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KING HENRY V
SCENE England; afterwards France.
ACT I, PROLOGUE
Enter Chorus
Chorus
001:
O for a Muse of fire, that would ascend
002:
The brightest heaven of invention,
003:
A kingdom for a stage, princes to act
004:
And monarchs to behold the swelling scene!
005:
Then should the warlike Harry, like himself,
006:
Assume the port of Mars; and at his heels,
007:
Leash'd in like hounds, should famine, sword and fire
008:
Crouch for employment. But pardon, and gentles all,
009:
The flat unraised spirits that have dared
010:
On this unworthy scaffold to bring forth
011:
So great an object: can this cockpit hold
012:
The vasty fields of France? or may we cram
013:
Within this wooden O the very casques
014:
That did affright the air at Agincourt?
015:
O, pardon! since a crooked figure may
016:
Attest in little place a million;
017:
And let us, ciphers to this great account,
018:
On your imaginary forces work.
019:
Suppose within the girdle of these walls
020:
Are now confined two mighty monarchies,
021:
Whose high upreared and abutting fronts
022:
The perilous narrow ocean parts asunder:
023:
Piece out our imperfections with your thoughts;
024:
Into a thousand parts divide one man,
025:
And make imaginary puissance;
026:
Think when we talk of horses, that you see them
027:
Printing their proud hoofs i' the receiving earth;
028:
For 'tis your thoughts that now must deck our kings,
029:
Carry them here and there; jumping o'er times,
030:
Turning the accomplishment of many years
031:
Into an hour-glass: for the which supply,
032:
Admit me Chorus to this history;
033:
Who prologue-like your humble patience pray,
034:
Gently to hear, kindly to judge, our play.
Exit
ACT I, SCENE I.
London. An ante-chamber in the KING'S palace.
Enter the ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY, and the BISHOP OF ELY
CANTERBURY
001:
My lord, I'll tell you; that self bill is urged,
002:
Which in the eleventh year of the last king's reign
003:
Was like, and had indeed against us pass'd,
004:
But that the scambling and unquiet time
005:
Did push it out of farther question.
ELY
006:
But how, my lord, shall we resist it now?
CANTERBURY
007:
It must be thought on. If it pass against us,
008:
We lose the better half of our possession:
009:
For all the temporal lands which men devout
010:
By testament have given to the church
011:
Would they strip from us; being valued thus:
012:
As much as would maintain, to the king's honour,
013:
Full fifteen earls and fifteen hundred knights,
014:
Six thousand and two hundred good esquires;
015:
And, to relief of lazars and weak age,
016:
Of indigent faint souls past corporal toil.
017:
A hundred almshouses right well supplied;
018:
And to the coffers of the king beside,
019:
A thousand pounds by the year: thus runs the bill.
ELY
020:
This would drink deep.
CANTERBURY
021:
'Twould drink the cup and all.
ELY
022:
But what prevention?
CANTERBURY
023:
The king is full of grace and fair regard.
ELY
024:
And a true lover of the holy church.
CANTERBURY
025:
The courses of his youth promised it not.
026:
The breath no sooner left his father's body,
027:
But that his wildness, mortified in him,
028:
Seem'd to die too; yea, at that very moment
029:
Consideration, like an angel, came
030:
And whipp'd the offending Adam out of him,
031:
Leaving his body as a paradise,
032:
To envelop and contain celestial spirits.
033:
Never was such a sudden scholar made;
034:
Never came reformation in a flood,
035:
With such a heady currance, scouring faults
036:
Nor never Hydra-headed wilfulness
037:
So soon did lose his seat and all at once
038:
As in this king.
ELY
039:
We are blessed in the change.
CANTERBURY
040:
Hear him but reason in divinity,
041:
And all-admiring with an inward wish
042:
You would desire the king were made a prelate:
043:
Hear him debate of commonwealth affairs,
044:
You would say it hath been all in all his study:
045:
List his discourse of war, and you shall hear
046:
A fearful battle render'd you in music:
047:
Turn him to any cause of policy,
048:
The Gordian knot of it he will unloose,
049:
Familiar as his garter: that, when he speaks,
050:
The air, a charter'd libertine, is still,
051:
And the mute wonder lurketh in men's ears,
052:
To steal his sweet and honey'd sentences;
053:
So that the art and practic part of life
054:
Must be the mistress to this theoric:
055:
Which is a wonder how his grace should glean it,
056:
Since his addiction was to courses vain,
057:
His companies unletter'd, rude and shallow,
058:
His hours fill'd up with riots, banquets, sports,
059:
And never noted in him any study,
060:
Any retirement, any sequestration
061:
From open haunts and popularity.
