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 ShaMPeare's •:• 
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 EDITED BT EMINENT ENGLISH AND AMERICAN SCHOLARS. 
 
 I^ach Volume contains a Sketch of the Aulhor'^s Life, Prefatory and 
 Explanatory Notes, etc., etc. 
 
 1 Byron's Prophecy of Dante. (Cantos T. and II.) 
 
 2 Milton's L'AUegro and II Penseroso. 
 
 3 Lord Bacon's Essays, Civil and Moral. (Selected.) 
 
 4 Byron's Prisoner of Chillon. 
 
 5 Moore's Fire-Worshippers. (Lalla Rookh. Selected from Parts 
 
 I. and II.) 
 
 6 Goldsmith's Deserted Village. 
 
 7 Scott's Marmion. -(Selections from Canto VI.) 
 
 8 Scott's Lay of the Last Minstrel. (Introduction and Canto I.) 
 
 9 Burns' Cotter's Saturday Night, and other Poems. 
 
 10 Crabbe's The Village. 
 
 11 Campbell's Pleasures of Hope. (Abridgment of Part I) 
 
 12 Macaulay's Essay on Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. 
 
 13 Macaulays Armada, and other Poems. 
 
 14 Shake sp' ares Merchant of Venice. (Selections from Acts I., III. 
 and IV.) 
 
 Goldsmith's Traveller. 
 Hogg's Queens Wake. (Selections.) 
 Coleridge's Ancient Mariner. 
 Addison's Sir Roger de Coverley. 
 Gray's Elegy in a Country Churchyard. 
 Scott's Lady of the Lake. (Canto I.) 
 Shakespeare's As You Like It, etc. (Selections.) 
 Shakespeare's King John and King Richard II. (Selections.) 
 Shakespeare's King Henry IV., King Henry V., King Henry VL 
 (Selections.) 
 
 24 Shakespeare's Henry VIIL, and Julius Caesar. (Selections.) 
 
 25 Wordsworth's Excursion. (Book I.) 
 
 26 Pope's Essay on Criticism. 
 
 27 Spenser's Faerie Queene. (Cantos I. and II.) 
 
 28 Cowper'sTask. (BookL) 
 
 29 Milton's Comus. 
 
 30 Tennyson's Enoch Arden. 
 
 31 Irving' s Sketch Book. (Selections.) 
 
 32 Dickens' Christmas Carol. (Abridged.) 
 
 33 Carlyle's Hero as a Prophet. 
 
 34 Macaulay's Essay on Warren Hastings. (Abridged.) 
 
 35 Goldsmith's Vicar of Wakefield. (Abridged.) 
 
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.0 
 
 SHAKESPEARE'S \^ 
 
 King Henry V. 
 
 WITH 
 
 NOTES, EXAMINATION PAPERS, AND PLAN 
 OF PREPARATION. 
 
 (selected.) 
 
 By BRAINERD KELLOGG, A.M., 
 
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 Brooklyn Collegiate and Polytechnic Institute, and author 
 
 of a''' Text-Bookon Rhetoric,'''' a " Tebct-Book on English 
 
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 KING HENRY V. 
 
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 MACBETH. 
 
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 Copyright, 1883, 
 By CLARK & MAYNARD. 
 
EDITOR'S NOTE. 
 
 The text here presented, adapted for use in mixed 
 classes, has been carefully collated with that of six or seven 
 of the latest and best editions. Where there was any dis- 
 agreement those readings have been adopted which 
 seemed most recisonable and were supported by the best 
 authority. 
 
 Professor Meiklejohn's exhaustive notes form the sub- 
 stance 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 plays are intended rather for 
 pupils in school and college than for ripe Shakespearian 
 scholars, we have not hesitated to prune his notes of what- 
 ever was thought to be too learned for our purpose, or 
 on other grounds was deemed irrelevant to it. The note^ 
 of other EngUsh editors have been freely incorporated. 
 
 B. K. 
 
GENERAL NOTICE. 
 
 •' An attempt has been made in these new editions to 
 interpret Shakespeare by the aid of Shakespeare himself. 
 The Method of Comparison has been constantly employ- 
 ed ; and the language used by him in one place has been 
 compared with the language used in other places in simi- 
 lar circumstances, as well as with older English and witli 
 newer English. The text has been as carefully and as 
 thoroughly annotated as the text of any Greek or Latin 
 classic. 
 
 "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 thorough 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 care- 
 ful reader — in the shape of new meanings, recognition of 
 5 
 
tlioughts 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 Shakespeare 
 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 Shakespeare. For this purpose copi- 
 ous collections of similar phrases have been gathered from 
 other plays ; his idioms have been dwelt upon ; his pecu- 
 liar use of words ; his style and his rhythm. Son:e 
 Teachers may consider that too many instances are given ; 
 but, in teaching, as in everything else, the old French say- 
 ing is true : Assez «'_y a, s'tl t?-op ii'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 bo 
 enough ; and, among them all, it is certain that one or two 
 will stick in the memory. It is probable that, for those pu- 
 pils who do not study either Greek or Latin, this close ex- 
 amination of every word and phrase in the text of Shake- 
 speare will be the best substitute that can be found for the 
 study of the ancient classics. 
 
 " 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, without the chanca 
 of a polluting or degrading experience. It would also 
 have the effect of bringing back into the too pale and for- 
 mal Enghsh of modern times a large number of pithy and 
 
vigorous phrases which would help to develop as well as 
 to reflect vigor in the characters of the readers. Shake- 
 speare used the English 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 per- 
 petual provocations and invitations to originality and to 
 newness of insight." — ^J. M. D. Meiklejohn, M.A., 
 Professor of the Theory^ History, and Practice of Educa- 
 tion in tJie University of St. Andrews. 
 
PLAN OF STUDY 
 
 perfp:ct possession/ 
 
 To attain to the standard of ^ Perfect Pos- 
 session,' the reader ought to have an inti- 
 mate and ready knowledge of the subject. 
 (See opposite page.) 
 
 The student ought, first of all, to read the 
 play as a pleasure ; then to read it over again, 
 with his mind upon the characters and the 
 plot ; and lastly, to read it for the meanings, 
 grammar, &c. 
 
 With the help of the scheme, he can easily 
 draw up for himself short examination papers 
 (i) on each scene, (2) on each act, (3) on 
 the whole play. (See page 149.) 
 
1. The Plot and Story of the Play. 
 
 (a) The general plot ; 
 (d) The special incidents. 
 
 2. The Characters : Ability to give a connected account 
 
 of all that is done and most of what is said by- 
 each character in the play. 
 
 3. The Influence and Interplay of the Characters upon 
 
 each other. 
 
 (a) Relation of A to B and of B to A ; 
 (d) Relation of A to C and D. 
 
 4. Complete Possession of the Language. 
 
 (a) Meanings of words ; 
 
 {l>) Use of old words, or of words in an old mean- 
 ing ; 
 
 (c) Grammar ; 
 
 (d) Ability to quote lines to i'lustrate a gram- 
 
 matical point. 
 6. Power to Reproduce, or Quote. 
 
 (a) What was said by A or B on a particular 
 
 occasion ; 
 (d) What was said by A in reply to B ; 
 
 (c) What argument was used by C at a particu- 
 
 lar juncture ; 
 
 (d) To quote a line in instance of an idiom or of 
 
 a peculiar meaning. 
 6. Power to Locate. 
 
 (a) To attribute a line or statement to a certain 
 
 person on a certain occasion ; 
 (d) To cap a line ; 
 (c) To fill in the right word or epithet. 
 
INTRODUCTION TO KING HENRY V. 
 
 In the Epilogue to Khig Henry IV., Pari 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 Hejiry V. we have the fulfil- 
 ment of the dramatist's promise. The stage was already 
 in possession of a play entitled The famous Victories of 
 Henjy 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 Ho Unshed, a second 
 edition of which had been issued in 1587. 
 
 The date of the composition of King Henry V. 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., which 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 Henry V, extended over a period of 
 
 10 
 
introduction: n 
 
 somewhat more than nine years and five months. It 
 began on the 2ist 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 repre- 
 sentation 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 apolo- 
 getic reference to the subject. Henry V. was one of the 
 most popular, as he was among the bravest, of English 
 monarchs. As a conqueror he was stern and ambitious, 
 but not cruel, and won over his enemies by tact and clem- 
 ency. 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 tha 
 honor and reverence paid to sainted relics. 
 
 Shakespeare begins his drama with the conferences 
 relative to Henry's pretensions to the crown of France, 
 and the operation of the Salique 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 im- 
 becile monarch, and torn by factions, Henry was ambi- 
 tious and warlike, and the English were ever ready for 
 
1 2 IN TROD UCTION. 
 
 arms and conquest. Ambassadors from the Dauphin ap- 
 peared, and fruitless negotiations were entered into, at 
 the close of which Henry announced to his great council 
 at Westminster, in April, 141 5, that it was his firm pur- 
 pose to make a voyage in his own proper person, "by 
 the grace of God, to recover 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 Cambridge 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 ex- 
 pedition against France, and Henry with his victorious 
 soldiers was soon scaling the wall of Harfleur. The bat- 
 tle of Agincourt follows, preluded by a series of stirring 
 incidents, and by speeches breathing martial ardor and un- 
 daunted courage ; and the great victory is described with 
 the utmost dramatic effect and with strong national feel- 
 ing. 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 pardoned 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 of Valois, which were solemnized at Troyes 
 (in 1420) with unwonted splendor. 
 
 The comic business of the drama, besides representing 
 
IN TROD UCTIOy. 1 3 
 
 Henry as a lover, where he is seen to least advantage, 
 and giving us the badinage of French nobles and English 
 soldiers, brings before us again the wild revellers of 
 Eastcheap, Pistol and Bardolph, with Nym and Mrs. 
 Quickly, the hostess, now married to Pistol. A new 
 character, Fluellen, a brave, garrulous, 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 his heart;" but Mrs. Quickly's description of 
 the dying scene is a marvellous 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 auxili- 
 aries 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 cutoff, 
 he returns to England to — steal. 
 
 " And patches will I get unto these scars. 
 And swear I got them in the Gallia wars." 
 
 These scenes of low life 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 commem- 
 
1 4 I.V TR on UC TIOX. 
 
 orate 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 
 English, and was as highly appreciated. 
 
DRAMATIS PERSONS. 
 
 King Henry the Fifth. 
 
 Duke of Gloster, ) , , , _, _,, , . 
 
 (. brothers to the kiif^. 
 Duke of Bedford, [ 
 
 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, Macmor- 
 
 RIS, J amy, officers in King Hetiry's army. 
 
 Bates, Court, Williams, soldiers in the same. 
 
 Pistol, Nym, Bardolph. 
 
 Boy. 
 
 A Herald. 
 
 Charles the Sixth, king of France. 
 
 Lewis, the Dauphin. 
 
 Dukes of Burgundy, Orleans, a;/^ Bourbon. 
 
 The Constable of France. 
 
 Rambures and Grandpre, French lords. 
 
 15 
 
j6 DRAMATIS FERSOX.^. 
 
 Governor of Harfleur. 
 Mont JOY, a French herald. 
 Ambassadors to the king of England. 
 
 Isabel, queen of France. 
 Katharine, daughter to Chai'les and Isabel. 
 Alice, a lady attending on her. 
 
 Hostess of a tavern in Eastcheap. {^formerly Mrs. Quickly, 
 and, now married to Pistol I) 
 
 lords. Ladies, Officers, Soldiers, Citizens, Messengers, and 
 Attendants. 
 
 Chorus. 
 SCENE — In England and in France. 
 
King Henry V. 
 
 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, 5 
 
 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 fiat, unraised spirits that have dared 
 On this unworthy scaffold to bring forth 10 
 
 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 15 
 
 Attest, 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 
 
 Whose high upreared and abutting fronts 
 
iS KING HENRY V. [act i. 
 
 The perilous, narrow ocean parts asunder. 
 
 Piece out our imperfections with your thoughts ; 
 
 Into a thousand parts divide one man, 
 25 And make imaginary puissance : 
 
 Think, when we talk ot horses, that you see them 
 
 Printing their proud hoofs i' the receiving earth : 
 
 For 'tis your thoughts that now must deck our 
 kings, 
 
 Carry them here and there, jumping o'er times, 
 30 Turning the accomplishment of many years 
 
 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. — Lo?idon. An antechamber in the 
 King's Palace. 
 
 Enter Archbishop of Canterbury and Bishop of 
 Ely. 
 
 Cant. My lord, I'll tell you — that self bill is 
 urg'd 
 Which in the eleventh year of the last king's reign 
 Was like, and had indeed against us pass'd, 
 But that the scambling and unquiet time 
 5 Did push it out of farther question. 
 
 Ely. But how, my lord, shall we resist it now .? 
 Cant. It must be thought on. If it pass 
 against us, 
 
sc. I.] KING HENR V V. 19 
 
 We lose the better half of our possession ; 
 For all the temporal lands which men devout 
 By testament have given to the church 10 
 
 Would they strip from us ; being valued thus : — 
 As much as would maintain, to the king's honor, 
 Full fifteen earls and fifteen hundred knights, 
 Six thousand and two hundred good esquires ; 
 And, to relief of lazars and weak age, 1 5 
 
 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 the year : thus runs the 
 bill. 
 
 Ely. This would drink deep. 20 
 
 Cant. 'Twould drink the cup and all. 
 
 Ely. But what prevention ? 
 
 Cajit. The king is full of grace and fair regard. 
 
 Ely. And a true lover of the holy church. 
 
 Cant. The courses of his youth promis'd it not. 25 
 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, 2)^ 
 
 Leaving his body as a paradise 
 To envelop and contain celestial spirits. 
 Never was such a sudden scholar made ; 
 Never came reformation in a flood. 
 With such a heady currance, scouring faults ; 35 
 Nor never Hydra- headed wilfulness 
 So soon did lose his seat, and all at once, 
 As in this king. 
 
 Ely. We are blessed in the change. 
 
 Cajtt. Hear him but reason in divinitv, 40 
 
20 KING HENR V V. [act i 
 
 And, all-admiring, with an inward wisli 
 You would desire the king were made a prelate : 
 Hear him debate of commonwealth affairs. 
 You would say it hath been all in all his study : 
 
 45 List his discourse of war, and you shall hear 
 A fearful battle render'd 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, 
 
 50 The air, a charter'd libertine, is still. 
 
 And the mute wonder lurketh in men's ears 
 To steal his sweet and honey 'd sentences ; 
 So that the art and practic part of life 
 Must be the mistress to this theoric : 
 
 55 Which is a wonder how his grace should glean it, 
 Since his addiction 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, 
 
 60 Any retirement, any sequestration 
 From open haunts and popularity. 
 
 Ely. The strawberry grows underneath the 
 nettle ; 
 And wholesome berries thrive and ripen best 
 Neighbour'd by fruit of baser quality : 
 
 65 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 ; 
 
 70 And therefore we must needs admit the means 
 How things are perfected. 
 
 Ely. But, my good lord, 
 
 How now for mitigation of this bill 
 
SCI.] KING HENRY V. i\ 
 
 Urg'cl by the commons ? Doth his majest}- 
 
 Indine to it, or no ? -j'^, 
 
 Ca?if. He seems indifferent, 
 
 Or, rather, swaying more upon our part 
 Than cherishing the exhibiters against us : 
 For I have made an offer to his majesty — 
 Upon our spiritual convocation, 80 
 
 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 )et 
 Did to his predecessors part withal. 85 
 
 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 90 
 
 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 the impediment that broke 
 this off? 
 
 Cant. The French ambassador upon that in- 
 stant 95 
 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 100 
 
 Before the Frenchman speak a word of it. 
 
 Ely. I'll wait upon you, and I long to hear it. 
 
 [^Exeiint. 
 
KING HENR V V. [act i. 
 
 SCENE II. — The same. A Room of State in the 
 same. 
 
 Enter King Henry, Gloster, 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 the ambassador, my 
 liege ? 
 c; K. Hen. Not yet, my cousin ; we would be 
 resolv'd, 
 Before we hear him, of some things of weight 
 That task our thoughts, concerning us and France. 
 
 Enter Archbishop of Canterbury and Bishop of 
 Ely. 
 
 Cant. God and his angels guard your sacred 
 throne, 
 And make you long become it ! 
 
 K. Hen. Sure, we thank you. 
 
 lo My learned lord, we pray you to proceed. 
 And justly and rehgiously unfold 
 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, 
 15 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 colors with the truth ; 
 
sc. II.] KING HENRY V. 23 
 
 For God doth know how many"now in health 
 
 Shall drop their blood in approbation 20 
 
 Of what your reverence shall incite us to : 
 
 Therefore take heed how you impawn our person, 
 
 How you awake our sleeping- sword of war : 
 
 We charge you, in the name of God, take heed : 
 
 For never two such kingdoms did contend 25 
 
 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 : 30 
 
 For we will hear, note, and believe in heart 
 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 
 To make against your highness' claim to France 
 But this, which they produce from Pharamond — 
 "/;/ terram Salicavi iniilieres 7ie stcccedant," 
 " No woman shall succeed in Salique land : " 40 
 
 Which Salique land the French unjustly gloze 
 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, 45 
 
 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 
 
24 KING HENRY V. [act I. 
 
 50 For some dishonesi manners of their life, 
 Establish'd then this law ; to wit, no female 
 Should be inheritrix in Salique land ; 
 Which Salique, as 1 said, 'twixt Elbe and Sala, 
 Is at this day in Germany call'd Meisen. 
 
 55 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, 
 
 60 Idly suppos'd the founder of this law ; 
 
 Who died within the year of our redemption 
 Four hundred twenty-six ; and Charles the Great 
 Subdued the Saxons, and did seat the French 
 Beyond the river Sala, in the year 
 
 65 Eight hundred five. Besides, their writers say 
 King Pepin, which deposed Childerick, 
 Did, as heir general, being descended 
 Of Blithild, which was daughter to King Clothair, 
 Make claim and title to the crown of France. 
 
 70 Hugh Capet also— who usurp'd the crown 
 
 Of Charles the Duke of Lorraine, sole heir-male 
 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), 
 
 75 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, 
 
 80 Could not keep quiet in his conscience. 
 Wearing the Crown of France, till satisfied 
 That fair Queen Isabel, his grandmother, 
 Was lineal of the Lady Ermengare, 
 
sen.] KIXG HENRY V. 25 
 
 Daughter to Charles the foresaid Duke of Lorraine : 
 By the which marriage, the hne of Charles the 
 
 Great 85 
 
 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. 90 
 
 So do the kings of France unto this day : 
 Howbeit they w^ould hold up this Salique law 
 To bar your highness claiming from the female, 
 And rather choose to hide them in a net 
 Than amply to imbar their crooked titles 95 
 
 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 100 
 
 Descend unto the daughter. Gracious lord. 
 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, 105 
 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 whel}) no 
 
 Forage in blood of French nobility. 
 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 ! 115 
 
26 KING HENRY V. [act. i. 
 
 Ely. Awake remembrance of these valdant 
 dead, 
 And with your puissant arm renew their feats : 
 You are their heir, you sit upon their throne ; 
 The blood and courage that renowned them 
 1 20 Runs in your veins ; and my thrice-puissant liege 
 Is in the very May-morn of his youth. 
 Ripe for exploits and mighty enterprises. 
 
 Exe. Your brother kings and monarchs of the 
 earth 
 Do all expect that you should rouse yourself, 
 125 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 Eng- 
 land, 
 130 And lie pavilion'd in the fields of France. 
 
 Catit. O, let their bodies follow, my dear liege, 
 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 
 135 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 
 140 With all advantages. 
 
 Cant. They of those marches, gracious sover- 
 eign, 
 Shall be a wall sufficient to defend 
 Our inland from the pilfering borderers. 
 
 1 
 
sc. II.] KING HENR Y V. 27 
 
 K. Hen. We do not mean the coursing snatch- 
 ers only, 
 But fear the main intendment of the Scot, 145 
 
 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 unfurnish'd kingdom ;■ 
 Came pouring, like the tide into a breach, 150 
 
 With ample and brim fulness of his force. 
 Galling the gleaned land with hot essays, 
 Girding with grievous siege castles and towns ; 
 That England, being empty of defence. 
 Hath shook and trembled at the ill neighbourhood. 1 55 
 
 Cant. She hath been then more fear'd than 
 harm'd, my liege : 
 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 i6c> 
 
 But taken and impounded as a stray 
 The king of Scots ; whom 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 165, 
 
 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 tirst begin ; " 
 
 For once the eagle England being in prey, 
 
 To her unguarded nest the weasel Scot 
 
 Comes sneaking, and so sucks her princely eggs, ijo 
 
 Playing the mouse, in absence of the cat, 
 
 To tear and havoc more than she can eat. 
 
28 KING HENRY V. [act i. 
 
 Exe. It follows, then, the cat must stay at 
 home : 
 Yet that is but a crush'd necessity, 
 
 175 Since we have locks to safeguard necessaries, 
 And pretty traps to catch the petty thieves. 
 While that the armM hand both tight abroad, 
 The advised head defends itself at home : 
 " For government, though high and low and lower, 
 
 i3oPut into parts, doth keep in one consent ; 
 Congreeing in a full and natural close, 
 Like music. 
 
 Cant. Therefore doth Heaven di\'ide 
 
 The state of man in divers functions. 
 
 .135 Setting endeavor in continual motion ; 
 To which is fixed, as an aim or butt, 
 Obedience : for so work the honey-bees, 
 Creatures that by a rule in nature teach 
 The act of order to a peopled kingdom. 
 
 190 They have a king and officers of sorts : 
 
 Where some, like magistrates, correct at home, 
 Others, like merchants, venture trade abroad. 
 Others, like soldiers, arniM in their stings. 
 Make boot upon the summer's velvet buds, 
 
 195 Which pillage they with merr}^ 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, 
 
 '200 The poor mechanic porters crovvding in 
 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, — 
 
 205 That many things, having full reference 
 
sc. II.] A'lXG HENRY V. 29 
 
 To one consent, may work contrariously : 
 
 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, 215 
 
 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 
 
 A'. Hen. Call in the messengers sent from the 
 
 Dauphin. [£.ri/ an Attendant. 
 
