with  gud  leve,  as  I 
may  pick  occasion;  that  sail  I,  marry. 

Mac.  It  is  no  time  to  discours3,  so  Chrish  save 
me:   the  day  is  hot,  and  the  weather,  and  the  wars, 


Scene  II]     KING  HENRY  THE  FIFTH  73 

and  the  king,  and  the  dukes:  it  is  no  time  to  dis- 
course. The  town  is  beseeched,  and  the  trumpet  no 
caU  us  to  the  breach;  and  we  talk,  and,  be  Chrish, 
do  nothing:  'tis  shame  for  us  all:  so  God  sa'  me, 
't  is  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! 

Jamij.  By  the  mess,  ere  theise  eyes  of  mine  take 
themselves  to  slomber,  I  '11  de  gud  service,  or  I  '11 
lig  i'  the  grund  for  it;  ay,  or  go  to  death;  and  I  '11 
pay  't  as  valorously  as  I  may,  that  sail  I  suerly  do, 
that  is  the  breff  and  the  long :  marry,  I  wad  full  fain  120 
heard  some  question  'tween  you  tway. 

Flu.  Captain  Macmorris,  I  think,  look  you, 
under  your  correction,  there  is  not  many  of  your 
nation 

Mac.  Of  my  nation!  What  ish  my  nation?  Ish 
a  villain,  and  a  bastard,  and  a  knave,  and  a  rascal. 
What  ish  my  nation?    Who  talks  of  my  nation? 

Flu.  Look  you,  if  you  take  the  matter  otherwise 
than  is  meant.  Captain  Macmorris,  peradventure 
I  shall  think  you  do  not  use  me  with  that  affability  130 
as  in  discretion  you  ought  to  use  me,  look  you;  being 
as  good  a  man  as  yourself,  both  in  the  disciplines  of 
wars  and  in  the  derivation  of  my  birth,  and  in  other 
particularities. 

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. 


74  KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH       [Act  III 

J  amy.   A!  that 's  a  foul  fault.      [A  parley  sounded 

Gow.   The  town  sounds  a  parley. 

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  an  end.  [Exeunt 

Scene  III 
Before  the  gates  of  Harjleur 

The  Governor  and  some  Citizens  on  the  walls;  the 
English  Forces  below.  Enter  King  Henry  and 
his  train. 

K.  Hen.    How  yet  resolves  the  governor  of  the 
town? 
This  is  the  latest  parle  we  will  admit : 
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, 
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; 
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. 
What  is  it  then  to  me,  if  impious  war. 
Array' d  in  flames  like  to  the  prince  of  fiends, 


Scene  Til]    KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH  75 

Do,  with  his  smirched  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  hand  20 

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  th'  enraged  soldiers  in  their  spoil. 

As  send  precepts  to  the  leviathan 

To  come  ashore.     Therefore,  ye  men  of  Harfleur, 

Take  pity  of  your  town  and  of  your  people. 

Whiles  yet  my  soldiers  are  in  my  command; 

Whiles  yet  the  cool  and  temperate  wind  of  grace  30 

O'erblows  the  filthy  and  contagious  clouds 

Of  heady  murder,  spoil,  and  villany.  ♦ 

If  not,  why,  in  a  moment  look  to  see 

The  bhnd  and  bloody  soldier  with  foul  hand 

Defile  the  locks  of  your  shrill-shrieking  daughters; 

Your  fathers  taken  by  the  silver  beards, 

And  their  most  reverend  heads  dashed  to  the  walls; 

Your  naked  infants  spitted  upon  pikes, 

Whiles  the  mad  mothers  with  their  howls  confus'd 

Do  break  the  clouds,  as  did  the  wives  of  Jewry  4o 

At  Herod's  bloody-hunting  slaughtermen. 

What  say  you?  will  you  yield,  and  this  avoid? 

Or,  guilty  in  defence,  be  thus  destroyed? 

Gov,  Our  expectation  hath  this  day  an  end: 
The  Dauphin,  whom  of  succours  we  entreated, 
Returns  us,  that  his  powers  are  yet  not  ready 


76  KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH       [Act  III 

To  raise  so  great  a  siege.     Therefore,  great  king, 

We  yield  our  town  and  lives  to  thy  soft  mercy. 

Enter  our  gates;  dispose  of  us  and  ours; 

For  we  no  longer  are  defensible.  so 

K.  Hen.   Open  your  gates.  —  Come,  Uncle  Exeter, 
Go  you  and  enter  Harfieur;  there  remain. 
And  fortify  it  strongly  'gainst  the  French : 
Use  mercy  to  them  all.     For  us,  dear  uncle, 
The  winter  coming  on,  and  sickness  growing 
Upon  our  soldiers,  we  will  retire  to  Calais. 
To-night  in  Harfieur  will  we  be  your  guest; 
To-morrow  for  the  march  are  we  addrest. 

[Flourish.     The  King  and  Ms  train  enter  the  town 

Scene  IV 

The  French  King's  palace 

Enter  Katharine  and  Alice 

Kath.  Alice,  tu  as  ete  en  Angleterre,  et  tu  paries 
bien  le  langage. 

Alice.   Un  peu,  madame. 

Kath.  Je  te  prie  m'enseignez;  il  f aut  que  j 'apprenne 
a  parler.    Comment  appelez-vous  la  main  en  Anglois? 

Alice.   La  main?  elle  est  appelee  de  hand. 

Kath.   De  hand.     Et  les  doigts? 

Alice.  Les  doigts?  ma  foi,  j'oubhe  les  doigts; 
mais  je  me  souviendrai.  Les  doigts?  je  pense  qu'ils 
sont  appeles  de  fingres;  oui,  de  fingres.  lo 

Kath.  La  main,  de  hand;  les  doigts,  de  fingres. 
Je  pense  que  je  suis  le  bon  ecolier;   j'ai  gagne  deux 


Scene  IV]    KING  HENRY  THE  FIFTH  77 

mots  d'Anglois  vitement.     Comment  appelez-vous 
les  ongles? 

Alice.   Les  ongles?  nous  les  appelons  de  nails. 

Kath.  De  nails.  Ecoutez;  dites-moi,  si  je  parle 
bien:  de  hand,  de  fingres,  et  de  nails. 

Alice.  C'est  bien  dit,  madame;  il  est  fort  bon 
Anglois. 

Kath.   Dites-moi  I'Anglois  pour  le  bras.  20 

Alice.   De  arm,  madame. 

Kath.   Et  le  coude? 

Alice.   De  elbow. 

Kath.  De  elbow.  Je  m'en  fais  la  repetition  de  tous 
les  mots  que  vous  m'avez  appris  des  a  present. 

Alice.  II  est  trop  difficile,  madame,  comme  je  pense. 

Kath.  Excusez-moi,  Alice;  ecoutez;  de  hand,  de 
fingres,  ds  nails,  de  arm,  de  bilbow. 

Alice.   De  elbow,  madame. 

Kath.   O  Seigneur  Dieu,  je  m'en  oubhe!  de  elbow,     so 
Comment  appelez-vous  le  col? 

Alice.   De  neck,  madame. 

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  verite,  vous 
prononcez  les  mots  aussi  droit  que  les  natifs  d'An- 
gleterre. 

Kath.  Je  ne  doute  point  d'apprendre,  par  la  grace 
de  Dieu,  et  en  peu  de  temps.  40 

Alice.  N'avez-vous  pas  deja  oublie  ce  que  je  vous 
ai  enseigne? 


78  KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH       [Act  III 

Kath.  Non,  je  reciterai  a  vous  promptement;  de 
hand,  de  fingres,  de  mails  — 

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. 
Comment  appelez-vous  le  pied  et  la  robe? 

Alice.   De  foot,  madame;  et  de  coun.  50 

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  prononcer  ces  mots  de- 
vant  les  seigneurs  de  France  pour  tout  le  monde. 
Fob!  le  foot  et  le  coun!  Neanmoins,  je  reciterai 
une  autre  fois  ma  le9on  ensemble:  de  hand,  de  fin- 
gres, de  nails,  de  arm,  de  elbow,  de  nick,  de  sin,  de 
foot,  de  coun. 

Alice.   Excellent,  madame!  oo 

Kath.  C'est  assez  pour  une  fois:  allons-nous  a 
diner.  [Exeunt 

Scene  V 

The  same 

Enter  the  King  of  France,  the  Dauphin,  the  Duke 
OF    Bourbon,   the  Constable    of   France,   and 
others 
Fr.  King.    'T  is  certain  he  hath  pass'd  the  river 

Somme. 
Con.    And  if  he  be  not  fought  withal,  my  lord, 


Scene  V]      KING  HENRY  THE  FIFTH  79 

Let  us  not  live  in  France;  let  us  quit  all, 
And  give  our  vineyards  to  a  barbarous  people. 

Dau.   0  Dieu  vivant!    Shall  a  few  sprays  of  us, 
The  emptying  of  our  fathers'  luxury, 
Our  scions,  put  in  wild  and  savage  stock, 
Spirt  up  so  suddenly  into  the  clouds, 
And  overlook  their  grafters? 

Bour.   Normans,  but  bastard  Normans,  Norman 
bastards!  lo 

Mort  de  ma  vie!  if  they  march  along 
Unfought  withal,  but  I  will  sell  my  dukedom, 
To  buy  a  slobbery  and  a  dirty  farm 
In  that  nook-shotten  isle  of  Albion. 

Con.   Dieu   de   batailles!     where    have    they   this 
mettle? 
Is  not  their  climate  foggy,  raw,  and  dull; 
On  whom,  as  in  despite,  the  sun  looks  pale. 
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 
Upon    our    houses'    thatch,    whiles    a    more    frosty 

people 
Sweat  drops  of  gallant  youth  in  our  rich  fields!  — 
Poor  we  may  call  them  in  their  native  lords! 

Dau.   By  faith  and  honour,   our  madams  mock 
at  us. 
And  plainly  say  our  mettle  is  bred  out. 


80  KING  HENRY  THE  FIFTH       [Act  III    ' 

Bour.   They  bid  us  to  the  EngUsh  dancing-schools, 
And  teach  lavoltas  high  and  swift  corantos;  so 

Saying  our  grace  is  only  in  our  heels, 
And  that  we  are  most  lofty  runaways. 

Fr.  King.   Where  is  Mont  joy  the  herald?  speed 
him  hence; 
Let  him  greet  England  with  our  sharp  defiance. 
Up,  princes!  and,  with  spirit  of  honour  edg'd 
More  sharper  than  your  swords,  hie  to  the  field: 
Charles  Delabreth,  high  constable  of  France; 
You  dukes  of  Orleans,  Bourbon,  and  of  Berri, 
Alengon,  Brabant,  Bar,  and  Burgundy; 
Jaques  Chatillon,  Rambures,  Vaudemont,  4u 

Beaumont,  Grandpre,  Roussi,  and  Fauconberg, 
Foix,  Lestrale,  Bouciqualt,  and  Charolois; 
High    dukes,    great    princes,    barons,    lords,    and 

knights, 
For    your    great    seats    now    quit    you    of    great 

shames. 
Bar  Harry  England,  that  sweeps  through  our  land 
With  pennons  painted  in  the  blood  of  Harfleur: 
Rush  on  his  host,  as  doth  the  melted  snow 
Upon  the  valleys,  whose  low  vassal  seat 
The  Alps  doth  spit  and  void  his  rheum  upon: 
Go  down  upon  him,  —  you  have  power  enough,  —        so 
And  in  a  captive  chariot  into  Rouen 
Bring  him  our  prisoner. 

Con.  This  becomes  the  great. 

Sorry  am  I  his  numbers  are  so  few. 
His  soldiers  sick  and  famish'd  in  their  march; 


Scene  VI]    KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH  81 

For  I  am  sure,  when  he  shall  see  our  army, 
He  '11  drop  his  heart  into  the  sink  of  fear, 
And  for  achievement  offer  us  his  ransom. 
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.  eo 

Prince  Dauphin,  you  shall  stay  with  us  in  Rouen. 
Dau.   Not  so,  I  do  beseech  your  majesty. 
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 
I   Scene  VI 
The  English  camp  in  Picardy 
Enter  Gower  and  Fluellen,  meeting 
Gow.   How  now.  Captain  Fluellen!  come  you  from 
the  bridge? 

Flu.   I  assure  you,  there  is  very  excellent  services 
committed  at  the  pridge. 

Gow.  Is  the  Duke  of  Exeter  safe? 
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,  and  my  uttermost  power:  he  is 
not  (God  be  praised  and  plessed!)  any  hurt  in  the  lo 
world;  but  keeps  the  pridge  most  valiantly,  with 
excellent   discipline.      There   is   an   aunchient   lieu- 


82  KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH       [Act  III 

tenant  there  at  the  pridge  —  I  think  in  my  very 
conscience  he  is  as  vaUant  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. 

Gow.   What  do  you  call  him? 

Flu.  .  He  is  called  Aunchient  Pistol. 

Gow.   I  know  him  not. 

Flu.   Here  is  the  man.  20 

Enter  Pistol 

Pist.   Captain,  I  thee  beseech  to  do  me  favours: 
The  Duke  of  Exeter  doth  love  thee  well. 

Flu.   Ay,  I  praise  God;   and  I  have  merited  some 
love  at  his  hands. 

Pist.   Bardolph,  a  soldier  firm  and  sound  of  heart, 
And  of  buxom  valour,  hath,  by  cruel  fate, 
And  giddy  Fortune's  furious  fickle  wheel. 
That  goddess  bUnd, 
That  stands  upon  the  rolling,  restless  stone  — 

Flu.  By  your  patience,  Aunchient  Pistol.  For-  30 
tune  is  painted  bhnd,  with  a  muffler  before  his  eyes, 
to  signify  to  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  incon- 
stant, and  mutability,  and  variation:  and  her  foot, 
look  you,  is  fixed  upon  a  spherical  stone,  which 
rolls,  and  rolls,  and  rolls.  —  In  good  truth,  the  poet 
makes  a  most  excellent  description  of  it:  Fortune 
is  an  excellent  moral. 

Pist.  Fortune  is  Bardolph's  foe,  and  frowns  on  him ;     40 


Scene  VI]    KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH  83 

For  he  hath  stolen  a  pax,  and  hanged  must  'a  be. 

A  damned  death! 

Let  gallows  gape  for  dog;  let  man  go  free, 

And  let  not  hemp  his  wind-pipe  suffocate: 

But  Exeter  hath  given  the  doom  of  death 

For  pax  of  little  price. 

Therefore,  go  speak;  the  duke  will  hear  thy  voice; 

And  let  not  Bardolph's  vital  thread  be  cut 

With  edge  of  penny  cord  and  vile  reproach: 

Speak,  captain,  for  his  life,  and  I  will  thee  requite.         50 

Flu.  Aunchient  Pistol,  I  do  partly  understand 
your  meaning. 

Pist.   Why  then,  rejoice  therefore. 

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;  for  discipline  ought  to 
be  used.  , 

Pist.  Die  and  be  damn'd!  and  ^go  for  thy  friend- 
ship !  60 

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  cutpurse. 

Flu.  I  '11  assure  you,  'a  uttered  as  prave  words  at 
the  pridge  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,  't  is  a  gull,  a  fool,  a  rogue,  that  now     7o 


84  KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH       [Act  III 

and  then  goes  to  the  wars,  to  grace  himself  at  his 
return  into  London  under  the  form  of  a  soldier. 
And  such  fellows  are  perfect  in  the  great  com- 
manders' names:  and  they  will  learn  you  by  rote 
where  services  were  done;  at  such  and  such  a 
sconce,  at  such  a  breach,  at  such  a  convoy;  who 
came  off  bravely,  who  was  shot,  who  disgraced, 
what  terms  the  enemy  stood  on;  and  this  they  con 
perfectly  in  the  phrase  of  war,  which  they  trick  up 
with  new-tuned  oaths:  and  what  a  beard  of  the 
general's  cut  and  a  horrid  suit  of  the  camp  will  do 
among  foaming  bottles  and  ale-washed  wits,  is  won- 
derful 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  per- 
ceive 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  him  my  mind.  [Drum  heard]  Hark  you, 
the  king  is  coming,  and  I  must  speak  with  him  from 
the  pridge. 

Enter  King  Henry,  Gloucester,  and  Soldiers 
Drum  and  colours 

God  pless  your  majesty! 

K.  Hen.  How  now,  Fluellen!  camest  thou  from 
the  bridge? 

Flu.  Ay,  so  please  your  majesty.  The  Duke  of 
Exeter  has  very  gallantly  maintained  the  pridge: 


Scene  VI]    KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH  85 

the  French  is  gone  off,  look  you;  and  there  is  gal- 
lant and  most  prave  passages:  marry,  th'  athversary 
was  have  possession  of  the  pridge;  but  he  is  en- 
forced to  retire,  and  the  Duke  of  Exeter  is  master  of  loo 
the  pridge;  I  can  tell  your  majesty,  the  duke  is  a 
prave  man. 

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  duke  hath  lost  never  a  man,  but  one 
that  is  like  to  be  executed  for  robbing  a  church,  one 
Bardolph,  if  your  majesty  know  the  man;  his  face 
is  all  bubukles,  and  whelks,  and  knobs,  and  flames 
o'  fire;  and  his  lips  blows  at  his  nose,  and  it  is  like  no 
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:  and  we  give  express  charge  that,  in  our 
marches  through  the  country,  there  be  nothing 
compelled  from  the  villages,  nothing  taken  but  paid 
for,  none  of  the  French  upbraided  or  abused  in  dis- 
dainful language;  for  when  lenity  and  cruelty  play  for  Y 
a  kingdom,  the  gentler  gamester  is  the  soonest  winner. 

Tucket.     Enter  Montjoy 

Mont.   You  know  me  by  my  habit.  120 

K.  Hen.   Well  then  I   know  thee:  what  shall   I 
know  of  thee? 

Mont.   My  master's  mind. 
K.Hen.   Unfold  it. 


r 


86  KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH        [Act  III 

Mont  Thus  says  my  king:  Say  thou  to  Harry 
of  England:  Though  we  seemed  dead,  we  did  but 
sleep;  advantage  is  a  better  soldier  than  rashness. 
Tell  him  we  could  have  rebuked  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  imperial.  England  shall  repent 
his  folly,  see  his  weakness,  and  admire  our  sufferance. 
Bid  him,  therefore,  consider  of  his  ransom;  which 
must  proportion  the  losses  we  have  borne,  the  sub- 
jects we  have  lost,  the  disgrace  we  have  digested; 
which,  in  weight  to  reanswer,  his  pettiness  would 
bow  under.  For  our  losses,  his  exchequer  is  too 
poor;  for  the  effusion  of  our  blood,  the  muster  of 
his  kingdom  too  faint  a  number;  and  for  our  dis- 
grace, his  own  person,  kneeling  at  our  feet,  but 
a  weak  and  worthless  satisfaction.  To  this  add 
defiance:  and  tell  him,  for  conclusion,  he  hath  be- 
trayed his  followers,  whose  condemnation  is  pro- 
nounced. So  far  my  king  and  master;  so  much  my 
office. 

K.  Hen.   What  is  thy  name?     I  know  thy  quality. 

Mont.   Montjoy. 

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  't  is  no  wisdom  to  confess  so  much 
•Unto  an  enemy  of  craft  and  vantage, 


X 


Scene  VI]    KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH  87 

My  people  are  with  sickness  much  enfeebled, 

My  numbers  lessen' d,  and  those  few  I  have 

Almost  no  better  than  so  many  French; 

Who  when  they  were  in  health,  I  tell  thee,  herald, 

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  leo 

Hath  blown  that  vice  in  me;  I  must  repent. 
Go,  therefore,  tell  thy  master  here  I  am; 
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,  Mont- 
joy. 
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         i7o 
Discolour:  and  so,  Montjoy,  fare  you  well. 
The  sum  of  all  our  answer  is  but  this: 
We  would  not  seek  a  battle,  as  we  are; 
Nor,  as  we  are,  we  say  we  will  not  shun  it; 
So  tell  your  master. 

Mont.   I  shall  deliver  so.    Thanks  to  your  highness. 

[Exit 

Glo.   I  hope  they  will  not  come  upon  us  now. 

K.  Hen.   We  are  in  God's  hand,  brother,  not  in 
theirs. 
March  to  the  bridge;  it  now  draws  toward  night: 


88  KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH       [Act  III 

Beyond  the  river  we  '11  encamp  ourselves,  iso 

And  on  to-morrow  bid  them  march  away.       [Exeunt 

/Scene  VII  \ 

The  Fremh  camp,  near  Agincourt 

Enter  the  Constable  op^  France,  the  Lord  Ram- 
BURES,  Orleans,  Dauphin,  with  others 

Con.  Tut!  I  have  the  best  armour  of  the  world. 
Would  it  were  day. 

Orl.  You  have  an  excellent  armour;  but  let  my 
horse  have  his  due. 

Con.   It  is  the  best  horse  of  Europe. 

Orl.   Will  it  never  be  morning? 

Dau.  My  Lord  of  Orleans,  and  my  lord  high 
constable,  you  talk  of  horse  and  armour? 

Orl.  You  are  as  well  provided  of  both  as  any 
prince  in  the  world.  lo 

Dau.  What  a  long  night  is  this !  I  will  not  change 
my  horse  with  any  that  treads  but  on  four  pasterns. 
Qa,  ha!  He  bounds  from  the  earth,  as  if  his  entrails 
were  hairs;  le  cheval  volant,  the  Pegasus,  chez  les 
narines  ds  feu!  When  I  bestride  him,  I  soar,  I  am  a 
hawk:  he  trots  the  air;  the  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. 

Dau.   And  of  the  heat  of  the  ginger.    It  is  a  beast     20 
for  Perseus :  he  is  pure  air  and  fire ;  and  the  dull  ele- 
ments of  earth  and  water  never  appear  in  him,  but 


Scene  VII]    KING  HENRY  THE  FIFTH  89 

only  in  patient  stillness  while  his  rider  mounts  him: 
he  is  indeed  a  horse;  and  all  other  jades  you  may 
call  beasts. 

Con.  Indeed,  my  lord,  it  is  a  most  absolute  and 
excellent  horse. 

Dau.  It  is  the  prince  of  palfreys;  his  neigh  is 
hke  the  bidding  of  a  monarch,  and  his  countenance 
enforces  homage.  cO 

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  elo- 
quent tongues,  and  my  horse  is  argument  for  them 
all:  't  is  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  unknown,  to  lay  apart 
their  particular  functions  and  wonder  at  him.  I  4o 
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  com- 
posed to  my  courser,  for  my  horse  is  my  mistress. 

Orl.   Your  mistress  bears  well. 

Dau.  Me  well;  which  is  the  prescript  praise  and 
perfection  of  a  good  and  particular  mistress. 

Con.   Nay,  for  methought  yesterday  your  mistress     50 
shrewdly  shook  your  back. 