ELY
062: The strawberry grows underneath the nettle
063: And wholesome berries thrive and ripen best
064: Neighbour'd by fruit of baser quality:
065:
And so the prince obscured his contemplation
066:
Under the veil of wildness; which, no doubt,
067:
Grew like the summer grass, fastest by night,
068: Unseen, yet crescive in his faculty.
CANTERBURY
069: It must be so; for miracles are ceased;
070: And therefore we must needs admit the means
071: How things are perfected.
ELY
072:
But, my good lord,
073:
How now for mitigation of this bill
074:
Urged by the commons? Doth his majesty
075:
Incline to it, or no?
CANTERBURY
076:
He seems indifferent,
077:
Or rather swaying more upon our part
078:
Than cherishing the exhibiters against us;
079:
For I have made an offer to his majesty,
080:
Upon our spiritual convocation
081:
And in regard of causes now in hand,
082:
Which I have open'd to his grace at large,
083:
As touching France , to give a greater sum
084:
Than ever at one time the clergy yet
085:
Did to his predecessors part withal.
ELY
086:
How did this offer seem received, my lord?
CANTERBURY
087:
With good acceptance of his majesty;
088:
Save that there was not time enough to hear,
089:
As I perceived his grace would fain have done,
090:
The severals and unhidden passages
091:
Of his true titles to some certain dukedoms
092:
And generally to the crown and seat of France
093:
Derived from Edward, his great-grandfather.
ELY
094:
What was the impediment that broke this off?
CANTERBURY
095:
The French ambassador upon that instant
096:
Craved audience; and the hour, I think, is come
097:
To give him hearing: is it four o'clock?
ELY
098:
It is.
CANTERBURY
099:
Then go we in, to know his embassy;
100:
Which I could with a ready guess declare,
101:
Before the Frenchman speak a word of it.
ELY
102:
I'll wait upon you, and I long to hear it.
Exeunt
ACT I, SCENE II.
The same. The Presence chamber.
Enter KING HENRY V, GLOUCESTER, BEDFORD, EXETER, WARWICK, WESTMORELAND, and Attendants
KING HENRY V
001:
Where is my gracious Lord of Canterbury?
EXETER
002:
Not here in presence.
KING HENRY V
003:
Send for him, good uncle.
WESTMORELAND
004:
Shall we call in the ambassador, my liege?
KING HENRY V
005:
Not yet, my cousin: we would be resolved,
006:
Before we hear him, of some things of weight
007:
That task our thoughts, concerning us and France.
Enter the ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY, and the BISHOP of ELY
CANTERBURY
008:
God and his angels guard your sacred throne
009:
And make you long become it!
KING HENRY V
010:
Sure, we thank you.
011:
My learned lord, we pray you to proceed
012:
And justly and religiously unfold
013:
Why the law Salique that they have in France
014:
Or should, or should not, bar us in our claim:
015:
And God forbid, my dear and faithful lord,
016:
That you should fashion, wrest, or bow your reading,
017:
Or nicely charge your understanding soul
018:
With opening titles miscreate, whose right
019:
Suits not in native colours with the truth;
020:
For God doth know how many now in health
021:
Shall drop their blood in approbation
022:
Of what your reverence shall incite us to.
023:
Therefore take heed how you impawn our person,
024:
How you awake our sleeping sword of war:
025:
We charge you, in the name of God, take heed;
026:
For never two such kingdoms did contend
027:
Without much fall of blood; whose guiltless drops
028: Are every one a woe, a sore complaint
029: 'Gainst him whose wrong gives edge unto the swords
030:
That make such waste in brief mortality.
031: Under this conjuration, speak, my lord;
032: For we will hear, note and believe in heart
033: That what you speak is in your conscience wash'd
034: As pure as sin with baptism.