 Now are we well resolv'd ; and, by God's help. 
 And yours, the noble sinews of our power, 
 France being ours, we'll bend it to our awe, 
 Or break it all to pieces. Or there we'll sit 225 
 
 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 worshipp'd with a waxen epitaph. 
 
 Enter Ambassadors of France. 
 
 Now are we well prepar'd to know the pleasure 
 
 Of our fair cousin Dauphin ; for we hear 235 
 
<^o KING HENRY V. [act i. 
 
 Your greeting is from him, not from the king. 
 Amb. 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 
 -J240 The Dauphin's meaning and oun embassy ? 
 
 K. Heji. 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 
 245 Tell us the Dauphin's mind, 
 
 Aj?ib. 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. 
 250 In answer of which claim, the prince our master 
 Says that you savor too much of your youth. 
 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. 
 255 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 ? 
 260 Exe. Tennis-balls, my liege. 
 
 K. Hen. We are glad the Dauphin is so pleas- 
 ant 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 
 265 Shall strike his father's crown into the hazard. 
 
sc. II.] KING HENRY V. 31 
 
 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. 270 
 
 We never valued this poor seat of England ; 
 And therefore, living hence, did give ourself 
 To barbarous license ; as 'tis ever common 
 That men are merriest when they are from 
 
 home. 
 But tell the Dauphin I will keep my state, 275 
 
 Be like a kmg, and show my sail of greatness 
 When I do rouse me in my throne of France : 
 For that I have laid by my majesty, 
 And plodded like a man for working-days ; 
 But I will rise there with so full a glory 280 
 
 That I will dazzle all the eyes of France, 
 Yea, strike the Dauphin blind to look on us. 
 And tell the pleasant prince this mock of his 
 Hath turn'd his balls to gun -stones ; and his soul 
 Shall stand sore charged for the wasteful ven- 
 geance 285 
 That shall fly with them : for many a thousand 
 
 widows 
 Shall this his mock mock out of their dear hus- 
 bands ; 
 Mock mothers from their sons, mock castles down: 
 And some are yet ungotten and unborn 
 That shall have cause to curse the Dauphin's 
 
 scorn. 290 
 
 But this lies all within the wnll of God, 
 To whom I do appeal ; and in whose name, 
 Tell you the Dauphin I am coming on 
 
32 KING HENRY V. [act ir. 
 
 To venge me as I may and to put forth 
 
 295 My rightful hand in a well-hallow'd cause. 
 
 So, get you hence in peace ; and tell the Dauphin 
 His jest will savor but of shallow wit, 
 When thousands weep more than did laugh at it. 
 Convey them with safe-conduct. — Fare you well, 
 {^Exeunt Ambassadors. 
 
 300 Exe. This was a merry message. 
 
 K. Hen. We hope to make the sender blush 
 at it. 
 Therefore, my lords, omit no happy hour 
 That may give furtherance to our expedition : 
 For we have now no thought in us but France, 
 
 305 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, 
 
 310 We'll chide this Dauphin at his father's door. 
 Therefore let every man now task his thought 
 That this fair action may on foot be brought. 
 
 [Exeunt. 
 
 ACT II. 
 
 Prologue. 
 
 Enter Chorus. 
 
 CJior. Now all the youth of England are on 
 fire. 
 And silken dalliance in the wardrobe lies ; 
 Now thrive the armorers, and honor's thought 
 
PROLOGUE.] KIXG HENRY V. 33 
 
 Reigns solely in the breast of every man. 
 
 They sell the pasture now to buy the horse ; 5 
 
 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 Harr).' 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. 15 
 
 O England ! model to thy inward greatness, 
 
 Like little body with a mighty heart, 
 
 What mightst thou do that honor would thee do, 
 
 Were all thy children kind and natural ! 
 
 But see thy fault ! France hath in thee found out 10 
 
 A nest of hollow bosoms, which he fills 
 
 With treacherous crowns ; and three corrupted 
 
 men — 
 One, Richard Earl of Cambridge ; and the second, 
 Henry Lord Scroop of Masham ; and the third, 
 Sir Thomas Grey, knight, of Northumberland — 25 
 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. 30 
 Linger your patience on, and we'll digest 
 The abuse of distance [while we] 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 : 35 
 There is the playhouse now, there must you sit : 
 
34 KING HENRY V. [act ii. 
 
 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, 
 40 We'll not offend one stomach with our play. 
 But, till the king come forth, and not till thdn, 
 Unto Southampton do we shift our scene. {Exit. 
 
 SCENE I. — Lo7tdon. Before the Boars-Head 
 Tavern, East cheap. 
 
 Enter, severally, Nym end Eardolph. 
 
 Bard. Well met. Corporal Nym. 
 
 Nym. Good- morrow, Lieutenant Bardolph. 
 
 Bard. What, are Ancient Pistol and you friends 
 
 yet ? 
 
 Nym. For my part, I care not : I say little ; but, 
 
 5 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 : 
 
 10 and there's an end. 
 
 Bard. I will bestow a breakfast to make you 
 friends ; and we'll be all three sworn brothers to 
 France ; let it. be so, good Corporal Nym. 
 
 Nym. Faith, I will liv^e so long as I may, that's 
 15 the certain of it ; and, when I cannot hve 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 
 2:0 wrong ; for you were troth- plight to her. 
 
 Nym. I cannot tell ; things must be as they 
 
sc. I.] KING HENR Y V. 35 
 
 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 25 
 must be conclusions. Well, I cannot tell. 
 
 Bard. Here comes Ancient Pistol and his wife : 
 ■ — good corporal, be patient here. 
 
 Enter Pistol and Hostess. 
 
 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 sword]. O well-a-day, Lady, if he be not 
 drawn now ! We shall see murder committed. 35 
 
 Bard. Good lieutenant 1 good corporal ! offer 
 nothing here. 
 
 Nym. Pish. 
 
 Pist. Pish for thee, Iceland dog ! thou prick- 
 ear'd cur of Iceland. 
 
 Host. Good Corporal Nym, show thy valor, 40 
 and put up your sword. 
 
 Nym. Will you shog off? I would have you 
 solus. [Sheathing his sword. 
 
 Pist. Sohts, egregious dog ! O viper vile ! 
 The solus in thy most mervailous face ; 45 
 
 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. 
 
36 KING HENRY V. [act ii. 
 
 Ny?n. I am not Barbason ; you cannot conjure 
 me. I have a humor to knock you indifferently 
 well. If you grow foul with me, Pistol, I will 
 5^ scour you with my rapier, as I may, in fair terms : 
 if you would walk off, I would prick you a little, 
 in good terms, as I may; and that's the humor of it. 
 Fist. O braggard vile, and reckless furious 
 wight ! 
 The grave doth gape, and doting death is near, 
 60 Therefore exhale. [Pistol and Nym draw. 
 
 Bard. Hear me, hear me what I say : — he that 
 strikes the first stroke, I'll run him up to the hilts, 
 as I am a soldier. \ Draws. 
 
 Pist. An oath of mickle might ; and fury shall 
 abate. 
 65 Give me thy fist, thy fore-foot to me give ; 
 Thy spirits are most tall. 
 
 Nym. 1 will cut thy throat, one time or other, 
 in fair terms ; that is the humor of it. 
 
 Pist. Coupe le gorge ! that's the word : — I defy 
 thee again. 
 70 O hound of Crete, think'st thou my spouse to get? 
 I have, and I will hold, the quondam Quickly 
 For the only she ; and — pauca, there's enough. 
 Go to. 
 
 Enter the Boy. 
 
 Boy. Mine host Pistol, you must come to my 
 75 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 ! 
 80 Host. By my troth, he'll yield the crow a pud- 
 
sc. I.] KING HENR Y V. 37 
 
 ding one of these days : the king has killed his 
 heart. — Good husband, come home presently. 
 
 \^Exeujit Hostess and Boy. 
 
 Bard. Come, shall I make you two friends ? 
 We must to France together. Why should we 
 keep knives to cut one another's throats ? 85 
 
 Pist. Let floods o'erswell, and flends for food 
 howl on ! 
 
 Nym. You'll pay me the eight shillings I won 
 of you at betting ? 
 
 Pist. Base is the slave that pays. 90 
 
 Nym. That now I will have ; tfiat's the humor 
 of it. 
 
 Pist. As manhood shall compound : push 
 home. [Pistol and Nym draw. 
 
 Bard. By this sword, he that makes the first 95 
 thrust I'll kill him ; by this sword, I wall. 
 
 Pist. Sword is an oath, and oaths must have 
 their course. 
 
 Bard. Corporal Nym, an thou wilt be friends, 
 be friends ; an thou wilt not, why then be enemies 100 
 with me too. Prithee, put up. 
 
 Nym. I shall have my eight shillings I won of 
 you at betting. 
 
 Pist. A noble shalt thou have, and present pay; 
 And liquor likewise will I give to thee, 105 
 
 And friendship shall combine, and brotherhood : 
 I'll live by Nym, and Nym shall live by me ; — 
 Is not this just ? — for I shall sutler be 
 Unto the camp, and profits will accrue. 
 Give me thy hand, 1 10 
 
 Nym. I shall have my noble ? 
 
 Pist. In cash most justly paid. 
 
 Nym. Well, then, that's the humor of it. 
 
38 KING HENR V V. [act ii. 
 
 Re-enter Hostess. 
 
 Host. As ever you came of women, come in 
 
 115 quickly to Sir Joiin. Ah, poor heart! he is so 
 
 shaked of a burning quotidian tertian that it is 
 
 most lamentable to behold. Sweet men, come to 
 
 him. 
 
 Nym. The king hath run bad humors on the 
 120 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 humors and careers. 
 
 125 Pist. Let us condole the knight ; for lambkins 
 
 we will live. [Exeutif. 
 
 SCENE II. — Southampton. A Council-Chamber. 
 
 Enter EXETER, BEDFORD, and WESTMORELAND. 
 
 Bed. His grace is bold to trust these traitors. 
 Exe. They shall be apprehended by and by. 
 West. How smooth and even they do bear 
 themselves ! 
 As if allegiance in their bosoms sat, 
 5 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, 
 Whom he hath duU'd and cloy'd with gracious 
 favors, — 
 10 That he should, for a foreign purse, so sell 
 His sovereign's life to death and treachery ! 
 
sc. II.] KING HENK V V. 39 
 
 Trumpets sound. Enter King Henry, Scroop, 
 Cambridge, Grey, Lords, 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 1 5 
 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 iTot wish 
 Success and conquest to attend on us. 
 
 Cam. Never was monarch better fear'd and 
 
 lov'd 2 5 
 
 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 
 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 
 
40 KING HENRY V. [act ii. 
 
 Sooner than quittance ot desert and merit 
 35 According to the weight and worthiness. 
 
 Scroop. So service shall with steeled sinews 
 toil, 
 And labor shall refresh itself with hope 
 To do your grace incessant services. 
 
 K. Hen. We judge no less. — Uncle of Exeter, 
 40 Enlarge the man committed yesterday 
 
 That rail'd against our person : we consider 
 It was exxess of wine that set him on ; 
 And on his more advice we pardon him. 
 
 Scroop. That's mercy, but too much securiiy : 
 45 Let him be punished, sovereign, lest example 
 Breed, by his sufferance, more of such a kind. 
 K. Hen. O, let us yet be merciful. 
 Cavi. 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 
 When capital crimes, chew'd, swallow'd, and 
 55 digested, 
 
 Appear before us ? — We'll 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 ; 
 60 Who are the late commissioners ? 
 
sc. II.] KING HENR Y V. 41 
 
 Ca?n. I one, my lord, 
 Your highness bade me ask for it to-day. 
 Scroop. So did you me, my hege. 
 Grey. And me, my royal sovereign. 
 K. Hen. Then, Richard Earl of Cambridge, 
 there is yours ; 65 
 
 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, 
 We will aboard to-night. — Why, how now, gen- 
 tlemen ! 70 
 What see you in those papers that you lose 
 So much complexion ? — look ye how they change I 
 Their cheeks are paper. — Why, what read you 
 
 there 
 That hath so cowarded and chas'd your blood 
 Out of appearance ? 75 
 
 Cam. I do confess my fault ; 
 
 And do submit me to your highness' mercy. 
 Grey, 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 : 80 
 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 English monsters ! My Lord of Cambridge 
 
 here, — 85 
 
 You know how apt our love was to accord 
 To furnish him with all appertinents 
 Belonging to his honor ; and this man 
 
42 KING HENRY V. [act ii. 
 
 Hath, for a few light crowns, lightly conspir'd, 
 90 And sworn unto the practices of France 
 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, 
 95 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 ; — 
 
 100 May it be possible that foreign hire 
 
 Could out of thee extract one spark of evil 
 That might annoy my finger ? 'tis so strange 
 That, though the truth of it stands off as gross 
 As black from w^hite, my eye will scarcely see it. 
 
 105 Treason and murder ever kept together. 
 
 As two yoke-devils sworn to cither's purpose, 
 Working so grossly in a natural cause 
 That admiration did not whoop at them : 
 But thou, 'gainst all proportion, didst bring in 
 
 up Wonder to wait on treason and on murder : 
 And whatsoever cunning fiend it was 
 That wrought upon thee so preposterously 
 Gave thee no instance why thou shouldst do trea- 
 son 
 Unless to dub thee with the name of traitor. 
 
 115 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." 
 
 120 O, how hast thou with jealousy infected 
 
 The sweetness of affiance ! Show men dutiful ? 
 
sc. II.] KING HENRY V, 43 
 
 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 ? 
 
 Why, so didst thou : or are they spare in diet, 125 
 
 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 judgment trusting neither ? 130 
 
 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 ; 
 
 For this revolt of thine, methinks, is like 135 
 
 Another fall of man.— Their faults are open. 
 
 Arrest them to the answer of the law ; 
 
 And God acquit them of their practices I 
 
 Exe. I arrest thee of high treason, by the name 
 of Richard Earl of Cambridge. 14.0 
 
 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. 
 
 Scroop. Our purposes God justly hath discover'd; 145 
 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 150 
 
 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. 
 
44 KING HENRY V. [act ii. 
 
 155 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. 
 K. Heii. God quit you in his mercy! Hear 
 
 160 your sentence. 
 
 You have conspir'd against our royal person, 
 Join'd with an enemy proclaim'd, and from his 
 
 coffers 
 Receiv'd the golden earnest of our death ; 
 Wherein you would have sold your king to 
 slaughter, 
 
 165 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 ; 
 But we our kingdom's safety must so tender, 
 
 170 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 
 
 175 Of all your dear offences ! — Bear them hence. 
 
 \Exeitnt Conspirators, 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 
 
 180 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 hands of God, 
 
sc. III.] KIXG HEXRY V. 45 
 
 Putting it straight in expedition. 
 
 Cheerly to sea ; the signs of war adv'ance : 
 
 No king of England, if not king of France. 
 
 ^Exeunt. 
 
 SCENE III. — Lo7idon. The Boaj-' s-Hcad Tava-n, 
 Eastcheap. 
 
 Eiitci- 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 \'aunting 
 
 veins ; 
 Boy, bristle thy courage up ; for Falstaff he is dead, 5 
 And we must yearn therefore. 
 
 Bard. Would I were with him, wheresome'er 
 he is ! 
 
 Host. Nay, sure, he's in Arthur's bosom, if 
 ever man went to Arthur's bosom. 'A made a finer 10 
 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, 1 15 
 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 
 of good cheer." So 'a cried out, " God, God, 
 God!" three or four times. Now I, to comfort 20 
 him, bid him 'a should not think of God ; I hoped 
 there was no need to trouble himself with any 
 
46 KING HENRY V. [act ii. 
 
 such thoughts yet. So 'a bade me lay more 
 clothes on his feet : I put my hand into the bed and 
 25 felt them, and they were as cold as any stone ; then 
 I felt to his knees, and all was as cold as any 
 stone. 
 
 Nym. They say he cried out of sack. 
 Host. Ay, that 'a did. 
 30 Bard. And of women. 
 
 Host. Nay, that a did not. 
 
 Boy. Yes, that 'a did ; and said they were 
 
 devils incarnate. 
 Host. 'A could never abide carnation : 'twas a 
 
 color he never liked. 
 Boy. 'A said once the devil would have him 
 about women. 
 35 Host. 'A did in some sort, indeed ; but then he 
 was rheumatic. 
 
 Boy. Do you not remember, 'a saw a flea stick 
 
 upon Bardolph's nose, and 'a said it was a black 
 
 soul burning ? 
 
 40 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 Southampton. 
 Pist. Come, let's away. — My love, give m.e thy 
 lips. 
 Look to my chattels and my movables .: 
 45 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. 
 50 Go, clear thy crystals. — Yoke-fellows in arms. 
 Let us to France ; like horse-leeches, my boys ; 
 
sc. IV.] KING HENR V V. 47 
 
 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. 
 Bard. Farewell, hostess. [Kissing her. 55 
 
 Nyni. I cannot kiss, that is the humor of it ; 
 
 but, adieu. 
 Pist. Let housewifery appear ; keep close, I 
 
 thee command. 
 Host. Farewell ; adieu. {^Exeunt. 
 
 SCENE IV. — France. A Room in the French 
 King's Palace. 
 
 Enter the French King attended ; the Dauphin, the 
 Duke of Burgundy, 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, 5 
 
 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 make as fierce 
 As waters to the sucking of a gulf. 10 
 
 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. 
 
 Dau. My most redoubted father, 15 
 
 It is most meet we arm us 'gainst the foe : 
 
48 KING HENRY V. [act ii. 
 
 For peace itself should not so dull a kingdom, 
 Though war nor no known quarrel were in ques- 
 tion, 
 But that defences, musters, preparations 
 
 20 Should be maintain'd, assembled, and collected, 
 As were a war in expectation. 
 Therefore I say 'tis meet we* all go forth 
 To view the sick and feeble parts of France ; 
 And let us do it wdth no show of fear ; 
 
 25 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 
 
 30 That fear attends her not. 
 
 Con. O peace. Prince Dauphin ! 
 
 You are too much mistaken in this king : 
 Question your grace the late ambassadors. 
 With what great state he heard their embassy, 
 
 35 How well supplied with noble counsellors, 
 How modest in exception, and withal 
 How terrible in constant resolution, 
 And you shall find his vanities forespent 
 W^ere but the outside of the Roman Brutus, 
 
 40 Covering discretion with a coat of folly ; 
 
 As gardeners do with ordure hide those roots 
 That shall first spring and be most delicate. 
 
 Dau. Well, 'tis not so, my lord high constable ; 
 But, though we think it so, it is no matter : 
 
 45 In cases of defence 'tis best to weigh 
 The enemy more mighty than he seems : 
 So the proportions of defence are fill'd ; 
 Which, of a weak and niggardly projection, 
 Doth like a miser spoil his coat with scanting 
 
sc. IV.] KING HENRY V. 49 
 
 k 
 
 A little cloth. 50 
 
 /r. /Ctn^. ThiriK we King Harry strong ; 
 And, princes, look you strongly arm to meet him. 
 The kindred of him hath been flesh'd upon us ; 
 And he is bled out of that bloody strain 
 That haunted us in our famihar paths : 55 
 
 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, 60 
 
 Up in the air, crovvn'd with the golden sun, 
 Saw his heroical seed, and smil'd to see him 
 Mangle the work of nature, and deface 
 The patterns that by God and by French fathers 
 Had twenty years been made. This is a stem 65 
 Of that victorious stock ; and let us fear 
 The native mightiness and fate of him. 
 
 Enter a Messenger. 
 
 Mess. Ambassadors from Harry King of Eng- 
 land 
 Do crave admittance to your majesty. 
 
 Fr. King, We'll give them present audience. 70 
 Go and bring them. 
 
 [Exeunt Messenger and certain Lords. 
 You see this chase is hotly follow'd, friends . 
 Daii. Turn head, and stop pursuit : for cow- 
 ard dogs 
 Most spend their mouths when what they seem to 
 
 threaten 
 Runs far before them. Good my sovereign, 75 
 
50 KING HENRY V. [act II. 
 
 Take up the English 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. 
 
 80 Fr. King. From our brother England ? 
 
 Exe. From him ; and thus he greets your maj- 
 esty. 
 He wills you, in the name of God Almighty, 
 That you divest yourself, and lay apart 
 The borrowed glories that, by gift of Heaven, 
 85 By law of nature and of nations, 'long 
 
 To him and to his heirs ; namely, the crown. 
 And all wide-stretched honors that pertain, 
 By custom and the ordinance of times, 
 Unto the crown of France. That you may know 
 90 'Tis 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 ; 
 95 Willing you overlook this pedigree : 
 And when you find him evenly deriv'd 
 From his most fam'd of famous ancestors, 
 Edward the Third, he bids you then resign 
 Your crown and kingdom, indirectly held 
 100 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 : 
 
sc. IV.] KING HENRY V. 51 
 
 Therefore in fierce tempest is he coming. 
 
 In thunder and in earthquake, like a Jove, 105 
 
 That, if requiring fail, he will compel ; 
 
 And bids you, in the bowels of the Lord, 
 
 Deliver up the crown, and to take mercy 
 
 On the poor souls for whom his hungry war 
 
 Opens his vasty jaws ; and on your head 1 10 
 
 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 : 115 
 
 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. 120 
 
 Dau. For the Dauphin, 
 
 I stand here for him : what to him from England ? 
 
 Exe. Scorn and defiance ; slight regard, con- 
 tempt. 
 And anything that may not misbecome 
 The mighty sender, doth he prize you at. 125 
 
 Thus says my king : an if your father's highness 
 Do not, in grant of all demands at large. 
 Sweeten the bitter mock you sent his majesty. 
 He'll call you to so hot an answer of it 
 That caves and womby vaultages of France 130 
 
 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, 135 
 
52 KING HENRY V. [act iii. 
 
 As matching to his youth and vanity, 
 I did present him with the Paris balls. 
 