Dau.   go,  perhaps,  did  yours. 


90  KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH       [Act  III 

Con.   Mine  was  not  bridled. 

Dau.  0,  then,  belike  she  was  old  and  gentle;  and 
you  rode,  like  a  kern  of  Ireland,  your  French  hose 
off,  and  in  your  strait  strossers. 

Con.   You  have  good  judgement  in  horsemanship. 

Dau.  Be  warn'd  by  me,  then:  they  that  ride  so, 
and  ride  not  warily,  fall  into  foul  bogs.  I  had  rather 
have  my  horse  to  my  mistress.  eo 

Con.   I  had  as  lief  have  my  mistress  a  jade. 

Dau.  I  tell  thee,  constable,  my  mistress  wears  his 
own  hair. 

Con,  I  could  make  as  true  a  boast  as  that,  if  I  had 
a  sow  to  my  mistress. 

Dau.  '  Le  chien  est  retourne  a  son  propre  vomisse- 
ment,  et  la  truie  lavee  au  bourbier':  thou  mak'st 
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.  7o 

Ram.  My  lord  constable,  the  armour  that  I  saw  in 
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  may  be,  for  you  bear  a  many  super- 
fluously, and  't  were  more  honour  some  were  away. 

Con.  Even  as  your  horse  bears  your  praises; 
who  would  trot  as  well,  were  some  of  your  brags 
dismounted.  so 

Dau.  Would  I  were  able  to  load  him  with  his 
desert!    Will  it  never  be. day?    I  will  trot  to-morrow 


Scene  VII]    KING  HENRY  THE  FIFTH  91 

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 
prisoners? 

Con.    You  must  first  go  yourself  to  hazard,  ere  you     90 
have  them. 

Dau.    'T  is  midnight;  I  '11  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    100 
France. 

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. 

Con.  I  was  told  that  by  one  that  knows  him 
better  than  you. 

Orl.   What  's  he?  no 

Con.   Marry,  he  told  me  so  himself;  and  he  said  . 
he  cared  not  who  knew  it. 


92  KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH        [Act  III 

Orl.    He  needs  not;  it  is  no  hidden  virtue  in  him. 

Con.  By  my  faith,  sir,  but  it  is;  never  any  body 
saw  it  but  his  lackey:  't  is  a  hooded  valour;  and 
when  it  appears,  it  will  bate. 

Orl.    Ill  will  never  said  well. 

Con.  1  will  cap  that  proverb  with  —  There  is 
flattery  in  friendship. 

Orl.   And  I 'will  take  up  that  with  —  Give  the    120 
devil  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. 

Orl.   'T  is  not  the  first  time  you  were  overshot. 

Enter  a  Messenger 

Mess.  My  lord  high  constable,  the  EngUsh  lie 
within  fifteen  hundred  paces  of  your  tents.  iso 

Con.   Who  hath  measured  the  ground? 

Mess.   The  Lord  Grandpre. 

Con.  A  vahant  and  most  expert  gentleman.  — 
Would  it  were  clay!  —  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  fol- 
lowers so  far  out  of  his  knowledge! 
''    Con.   If  the  English  had  any  apprehension,  they 
would  run  away.  uo 


^ 


Scene  VII]    KING  HENRY  THE  FIFTH  93 

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. 
^'  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  hp  of  a  hon.  150 

Con.  Just,  just;  and  the  men  do  sympathise  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  hke  wolves,  and  fight  Hke  devils. 

Orl.  Ay,  but  these  English  are  shrewdly  out  of 
beef. 

Con.  Then  ^all  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?  leo 

Orl.   It  is  now  two  o'clock;  but,  let  me  see,  — 
by  ten. 
We  shall  have  each  a  hundred  Englishmen.    [Exeunt 


ACT   IV 

Prologue 

Enter  Chorus 

Chor.   Now  entertain  conjecture  of  a  time 
When  creeping  murmur  and  the  poring  dark 
Fills  the  wide  vessel  of  the  universe. 
From    camp  to   camp,   through  the  foul  womb   of 

night, 
The  hum  of  either  army  stilly  sounds, 
That  the  fix'd  sentinels  almost  receive 
The  secret  whispers  of  each  other's  watch. 
Fire  answers  fire;  and  through  their  paly  flames 
Each  battle  sees  the  other's  umber'd  face: 
Steed  threatens  steed,  in  high  and  boastful  neighs  lo 

Piercing  the  night's  dull  ear;  and  from  the  tents 
The  armourers,  accompHshing  the  knights. 
With  busy  hammers  closing  rivets  up, 
Give  dreadful  note  of  preparation. 
The  country  cocks  do  crow,  the  clocks  do  toll, 
And  the  third  hour-  of  drowsy  morning  name. 
Proud  of  their  numbers,  and  secure  in  soul, 
The  confident  and  over-lusty  French 
Do  the  low-rated  English  play  at  dice; 
And  chide  the  cripple  tardy-gaited  night,  20 

Who,  like  a  foul  and  ugly  witch,  doth  limp 

94 


Prologue]   KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH  95 

So  tediously  away.     The  poor  condemned  English, 

Like  sacrifices,  by  their  watchful  fires 

Sit  patiently,  and  inly  ruminate 

The  morning's  danger;  and  their  gesture  sad. 

Investing  lank-lean  cheeks  and  war-worn  coats, 

Presenteth  them  unto  the  gazing  moon 

So  many  horrid  ghosts.     O  now,  who  will  behold 

The  royal  captain  of  this  ruin'd  band 

Walking  from  watch  to  watch,  from  tent  to  tent,  30 

Let  him  cry,  '  Praise  and  glory  on  his  head ! ' 

For  forth  he  goes  and  visits  all  his  host. 

Bids  them  good  morrow  with  a  modest  smile, 

And  calls  them  brothers,  friends,  and  countrymen. 

Upon  his  royal  face  there  is  no  note 

How  dread  an  army  hath  enrounded  him; 

Nor  doth  he  dedicate  one  jot  of  colour 

Unto  the  weary  and  all-watched  night; 

But  freshly  looks,  and  over-bears  attaint 

With  cheerful  semblance  and  sweet  majesty;  40 

That  every  wretch,  pining  and  pale  before, 

Beholding  him,  plucks  comfort  from  his  looks: 

A  largess  universal  like  the  sun 

His  liberal  eye  doth  give  to  every  one, 

Thawing  cold  fear,  that  mean  and  gentle  all 

Behold,  as  may  unworthiness  define, 

A  little  touch  of  Harry  in  the  night. 

And  so  our  scene  must  to  the  battle  fly; 

Where  (O  for  pity!)  we  shall  much  disgrace, 

With  four  or  five  most  vile  and  ragged  foils,  50 

Right  ill-dispos'd  in  brawl  ridiculous, 


96  KING  HENRY  THE  FIFTH       [Act  IV 

The  name  of  Agincourt.     Yet  sit  and  see, 
Minding  true  things  by  what  their  mockeries  be. 

[Exit 

Scene  I 
The  English  camp  at  Agincourt 
Enter  King  Henry,  Bedford,  and  Gloucester 
!      K.  Hen.   Gloucester,  't  is  true  that  we  are  in  great 
danger; 
The  greater  therefore  should  our  courage  be. 
Good  morrow,  brother  Bedford.     God  Almighty! 
There  is  some  soul  of  goodness  in  things  evil, 
Would  men  observingly  distil  it  out. 
For  our  bad  neighbour  makes  us  early  stirrers, 
Which  is  both  healthful  and  good  husbandry: 
Besides,  they  are  our  outward  consciences. 
And  preachers  to  us  all,  admonishing 
That  we  should  dress  us  fairly  for  our  end.  lo 

Thus  may  we  gather  honey  from  the  weed, 
And  make  a  moral  of  the  devil  himself.  — 

Enter  Erpingham 
Good  morrow,  old  Sir  Thomas  Erpingham: 
A  good  soft  pillow  for  that  good  white  head 
[ere  better  than  a  churlish  turf  of  France. 
Erp.   Not   so,   my  liege;    this  lodging  likes  me 
better. 
Since  I  may  say,  'Now  He  I  like  a  king.' 
K.  Hen.   'T  is  good  for  men  to  love  their  present 
pains 


Scene  I]       KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH  97 

Upon  example;  so  the  spirit  is  eas'd: 

And,  when  the  mind  is  quicken' d,  out  of  doubt  20 

The  organs,  though  defunct  and  dead  before. 

Break  up  their  drowsy  grave,  and  newly  move 

With  casted  slough  and  fresh  legerity. 

Lend  me  thy  cloak,  Sir  Thomas.  —  Brothers  both, 

Commend  me  to  the  princes  in  our  camp; 

Do  my  good  morrow  to  them;  and  anon 

Desire  them  all  to  my  pavilion. 

Glo.   We  shall,  my  liege. 

Erj).   Shall  I  attend  your  grace? 

K.  Hen.  No,  my  good  knight; 

Go  with  my  brothers  to  my  lords  of  England:  30 

I  and  my  bosom  must  debate  awhile. 
And  then  I  would  no  other  company. 

Erp.   The    Lord    in    heaven    bless    thee,    noble 
Harry!  [Exeunt  all  hut  King  Henry 

K.  Hen.   God-a-mercy,  old  heart!    thou  speak'st 
cheerfully. 

Enter  Pistol 

Pist.   Qui  va  Id? 

K.  Hen.   A  friend. 

Pist.   Discuss  unto  me;  art  thou  officer? 
Or  art  thou  base,  common,  and  popular? 

K.  Hen.   I  am  a  gentleman  of  a  company. 

Pist.   Trail'st  thou  the  puissant  pike?  40 

K.  Hen.   Even  so.     What  are  you? 

Pist.   As  good  a  gentleman  as  the  emperor. 

K.  Hen.   Then  you  are  a  better  than  the  king. 

Pist.   The  king  's  a  bawcock,  and  a  heart  of  gold, 


98  KING  HENRY  THE  FIFTH       [Act  IV 

A  lad  of  life,  an  imp  of  fame; 

Of  parents  good,  of  fist  most  valiant. 

I  kiss  his  dirty  shoe,  and  from  heart-string 

I  love  the  lovely  bully.    What  is  thy  name? 

K.  Hen.   Harry  le  Red. 

Pist.   Le  Roy!  50 

A  Cornish  name;  art  thou  of  Cornish  crew? 

K.  Hen.   No,  I  am  a  Welshman. 

Pist.   Know'st  thou  Fluellen? 

K.Hen.   Yes. 

Pist.   Tell  him  I  '11  knock  his  leek  about  his  pate 
Upon  Saint  Davy's  day. 

K.  Hen.  Do  not  you  wear  your  dagger  in  your 
cap  that  day,  lest  he  knock  that  about  yours. 

Pist.   Art  thou  his  friend? 

K.  Hen.   And  his  kinsman  too.  eo 

Pist.   The  fig 0  for  thee,  then! 

K.  Hen.   I  thank  you:  God  be  with  you! 

Pist.   My  name  is  Pistol  call'd.  [Exit 

K.  Hen.   It  sorts  well  with  your  fierceness. 

Enter  Fluellen  and  Gower 

Gow.   Captain  Fluellen! 

Flu.  So!  in  the  name  of  Jesu  Christ,  speak  lower. 
It  is  the  greatest  admiration  in  the  universal  world, 
when  the  true  and  aunchient  prerogatifs  and  laws 
of  the  wars  is  not  kept:  if  you  would  take  the  pains 
but  to  examine  the  wars  of  Pompey  the  Great,  you 
shall  find,  I  warrant  you,  that  there  is  no  tiddle 
taddle    nor    pibble   pabble  in   Pompey's    camp;    I 


Scene  I]      KING  HENRY  THE  FIFTH  99 

warrant  you,  you  shall  find  the  ceremonies  of  the 
wars,  and  the  cares  of  it,  and  the  forms  of  it,  and 
the  sobriety  of  it,  and  the  modesty  of  it,  to  be 
otherwise. 

Gow.  Why,  the  enemy  is  loud:  you  hear  him  all 
night. 

Flu.   If  the  enemy  is  an  ass  and  a  fool  and  a  pra- 
ting coxcomb,  is  it  meet,  think  you,  that  we  should     so 
also,  look  you,  be  an  ass  and  a  fool  and  a  prating 
coxcomb?  in  your  own  conscience,  now? 

Gow.   I  will  speak  lower. 

Flu.   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  Welshman. 

Enter  three  soldiers,  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.  90 

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. 

Will.  A  good  old  commander  and  a  most  kind 
gentleman :  I  pray  you,  what  thinks  he  of  our  estate? 


100  KING  HENRY  THE  FIFTH       [Act  IV 

K.  Hen.  Even  as  men  wrecked  upon  a  sand,  that 
look  to  be  washed  off  the  next  tide.  loo 

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  ceremo- 
nies laid  by,  in  his  nakedness  he  appears  but  a  man; 
and  though  his  affections  are  higher  mounted  than 
ours,  yet,  when  they  stoop,  they  stoop  with  the  like 
wing.  Therefore,  when  he  sees  reason  of  fears,  as  no 
we  do,  his  fears,  out  of  doubt,  be  of  the  same  relish 
as  ours  are:  yet,  in  reason,  no  man  should  possess 
him  with  any  appearance  of  fear,  lest  he,  by  sho\ving 
it,  should  dishearten  his  army. 

Bates.  He  may  show  what  outward  courage  he 
will:  but  I  believe,  as  cold  a  night  as  't  is,  he  could 
wish  himself  in  Thames  up  to  the  neck;  and  so  I 
would  he  were,  and  I  by  him,  at  all  adventures, 
so  we  were  quit  here. 

K.  Hen.   By  my  troth,  I  will  speak  my  conscience    120 
of  the  king;  I  think  he  would  not  wish  himself  any 
where  but  where  he  is. 

Bates.  Then  I  would  he  were  here  alone;  so 
should  he  be  sure  to  be  ransomed,  and  a  many  poor 
men's  lives  saved. 

K.  He7i.  I  dare  say  you  love  him  not  so  ill,  to 
wish  him  here  alone,  howsoever  you  speak  this  to 
feel  other  men's  minds:    methinks  I  could  not  die 


Scene  I]       KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH  101 

any  where  so  contented  as  in  the  king's  company; 
his  cause  being  just  and  his  quarrel  honourable.  iso 

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,  i40 
some  crying  for  a  surgeon,  some  upon  their  wives 
left  poor  behind  them,  some  upon  the  debts  they 
owe,  some  upon  their  children  rawly  left.  I  am 
afeard  there  are  few  die  well  that  die  in  a  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. 

K.  Hen.  So,  if  a  son  that  is  by  his  father  sent  iso 
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  master's  command 
transporting  a  sum  of  money,  be  assailed  by  rob- 
bers and  die  in  many  irreconciled  iniquities,  you 
may  call  the  business  of  the  master  the  author  of 
the  servant's  damnation.     But  this  is  not  so:    the 


102  KING  HENRY  THE  FIFTH       [Act  IV 

king  is  not  bound  to  answer  the  particular  end- 
ings of  his  soldiers,  the  father  of  his  son,  nor  the  i60 
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  con- 
trived 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  i7o 
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  beadle, 
war  is  His  vengeance;  so  that  here  men  are  pun- 
ished 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  iso 
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  ad- 
vantage; or,  not  dying,  the  time  was  blessedly  lost 
wherein  such  preparation  was  gained:  and  in  him 
that  escapes,  it  were  not  sin  to  think  that,  making 


Scene  I]       KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH  103 

God  so  free  an  offer,  He  l:t  him  outlive  that  day  to 
S33   His  greatness   and  to  teach   others  how  they    193 
should  prepare. 

Will.  'T  is  certain,  every  man  that  dies  ill,  the 
ill  upon  his  own  head,  the  king  is  not  to  answer  it.        \^ 

Bates.  I  do  not  desire  he  should  answer  for  me; 
and  yet  I  determine  to  fight  lustily  for  him. 

K.  Hen,  I  myself  heard  the  king  say  he  would 
not  be  ransomed. 

Will.  Ay,  he  said  so,  to  make  us  fight  cheerfully: 
but  when  our  throats  are  cut,  he  may  be  ransomed, 
and  we  ne'er  the  wiser.  200 

K.  Hen.  If  I  five  to  see  it,  I  will  never  trust  his 
word  after. 

Will.  You  pay  him  then!  That  's  a  perilous 
shot  out  of  an  elder-gun,  that  a  poor  and  a  private 
displeasure  can  do  against  a  monarch!  you  may  as 
well  go  about  to  turn  the  sun  to  ice  with  fanning  in 
his  face  with  a  peacock's  feather.  You  '11  never 
trust  his  word  after!  come,  't  is  a  foolish  saying. 

K.  Hen.   Your  reproof  is   something  too   round; 
I    should   be    angry   with   you,    if   the    time   were    210 
convenient. 

Will.   Let  it  be  a  quarrel  between  us,  if  you  live. 

K.  Hen.   I  embrace  it. 

Will.   How  shall  I  know  thee  again? 

K.  Hen.  Give  me  any  gauge  of  thine,  and  I  will 
wear  it  in  my  bonnet:  then,  if  ever  thou  darest 
acknowledge  it,  I  will  make  it  my  quarrel. 

Will.   Here  's  my  glove;  give  me  another  of  thine. 


104  KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH        [Act  IV 

K.  Hen.   There. 

Will.   This  will  I  also  wear  in  my  cap;    if  ever    220 
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. 

Will.    Keep  thy  word:  fare  thee  well. 

Bates.   Be  friends,  you  English  fools,  be  friends; 
we  have  French  quarrels  enow,  if  you  could  tell  how    230 
to  reckon. 
{      K.  Hen.   Indeed,    the    French    may    lay    twenty 
French  crowns  to  one,  they  will  beat  us;    for  they 
bear  them  on  their  shoulders:   but  it  is  no  English 
treason  to  cut  French  crowns;    and  to-morrow  the 
king  himself  will  be  a  clipper.         [Exeunt  Soldiers 
Upon  the  king!  let  us  our  lives,  our  souls. 
Our  debts,  our  careful  wives. 
Our  children,  and  our  sins  lay  on  the  king! 
We  must  bear  all.     O  hard  condition,  240 

Twin-born  with  greatness,  subject  to  the  breath 
Of  every  fool,  whose  sense  no  more  can  feel 
But  his  own  wringing!    What  infinite  heart's-ease 
Must  kings  neglect,  that  private  men  enjoy! 
And  what  have  kings  that  privates  have  not  too. 
Save  ceremony  —  save  general  ceremony? 
And  what  art  thou,  thou  idol  ceremony? 
What  kind  of  god  art  thou,  that  suffer' st  more 


Scene  I]       KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH  105 

Of  mortal  griefs  than  do  thy  worshippers? 

What  are  thy  rents?  what  are  thy  comings-in?  250 

0  ceremony,  show  me  but  thy  worth ! 
What  is  thy  soul  of  adoration? 

Art  thou  aught  else  but  place,  degree,  and  form, 

Creating  awe  and  fear  in  other  men? 

Wherein  thou  art  less  happy  being  feared 

Than  they  in  fearing. 

What  drink'st  thou  oft,  instead  of  homage  sweet. 

But  poison' d  flattery?     0,  be  sick,  great  greatness, 

And  bid  thy  ceremony  give  thee  cure! 

Think'st  thou  the  fiery  fever  will  go  out  260 

With  titles  blown  from  adulation? 

Will  it  give  place  to  flexure  and  low  bending? 

Canst  thou,  when   thou   command' st   the   beggar's 

knee. 
Command  the  health  of  it?    No,  thou  proud  dream, 
That  play'st  so  subtly  with  a  king's  repose: 

1  am  a  king  that  find  thee;  and  I  know 

'T  is  not  the  balm,  the  sceptre,  and  the  ball, 

The  sword,  the  mace,  the  crown  imperial, 

The  inter-tissued  robe  of  gold  and  pearl. 

The  farced  title  running  'fore  the  king,  270 

The  throne  he  sits  on,  nor  the  tide  of  pomp 

That  beats  upon  the  high  shore  of  this  world,  — 

No,  not  all  these,  thrice  gorgeous  ceremony. 

Not  all  these,  laid  in  bed  majestical, 

Can  sleep  so  soundly  as  the  wretched  slave, 

Who  with  a  body  fill'd  and  vacant  mind 

Gets  him  to  rest,  cramm'd  with  distressful  bread; 


106  KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH       [Act  IV 

Never  sees  horrid  night,  the  child  of  hell; 

But,  like  a  lackey,  from  the  rise  to  set 

Sweats  in  the  eye  of  Phoebus,  and  all  night  280 

Sleeps  in  Elysium;  next  day  after  dawn. 

Doth  rise  and  help  Hyperion  to  his  horse; 

And  follows  so  the  ever-running  year 

With  profitable  labour  to  his  grave: 

And,  but  for  ceremony,  such  a  wretch. 

Winding  up  days  with  toil  and  nights  with  sleep, 

Had  the  fore-hand  and  vantage  of  a  king. 

The  slave,  a  member  of  the  country's  peace. 

Enjoys  it;  but  in  gross  brain  little  wots 

What  watch  the  king  keeps  to  maintain  the  peace,       290 

Whose  hours  the  peasant  best  advantages. 

Enter  Erpingham 

Erp.   My    lord,    your    nobles,    jealous    of    your 
absence, 
Seek  through  your  camp  to  find  you. 

K.  Hen.  Good  old  knight, 

Collect  them  all  together  at  my  tent: 
I  '11  be  before  thee. 
Erp.  I  shall  do  't,  my  lord.         [Exit 

K.  Hen.   O   God   of   battles!     steel   my   soldiers' 
hearts; 
(T      Possess  them  not  with  fear;  take  from  them  now 
The  sense  of  reckoning,  if  th'  opposed  numbers 
Pluck  their  hearts  from  them!    Not  to-day,  0  Lord, 
0,  not  to-day,  think  not  upon  the  fault  300 

,  My  father  made  in  compassing  the  crown! 


Scene  II]     KING  HENRY  THE  FIFTH  107 

I  Richard's  body  have  interred  new; 

And  on  it  have  bestow'd  more  contrite  tears 

Than  from  it  issu'd  forced  drops  of  blood. 

Five  hundred  poor  I  have  in  yearly  pay, 

Who  twice  a  day  their  withered  hands  hold  up 

Toward  heaven,  to  pardon  blood;   and  I  have  built 

Two  chantries,  where  the  sad  and  solemn  priests 

Sing  still  for  Richard's  soul.     More  will  I  do; 

Though  all  that  I  can  do  is  nothing  worth,  310 

Since  that  my  penitence  comes  after  all, 

Imploring  pardon. 

Enter  Gloucester 
Glo.   My  liege! 

K.  Hen.   My  brother  Gloucester's  voice?  —  Ay; 
I  know  thy  errand,  I  will  go  with  thee :  — 
The  day,  my  friends,  and  all  things  stay  for  me. 