CANTERBURY
035:
Then hear me, gracious sovereign , and you peers,
036:
That owe yourselves, your lives and services
037:
To this imperial throne. There is no bar
038:
To make against your highness' claim to France
039:
But this, which they produce from Pharamond,
040:
'In terram Salicam mulieres ne succedant:'
041:
'No woman shall succeed in Salique land:'
042:
Which Salique land the French unjustly gloze
043:
To be the realm of France,
and Pharamond
044:
The founder of this law and female bar.
045:
Yet their own authors faithfully affirm
046:
That the land Salique is in Germany,
047:
Between the floods of Sala and of Elbe;
048:
Where Charles the Great, having subdued the Saxons,
049:
There left behind and settled certain French;
050:
Who, holding in disdain the German women
051:
For some dishonest manners of their life,
052:
Establish'd then this law; to wit, no female
053:
Should be inheritrix in Salique land:
054:
Which Salique, as I said, 'twixt Elbe and Sala,
055:
Is at this day in Germany call'd Meisen.
056:
Then doth it well appear that Salique law
057:
Was not devised for the realm of France:
058:
Nor did the French possess the Salique land
059:
Until four hundred one and twenty years
060:
After defunction of King Pharamond,
061:
Idly supposed the founder of this law;
062: Who died within the year of our redemption
063: Four hundred twenty-six; and Charles the Great
064: Subdued the Saxons, and did seat the French
065: Beyond the river Sala, in the year
066: Eight hundred five. Besides, their writers say,
067:
King Pepin, which deposed Childeric,
068:
Did, as heir general, being descended
069:
Of Blithild, which was daughter to King Clothair,
070:
Make claim and title to the crown of France.
071:
Hugh Capet also, who usurped the crown
072:
Of Charles the duke of Lorraine, sole heir male
073:
Of the true line and stock of Charles the Great,
074: To find his title with some shows of truth,
075: 'Through, in pure truth, it was corrupt and naught,
076: Convey'd himself as heir to the Lady Lingare,
077: Daughter to Charlemain, who was the son
078: To Lewis the emperor, and Lewis the son
079: Of Charles the Great. Also King Lewis the Tenth,
080: Who was sole heir to the usurper Capet,
081:
Could not keep quiet in his conscience,
082:
Wearing the crown of France, till satisfied
083:
That fair Queen Isabel, his grandmother,
084:
Was lineal of the Lady Ermengare,
085:
Daughter to Charles the foresaid duke of Lorraine:
086:
By the which marriage the line of Charles the Great
087:
Was re-united to the crown of France.
088:
So that, as clear as is the summer's sun.
089: King Pepin's title and Hugh Capet's claim,
090: King Lewis his satisfaction,
all appear
091:
To hold in right and title of the female:
092:
So do the kings of France unto this day;
093:
Howbeit they would hold up this Salique law
094:
To bar your highness claiming from the female,
095:
And rather choose to hide them in a net
096:
Than amply to imbar their crooked titles
097:
Usurp'd from you and your progenitors.
KING HENRY V
098:
May I with right and conscience make this claim?
CANTERBURY
099:
The sin upon my head, dread sovereign!
100:
For in the book of Numbers is it writ,
101:
When the man dies, let the inheritance
102:
Descend unto the daughter. Gracious lord,
103:
Stand for your own; unwind your bloody flag;
104:
Look back into your mighty ancestors:
105:
Go, my dread lord, to your great-grandsire's tomb,
106:
From whom you claim; invoke his warlike spirit,
107:
And your great-uncle's, Edward the Black Prince,
108: Who on the French ground play'd a tragedy,
109: Making defeat on the full power of France,
110: Whiles his most mighty father on a hill
111: Stood smiling to behold his lion's whelp
112: Forage in blood of French nobility.
113: O noble English. that could entertain
114: With half their forces the full Pride of France
115: And let another half stand laughing by,
116: All out of work and cold for action!
ELY
117:
Awake remembrance of these valiant dead
118:
And with your puissant arm renew their feats:
119: You are their heir; you sit upon their throne;
120: The blood and courage that renowned them
121: Runs in your veins; and my thrice-puissant liege
122: Is in the very May-morn of his youth,
123: Ripe for exploits and mighty enterprises.