 Exe. He'll make your Paris Louvre shake for 
 it, 
 Were it the mistress court of mighty Europe : 
 140 And, be assur'd, you'll hnd 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 
 145 In your own losses, if he stay in France, 
 
 Fr. King. To-morrow shall you know our 
 
 mind at full. 
 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. 
 150 Fr. Kijig. You shall be soon despatch'd with 
 fair conditions : 
 A night is but small breath and little pause 
 To answer matters of this consequence. 
 
 \Exeuiit. 
 
 ACT III. 
 Prologue. 
 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 
 
prologue] king henry V. 53 
 
 Embark his royalty ; and his brave fleet 5 
 
 With silken streamers the young Phoebus fanning. 
 Play with your fancies, and in them behold 
 Upon the hempen tackle ship-boys climbing ; 
 Hear the shrill whistle which doth order give 
 To sounds confus'd ; behold the threaden sails, 10 
 Borne with the invisible and creeping wind. 
 Draw the huge bottoms through the furrow'd sea, 
 Breasting the lofty surge : O, do but think 
 You stand upon the rivage, and behold 
 A city on the inconstant billows dancing ; 15 
 
 For so appears this fleet majestical, 
 Holding due course to Harfleur, Follow, follow ! 
 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 : 
 For who is he, whose chin is but enrich'd 
 With one appearing hair, that will not follow 
 These cuU'd and choice-drawn cavaliers to France ? 
 Work, work your thoughts, and therein see a siege ; 25 
 Behold the ordnance on their carriages, 
 With fatal mouths gaping on girded Harfleur. 
 Suppose the ambassador from the French comes 
 
 back ; 
 Tells Harry that the king doth offer him 
 Katharine his daughter ; and with her, to dowry, 30 
 Some petty and unprofitable dukedoms. 
 The offer likes not : and the nimble gunner 
 With linstock now the devilish cannon touches, 
 
 [Alar tern ; and chainbers go off within. 
 And down goes all befc^-e them. Still be kind. 
 And eke out our performance with your mind. 35 
 
 {Exit, 
 
54 KING HENRY V. [act iii. 
 
 SCENE I. — France. Before Harfieicr. 
 
 Alarums. Enter King Henry, Exeter, Bedford, 
 Gloster, 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 humility : 
 5 But, when the blast of war blows in our ears, 
 Then imitate the action of the tiger ; 
 Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood. 
 Disguise fair nature with hard-favored rage ; 
 Then lend the eye a terrible aspect ; 
 
 lo Let it pry through the portage of the head 
 
 Like the brass cannon ; let the brow o'erwhelm it. 
 As fearfully as doth a galled rock 
 O'erhang and jutty his confounded base, 
 Swill'd with the wild and wasteful ocean, 
 
 15 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 English, 
 Whose blood is fet from fathers of war-proof ! — 
 Fathers that, like so many Alexanders, 
 
 20 Have in these parts from morn till even fought, 
 And sheath'd their swords for lack of argument : 
 Dishonor not your mothers ; now attest 
 That those whom you call'd fathers did beget 
 
 you ! 
 Be copy now to men of grosser blood, 
 
 25 And teach them how to war ! — And you, good 
 yeomen, 
 Whose limbs were made in England, show us here 
 
sc. II.] KING HENRY V, 55 
 
 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. 2P 
 
 I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips. 
 Straining upon the start. The game's afoot ; 
 Follow your spirit ; and upon this charge 
 Cry, " God for Harry! England! and Saint George!" 
 [Exeunt. Alarum, attd chaiJibers go off within. 
 
 SCENE W.— The same. 
 
 Forces pass over; then enter Nym, Bardolph, 
 Pistol, and Boy. 
 
 Bard. On, on, on, on, on ! to the breach, to 
 the breach ! 
 
 Ny7n, Pray thee, corporal, stay ; the knocks 
 are too hot ; and, for mine own part, I have not a 
 case of lives : the humor of it is too hot, that is 5 
 the very plain-song of it. 
 
 Pist. The plain-song is most just ; for humors 
 do abound : 
 Knocks go and come ; God's vassals drop and die ; 
 And sword and shield, 
 In bloody field, 10 
 
 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. ^ rs 
 
56 KING HENRY V. [act ill. 
 
 If wishes would prevail with me, 
 My purpose should not fail with me, 
 But thither would I hie. 
 
 Boy. As duly, but not as truly, 
 20 As bird doth sing on bough. 
 
 Enter Fluellen. 
 
 Flu. Up to the preach, you dogs ! avaunt, 
 you cullions. \privi71g them forward. 
 
 Pist. Be merciful, great duke, to men of mould! 
 Abate thy rage, abate thy manly rage ! 
 25 Abate thy rage, great duke ! 
 
 Good bawcock, bate thy rage ! use lenity, sweet 
 chuck ! 
 Nyin. These be good humors I — your honor 
 wins bad humors. 
 
 [Exeunt Nym, Pistol, and Bardolph, fol- 
 lowed by Flui;llen. 
 Boy. As young as I am, I have observed these 
 30 three swashers. I am boy to them all three : 
 but all they three, though they would serve me, 
 could not be man to me ; for, indeed, three such 
 antics do not amount to a man. For Bardolph — 
 he is white-livered and red-faced ; by the means 
 35 whereof 'a faces it out, but fights not. For Pistol 
 — he hath a killing tongue and a quiet sword ; by 
 the means whereof *a breaks words, and keeps whole 
 weapons. For Nym — he hath heard that men of 
 few words are the best men ; and therefore he 
 40 scorns to say his prayers, lest 'a should be thought 
 a coward : but his few bad words are match'd 
 with as few good deeds ; for 'a never broke any 
 man's head but his own, and that was against a 
 
sc. II.] KING HENR Y V. 57 
 
 post when he was drunk. They will steal any- 
 thing, and call it purchase. Bardolph stole a 45 
 lute-case, bore it twelve leagues, and sold it for 
 three-halfpence. Nym and Bardolph are sworn 
 brothers in filching, and in Calais they stole a 
 tire-shovel : I knew by that piece of service the 
 men would carry coals. They would have me as 5a 
 familiar with men's pockets as their gloves or 
 their handkerchers : which makes much against 
 my manhood, if I should take from another's pocket 
 to put into mine ; for it is plain pocketing up of 
 wrongs. I must leave them and seek some better 55 
 service : their villainy goes against my weak stom- 
 ach, and therefore I must cast it up. \Exit. 
 
 Re-etiter Fluellen, Go^yt^ following. 
 
 Gow, Captain Fluellen, you must come pres- 
 ently to the mines ; the Duke of Gloster would 
 speak to you. 60- 
 
 Flu. To the mines ! tell you the duke it is not so 
 good to come to the mines; for, look you, the mines 
 is not according to the disciplines of the war; the 
 concavities of it is not sufficient ; for, look you, th' 
 athversary, you may discuss unto the duke, look 65 
 you, is digt himself four yard under the counter- 
 mines : I think 'a will plow up all, if there is not 
 better directions. 
 
 Goiv.^ The Duke of Gloster, to whom the order 
 of the siege is given, is altogether directed by an 70 
 Irishman, a very valiant gentleman, i' faith. 
 
 Flu. It is Captain Macmorris, is it not ? 
 
 Gow. I think it be. 
 
 Flu. He is an ass as in the 'orld : I will verify 
 as much in his peafd ; he has no more directions ']$ 
 
58 KING HENRY V, [act iii. 
 
 in the true disciplines of the wars, look you, of the 
 Roman disciplines, that is a puppy-dog. 
 
 Gow. Here 'a comes ; and the Scots captain, 
 Captain Jamy, with him. 
 
 80 Flu. Captain Jamy is a marvellous falorous 
 gentleman, that is certain ; and of great expedition 
 and knowledge in the auncient wars, upon my par- 
 ticular knowledge of his directions. He will main- 
 tain his argument as well as any military man in 
 
 85 the 'orld, in the disciplines of the pristine wars of 
 the Romans. 
 
 Enter Macmorrts and] amy. 
 
 Jamy. I say gud-day. Captain Fluellen. 
 
 Flu. God-den to your worship, goot Captain 
 Jamy. 
 90 Gow. How now. Captain Macmorris ? have 
 you quit the mines ? have the pioneers given o'er ? 
 
 Mac. La, tish ill done : the work ish give over, 
 the trumpet sound the retreat. By my hand I 
 swear, and my father's soul, the work ish ill done ; 
 95 it ish give over ; I would have blowed up the 
 town, la, in an hour. O, tish ill done, tish ill done ; 
 by my hand, tish ill done ! 
 
 Flu. Captain Macmorris, I peseech you now, 
 will you voutsafe me, look you, a few disputations 
 100 with you, as partly touching or concerning the 
 disciplines of the war, the Roman wars, in the 
 way of argument, look you, and friendly communi- 
 cation ; partly to satisfy my opinion, and partly 
 for the satisfaction, look you, of my mind, as touch- 
 105 ing the direction of the military discipline ? that 
 is the point. 
 
 Jamy, It sail be vary gud, gud feith, gud cap- 
 
sc. il] king HENR V V. 59 _ 
 
 tains bath ; and I sail quit you with gud leve, as I 
 may pick occasion ; that sail I, mary. 
 
 Afac. It is no time to discourse. The day is no 
 hot, and the weather and the wars and the king 
 and the dukes : it is no time to discourse. The 
 town is beseeched, and the trumpet call us to the 
 breach ; and we talk, and do nothing : 'tis shame 
 for us all: 'tis shame to stand still ; it is shame, 115 
 by my hand : and there is throats to be cut, and 
 works to be done ; and there ish nothing done, la. 
 
 Ja7ny. By the mess, ere theise eyes of mine 
 take themselves to slomber, aile do gude service, 
 or aile lig i' the grund for it ; ay, or go to death ; 120 
 and aile pay it as valorously as I may, that sal I 
 surely do, that if the breff and the loilg- : mary, I 
 wad full fain heard some question 'tween you tway. 
 
 Flu. Captain Macmorris, I think, look you, 
 under your correction, there is not many of your 125 
 nation 
 
 Mac. Of my nation ! What ish my nation ? 
 What ish my nation ? Who talks of my nation 
 ish a villain and a bastard and a knave and a 
 rascal. 130 
 
 Flu. Look you, if you take the matter other- 
 wise than is meant, Captain Macmorris, perad- 
 venture I shall think you do not use me with that 
 affability as in discretion you ought to use me, 
 look you ; being as goot a man as yourself, both 135 
 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 ; I will cut off your head. 
 
 Gow. Gentlemen both, you will mistake each 140 
 other. 
 
60 KING HENR V V. [act hi. 
 
 Ja7ny. Au ! that's a foul fault. 
 
 yA parley sounded. 
 
 Gow. The town sounds a parley. 
 
 Flu. Captain Macmorris, when there is more 
 
 145 petter opportunity to be required, look you, I will 
 
 be so pold as to tell you I know the disciplines of 
 
 war ; and there is an end. \Exeunt. 
 
 SCENE III. — The saine. Before the gates of 
 Harfleur. 
 
 The Governor and sojne Citizens on the walls ; the 
 English Forces below. Enter King Henry ««^/z2> 
 Train. 
 
 • 
 K, Hen. How yet resolves the governor of the 
 town ? 
 This is the latest parle we v/ill admit : 
 Therefore to our best mercy give yourselves ; 
 Or, like to men proud of destruction, 
 5 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. 
 10 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. 
 15 What is it then to me, if impious war, 
 
 Array'd in flames like to the prince of fiends, • 
 Do, with his smirched complexion, all fell feats 
 Enlink'd to waste and desolation ? 
 
sc. III.] KING HENR V V. 6i 
 
 What rein can hold Hcentious wickedness 
 
 When down the hill he holds his herce career ? 2a 
 
 We may as bootless spend our vain command 
 
 Upon the 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 25 
 
 Whiles yet my soldiers are in my command ; 
 
 Whiles yet the cool and temperate wind of grace 
 
 O'erblows the filthy and contagious clouds 
 
 Of heady murder, spoil, and villainy. 
 
 If not, why, in a moment look to see 30 
 
 The blind 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, 35 
 
 Whiles the mad mothers with their howls confus'd 
 
 Do break the clouds, as did the wives of Jewry 
 
 At Herod's bloody-hunting slaughlfermen. 
 
 What say you ? will you yield, and this avoid .? 
 
 Or, guilty in defence, be thus destroy 'd } 40 
 
 Gov. Our expectation hath this day an end : 
 The Dauphin, whom of succors we entreated. 
 Returns us that his powers are yet not ready 
 To raise so great a siege. Therefore, great king, 
 We yield our town and lives to thy soft mercy : 45 
 Enter our gates ; dispose of us and ours ; 
 For we no longer are defensible. 
 
 K. Hen. Open your gates. — Come, Uncle 
 Exeter, 
 Go you and enter Harfleur ; there remain, 
 And fortify it strongly 'gainst the French : 50 
 
 Use mercy to them all. For us, dear uncle. 
 
62 KING HENRY V. [act iii. 
 
 The winter coming on and sickness growing 
 Upon our soldiers, we will retire to Calais. 
 To-night in Harfleur will we be your guest ; 
 ^^ To-morrow for the march are we address'd. 
 
 \_Flourish. The King, etc., enter the town. 
 
 SCENE IV. — Rouen. A Room in the Palace. 
 
 Enter Katharine aiid Alice. 
 
 Kath. Alice, iu as ete en Angleterre, et tu 
 paries Men le langage. 
 Alice. Un peu, madame. 
 
 Kath. Je te prie viejiseignerj il faut que 
 Sfapprenne a parler. Cojn?nent appelez-vous la 
 main eji Anglais ? 
 
 Alice. La main f elle est appelee de hand. 
 Kath. De hand. Et les doigts ? 
 Alice. Les doigts? ma foi,foublie les doigts; 
 lo mais je me souviendrai. Les doigts ? je pense 
 quHls sojit appeles de fingres ; oui, de fingres. 
 
 Kath. La maiti, de hand ; les doigts, de 
 fingres. J e poise que je suis le bo7i ecolierj fai 
 gagne deux mots d' Anglais viteiJient. Com- 
 15 7neni appelez-vous les o?tgles ? 
 
 Alice. Les ongles ? les appelons de nails. 
 Kath. De nails. Ecoutez ; dites-moi, si je 
 parte bien : de hand, de fingres, et de nails. 
 Alice. Cest bien dit^ madame j il est fort 
 20 bon Anglais. 
 
 Kath. Dites-moi V A7tglais pour le bras. 
 Alice. De arm, madame. 
 Kath. Et le coude ? ^ 
 
 Alice. De elbow. 
 
sc. IV.] KING HENR Y V. 63 
 
 Kath. De elbow. Je nienfais la repetition 25 
 de tous les mots que vous inaves appris des d 
 present. 
 
 Alice. II est trop difficile^ madame, covime 
 je pense. 
 
 Kath. Excusez-moi, Alice; ecoutez ; de 30 
 hand, de fingres, de nails, de arm, de ilbow. 
 
 Alice. De elbow, viadaine. 
 
 Kath. O Seigneur Dieic, je in en oublie ! de 
 elbow. Commejtt appelez-vous le col ? 
 
 Alice. De neck, niadame. 35 
 
 Kath. De nick. Et le inenton ? 
 
 Alice. De chin. 
 
 Kath. De sin. Le col, de nick ; le menton, 
 de sin. 
 
 Alice. Oui. Sauf voire honnetir, en verite,^o 
 vous prononcez les mots aussi droit que les na- 
 tifs dAngleterre. 
 
 Kath. Je ne doute point d'apprendre, par la 
 grace de Dieu, et en peu de temps. 
 
 Alice. N'avez-vous pas dejd oublie ce que je ii^^ 
 vous ai enseigne ? 
 
 Kath. Non, je reciter ai a vous prcmpiementj 
 de hand, de fingres, de mails — 
 
 Alice. De nails, inadame. 
 
 Kath, De nails, de arm, de ilbow — 50 
 
 Alice. Sauf voire honiieur, de elbow. 
 
 Kath. Ainsi dis-je ; de elbow, de nick, et de 
 sin. Comment appelez-vous le pied et la robe? 
 
 Alice. De foot, madamey ^/ de coun. 
 
 Kath. De foot, et de coun ! O Seigneur Dieu, 55 
 ces sont mots de son mauvais, corruptible, gros, 
 et impudique, et 71011 pour les dames d'honneur 
 d'user ; je ne voudrais prononcer ces mots de- 
 
64 KING HENR V V. [act hi. 
 
 vant les seigneurs de France pour tout l& 
 60 monde. II faut de foot, et de coun, neaninoins. 
 
 Je reciterai une autre fois ma lefon ensejnble : 
 
 de hand, de fingres, de nails, de arm, de elbow, 
 
 de nick, de sin, de foot, 
 
 Alice. Excellent, viadame ! 
 65 Kath. Cest assez pour une fois : allons- 
 
 nous a dijier. \Exeunt. 
 
 SCENE V. — The same. Another Room i7t the 
 same. 
 
 Enter the French King, the Dauphin, Duke 
 OF Bourbon, the Constable of France, 
 and others. 
 
 Fr. King. 'Tis certain he hath pass'd the river 
 
 Somme. 
 Con. And if he be not fought withal, my lord, 
 Let us not live in France ; let us quit all. 
 And give our vineyards to a barbarous people. 
 5 Dau. O Dieu vivant I Shall a few sprays of us. 
 Our scions, put in wild and savage stock. 
 Spirt up so suddenly into the clouds. 
 And overlook their grafters ? 
 
 Bour. Normans, but bastard Normans, Nor- 
 man bastards ! 
 10 Mort de iiia 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 ? 
 15 Is not their climate foggy, raw, and dull ; 
 
sc. v.] KING HENRY V. 65 
 
 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 ? 
 
 And shall our quick blood, spirited with wine, 20 
 
 Seem frosty ? O, for honor 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. 25 
 
 Dan. By faith and honor, our madams mock 
 at us ; 
 And plainly say our mettle is bred out. 
 
 Boiir. They bid us to the English dancing- 
 schools. 
 And teach lavoltas high and swift corantos ; 
 Saying our grace is only in our heels, 30 
 
 And that we are most lofty runaways, 
 
 Fr. King. Where is Montjoy, the herald ? 
 speed him hence ; 
 Let him greet England with our sharp defiance. 
 Up, princes ! and, with spirit of honor edg'd 
 More sharper than your swords, hie to the field : 35 
 Charles Delabreth, high constable of France ; 
 You dukes of Orleans, Bourbon, and of Berri, 
 Alengon, Brabant, Bar, and Burgundy ; 
 Jacques Chatillon, Rambures, Vaudemont, ♦ 
 
 Beaumont, Grandpre, Roussi, and Fauconberg, 40 
 Foix, Lestrale, Bouciqualt, and Charolois ; 
 High dukes, great princes, barons, lords, and 
 
 knights. 
 For your great seats now quit you of great 
 shames. 
 
66 KING HENRY V. [act. hi. 
 
 Bar Harry England, that sweeps through our 
 land 
 45 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, 
 50 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, 
 SS For I am sure, when he shall see our army. 
 He'll drop his heart into the sink of fear. 
 And for achievement offer us his ransom. 
 
 Fr. King. Therefore, lord constable, haste on 
 Montjoy ; 
 And let him say to England that we send 
 60 To know what willing ransom he will give. 
 
 Prince Dauphin, you shall stay with us in Rouen. 
 Dati. Not so, I do beseech your majesty. 
 F?'. King. Be patient, for you shall remain 
 with us. 
 Now forth, lord constable and princes all, 
 65 And quickly bring us word of England's fall. 
 
 \Exeunt. 
 
 SCENE VI. — The English Camp in Picardy. 
 Enter, severally, Gower and Fluellen. 
 Gow. How now, Captain Fluellen ! come you 
 from the bridge ? 
 
 Flu. I assure you there is very excellent ser- 
 vices committed at the pridge. 
 5 Gow. Is the Duke of Exeter safe ? 
 
sc. VI.] KING HENRY V. 67 
 
 Flu. The Duke of Exeter is as magnanimous 
 as Agamemnon ; and a man that I love and honor 
 with my soul and my heart and my duty and my 
 life and my Uving and my uttermost power : he is 
 not (Got be praised and plessed !) any hurt in the 10 
 'orld ; but keeps the pridge most vaHantly, with 
 excellent discipline. There is an auncient lieu- 
 tenant there at the pridge — I think in my very 
 conscience he is as valiant a man as Mark Antony ; 
 and he is a man of no estimation in the 'orld ; 15 
 but I did see him do as gallant service. 
 
 Gow. What do you call him ? 
 
 Flu. He is called Auncient Pistol. 
 
 Gow. I know him not. 
 
 Flu. Here is the man. 20 
 
 Enter PiSTOL. 
 
 Pist. Captain, I thee beseech to do me favors : 
 The Duke of Exeter doth love thee well. 
 
 Flu. Ay, I praise Got ; and I have merited 
 some love at his hands. 
 
 Pist. Bardolph, a soldier firm and sound of heart, 25 
 And of buxom valor, hath, by cruel fate, 
 And giddy Fortune's furious fickle wheel, 
 That goddess blind. 
 That stands upon the rolling, restless stone — 
 
 Fhi. By your patience, Auncient Pistol. Fort- 30 
 une is painted plind ; with a muffler before her eyes, 
 to signify to you that Fortune is plind : 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, 35 
 look you, is fixed upon a spherical stone, which 
 rolls and rolls and rolls. — In good truth, the poet 
 
68 KING HENRY V. [act iii. 
 
 makes a most excellent description of it : Fortune 
 is an excellent moral. ^ 
 
 40 Pist. Fortune is Bardolph's foe, and frowns on 
 him ; 
 For he hath stolen a pax, and hanged must 'a be. 
 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 
 45 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. Auncient Pistol, I do partly understand 
 your meaning. 
 