[Exeunt 

Scene  II 
The  French  camp 

Enter  the  Dauphin,  Orleans,  Rambures, 
and  others 
Orl.   The  sun  doth  gild  our  armour;  up,  my  lords! 
Dau.   Montez  a  cheval!    My  horse!  varlet!  laquais! 

ha! 
Orl.   0  brave  spirit! 
Dau.    Via!  les  eaux  et  la  terre  — 
Orl.   Rien  puis?  Vair  et  le  feu  — 
Dau.   del!  cousin  Orleans.  — 


108  KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH        [Act  IV 

Enter  Constable 
Now,  my  lord  constable! 

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  EngUsh  eyes,  lo 

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. 
And  your  fair  show  shall  suck  away  their  souls, 
Leaving  them  but  the  shales  and  husks  of  men. 
There  is  not  work  enough  for  all  our  hands; 
Scarce  blood  enough  in  all  their  sickly  veins  20 

To  give  each  naked  curtle-axe  a  stain. 
That  our  French  gallants  shall  to-day  draw  out, 
And  sheathe  for  lack  of  sport:    let  us  but  blow  on 

them, 
The  vapour  of  our  valour  will  o'erturn  them. 
'T  is  positive  'gainst"  all  exceptions,  lords. 
That  our  superfluous  lackeys  and  our  peasants, 
Who  in  unnecessary  action  swarm 


Scene  II]     KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH  109 

About  our  squares  of  battle,  were  enow 

To  purge  this  field  of  such  a  hilding  foe; 

Though  we  upon  this  mountain's  basis  by  30 

Took  stand  for  idle  speculation: 

But  that  our  honours  must  not.     What  's  to  say? 

A  very  httle  Uttle  let  us  do,  - 

And  all  is  done.     Then  let  the  trumpets  sound 

The  tucket  sonance  and  the  note  to  mount: 

For  our  approach  shall  so  much  dare  the  field. 

That  England  shall  couch  down  in  fear,  and  yield. 

Enter  Grandpre 

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

France? 
Yon  island  carrions,  desperate  of  their  bones, 
Ill-favouredly  become  the  morning  field:  40 

Their  ragged  curtains  poorly  are  let  loose. 
And  our  air  shakes  them  passing  scornfully. 
Big  Mars  seems  bankrupt  in  their  beggar'd  host. 
And  faintly  through  a  rusty  beaver  peeps. 
The  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;  50 

And  their  executors,  the  knavish  crows. 
Fly  o'er  them^  all  impatient  for  their  hour. 


no  KING  HENRY  THE  FIFTH        [Act  IV 

Description  cannot  suit  itself  in  words 
To  demonstrate  the  life  of  such  a  battle 
In  life  so  lifeless  as  it  shows  itself. 

Coji.   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? 

Con.     I  stay  but  for  my  guard;  on  to  the  field!  eo 

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  Gloucester,  Bedford,  Exeter,  Erping- 
HAM,  with  all  his  host;  Salisbury,  and  West- 
moreland 

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  all  are 

fresh. 
Sal.   God's  arm  strike  with  us !  't  is  a  fearful  odds. 

God  be  wi'  you,  princes  all;  I  '11  to  my  charge; 

If  we  no  more  meet  till  we  meet  in  heaven, 

Then,  joyfully,  —  my  noble  Lord  of  Bedford, 


Scene  III]    KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH  111 

My  dear  Lord  Gloucester,  and  my  good  Lord  Exeter, 
And  my  kind  kinsman,  —  warriors  all,  adieu!  lo 

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. 

Enter  King  Henry 

West.  0,  that  we  now  had  here 

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  enow  20 

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:  30 

God's  peace!  I  would  not  lose  so  great  an  honour 
As  one  man  more,  methinks,  would  share  from  me 


112  KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH        [Act  IV 

For  the  best  hope  I  have.    0,  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:  40 

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  neighbours. 
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.' 
Old  men  forget;  yet  all  shall  be  forgot. 
But  he  '11  remember  with  advantages  50 

What  feats  he  did  that  day:  then  shall  our  names, 
Familiar  in  his  mouth  as  household  words  — 
Harry  the  King,  Bedford  and  Exeter, 
Warwick  and  Talbot,  Salisbury  and  Gloucester  — 
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  ending  of  the  world. 
But  we  in  it  shall  be  remembered  — 
We  few,  we  happy  few,  we  band  of  brothers;  eo 

For  he  to-day  that  sheds  his  blood  with  me 


t^i  IltUi y.       uL  1    ih   II    i;k   a  sin  to  covet  honor, 

I  AM  THE  MOST  OFFENDING  SOUL  ALIVE. 


Scene  III]    KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH  113 

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  whiles  any  speaks 

That  fought  with  us  upon  Saint  Crispin's  day. 

Re-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.  70 

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,  coz? 
West.   God's  will!    my  liege,   would  you   and   I 
alone, 
Without  more  help,  could  fight  this  royal  battle! 
K.  Hen.   Why,  now  thou  hast  unwish'd  five  thou- 
sand 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  ransom  thou  wilt  now  compound,  so 

Before  thy  most  assured  overthrow: 


114  KING  HENRY  THE  FIFTH       [Act  IV 

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;     90 
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. 
While  the  beast  liv'd,  was  kill'd  with  hunting  him. 
A  many  of  our  bodies  shall  no  doubt 
Find  native  graves;  upon  the  which,  I  trust. 
Shall  witness  five  in  brass  of  this  day's  work: 
And  those  that  leave  their  valiant  bones  in  France, 
Dying  like  men,  though  buried  in  your  dunghills. 
They  shall  be  fam'd;  for  there  the  sun  shall  greet 

them,  100 

And  draw  their  honours  reeking  up  to  heaven; 
Leaving  their  earthly  parts  to  choke  your  clime. 
The  smell  whereof  shall  breed  a  plague  in  France. 
Mark  then  abounding  valour  in  our  English, 
That,  being  dead,  like  to  the  bullet's  grazing. 
Break  out  into  a  second  course  of  mischief. 
Killing  in  relapse  of  mortality. 


Scene  III]    KING  HENRY  THE  FIFTH  115 

Let  me  speak  proudly:  tell  the  constable 
We  are  but  warriors  for  the  working-day: 
Our  gayness  and  our  gilt  are  all  besmirch'd  no 

With  rainy  marching  in  the  painful  fields- 
There  's  not  a  piece  of  feather  in  our  host  — 
Good  argument,  I  hope,  we  will  not  fly  — 
And  time  hath  worn  us  into  slovenry: 
But,  by  the  mass,  our  hearts  are  in  the  trim; 
And  my  poor  soldiers  tell  me,  yet  ere  night 
They  '11  be  in  fresher  robes,  or  they  will  pluck 
The  gay  new  coats  o'er  the  French  soldiers'  heads 
And  turn  them  out  of  service.     If  they  do  this,  — 
As,  if  God  please,  they  shall,  —  my  ransom  then  120 

Will  soon  be  levied.     Herald,  save  thou  thy  labour; 
Come  thou  no  more  for  ransom,  gentle  herald; 
They  shall  have  none,  I  swear,  but  these  my  joints; 
Which  if  they  have  as  I  will  leave  'em  them, 
Shall  yield  them  little,  tell  the  constable. 

Mont.   I  shall.   King  Harry.     And  so  fare  thee 
well: 
Thou  never  shalt  hear  herald  any  more.  [Exit 

K.  Hen.   I  fear  thou  'It  once  more  come  again  for 
ransom. 

Enter  York 

York.   My  lord,  most  humbly  on  my  knee  I  beg 
The  leading  of  the  vawarcl.  130 

K.  Hen.   Take  it,   brave  York.  —  Now,   soldiers, 
march  away:  — 
And  how  thou  pleasest,  God,  dispose  the  day! 

[Exeunt 


116  KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH        [Act  IV 

Scene  IV 

The  field  of  battle 

Alarum.    Excursions.    Enter  Pistol,  French 
Soldier,  and  Boy 

Pist.   Yield,  cur! 

Fr.  Sol.     Je  pense  que  vous  etes  le  gentilhomme  de 
bonne  qualite. 

Pist.    Qualtitie   calmie   custure   me!     Art   thou    a 
gentleman?     What  is  thy  name?  discuss. 

Fr.  Sol.     0  Seigneur  Dieu! 

Pist.   O,  Signieur  Dew  should  be  a  gentleman:  — 
Perpend  my  words,  O  Signieur  Dew,  and  mark; 
O  Signieur  Dew,  thou  diest  on  point  of  fox. 
Except,  O  signieur,  thou  dost  give  to  me  lo 

Egregious  ransom. 

Fr.  Sol.   0,    prennez    misericorde!     ayez    pitie    de 
moil 

Pist.    Moy   shall   not   serve;     I    will   have   forty 
moys; 
Or  I  will  fetch  thy  rim  out  at  thy  throat 
In  drops  of  crimson  blood. 

Fr.  Sol.   Est-il  impossible   d'echapper   la  force   de 
ton  bras? 

Pist.   Brass,  cur! 
Thou  damned  and  luxurious  mountain  goat,  20 

Offer'st  me  brass? 

Fr.  Sol.   0,  pardonnez  moi! 

Pist.   Say'st  thou  me  so?  is  that  a  ton  of  moys? 


Scene  IV]    KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH  117 

Come  hither,  boy:  ask  me  this  slave  in  French 
What  is  his  name. 

Boy.   Ecoutez;  comment  Hes-vous  appelef 

Fr.  Sol.   Monsieur  le  Fer. 

Boy.   He  says  his  name  is  Master  Fer. 

Pist.   Master  Fer!     I  '11  fer  him,  and  firk  him, 
and  ferret  him :  —  discuss  the  same  in  French  unto     so 
him. 

Boy.  I  do  not  know  the  French  for  fer,  and 
ferret,  and  firk. 

Pist.   Bid  him  prepare,  for  I  will  cut  his  throat. 

Fr.  Sol.     Que  dit-il,  monsieur? 

Boy.  II  me  commande  a  vous  dire  que  vous  faites 
vous  pret;  car  ce  soldat  id  est  dispose  tout  a  cette 
heure  de  couper  voire  gorge. 

Pist.   Owy,  cuppele  gorge,  permafoy, 
Peasant,  unless  thou  give  me  crowns,  brave  crowns:      40 
Or  mangled  shalt  thou  be  by  this  my  sword. 

Fr.  Sol.  0,  je  vous  supplie,  pour  V amour  de  Dieu, 
me  pardonner!  Je  suis  gentilhomme  de  bonne  maison; 
gardez  ma  vie,  et  je  vous  donnerai  deux  cent  ecus. 

Pist.   What  are  his  words? 

Boy.  He  prays  you  to  save  his  life:  he  is  a  gen- 
tleman of  a  good  house;  and  for  his  ransom  he  will 
give  you  two  hundred  crowns. 

Pist.   Tell  him  my  fury  shall  abate,  and  I 
The  crowns  will  take.  50 

Fr.  Sol.   Petit  monsieur,  que  dit-ilf 

Boy.  Encore  quHl  est  contre  son  jurement  de  par- 
donner aucun  prisonnier;    neanmoins,  pour  les  ecu^ 


118  KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH        [Act  IV 

que  vous  Vavez  promts,  il  est  content  de  vous  donner  la 
liberie,  le  franchisement. 

Fr.  Sol.  Sur  mes  genoux  je  vous  donne  niille  re- 
mercimens;  et  je  m'estime  heureux  que  je  suis  tomhe 
entre  les  mains  d'un  chevalier,  je  pense,  le  plus  brave, 
vaillant,  et  ires  distingue  seigneur  d'Angleterre. 

Pist.    Expound  unto  me,  boy.  eo 

Boy.  He  gives  you,  upon  his  knees,  a  thousand 
thanks:  and  he  esteems  himself  happy  that  he 
hath  fallen  into  the  hands  of  one,  as  he  thinks,  the 
most  brave,  valorous,  and  thrice-worthy  signieur 
of  England. 

Pist.  As  I  suck  blood,  I  will  some  mercy  show.  — 
Follow  me. 

Boij.  Suivez-vous  le  grand  capitaine.  [Exeunt 
Pistol  and  French  Soldier]  I  did  never  know  so 
full  a  voice  issue  from  so  empty  a  heart:  but  the  70 
saying  is  true,  'The  empty  vessel  makes  the  greatest 
sound.'  Bardolph  and  Nym  had  ten  times  more 
valour  than  this  roaring  devil  i'  the  old  play,  that 
every  one  may  pare  his  nails  with  a  wooden  dagger; 
and  they  are  both  hanged;  and  so  would  this  be, 
if  he  durst  steal  any  thing  adventurously.  I  must 
stay  with  the  lackeys,  with  the  luggage  of  our  camp : 
the  French  might  have  a  good  prey  of  us,  if  he  knew 
of  it;  for  there  is  none  to  guard  it  but  boj^s.       [Exit 


Scene  V]     KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH  119 

Scene  V 

Another  part  cf  the  field 

Alarums.    Enter  Constable,  Orleans,  Bourbon, 
Dauphin,  and  Rambures 

Con.   0  diable! 

Orl.   0  Seigneur!  le  jour  est  perdu,  tout  est  perdu! 

Dau.   Mort  de  ma  vie!  all  is  confounded,  all! 
Reproach  and  everlasting  shame 
Sits  mocking  in  our  plumes.  —  0  mechante  fortune! 
Do  not  run  away.  [A  short  alarum 

Con.  Why,  all  our  ranks  are  broke. 

Dau.   0  perdurable  shame!  let  's  stab  ourselves. 
Be  these  the  wretches  that  we  play'd  at  dice  for? 

Orl.   Is  this  the  king  we  sent  to  for  his  ransom? 

Bour.   Shame,    and   eternal   shame,   nothing   but 
shame!  lo 

Let  's  die  in  honour:  once  more  back  again; 
And  he  that  will  not  follow  Bourbon  now, 
Let  him  go  hence. 

Con.   Disorder,  that  hath  spoil'd  us,  friend  us  now! 
Let  us  on  heaps  go  offer  up  our  lives. 

Orl.  We  are  enow  yet  living  in  the  field 
To  smother  up  the  English  in  our  throngs, 
If  any  order  might  be  thought  upon. 

Bour.   The  devil  take  order  now!     I  '11  to  the 
throng; 
Let  life  be  short;  else  shame  will  be  too  long.  20 

[Exeunt 


120  KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH        [Act  IV 

Scene  VI 

Another  part  of  the  field 

Alarum.    Enter  King  Henry  and  his 
train,  with  prisoners 

K.  Hen.   Well  have  we  done,  thrice-valiant  coun- 
trymen: 
But  all  *s  not  done;  yet  keep  the  French  the  field. 

Exe.   The  Duke  of  York  commends  him  to  your 
majesty. 

K.  Hen.   Lives  he,  good  uncle?   thrice  within  this 
hour 
I  saw  him  down;  thrice  up  again,  and  fighting; 
From  helmet  to  the  spur  all  blood  he  was. 

Exe.   In  which  array,  brave  soldier,  doth  he  lie 
Larding  the  plain:  and  by  his  bloody  side, 
Yoke-fellow  to  his  honour-owing  wounds, 
The  noble  Earl  of  Suffolk  also  lies.  lo 

Suffolk  first  died:  and  York,  all  haggled  over. 
Comes  to  him,  where  in  gore  he  lay  insteep'd. 
And  takes  him  by  the  beard,  kisses  the  gashes 
That  bloodily  did  yawn  upon  his  face. 
And  cries  aloud,  'Tarry,  dear  cousin  Suffolk!  ■ 

My  soul  shall  thine  keep  company  to  heaven; 
Tarry,  sweet  soul,  for  mine,  then  fly  a-breast. 
As  in  this  glorious  and  well-foughten  field 
We  kept  together  in  our  chivalry!' 

Upon  these  words  I  came,  and  cheer'd  him  up:  -    20 

He  smil'd  me  in  the  face,  raught  me  his  hand. 


Scene  VII]    KING  HENRY  THE  FIFTH  121 

And  with  a  feeble  gripe,  says,  '  Dear  my  lord, 

Commend  my  service  to  my  sovereign.' 

So  did  he  turn,  and  over  Suffolk's  neck 

He  threw  his  wounded  arm,  and  kiss'd  his  lips; 

And  so,  espous'd  to  death,  with  blood  he  seal'd 

A  testament  of  noble-ending  love. 

The  pretty  and  sweet  manner  of  it  forc'd 

Those  waters  from  me  which  I  would  have  stopp'd; 

But  I  had  not  so  much  of  man  in  me, 

And  all  my  mother  came  into  mine  eyes, 

And  gave  me  up  to  tears. 

K.  Hen.  I  blame  you  not; 

For,  hearing  this,  I  must  perforce  compound 
With  mistful  eyes,  or  they  will  issue  too.  — 

[Alarum 
But,  hark!  what  new  alarum  is  this  same? 
The  French  have  reinforc'd  their  scatter'd  men: 
Then  every  soldier  kill  his  prisoners; 
Give  the  word  through.  [Exeunt 

Scene  VII 

Another  part  of  the  field 

Enter  Fluellen  and  Gower 

Flu.   Kill  the  poys  and  the  luggage!  't  is  expressly 

against  the  law  of  arms:    't  is  as  arrant  a  piece  of 

knavery,  mark  you  now,  as  can  be  offer't;    in  your 

conscience  now,  is  it  not? 

Gow.   'T  is  certain  there  's  not  a  boy  left  ahve; 
and  the  cowardly  rascals  that  ran  from  the  battle 


122  KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH        [Act  IV 

ha'  done  this  slaughter:  besides,  they  have  burned  and 
carried  away  all  that  was  in  the  king's  tent;  wherefore 
the  king,  most  worthily,  hath  caused  every  soldier  to 
cut  his  prisoner's  throat.     O,  't  is  a  gallant  king!  lo 

Flu.   Ay,   he  was  porn   at   Monmouth,   Captain 
"^^  /tjrower.     What   call   you  the   town's   name  where 
'   Alexander  the  Pig  was  porn? 

Gow.   Alexander  the  Great. 

Flu.  Why,  I  pray  you,  is  not  pig  great?  The 
pig,  or  the  great,  or  the  mighty,  or  the  huge,  or 
the  magnanimous  are  all  one  reckonings,  save  the 
phrase  is  a  little  variations. 

Gow.   I  thinlc  Alexander  the  Great  was  born  in 
Macedon;   his  father  was  called  Phihp  of  Macedon,     20 
as  I  take  it. 

Flu.  I  think  it  is  in  Macedon  where  Alexander 
is  porn.  I  tell  you,  captain,  if  you  look  in  the  maps 
of  the  'orld,  I  warrant  you  sail  find,  in  the  com- 
parisons between  Macedon  and  Monmouth,  that 
the  situations,  look  you,  is  both  alike.  There  is  a 
river  in  Macedon;  and  there  is  also  moreover  a 
river  at  Monmouth:  it  is  called  Wye  at  Monmouth; 
but  it  is  out  of  my  prains  what  is  the  name  of  the 
other  river;  but 't  is  all  one;  't  is  alike  as  my  fingers  so 
is  to  my  fingers,  and  there  is  salmons  in  both.  If 
you  mark  Alexander's  life  well,  Harry  of  Monmouth's 
life  is  come  after  it  indifferent  well;  for  there  is  figures 
in  all  things.  Alexander,  God  knows,  and  you  know, 
in  his  rages,  and  his  furies,  and  his  wraths,  and  his 
cholers,  and  his  moods,  and  his  displeasures,  and 


Scene  VII]    KING  HENRY  THE  FIFTH  123 

his  indignations,  and  also  being  a  little  intoxicates 
in  his  prains,  did,  in  his  ales  and  his  angers,  look 
you,  kill  his  best  friend,  Cleitus. 

Gow.   Our  king  is  not  like  him  in  that;    he  never     4C 
killed  any  of  his  friends. 

Flu.  It  is  not  well  done,  mark  you  now,  to  take 
the  tales  out  of  my  mouth,  ere  it  is  made  and  fin- 
ished. I  speak  but  in  the  figures  and  comparisons 
of  it:  as  Alexander  killed  his  friend  Cleitus,  being 
in  his  ales  and  his  cups;  so  also  Harry  Monmouth, 
being  in  his  right  wits  and  his  good  judgements, 
turned  away  the  fat  knight  with  the  great  belly- 
doublet:  he  was  full  of  jests,  and  gipes,  and  knaver- 
ies, and  mocks;  I  have  forgot  his  name.  50 

Gow.   Sir  John  Falstaff. 

Flu.  That  is  he:  I  '11  tell  you  there  is  good  men 
porn  at  Monmouth. 

Gow.   Here  comes  his  majesty. 

Alarurn.  Enter  King  Henry  a?id  forces;  War- 
wick, Gloucester,  Exeter,  with  prisoners. 
Flourish 

K.  Hen.   I  was  not  angry  since  I  came  to  France 
Until  this  instant.     Take  a  trumpet,  herald; 
Ride  thou  unto  the  horsemen  on  yond  hill : 
If  they  will  fight  with  us,  bid  them  come  down, 
Or  void  the  field;  they  do  offend  our  sight: 
If  they  '11  do  neither,  we  will  come  to  them,  60 

And  make  them  skirr  away,  as  swift  as  stones 
Enforced  from  the  old  Assyrian  slings: 


124  KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH        [Act  IV 

Besides,  we  '11  cut  the  throats  of  those  we  have; 
And  not  a  man  of  them  that  we  shall  take 
Shall  taste  our  mercy.     Go  and  tell  them  so. 

Enter  Montjoy 

Exe.   Here  comes  the  herald  of  the  French,  my 
liege. 

Glo.   His  eyes  are  humbler  than  they  us'd  to  be. 

K.  Hen.   How   now!     what   means   this,    herald? 
know'st  thou  not 
That  I  have  fin'd  these  bones  of  mine  for  ransom? 
Com'st  thou  again  for  ransom? 

Mont.  No,  great  king:  70 

I  come  to  thee  for  charitable  license. 
That  we  may  wander  o'er  this  bloody  field 
To  book  our  dead,  and  then  to  bury  them; 
To  sort  our  nobles  from  our  common  men. 
For  many  of  our  princes  —  woe  the  while!  — 
Lie  drown'd  and  soak'd  in  mercenary  blood; 
So  do  our  vulgar  drench  their  peasant  limbs 
In  blood  of  princes;  and  their  wounded  steeds 
Fret  fetlock  deep  in  gore,  and  with  wild  rage 
Yerk  out  their  armed  heels  at  their  dead  masters,  80 

Killing  them  twice.     0,  give  us  leave,  great  king, 
To  view  the  field  in  safety,  and  dispose 
Of  their  dead  bodies! 

K.  Hen.  I  tell  thee  truly,  herald, 

I  know  not  if  the  day  be  ours  or  no; 
For  yet  a  many  of  your  horsemen  peer 
And  gallop  o'er  the  field. 