EXETER
124:
Your brother kings and monarchs of the earth
125:
Do all expect that you should rouse yourself,
126:
As did the former lions of your blood.
WESTMORELAND
127:
They know your grace hath cause and means and might;
128:
So hath your highness; never king of England
129:
Had nobles richer and more loyal subjects,
130:
Whose hearts have left their bodies here in England
131:
And lie pavilion'd in the fields of France.
CANTERBURY
132:
O, let their bodies follow, my dear liege,
133:
With blood and sword and fire to win your right;
134:
In aid whereof we of the spiritualty
135:
Will raise your highness such a mighty sum
136:
As never did the clergy at one time
137:
Bring in to any of your ancestors.
KING HENRY V
138:
We must not only arm to invade the French,
139:
But lay down our proportions to defend
140:
Against the Scot, who will make road upon us
141:
With all advantages.
CANTERBURY
142: They of those marches, gracious sovereign,
143: Shall be a wall sufficient to defend
144: Our inland from the pilfering borderers.
KING HENRY V
145: We do not mean the coursing snatchers only,
146: But fear the main intendment of the Scot,
147: Who hath been still a giddy neighbour to us;
148: For you shall read that my great-grandfather
149: Never went with his forces into France
150: But that the Scot on his unfurnish'd kingdom
151: Came pouring, like the tide into a breach,
152: With ample and brim fulness of his force,
153: Galling the gleaned land with hot assays,
154: Girding with grievous siege castles and towns;
155: That England, being empty of defence,
156: Hath shook and trembled at the ill neighbourhood.
CANTERBURY
157: She hath been then more fear'd than harm'd, my liege;
158: For hear her but exampled by herself:
159: When all her chivalry hath been in France
160: And she a mourning widow of her nobles,
161: She hath herself not only well defended
162: But taken and impounded as a stray
163: The King of Scots; whom she did send to France,
164: To fill King Edward's fame with prisoner kings
165: And make her chronicle as rich with praise
166: As is the ooze and bottom of the sea
167: With sunken wreck and sunless treasuries.
WESTMORELAND
168:
But there's a saying very old and true,
169:
'If that you will France win,
170:
Then with Scotland first begin:'
171:
For once the eagle England being in prey,
172:
To her unguarded nest the weasel Scot
173:
Comes sneaking and so sucks her princely eggs,
174:
Playing the mouse in absence of the cat,
175:
To tear and havoc more than she can eat.
EXETER
176:
It follows then the cat must stay at home:
177:
Yet that is but a crush'd necessity,
178:
Since we have locks to safeguard necessaries,
179:
And pretty traps to catch the petty thieves.
180:
While that the armed hand doth fight abroad,
181:
The advised head defends itself at home;
182:
For government, though high and low and lower,
183:
Put into parts, doth keep in one consent,
184:
Congreeing in a full and natural close,
185:
Like music.
CANTERBURY
186:
Therefore doth heaven divide
187:
The state of man in divers functions,
188:
Setting endeavour in continual motion;
189:
To which is fixed, as an aim or butt,
190:
Obedience: for so work the honey-bees,
191:
Creatures that by a rule in nature teach
192:
The act of order to a peopled kingdom.
193:
They have a king and officers of sorts;
194:
Where some, like magistrates, correct at home,
195:
Others, like merchants, venture trade abroad,
196:
Others, like soldiers, armed in their stings,
197:
Make boot upon the summer's velvet buds,
198:
Which pillage they with merry march bring home
199:
To the tent-royal of their emperor;
200:
Who, busied in his majesty, surveys
201:
The singing masons building roofs of gold,
202:
The civil citizens kneading up the honey,
203:
The poor mechanic porters crowding in
204:
Their heavy burdens at his narrow gate,
205:
The sad-eyed justice, with his surly hum,
206:
Delivering o'er to executors pale
207:
The lazy yawning drone. I this infer,
208:
That many things, having full reference
209:
To one consent, may work contrariously:
210: As many arrows, loosed several ways,
211: Come to one mark; as many ways meet in one town;
212: As many fresh streams meet in one salt sea;
213: As many lines close in the dial's centre;
214:
So may a thousand actions, once afoot.