 Pist. Why then, rejoice therefore. 
 
 Flu. Certainly, auncient, it is not a thing to 
 
 rejoice at : for if, look you, he were my prother, I 
 
 55 would desire the duke to use his goot pleasure, 
 
 and put him to execution ; for discipline ought 
 
 to be used. 
 
 Pist. Die ; and figo for thy friendship ! 
 Flu. It is well. 
 60 Pist. The fig of Spain ! \Fxit. 
 
 Pltc. Very goot. 
 
 Gow. Why, this is an arrant counterfeit ras- 
 cal ; I remember him now ; a cutpurse. 
 
 Flu. I'll assure you, 'a uttered as prave 'ords 
 65 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, 'tis a gull, a fool, a rogue, that 
 
 now and then goes to the wars, to grace himself 
 
 70 at his return into London under .the form of a 
 
sc. VI.] KING HENR V V. 69 
 
 soldier. And such fellows are perfect in the 
 great commanders' 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 con- 
 voy ; who came off bravely, who was shot, who 75 
 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 w^hat a 
 beard of the general's cut and a horrid suit of the 
 camp will do among foaming bottles and ale- 80 
 washed wits is wonderful to be thought on. But 
 you must learn to know such slanders of the age, 
 or else you may be marvellously mistook. 
 
 Flu. I tell you what. Captain Gower, I do 
 perceive he is not the man that he would gladly 85 
 make show to the 'orld he is ; if I find a hole in 
 his coat, I will tell him my mind. [Drum within?\ 
 Hark you, the king is coming, and I must speak 
 with him from the pridge. 
 
 Enter King Henry, Gloster, and Soldiers. 
 
 Got pless your majesty 90 
 
 K. Hen. How, now, Fluellen ! cam'st thou 
 from the bridge ? 
 
 Flu. Ay, so please your majesty. The Duke 
 of Exeter has very gallantly maintained the 
 pridge : the French is gone off, look you ; and 95 
 there is gallant and most prave passages ; marry, 
 th' athversar}^ was have possession of the pridge ; 
 but he is enforced to retire, and the Duke of Ex- 
 eter is master of the pridge ; I can tell your maj- 
 esty the duke is a prave man. 100 
 
 K. Hen, What men have you lost, Fluellen ? 
 
 Flu. The perdition of th' athversary hath 
 
70 KING HENRY V. [act iii. 
 
 been very great, reasonable great : marry, for my 
 part, I think the duke hath lost never a man, but 
 
 105 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 of fire ; and his lips plows at his 
 nose, and it is like a coal of fire, sometimes plue 
 
 1 10 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 
 
 115 compelled from the villages, nothing taken but 
 paid for, none of the French upbraided or abused 
 in disdainful language ; for, when lenity and 
 cruelty play for a kingdom, the gentler gamester 
 is the soonest winner. 
 
 Tucket sounds. Enter MONTJOY. 
 
 120 Mont, You know me by my habit. 
 
 K. Hen. Well then I know thee ; what shall I 
 know of thee ? 
 
 Mont. My master's mind. 
 K. Hen. Unfold it. 
 
 125 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 rash- 
 ness. Tell him we could have rebuked him at 
 Harfleur, but that we thought not good to bruise 
 
 130 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 ad- 
 mire our sufferance. Bid him, therefore, consider 
 of his ransom : which must proportion the losses 
 
sc. VI.] KING HENRY V. 71 
 
 we have borne, the subjects we have lost, the dis- 135 
 grace we have digested ; which in weight to re- 
 answer, 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 disgrace, his own person, 140 
 kneeling at our feet, but a weak and worthless 
 satisfaction. To this add defiance : and tell him, 
 for conclusion, he hath betrayed his followers, 
 whose condemnation is pronounced. So far my 
 king and master ; so much my office. 145 
 
 K. He7i. 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 150 
 
 Without impeachment : for, to say the sooth. 
 Though 'tis no wisdom to confess so much 
 Unto an enemy of craft and vantage, 
 My people are with sickness much enfeebled. 
 My numbers lessen'd, and those few I have 155 
 
 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 160 
 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 ; 
 
72 KING HENRY V. [act in. 
 
 165 Yet, God before, tell him we will come on, 
 
 Though France himself and such another neigh- 
 bour 
 Stand in our way. There's for thy labor, Montjoy. 
 Go, bid thy master well advise himself: 
 If we may pass, we will ; if we be hinder'd, 
 170 We shall your tawny ground with your red blood 
 Discolor : 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 ; 
 175 So tell your master. 
 
 Mont. I shall deliver so. Thanks to your high- 
 ness. S^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. 
 180 Beyond the river we'll encamp ourselves, 
 And on to-morrow bid them march away. 
 
 ^Exeunt. 
 
 SCENE VII. — The French Camp, neur Agin- 
 coiirt 
 
 Enter the Constable of France, the Lord Ram- 
 BURES, the Duke of Orleans, Dauphin, 
 and others. 
 
 Co7i. Tut ! I have the best armor of the world. 
 Would it were day. 
 
 Orl. You have an excellent armor ; but let my 
 horse have his due. 
 5 Con. It is the best horse of Europe. 
 
 Orl. Will it never be morning ? 
 
sc. VII.] KING HENR Y V. 73 
 
 Dati. My Lord of Orleans, and my lord high 
 constable, you talk of horse and armor — 
 
 Orl. You are as well provided of both as any 
 prince in the world. 10 
 
 Dau. What a long- night is this ! — I will not 
 change my horse with any that treads but on four 
 pasterns. Qa, ha ! He bounds from the earth 
 as if his entrails were hairs ; le cheval volant, 
 the Pegasus, qui a les narines de feu ! When I 15 
 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 color of the nutmeg. 20 
 
 Dau. And of the heat of the ginger. It is a 
 beast for Perseus : he is pure air and tire ; and the 
 dull elements of earth and water never appear in 
 him, but only in patient stillness while his rider 
 mounts him. He is indeed a horse ; and all other 25 
 jades you may call beasts. 
 
 Con. Indeed, my lord, it is a most absolute 
 and excellent horse. 
 
 Dau. It is the ]'»rince of palfreys ; his neigh is 
 like the bidding of a monarch, and his counte- 30 
 nance enforces homage. 
 
 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 ^S 
 theme as fluent as the sea ; turn the sands into 
 eloquent tongues, and my horse is argument 
 for them all : 'tis a subject for a sovereign to rea- 
 son on, and for a sovereign's sovereign to ride on ; 
 and for the world, familiar to us and unknown, to 40 
 
74 KING HENR V V. [act hi. 
 
 lay apart their particular functions and wonder at 
 him. I once writ a sonnet in his praise, and be- 
 gan thus : " Wonder of nature — " 
 
 Orl. I have heard a sonnet begin so to one's 
 45 mistress. 
 
 Dau. Then did they imitate that which I com- 
 posed to my courser, for my horse is my mistress. 
 Co7t. Nay, methought yesterday your mistress 
 shrewdly shook your back. 
 50 Dau. So, perhaps, did yours. 
 Con. Mine was not bridled. 
 Dati. O ! then belike she was old and gentle ; 
 and you rode, like a kern of Ireland, your French 
 hose off, and in your strait strossers. 
 55 Co?i. You have good judgment in horseman- 
 ship. 
 
 Ram. My lord constable, the armor that I saw 
 in your tent to-night, are those stars or suns upon 
 it? 
 60 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 su- 
 perfluously, and 'twere more honor some were 
 65 away. 
 
 Con. Even as your horse bears your praises ; 
 who would trot as well were some of your brags 
 dismounted. 
 
 Dau. Would I were able to load him with 
 70 his desert ! Will it never be day ? I will trot to- 
 morrow a mile, and my way shall be paved with 
 English faces. 
 
 Co7i. I will not say so, for fear I should be 
 faced out of my way. But I would it were morn- 
 
sc. VII.] KING HENR Y F. 75 
 
 ing, for I would fain be about the ears of the 75 
 Enghsh. 
 
 Ra7n. Who will go to hazard with me for 
 twenty prisoners ? 
 
 Co7i. You must first go yourself to hazard, ere 
 you have them. 80 
 
 Dau. 'Tis midnight, I'll go arm myself. \Exit. 
 
 Orl. The Dauphin longs for morning. 
 
 Rain. 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 gal- 85 
 lant prince. 
 
 Co7i Swear by her toot, that she may tread out 
 the oath. 
 
 Orl. He is simply the most active gentleman 
 of France. 90 
 
 Con. Doing is activity ; and he will still be 
 doing. 
 
 Orl. He never did harm, that I heard of. 
 
 Con. Nor will do none to-morrow : he will 
 keep that good name still. 95 
 
 Orl. I know him to be valiant. 
 
 Con. I was told that by one that knows him 
 better than you. 
 
 Orl. What's he ? 
 
 Con. Marry, he told me so himself ; and he 100 
 said he cared not who knew it. 
 
 Orl. He needs not, it is no hidden virtue in him. 
 
 Con. By my faith, sir, but it is ; never anybody 
 saw it but his lackey : 'tis a hooded valor ; and, 
 when it appears, it will bate. 105 
 
 Orl. Ill-will never said well. 
 
 Con. I will cap that proverb with — There is 
 flattery in friendship. 
 
75 KING HENRY V. [act iii. 
 
 Orl. And I will take up that with — Give the 
 no devil his due. 
 
 Co7t. Well placed ; there stands your friend 
 for the devil : have at the very eye of that proverb 
 with — A plague of the devil. 
 
 Orl. You are the better at proverbs, by how 
 115 much — A fool's bolt is soon shot. 
 Con. You have shot over. 
 Orl. 'Tis not the first time you were overshot. 
 
 Enter a Messenger. 
 
 Mess. My Lord high constable, the English 
 lie within fifteen hundred paces of your tents. 
 120 Coji. Who hath measured the ground ? 
 Mess. The Lord Grandpre. 
 Con. A valiant and most expert gentleman. — 
 Would it were day ! — Alas, poor Harry of Eng- 
 land ! he longs not for the dawning as we do. 
 125 Orl. What a wretched and peevish fellow is 
 this king of England, to mope with his fat-brained 
 followers so far out of his knowledge ! 
 
 Con. If the English had any apprehension, 
 they would run away. 
 130 Orl. That they lack ; for, if their heads had 
 any intellectual armor, they could never wear 
 such heavy head-pieces. 
 
 Ram. That island of England breeds very 
 valiant creatures ; their mastiffs are of unmatch- 
 J35 able 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 
 
 140 the lip of a lion. 
 
PROLOGUE.] KING HENRY V. 77 
 
 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 like Avolves and fight like devils. 145 
 
 Or I. Ay, but these English are shrewdly out 
 of beef. 
 
 Con. Then shall we find to-morrow they have 
 only stomachs to eat and none to fight. Now is 
 it time to arm : come, shall we about it ? 150 
 
 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. 
 
 Cho. 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, . 5 
 
 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 10 
 Piercing the night's dull ear ; and from the tents, 
 
78 KING HENRY V, [act iv. 
 
 The armorers, accomplishing the knights, 
 With busy hammers closing rivets up, 
 Give dreadful note of preparation. 
 
 15 The country cocks do crow, the clocks do toll, 
 And the third hour of drovs/-sy morning name. 
 Proud of their numbers and secure in soul, 
 The confident and over-lusty F'rench 
 Do the lov/-rated English play at dice ; 
 
 20 And chide the cripple tardy-gaited night, 
 Who, like a foul and ugly witch, doth limp 
 So tediously away. The poor condemned English, 
 Like sacrifices, by their watchful fires 
 Sit patiently, and inly ruminate 
 
 25 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 
 
 30 Walking from watch to watch, from tent to tent, 
 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. 
 
 35 Upon his royal face there is no note 
 
 How dread an army hath enrounded him ; 
 Nor doth he dedicate one jot of color 
 Unto the weary and all-watched night ; 
 
 ^ But freshly looks, and overbears attaint 
 
 40 With cheerful semblance and sweet majesty ; 
 That every wretch, pining an-d pale before, 
 Beholding him, plucks comfort from his looks : 
 A largess universal like the sun 
 His liberal eye doth give to every one, 
 
 45 Thawing cold fear that mean and gentle all 
 
sc. I.] KING HENR Y V. 79 
 
 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, 
 The name of Agincourt. Yet, sit and see, 
 Minding true things by what their mockeries be. 
 
 [Exit. 
 
 SCENE I. — The English Camp at Agincotirt. 
 
 Enter King Henry, Bedford, and Gloster. 
 
 K. Heii. Gloster, 'tis true that we are in great 
 danger ; 
 The greater therefore shoukl our courage be. 
 Good-morrow, brother Bedford. God Almighty ! 
 There is some soul of goodness in things evil, 
 Would men observingly distil it out. 5 
 
 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. ^° 
 
 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 
 Were better than a churlish turf of France. 15 
 
 Erp. Not so, my liege ; this lodging likes me 
 better, 
 Since I may say, " Now lie I like a king." 
 
So KING HENRY V. [act iv. 
 
 K. He7i. 'Tis good for men to love their pres- 
 ent pains 
 Upon example ; so the spirit is eas'd : 
 20 And, when the mind is quicken'd, out of doubt 
 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, 
 25 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. 
 
 [Exeunt Gloster and Bedford. 
 Erp. Shall I attend your grace ? 
 30 K. Hen. No, my good knight ; 
 
 Go with my brothers to my lords of England : 
 I and my bosom must debate awhile, 
 And then I would no other company. 
 
 Erp. The Lord in heaven bless thee, noble 
 Harry! [£',rzV Erpingham. 
 
 35 K. Hen. God-a-mercy, old heart ! thou speak'st 
 cheerfully. 
 
 Enter Pistol. 
 
 Plst. Qui va Id ? 
 
 K. Hen. A friend. 
 
 Pist. Discuss unto me ; art thou officer ? 
 Or art thou base, common, and popular ? 
 40 K. Hen. I am a gentleman of a company. 
 
 Pist. Trail'st thou the puissant pike ? 
 
 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. 
 45 Pist, The king's a bawcock, and a heart of gold. 
 
sc. I.] KING HENR Y V. 8i 
 
 A lad of lite, 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's thy name ? 
 
 K. Hen. Harry le Roi. 50 
 
 Pist. Le Roy ! a Cornish name ; art thou of 
 Cornish crew ? 
 
 K. Hen. No, I am a Welshman. 
 
 Pist. Knowest thou Fluellen .'' 
 
 K. Hen. Yes. 
 
 Pist. Tell him I'll knock his leek about his 
 pate 55 
 
 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. 60 
 
 Pist. T\\^figo for thee, then ! 
 
 K. Hen. I thank you : God be with you ! 
 
 Pist. My name is Pistol called, \Exit. 
 
 K. Hen. It sorts well with your fierceness. 
 
 Enter Fluellen atid Gower, severally. 
 
 Gow. Captain Fluellen ! 65 
 
 Flu. So ! if. the name of all goodness, speak 
 lower. It is the greatest admiration in the uni- 
 versal 'orld when the true and auncient preroga- 
 tifs and laws of the wars is not kept : if you would 
 take the pains but to examine the wars of Pompey 70 
 the Great, you shall find, I warrant you, that there 
 is no tiddle-taddle nor pibble-pabble in Pompey 's 
 camp ; I warrant you, you shall find the ceremo- 
 nies of the wars and the cares of it and the forms 
 
82 KING HENR V F. [act iv. 
 
 y^ 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. 
 
 J^/u. If the enemy is an ass and a fool and a 
 
 80 prating coxcomb, is it meet, think you, that we 
 
 should also, look you, be an ass and a fool and a 
 
 prating coxcomb ? in your own conscience, now ? 
 
 Gow. I will speak lower. 
 
 /7z/. I pray you and beseech you that you will. 
 \Exeunt Gower and Fluellen. 
 85 K. Hen. Though it appear a little out of fashion, 
 there is much care and valor 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 
 90 cause to desire the approach of day. 
 
 Will. We see yonder the beginning of the day, 
 but I think we shall never see the end of it. — Who 
 goes there ? 
 
 K. Hen. A friend. 
 95 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? 
 K. Hen. Even as men wrecked upon a sand, 
 100 that look to be washed off the next tide. 
 
 Bates. He hath not told his thought to the king ? 
 
 K. Hen. No ; nor it is not meet he should. 
 
 For, though I speak it to you, I think the king is 
 
 but a man, as I am ; the violet smells to him as it 
 
sc. I.] KING HENR V V. 83 
 
 doth to me ; the element shows to him as it doth 105 
 to me ; all his senses have but human condi- 
 tions : his ceremonies 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 no 
 he sees reason of fears, as 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 ap- 
 pearance of fear, lest he, byshowmg it, should dis- 
 hearten his army. 115 
 
 Bates. He may show what outward courage 
 he will : but, I believe, as cold a night as 'tis, he 
 could wish himself in Thames up to the neck ; 
 and so I would he were, and I by him, at all ad- 
 ventures, so we were quit here. 120 
 
 K. Hen. By my troth, I will speak my con- 
 science of the king ; I think he would not wish 
 himself anywhere but where he is. 
 
 Bates. Then I would he were here alone ; so 
 should he be sure to be ransomed, and a many 125 
 poor men's lives saved. 
 
 K. Hen. 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 
 anywhere so contented as in the king's company ; 130 
 his cause being just and his quarrel honorable. 
 
 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 135 
 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 
 
84 KING HENRY V. [act IV. 
 
 those legs and arms and heads, chopped off in a 
 
 140 battle, shall join together at the latter day, and 
 cry all, " We died at such a place ; " some swear- 
 ing, 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 
 
 145 am afeard there are few die well that die in a 
 battle ; for how can they charitably dispose of 
 anything 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 
 
 1 50 disobey were against all proportion of subjection. 
 
 K. Hen. So, if a son that is by his father sent 
 
 about merchandise do sinfully miscarry upon the 
 
 sea, the imputation of his wickedness, by your 
 
 rule, should be imposed upon his father that sent 
 
 155 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 
 
 160 king is not bound to answer the particular end- 
 ings of his soldiers, the father of his son, nor the 
 master of his servant ; for they purpose not their 
 death when they purpose their services. Besides, 
 there is no king, be his cause never so spotless, if 
 
 165 it come to the abitrement of swords, can try it 
 out with all unspotted soldiers. Some, peradven- 
 ture, have on them the guilt of premeditated and 
 contrived murder ; some, of beguiling virgins with 
 the broken seals of perjury ; some, making the 
 
 1 70 wars their bulwark, that have before gored the 
 gentle bosom of peace with pillage and robbery. 
 Now, if these men have defeated the law and out- 
 
sc. I] KING HENRY V, 85 
 
 run 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 175 
 men are punished for before-breach of the king's 
 laws in now the king's quarrel : where they feared 
 the death, they have borne life away ; and, where 
 they would be safe, they perish : then, if they die 
 unprovided, no more is the king guilty of their 180' 
 damnation than he was before guilty of those im- 
 pieties for the which they are now visited. Every 
 subject's duty is the king's ; but every subject's soul 
 is his own. Therefore should every soldier in the 
 wars do as every^ sick man in his bed, wash every 185 
 mote out of his conscience : and, dying so, death 
 is to him advantage ; 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 God so free an offer, he let 190 
 him outlive that day to see his greatness and to 
 teach others how they should prepare. 
 
 Will. 'Tis certain, every man that dies ill, the 
 ill is upon his own head, the king is not to answer it. 
 
 Bates. I do not desire he should answer for 195 
 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 cheer- 
 fully : but, when our throats are cut, he may be 200 
 ransomed, and we ne'er the wiser. 
 
 K. Hen. If I live 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 pri- 205 
 vate displeasure can do against a monarch ! you 
 
86 KING HENRY V. [act IV. 
 
 may as well go about to turn the sun to ice with 
 fanning in his face with a peacock's feather. You'll 
 never trust his word after ! come, 'tis a foolish 
 2IO saying. 
 
 K. Hen. Your reproof is something too round ; 
 I should be angry with you, if the time were 
 convenient. 
 
 Will. Let it be a quarrel between us, if you livej 
 215 A". Hen. I embrace it. 
 
 Will. How shall I know thee again ? 
 K. Hen. Give me any gage of thine, and I 
 will wear it in my bonnet : then, if ever thou dar- 
 est acknowledge it, I will make it my quarrel. 
 220 Will. Here's my glove ; give me another of 
 thine. 
 
 K. Hen. There. 
 
 Will. This will I also wear in my cap ; if ever 
 thou come to me and.say, after to-morrow, " This 
 225 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 
 230 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 to reckon. 
 235 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 Eng- 
 lish treason to cut French crowns ; and to-mor- 
 row the king himself will be a clipper. 
 
 \Exeunt Soldiers. 
 
SCI. I.] KING HENRY V. 87 
 
 Upon the king ! let us our lives, our souls, 240 
 
 Our debts, our careful wives, 
 
 Our children, and our sins lay on the king ! 
 
 We must bear all. O hard condition ! 
 
 Twin-born with greatness, subject to the breath 
 
 Of every fool, whose sense no more can feel 245 
 
 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 ? 250 
 
 What kind of god art thou, that suffer'st more 
 
 Of mortal griefs than do thy worshippers ? 
 
 What are thy rents ? what are thy comings-in ? 
 
 ceremony, show me but thy worth ! 
 
 What is thy soul of adoration ? 255 
 
 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, 260 
 
 But poison'd flattery ? O, be sick, great great- 
 ness, 
 
 And bid thy ceremony give thee cure ! 
 
 Think'st thou the fiery fever will go out 
 
 With titles blown from adulation ? 
 