Scene  VII]    KING  HENRY  THE  FIFTH  125 

Mont.  The  day  is  yours. 

K.  Hen.   Praised  be  God,  and  not  our  strength, 
for  it! 
What  is  this  castle  call'd  that  stands  hard  by? 

Mont.   They  call  it  Agincourt. 

K.  Hen.   Then  call  we  this  the  field  of  Agincourt,      90 
Fought  on  the  day  of  Crispin  Crispianus. 

Flu.  Your  grandfather  of  famous  memory,  an  't 
please  your  majesty,  and  your  great-uncle  Edward 
the  Plack  Prince  of  Wales,  as  I  have  read  in  the 
chronicles,  fought  a  most  prave  pattle  here  in 
France. 

K.  Hen.   They  did,  Fluellen. 

Flu.  Your  majesty  says  very  true:  if  your 
majesties  is  remembered  of  it,  the  Welshmen  did 
good  service  in  a  garden  where  leeks  did  grow,  100 
wearing  leeks  in  their  Monmouth  caps;  which, 
your  majesty  know,  to  this  hour  is  an  honourable 
badge  of  the  service;  and  I  do  believe  your  majesty 
takes  no  scorn  to  wear  the  leek  upon  Saint  Tavy's 
day. 

K.  Hen.   I  wear  it  for  a  memorable  honour; 
For  I  am  Welsh,  you  know,  good  countryman. 

Flu.   All   the   water   in   Wye   cannot   wash   your 
majesty's  Welsh  plood  out  of  your  pody,  I  can  tell 
you  that:    God  pless  it  and  preserve  it,  as  long  as    110 
it  pleases  his  grace,  and  his  majesty  too! 

K.  Hen.   Thanks,  good  my  countryman. 

Flu.  By  Jeshu,  I  am  your  majesty's  countryman, 
I  care  not  who  know  it;   I  will  confess  it  to  all  the 


126  KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH       [Act  IV 

'orld:    I   need  not  be   ashamed  of  your  majesty, 
praised  be  God,  so  long  as  your  majesty  is  an  honest 
man. 
K.  Hen.   God  keep  me  so !  — 

Enter  Williams 

Our  heralds  go  with  him; 
Bring  me  just  notice  of  the  numbers  dead 
On  both  our  parts.     Call  yonder  fellow  hither.  120 

[Points   to  Williams.     Exeunt   Heralds   with 

MONTJOY 

Exe.   Soldier,  you  must  come  to  the  king. 

K.  Hen.   Soldier,  why  wearest  thou  that  glove  in 
thy  cap? 

Will.   An  't  please  your  majesty,  't  is  the  gauge  of 
one  that  I  should  fight  withal,  if  he  be  alive. 

K.  Hen.   An  Englishman? 

Will.  An  't  please  your  majesty,  a  rascal  that 
swaggered  with  me  last  night;  who,  if  'a  live,  and 
ever  dare  to  challenge  this  glove,  I  have  sworn  to 
take  him  a  box  o'  th'  ear:  or,  if  I  can  see  my  glove  130 
in  his  cap,  which  he  swore,  as  he  was  a  soldier,  he 
would  wear  if  alive,  I  will  strike  it  out  soundly. 

K.  Hen.   What  think  you.  Captain  Fluellen?    is 
it  fit  this  soldier  keep  his  oath? 

Flu.   He  is  a  craven  and  a  villain  else,  an  't  please 
your  majesty,  in  my  conscience. 

K.  Hen.   It  may  be  his  enemy  is  a  gentleman  of 
great  sort,  quite  from  the  answer  cf  his  degree. 

Flu.   Though  he  be  as  good  a  gentleman  as  the 


Scene  VII]    KING  HENRY  THE  FIFTH  127 

devil  is,  as  Lucifer  and  Bglzebub  himself,  it  is  neces-  ho 
sary,  look  your  grace,  that  he  keep  his  vow  and  his 
oath:  if  he  be  perjured,  see  you  now,  his  reputation 
is  as  arrant  a  villain  and  a  Jack-sauce,  as  ever  his 
black  shoe  trod  upon  God's  ground  and  his  earth,  in 
my  conscience,  la. 

K.  Hen.  Then  keep  thy  vow,  sirrah,  when  thou 
meetest  the  fellow. 

Will.   So  I  will,  my  liege,  as  I  live. 

K.  Hen.   Who  servest  thou  under? 

Will.   Under  Captain  Gower,  my  liege.  150 

Flu.  Gower  is  a  good  captain;  and  is  good 
knowledge  and  literatured  in  the  wars. 

K.  Hen.   Call  him  hither  to  me,  soldier. 

Will.   I  will,  my  liege.  [Exit 

K.  Hen.  Here,  Fluellen;  wear  thou  this  favour 
for  me,  and  stick  it  in  thy  cap:  when  Alengon  and 
myself  were  down  together,  I  plucked  this  glove 
from  his  helm:  if  any  man  challenge  this,  he  is  a 
friend  to  Alengon  and  an  enemy  to  our  person;  if 
thou  encounter  any  such,  apprehend  him,  an  thou  leo 
dost  me  love. 

Flu.  Your  grace  doo's  me  as  great  honours  as 
can  be  desired  in  the  hearts  of  his  subjects:  I  would 
fain  see  the  man,  that  has  but  two  legs,  that  shall 
find  himself  aggriefed  at  this  glove,  that  is  all;  but 
I  would  fain  see  it  once,  an  please  God  of  his  grace 
that  I  might  see. 

K.  Hen.   Knowest  thou  Gower? 

Flu.   He  is  my  dear  friend,  an  't  please  you. 


128  KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH        [Act  IV 

K.  Hen.   Pray  thee,  go  seek  him,  and  bring  him    170 

to  my  tent. 

Flu.   I  will  fetch  him.  [Exit 

K.  Hen.   My  Lord  of  Warwick,  and  my  brother 
Gloucester, 

Follow  Fluellen  closely  at  the  heels:  ■ 

The  glove  which  I  have  given  him  for  a  favour 

May  haply  purchase  him  a  box  o'  th'  ear; 

It  is  the  soldier's;  I  by  bargain  should 

Wear  it  myself.     Follow,  good  cousin  Warwick. 

If  that  the  soldier  strike  him,  as  I  judge 

By  his  blunt  bearing  he  will  keep  his  word,  iso 

Some  sudden  mischief  may  arise  of  it; 

For  I  do  know  Fluellen  valiant, 

And,  touched  with  choler,  hot  as  gunpowder, 

And  quickly  will  return  an  injury: 

Follow,  and  see  there  be  no  harm  between  them. 

Go  you  with  me,  uncle  of  Exeter.  [Exeunt 


Scene  VIII 
Before  King  Henry's  pavilion 
Enter  Gower  and  Williams 
Will.   I  warrant  it  is  to  knight  you,  captain. 

Enter  Fluellen 

Flu.  God's  will  and  his  pleasure,  captain,  I  be- 
seech you  now,  come  apace  to  the  king:  there  is 
more  good  toward  you,  peradventure,  than  is  in 
your  knowledge  to  dream  of. 


Scene  VIII]    KING  HENRY  THE  FIFTH  129 

Will.   Sir,  know  you  this  glove? 

Flu.  Know  the  glove?  I  know  the  glove  is  a 
glove. 

Will.   I  know  this;  and  thus  I  challenge  it. 

[Strikes  him 

Flu.   'Splood,  an  arrant  traitor  as  any  is  in  the     lo 
universal  world,  or  in  France,  or  in  England! 

Gow.   How  now,  sir!  you  villain! 

Will.   Do  you  think  I  '11  be  forsworn? 

Flu.  Stand  away.  Captain  Gower;  I  will  give 
treason  his  payment  into  plows,  I  warrant  you. 

Will.   I  am  no  traitor. 

Flu.  That  's  a  lie  in  thy  throat.  I  charge  you  in 
his  majesty's  name,  apprehend  him;  he  's  a  friend 
of  the  Duke  Alengon's. 

Enter  Warw^ick  and  Gloucester 

War.   How  now,  how  now!  what  's  the  matter?         20 
Flu.   My  Lord  of  Warwick,  here  is  —  praised  be 
God  for  it!  —  a  most  contagious  treason  come  to 
light,  look  you,  as  you  shall  desire  in  a  summer's 
day.     Here  is  his  majesty. 

Enter  King  Henry  a7id  Exeter 

K.  Hen.   How  now!  what  's  the  matter? 

Flu.  My  liege,  here  is  a  villain  and  a  traitor,  that, 
look  your  grace,  has  struck  the  glove  which  your 
majesty  is  take  out  of  the  helmet  of  Alengon. 

Will.  My  liege,  this  was  my  glove;  here  is  the 
fellow  of  it;    and  he  that  I  gave  it  to  in  change     30 


130  KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH       [Act  IV 

promised  to  wear  it  in  his  cap;  I  promised  to  strike 
him,  if  he  did:  I  met  this  man  with  my  glove  in 
his  cap,  and  I  have  been  as  good  as  my  word. 

Flu.  Your  majesty  hear  now,  saving  your 
majesty's  manhood,  what  an  arrant,  rascally,  beg- 
garly, lousy  knave  it  is:  I  hope  your  majesty  is  pear 
me  testimony,  and  witness,  and  will  avouchment, 
that  this  is  the  glove  of  Alengon,  that  your  majesty 
is  give  me,  in  your  conscience,  now. 

K.  Hen.   Give  me  thy  glove,  soldier:    look,  here     40 
is  the  fellow  of  it. 

'T  was  I,  indeed,  thou  promised'st  to  strike; 
And  thou  hast  given  me  most  bitter  terms. 

Flu.  An  please  your  majesty,  let  his  neck  answer 
for  it,  if  there  is  any  martial  law  in  the  world. 

K.  Hen.   How  canst  thou  make  me  satisfaction? 

Will.  All  offences,  my  lord,  come  from  the  heart: 
never  came  any  from  mine  that  might  offend  your 
majesty. 

K.  Hen.   It  was  ourself  thou  didst  abuse.  50 

Will.  Your  majesty  came  not  hke  yourself:  you 
appeared  to  me  but  as  a  common  man:  witness  the 
night,  your  garments,  your  lowHness;  and  what 
your  highness  suffered  under  that  shape,  I  beseech 
you  take  it  for  your  own  fault  and  not  mine:  for, 
had  you  been  as  I  took  you  for,  I  made  no  offence; 
therefore,  I  beseech  your  highness,  pardon  me. 

K.  Hen.   Here,  uncle  Exeter,  fill  this  glove  with 
crowns. 
And  give  it  to  this  fellow.     Keep  it,  fellow; 


Scene  VIII]   KING  HENRY  THE  FIFTH  131 

And  wear  it  for  an  honour  in  thy  cap  6o 

Till  I  do  challenge  it.  —  Give  him  the  crowns:  — 
And,  captain,  you  must  needs  be  friends  with  him. 

Flu.  By  this  day  and  this  light,  the  fellow  has 
mettle  enough  in  his  belly.  —  Hold,  there  is  twelve 
pence  for  you;  and  I  pray  you  to  serve  God,  and 
keep  you  out  of  prawls,  and  prabbles,  and  quarrels, 
and  dissensions,  and,  I  warrant  you,  it  is  the  better 
for  you. 

Will.   I  will  none  of  your  money. 

Flu.   It  is  with  a  good  will;    I  can  tell  you,  it     7o 
will  serve  you  to  mend  your  shoes:    come,  where- 
fore should  you  be  so  pashful?    your  shoes  is  not 
so  good:   't  is  a  good  silling,  I  warrant  you,  or  I  will 
change  it. 

Enter  an  English  Herald 

K.  Hen.   Now,  herald,  are  the  dead  number'd? 
Her.   Here    is    the    number    of    the    slaughtered 
French.  [Delivers  a  payer 

K.  Hen.    What  prisoners  of  good  sort  are  taken, 

uncle? 
Exe.   Charles   Duke   of   Orleans,   nephew   to   the 
king; 
John  Duke  of  Bourbon,  and  Lord  Bouciqualt : 
Of  other  lords  and  barons,  knights  and  squires,  so 

Full  fifteen  hundred,  besides  common  men. 

K.  Hen.   This  note  doth  tell  me  of  ten  thousand 
French 
That  in  the  field  lie  slain:  of  princes  in  this  number. 


132  KING  HENRY  THE  FIFTH       [Act  IV 

And  nobles  bearing  banners,  there  lie  dead 

One  hundred  twenty-six:  added  to  these, 

Of  knights,  esquires,  and  gallant  gentlemen. 

Eight  thousand  and  four  hundred;  of  the  which, 

Five  hundred  were  but  yesterday  dubb'd  knights; 

So  that,  in  these  ten  thousand  they  have  lost. 

There  are  but  sixteen  hundred  mercenaries;  90 

The  rest  are  princes,  barons,  lords,  knights,  squires. 

And  gentlemen  of  blood  and  quality. 

The  names  of  those  their  nobles  that  lie  dead: 

Charles  Delabreth,  high  constable  of  France; 

Jaques  of  Chatillon,  admiral  of  France; 

The  master  of  the  cross-bows,  Lord  Rambures; 

Great  master  of  France,   the  brave  Sir  Guichard 

Dolphin; 
John  Duke  of  Alengon;  Anthony  Duke  of  Brabant, 
The  brother  to  the  Duke  of  Burgundy; 
And  Edward  Duke  of  Bar:  of  lusty  earls,  100 

Grandpre  and  Roussi,  Fauconberg  and  Foix, 
Beaumont  and  Marie,  Vaudemont  and  Lestrale. 
Here  was  a  royal  fellowship  of  death ! 
Where  is  the  number  of  our  English  dead? 

[Herald  presents  another  paper 
Edward  the  Duke  of  York,  the  Earl  of  Suffolk, 
Sir  Richard  Ketly,  Davy  Gam,  esquire: 
None  else  of  name;  and  of  all  other  men. 
But  five-and-twenty.     O  God,  thy  arm  was  here; 
And  not  to  us,  but  to  thy  arm  alone, 
Ascribe  we  all!    When,  without  stratagem,  no 

But  in  plain  shock  and  even  play  of  battle, 


Scene  VIII]   KING  HENRY  THE  FIFTH  133 

Was  ever  known  so  great  and  little  loss, 
On  one  part  and  on  th'  other?     Take  it,  God, 
■For  it  is  none  but  thine! 

Exe.  'T  is  wonderful! 

K.  Hen.   Come,  go  we  in  procession  to  the  village: 
And  be  it  death  proclaimed  through  our  host 
To  boast  of  this,  or  take  that  praise  from  God 
Which  is  his  only. 

Flu.   Is  it  not  lawful,  an  't  please  your  majest}^, 
to  tell  how  many  is  killed?  120 

K.  Hen.   Yes,  captain;  but  with  this  acknowledge- 
ment. 
That  God  fought  for  us. 

Flu.   Yes,  my  conscience,  he  did  us  great  good. 

K.  Hen.   Do  we  all  holy  rites; 
Let  there  be  sung  Non  Nobis  and  Te  Deum; 
The  dead  with  charity  enclosed  in  clay; 
And  then  to  Calais;  and  to  England  then. 
Where  ne'er  from  France  arriv'd  more  happy  men. 

[Exeunt 


ACT  V 

Prologue 

Enter  Chorus 

Chor.   Vouchsafe  to  those  that  have  not  read  the 
story, 
That  I  may  prompt  them :  and  of  such  as  have, 
I  humbly  pray  them  to  admit  the  excuse 
Of  time,  of  numbers,  and  due  course  of  things, 
Which  cannot  in  their  huge  and  proper  Hfe 
Be  here  presented.     Now  we  bear  the  king 
Toward  Calais:  grant  him  there;  there  seen, 
Heave  him  away  upon  your  winged  thoughts 
Athwart  the  sea.     Behold,  the  English  beach 
Pales  in  the  flood  with  men,  with  wives,  and  boys,         lo 
Whose  shouts  and  claps  out-voice  the  deepmouth'd 

sea, 
Which,  hke  a  mighty  whiffler  'fore  the  king, 
Seems  to  prepare  his  way:  so  let  him  land, 
And  solemnly  see  him  set  on  to  London. 
So  swift  a  pace  hath  thought  that  even  now 
You  may  imagine  him  upon  Blackheath: 
Where  that  his  lords  desire  him  to  have  borne 
His  bruised  helmet  and  his  bended  sword 
Before  him  through  the  city;  he  forbids  it. 
Being  free  from  vainness  and  self-glorious  pride;  20 

134 


Prologue]   KING  HENRY  THE  FIFTH  135 

Giving  full  trophy,  signal,  and  ostent, 
Quite  from  himself  to  God.     But  now  behold, 
In  the  quick  forge  and  working-house  of  thought, 
How  London  doth  pour  out  her  citizens! 
The  mayor  and  all  his  brethren  in  best  sort, 
Like  to  the  senators  of  the  antique  Rome, 
With  the  plebeians  swarming  at  their  heels. 
Go  forth  and  fetch  their  conquering  Csesar  in: 
As,  by  a  lower  but  loving  likelihood. 
Were  now  the  general  of  our  gracious  empress,  so 

As  in  good  time  he  may,  from  Ireland  coming, 
Bringing  rebellion  broached  on  his  sword. 
How  many  would  the  peaceful  city  quit, 
To  welcome  him!  much  more,  and  much  more  cause, 
Did  they  this  Harry.     Now  in  London  place  him; 
As  yet  the  lamentation  of  the  French 
Invites  the  King  of  England's  stay  at  home; 
The  emperor  's  coming  in  behalf  of  France, 
To  order  peace  between  them;  and  omit 
All  the  occurrences,  whatever  chanc'd,  40 

Till  Harry's  back-return  again  to  France: 
There  must  we  bring  him;  and  myself  have  play'd 
The  interim,  by  remembering  you  't  is  past. 
Then  brook  abridgement;  and  your  eyes  advance, 
After  your  thoughts,  straight  back  again  to  France. 

[Exit 


136  KING  HENRY  THE  FIFTH         [Act  V 

Scene  I 

France.     The  English  camp 

Enter  Fluellen  and  Gower 

Gow.  Nay,  that 's  right;  but  why  wear  you  your 
leek  to-day?     Saint  Davy's  day  is  past. 

Flu.  There  is  occasions  and  causes  why  and 
wherefore  in  all  things.  I  will  tell  you,  asse  my 
friend.  Captain  Gower.  The  rascally,  scald,  beg- 
garly, lousy,  pragging  knave.  Pistol,  which  you  and 
yourself  and  all  the  world  know  to  be  no  petter 
than  a  fellow,  look  you  now,  of  no  merits,  —  he  is 
come  to  me  and  prings  me  pread  and  salt  yester- 
day, look  you,  and  bid  me  eat  my  leek:  it  was  in  lo 
a  place  where  I  could  not  breed  no  contention  with 
him;  but  I  will  be  so  bold  as  to  wear  it  in  my  cap 
till  I  see  him  once  again,  and  then  I  will  tell  him  a 
little  piece  of  my  desires. 

Enter  Pistol 

Gow.  Why,  here  he  comes,  swelling  like  ia  turkey- 
cock. 

Flu.  'T  is  no  matter  for  his  swellings  nor  his 
turkey-cocks.  God  pless  you,  Aunchient  Pistol! 
you  scurvy,  lousy  knave,  God  pless  you! 

Pist.   Ha!    art  thou  bedlam?    dost  thou  thirst,     20 
base  Trojan, 
To  have  me  fold  up  Parca's  fatal  web? 
Hence!  I  am  qualmish  at  the  smell  of  leek. 


Scene  I]      KING  HENRY  THE  FIFTH  137 

Flu.  I  peseech  you  heartily,  scurvy,  lousy  knave, 
at  my  desires,  and  my  requests,  and  my  petitions, 
to  eat,  look  you,  this  leek;  because,  look  you,  you 
do  not  love  it,  nor  your  affections,  and  your  appe- 
tites, and  your  digestions,  doo's  not  agree  with  it, 
I  would  desire  you  to  eat  it. 

Pist.   Not  for  Cadwallader  and  all  his  goats. 

Flu.   There  is  one  goat  for  you.      [Strikes  Mm]     so 
Will  you  be  so  good,  scald  knave,  as  eat  it? 

Pist.   Base  Trojan,  thou  shalt  die. 

Flu.  You  say  very  true,  scald  knave,  when  God's 
will  is:  I  will  desire  you  to  live  in  the  mean  time, 
and  eat  your  victuals;  come,  there  is  sauce  for  it. 
[Strikes  him]  You  called  me  yesterday  mountain- 
squire;  but  I  will  make  you  to-day  a  squire  of  low 
degree.  I  pray  you,  fall  to;  if  you  can  mock  a  leek, 
you  can  eat  a  leek. 

Gow.   Enough,  captain;  you  have  astonished  him.     4o 

Flu.  I  say,  I  will  make  him  eat  some  part  of  my 
leek,  or  I  will  peat  his  pate  four  days.  — Bite,  I 
pray  you;  it  is  good  for  your  green  wound  and  your 
ploody  coxcomb. 

Pist.  Must  I  bite? 

Flu.  Yes,  certainly,  and  out  of  doubt  and  out  of 
question  too  and  ambiguities. 

Pist.  By  this  leek,  I  will  most  horribly  revenge; 
I  eat  and  eat,  I  swear  — 

Flu.   Eat,  I  pray  you:    will  you  have  some  more     50 
sauce  to  your  leek?    there  is  not  enough  leek  to 
swear  by. 


138  KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH         [Act  V 

Pist.   Quiet  thy  cudgel;  thou  dost  see  I  eat. 

Flu.  Much  good  do  you,  scald  knave,  heartily. 
Nay,  pray  you,  throw  none  away;  the  skin  is  good 
for  your  broken  coxcomb.  When  you  take  occa- 
sions to  see  leeks  hereafter,  I  pray  you,  mock  at  'em; 
that  is  all. 

Pist.   Good. 

Flu.   Ay,  leeks  is  good:  hold  you,  there  is  a  groat     eo 
to  heal  your  pate. 

Pist.   Me  a  groat! 

Flu.  Yes,  verily  and  in  truth,  you  shall  take  it; 
or  I  have  another  leek  in  my  pocket,  which  you 
shall  eat. 

Pist.   I  take  thy  groat  in  earnest  of  revenge. 

Flu.  If  I  owe  you  any  thing,  I  will  pay  you  in 
cudgels;  you  shall  be  a  woodmonger,  and  buy  noth- 
ing of  me  but  cudgelg.  God  b'  wi'  you,  and  keep 
you,  and  heal  your  pate.  [Exit     to 

Pist.   All  hell  shall  stir  for  this. 