 Will it give place to flexture and low bending ? 265 
 
 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 
 
 'Tis not the balm, the sceptre, and the ball, 270 
 
88 KIXG HENRY V, [act iv. 
 
 The sword, the mace, the crown imperial. 
 The inter-tissu'cl robe of gold and pearl, 
 The farced title running 'fore the king. 
 The throne he sits on, nor the tide of pomp 
 
 275 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 fiU'd and vacant mind 
 
 280 Gets him to rest, cramm'd with distressful bread : 
 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 
 Sleeps in Elysium ; next day after dawn, 
 
 285 Doth rise and help Hyperion to his horse ; 
 And follows so the ever-running year 
 With profitable labor to his grave : 
 And, but for ceremony, such a wretch. 
 Winding up days with toil and nights with sleep, 
 
 290 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 v/atch the king keeps to maintain the peace, 
 Whose hours the peasant best advantages. 
 
 Enter Erpingham. 
 
 295 Erp. My lord, your nobles, jealous of your ab- 
 sence. 
 Seek through your camp to find you. 
 
 K. Hen. Good old knight, 
 
 Collect them all together at my tent : 
 I'll be before thee. 
 300 Erp, I shall do't, my lord. [Exit. 
 
sc. II.] KING HENRY V. 89 
 
 K. Hen. O God of battles ! steel my soldiers' 
 
 hearts ! 
 Possess them not with fear! Take from them now 
 The sense of reckoning, if the opposed numbers 
 Pluck their hearts from them ! — Not to-day, O 
 
 Lord, 
 O, not to-day, think not upon the fault 305 
 
 My father made in compassing the crown ! 
 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, 310 
 
 Who twice a day their wither'd 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, 315 
 
 Since that my penitence comes after all, 
 Imploring pardon. 
 
 Enter Gloster. 
 
 Glo. My liege ! 
 
 K. Hen. My brother Gloster's voice ? — Ay ; 
 I know thy errand, I will go with thee : — 320 
 
 The day, my friends, and all things stay for me. 
 
 \_Exeti7it. 
 
 SCENE 11.-77/^ French Camp. 
 
 Enter Dauphin, Orleans, Rameures, and 
 others. 
 
 Or I. The sun doth gild our armor ; up, my 
 lords. 
 
90 KING HENR V V. [act iv. 
 
 Dau. Montez a cheval : — My horse ! varlet ! 
 laquais ! ha ! 
 5 Orl. O brave spirit ! 
 
 Dau. Via ! les eaux et la terre — 
 Orl. Rien puis ? Vair et le feti — 
 Dau. Ceil ! cousin Orleans, — 
 
 Enter Constable. 
 
 Now, my lord constable ! 
 lo Con. Hark, how our steeds for present service 
 neigh. 
 
 Dau. Mount them, and make incision in their 
 hides. 
 That their hot blood may spin in "English eyes, 
 And dout them with superfluous courage : ha ! 
 15 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 ! 
 20 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 
 25 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 vapor of our valor will o'erturn them. 
 
sc. II.] KING HENR Y V. 91 
 
 'Tis positive 'gainst all exceptions, lords, 
 
 That our superfluous lackeys and our peasants, 30 
 
 Who in unnecessary action swarm 
 
 About our squares of battle, were enow 
 
 To purge this field of such a hilding foe, 
 
 Though we upon this mountain's basis by 
 
 Took stand for idle speculation : 35 
 
 But that our honors must not. What's to say ? 
 
 A very little little 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 40 
 
 That England shall couch down in fear and yield. 
 
 Eiiter GRANDPRfi. 
 
 Grajtd. Why do you stay so long, my lords of 
 
 France ? 
 Yon island carrions, desperate of their bones, 
 Ill-favor'dly become the morning field : 
 Their ragged curtains poorly are let loose, 45 
 
 And our air shakes them passing scornfully. 
 Big Mars seems bankrupt in their beggar'cl host. 
 And faintly through a rusty beaver peeps. 
 The horsemen sit like fixed candlesticks. 
 With torch-staves in their hand; and their poor 
 
 jades 50 
 
 Lob down their heads, dropping the hides and 
 
 hips, 
 The gum down-roping from their pale-dead eyes. 
 And in their pale, dull mouths the gimmal-bit 
 Lies foul with chew'd grass, still and motionless ; 
 And their executors, the knavish crows, 55 
 
 Fly o'er them, all impatient for their hour. 
 Description cannot suit itself in words 
 
92 KING HENR V V. [act iv. 
 
 To demonstrate the life of such a battle 
 In life so lifeless as it shows itself. 
 60 Con. They have said their prayers, and they 
 stay for death. 
 Dati. 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 guidon. To the field ! — 
 65 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. [Exeu7ti. 
 
 SCENE lU.— TkeEjiglish Camp. 
 
 Enter the English Host j Gloster, Bedford, 
 Exeter, Salisbury, and Westmoreland. 
 
 Glo. Where is the king ? 
 
 Bed. The king himself is rode to view their 
 
 battle. 
 West. Of fighting-men they have full three- 
 score thousand. 
 Exe. There's five to one ; besides, they all are 
 fresh. 
 5 Sal. God's arm strike with us ! 'tis a fearful 
 odds. 
 God be wi' you, princes all ; I'll to my charge ; 
 If we no more meet till we meet in heaven. 
 Then, joyfully ; — my noble Lord of Bedford, 
 My dear Lord Gloster, and my good Lord Exeter, 
 10 And my kind kinsman — warriors all, adieu ! 
 
 Bed. Farewell, good Salisbury; and good luck 
 ofo with thee ! 
 
sc. III.] KING HENR Y V, 93 
 
 Exe. Farewell, kind lord, tight valiantly to- 
 day ; 
 And yet I do thee wrong to mind thee of it. 
 For thou art fram'd of the firm truth of valor. 
 
 \Exit Salisbury. 
 Bed. He is as full of valor as of kindness ; 15 
 
 Princely in both. 
 
 West. O, that we now had here 
 
 Enter King Henry. 
 
 But one ten thousand of those men in England 
 That do no work to-day ! 
 
 R. Hen. What's he that wishes so ? 20 
 
 My cousin Westmoreland ? — No, my fair cousin : 
 If we are marked to die, we are enow 
 To do our country loss ; and, if to live, 
 The fewer men the greater share of honor, 
 God's will ! I pray thee, wish not one man more. 25 
 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 honor, 30 
 
 I am the most offending soul alive. 
 No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England : 
 God's peace ! 1 would not lose so great an honor 
 As one man more, methinks, would share from 
 
 me 
 For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one 
 
 more. 35 
 
 Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my 
 
 host, 
 That he which hath no stomach to this fight. 
 
94 KING HENRY V. [act iv. 
 
 Let him depart ; his passport shall be made» 
 And crowns for convoy put into his purse : 
 
 40 We would not die in that man's company 
 That fears his fellowship to die with us. 
 This day is call'd the feast of Crispian. 
 He that outlives this day and comes safe home 
 Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam'd, 
 
 45 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, 
 
 50 And say, " These wounds I had on Crispin's day." 
 Old men forget ; yet all shall be forgot, 
 But he'll remember with advantages 
 What feats he did that day : then shall our names, 
 Familiar in their mouths as household words^ — 
 
 55 Harry the king, Bedford and Exeter, 
 
 Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloster — 
 Be in their flowing cups freshly remember'd. 
 This story shall the good man teach his son ; 
 And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by, 
 
 60 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 ; 
 For he to-day that sheds his blood with me 
 Shall be my brother ; be he ne'er so vile, 
 
 65 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 St. Crispin's day. 
 
sc. III.] KING HENRY V. 95 
 
 Re-enter Salisbury. 
 
 SaL My sovereign lord, bestow yourself with 
 speed : 70 
 
 The French are bravely in their battles set, 
 And will with all expedience charge on us. 
 K. Hc7i. All things are ready, if our minds be 
 
 so. 
 West. Perish the man whose mind is back- 
 ward now. 
 K. Hen. Thou dost not wish more help from 
 
 England, coz ? 75 
 
 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 live 
 thousand men ; 
 Which likes me better than to wish us one. 
 You know your places : God be with you all ! 80 
 
 Tucket. Enter Montjoy. 
 
 Mont. Once more I come to know of thee. King 
 Harry, 
 If for thy ransom thou wilt now compound, 
 Before thy most assured overthrow : 
 For certainly thou art so near the gulf 
 Thou needs must be englutted. Besides, in mercy, 85 
 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. 90 
 
 K. Hen. Who hath sent thee now ? 
 
96 KING HENRY V. [act iv. 
 
 Mont. The Constable of France. 
 K. Heii. I pray thee, bear my former answer 
 back ; 
 Bid them achieve me and then sell my bones. 
 95 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 while hunting 
 
 him. 
 A many of our bodies shall no doubt 
 Find native graves ; upon the which, I trust, 
 loo Shall witness live 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. 
 And draw their honors reeking up to heaven, 
 105 Leaving their earthly parts to choke your clime, 
 The smell whereof shall breed a plague in France. 
 Mark then abounding valor in our English, 
 That, being dead, like to the bullet's grazing, 
 Break out into a second course of mischief, 
 1 10 Killing in relapse of mortality. 
 
 Let me speak proudly : — tell the Constable 
 We are but warriors for the working-day: 
 Our gayness and our gilt are all besmirch'd 
 With rainy marching in the painful field ; 
 115 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 
 120 They'll be in fresher robes, or they will pluck 
 The gay new coats o'er the French soldiers' heads, 
 
sc. IV.] KING HENR Y V. 97 
 
 And turn them out of service. If they do this — 
 As, if God please, they shall, — my ransom then 
 Will soon be levied. Herald, save thou thy labor ; 
 Come thou no more for ransom, gentle herald ; 125 
 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. 1 30 
 
 K. Hen. I fear thou'lt once more come again 
 for ransom. 
 
 Enter the DUKE OF York. 
 
 York. My lord, most humbly on my knee I beg 
 The leading of the vaward. 
 
 K. Hen. Take it, brave York. — Now, soldiers, 
 march away : 
 And how thou pleasest, God, dispose the day ! ^35 
 
 \Exetint. 
 
 SCENE IV.— 77^^ Field of Battle. 
 
 Alaricms; Excursions. Enter French Soldier, 
 Pistol, and Boy. 
 
 Pist. Yield, cur 1 
 
 Fr. Sol. Je pense que vous etes le gejitil- 
 homme de bonne qualite. 
 
 Pist. Quality ! Callino, castore me ! Art thou 
 a gentleman ? What is thy name ? discuss. 5 
 
 Fr. Sol. O Seigneur Dieu ! 
 
 Pist. O, Signieur Dew should be a gentleman :■ — 
 Perpend my words, O Signieur Dew, and mark ; — 
 
98 KING HENRY V. [act iv. 
 
 O Signieur Dew, thou diest on point of fox, 
 lo Except, O signieur, thou dost give to me 
 Egregious ransom. 
 
 Fr. Sol. O, pretmez inisiricorde ! ayez pitie 
 
 de 7noi ! 
 Pist. Moy shall not serve, I will have forty 
 moys ; 
 Or I will fetch thy rim out at thy throat 
 15 In drops of crimson blood. 
 
 Fr. Sol. Est-il impossible dechapper la force 
 de ton bras ? 
 
 Pist. Brass, cur ! 
 Thou shameless and luxurious mountain goat, 
 20 Offer'st me brass .f* 
 
 Fr. Sol. O, pardonnez inoi ! 
 Pist. Say'st thou me so ? is that a ton of moys ? 
 Come hither, boy : ask me this slave in French 
 What is his name. 
 25 Boy. £lcoutez J comment etes vous appele ? 
 Fr. Sol. Monsieur le Fer. 
 Boy. He says his name is Master Fer. 
 Pist. Master Fer ! I'll fer him and firk him and 
 ferret him : — discuss the same in French unto him. 
 30 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 f 
 Boy. II me commatide de vous dire que vous 
 2,^ faites vous pret ; car ce soldat ici est dispose 
 tout d cette heiire de couper voire gorge. 
 
 Pist. Oui, couper la gorge, par mafoi. 
 Peasant, unless thou give me crowns, brave 
 
 crowns : 
 Or mangled shalt thou be by this my sword,. 
 
sc. IV.] KING HENRY V. 99 
 
 Fr. Sol. 0,je voiis supplie,pour V amour de \o 
 Dieu, me pardonner ! Je suis gefitilhomme de 
 bonne maison j gardez ma vie, et je voiis don- 
 nerai deux cejit ecus. 
 
 Pist. What are his words ? 
 
 Boy. He prays you to save his life : he is a 45 
 gentleman 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. 
 
 Fr. Sol. Petit inonsietcr, que dit-il? 50 
 
 Boy. Encore qiiil est contre son jurement de 
 pardonner aucun prisonnier; neanmoins, pour 
 les ecus que vous Vavez promis, il est content 
 de vous donner la liberie, le franchisement. 
 
 Fr. Sol. Sur mes genoux je vous donne mille 55 
 remercimens ; et je inestime heureux que je 
 suis tombe entre les mains d'un chevalier, je 
 pense, le plus brave, vaillajit., et ires distingue 
 seigneur d'Angleterre. 
 
 Pist. Expound unto me, boy. 60 
 
 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. 65 
 
 Pist. As I suck blood, I will some mercy 
 show. — 
 Follow me. [Exit PISTOL. 
 
 Boy. Suivez vous le grand capitaine. [Exit 
 French Soldier.] I did never know so full a voice 
 issue from so empty a heart : but the saying is 70 
 true," The empty vessel makes the greatest sound." 
 Bardolph and Nym had ten times more valor than 
 
loo KING HENR V V. [act iv. 
 
 this roaring- devil i' the old play, that every one 
 may pare his nails with a wooden dagger ; and 
 75 they are both hanged ; and so would this be, if he 
 durst steal anything 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 boys. 
 
 \Exif. 
 
 SCENE Y.— Another Pari of the Field of Bailie. 
 
 Alarums. Enler Dauphin, Orleans, Bour- 
 bon, Constable, Rambures, a7id others. 
 
 Con. O diable !. 
 
 Orl. O seigneur ! — le jonr est perdu, tout 
 est perdu ! 
 
 Dau. Mori de via vie ! all is confounded, all. 
 5 Reproach and everlasting shame 
 Sits mocking in our plumes. — O incchante for- 
 tune ! 
 Do not run away. \A short alarum. 
 
 Con. Why, all our ranks are broke. 
 
 Dau. O perdurable shame !— let's stab our- 
 selves. 
 loBe 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 ! 
 Let's die in honor : once more back again ; 
 And he that will not follow Bourbon now, 
 15 Let him go hence. 
 
 Con. Disorder, that hath spoil'd us, friend us 
 now ! 
 
sc. VI.] KING HENRY V. loi 
 
 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. 20 
 
 Bour. The devil take order now ! I'll to the 
 throng ; 
 Let life be short ; else shame will be too long. 
 
 \Exetint. 
 
 SCENE N\.— Another Part of the Field. 
 
 Alarmus. Enter King Henry and Forces ; 
 Exeter, and others, with Prisoners. 
 
 K. Hen. Well have we done, thrice- valiant 
 countrymen : 
 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 ; 5 
 From helmet to the spur all blood he was. 
 
 Exe. In which array, brave ^oldier, doth he 
 lie 
 Larding the plain : and by his bloody side. 
 Yoke- fellow to his honor-owing wounds, 
 The noble Earl of Suffolk also lies. 10 
 
 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 ! 15 
 My soul shall thine keep company to heaven ; 
 
I02 KING HENRY V. [act iv. 
 
 Tarry, sweet soul, for mine, then fly a-breast. 
 As in this glorious and well-foughten tield 
 We kept together in our chivalry 1 " 
 
 20 Upon these words I came, and cheer'd him up : 
 He smil'd me in the face, raught me his hand, 
 And with a feeble gripe, says, " Dear my lord, 
 Commend my service to my sovereign." 
 So did he turn, and over Suffolk's neck 
 
 25 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 ; 
 
 30 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 
 
 35 With mistful eyes, or they will issue too. — 
 
 yAlariim. 
 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 N\\.— Another Part of the Field. 
 
 Alarums. Enter Fluellen and Gower. 
 
 Flu. Kill the poys and the luggage ! 'tis ex- 
 pressly against the law of arms : 'tis as arrant a 
 piece of knavery, mark you now, as can be offer't. 
 In your conscience now, is it not ? 
 
sc. VII.] KING HENRY V. 103 
 
 Gow. 'Tis certain there's not a boy left alive ; 5 
 and the cowardly rascals that ran from the battle 
 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. 10 
 O, 'tis a gallant king ! 
 
 Flu. Ay, he was porn at Monmouth , Cap- 
 tain Gower. What call you the town's name 
 where Alexander the Pig was porn ? 
 
 Gow. Alexander the Great. . 13 
 
 Flu. Why, I pray you, is not pig great ? Thq , 
 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 think Alexander the Great was born 20 
 in Macedon ; his father was called Philip of Mac- 
 edon, 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 25 
 comparisons 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 Mon- 
 mouth ; but it is out of my prains what is the 30 
 name of the other river ; but 'tis all one, 'tis alike 
 as my fingers is to my fingers, and there is sal- 
 mons in both. If you mark Alexander's life well, 
 Harry of Monmouth's life is come after it indiffer- 
 ent well ; for there is figures in all things. Alex- 35 
 ander, Got knows, and you know, in his rages and 
 his furies and his wraths and his cholers and his 
 moods and his displeasures and his indignations 
 
I04 KING HENR V V. [act iv. 
 
 and also being a little intoxicates in his prains 
 40 did, in his ales and his angers, look you, kill his 
 pest friend, Cleitus, 
 
 Gow. Our king is not like him in that ; he 
 never killed any of his friends. 
 
 Flu. It is not well done, mark you now, to 
 45 take the tales out of my mouth, ere it is made and 
 finished. I speak but in the figures and com- 
 parisons 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 
 50 goot judgments, turned away the fat knight with 
 the great pelly-doublet : he was full of jests and 
 gipes and knaveries and mocks ; I have forgot his 
 name. 
 
 Gow. Sir John Falstaff. 
 55 Flu. That is he : I'll tell you there is goot men 
 porn at Monmouth. 
 
 Goiv. Here comes his majesty. 
 
 Alarum. Enter King Henry with a part of 
 the Etiglish Forces j Warwick, Gloster, 
 Exeter, and others. 
 
 K. Hen. I was not angry since I came to 
 France 
 Until this instant. Take a trumpet, herald ; 
 
 60 Ride thou unto the horsemen on yon hill : 
 
 If they will fight with us, bid them come down. 
 Or void the field ; they do offend our sight : 
 If they'll do neither, we will come to them, 
 And make them skirr away, as swift as stones 
 
 65 Enforced from the old Assyrian slings : 
 
 Besides, we'll cut the throats of those we have, 
 
sc. VII.] KING HENR Y V. 105 
 
 And not a man of them that we shall take 
 Shall taste our mercy : go and tell them so. 
 
 £xe. Here comes the herald of the French, 
 my liege. 
 
 G/o. His eyes are humbler than they us'd to be. 70 
 
 JEn^er MONTJOY. 
 
 /C. 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, 
 
 I come to thee for charitable license, 'j^ 
 
 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 ; 80 
 
 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, 
 Killing them twice. O, give us leave, great king, 85 
 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 90 
 
 And gallop o'er the field. 
 
 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. 95 
 
io6 KING HENRY V. [act iv. 
 
 K. Heii. Then call we this the field of Agin- 
 court, 
 Fought on the day of Crispin Crispianus. 
 
 Flu. Your grandfather of famous memory, 
 
 an't please your majesty, and your great-uncle 
 
 I GO 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 
 
 105 majesties is remembered of it, the Welshmen did 
 
 goot service in a garden where leeks did grow, 
 
 wearing leeks in their Monmouth caps ; which, 
 
 your majesty know, to this hour is an honorable 
 
 padge of the service ; and I do believe your maj- 
 
 iioesty takes no scorn to wear the leek upon Saint 
 
 Tavy's day. 
 
 K. Hen. I wear it for a memorable honor ; 
 For I am Welsh, you knov/, good countryman. 
 Flu. All the water in Wye cannot wash your 
 115 majesty's Welsh plood out of your pody, I can tell 
 you that : Got pless it and preserve it, as long as 
 it pleases his grace, and his majesty too ! 
 K. Hen. Thanks, good my countryman. 
 Flu. I am your majesty's countryman, I care 
 120 not who know it ; I will confess it to all the 'orld : 
 I need not be ashamed of your majesty, praised be 
 Got, so long as your majesty is an honest man. 
 K. He 71. God keep me so ! — Our heralds go 
 with him ; 
 Bring me just notice of the numbers dead 
 125 On both our parts. Call yonder fellow hither. 
 
 {Points to Williams. Exeunt Montjoy 
 
 a7td others. 
 
sc. VII.] KING HENRY V. 107 
 
 Exe. Soldier, you must come to the king. 
 
 K. Hen. S-oldier, why wearest thou that glove 
 in thy cap ? 
 
 Will. An't please your majesty, 'tis the gage 
 of one that I should hght withal, if he be alive. 130 
 
 K. Hen. An Einghshman ? 
 Will. An't please your majesty, a rascal that 
 swaggered with me last night ; who, if 'alive, and 
 ever dare to challenge this glove, I have sworn to 
 take him a box o' the ear : or, if I can see my 135 
 glove in his cap, which he swore, as he was a 
 soldier, he would wear if alive, 1 will strike it out 
 soundly. 
 
 K. Hen. What think you. Captain Fluellen ? 
 is it fit this soldier keep his oath ? 140 
 
 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 of his degree. 
 
 Fhi. Though he be as goot a gentleman as 145 
 the tevil is, as Lucifer and Belzebub himself, it is 
 necessary, 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 plack shoe trod upon Got's ground 150 
 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. Heft. Who servest thou under? 155 
 
 Will. Under Captain Gower, my liege. 
 
 Flu. Gower is a goot captain ; and is goot 
 knowledge and literatured in the wars. 
 
 K. Hen. Call him hither to me, soldier. 
 
io8 KING HENRY V. [act iv. 
 
 1 60 Will. I will, my liege. \Exit. 
 
 K. Hen. Here, Fluellen ; wear thou this favor 
 for me, and stick it in thy cap. When Alen^on 
 and myself were down together, I plucked this 
 glove from his helm : if any man challenge this, 
 165 he is a friend to Alencon and an enemy to our 
 person ; if thou encounter any such, apprehend 
 him, an thou dost me love. 
 
 Flu. Your grace does me as great honors as 
 can be desired in the hearts of his subjects : I 
 1 70 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 Got 
 of his grace that I might see it. 
 K. Heft. Knowest thou Gower ? 
 175 Flu. He is my dear friend, an please you. 
 
 K. Hen. Pray thee, go seek him, and bring 
 him to my tent. 
 
 Flu. I will fetch him. [Exit. 
 
 K, Hen. My Lord of Warwick, and my brother 
 Gloster, 
 180 Follow Fluellen closely at the heels : 
 
 The glove which I have given him for a favor 
 May haply purchase him a box o* the ear ; 
 It is the soldier's ; I by bargain should 
 Wear it myself Follow, good cousin Warwick : 
 185 If that the soldier strike him, as I judge 
 By his blunt bearing he will keep his word. 
 Some sudden mischief may arise of it ; 
 For I do know Fluellen valiant, 
 And, touch'd with choler, hot as gunpowder, 
 190 And quickly v^ill return an injury: 
 
 Follow, and see there be no harm between them. 
 Go you with me, uncle of Exeter. {^Exeunt. 
 
sc. VIII.] KING HENR V V. 109 
 
 SCENE Ylll.—B£'fore King Henry's Pavilion. 
 
 Enter Gower and Williams. 
 
 Will. I warrant it is to knight you, captain. 
 
 Enter Fluellen. 
 
 Flu. Captain, I peseech you now, come apace 
 to the king : there is more goot toward you, per- 
 adventure, than is in your knowledge to dream 
 of. 
 
 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 hivi. 
 
 Flu. 'Splood, an arrant traitor as any's in the 
 universal 'orld or in France or in England. 
 
 Gow. How now, sir, you villain ! 
 
 Will. Do you think I'll be forsworn ? 
 
 Flu. Stand away. Captain Gower ; I will give 
 treason his payment into plows, I warrant you. 
 
 Will. I am no traitor. 
 
 Flic. That's a lie in thy throat. I charge you 
 in his majesty's name, apprehend him ; he's a 
 friend of the Duke Alencon's. 
 
 Enter Warwick and Gloster. 
 
 War. How now, how now ! what's the matter ? 
 
 Flu. My Lord of Warwick, here is a most 20 
 contagious treason come to light, look you, — 
 Praised be Got for it ! — as you shall desire in a 
 summer's day. Here is his majesty. 
 
 15 
 
no KING HENRY V. Lact iv. 
 
 Enter King Henry and Exeter. 
 
 K. Hen. How now ! what's the matter ? 
 
 25 Fill. 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 Alen^on. 
 
 Will. My liege, this was my glove ; here is the 
 
 fellow of it ; and he that I gave it to in change 
 
 30 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. 
 
 Fill. Your majesty hear now, saving your 
 35 majesty's manhood, what an arrant, rascally, beg- 
 garly knave it is : I hope your majesty is pear me 
 testimony and witness, and will avouchment, that 
 this is the glove of Alenc;on, that your majesty is 
 give me, in your conscience, now. 
 40 K. Hen. Give me thy glove, soldier ! Look, 
 here's the fellow of it. 
 
 'Twas I, indeed, thou promisedst to strike ; 
 And thou hast given me most bitter terms. 
 
 Flu. An please your majesty, let his neck 
 45 answer for it, if there is any martial law in the 
 'orld. 
 
 K. Hen. How canst thou make me satisfac- 
 tion? 
 
 Will. All offences, my lord, come from the 
 
 50 heart : never came any from mine that might 
 
 offend your majesty. 
 
 K. Hen. It was ourself thou didst abuse. 
 
 Will. Your majesty came not like yourself : 
 
 you appeared to me but as a common man : wit- 
 
 55 ness the night, your garments, your lowliness ; 
 
sc. VIII.] KING HENRY V. iii 
 
 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 high- 
 ness, pardon me. 60 
 
 K. Hejt. Here, uncle Exeter, fill this glove with 
 crowns, 
 And give it to this fellow. Keep it, fellow ; 
 And wear it for an honor in thy cap 
 Till I do challenge it. — Give him the crowns : — 
 And, captain, you must needs be friends with 
 
 him. 65 
 
 Flu. By this day and this light, the fellow has 
 mettle enough in his pelly. — Hold, there is tw^elve 
 pence for you, and I pray you to serve Got, and 
 keep you out of prawls and prabbles and quarrels 
 and dissensions, and, I warrant you, it is the petter 70 
 for you. 
 
 Will. I will none of your money. 
 
 Flu. It is with a goot will ; I can tell you it 
 will serve you to mend your shoes. Come, where- 
 fore should you be so pashful ? your shoes is not 75 
 so goot : 'tis 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 slaughter'd 
 French. [Delivers a paper. 
 
 K. Hen. What prisoners of good sort are taken, 
 uncle ? 80 
 
 Exe. Charles Duke of Orleans, nephew to the 
 king; 
 John Duke of Bourbon, and Lord Bouciqualt : 
 
112 KING HENRY V. [act iv. 
 
 Of other lords and barons, knights and squires, 
 Full fifteen hundred, besides common men. 
 85 K. Hen. This note doth tell me of ten thousand 
 French 
 That in the field lie slain : of princes in this 
 
 number, 
 And nobles bearing- banners, there lie dead 
 One hundred twenty-six : added to these. 
 Of knights, esquires, and gallant gentlemen, 
 90 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 ; 
 The rest are princes, barons, lords, knights, 
 squires, 
 95 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 ; 
 100 Great master of France, the brave Sir Guichard 
 Dauphin ; 
 John Duke of Alen^on ; Anthony Duke of Brab- 
 ant, 
 The brother to the Duke of Burgundy ; 
 And Edward Duke of Bar : of lusty earls, 
 Grandpre and Roussi, Fauconberg and Foix, 
 105 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 : 
 1 10 None else of name ; and, of all other men, 
 
PROLOGUE.] KING HENRY V. 1T3 
 
 But fiv^e-and-twenty. O God, thy arm was here, 
 
 And not to us, but to thy arm alone, 
 
 Ascribe we all ! — When, without stratagem, 
 
 But in plain shock and even play of battle, 
 
 Was ever known so great and little loss, 115 
 
 On one part and on the other ? — Take it, God, 
 
 For it is none but thine ! 
 
 £xe. 'Tis wonderful ! 
 
 K. Hen. Come, go we in procession to the 
 village : 
 And be it death proclaimed through our host 120 
 
 To boast of this or take that praise from God 
 Which is his only. 
 
 Flu. Is it not lawful, an please your majesty, 
 to tell how many is killed ? 
 
 K. Hen. Yes, captain ; but with this acknowl- 125 
 edgment — 
 That God fought for us. 
 
 Flu. Yes, my conscience. 
 
 K. Hen. Do we all holy rites ; 
 Let there be sung Non Nobis and Te Dejim; 130 
 
 The dead with charity enclos'd in clay : 
 And then to Calais ; and to England then, 
 Where ne'er from France arriv'd more happy 
 men. [^Exeu7i'f. 
 
 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. 
 
114 KING HENRY V. [act v. 
 
 I humbly pray them to admit the excuse 
 Of time, of numbers, and due course of things, 
 5 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 
 
 lo Pales in the tiood with men, w^ith wives, and bo|-s, 
 Whose shouts and claps out-voice the deep- 
 
 mouth'd sea, 
 Which, like a mighty whiffler 'fore the king. 
 Seems to prepare his way : so let him land, 
 And solemnly see him set on to London. 
 
 15 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, 
 
 20 Being free from vainness and self-glorious pride ^ 
 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 ! 
 
 25 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 Caesar in : 
 As, by a lower but loving likelihood, 
 
 30 Were now the general of our gracious empress. 
 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. 
 
SCI.] KING HENRY V. 115 
 
 Did they this Harry. Now in London place him ; 35 
 
 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 'tis past. 
 Then brook abridgment ; and your eyes advance, 
 After your thoughts, straight back again to 
 
 France. \Exif, 45 
 
 SCENE I. — France. An English Conrf of Guard. 
 Enter Fluellex and Gower. 
 
 Goiv. 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- 5 
 garly, pragging knave. Pistol, which you and 
 yourself and all the 'orld 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 10 
 a place w^here I could not breed no contention 
 with him ; but I will be so pold 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. 
 
 Gow. Why, here he comes, swelling like a 1 5 
 turkey-cock. 
 
ii6 KING HENR Y V. [act v. 
 
 F/h. 'Tis no matter tor his swellings nor his 
 turkey-cocks. 
 
 Enter Pistol. 
 
 Got pless you, Auncient Pistol ! you scurvy, lousy 
 20 knave. Got pless you ! 
 
 Pist. Ha! art thou bedlam ? dost thou thirst, 
 base Trojan, 
 
 To have me fold up Parca's fatal web ? 
 Hence ! I am qualmish at the smell of leek. 
 25 Flu. I peseech you heartily, scurvy, lousy 
 knave, at my desires and my requests and my pe- 
 titions, to eat, look you, this leek ; because, look 
 you, you do not love it, nor your affections and 
 your appetites and your digestions does not agree 
 30 with it, I would desire you to eat it. 
 
 Plst. Not for Cadwallader and all his goats. 
 Flu. There is one goat for you. Y^irikes 
 him.'] Will you be so goot, scald knave, as eat it ? 
 Plst. Base Trojan, thou shalt die. 
 ^5 Flu. You say very true, scald knave, when 
 Got's will is : I will desire you to live in the mean 
 time, and eat your victuals ; come, there is sauce 
 for it. l^Strikhtg- him again.'] You called me 
 yesterday mountain-squire, but I will make you 
 40 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. 
 
 Flu. I say I will make him eat some part of 
 45 iTiy leek, or I will peat his pate four days. — Pite, I 
 pray you ; it is goot for your green wound and 
 your ploody coxcomb. 
 Pist. Must I bite ? 
 
SCI.] KIXG HENRY V. ny 
 
 Flu. Yes, certainly, and out of doubt and out 
 of questions too and ambiguities. 50 
 
 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 sauce to your leek ? there is not enough 
 leek to swear by. 55 
 
 Pist. Quiet thy cudgel ; thou dost see I eat. 
 
 Flu. Much goot to you, scald knave, heartily. 
 Nay, pray you, throw none away ; the skin is goot 
 for your proken coxcomb. When you take occa- 
 sions to see leeks hereafter, I pray you, mock at 60 
 'em ; that is all. 
 
 Pist. Good. 
 
 Flu. Ay, leeks is goot. — Hold you, there is a 
 groat to heal your pate. 
 
 Pist. Me a groat ! 65 
 
 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 anything, I will pay you in 70 
 cudgels ; you shall be a woodmonger, and buy 
 nothing of me but cudgels. God be wi' you and 
 keep you and heal your pate. \Exit. 
 
 Pist. All hell shall stir for this. 
 
 Gow. Go, go ; you are a counterfeit cowardly 75 
 knave. Will you mock at an ancient tradition- — 
 begun upon an honorable respect, and worn as 
 a memorable trophy of predeceased valor — and 
 dare not avouch in your deeds any of your words ? 
 1 have seen you gleeking and galling at this 80 
 gentleman twice or thrice. You thought, because 
 he could not speak English in the native garb, he 
 
ii8 KING HENRY V. [act v. 
 
 could not therefore handle an English cudgel : you 
 find it otherwise ; and henceforth let a Welsh 
 
 85 correction teach you a good English condition. 
 Fare ye well. \Exit. 
 
 Pist. Doth Fortune play the huswife with me 
 now ? 
 News have I that my Nell is dead i' the spital ; 
 And there my rendezvous is quite cut off. 
 
 90 Old I do wax ; and from my weary limbs 
 Honor is cudgell'd. Well, pimp will I turn, 
 And something lean to cutpurse of quick hand. 
 To England will' I steal, and there I'll steal : 
 And patches will I get unto these scars, 
 
 95 And swear I got them in the GaUia wars. 
 
 \Exit. 
 
 SCENE II. — Troy es, in Chajtipagne. An Apart- 
 ment in the French King's Palace. 
 
 Enter from one side, King Henry, Bedford, 
 Gloster, Exeter, Warwick, Westmore- 
 land, and other Lords ; from the other side, 
 the French King, Queen Isabel, the Princess 
 Katharine, Lords, Ladies, etc.,. 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 ; 
 5 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 ! 
 
sen.] KING HENRY V. 119 
 
 Fr. King. Right joyous are we to behold your 
 face, 
 Most worthy brother England ; fairly met : 10 
 
 So are you, princes English, every one. 
 
 Q. ha. So happy be the issue, brother Eng- 
 land, 
 Of this good day and of this gracious meeting 
 As we are now glad to behold your eyes ; 
 Your eyes, which hitherto hath borne in them 15 
 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. ha. 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 
 
 labor'd 
 With all my wits, my pains, and strong endeavors 25 
 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, 30 
 
 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, yj 
 Should not, in this best garden of the world. 
 Our fertile France, put up her lovely visage ? 
 Alas, she hath from France too long been chas'd ! 
 And all her husbandry doth lie on heaps, 
 
120 KING HENRY V. [act v. 
 
 40 Corrupting in it own fertility. 
 
 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 
 
 45 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, 
 
 50 Wanting the scythe, all uncorrected, rank, 
 Conceives by idleness ; and nothing teems 
 But hateful docks, rough thistles, kecksies, burs. 
 Losing both beauty and utility : 
 And as our vineyards, fallows, meads, and hedges, 
 
 55 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 
 
 60 That nothing do but meditate on blood — 
 To swearing and stern looks, dififus'd attire, 
 And everything that seems unnatural. 
 Which to reduce into our former favor 
 You are assembled ; and my speech entreats 
 
 65 That I may know the let, why gentle Peace 
 Should not expel these inconveniences. 
 And bless us with her former qualities. 
 
 K. Hen. If, Duke of Burgundy, you would the 
 peace, 
 Whose want gives growth to 'the imperfections 
 
 70 Which you have cited, you must buy that peace 
 With full accord to all our just demands ; 
 Whose tenors and particular effects 
 
sen.] KING HENRY V. 121 
 
 You have, enschedul'd briefly, in your hands. 
 
 Bur. The king hath heard them ; to the which, 
 as yet, 
 There is no answer made. 75 
 
 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'er-glanc'd the articles : pleaseth your grace 
 To appoint some of your council presently 80 
 
 To sit with us once more, with better heed 
 To re-survey them, we will suddenly 
 Pass our accept and peremptory answer. 
 
 K. Hen. Brother, we shall. Go, uncle Exeter, 
 And brother Clarence, and you, brother Gloster, 85 
 Warwick, and Huntington, — 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, 
 Anything in or out of our demands, 90 
 
 And we'll consign thereto. Will you, fair sister, 
 Go with the princes or stay here with us ? 
 
 Q. ha. Our gracious brother, I will go with 
 them ; 
 Haply a woman's voice may do some good, 
 When articles too nicely urg'd be stood on. 95 
 
 K. Hen. Yet leave our cousin Katharine here 
 with us ; 
 She is our capital demand, compris'd. 
 Within the fore rank of our articles. 
 
 Q. Is a. She hath good leave. 
 
 Exeunt all but Henry, Katharine, and her 
 Gentlewoman. 
 
 K. Hen. Fair Katharine, and most fair ! 100 
 
122 KING HENRY V. [act v. 
 
 Will you vouchsafe to teach a soldier terms 
 Such as will enter at a lady's ear 
 And plead his love-suit to her gentle heart ? 
 Kath. Your majesty shall mock at me ; I cannot 
 105 speak your England, 
 
 K. Hen. O 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 ? 
 1 10 Kath. Pardonnez jnoi, I cannot tell vat is like 
 me. 
 K. Hen. An angel is like you, Kate, and you 
 are like an angel. 
 
 Kath. Qiie dlt-il? que je suis semblable a 
 les anges ? 
 115 Alice. Oui,vraiuient, saufvotre grace, ainsi 
 dit-il. 
 
 K. Hen. I said so, dear Katharine, and I must 
 not blush to affirm it. 
 
 Kath. O bon Dieu ! les langues des homines 
 I2osont pleines des tromperies. 
 
 K. Hen. What says she, fair one ? that the 
 tongues of men are full of deceits ? 
 
 Alice. Oui ; dat the tongues of de mans is be 
 full of deceits : dat is de princess. 
 125 K. Hen. The princess is the better English- 
 woman, r faith, Kate, my wooing is fit for thy 
 understanding : I am glad thou canst speak no 
 better English ; for, if thou couldst, thou wouldst 
 find me such a plain king that thou wouldst 
 1 30 think I had sold my farm to buy my crown. I 
 know no ways to mince it in love, but directly to 
 say, "I love you: "then, if you urge me further 
 than to say, " Do you \\\ faith ? " I wear out my 
 
sc. II.] KING HENR V V. 123 
 
 suit. Give me your answer: i' faith, do ; and so 
 clap hands and a bargain : how say you, lady ! 135 
 
 Kath. Sauf votre hojitieur, 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 meas- 140 
 ure ; 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 armor on my back, under 
 the correction of bragging be it spoken, I should 145 
 quickly have a wife. Or, if I might buffet for my 
 love, or bound my horse for her favors, I could lay 
 on like a butcher and sit like a jack-an-apes, never 
 off. But, Kate, I cannot look greenly, nor gasp 
 out my eloquence, nor I have no cunning in pro- 150 
 testation ; only downright oaths, which I never 
 use till urged, nor never break for urging. If 
 thou canst love a fellow of this temper, K^te, 
 whose face is not worth sun-burning, that never 
 looks in his glass for love of anything he sees there, 1 55 
 let thine eye be thy cook. I speak to thee plain 
 soldier : if thou canst love me for this, take me ; 
 if not, to say to thee that I shall die is true: but 
 for thy love, no ; yet I love thee too. And while 
 thou livest, dear Kate, take a fellow of plain and 160 
 uncoined 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' favors, they do 
 always reason themselves out again. What ! a 165 
 speaker is but a prater ; a rhyme is but a ballad. 
 A good leg v/ill fall ; a straight back will stoop ; 
 
124 KING HENR V V. [act v. 
 
 a black beard will turn white ; a curled pate will 
 grow bald ; a fair face will wither ; a full eye will 
 
 170 wax hollow : but a good heart, Kate, is the sun 
 and the moon ; 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 ; 
 
 175 take a soldier, take a king. And what sayest thou 
 then to my love ? speak, my fair, and fairly, I pray 
 thee. 
 
 Kath. Is it possible dat I sould love de enemy 
 of France ? 
 
 180 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 
 
 .185 France is mine and I am yours, then yours is 
 France and you are mine. 
 
 Kath. I cannot tell vat is oat. 
 K. Hen. No, Kate ? I will tell thee in French ; 
 which I am sure will hang upon my tongue like 
 
 190 a new-married wife about her husband's neck, 
 hardly to be shook off. Quand j ai la possession 
 de France, et quand vous avez la possessioji de 
 vioi (let hie see, what then ? Saint Denis be my, 
 speed !) — done voire est France, et vous etes . 
 
 i(^^y?nienne. 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, unless it be to 
 laugh at me. 
 
 Kath. Sauf votre honneur, le Frangais que 
 
 200 vous parte z est meilleur que f Anglais lequel j'e 
 parte. 
 
SC. II.] KI.^fG HENRY V. 125 
 
 A". 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- 205 
 lish — canst thou love me ? 
 
 Kath. I cannot tell. 
 
 K. Hen. Can any of your neighbours teil, Kate ? 
 I'll ask them. Come, I know thou lovest me : 
 and at night, when you come into your closet, 210 
 you'll question this gentlewoman 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 an- 215 
 swer you, la plus belle Katharine du nioiide, 
 nion ires chere et divine deesse ? 
 
 Kath. Your majeste 'siVQ/ausse French enough 
 to deceive de most sage demoiselle dat is e?t 
 France. 22a 
 
 K. Hen. Now, fie upon my false French ! 
 By mine honor, in true English, I love thee, Kate; 
 by which honor, I dare not swear thou lovest me; 
 yet my blood begins to flatter me that thou dost, 
 notwithstanding the poor and untempering effect 225 
 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, that old age, that ill layer-up of beauty, 230 
 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 ; 235 
 
. 126 KING HENRY V. [act v. 
 
 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 
 '240 will tell thee aloud, " England is thine, Ireland is 
 thine, France is thine, and Henry Plantagenet is 
 thine ;" who, though I speak it before his face, 
 if he be not fellow with the best king, thou shalt 
 find the best king of good fellows. Come, your 
 245 answer in broken music ; for thy voice is music, 
 and thy English broken : therefore, queen of all, 
 Katharine, break thy mind to me in broken 
 English, — wilt thou have me ? 
 
 Kath, Dat is as it sail please de roi mon 
 2'^opere. 
 
 K. Hen. Nay, it will please him well, Kate ; it 
 shall please him, Kate. 
 
 Kath. Den it sail also content me. 
 
 K. Hen. Upon that I kiss your hand, and I call 
 255 you my queen. 
 
 Kath. Laissen, vion seigneur, laissez, lais- 
 
 sez ; ma foi, je ne veux point que vous 
 
 abaissiez votre grandeur en baisant la main 
 
 cTune votre indigiie scrviteure ; excusez moi., je 
 
 2607/ous supplie, mon tres puissant seigneur. 
 
 K. Hen. Then I will kiss your lips, Kate. 
 
 Kath. Les dames et demoiselles pour etre 
 baissees devant leur noces, il ?i'est pas la cou- 
 tume de Fratice. 
 265 K. Hen. Madam, my interpreter, what say:, 
 she ? 
 