Gow.  Go,  go;  you  are  a  counterfeit  cowardly 
knave.  Will  you  mock  at  an  ancient  tradition  — 
begun  upon  an  honourable  respect,  and  worn  as  a 
memorable  trophy  of  predeceased  valour — and  dare 
not  avouch  in  your  deeds  any  of  your  words?  I  have 
seen  you  gleeking  and  galling  at  this  gentleman  twice 
or  thrice.  You  thought,  because  he  could  not  speak 
English  in  the  native  garb,  he  could  not  therefore 
handle  an  English  cudgel :  you  find  it  otherwise ;  and  so 
henceforth  let  a  Welsh  correction  teach  you  a  good 
English  condition.     Fare  ye  well.  [Exit 


Scene  II]     KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH  139 

Pist.    Doth  Fortune  play  the  huswife  with  me  now? 
News  have  I  that  my  Doll  is  dead  i'  the  spital; 
And  there  my  rendezvous  is  quite  cut  off. 
Old  I  do  wax;  and  from  my  weary  limbs 
Honour  is  cudgell'd.     Well,  bawd  I  '11  turn, 
And  something  lean  to  cutpurse  of  quick  hand. 
To  England  will  I  steal,  and  there  I  '11  steal: 
And  patches  will  I  get  unto  these  cudgell'd  scars,  90 

And  swear  I  got  them  in  the  Gallia  wars.  [Exit 

Scene  II 
France.    A  royal  palace 

Enter  at  one  door,  King  Henry,  Exeter,  Bedford, 
Gloucester,  Warwick,  Westmoreland,  and 
other  Lords;  at  another,  the  French  King,  Queen 
Isabel,  the  Princess  Katharine,  Alice,  and 
other  Ladies,  the  Duke  of  Burgundy,  and  his 
train. 

K.  Hen.    Peace    to    this    meeting,    wherefore    we 
are  met! 

Unto  our  brother  France,  and  to  our  sister, 

Health  and  fair  time  of  day;  joy  and  good  wishes 

To  our  most  fair  and  princely  cousin  Katharine; 

And,  as  a  branch  and  member  of  this  royalty, 

By  whom  this  great  assembly  is  contriv'd. 

We  do  salute  you,  Duke  of  Burgundy; 

And,  princes  French,  and  peers,  health  to  you  all! 
Fr.  King.   Right  joyous  are  we  to  behold  your 
face, 


140  KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH         [Act  V 

Most  worthy  brother  England;  fairly  met:  lo 

So  are  you,  princes  English,  every  one. 

Q.  Isa.   So  happy  be  the  issue,  brother  England, 
Of  this  good  day  and  of  this  gracious  meeting, 
As  we  are  now  glad  to  behold  your  eyes; 
Your  eyes,  which  hitherto  have  borne  in  them 
Against  the  French,  that  met  them  in  their  bent, 
The  fatal  balls  of  murdering  basilisks: 
The  venom  of  such  looks,  we  fairly  hope. 
Have  lost  their  quality;  and  that  this  day 
Shall  change  all  griefs  and  quarrels  into  love.  20 

K.  Hen.   To  cry  amen  to  that,  thus  we  appear. 

Q.  Isa.   You    English    princes    all,    I    do    salute 
you. 

Bur,   My  duty  to  you  both,  on  equal  love, 
Great  Kings  of  France  and  England!    That  I  have 

labour'd 
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 
That,  face  to  face,  and  royal  eye  to  eye, 
You  have  congreeted,  let  it  not  disgrace  me, 
If  I  demand,  before  this  royal  view. 
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, 
Our  fertile  France,  put  up  her  lovely  visage? 


Scene  II]     KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH  141 

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 

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 

The  freckled  cowslip,  burnet,  and  green  clover, 

Wanting  the  scythe,  all  uncorrected,  rank,  50 

Conceives  by  idleness;  and  nothing  teems 

But  hateful  docks,  rough  thistles,  kecksies,  burs, 

Losing  both  beauty  and  utility: 

And  all  our  vineyards,  fallows,  meads,  and  hedges, 

Defective  in  their  natures,  grow  to  wildness. 

Even  so  our  houses  and  ourselves  and  children 

Have  lost,  or  do  not  learn  for  want  of  time. 

The  sciences  that  should  become  our  country; 

But  grow  like  savages  —  as  soldiers  will 

That  nothing  do  but  meditate  on  blood  —  60 

To  swearing  and  stern  looks,  diffus'd  attire. 

And  every  thing  that  seems  unnatural. 

Which  to  reduce  into  our  former  favour, 

You  are  assembled;  and  my  speech  entreats 

That  I  may  know  the  let,  why  gentle  Peace 

Should  not  expel  these  inconveniences. 

And  bless  us  with  her  former  qualities. 


142  KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH  [Act  V 

K.  Hen.    If,  Duke  of  Burgundy,  you  would  the 
peace. 
Whose  want  gives  growth  to  th'  imperfections 
Which  you  have  cited,  you  must  buy  that  peace  70 

With  full  accord  to  all  our  just  demands; 
Whose  tenors  and  particular  effects 
You  have,  enschedul'd  briefly,  in  your  hands. 

Bur.   The  king  hath  heard  them;    to  the  -which, 
as  yet. 
There  is  no  answer  made. 

K.  Hen.  Well  then,  the  peace, 

Which  you  before  so  urg'd,  lies  in  his  answer. 

Fr.  King.    I  have  but  with  a  cursorary  eye 
O'erglanc'd  the  articles:  pleaseth  your  grace 
To  appoint  some  of  your  council  presently 
To  sit  with  us  once  more,  with  better  heed  so 

To  re-survey  them,  we  will  suddenly 
Pass  our  accept  and  preemptory  answer. 

K.  Hen.   Brother,  we  shall.     Go,  uncle  Exeter, 
And  brother  Clarence,  and  you,  brother  Gloucester, 
Warwick,  and  Huntingdon,  —  go  with  the  king: 
And  take  with  you  free  power  to  ratify. 
Augment,  or  alter,  as  your  wisdoms  best 
Shall  see  advantageable  for  our  dignity. 
Any  thing  in  or  out  of  our  demands; 
And  we  '11  consign  thereto.     Will  you,  fair  sister,  90 

Go  with  the  princes,  or  stay  here  with  us? 

Q.  Isa.    Our  gracious  brother,  I  \vill  go  with  them; 
Haply  a  woman's  voice  may  do  some  good. 
When  articles  too  nicely  urg'd  be  stood  on. 


Scene  II]     KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH  143 

K.  Hen.   Yet   leave    our    cousin    Katharine    here 
with  us; 
She  is  our  capital  demand,  comprised 
Within  the  fore  rank  of  our  articles. 

Q.  Isa.   She  hath  good  leave. 

[Exeunt  all  except  Henry,  Katharine,  and  Alice 

K.  Hen.  Fair  Katharine,  and  most  fair! 

Will  you  vouchsafe  to  teach  a  soldier  terms 
Such  as  will  enter  at  a  lady's  ear  loo 

And  plead  his  love-suit  to  her  gentle  heart? 

Kath.  Your  majesty  shall  mock  at  me;  I  cannot 
speak  your  England. 

K.  Hen.  0  fair  Katharine,  if  you  will  love  me 
soundly  with  your  French  heart,  I  will  be  glad  to 
hear  you  confess  it  brokenly  with  your  English 
tongue.     Do  you  like  me,  Kate? 

Kath.   Pardonnez-moi,  I  cannot  tell  wat  is  '  like  me.' 

K.  Hen.  An  angel  is  like  you,  Kate,  and  you  are 
like  an  angel.  no 

Kath.   Que  dit-ilf  que  je  suis  semblable  a  les  angesf 

Alice.    Out,  vraiment,  sauf  votre  grace,  ainsi  dit-il. 

K.  Hen.  I  said  so,  dear  Katharine;  and  I  must 
not  blush  to  affirm  it. 

Kath.    0  hon  Dieu!    les  langues  des  homines  sont     . 
pleines  de  tromperies. 

K.  Hen.  What  says  she,  fair  one?  that  the 
tongues  of  men  are  full  of  deceits? 

Alice.  Oui;  dat  de  tongues  of  de  mans  is  be  full 
of  deceits:  dat  is  de  princess.  120 

K.  Hen.    The    princess    is    the    better    English- 


144  KING  IILNRY   TEE  FIFTH         [Act  V 

woman.  V  faith,  Kate,  my  wooing  is  fit  for  thy  un- 
derstanding: I  am  glad  thou  canst  speak  no  better 
EngHsh;  for,  if  thou  couldst,  thou  wouldst  find  me 
such  a  plain  king,  that  thou  wouldst  think  I  had 
sold  my  farm  to  buy  my  crown.  I  know  no  wsljs 
to  mince  it  in  love,  but  directly  to  say,  '  I  love  you ' : 
then,  if  you  urge  me  further  than  to  say,  *Do  you 
in  faith? '  I  wear  out  my  suit.  Give  me  your  answer: 
i'  faith,  do;  and  so  clap  hands  and  a  bargain:  how 
say  you,  lady? 

Kath.   Sauf  voire  honneur,  me  understand  well. 

K.  Hen.  Marry,  if  you  would  put  me  to  verses 
or  to  dance  for  your  sake,  Kate,  why  you  undid 
me:  for  the  one,  I  have  neither  words  nor  measure; 
and  for  the  other,  I  have  no  strength  in  measure, 
yet  a  reasonable  measure  in  strength.  If  I  could 
win  a  lady  at  leap-frog,  or  by  vaulting  into  my 
saddle  with  my  armour  on  my  back,  under  the  cor- 
rection of  bragging  be  it  spoken,  I  should  quickly 
leap  into  a  wife.  Or,  if  I  might  buffet  for  my  love, 
or  bound  my  horse  for  her  favours,  I  could  lay  on 
like  a  butcher,  and  sit  like  a  jack-an-apes,  never 
off.  But,  before  God,  Kate,  I  cannot  look  greenly, 
nor  gasp  out  my  eloquence,  nor  I  have  no  cunning 
in  protestation;  only  downright  oaths,  which  I 
never  use  till  urged,  nor  never  break  for  urging.  If 
thou  canst  love  a  fellow  of  this  temper,  Kate,  whose 
face  is  not  worth  sun-burning,  that  never  looks  in 
his  glass  for  love  of  any  thing  he  sees  there,  let  thine 
eye  be  thy  cook.     I  speak  to  thee  plain  soldier:    if 


Scene  II]     KING  HENRY  THE  FIFTH  145 

thou  canst  love  me  for  this,  take  me;  if  not,  to  say 
to  thee  that  I  shall  die,  is  true:  but  for  thy  love,  by 
the  Lord,  no;  yet  I  love  thee  too.  And  while  thou 
livest,  dear  Kate,  take  a  fellow  of  plain  and  un- 
coined constancy;  for  he  perforce  must  do  thee 
right,  because  he  hath  not  the  gift  to  woo  in  other 
places:  for  these  fellows  of  infinite  tongue,  that  can 
rhyme  themselves  into  ladies'  favours,  they  do 
always  reason  themselves  out  again.  What!  a  ico 
speaker  is  but  a  prater;  a  rhyme  is  but  a  ballad. 
A  good  leg  will  fall;  a  straight  back  will  stoop;  a 
black  beard  will  turn  white;  a  curled  pate  will  grow 
bald;  a  fair  face  will  wither;  a  full  eye  will  wax 
hollow:  but  a  good  heart,  Kate,  is  the  sun  and  the 
m3on;  or  rather,  the  sun  and  not  the  moon;  for  it 
shines  bright  and  never  changes,  but  keeps  his  course 
truly.  If  thou  would  have  such  a  one,  take  me :  and 
take  me,  take  a  soldier;  take  a  soldier,  take  a  king. 
And  what  sayest  thou  then  to  my  love?  speak,  my  170 
fair,  and  fairly,  I  pray  thee. 

Kath.  Is  it  possible  dat  I  sould  love  de  enemy  of 
France? 

K.  Hen.  No,  it  is  not  possible  you  should  love 
the  enemy  of  France,  Kate;  but,  in  loving  me,  you 
should  love  the  friend  of  France;  for  I  love  France 
so  well  that  I  will  not  part  with  a  village  of  it;  I 
will  have  it  all  mine:  and,  Kate,  when  France  is 
mine  and  I  am  yours,  then  yours  is  France  and  you 
are  mine.  iso 

Kath.   I  cannot  tell  wat  is  dat. 


146  KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH         [Act  V 

K.  Hen.  No,  Kate?  I  ^vill  tell  thee  in  French; 
which  I  am  sure  will  hang  upon  my  tongue  like  a 
new-married  wife  about  her  husband's  neck,  hardly 
to  be  shook  off.  Je  quand  sur  le  possession  de  France, 
et  quand  vous  avez  le  possession  de  moi  (let  me  see, 
what  then?  Saint  Denis  be  my  speed !)  —  done  voire 
est  France,  et  vous  etes  mienne.  It  is  as  easy  for  me, 
Kate,  to  conquer  the  kingdom,  as  to  speak  so  much 
more  French:  I  shall  never  move  thee  in  French,  i9o 
unless  it  be  to  laugh  at  me. 

Kath.  Sauf  votre  honneur,  le  Frangois  que  vous 
parlez,  il  est  meilleur  que  VAnglois  lequel  je  parte. 

K.  Hen.  No,  faith,  is  't  not,  Kate:  but  thy 
speaking  of  my  tongue,  and  I  thine,  most  truly- 
falsely,  must  needs  be  granted  to  be  much  at  one. 
But,  Kate,  dost  thou  understand  thus  much  Eng- 
hsh,  canst  thou  love  me? 

Kath.   I  cannot  tell. 

K.  Hen.  Can  any  of  your  neighbours  tell,  Kate?  200 
I  '11  ask  them.  Come,  I  know  thou  lovest  me:  and 
at  night,  when  you  come  into  your  closet,  you  '11 
question  this  geiltlewoman  about  me;  and  I  know, 
Kate,  you  will  to  her  dispraise  those  parts  in  me 
that  you  love  with  your  heart;  but,  good  Kate, 
mock  me  mercifully;  the  rather,  gentle  princess, 
because  I  love  thee  cruelly.  How  answer  you,  la 
plus  belle  Katharine  du  monde,  nion  tres  cher  et  divin 


Kath.    Your  majeste  'ave  fausse  French  enough  to    210 
deceive  de  most  sage  demoiselle  dat  is  en  France. 


Scene  II]     KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH  147 

K.  Hen.  Now,  fie  upon  my  false  French!  By 
mine  honour,  in  true  English,  I  love  thee,  Kate;  by 
which  honour,  I  dare  not  swear  thou  lovest  me;  yet 
my  blood  begins  to  flatter  me  that  thou  dost,  not- 
withstanding the  poor  and  untempering  effect  of 
my  visage.  I  was  created  with  a  stubborn  outside, 
with  an  aspect  of  iron,  that  when  I  come  to  woo 
ladies,  I  fright  them.  But,  in  faith,  Kate,  the  elder 
I  wax,  the  better  I  shall  appear:  my  comfort  is,  220 
that  old  age,  that  ill  layer-up  of  beauty,  can  do  no 
more  spoil  upon  my  face:  thou  hast  me,  if  thou 
hast  me,  at  the  worst;  and  thou  shalt  wear  me,  if 
thou  wear  me,  better  and  better.  And  therefore  tell 
me,  most  fair  Katharine,  will  you  have  me?  Put  off 
your  maiden  blushes;  avouch  the  thoughts  of  your 
heart  with  the  looks  of  an  empress;  take  me  by  the 
hand,  and  say,  'Harry  of  England,  I  am  thine': 
which  word  thou  shalt  no  sooner  bless  mine  ear 
withal,  but  I  will  tell  thee  aloud,  'England  is  thine,  230 
Ireland  is  thine,  France  is  thine,  and  Henry  Plantag* 
enet  is  thii;Le';  who,  though  I  speak  it  before  his)f 
face,  if  he  be  not  fellow  with  the  best  king,  thou  ^^ 
shalt  find  the  best  king  of  good  fellows.  Come, 
your  answer  in  broken  music;  for  thy  voice  is  music, 
and  thy  English  broken:  therefore,  que'en  of  all, 
Katharine,  break  thy  mind  to  me  in  broken  English : 
wilt  thou  have  me? 

Kath.    Dat  is  as  it  shall  please  de  roi  mon  pere. 

K.  Hen.   Nay,  it  will  please  him  well,  Kate;    it    240 
shall  please  him,  Kate. 


148  KING  HENRY  THE  FIFTH         [Act  V 

Kath.   Den  it  sail  also  content  me. 

K.  Hen.  Upon  that  I  kiss  your  hand,  and  I  call 
you  my  queen. 

Kath.  Laissez,  mon  seigneur,  laissez,  laissez;  ma 
foi,  je  ne  veux  point  que  vous  abaissiez  voire  grandeur 
en  haisant  la  main  cVune  de  voire  seigneurie  indigne 
serviteur;  excusez-moi,  je  vous  supplie,  mon  ires  puis- 
sant seigneur. 

K.  Hen.   Then  I  will  kiss  your  lips,  Kate.  230 

Kath.  Les  dames  et  demoiselles  pour  eire  haisees 
devant  leur  noces,  il  n'est  pas  la  coidume  de  France. 

K.  Hen.   Madam,  my  interpreter,  what  says  she? 

Alice.  Dat  it  is  not  be  de  fashion  pour  les  ladies 
of  France,  —  I  cannot  tell  wat  is  haiser  en  Anglish. 

K.  Hen.   To  kiss. 

Alice.   Your  majesty  entendre  bettre  que  moi. 

K.  Hen.  It  is  not  a  fashion  for  the  maids  in 
France  to  kiss  before  they  are  married,  would  she 
say?  2G0 

Alice.   Oui,  vraiment. 

K.  Hen.  O  Kate,  nice  customs  curtsy  to  great 
kings.  Dear  Kate,  you  and  I  cannot  be  confined 
within  the  weak  list  of  a  country's  fashion:  we  are 
the  makers  of  manners,  Kate;  and  the  liberty  that 
follows  our  places  stops  the  mouths  of  all  find- 
faults;  as  I  will  do  yours,  for  upholding  the  nice 
fashion  of  your  country  in  denying  me  a  kiss;  there- 
fore, patiently  and  yielding.  [Kissing  her]  You 
have  witchcraft  in  your  lips,  Kate;  there  is  more  270 
eloquence  in  a  sugar  touch  of  them  than  in  the 


Scene  II]    KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH  149 

tongues  of  the  French  council;  and  they  should 
sooner  persuade  Harry  of  England  than  a  general 
petition  of  monarchs.     Here  comes  your  father. 

Re-enter  the  French  King  and  his  Queen, 
Burgundy,  and  other  Lords 

Bur.   God  save  your  majesty!    my  royal  cousin, 
teach  you  our  princess  English? 

K.  Hen.   I  would  have  her  learn,  my  fair  cousin, 
how  perfectly  I  love  her:  and  that  is  good  English. 

Bur.   Is  she  not  apt? 

K.  Hen.   Our  tongue  is  rough,  coz,  and  my  con-    280 
dition  is  not  smooth:    so  that,  having  neither  the 
voice  nor  the  heart  of  flattery  about  me,  I  cannot 
so  conjure  up  the  spirit  of  love  in  her,  that  he  will 
appear  in  his  true  likeness. 

Bur.  Pardon  the  frankness  of  my  mirth,  if  I  an- 
swer you  for  that.  If  you  would  conjure  in  her, 
you  must  make  a  circle;  if  conjure  up  love  in  her  in 
his  true  likeness,  he  must  appear  naked  and  blind. 
Can  you  blame  her  then,  being  a  maid  yet  rosed 
over  with  the  virgin  crimson  of  modesty,  if  she  deny  290 
the  appearance  of  a  naked  blind  boy?  It  were,  my 
lord,  a  hard  condition  for  a  maid  to  consign  to. 

K.  Hen.   Yet  they  do  wink  and  yield,  as  love  is 
blind  and  enforces. 

Bur.  They  are  then  excused,  my  lord,  when  they 
see  not  what  they  do. 

K.  Hen.   Then,  good  my  lord,  teach  your  cousin 
to  consent  winking. 


150  KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH          [Act  V 

Bur.    I  will  wink  on  her  to  consent,  my  lord,  if 
you  will  teach  her  to  know  my  meaning:   for  maids,    300 
well   summered   and  warm   kept,   are  like   flies   at 
Bartholomewtide,    blind,    though    they    have    their 
eyes. 

K.  Hen.  This  moral  ties  me  over  to  time  and 
a  hot  summer;  and  so  I  shall  catch  the  fly,  your 
cousin,  in  the  latter  end  and  she  must  be  bhnd  too. 

Bur.    As  love  is,  my  lord,  before  it  loves. 

K.  Hen.    It  is  so:    and  you  may,   some  of  you, 
thank  love  for  my  blindness,  who  cannot  see  many 
a  fair  French  city  for  one  fair  French  maid  that    310 
stands  in  my  way. 

Fr.  King.  Yes,  my  lord,  you  see  them  perspec- 
tively,  the  cities  turn'd  into  a  maid;  for  they  are 
girdled  with  maiden  walls  that  war  hath  never 
enter'd. 

K.  Hen.   Shall  Kate  be  my  wife? 

Fr.  King.    So  please  you. 

K.  Hen.    I  am  content;    so  the  maiden  cities  you 
talk  of  may  wait  on  her:   so  the  maid  that  stood  in 
the  way  for  my  wish  shall  show  me  the  way  to  my    320 
will. 

Fr.  King.  We  have  consented  to  all  terms  of 
reason. 

K.  Hen.   Is  't  so,  my  lords  of  England? 

West.   The  king  hath  granted  every  article: 
His  daughter  first;  and  then  in  sequel  all. 
According  to  their  firm  proposed  natures. 

Exe.    Only    he    hath    not    yet    subscribed  .  this: 


Scene  II]     KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH  151 

Where  your  majesty  demands  that  the  King  of 
France,  having  any  occasion  to  write  for  matter  of  330 
grant,  shall  name  your  highness  in  this  form  and 
with  this  addition,  in  French  —  Notre  tres  cher  fils 
Henri,  roi  d'Angleterre,  Heritier  de  France;  and  thus 
in  Latin  —  Prcedarissimns  filius  noster  Henricus,  Rex 
Anglice,  et  hceres  Francice. 

Fr.  King.    Nor  this  I  have  not,  brother,  so  denied. 
But  your  request  shall  make  me  let  it  pass. 

K.  Hen.    I  pray  you  then,  in  love  and  dear  alliance, 
Let  that  one  article  rank  with  the  rest; 
And  thereupon  give  me  your  daughter.  340 

Fr.  King.   Take  her,  fair  son,  and  from  her  blood 
raise  up 
Issue  to  me;  that  the  contending  kingdoms 
Of  France   and   England,   whose  very  shores  look 

pale 
With  envy  of  each  other's  happiness. 
May  cease  their  hatred;   and  this  dear  conjunction 
Plant  neighbourhood  and  Christian-like  accord 
In  their  sweet  bosoms,  that  never  war  advance 
His  bleeding  sword  'twixt  England  and  fair  France. 