 Alice. Dat it is not be de fashion pour les 
 ladies of France — I cannot tell vat is baiser en 
 English. 
 
sen.] KING HENRY V. 127 
 
 K. Hen. To kiss. 270 
 
 Alice. Your majesty entendre bettre q^le moi. 
 K. Hen. It is not a fashion for the maids in 
 France to kiss before they are married, would she 
 say ? 
 
 Alice. Oui, vraiment. 275 
 
 K. Hen. O Kate, nice customs curtsy to great 
 kings. Dear Kate, you and I cannot be confined 
 within the weak Hst of a country' 's fashion : we 
 are the makers of manners, Kate ; and the liberty 
 that follows our places stops the mouths of all 280 
 find- faults ; as I will do yours, for upholding the 
 nice fashion of your country in denying me a kiss ; 
 therefore, patiently and yielding. [Kissing Aer.] 
 You have witchcraft in your lips, Kate ; there is 
 more eloquence in a sugar touch of them than in 285 
 the tongues of the French council ; and they 
 should sooner persuade Harry of England than a 
 general petition of monarchs. Here comes your 
 father. 
 
 Enter the French King «;?<■/ Queen, Burgundy, 
 Bedford, Gloster, Exeter, Westmore- 
 land, and other French and English Lords. 
 
 Bur. God save your majesty I my royal cousin, 290 
 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 .'' 295 
 
 K. Hen. Our tongue is rough, coz ; and my 
 condition is not smooth : so that, having neither 
 the voice nor the heart. of flattery about me, I can- 
 
128 KING HENRY V. [act v. 
 
 not so conjure up the spirit of love in her that he 
 300 will appear in his true likeness. Shall Kate be 
 my wife ? 
 
 Fr. King. So please you. We have consented 
 to all ternis of reason. 
 
 K. Hen. Is't so, my lords of England ? 
 305 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 : 
 Where your majesty demands that the king of 
 310 France, having any occasion to write for matter 
 of grant, shall name your highness in this forni 
 and with this addition, in French — Notre ires 
 cher fits Hetiri, rot cVAngleterre, Heritier de 
 France ; and thus in Latin — PrcE Claris sitnus 
 ^i^filius nosier Hcnricus, Rex Anglice, et Hcercs 
 Francicp. 
 
 Fr, King. Nor this I have not, brother, so de- 
 nied 
 But your request shall make me let it pass. 
 
 K. Hen. I pray you then, in love and dear al- 
 liance, 
 320 Let that one article rank with the rest ; 
 And thereupon give me your daughter. 
 
 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 
 325 With envy of each other's happiness, 
 
 May cease their hatred, and this dear conjunc- ' 
 
 tion 
 Plant neijrhbourhood and Christian-like accord 
 
EPILOGUE.] KING HENRY V. 129. 
 
 In their sweet bosoms, that never war advance 
 His bleeding sword 'twixt England and fair 
 France. • 
 
 AJL Amen ! 330 
 
 K. Hen. Now, welcome, Kate ; and bear me 
 witness all 
 That here I kiss her as my sovereign queen. 
 
 \Floiirish. 
 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, ;^2)S 
 
 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 ; 340 
 That English may as French, French Englishmen, 
 Receive each other ! — God speak this Amen ! 
 A/L Amen ! 
 
 K. Hen. Prepare we for our marriage ; on 
 which day. 
 My Lord of Burgundy, we'll take your oath, 345 
 
 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 ! 
 
 [Exeunt. 
 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, 
 
 Manghng by starts the full course of their glory. 
 
 .A 
 
130 KhXG HENRY V. [epilogue. 
 
 5 Small time, but in that small most greatly lived 
 This star of England : Fortune made his sword ; 
 
 9 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 
 
 10 Of France and England, did this king succeed ; 
 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. 
 
 Abbreviations.— A. S. = Anglo-Saxon ; Cf. = confer (compare) ; .Cog. = 
 cognate ; E. = English ; Fr. = French ; Gr. = Greek ; Lat. = Latin ; Lit. 
 = Uterally ; M. E. = Middle English ; O. Br. =01d French ; pa. p. = past 
 participle ; pr. p. = present participle ; C. Ed. = Collin's Edition ; CI. Pr. 
 Ed. = Clarendon Press Edition ; L. S.= Longman Series ; R. Ed. = Rugby 
 Ed. Notes without signature or quotation marks are from Chambers' 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. 
 
 1-2. A Muse, etc., an inspiring influence. Invention, im.- 
 
 agination. In Shakespeare it has also these meanings : (i) A dis- 
 covery 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. Lieash'd in like hounds, bound and led like hounds. 
 
 8. Gentles, gentlefolks. 
 
 9. Unrais^d, not elevated in thought. 
 
 10. Scaffold, stage. O. Fr. esca/aut (Fr. echafaztd). The 
 former part of the word is of Romance origin, and appears in 
 Spanish cafar, to see— Lat. captare, and is thus cog. with E. catch; 
 the latter part is seen in E. balcony^ and is from a Teutonic root. 
 
 11. Object, representation, spectacle. Cockpit. The small 
 
 compass of the theatre 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 t>y Burbage.— CI. Pr. Ed. 
 
 16. Attest, represent, certify. 
 
 17. Ciphers to this great accompt, who are as nothing m 
 
 comparison with the characters who figured in the actual drama. 
 
 Accompt, account. 
 
 18. Imaginary forces, powers of imagination. 
 
 . 19. Girdle, compass. K."^. gyrdel—gyrdan^ \.o^\r A -^ co^. \{\'Ca 
 Ger. gtirtel. Allied words are gartk^ yard, and garden. 
 
 131 
 
132 NOTES. [act I. 
 
 21. Upreared and abutting- fronts, high and projecting 
 shores. Abut, to border (on), to end. 
 
 22. Narrow Ocean, the English Channel, called in French La 
 Mancke, from its likeness to a sleeve.— C. Ed. 
 
 25. Make imaginary puissance, imagine an armed force. 
 Puissance is here a trisyllable. 
 
 30. Turning the 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 FIRST. 
 Scene i. 
 
 1. Self =sel/'-same. L. S. 
 
 2. The eleventh year, etc viz., in 1410, when a vigorous at- 
 tempt 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] in- 
 deed, etc. 
 
 4- Scambling, scrambling, struggling. 
 5. Question — consideration. 
 
 14. Esquires, attendants on the knights, lit. "shield bearers." 
 O. Fr. escuyer — Low Lat. scutarius — Lat. scutum^ a shield. 
 
 15. Lazars, persons afflicted with loathsome disease, especially 
 leprosy, like Lazarus in the parable. 
 
 29-32. Consideration = reflection. 
 
 34. A heady currancej a headlong current. 
 
 36. Nor never. Negatives were repeated in early English for 
 
 the sake of emphasis. Hydra-beaded. 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. 
 
 45. List is often in Shakespeare used transitively. 
 
 47. Any cause of policy, any question of oolitics. 
 
 48. The Gordian knot. Gordius, king of t'hrygia, was orig- 
 inally 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 difficulty by cutting the knot with 
 his sword. 
 
 49. Familiar. In Elizabethan English, adjectives are freely 
 used as adverbs. That. So is here omitted. 
 
 50. A charter'd libertine, having a right or charter to move 
 at liberty. 
 
 56. Addiction, inclination. 
 
 57. Companies, for companions. 
 
sc. II.] NOTES. 133 
 
 59. And never [was there] noted, etc. 
 
 61. Popularity, association with the common people. 
 
 65. Contemplation, studious disposition. 
 
 68. 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 161 1 (which has it where 
 modern editions have its in Leviticus, xxv. 5), is found only thrice 
 in Milton. Its first appeared in print in 1598. — Prof. Lounsbury. 
 
 70. Nesds, a substantive adverb with the old inflection of the 
 genitive singular ~es. 
 
 75. Indifferent, impartial. 
 
 78. Exhibiters, those who presented the bill. 
 
 80. Upon, upon the authority of, in consequence of. Our 
 
 spiritual convocation. The Convocation of the church used to 
 pass ecclesiastical laws and grant subsidies tothe crown. It gradually 
 fell into impotence, and was virtually suspended from 1717 to 1840. 
 
 90. The severals and unhidden passagres, the details 
 and clear documentary proofs. 
 
 91. Sorae certain, a pleonasm. The dukedoms were Aquitaine, 
 Anjou, Maine, and iNormandy. 
 
 92. Seat, throne. 
 
 99. Embassy, mission. 
 
 Scene 2. 
 
 5. Cousin in Shakespeare is used (i) to denote, besides the son 
 or daughter of an uncle or aunt, any kmsman or kinswoman ; (2) 
 as a title given by princes to other princes and distinguished noble- 
 men. This last is the meaning here. 
 
 12. 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 marrying 
 she should carry her property and power into another house. The 
 law was first applied to French politics in the fourteenth centur>'. 
 When the English kings laid a claim to the French throne through 
 the female line, it became an article of French patriotism to main- 
 tain the Salic law as a necessary safeguard of nationality. 
 
 15. " Distort the knowledge gained by reading." 
 
 17. Miscreate, falsely invented. 
 
 2 0. In approbation, in proving or making good our claim." 
 
 21. Your reverence, " reverence y^r you." 
 
 22. Impawn, pledge or engage in. 
 29. Mortality, human life. 
 
 41: Grloze, to explain away, as by a gloss or comment. 
 ?o. Dishonest, unchaste. 
 
 54. Meisen, Meissen, near Dresden, now famous for the manu- 
 facture of china. 
 
134 NOTES. [act I. 
 
 59. Defunction, death. 
 
 60. Idly, unreasonably, carelessly. 
 
 62, 75, 76.' Charles the Great . . . Charlemain . . The first 
 is Charlemagne, the son of Pepin (690-741J : Charlemain is Charles 
 the Bald (le Chauve) born 822, died 877. 
 
 66. King Pepin, " the Short," son of Charles Martel, and the first 
 kin^ of the Carlovingian dynasty, He deposed Childeric, the last 
 of the Merovingians, in 751. and reigned till 768. 
 
 68. Blithild, queen of France, daughter of Clothaire II., and 
 "vvife of Childeric II. 
 
 70. Hug-h 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. 
 
 71. Charles the Dnke of Lorraine, received from the Em- 
 peror Otho II. the dukedom of Lower Lorraine, and attempted, on 
 the Jdeath of Louis V., to seize the crown, but was worsted by 
 Hugh Capet, and flung' into prison, where he died in 993. 
 
 73. rind = provide. 
 
 74. Naught, worthless, good for nothing. Naughty occurs in 
 the Merchant of Venice in the sense of '* bad, wicked." 
 
 75- Convey'd himself, managed to pass himself off. 
 
 77. The arguments of the archbishop may be thus summed : (i) 
 The Salic law is not, and never was, applicable to France. (2) 
 Three sovereigns had already inherited the throne of France by 
 right of female descent. 
 
 89. King Lewis his satisfaction. '' His " frequently oc- 
 curs in early English by mistake for '.r, the sign of the possessive 
 case, especially alter a proper name ending in .r. The old inflec- 
 tion of che genitive, -es^ seems to have been confounded with the 
 pronoun " his." 
 
 94. To hide them in a net, to take refuge in subtle in- 
 tricacies. Them for "themselves," common in Elizabethan 
 
 English. 
 
 95- Irabar. " Bar in, secure," is Knight's intrepretation. 
 Schmidt takes "■ imbar " as an intensive form of " bar," to ex- 
 clude. 
 
 99- Numbers, xxvii. i-n. "Writ and wrote both occur as 
 
 the pa.p. in Shakespeare. 
 
 107. Play'd a tragedy, the battle of Crecy (1346). 
 
 113. 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. 
 
 1 14- Another, the other. 
 
 US- Cold for action, cool, ready for action.— C. Ed. 
 
 T2I. The very May-morn of his youth. Henry was born 
 in 1387, and was now in his 27th year. 
 
 138. Proportions to defend, number of troops necessary for 
 our defence. 
 
sc. n.] NOTES. 135 
 
 139. Road, an incursion. 
 
 140. Advantages, opportunities.— L. S. 
 
 141. Marches, ttie border lands. 
 
 144. Coursing- snatchers. The border freebooters were no- 
 torious for cattle-lifting. 
 
 145. Main intendment, chief aim or purpose. 
 
 146. Still, always. 
 
 Giddy, fickle, not to be trusted. 
 
 152. The gleaned land, stripped of its defenders. Essays, 
 
 attacks: also spelt " assays." 
 156. Fear'd, frightened. 
 
 161, Impounded as a stray, confined like a stray animal. 
 Pounds an inclosure where strayed animals are shut up, from A.S. 
 pyndan. to shut in. 
 
 162. The king of Scots, David II., captured at the battle of 
 Neville's Cross (1346) by the English army. 
 
 168. In prey, in search of prey. 
 
 174- A crush'd necessity, a forced inference.— C. Ed. 
 
 177. Necessaries, provisions. 
 
 178. Advised, wary, thoughtful. 
 181. 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 merely a form of booty. 
 
 196. Their emperor. Virgil in the Georgz'cs 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. 
 220. The name of hardiness, our reputation for bravery. 
 226. Empery, empire. 
 
 232. Like Turkish mute. To prevent the disclosure of cecrets 
 it was a custom among the Turks to cut out the tongues of attend- 
 ants at courts, of executioners, etc. 
 
 233. Waxen epitaph, " not worshipped with an epitaph so 
 perishable as one on wax.'' 
 
 246. In fe^w, in short. 
 
 253. Galliard, a lively dance. 
 
 261-266. These lines are full of punning allusions to the game of 
 
 tennis. Rackets, the handles with which the balls are struck. 
 
 Play a set = to have a game at tennis. -Strike into, that 
 
 is, unto the '' service" from the '■'hazard" side. Wrangler, 
 
 an opponent. Courts. Tennis was played m walled courts, 
 
 about 90 ft. long by 30 wide. Chaces, the ins and outs of 
 
 tennis. 
 
 (.\ 
 
136 NOTES. [actii. 
 
 265. Shall strike, etc. The omission of the relative as the sub- 
 ject is common in Shakespeare. Strike . . . into the haz- 
 ard. " Hazard," hke " chaces," is a term of tennis-play, denot- 
 ing the hole into which the ball was struck. 
 
 271 . Seat, throne. 
 
 275. State, chair of state. 
 
 282. To look, in looking. 
 
 284. Gun-stones. Cannon balls were at first made out of 
 stone. 
 
 309. Grod before, before God. 
 
 ■ ACT SECOND. 
 
 Prologue. 
 
 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. 
 cvndey natural — cynn^ a tribe. Kindly originally means " natural." 
 Cf. " the kindly fruits of the earth." 
 
 23. Richard, Earl of Cambride-e, cousin to Henry IV., and 
 brother to the Duke of York in this play. 
 
 24 Henry Lord Scroop of Mashani, 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 G-rey of Heton, in Northumberland. 
 
 26. Gilt, gold bribes. Guilt originally meant " a fine," or " a 
 payment," by way of recompense for " an offence." A.S. gylt.a. 
 crime ; connected with gyld, a recompense. Wergild (A.S. wer^ 
 man, and g^ldan, to pay), among the Saxons, was the fine paid as 
 compensation for murder. 
 
 3i. Liingrer, 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 — L. insignis., noted. 
 
 10. There's an end to what I have to say. 
 16. That is my rest, that is my resolve. 
 30. Tike, cur. A Scandinavian word. 
 
 34. Well-a-day, alas. It is another form of wella^vay. A.S. 
 wd-id-wd, woe, lo ! woe. 
 
sc. II.] NOTES. 137 
 
 36. Nothing, no violence. 
 
 42. Shog: off, move off. Shog is perhaps another form of " jog," 
 from a Celtic root. 
 
 47. Maw, stomach. - — Perdy, a corruption of ¥r.J>ar Dieu. 
 
 50. Take, take aim. Cock. Flint guns in use when the play- 
 was written. —R. Ed. 
 
 52. Barbason, the Jiame 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. 
 
 64. Mickle, great ; an old form of " much." A.S. mycel^ great. 
 
 65. Tall, valiant. 
 
 69. Coupe le fforge, Pistol's French for "cut the throat." 
 
 70. Hound of Crete. The bloodhounds of Crete were much 
 prized in antiquity. 
 
 97. Sword is an oath. The hilt, being in the form of a cross, 
 was used to swear by. 
 
 99. An, if. 
 
 loi. Prithee, pray thee. 
 
 104. A noble = 6s. 8d. 
 
 116. Quotidian, a fever whose paroxysms return every day. 
 A quotidian tertian is of course an absurdity. 
 
 120. That's the even of it, that is the plain truth of the 
 matter. 
 
 124. Passes . . . careers, indulges in jokes and tricks. 
 
 125. Lambkins, a term of endearment. Lavtb-k-in (with 
 double diminutive suffix), from A.S. lamb. 
 
 Scene 2. 
 
 2. By and by, immediately. Cf. Luke xxi.g.— L.S. 
 
 3. Even, composedly. 
 
 9. Whom he hath duU'd, etc.. whom he hath surfeited with 
 favors till he has lost all sense of gratitude. Cloy., to glut, satiate. 
 18. Head, an armed force. 
 
 33. The office 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 has here the meaning of the Lat. secziritas^ the 
 state of being without care. 
 
 46. His sufferance, suffering of him, allowing him to go un- 
 punished. 
 
 52. Orisons, prayers. 
 
 53-56. If little faults, etc. Arising in a distempered state of 
 mind. — L. S. 
 
 60. Late, lately appointed. 
 
 A 
 
I3S NOTES. [act II. 
 
 62. It, the written commission. 
 
 79- duick, alive, living. 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. 
 
 107. In a natural cause, a cause to which they were both 
 akin, so there was nothing unnatural in what they did. — CI. Pr. Ed. 
 
 111. Cunning, originally the pr.p. of M. E. cunnen., to know.— 
 A.S. ctinnan^ to know. Fiend, from A.S. Jiond^/eond^ prp- of 
 
 /eon, to hate. 
 
 112. Preposterously, contrary to the natural order of things. . 
 Lit. having that first which ought to be last. Lat. prceposterus— 
 
 j>r(B, before, poster us ^ after. 
 113- Instance, motive. 
 T19. Jealousy, suspicion. 
 121. Affiance, conhdence. 
 
 127. Blood, used figuratively for " passion." 
 
 128. Complement, corresponding outward appearance, the ex- 
 ternal qualities that go to cotnplete the character. 
 
 129. Not "workingr, etc., not trusting to appearances without 
 enlightened judgment. 
 
 131. Bolted, sifted, without mixture of vileness. 
 153. In sufferance, in suffering the penalty. 
 159. Quit, acquit, pardon. 
 
 163. Earnest, money paid in token of a bargain made. 
 169. Tender, regard. 
 
 175. Dear offences, for which you will suffer dearly. 
 182. Rub, that which causes friction, a hindrance. It is a term 
 of the game of bowls. 
 
 184. Puissance, forces, army. 
 
 186. The sig-ns of war advance, bear forward the standards. 
 
 Scene 3. 
 
 Eastcheap. " from the A.S cedp^ price, cedpian, to buy. Cheap- 
 side was one of the main thoroughfares of London." 
 
 2. Staines, a small town on the road from London to South- 
 ampton. 
 
 3. Yearn, grieve. 
 
 9. In Arthvir'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) = 
 Jie, she. it, they. A finer end, " a final end." 
 
 11. Christom child, "■ like any newly baptised child." The 
 
sc. IV.] NOTES. 139 
 
 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 belief is still common 
 that a dying person will linger until the turn of the tide. 
 
 30. Of, against. Rheumatic, she probably means lunatic. 
 
 44. Chattels, properly any kind of property but freehold. A 
 doublet of cattle. 
 
 45. Let senses rule. Johnson proposed "let sense us rule." 
 
 Pitch and. pay, a proverbial expression for -^ Pay ready 
 
 money." 
 
 48. Hold- fast is the only dog. The proverb is, '' Brag is a good 
 dog, but hold-fast is a better." 
 5J. Clear thy crystals, rub your glasses (of the hostel). 
 
 Scene 4. 
 
 1. Conies. The verb is singular, because by " the English" is 
 to be understood the English king. 
 
 2, More than caref aily, with more care than usual. 
 10. Gulf, whirlpool. 
 
 26. Morris dance, a Moorish dance, said to have been intro- 
 duced into England from Spain about the time of Edward IV. 
 
 27. Idly king'd, having a fool for a king, carelessly governed. 
 36. In exception, in taking exception, in offering objections. 
 39. The Roman Brutus. Lucius Junius Brutus, to escape the 
 
 suspicion of his uncle, Tarquinius Superbus, feigned to be an 
 idiot. 
 
 48. "Which, . . . projection, which being planned on a weak 
 and niggardly scale. 
 
 49. fcjcautLng, giving hardly enough, limiting. 
 
 53. Plesh'd upon us, trained or practiced upon us. 
 
 53. Strain, race, breed ; now only used of dogs. M. E. strend 
 — A.S sfrynd, stocksr^ry nan, to beget. 
 
 59- His mountain sire. It has been proposed to read " his 
 mighty sire," as in I. ii. 109. Theobald substituted '"mounting" 
 in the sense of aspiring.— C\. Pr. Ed. 
 
 67. The native . . . of him, the greatness he has inherited, 
 and the destiny that awaits him. 
 
 90. No . . . claim, no wrongful or perverse claim. Sinister 
 
 literally means '' the left hand.'^ 
 
 93. Line, pedigree, register of his descent. 
 
 95. Willing you overlook, desiring you to look or read 
 over. 
 
 96. Evenly, directly, in a straight line. 
 
 99. Indirectly, wrongfully. 
 
 100. Challenger, claimant. 
 127. In grant of, by granting. 
 
 130. Womby vaultages, womb-like vaults. 
 
I40 NOTES. [act III. 
 