All.   Amen! 

K.  Hen.   Now,  welcome,  Kate;    and  bear  me  wit- 
ness all  350 

That  here  I  kiss  her  as  my  sovereign  queen. 

[Flourish 
Q.  Isa.   God,  the  best  maker  of  all  marriages. 
Combine  your  hearts  in  one,  your  realms  in  one! 
As  man  and  wife,  being  two,  are  one  in  love. 


152  KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH         [Act  V 

So  be  there  'twixt  your  kingdoms  such  a  spousal, 

That  never  may  ill  office,  or  fell  jealousy, 

Which  troubles  oft  the  bed  of  blessed  marriage, 

Thrust  in  between  the  paction  of  these  kingdoms, 

To  make  divorce  of  their  incorporate  league; 

That  English  may  as  French,  French  Englishmen,        seo 

Receive  each  other!  —  God  speak  this  Amen! 

All.   Amen! 

K.  Hen.   Prepare  we  for  our  marriage;    on  which 
day, 
My  Lord  of  Burgundy,  we  '11  take  your  oath, 
And  all  the  peers',  for  surety  of  our  leagues. 
Then  shall  I  swear  to  Kate,  and  you  to  me; 
And  may  our  oaths  well  kept  and  prosperous  be ! 

[Sennet.    Exeunt 


Epilogue]    KING  HENRY  THE  FIFTH  153 

EPILOGUE 
Enter  Chorus 

Chor.   Thus  far,  with  rough  and  all-unable  pen, 

Our  bending  author  hath  pursued  the  story: 
In  little  room  confining  mighty  men, 

Mangling  by  starts  the  full  course  of  their  glory. 
Small  time,  but  in  that  small  most  greatly  Uved 

This  star  of  England:  Fortune  made  his  sword; 
By  which  the  world's  best  garden  he  achiev'd. 

And  of  it  left  his  son  imperial  lord. 
Henry  the  Sixth,  in  infant  bands  crown'd  King 

Of  France  and  England,  did  this  king  succeed;  lo 

Whose  state  so  many  had  the  managing, 

That   they   lost   France   and  made   his   England 
bleed; 
Which  oft  our  stage  hath  shown;    and,   for  their 

sake. 
In  your  fair  minds  let  this  acceptance  take.        [Exit 


NOTES 


The  following  contractions  are  used  in  the  notes:  Cf.  =  confer 
(compare);  Lit.  =  literally;  A.  S.  =  Anglo-Saxon;  Fr.  =French;  Lat. 
=  Latin;  M.  E.=Middle  English;  O.  Fr.=01d  French;  C.  Ed.  = 
Collins's  Edition;  CI.  P.  S.=  Clarendon  Press  Series;  R.  Ed.  = 
Rugby  Edition. 

PROLOGUE 

The  Chorus  explains  the  subject  and  the  action  of  the  play,  and 
supplies  a  narrative  of  the  events  which  are  to  be  understood  as 
occurring  during  the  intervals  between  the  Acts.  In  the  time  of 
Shakespeare  a  chorus  was  the  technical  term  for  the  prologue. 

Page  27.     1.     A  Muse,  etc.     An  inspiring  influence. 

2.  Invention.  Imagination.  In  Shakespeare  it  has  also  these 
meanings:  (1)  A  discovery  or  invention  (the  literal  meaning); 
(2)  a  forgery  or  falsehood;  (3)  thought,  idea;  (4)  the  inventive  or 
imaginative  faculty. 

4.  The  swelling  scene.  The  increasing  pomp  and  splendor  of 
the  scene. 

6.  Mars.     The  Roman  god  of  war. 

7.  Leash'd  in  like  hounds.     Bound  and  led  hke  hounds. 

8.  Gentles.     Gentlefolks. 

9.  Unraised.     Not  elevated  in  thought. 

10.  Scaffold.     Stage. 

11.  Object.  Representation,  spectacle.  —  Cockpit.  The  small 
compass  of  the  theater  was  better  suited  for  a  cock-fight  than  the 
representation  of  Henry's  battles. 

13.  This  wooden  O.  The  Globe  Theatre,  where  this  play  was 
perhaps  first  acted,  was  in  the  form  of  an  octagon.  It  was  built 
in  1598  or  1599  by  Burbage. 

16.  Attest.     Represent,  certify. 

17.  Ciphers  to  this  great  accompt.  Who  are  as  nothing  in 
comparison  with  the  characters  who  figured  in  the  actual  drama.  — 
Accompt.     Account. 

18.  Imaginary  forces.     Powers  of  imagination, 

19.  Girdle.     Compass. 

155 


156  KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH 

Page  28.  21.  Upreared  and  abutting  fronts.  High  and  pro- 
jecting shores.     Abut,  to  border  (on),  to  end. 

22.  Narrow  ocean.  The  Enghsh  Channel,  called  in  French  La 
Manche,  from  its  likeness  to  a  sleeve.     (C.  Ed.) 

25.  Make  imaginary  puissance.  Imagine  an  armed  force. 
Puissance  is  here  a  trisyllable. 

30.  Turning  th'  accomplishment,  etc.  Representing  in  an  hour 
what  it  took  many  years  to  accomplish. 

31.  For  the  which  supply.  For  supplying  a  narrative  of  the 
events. 


ACT  I 

Scene  I 

1.  Self.     Self-same. 

2.  Th'  eleventh  year,  etc.  In  1410,  when  a  vigorous  attempt 
to  strip  the  church  of  part  of  its  immense  possessions  was  made  by 
the  Lollard  party  under  its  leader,  Sir  John  Oldcastle,  better  known 
as  Lord  Cobham. 

3.  Was  like  [to  have  passed],  and  had  [would  have]  indeed,  etc. 

4.  Scambling.     Scrambling,  struggling. 

5.  Question.     Consideration. 

Page  29.  14.  Esquires.  Attendants  on  the  knights,  lit. 
shield  bearers.     (Lat.  scutum,  a  shield.) 

15.  Lazars.  Persons  afflicted  with  loathsome  disease,  espe- 
cially leprosy,  like  Lazarus  in  the  parable;  cf.  Luke  xvi,  20. 

28.     Consideration.     Reflection. 

Page  30.     34.     A  heady  currance.     A  headlong  current. 

35.  Nor  never.  Negatives  were  repeated  in  early  English  for 
the  sake  of  emphasis.  —  Hydra-headed.  The  Hydra  that  dwelt 
in  a  swamp  near  Lerna  in  Argos,  had  nine  heads,  and  no  sooner 
had  Hercules  knocked  off  one  with  his  club  than  two  new  ones 
sprang  up  in  its  place. 

43.     List.     Often  in  Shakespeare  used  transitively. 

45.  Any  cause  of  policy.     Any  question  of  politics. 

46.  The  Gordian  knot.  Gordius,  king  of  Phrygia,  was  origi- 
nally a  poor  peasant.  Being  made  king,  he  dedicated  his  chariot  to 
Jupiter,  in  the  acropolis  of  Gordium.  An  intricate  knot  of  bark 
fastened  the  pole  to  the  yoke,  and  an  oracle  declared  that  whoever 
should  loose  it  would  rule  over  the  whole  of  Asia.  Alexander  the 
Great  made  short  work  of  the  diflSculty  by  cutting  the  knot  with 
his  sword. 

47.  Familiar.  In  Elizabethan  English  adjectives  are  freely 
used  as  adverbs.  —  That.    So  is  here  omitted. 


NOTES:  ACT  I,  SCENE  II  157 

48.  A  chartered  libertine.  Having  a  right  or  charter  to  move 
at  liberty. 

54.  Addiction.     Inclination. 

55.  Companies.     For  companions. 
57.     And  never  [was  there]  noted,  etc. 

59.     Popularity.     Association  with  the  common  people. 

Page  31.     63.     Contemplation.     Studious  disposition. 

66.  Yet  crescive  in  his  faculty.  Yet  showing  its  power  of 
growth.  His,  the  old  form  of  the  genitive  case  of  it.  Its  does  not 
occur  in  Spenser,  or  the  Bible  of  1611  (which  has  it  where  its  is  now 
used  in  Leviticus  xxv,  5),  and  is  found  only  thrice  in  Milton.  Us 
first  appeared  in  print  in  1598.     (Prof.  Lounsbury.) 

68.  Needs.  A  substantive  adverb  with  the  old  inflection  of 
the  genitive  singular  -es. 

72.     Indifferent.     Impartial. 

74.     Exhibiters.     Those  who  presented  the  bill. 

76.  Upon.  Upon  the  authority  of,  in  consequence  of.  —  Our 
spiritual  convocation.  The  Convocation  of  the  church  used  to 
pass  ecclesiastical  laws  and  grant  subsidies  to  the  crown.  It 
gradually  fell  into  impotence,  and  was  virtually  suspended  from 
1717  to  1840. 

86.  The  severals  and  unhidden  passages.  The  details  and  clear 
documentary  proofs. 

87.  Some  certain.  A  pleonasm.  The  dukedoms  were  Aqui- 
taine,  Anjou,  Maine,  and  Normandy. 

88.  S3at.     Throne. 

Page  32.    95.    Embassy.     Mission. 

Scene  II 

4.  Cousin  in  Shakespeare  is  used:  (1)  to  denote,  besides  the  son 
or  daughter  of  an  uncle  or  aunt,  any  kinsman  or  kinswoman;  (2) 
as  a  titls  given  by  princes  to  other  princes  and  distinguished  noble- 
men.    This  last  is  the  meaning  here. 

Page  33.  11.  Law  Salique.  The  Salic  (from  the  Bavarian 
river  Saale)  law  originated  in  the  custom  of  the  Salian  Franks,  who 
finally  settled  in  France  under  their  leader  Pharamond,  about  418, 
'when  the  kingdom  of  France  was  founded.'  It  was  one  of  their 
laws  that  no  woman  could  succeed  to  an  inheritance,  lest  by  marry- 
ing she  should  carry  her  property  and  power  into  another  house. 
The  law  was  first  applied  to  French  politics  in  the  fourteenth  cen- 
tury. When  the  English  kings  laid  a  claim  to  the  French  throne 
through  the  female  line,  it  became  an  article  of  French  patriotism 
to  maintain  the  Salic  law  as  a  necessary  safeguard  of  nation- 
ality. 


158  KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH 

14.  Fashion  .  .  .  reading.  Distort  the  knowledge  gained  by 
reading. 

16.  Miscreate.     Falsely  invented. 

19.  In  approbation.     In  proving  or  making  good  our  claim, 

20.  Your  reverence.     Reverence /or  you. 

21.  Impawn.     Pledge  or  engage  in. 
28.  Mortality.     Human  life. 

Page  34.  40.  Gloze.  To  explain  away,  as  by  a  gloss  or 
comment. 

49.     Dishonest.     Unchaste. 

53.  Meisen.  Meissen,  near  Dresden,  now  famous  for  the 
manufacture  of  china. 

58.  Defunction.     Death. 

59.  Idly.     Unreasonably,  carelessly. 

61,  71,  75.  Charles  the  Great;  Charlemain.  The  first  is 
Charlemagne,  the  son  of  Pepin  (690-741).  Charlemain  is  Charles 
the  Bald  ile  Chaiwe),  born  822,  died  877. 

Page  35.  65.  King  Pepin,  'the  Short,'  son  of  Charles  Martel, 
and  the  first  king  of  the  Carlovingian  dynasty.  He  deposed  Chil- 
deric,  the  last  of  the  Merovingians,  in  751,  and  reigned  till  768. 

67.  Blithild,  queen  of  France,  daughter  of  Clothaire  II,  and 
wife  of  Childeric  II. 

69.  Hugh  Capet,  Duke  of  France,  who,  after  the  death  of 
Louis  V,  seized  the  throne,  was  crowned  in  987,  and  reigned  till  his 
death  in  996. 

70.  Charles  the  Duke  of  Lorraine  received  from  the  Emperor 
Otho  II  the  dukedom  of  Lower  Lorraine.  He  attempted,  on  tli>* 
death  of  Louis  V,  to  seize  the  crown,  but  was  worsted  by  Hugh 
Capet,  and  flung  into  prison,  where  he  died  in  993. 

72.  Find.     Provide. 

73.  Naught.  Worthless,  good  for  nothing.  Naughty  occurs  in 
The  Merchant  of  Venice  in  the  sense  of  had,  wicked. 

74.  Convey' d  himself.    Managed  to  pass  himself  off. 

88.  King  Lewis  his  satisfaction.  His  frequently  occurs  in  early 
English  by  mistake  for  's,  the  sign  of  the  possessive  case,  especially 
after  a  proper  name  ending  in  s.  The  old  inflection  of  the  genitive, 
-es,  seems  to  have  been  confounded  with  the  pronoun  his. 

93.  To  hide  them  in  a  net.  To  take  refuge  in  subtle  intricacies. 
Them  for  themselves  was  common  in  Elizabethan  English. 

Page  36.  94.  Imbar,  '  Bar  in,  secure,'  is  Knight's  interpreta- 
tion.   Schmidt  takes  imbar  as  an  intensive  form  of  har,  to  exclude. 

95.     The  arguments   of  the  archbishop  may  be  thus  summed: 

(1)  The  Salic  law  is  not,  and  never  was,  apphcable  to  France. 

(2)  Three  sovereigns  had  already  inherited  the  throne  of  France 
by  right  of  female  descent. 


NOTES:  ACT  I,   SCENE  II  159 

98.  Numbers  xxvii,  1-11.  —  Writ  and  wrote  both  occur  as  the 
past  participle  in  Shakespeare. 

106.     Play'd  a  tragedy.    The  battle  of  Crecy  (1346). 

112.  With  half  their  forces.  One  of  the  three  divisions  of  the 
army  (not  the  half)  was  held  in  reserve  under  the  king,  and  took 
no  part  in  the  action. 

113.  Another.     The  other. 

114.  Cold  for  action.     Cool,  ready  for  action. 

120.  The  very  May-morn  of  his  youth.  Henry  was  born  in 
1387,  and  was  now  in  his  twenty-seventh  year. 

Page  37.  137.  Proportions  to  defend.  Number  of  troops 
necessary  for  our  defense. 

138.  Road.     An  incursion. 

139.  Advantages.     Opportunities. 

140.  Marches.     The  border  lands. 

143.  Coursing  snatchers.  The  border  freebooters  were  notori- 
ous for  cattle-lifting. 

144.  Main  intendment.     Chief  aim  or  purpose. 

145.  Still.     Always.  —  Giddy.     Fickle,  not  to  be  trusted. 
Page  38.     151.     The  gleaned  land.     The  land  stripped  of  its 

defenders.  —  Assays.     Attacks. 
155.     Fear'd.     Frightened. 

160.  Inipounded  as  a  stray.  Confined  like  a  stray  animal. 
Pound,  an  inclosure  where  strayed  animals  are  shut  up,  from  A.  S. 
pyndan,  to  shut  in. 

161.  The  king  of  Scots.  David  II,  who  was  captured  at  the 
battle  of  Neville's  Cross  (1346)  by  the  English  army. 

169.     In  prey.     In  search  of  prey. 

175.  A  crush'd  necessity.     A  forced  inference.     (C.  Ed.) 

176.  Necessaries.     Provisions. 

Page  39.     179.     Advised.     Wary,  thoughtful. 

182.     Congreeing.     Agreeing. 

188.  Teach  the  act  of  order.  Show  in  a  practical  way  what 
order  is. 

190.     Sorts.     Various  ranks. 

192.  Venture.  To  risk  or  speculate  in  trade.  A  cargo  was 
termed  a  venture. 

194.     Boot.     Plunder.     It  is  a  form  of  booty. 

196.  Their  emperor.  Virgil  in  the  Georgics  also  represents  the 
queen-bee  as  a  male. 

197.  Busied  in  his  majesty.    Occupied  with  his  kingly  duties. 
203,     Executors.     Executioners. 

206.     Contrariously.     From  opposite  points,  by  different  ways. 
Page  40.     220.     The  name  of  hardiness.      Our    reputation    for 
bravery. 


160  KING  HENRY  THE  FIFTH 

226.     Empery.     Empire. 

232.  Like  Turkish  mute.  To  prevent  the  disclosure  of  secrets, 
it  was  a  custom  among  the  Turks  to  cut  out  the  tongues  of  attend- 
ants at  courts,  of  executioners,  and  otiiers. 

233.  Wot  .  .  .  waxen  epitaph.  Not  worshiped  with  an  epi- 
taph so  perishable  as  one  on  wax. 

Page  41.     245.     In  few.     In  short. 

252.     GaUiard.     A  hvely  dance. 

Page  42,  261-266.  These  lines  are  full  of  punning  allusions  to 
the  game  of  tennis.  —  Play  a  set.  Have  a  game  of  tennis.  —  Strike 
into.  Ihat  is,  into  the  'service'  from  the  'hazard'  side.  —  Hazard 
denotes  the  hole  into  which  the  ball  was  struck.  —  Wrangler.  An 
opponent.  —  Courts.  Tennis  was  played  in  walled  courts  about 
ninety  feet  long  by  thirty  feet  wide.  —  Chaces.  The  ins  and  outs 
of  tennis. 

263.  Shall  strike,  etc.  The  omission  of  the  relative  as  the  sub- 
ject is  common  in  Shakespeare. 

273.     State.     Chair  of  state. 

280.     To  look.     In  looking. 

282.  Gun-stones.  Cannon  balls  were  at  first  made  out  of 
Btone. 

Page  43.    307.     God  before.    Before  God. 

ACT  II 

Prologue 

Page  44.    2.     Silken  dalliance.     The  robes  suited  to  dalliance. 

6.     Mirror.     Pattern. 

14.     Pale  policy.    Pale-hearted  policy,  cowardly  scheming. 

18.  Would  thee  do.     Would  have  thee  do. 

19.  Kind.  True  to  the  spirit  of  their  race,  not  degenerate. 
(A.  S.  cynde,  natural  —  cynn,  a  tribe.)  Kindly  originally  meant 
natural.    Cf.  'the  kindly  fruits  of  the  earth.' 

Page  45.  23.  Richard  Earl  of  Cambridge.  Cousin  to  Henry 
IV,  and  brother  to  the  Duke  of  York  in  this  play. 

24.  Henry  Lord  Scroop.  The  eldest  son  of  Sir  Stephen  Scroop, 
who  is  one  of  the  characters  in  Richard  II.  He  had  married  the 
step-mother  of  the  Earl  of  Cambridge. 

25.  Sir  Thomas  Grey  of  Heton,  in  Northumberland. 

26.  Gilt.  Gold  bribes.  Guilt  originally  meant  a  fine,  or  a  pay- 
ment, by  way  of  recompense  for  an  offense.  (/  S.  gylt,  a  crime; 
connected  with  gijld,  a  recompense.)  Wergild  (A.  S.  iver,  man,  and 
gyldan,  to  pay),  among  the  Saxons,  was  the  fine  paid  as  compensa- 
tion for  murder. 


I 


NOTES:  ACT  II,  SCENE  I  '       161 

31.  Linger.  A  transitive  verb.  —  We'll  digest.  We  will  ar- 
range, dispose  of. 

32.  Abuse  of  distance.  This  refers  to  the  deception  by  which 
the  scene  is,  in  so  short  a  time,  transferred  from  London  to  South- 
ampton. 

34.     Set.     Set  out. 

Scene  I 

3.  Ancient.  An  ensign,  standard-bearer,  a  corruption  of  O.  Fr. 
enseigne.     (Lat.  insignis,  noted.) 

Page  46.     10.     There  's  an  end  to  what  I  have  to  sa5^ 

16.     That  is  my  rest.     That  is  my  resolve. 

30.     Tike.     Cur.     A  Scandinavian  word. 

Page  47.  34.  Well-a-day.  Alas.  It  is  another  form  of  wella- 
way.     (A.  S.  wd-ld-wd,  woe,  lo!  woe.) 

37.     Nothing.     No  violence. 

43.  Shog  off.  Move  off.  Shog  is  perhaps  smother  iorm  oi  jog, 
from  a  Celtic  root. 

47.     Maw.     Stomach.  —  Perdy.     A  corruption  of  Fr.  par  Dieu. 

50.  Take.  Take  aim.  —  Cock.  Flint  guns  in  use  when  the 
play  was  written.     (R.  Ed.) 

52.  Barbason.  The  name  of  a  fiend,  or  demon;  also  of  an  able 
officer  in  the  service  of  the  Dauphin.     (C.  Ed.) 

60.  Exhale.  Draw.  It  is  used  of  the  sun  drawing  up  vapors 
and  thus  producing  meteors. 

Page  48.     64.     Mickle.     Great;  an  old  form  of  much. 

66.     Tall.     Valiant. 

69.     Couple  a  gorge !    Pistol's  French  for 'cut  the  throat!' 

71.  Hound  of  Crete.  The  bloodhounds  of  Crete  were  much 
prized  in  antiquity. 

Page  49.  100.  Sword  is  an  oath.  The  hilt,  being  m  the  form 
of  a  cross,  was  used  to  swear  by. 

102.     An.     If. 

104.     Prithee.     Pray  thee. 

107.  A  noble.  A  gold  coin  worth  six  shilHngs  and  eight  pence, 
or  about  $1.60. 

Page  50.  119.  Quotidian.  A  fever  whose  paroxysms  return 
every  day.    A  quotidian  tertian  is  of  course  an  absurdity. 

123.  That 's  the  even  of  it.  That  is  the  plain  truth  of  the 
matter. 

127.  Passes  .  .  .  careers.     Indulges  in  jokes  and  tricks. 

128.  Lambkins.  A  term  of  endearment,  Lamb-k-in  (with 
double  diminutive  suffix)  from  A.  S.  lamb. 


162  KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH 


Scene  II 

2.  By  and  by.     Immediately.     Cf.  Luke  xxi,  9. 

3.  Even.     Composedly. 

Page  51.  9.  Whom  he  hath  duU'd,  etc.  Whom  he  hath  sur- 
feited with  favors  till  he  has  lost  all  sense  of  gratitude.  —  Cloy'd. 
Glutted,  satiated. 

18.     Head.     An  armed  force. 

Page  52.     33.     The  ofnce  of  our  hand.     The  use  of  our  hand. 

34.     Quittance.     Reward. 

40.     Enlarge.     Set  at  large,  liberate. 

43.  On  his  more  advice.  On  more  carefully  considering  his 
case. 

44.  Security.  The  word  has  here  the  meaning  of  the  Lat. 
securitas,  the  state  of  being  without  care. 

46.  His  sufferance.  Suffering  of  him,  allowing  him  to  go  un- 
punished. 

53.  Orisons.     Prayers. 

54.  Proceeding  on  distemper.  Arising  in  a  distempered  state  of 
mind. 

Page  53.     61.     Late.     Lately  appointed. 
63.     It.     The  written  commission. 