 131. Chide, resound. 
 
 155. Odds, variance, quarrel, 
 
 139. The mistress court, the best tennis court. 
 
 153. Breath, breathing-space, a very short time. 
 
 ACT TH I RD. 
 
 Prologue. 
 I. With ixnagriri'd wing:, with the wing of imagination. 
 
 4- Appointed, equipped. Hampton, that is, Southampton. 
 
 5. Brave, gay, splendid. 
 12. Bottoms, vessels. 
 14- Kivage, shore. 
 
 18. Grapple . . . navy, follow with your minds astern of this 
 navy. 
 
 30. To dowry, for a dowry. 
 
 31. Some petty . . . dukedoms, Tulle, Limoges, and 
 Aquitaine. 
 
 33. Linstock, a stick to hold the gunner's match ; also spelt 
 lintstock, from Dutch lontstok — lont^ a match (cf. Scotch lunt), and 
 stok, a stick. Chambers, small pieces of ordnance. 
 
 Scene i. 
 10. Portage, porthole, used for the socket of the eye. 
 ir. O'erwnelm, 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 before 
 they are allowed to start after the game. 
 
 Scene 2. 
 
 5. A case of lives, a set of lives, as we say " a case of pistols." 
 
 21. Avaunt, begone. Fr. avan^, iorward— hat. ab^ from, ante., 
 before. You cullions, you cowardly fellows. 
 
 23. Duke, leader, general. Fr. dtic—'Lzx. duxy duels, a leader. 
 Men of mould, mortal men. 
 
 26. Bawcock, a term of endearment. Fr. beazi coq^ fine fellow. 
 
 30. Swashers, swaggerers. 
 
 33. Antics, oddities, buffoons. For, as for. 
 
 34. White-livered, cowardly. 
 
 45. Purchase, booty, originally anything acquired honestly or 
 dishonestly, proceeds of begging or stealing. 
 
 h 
 
sc. VI.] NOTES. 141 
 
 50. Carry coals, a proverbial expression for " do the dirtiest 
 work." 
 
 54. Pocketing up of wrongs. Cf. our phrase, '' pocket an 
 affront." 
 
 65, Discuss, explain. 
 
 88. GrOd-den, good evening. 
 
 120. Liig, lie. A.S. liegan. Grund, ground, is the A.S. 
 
 grund, pertiaps from grund-en^ pa.p. of grindan, to grind. 
 
 122. Mary, by the Virgin Mary ; usually written " marry." 
 
 Scene 3. 
 
 2. Parle, parley, conference. 
 8. Half achieved, half-won. 
 
 11. Flesll'd, experienced in bloodshed. 
 
 23. Precepts, summons. It has this meaning in Shakespeare 
 only when the accent is on the last syllable. 
 
 25. Of, on. 
 
 2Q. Heady, headstrong. 
 
 Scene 5. 
 
 Q. But bastard Normans an allusion to the base birth of 
 William I., the Conqueror.— C. Ed. 
 
 12. Slobbery, sloppy, wet, marshy. 
 
 13. Nook-shotten. This contemptuous term may refer to the 
 irregular outlme 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." 
 
 14. Mettle. This is the same word as "metal," but used in a 
 figurative sense. 
 
 17. Sodden, boiled. 
 
 18. Drench, a drink, or draught of physic. Sur-rein'd, over- 
 ridden. 
 
 22. Roping, hanging like ropes. 
 
 35. More sharper. Shakespeare uses both double compara- 
 tives and superlatives for the sake of greater emphasis. 
 
 57- For achievement, in order to bring matters to a head or 
 end, to end the war. Fr. achever—chef^ the head. 
 
 Scene 6. 
 
 26. Buxom, lively, sprightly. It literally means "yielding," 
 from A. S. bugan, to bow. 
 
 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 Romish 
 Church at the time of mass. 
 
 58. Fico or figo. " The use of this contemptuous word was 
 accompanied by an insulting gesture, in which the thumb was 
 thrust between the first and second fingers and the hand closed." 
 
142 NOTES. [act III. 
 
 60. The fig of Spain. Poisoned figs are said to have been 
 used in Spain for purposes of revenge, 
 
 72. They will learn you, they will learn, look you. " You " 
 is redundant. 
 
 74. Sconce, an earthwork or fortification. Used also for the 
 head, 
 
 77. Con, learn by heart. 
 
 92. -From the bridge, concerning the bridge. 
 
 120. Habit, the uniform of a herald. 
 
 131. Upon our cue, for our turn to act has come. " Cue," a 
 term of the stage, denoting "• the last words of aii actor's speech 
 serving as a hint to the next speaker." O.Fr. coe^ queue (Fr. guetie^. 
 Lat, Cauda, a tail. 
 
 146. duality, "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. 
 empescher (Fr. e7nfiecher), to hinder — Low Lat. ivtpedicare, to 
 
 fetter. To say the sooth, to speak the truth. Sooth from A. 
 
 S. soodh, truth. 
 
 171 Fare, M. E. faren—K.'S>. faran^ to go; cog. with Ger. 
 fahren, Gr. poreuo. From the same root are far, ford^ fiord, 
 Jlrth, fer-ry, ex-per-ience, ex-per-\ment,per-i\, etc. 
 
 Scene 7. 
 
 9. Provided of, where we would say "provided with." 
 
 13. Pasterns, the part of a horse's foot from the fetlock to the' 
 hoof. 
 
 14^ As if his entrails were hairs. The reference is to ten- 
 nis-balls, which were stuffed with hair. 
 
 15. 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. 
 
 22. Perseus, who slew Medusa, from whose blood Pegasus 
 sprung. 
 
 23. The dull elements, etc., in allusion to the old theory 
 that there were only four elementary substances, air, fire, earth, 
 and water. 
 
 34. The lodging, the lying down. 
 
 42. "Writ, as well as wrote, is thus used by Shakespeare. He 
 also has zvrote for -written. 
 
 52. Belike, likely, perhaps, 
 
 53. A kern, a light-armed soldier. 
 
 54. Strait strossers, tight trowsers, 
 
 63. A many. This use of " a " some explain by a reference to 
 the'old noun ^' many," as it occurs in IV. lii. 95, " A many of our 
 bodies," and in Sonnet 93 : '' In many's looks." It may also be 
 explained by regarding the many collectively as one mass. Thus we 
 say : '* a few," " a score," etc. 
 
sc. I.] NOTES. 143 
 
 77. Go to hazard, play at dice. 
 
 91. Still, always, 
 
 104, Hooded. . . . bate. The reference is to hawking. The 
 falcon, which was kept "hooded "till the game appeared, would 
 sometimes hesitate in its flight, and " bate or flap its wings. 
 
 141. Just, just so. Sympatllise, are in harmony with, 
 
 resemble. 
 
 142. Robustious, boisterous and violent. 
 
 146. Siire"wdly out of beef, sorely in want of beef. 
 
 ACT FOURTH. 
 
 Prologue. 
 
 1. Entertain conjecture of, imagine. 
 
 2. The poring- dark, the darkness through which it is neces- 
 sary to look intently or closely. 
 
 8. Paly, pale. 
 
 9. Battle, army in battle array. TJmber'd, darkened with 
 
 the shadows cast by the flames. " Umber," a brown pigment, so 
 ;alled because originally obtained from Umbria in Italy. 
 
 12. Accomplishing-, arming completely. 
 
 20. Tardy-g-aited, slow-pacing. 
 
 23. Watchful fires, the fires by which they watch. 
 
 39- Attaint, the force of weariness. 
 
 45. Mean and g-entle, high and low. Mean^ properly of 
 niddle rank. Gentle^ of good birth. 
 
 47- Little touch, brief sketch. 
 50. Foils, swordsmen. 
 
 Scene i. 
 7. Husbandry, thrifty management. 
 
 10. Dress us fairly, prepare ourselves aright. 
 
 15. Churlish, rude. Churls an ill-bred fellow, from A. S.ceorl^ 
 \ countryman. Cf . Scotch carl; Ger. Karl. 
 
 16. liikes me, pleases me. 
 
 23. Casted slough, refers to the cast-off skin of a snake. 
 
 Legerity, nimbleness, activity — Fr. legerete — Uger^ light. 
 
 26. Anon, immediately. M. E. forms anon., anoon., onan — AS. 
 m ««jlit. " in one (instant)." 
 
 27. Desire them all (to come) to, etc. 
 33. I -would, I wish, I would have. 
 38. Discuss, explain. 
 
 39- Popular, vulgar. This was the meaning it bore in the time 
 )f Shakespeare. 
 
 46. Imp, lit. a graft or shoot ; then a child. The word has now 
 jecome degraded in meaning. 
 
144 NOTES. [act IV. 
 
 56. Saint Davy's day. March 1, the festival of St. David, the 
 titular saint of Wales. — C. Ed. 
 
 62. God be with you. This contraction becomes God be ivi'' 
 ye., then good-bye. 
 
 64. Sorts, agrees. 
 
 67. Admiration, wonder. 
 
 99. Sand, sandbank. 
 
 105, The element, the sky. 
 
 113. Possess him with, impart to him. 
 
 121. By my troth. Cf the modern expression, " Upon my 
 
 word." Troth, merely another form of truth. 1 will speak 
 
 my conscience, I will speak what I know within my own 
 mmd. 
 
 J 44. Rawly, without due provision being made for them. 
 
 152. Sinfully miscarry, perish in their sins. 
 
 157. Irreconciled, not atoned for, unforgiven. 
 
 165. Arbitrement, decision. 
 
 173. Native punishment, the law of the land. 
 
 175. Beadle, messenger to bring them to justice, court-officer. 
 
 180. Unprovided, unprepared for death. 
 
 194. Answer it, answer for it. 
 
 205. An elder-g-un, a toy gun, the barrel of which is made 
 from a piece of an elder-tree branch, by pushing the pith out 
 of it. 
 
 211. Something- too round, somewhat too plain spoken. 
 
 220. The introduction of the incident of the '^' glove" into this 
 scene is on a parallel with the affair of Portia's " ring." 
 
 199. Enow, the same word as enough. 
 
 249. General, public. 
 
 255. Thy soul of adoration, the thing in thee for which thou 
 art adored. 
 
 264. Blown, the pa.p. of the verb bloiv, to bloom or blossom. 
 
 272. Inter- tissued, inwoven with gold thread or pearls.— CI . 
 Pr. Ed. 
 
 273. The farced title, the title stuffed or crammed with showy 
 terms, as His Most Gracious Majesty., etc. 
 
 280. Distressful) earned by stress or dint of hard toil ; or it 
 may describe the coarse bread eaten by the peasant. 
 
 285. Hyperion = Phoebus or Apollo, who drives the chariot 
 of the sun. 
 
 292. Wots, knows. The past is wist. 
 
 294. Advantagres, 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 -j agrees 
 with a subject in the plural, are explained by the northern English 
 inflection -s of the third person plural. Cf . My old bones aches," 
 " the imperious seas breeds monsters," and " his tears runs down". 
 
 304. Compassing, obtaining. 
 
sc. III.] NOTES. 145 
 
 316. Since . . . pardon, since my own repentance is neces- 
 sary for forgiveness. 
 
 Scene 2. 
 
 3. Varlet is another form of valet, also vaslet, a diminutive of 
 O. Fr. vassal., an attendant on a lord, a footman. It is now gener- 
 ally applied to a low fellow. 
 
 14. Dout, that is, do out, put out, extinguish. Cf. don., (i^fjr, 
 dzip. 
 
 23. Shales is a doublet of shells^ and allied to scale., skull, 
 scalp., scallop. 
 
 25. Curtle-axe, a short sword. 
 
 33. Hilding-. Skeat derives this word from the older English 
 hilderling, or hinderling, as if from hinder, the comparative of the 
 adjective kind, with the meanmg of base, degenerate. 
 
 35. Speculation has here its literal meaning of " looking on." 
 from Lat. specie, I look. 
 
 39. The tucket-sonance, the sounding of the tucket, the in- 
 troductory flourish of the trumpet. 
 
 45. Curtains, banners. 
 
 48. Beaver, the front part of a helmet. 
 
 52. Down-ropingr, dripping. 
 
 53. The gimmal-bit, the double or chain bit. 
 
 58. Battle, army. 
 
 64. Gruidon, banner. 
 
 65. Trumpet, trumpeter. 
 
 Scene 3. 
 
 2. Hode, for ridden. 
 
 28. Yearns, grieves. 
 
 42. This day, etc. The battle of Agincourt was fought on the 
 25th of October, 1415, the festival of St. Crispin. 
 
 52. With advantages, with exaggeration. " The story will 
 lose nothing in the telling" (Wright). 
 
 59. 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. 
 
 65. Gentle his condition, make a gentleman of him. 
 
 71. Bravely, finely, splendidly. 
 
 72. Expedience, expedition, haste. 
 
 94. Achieve me, put an end to my life, kill me. 
 no In relapse of mortality, '' by a rebound of deadliness " 
 (Schmidt). " In thy process of falling again into death . " 
 133. Vaward, vanguard. 
 
146 NOTES. [act IV. 
 
 Scene 4. 
 
 4. Callino, Castore me ! This scrap of Pistol's turns out to 
 be the name of an old Irish song. The English of it is, probably, 
 young girl, my treasure ! 
 
 8. Perpend, consider. 
 
 9. DFox, the cant term for a sword, from the figure of a fox 
 being stamped ont he blade as the cutler's mark. 
 
 13. Moy. Pistol imagines the Frenchman is speaking of 
 moidores. 
 
 14. B>im, the diaphragm, 
 
 28. Firk him, and ferret him. Firk^ to give a drubbing, 
 to beat. Ferret, to throttle or worry as a ferret would a rabbit. 
 
 73. This roaring devil i' the old play. The devil fre- 
 quently 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 him 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 6. 
 
 8. Larding-, garnishing, fattening. The duke of York was very 
 corpulent. 
 
 35. Issue, water, shed tears. 
 
 Scene 7. 
 
 58. I was not ang-ry = I have not been angry. 
 
 64. Skirr away, scour or scud away. 
 
 72. Fin'd, pledged to pay as a fine. 
 
 77. Book, register in a book. 
 
 79. "Woe the while, woe to the time. While is here in the 
 dative case. 
 
 no. Wear the leek upon Saint Tavy's Day. In honor of 
 a victory won by Prince Arthur over the Saxons, the Welsh sol- 
 diers 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 ist of March. 
 
 149. A Jack-sauce, a saucy jack, an impudent fellow. 
 
 162. When Alencon 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 8. • 
 
 9. 'Sblood, God's blood; it was used as an oath. Cf. zotmds 
 or ^swounds. God's wounds. 
 
11.] NOTES. 147 
 
 ACT FIFTH. 
 
 Prologue. 
 
 10. Pales in, hems in. 
 
 12. "Wliifla.er 'fore tlie king-. A whiffler, originally a " fifer " 
 or " lute-player," then "■ a person who preceded a procession to 
 clear the way." 
 
 17. The construction here is = '' to have his bruised helmet, etc., 
 borne before him." 
 
 21. Sigrnal and ostent, external signs of honor. 
 
 30. Tile general of our g-racious empress, Robert Dever- 
 eux, Earl of Essex, the favorite of Queen Elizabeth. In the spring 
 of the year 1509, he was sent to Ireland with a large force to sup- 
 press 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. Rememhering-, reminding. 
 
 Scene i. 
 
 5. Scald, scurvy. 
 
 21. Bedlam, mad ; a common name for a lunatic asylum, taken 
 from Bethlem Hospital, London, which has existed for centuries. 
 
 23. Parca's fatal web Parc(e was the name given in ancient 
 mythology to the three weird sisters, the Fates. 
 
 31. Cadwallader, the last king of the Welsh. He lived about 
 the year 660, 
 
 80. Gleeking: and galling, jeering and scoffing. 
 85. Condition, temper, disposition. 
 
 87. The huswife, the jilt. 
 
 88. Spital is a contraction of " hospital," and in this form is 
 common as a local name. 
 
 Scene 2. 
 
 The conference at Troyes was held m 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. 
 
 I- Wherefore = for which. 
 
 17. Basilisks. A basilisk was a fabulous serpent, called also 
 cockatrice, which was supposed to kill by its look. It was also a 
 kind of ordnance. 
 
 31. Congreeted, greeted each other. 
 
 33. Bub, hindrance. 
 
148 NOTES. Ikqi:\. 
 
 42. Even-pleach'd, intertwined so as to have a smooth or 
 even appearance. 
 
 47. Dt-racinate such savagery, root up such ^N'\\6. erowth. 
 
 48. Erst, formerly : A.S. ceresi^ superlative of tzr, before. 
 52. Kecksies, a kind of hemlock. 
 
 63. Reduce, in its literal sense, to bring back. 
 65. Let, hindrance, obstacle. To let, to hinder, occurs in the 
 Bible. 
 68. "Would, wish, desire. 
 
 73. Enschedul'd, written down in a schedule, in writing. 
 77. Cursorary, cursory, hasty. 
 
 qi. Consigrn, with its literal meaning, sign together. 
 97. Capital, chief. 
 
 139. XTudid, would undo. 
 
 140. Measure, metre. 
 146. Buffet, box. 
 
 161. Uncoined constancy, constancy that has not been tam- 
 pered with. 
 
 193. Saint Denis, Dionysius, the patron saint of France. 
 
 245. Broken music, music from different instruments not in 
 harmony . 
 
 276. Nice customs court'sy, prudish customs bow or give 
 way. 
 
 278. List, barrier. 
 
 297. Condition, disposition. 
 
 339. Paction, compact— CI. Pr. Ed. 
 
EXAMINATION PAPERS. 
 
 1. What contrast has Shakespeare drawn between the French 
 and English armies on the eve of the battle of Agincourt ? 
 
 2. What are the allusions to Scotland in the play ? 
 
 3. Comment on these passages : 
 
 {a) Consideration, like an angel, came, and whipped the offend- 
 ing Adam out of him. 
 {b) The air, a chartered libertine, i« still. 
 
 {c) He's in Arthur's bosom, if ever man went to Arthur's bo- 
 som. 'A made a finer end, and went away an it had 
 been any cristom child. 
 {d) 'Tis a hooded valor, and when it appears it will bate. 
 (e) The farcM title running 'fore the king. 
 {/) 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 addiction was to courses vain : 
 His companies unlettered, rude, and shallow. 
 
 4. Briefly remark upon some of the grammatical peculiarities in 
 Shakespeare, and quote instances of them from this play. 
 
 5. Explain : The roaring devil V the old play : for he hath stolen 
 aj>ax^ and hanged ?nust a^ be. 
 
 B. 
 
 1. What was the nature of Henry V.'s claim to the throne of 
 France, and what special motive had he in asserting it at the com- 
 mencement of his reign ? 
 
 2. How far does this play illustrate the state of home affairs in 
 the early part of Henry V.'^s reign ? 
 
 3. Describe the dying scene of Falstaff . 
 
 4. By whom and of whom were these lines spoken ? Explain the 
 allusions :— 
 
 {a) France hath in thee found out 
 
 A nest of hollow bosoms. 
 {b) A good soft pillow for that good white head 
 
 Were better than a churlish turf of France. 
 
 (c) And 'a babbled of green fields. 
 
 (d) Thou that didst bear the key of all my counsels. 
 \e) And a true lover of the holy church. 
 
 149 
 
I50 EXAMINATION PAPERS. 
 
 if) We do not mean the coursing snatchers only. 
 {g) The king himself will be a clipper. 
 5. Quote instances where Shakespeare plays upon words. 
 
 C. 
 
 1. Give the reference in the play which partly determines the 
 date of its production. 
 
 2. Explain the following phrases: So idly king'd : King Lewis 
 his satisfaction ," a many 0/ our bodies ; nve speak tipon our cue ; on 
 poi7it 0/ fox : that nook-shotten isle ; this ivoodeti O : that is my 
 rest. 
 
 3. Explain the allusions in these passages :— 
 
 («) The law Saliqu^ that they have in France. 
 (3) To kill us here in Hanipton. 
 (c) This day is called the Feast of Crispian, 
 (rf) O not to-day, think not upon the fault 
 
 My father made in compassing the crown. 
 ie) But taken and impounded as a stray 
 
 The king of Scots. 
 (/) The emperor's coming in behalf of France. 
 
 4. In what sense does Shakespeare use these words ? Give in- 
 stances: Enlarge : flesh'' d : argument : husbandry : rtib; trumpet; 
 she : hilding : quick : consign : let : shog ; bottom : condition : bat- 
 tle; instance. 
 
 5. Explain: Tike, linstock ; giiriinal bit ; curtle-axe ; cursorary ; 
 buxotn; rivage ; sternage ; pax ; xvhiffler ; corporal ; ancient. 
 
 1. Trace the whole course of Henry's expedition, and give a 
 short account of the state of things at the court of France. 
 
 2. Sketch the character of Fluellen. 
 
 3. What was a chorus ? To what extent has Shakespeare em- 
 ployed it in King Henry V. ? 
 
 4. Paraphrase, and add brief notes explaining the allusions : — 
 
 («) 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 in little place a million ; 
 
 And let us, ciphers to this great accompt, 
 
 On your imaginary forces work. 
 {b) While that the armM head doth fight abroad, 
 
 The advised head defends itself at home ; 
 
 For government, through high and low and lower, 
 
EXAMINATION PAPERS. 151 
 
 Put into parts, doth keep in one consent ; 
 Congreeing in a full and natural close, 
 Like music. 
 (<:) In answer of which claim, the prince our master 
 Says that yoM savor too much of your youth, 
 And bid you be advis'd there's nought 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 sum of treasure ; and in lieu of this 
 Desires you let the dukedoms that you claim 
 Hear no more of you. 
 5. Give the derivation and Shakesperean meaning of these words : 
 
 A chieve : afficttice : exhale ; deracinate ; invention ; proportions ; 
 
 puissance : resolved: security : speculation; vaward : timbered : 
 
 legerity. 
 
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