Page  54.  79.  Quick.  Alive,  hving.  Cf.  the  quick  and  the 
dead,  cut  to  the  quick. 

86.  Apt.     Ready.  —  Accord.     Agree. 

87.  Appertinents.     Appurtenances. 

99.  Use.     Advantage,  interest. 

100.  May.     Can. 
103.     Gross.     Distinct. 

Page  55.  107.  In  a  natural  cause.  A  cause  to  which  they 
were  both  akin,  so  there  was  nothing  unnatural  in  what  they  did. 
(CI.  P.  S.) 

111.  Cimning.  Originally  the  present  participle  of  M.  E. 
cunnen,  to  know.     (A.  S.  cunnan,  to  know.) 

112.  Preposterously.  Contrary  to  the  natural  order  of  things. 
Lit.  having  that  first  which  ought  to  be  last.  (Lat.  proeposterus  — 
proe,  before,  posterns,  after.) 

119.     Instance.     Motive. 

126.  Jealousy.     Suspicion. 

127.  Affiance.     Confidence. 

133.  Blood.     Used  figuratively  for  passion. 

134.  Complement.  Corresponding  outward  appearance;  the 
external  qualities  that  go  to  complete  the  character. 

135.  Not  working,  etc.  Not  trusting  to  appearances  without 
enlightened  judgment. 


NOTES:  ACT  II,  SCENE  IV  163 

Page  56.     137.     Bolted.     Sifted,  without  mixture  of  vileness. 
159.     In  sufferance.     In  suffering  the  penalty. 
Page  57.     166.     Quit.     Acquit,  pardon. 
169.     Earnest.     Money  paid  in  token  of  a  bargain  made. 
175.     Tender.     Regard. 

181.     Dear  offences.    Offenses  for  which  you  will  suffer  dearly. 
188.     Rub.     That  which  causes  friction,  a  hindrance.     It  is  a 
term  of  the  game  of  bowls. 

190.     Puissance.     Forces,  army. 

192.     The  signs  of  war  advance.     Bear  forward  the  standards. 

Scene  III 

Page  58.     2.     Staines.    A  small  towTi  on  the  road  from  London 
to  Southampton. 
3.     Yearn.     Grieve. 

9.  In  Arthur's  bosom.    The  Hostess  means  Abraham's  bosom. 

10.  'A  made.  He  made.  For  he  we  sometimes  find  in  early 
English  ha,  'a  (not  confined  always  to  one  number  or  gender)  =he, 
she,  it,  they.  —  A  finer  end.     A  final  end. 

11.  An  .  .  .  christom  child.  Like  any  newly  baptized  child. 
The  chrisom  was  a  white  cloth  put  on  a  newly  baptized  child,  and 
was  worn  by  it  for  a  time.  During  that  time  the  infant  was  called 
a  chrisom  child. 

13.  At  the  turning  o'  the  tide.  The  behef  is  still  common  that 
a  dying  person  will  linger  until  the  turn  of  the  tide. 

Page  59.     27.     Of.    About,  or  perhaps  against.  —  Sack.  Wines. 

43.  Chattels.  Properly  any  kind  of  property  but  freehold.  A 
doublet  of  cattle. 

44.  Let  senses  rule.  Johnson  proposed  to  read  the  phrase: 
Met  sense  us  rule.'  —  Pitch  and  pay.  A  proverbial  expression  for 
'Pay  ready  money.' 

47.  Hold-fast  is  the  only  dog.  The  proverb  is,  'Brag  is  a  good 
dog,  but  hold-fast  is  a  better.' 

49.     Clear  thy  crystals.     Rub  your  glasses  (of  the  hostel). 

Scene  IV 

Page  60.  1.  Comes.  The  verb  is  singular  because  by  'the 
English'  is  to  be  understood  the  English  king. 

2.     More  than  carefully.     With  more  care  than  usual. 

10.     Gulf.     Whirlpool. 

Page  61.  25.  Morris-dance.  A  Moorish  dance  said  to  have 
been  introduced  into  England  from  Spain  about  the  time  of 
Edward  IV. 

26.     Idly  king'd.    Having  a  fool  for  a  king;  carelessly  governed. 


164  KING  HENRY  THE  FIFTH 

34.     In  exception.    In  taking  exception,  in  offering  objections. 

37.  ^  The  Roman  Brutus.  Lucius  Junius  Brutus,  to  escape  the 
suspicion  of  his  uncle,  Tarquinius  Superbus,  feigned  to  be  an  idiot. 

Page  62.  46.  Which  .  .  .  projection.  Which  being  planned 
on  a  weak  and  niggardly  scale. 

47.     Scanting.     Giving  hardly  enough,  limiting. 

50.  Flesh'd  upon  us.    Trained  or  practiced  on  us. 

51.  Strain.    Race,  breed;  now  used  only  of  dogs. 

57.  His  mountain  sire.  It  has  been  proposed  to  read  'his 
mighty  sire,'  as  in  I,  ii,  108.  Theobald  substituted  mounting  in  the 
sense  of  aspiring.     (CI.  P.  S.) 

64.  The  native  ...  of  him.  The  greatness  he  has  inherited, 
and  the  destiny  that  awaits  him. 

Page  63.  85.  Sinister.  Literally  means  the  left  hand.  —  No 
.  .  .  claim.    No  wrongful  or  perverse  claim. 

88.     Line.     Pedigree,  register  of  his  descent. 

90.  Willing  you  overlook.    Desiring  you  to  look  or  read  over. 

91.  Evenly.     Directly,  in  a  straight  hne. 
Page  64.     94.     Indirectly.     Wrongfully. 
95.     Challenger.     Claimant. 

121.     In  grant  of.     By  granting. 

Page  65.     124.     Womby  vaultages.     Womb-Uke  vaults. 

125.     Chide.     Resound. 

129.     Odds.     Variance,  quarrel. 

133.     The  mistress  court.     The  best  tennis  court. 

145.     Breath.     Breathing-space,  a  very  short  time. 


ACT   III 

Prologue 

Page  66.  1.  With  imagin'd  wing.  With  the  wing  of  imagina- 
tion. 

4.  Appointed.    Equipped.  —  Hampton.     That  is,  Southampton. 

5.  Brave.     Gay,  splendid. 
12.     Bottoms.     Vessels. 
14.     Rivage.     Shore. 

18.  Grapple  .  .  .  navy.  Follow  with  your  minds  astern  of  this 
navy. 

Page  67.     30.     To  dowry.     For  a  dowry. 

31.  Some  petty  .  .  .  dukedoms.  Tulle,  Limoges,  and  Aqui- 
taine. 

33.  Linstock.  A  stick  to  hold  the  gunner's  match.  —  Chambers. 
Small  pieces  of  ordnance. 


NOTES:  ACT  III,  SCENE  III  165 

Scene  I 

Page  68.    10.    Portage.    Porthole;  used  for  the  socket  of  the  eye. 

11.  O'erwhelm.     Lower  over. 

12.  A  galled  rock.    A  rock  worn  away  by  the  action  of  the  water. 

13.  Jutty.     Jut  over.  —  Confounded.     Wasted. 

21.  For  lack  of  argument.  Because  they  had  no  longer  any 
foes  to  fight. 

22.  Attest.     Testify,  prove. 

31.  Slips.  A  noose  or  leash  in  which  greyhounds  are  held  be- 
fore they  are  allowed  to  start  after  the  game. 

Scene  II 

Page  69.  4.  A  case  of  lives.  A  set  of  lives,  as  we  say  'a  case 
of  pistols.' 

20.  Avaunt.  Begone.  (Fr.  avant,  forward;  Lat.  ab,  from,  ante, 
before.)  —  You  cullions.     You  cowardly  fellows. 

22.  Duke.  Leader,  general.  (Fr.  due;  Lat.  dux,  duels,  a  leader.) 
—  Men  of  mould.     Mortal  men. 

Page  70.  25.  Bawcock.  A  term  of  endearment.  (Fr.  beau 
coq,  fine  fellow.) 

29.     Swashers.     Swaggerers. 

31.  Antics.     Oddities,  buffoons. 

32.  For.     As  for. 

33.  White-livered.     Cowardly. 

43.  Purchase.  Booty;  originally  anything  acquired  honestly  or 
dishonestly,  proceeds  of  begging  or  stealing. 

48.  Carry  coals.  A  proverbial  expression  for  'do  the  dirtiest 
work.' 

52.  Pocketing  up  of  wrongs.  Cf.  our  phrase,  'pocket  an 
affront.' 

Page  71.     63.     Discuss.     Explain. 

Page  72.     86.     God-den.     Good  evening. 

Page  73.     118.     Lig.    Lie.     (A.  8.  liegan.)  —  Giund.    Ground. 

120.     Marry.     By  the  Virgin  Mary. 

Scene  III 

Page  74.     2.     Parle.     Parley,  conference. 
8.     Half-achieved.     Half-won. 
11.     Flesh'd.     Experienced  in  bloodshed. 

Page  75.     26.     Precepts.    Summons.    The  word  has  this  mean- 
ing in  Shakespeare  only  when  the  acpent  is  on  the  last  syllable. 
28.     Of.     On. 
32.     Heady.     Headstrong. 


166  KING  HENRY  THE  FIFTH 

Scene  V 

Page  79.  10.  But  bastard  Normans.  An  allusion  to  the  base 
birth  of  William  I,  the  Conqueror.     (C.  Ed.) 

13.  Slobbery.     Sloppy,  wet,  marshy. 

14.  Nook-shotten.  This  contemptuous  term  may  refer  to  the 
irregular  outline  of  Britain,  projecting  into  capes,  shooting  into 
nooks  or  angles.  Knight  interprets  it  as  'the  isle  thrust  into  a 
corner,  apart  from  the  rest  of  the  world.' 

15.  Mettle.  This  is  the  same  word  as  metal,  but  used  in  a 
figurative  sense. 

18.  Sodden.     Boiled. 

19.  Drench.  A  drink,  or  draught  of  physic.  —  Sur-rein'd. 
Overridden. 

23.     Roping.     Hanging  like  ropes. 

Page  80.  36.  More  sharper.  Shakespeare  uses  double  com- 
paratives and  superlatives  for  the  sake  of  greater  emphasis. 

Page  81.  57.  For  achievement.  In  order  to  bring  matters  to 
a  head  or  end,  to  end  the  war.     (Fr.  achever;  chef,  the  head.) 

Scene  VI 

Page  82.  26.  Buxom.  Lively,  sprightly.  It  literally  means 
yielding,  from  A.  S.  hiigan,  to  bow. 

Page  83.  41.  He  hath  stolen  a  pax.  The  pax  or  pix  was  a 
small  plate  containing  a  picture  of  the  crucifixion  or  of  the  Saviour, 
on  which  the  kiss  of  peace  (hence  its  name)  was  bestowed  in  the 
Roman  Catholic  Church  at  the  time  of  mass. 

59.  Figo.  The  use  of  this  contemptuous  word  was  accom- 
panied by  an  insulting  gesture,  in  which  the  thumb  was  thrust 
between  the  first  and  second  fingers  and  the  hand  closed. 

62.  The  fig  of  Spain.  Poisoned  figs  are  said  to  have  been  used 
in  Spain  for  purposes  of  revenge. 

Page  84.  74.  They  will  learn  you.  They  ^^^ll  learn,  look  you. 
You  is  redundant. 

76.     Sconce.  An  earthwork  or  fortification.  Used  also  for  the  head. 

78.     Con.     Learn  by  heart. 

94.     From  the  bridge.     Concerning  the  bridge. 

Page  85.     120.     Habit.     The  uniform  of  a  herald. 

Page  86.  130.  Upon  our  cue.  For  our  turn  to  act  has  come. 
Cue  is  a  term  of  the  stage,  denoting  'the  last  words  of  an  actor's 
speech  serving  as  a  hint  to  the  next  speaker.'  (O.  Fr.  coe,  queue 
[Fr.  queue].     Lat.  cauda,  a  tail.) 

146.  Quality.  Profession,  rank;  in  Shakespeare's  time  the 
technical  term  for  the  profession  of  an  actor. 

151.     Impeachment.     In  its  literal  sense  of  hindrance.     (O.  Fr. 


NOTES:  ACT  IV,  PROLOGUE  167 

empescher  [Ft.  empecher],  to  hinder  —  Low  Lat.  impedicare,  to 
fetter.)  —  To  say  the  sooth.  To  speak  the  truth.  Sooth  from 
A.  S.  soodh,  truth. 

Scene  VII 

Page  88.     9.   Provided  of.    Where  we  would  say  'provided  with.' 

12.  Pasterns.  The  part  of  a  horse's  foot  from  the  fetlock  to 
the  hoof. 

13.  As  if  his  entrails  were  hairs.  The  reference  is  to  tennis- 
balls,  which  were  stuffed  with  hair. 

14.  Pegasus.     The  winged  horse  of  the  Muses. 

18.  The  pipe  of  Hermes.  The  shepherd's  pipe  invented  by 
the  god  Mercury,  the  Hermes  of  the  Greeks. 

21.  Perseus,  who  slew  Medusa,  from  whose  blood  Pegasus 
sprung.  —  The  dull  elements,  etc.  An  allusion  to  the  old  theory 
that  there  were  only  four  elementary  substances,  air,  fire,  earth, 
and  water. 

Page  89.     33.     The  lodging.     The  lying  down. 

41.  Writ,  as  well  as  wrote,  is  thus  used  by  Shakespeare.  He 
also  has  wrote  for  written. 

Page  90.     54.     Belike.     Likely,  perhaps. 

55.  A  kern.     A  light-armed  soldier. 

56.  Strait  strossers.     Tight  trousers. 

76.  A  many.  This  use  of  a  some  explain  by  a  reference  to  the 
old  noun  many,  as  it  occurs  in  IV,  iii,  95:  A  many  of  our  bodies;  and 
in  Sonnet  93:  In  many's  looks.  It  may  also  be  explained  by  re- 
garding the  many  collectively  as  one  mass.  Thus  we  say,  a  fev/,  a 
score,  etc. 

Page  91.     88.     Go  to  hazard.     Play  at  dice. 

102.     Still.     Always. 

Page  92.  115.  Hooded  .  .  .  bate.  The  reference  is  to  hawk- 
ing. The  falcon,  v/hich  was  kept  'hooded'  till  the  game  appeared, 
would  sometimes  hesitate  in  its  flight,  and  'bate'  or  flap  its  wings. 

Page  93.  151.  Just.  Just  so.  —  Sympathise.  Are  in  har- 
mony with,  resemble. 

152.     Robustious.     Boisterous  and  violent. 

156.     Shrewdly  out  of  beef.     Sorely  in  want  of  beef. 

ACT   IV 

Prologue 

Page  94.     1.     Entertain  conjecture  of.     Imagine. 
2.     The  poring  dark.     The  darkness  through  which  it  is  neces- 
sary to  look  intently  or  closely. 


168  KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH 

8.  Paly.     Pale. 

9.  Battle.  Army  in  battle  array.  —  Umber'd.  Darkened  with 
the  shadows  cast  by  the  flames.  Umber  is  a  brown  pigment,  so 
called  because  originally  obtained  from  Umbria  in  Italy. 

12.  Accomplisiiing.     i\rmmg  completely. 

20.  Tardy-gaited.     Slow-pacmg. 

Page  96.     26.     Watchful  fires.     The  fires  by  which  they  watch. 

39.  Attaint.     The  force  of  weariness. 

45.  Mean  and  gentle.  High  and  low.    ikfean,  properly  of  middle 

rank.  Gentle,  of  good  birth. 

47.  Little  toucn.     Brief  sketch. 

50.  Foils.     Swordsmen. 

Scene  I 

Page  96.     7.     Husbandry.     Thrifty  management. 

10.  Dress  us  fairly.     Prepare  ourselves  ai'ight. 

15.  Churlish.  Rude.  Churl,  an  ill-bred  fellow,  from  A.  S. 
ceorl,  a  countryman.    Cf.  Scotch  carl;  Ger.  Kerl. 

16.  Likes  me.     Pleases  me. 

Page  97.  23.  Casted  slough.  Refers  to  the  cast-off  skin  of  a 
snake.  —  Legerity.  Nimbleness,  activity.  (Fr.  legerete,  leger, 
hght.) 

26.  Anon.     Immediately. 

27.  Desire  them  all  (to  come)  to,  etc. 
32.     I  would.     I  wish,  I  would  have. 

37.  Discuss.     Explain. 

38.  Popular.  Vulgar.  This  was  the  meaning  of  the  word  in 
the  time  of  Shakespeare. 

Page  98.  45.  Imp.  Lit.  a  graft  or  shoot;  then  a  child.  The 
word  has  now  become  degraded  in  meaning. 

56.  Saint  Davy's  day.  March  1,  the  festival  of  St.  David, 
the  titular  saint  of  Wales. 

62.  God  be  with  you.  This  contraction  becomes  God  he  wi' 
ye,  then  good-by. 

64.     Sorts.     Agrees. 

67.     Admiration.     Wonder. 

Page  100.     99.     Sand.     Sandbank. 

105.     The  element.     The  sky. 

112.     Possess  him  with.     Impart  to  him. 

120.  By  my  troth.  Cf.  the  modern  expression,  'Upon  my 
word.'  Troth,  merely  another  form  of  truth.  —  I  will  speak  my 
conscience.    I  will  speak  what  I  know  within  my  own  mind. 

Page  101.  143.  Rawly.  Without  due  provision  being  made 
for  them. 

151.     Sinfully  miscarry.     Perish  in  their  sins. 


I 


NOTES:  ACT  IV,  SCENE  II  169 

156.     Irreconciled.     Not  atoned  for,  unforgiven. 

Page  102.     164.     Arbitrement.     Decision. 

171.     Native  punishment.     The  law  of  the  land. 

173.  Beadle.  Messenger  to  bring  them  to  justice,  court- 
officer. 

178.     Unprovided.     Unprepared  for  death. 

Page  103.     193.     Answer  it.     Answer  for  it. 

204.  An  elder-gim.  A  toy  gun,  the  barrel  of  which  is  made 
from  a  piece  of  an  elder-tree  branch,  by  pushing  the  pith  out  of  it. 

209.     Something  too  round.     Somewhat  too  plain  spoken. 

218.  Here  's  my  glove,  etc.  The  introduction  of  the  incident 
of  the  glove  into  this  scene  is  on  a  parallel  with  the  affair  of  Portia's 
ring  in  The  Merchant  of  Venice. 

Page  104.     230.     Enow.     The  same  word  as  enough. 

246.     General.     Public. 

Page  105.  252.  Thy  soul  of  adoration.  The  thing  in  thee  for 
which  thou  art  adored. 

261.  Blown.  The  past  participle  of  the  verb  blow,  to  bloom  or 
blossom. 

269.  Inter-tissued.  Inwoven  with  gold  thread  or  pearls.  (CI. 
P.  S.) 

270.  The  farced  title.  The  title  stuffed  or  crammed  with 
showy  terms,  as  'His  Most  Gracious  Majesty.' 

277.  Distressful.  Earned  by  stress  or  dint  of  hard  toil;  or  it 
may  describe  the  coarse  bread  eaten  by  the  peasant. 

Page  106.  282.  Hyperion.  Phoebus,  or  Apollo,  who  drives 
the  chariot  of  the  sun. 

289.     Wots.     Knows.     The  past  is  wist. 

291.  Advantages.  Benefits.  The  verb  is  singular  through  the 
attraction  of  the  singular  noun  peasant,  which  is  nearer  to  it  than 
its  own  subject.  Some  instances  where  the  verb  in  -s  agrees  with  a 
subject  in  the  plural,  are  explained  by  the  northern  English  in- 
flection -s  of  the  third  person  plural.  Cf.  'My  old  bones  aches,' 
'the  imperious  seas  breeds  monsters,'  and  'his  tears  runs  down.' 

301.     Compassing.     Obtaining. 

Page  107.  311.  Since  .  .  .  pardon.  Since  my  own  repent- 
ance is  necessary  for  forgiveness. 

Scene  II 

2.  Varlet.  Another  form  of  valet,  also  vaslet,  a  diminutive 
of  O.  Fr.  vassal,  an  attendant  on  a  lord,  a  footman.  It  is  now 
generally  applied  to  a  low  fellow. 

Page  108.  11.  Dout.  Do  out,  put  out,  extinguish.  Cf.  don, 
doff,  dup. 


170  KING  HENRY  THE  FIFTH 

18.  Shales.  A  doublet  of  shells,  and  allied  to  scale,  skull, 
scalp,  scallop. 

21.     Curtle-axe.     A  short  sword. 

Page  109.  29.  Hilding.  Skeat  derives  this  word  from  the 
older  English  hilderling,  or  hinderUng,  as  if  from  hinder,  the  com- 
parative of  the  adjective  hind,  with  the  meaning  of  base,  degen- 
erate. 

31.  Speculation  has  here  its  Uteral  meaning  of  looking  on  from 
Lat.  specio,  1  look. 

35.  The  tucket  sonance.  The  sounding  of  the  tucket,  the  in- 
troductory flourish  of  the  trumpet. 

41.     Curtains.     Banners. 

44.     Beaver.     The  front  part  of  a  helmet. 

48.  Dov/n-roping.     Dripping. 

49.  The  gimmal-bit.     The  double  or  chain  bit. 
Page  110.     54.     Battle.     Army 

61.     Trumpet.     Trumpeter. 

Scene  III 
2.     Rode.     For  ridden. 
Page  111.     26.     Yearns.     Grieves. 

Page  112.  41.  This  day,  etc.  The  battle  of  Agincourt  was 
fought  on  October  25,  1415,  the  festival  of  St.  Crispin. 

50.  With  advantages.  With  exaggeration.  'The  storj^  will 
lose  nothing  in  the  telling.'     (Wright.) 

57.  Crispin  Crispian.  Crispinus  and  Crispianus  were  two 
Christians  who  suffered  martyrdom  under  Diocletian,  at  Soissons, 
in  France,  either  in  287  or  in  303.  As  during  their  missionary 
labors  they  had  exercised  their  trade  of  shoemaking,  they  ever 
afterwards  were  regarded  as  the  patron  saints  of  this  handicraft. 

Page  113.  63.  Gentle  his  condition.  Make  a  gentleman  of 
him. 

69.  Bravely.     Finely,  splendidly. 

70.  Expedience.     Expedition,  haste. 

Page  114.     91.     Achieve  me.     Put  an  end  to  my  life,  kill  me. 

107.  In  relapse  of  mortality.  'By  a  rebound  of  deadliness' 
(Schmidt),  or  perhaps  it  means  'In  thy  process  of  falling  again  into 
death.' 

Page  115.     130.     Vaward.     Vanguard. 

SCEXE    IV 

Page  116.  4.  Custure  me !  This  scrap  of  Pistol's  may  be  the 
name  of  an  old  Irish  song.  The  English  of  it  is,  probably,  'young 
girl,  my  treasure!' 


NOTES:  ACT  IV,  SCENE   VIII  171 

8.  Perpend.     Consider. 

9.  Fox.  A  slang  term  for  a  sword,  from  the  figure  of  a  fox  which 
was  stamped  on  the  blade  as  the  cutler's  mark. 

14.  Moy.  Pistol  imagines  the  Frenchman  is  speaking  of 
moidores,  which  were  gold  coins. 

15.  Rim.     The  diaphragm. 

Page  117.  29.  Firk  him,  and  ferret  him.  Firk,  to  give  a 
drubbmg,  to  beat.  Ferret,  to  throttle  or  worry  as  a  ferret  would 
a  rabbit. 

Page  118.  73.  This  roaring  devil  i'  the  old  play.  The  devil 
frequently  figured  as  one  of  the  characters  in  the  old  moralities  and 
mystery  plays,  and  with  the  'Vice'  created  amusement  for  the 
spectators.  The  'Vice'  (the  original  of  the  clown)  would  often 
belabor  the  devil  soundly  with  a  lath  and  send  him  roaring  off  the 
stage. 

74.  A  wooden  dagger,  with  which  the  'Vice'  would  attempt  to 
pare  the  devil's  nails. 

Scene  VI 

Page  120.  8.  Larding.  Garnishing,  fattening.  The  Dulve  of 
York  was  very  corpulent. 

Page  121.     34.     Issue.     Water,  shed  tears. 

Scene  VII 

Page  123.     55.     I  was  not  angry.     I  have  not  been  angry. 

61.     Skirr  away.     Scour  or  scud  away. 

Page  124.     69.     Fin'd.     Pledged  to  pay  as  a  fine. 

73.     Book.     Register  in  a  book. 

75.  Woe  the  while!  Woe  to  the  time!  While  is  here  in  the 
dative  case. 

Page  125.  104.  Wear  the  leek  upon  Saint  Tavy's  Day.  In 
honor  of  a  victory  won  by  Prince  Arthur  over  the  Saxons,  the  Welsh 
soldiers  were  enjoined  by  St.  David,  their  patron  saint,  to  wear  a 
leek  in  their  caps,  as  the  skirmish  had  been  fought  'in  a  garden 
where  leeks  did  grow.'    St.  David's  Day  is  the  first  of  March. 

Page  127.   143.   A  Jack-sauce.   A  saucy  jack,  an  impudent  fellow. 

156.  When  Alen?on  and  myself,  etc.  'The  king  that  dale 
shewed  himselfe  a  valiant  knight,  albeit  almost  felled  by  the  duke 
of  Alanson;  yet  with  plaine  strength  he  slue  two  of  the  dukes 
companie,  and  felled  the  duke  himselfe.'     (Holinshed.) 

Scene  VIII 

Page  129.  10.  'Splood.  God's  blood;  it  was  used  as  an  oath. 
Cf.  zounds  or  'swounds,  God's  wounds. 


172  KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH 


ACT.  V 

Prologue 

Page  134.     10.     Pales  in.     Hems  in. 

12.  Whiflaier  'fore  the  king.  A  whiffler  was  originally  a  fifer 
or  lute-player,  then  a  person  who  preceded  a  procession  to  clear 
the  way. 

17.  To  have  borne,  etc.  To  have  his  bruised  helmet,  etc.,  borne 
before  him. 

Page  135.     21.     Signal,  and  ostent.    External  signs  of  honor. 

30.  The  general  of  our  gracious  empress.  Robert  Devereux, 
Earl  of  Essex,  the  favorite  of  Queen  Elizabeth.  In  the  spring  of 
1599,  he  was  sent  to  Ireland  with  a  large  force  to  suppress  Tyrone's 
rebellion.  But  in  this  he  failed,  and  returned  to  London  in  the 
following  September. 

32.  Broached.  Spitted,  pierced  through;  from  Fr.  broche,  an 
iron  pin. 

38.  The  emperor  's  coming.  The  emperor  is  coming.  This  was 
Sigismund,  elected  emperor  of  Germany  in  1410. 

43.    Remembering.     Reminding. 

Scene  I 

Page  136.     5.     Scald.     Scurvy. 

20.  Bedlam.  Mad;  a  common  name  for  a  lunatic  asylum,  taken 
from  Bethlem  Hospital,  London,  which  has  existed  for  centuries. 

21.  Parca's  fatal  web.  Parcce  was  the  name  given  in  ancient 
mythology  to  the  three  weird  sisters,  the  Fates. 

Page  137.  29.  CadwaUader.  The  last  king  of  the  Welsh.  He 
lived  about  the  year  660. 

Page  138.     77.     Gleeking  and  galling.     Jeering  and  scoffing. 

82.     Condition.     Temper,  disposition. 

Page  139.     83.     The  huswife.     The  jilt. 

84.  Spital  is  a  contraction  of  hospital,  and  in  this  form  is  com- 
mon as  a  local  name. 

Scene  II 

The  conference  at  Troyes  was  held  in  1420,  five  years  after 
Henry  landed  at  Dover  in  triumph  from  France;  so  Shakespeare 
has  omitted  the  campaign  of  1417-18,  in  which  Rouen  suffered  a 
terrible  siege  and  Normandy  was  reduced. 

1.     Wherefore.     For  which. 

Page  140.     17.     Basilisks.     A  basilisk  was  a  fabulous  serpent, 


NOTES:  ACT   V,  SCENE  II  173 

called  also  cockatrice,  which  was  supposed  to  kill  by  its  look.  It 
was  also  a  kind  of  ordnance, 

31.     Congreeted.     Greeted  each  other. 

33.     Rub.     Hindrance. 

Page  141.  42.  Even-pleach' d.  Intertwined  so  as  to  have  a 
smooth  or  even  appearance. 

47.  Deracinate  such  savagery.    Root  up  such  wild  growth. 

48.  Erst.     Formerly, 

52.     Kecksies.     A  kind  of  hemlock. 

63.     Reduce.     In  its  literal  sense,  to  bring  back. 

65.  Let.  Hindrance,  obstacle.  To  let,  to  liinder,  occurs  in  the 
Bible. 

Page  142.     68.     Would.     Wish,  desire. 

73.     Enschedul'd.    Written  down  in  a  schedule,  in  writing. 

77.     Cursorary.     Cursory,  hasty, 

90.     Consign.     With  its  literal  meaning,  sign  together. 

Page  143.     96.     Capital,     Chief. 

Page  144.     134.     Undid,     Would  undo. 

135.     Measure.     Meter. 

141.     Buffet,     Box, 

Page  145.  156.  Uncoined  constancy.  Constancy  that  has  not 
been  tampered  with. 

Page  146.  187.  Saint  Denis.  Dionysius,  the  patron  saint  of 
France, 

Page  147.  235,  Broken  music.  Music  from  different  instru- 
ments not  in  harmony. 

Page  148.  262.  Nice  customs  curtsy.  Prudish  customs  bow 
or  give  way, 

264,     List.     Barrier, 

Page  149.     280,     Condition,     Disposition. 

Page  152,     358.    Paction.     Compact. 


QUESTIONS  AND  TOPICS   FOR  STUDY 

By  Emma  F.  Lowd,  M.  A. 

First  Assistant  in  English,  Washington  Irving  High  School, 
New  York  City 

READING  REFERENCES 

Brown.  Shakespeare's  Versification. 

Clarke,  Concordance  to  Shakespeare. 

Fleay.  Chronicle  History  of  the  London  Stage. 

Gardiner.  A  Students'  History  of  England. 

Green.  A  Short  History  of  the  English  People. 

Hazlitt.  Characters  of  Shakespeare's  Plays. 

Mabie,  William  Shakespeare:  Poet,  Dramatist,  and  Man. 

Pater.  Appreciations:  'Shakespeare's  English  Kings.' 

Shakespeare.     Henry  IV. 

Smith.  Shakespeare  the  Man. 

Stone.  Shakespeare's  Holinshed. 

Whipple.  Literature  of  the  Age  of  Elizabeth. 

STUDY  OF  KING  HENRY  THE  FIFTH 

PROLOGUE 

1.  Explain  the  origin  of  the  chorus. 

2.  What  was  the  purpose  of  it? 

3.  What  are  the  specific  purposes  of  the  prologues  in  Henry  Vf 

4.  Describe  the  stage  equipment  of  Shakespeare's  time. 

5.  Why  should  the  king  be  called  'Harry'  (1.  5)? 

6.  What  is  foreshadowed  as  to  the  action  of  the  play  (11.  12-14)? 


ACT   I 

Scene  I 

1.  WTiat  is  the  situation  at  the  opening  of  this  scene? 

2.  How  has  Henry  himself  prepared  us  for  the  change  in  his 
character  described  by  Canterbury  in  11.  24-37?  (See  Henry  IV, 
Part  I,  I,  ii.) 

3.  Why  is  Henry's  youthful  wildness  compared  to  a  veil  (1.  64)? 

174 


TOPICS  FOR  STUDY:  ACT  II,  PROLOGUE     175 

4.  Wliat  does  this  scene  reveal  of  the  condition  of  the  church  in 
the  early  part  of  the  fifteenth  century? 

5.  Explain  the  dramatic  purpose  of  the  scene. 

6.  What  insight  is  given  into  the  character  of  Henry? 

Scene  II 

1.  What  is  the  basis  of  Henry's  claim  to  the  French  throne? 

2.  What  traits  of  Henry's  character  are  revealed  in  11.  13-23? 

3.  To  what  does  he  appeal  in  the  Archbishop's  nature? 

4.  What  evidence  is  there  of  the  honesty  of  Henry's  own  motives? 

5.  Discuss  the  truth  of  Canterbury's  statements  in  11.  35-45. 

6.  Why  does  the  king  ask  the  question  in  1.  96? 

7.  What  is  Canterbury's  real  motive  in  advising  Henry  to  make 
war  on  France? 

8.  Who  was  Edward  the  Black  Prince? 

9.  How  does  Canterbury  try  to  influence  Henry? 

10.  What  part  does  Ely  play  in  this  interview? 

11.  Explain  the  distinction  made  in  11.  125,  126,  between  grace 
and  highness. 

12.  Wliy  does  Canterbury  make  the  promise  in  11.  132-135? 

13.  What  interest  does  Henry  show  in  the  welfare  of  his  country? 

14.  Why  was  it  necessarv  to  take  such  precautions  as  Henry 
describes  in  11.  136-139? 

15.  Discuss  the  truth  of  the  statement  in  11.  146-149. 

16.  Explain  the  meaning  of  1.  155. 

17.  What  is  the  origin  of  the  sajdng  quoted  in  11.  167,  168? 

18.  Explain  the  figure  in  11.  169-173. 

19.  How  would  Exeter  bring  about  the  harmony  of  the  state? 

20.  Wliy  do  the  ambassadors  come  from  the  Dauphin  instead  of 
from  the  French  king? 

21.  Explain  the  meaning  of  11.  250  and  253. 

22.  What  do  the  tennis-balls  symbolize? 

23.  Describe  Henry's  manner  when  he  repHes  to  the  Dauphin's 
challenge. 

24.  Explain  the  meaning  of  11.  266-272. 

25.  In  what  way  does  Henry  show  his  religious  feeling? 

26.  What  feeling  is  expressed  in  the  rhymed  lines  at  the  close  of 
the  scene? 

ACT   II 

Prologue 

1.  What  progress  in  the  action  of  the  play  is  indicated  by  the 
opening  lines? 

2.  Discuss  the  preparations  for  war. 


176  KING  HENRY   THE  FIFTH 

3.  Explain  the  figurative  language  in  11.  8-11. 

4.  What  is  the  object  of  the  conspiracy  against  Henry? 

5.  Why  could  not  the  change  of  scene  from  London  to  South- 
ampton be  shown  on  the  stage? 

Scene  I 

1.  What  is  the  object  of  the  change  of  characters? 

2.  Why  does  Pistol  generally  speak  in  blank  verse? 

3.  Who  is  the  Boy's  'master'  (1.  80)? 

4.  Why  does  the  Hostess  say  'The  king  has  killed  his  heart' 
(1.  86)? 

5.  Mention  a  conspicuous  trait  in  each  of  the  characters  in  this 
scene. 

Scene  II 

1.  How  does  Henry's  fearlessness  protect  him? 

2.  Why  does  Henry  profess  such  confidence  in  all  his  subjects 
(11.  20-24)? 

3.  What  motives  prompt  the  conspirators  to  flatter  Henry? 

4.  Why  does  Henry  pardon  the  man  who  had  'railed'  at  him 
(1.  41)? 

5.  Explain  the  meaning  of  dear  care  in  1.  58.    How  is  the  expres- 
sion used? 

6.  What  dramatic  purpose  is  there  in  Henry's  manner  of  re- 
vealing to  the  conspirators  his  knowledge  of  their  treachery? 

7.  Show  how  he  leads  them  on  to  confess  their  guilt. 

8.  Why  is  Henry's  denunciation  of  Scroop  more  severe  than 
that  of  the  other  traitors? 

9.  What  power  does  Henry  display  in  this  speech? 

10.  How  are  the  conspirators  affected  by  the  discovery  of  their 
crime? 

11.  Discuss  Henry's  method  of  dealing  wath  the  conspiracy. 

12.  What  does  it  indicate  as  to  his  ability  to  cope  with  an  enemy 
in  war? 

13.  How  does  Henry  show  his  magnanimity? 

Scene  III 

1.  Why  is  the  reappearance  of  the  minor  characters  a  relief? 

2.  How  does  it  happen  that  these  people  are  still  in  London? 

3.  Why  is  the  death  of  Falstaff  announced  in  this  way? 

4.  Mention  the  evidences  of  illiteracy  in  the  Hostess's  language. 

5.  What  touches  of  pathos  are  found  in  this  scene? 

6.  What  are  the  chief  motives  that  lead  the  three  adventurers  to 
follow  Henry  to  the  war?    Why  does  the  Boy  go? 


TOPICS  FOR  STUDY:  ACT  III,  SCENE  IV    177 

Scene  IV 

1.  What  is  the  situation  in  France? 

2.  Explain,  in  11.  12  and  13,  the  expressions  late  examples  and 
fatal  and  neglected  English. 

3.  Discuss  the  Dauphin's  views  of  the  preparation  for  war. 

4.  Why  does  the  Dauphin  underestimate  Henry's  power? 

5.  Of  what  value  is  the  king's  advice  (11.  48-64)? 

6.  How  does  his  view  seem  prophetic? 

7.  Why  is  his  attitude  the  natural  result  of  experience? 

8.  Explain  the  thought  m  11.  69-71. 

9.  In  what  respect  is  the  message  delivered  by  Exeter  character- 
istic of  Henry? 

10.  Contrast  the   French  king's  dignity   with  the   Dauphin's 
angry  defiance  (11.  113-116). 

11.  How  has  Henry  shown  his  impetuosity? 


ACT   III 

Prologue 
1.  Discuss  the  progress  of  events  as  narrated  by  the  Chorus. 

Scene  I 

1.  What  is  the  situation  at  the  opening  of  this  scene? 

2.  To  what  motives  does  Henry  appeal  in  his  address  to  his 
men? 

Scene  II 

1.  How  does  real  war  affect  these  camp-followers? 

2.  Who  is  Fluellen?    What  is  his  position? 

3.  What  is  the  Boy's  estimate  of  the  characters  of  his  com- 
panions? 

4.  What  does  he  reveal  of  his  own  character? 

5.  Show  the  purpose  of  introducing  men  of  so  many  nationalities. 

6.  What  trait  of  the  Welsh  character  is  shown  in  Fluellen 
(11.  128-134)? 

Scenes  III  and  IV 

1.  How  may  the  cruelty  of  Henry's  threats  to  the  French  before 
their  surrender  be  reconciled  with  his  treatment  of  them  after  the 
fall  of  Harfleur? 

2.  Wliy  is  Scene  iv  introduced  in  this  part  of  the  play? 

3.  What  insight  does  it  give  into  Katharine's  character? 


178  KING  HENRY  THE  FIFTH 


Scene  V 

1.  What  evidence  is  there  of  delay  and  lack  of  preparation  on 
the  part  of  the  French? 

2.  Why  does  the  French  king  seem  to  depend  so  much  more  on 
his  nobles  than  on  his  soldiers? 

3.  Compare  this  situation  with  Henry's  confidence  in  his  men. 

4.  How  is  the  Constable's  speech  typical  of  the  confidence  of  the 
French  in  their  success? 

Scene  VI 

1.  What  is  the  attitude  of  the  soldiers  of  the  English  army 
toward  their  superiors? 

2.  How  does  the  treatment  of  Bardolph  illustrate  the  discipline 
in  the  English  army? 

3.  Discuss  the  purpose  of  the  message  delivered  by  Montjoy. 

4.  What  is  the  condition  of  the  English  army? 

5.  What  traits  of  Henry's  character  are  shown  in  his  reply  to 
Montjoy? 

Scene  VII 

1.  Account  for  the  lack  of  serious  consideration  of  the  approach- 
ing battle  among  the  French. 

2.  What  is  the  attitude  of  the  French  officers  and  nobles  toward 
the  Dauphin? 

3.  How  do  the  French  receive  the  news  of  the  position  of  the 
English  army? 

ACT  IV 

Prologue 

1.  Picture  the  two  camps  on  the  eve  of  battle. 

2.  What  is  the  condition  of  the  Enghsh  soldiers? 

Scene  I 

1.  What  is  Henry's  state  of  mind? 

2.  How  does  he  show  his  kindness  of  heart? 

3.  Why  does  he  want  to  be  alone? 

4.  What  evidences  of  loyalty  or  discontent  does  Henry  discover 
among  his  men? 

5.  Explain  how  his  soliloquy  reveals  his  sense  of  the  responsi- 
bility resting  upon  him. 

6.  What  kingly  qualities  are  shown  in  Henry's  prayer? 


TOPICS  FOR  STUDY:  ACT  IV,  SCENE  VIII    179 

Scene  II 

1.  How  have  the  English  obtained  an  advantage  by  being  first 
'embattled'? 

2.  Describe  the  appearance  of  the  English  array.     (Grandpre's 
speech.) 

3.  Explain  how  this  report  increases  the  self-confidence  of  the 
French  and  at  the  same  time  weakens  their  cause. 

Scene  III 

1.  With  what  feelings  do  the  English  lords  prepare  for  battle? 

2.  How  does  Henry's  rebuke  to   Westmoreland  serve  to  put 
courage  into  the  hearts  of  his  generals? 

3.  What  historical  authority  is  there  for  this  scene? 

4.  Why  is  this  second  offer  of  ransom  made  by  the  French? 

5.  What  is  the  nature  of  Henrj^'s  reply? 

6.  Why  is  it  more  decided  than  his  previous  answer? 

Scenes  IV,  V,  and  VI 

1.  Discuss  the  development  of  the  Boy's  character. 

2.  How  has  Pistol  escaped  the  fate  of  his  comrades? 

3.  What  is  the  purpose  of  this  scene? 

4.  What   characters   state   the   cause   of  the   confusion  of  the 
French  army? 

5.  How  does  it  affect  the  leaders? 

6.  Compare  the  soldierly  qualities  of  the  French  leaders  and  the 
English  leaders. 

7.  Of  what  importance  are  the  English  losses? 

8.  How  is  the  king  affected  by  them? 

Scene  VII 

1.  What  evidences  of  loyalty  to  Henry  are  shown  among  the 
common  soldiers? 

2.  How  does  Henry  receive  the  news  of  his  victory? 

3.  Why  does  he  give  Wilhams's  glove  to  Fluellen? 

Scene  VIII 

1.  In  what  way  does  Fluellen  further  prove  his  loyalty  to  Henry? 

2.  What  is  the  value  of  such  a  scene  immediately  after  the 
battle? 

3.  How  does  Henry  show  his  humility  in  ascribing  the  victory 
to  God? 

4.  What  other  traits  of  character  are  conspicuous? 


180  KING  HENRY  THE  FIFTH 

ACT  V 

Prologue 
Make  a  brief  abstract  of  this  prologue. 

Scenes  I  and  II 

1.  Give  a  final  estimate  of  the  character  of  Pistol.  Account  for 
the  apparent  contradictions. 

2.  Compare  Fluellen  and  Gower, 

3.  What  time  has  elapsed  since  the  battle  of  Agincourt? 

4.  Explain  in  detail  the  terms  of  the  treaty  between  France  and 
England. 

5.  Why  is  the  scene  between  Henry  and  Katharine  so  attractive, 
and  how  do  they  understand  each  other  so  well? 

6.  Are  there  any  historical  discrepancies  in  Scene  II? 

EPILOGUE 

1.  What  is  the  purpose  of  the  epilogue? 

2.  In  what  respect  does  this  epilogue  enlarge  the  original  scope 
of  such  a  passage? 

GENERAL  TOPICS  FOR  THEMES  OR   EXAMINATIONS 

1.  Discuss  the  various  methods  of  judging  character.  By  direct 
references  to  Henry  V,  show  how  these  methods  aid  in  forming  an 
estimate  of  Henry's  character. 

2.  The  historical  accuracy  of  Henry  V. 

3.  Compare  the  Henry  of  history  with  the  Henry  of  the  play. 

4.  Picture  the  scene  at  the  time  of  the  denunciation  of  Scroop, 
Grey,  and  Cambridge. 

5.  Give  your  estimate  of  Henry  V  as  an  acting  play. 

6.  Write  a  brief  paragraph  on  the  purposes  served  by  the  minor 
characters. 

7.  Was  Henry  V's  cause  just,  and  his  quarrel  (with  France) 
honorable,  as  he  says  in  the  play?  Answer  with  reference  to  the 
arguments  in  Henry  V. 

8.  Relate  an  incident  from  the  play  that  illustrates  the  king's 
reUsh  of  a  practical  joke. 

9.  Relate  an  incident  that  illustrates  Henry  V's  strictness  in 
enforcing  discipline. 

10.  How  is  the  king's  piety  shown? 


GENERAL  TOPICS  FOR  THEMES  181 

11.  By  direct  references  to  the  play  of  Henry  V  show  the  truth 
of  the  following  statement : 

'Henry  V  is  at  once  the  monarch  who  never  forgets  his  pride 
as  the  representative  of  the  English  people,  and  the  soldier  who 
endures  privation  like  the  meanest  of  his  followers.' 

12.  Give  the  substance  of  what  the  Archbishop  of  Canterbury 
says  in  the  first  Act  concerning  the  contrast  between  Henry's 
character  as  prince  and  his  character  as  king. 

13.  Give  two  instances  from  later  parts  of  the  play  to  show  that 
Henry  V  possessed  kingly  qualities. 

14.  Write  a  brief  statement  of  how  Shakespeare's  Henry  V  ap- 
peals to  the  patriotism  of  EngUshmen. 


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