215:
End in one purpose, and be all well borne
216:
Without defeat. Therefore to France, my liege.
217:
Divide your happy England into four;
218:
Whereof take you one quarter into France,
219:
And you withal shall make all Gallia shake.
220:
If we, with thrice such powers left at home,
221:
Cannot defend our own doors from the dog,
222:
Let us be worried and our nation lose
223:
The name of hardiness and policy.
KING HENRY V
224:
Call in the messengers sent from the Dauphin.
[Exeunt some Attendants]
225:
Now are we well resolved; and, by God's help,
226:
And yours, the noble sinews of our power,
227:
France being ours, we'll bend it to our awe,
228:
Or break it all to pieces
: or there we'll sit,
229: Ruling in large and ample empery
230: O'er France and all her almost kingly dukedoms,
231:
Or lay these bones in an unworthy urn,
232:
Tombless, with no remembrance over them:
233: Either our history shall with full mouth
234: Speak freely of our acts, or else our grave,
235: Like Turkish mute, shall have a tongueless mouth,
236: Not worshipp'd with a waxen epitaph.
[Enter Ambassadors of France]
237:
Now are we well prepared to know the pleasure
238:
Of our fair cousin Dauphin ; for we hear
239:
Your greeting is from him, not from the king.
First Ambassador
240:
May't please your majesty to give us leave
241:
Freely to render what we have in charge;
242:
Or shall we sparingly show you far off
243:
The Dauphin's meaning and our embassy?
KING HENRY V
244:
We are no tyrant, but a Christian king;
245:
Unto whose grace our passion is as subject
246:
As are our wretches fetter'd in our prisons:
247:
Therefore with frank and with uncurbed plainness
248:
Tell us the Dauphin's mind.
First Ambassador
249:
Thus, then, in few.
250:
Your highness, lately sending into France,
251:
Did claim some certain dukedoms, in the right
252:
Of your great predecessor, King Edward the Third.
253:
In answer of which claim, the prince our master
254:
Says that you savour too much of your youth,
255:
And bids you be advised there's nought in France
256:
That can be with a nimble galliard won;
257:
You cannot revel into dukedoms there.
258:
He therefore sends you, meeter for your spirit,
259:
This tun of treasure; and, in lieu of this,
260:
Desires you let the dukedoms that you claim
261:
Hear no more of you. This the Dauphin speaks.
KING HENRY V
262:
What treasure, uncle?
EXETER
263:
Tennis-balls, my liege.
KING HENRY V
264:
We are glad the Dauphin is so pleasant with us;
265:
His present and your pains we thank you for:
266:
When we have march'd our rackets to these balls,
267:
We will, in France, by God's grace, play a set
268:
Shall strike his father's crown into the hazard.
269:
Tell him he hath made a match with such a wrangler
270:
That all the courts of France will be disturb'd
271:
With chaces. And we understand him well,
272:
How he comes o'er us with our wilder days,
273:
Not measuring what use we made of them.
274:
We never valued this poor seat of England;
275:
And therefore, living hence, did give ourself
276:
To barbarous licence; as 'tis ever common
277:
That men are merriest when they are from home.
278:
But tell the Dauphin I will keep my state,
279:
Be like a king and show my sail of greatness
280:
When I do rouse me in my throne of France:
281:
For that I have laid by my majesty
282:
And plodded like a man for working-days,
283:
But I will rise there with so full a glory
284:
That I will dazzle all the eyes of France,
285:
Yea, strike the Dauphin blind to look on us.
286:
And tell the pleasant prince this mock of his
287:
Hath turn'd his balls to gun-stones; and his soul
288:
Shall stand sore charged for the wasteful vengeance
289:
That shall fly with them: for many a thousand widows
290:
Shall this his mock mock out of their dear husbands;
291:
Mock mothers from their sons, mock castles down;
292:
And some are yet ungotten and unborn
293:
That shall have cause to curse the Dauphin's scorn.
294:
But this lies all within the will of God,
295:
To whom I do appeal; and in whose name
296:
Tell you the Dauphin I am coming on,
297:
To venge me as I may and to put forth
298:
My rightful hand in a well-hallow'd cause.
299:
So get you hence in peace; and tell the Dauphin
300:
His jest will savour but of shallow wit,
301:
When thousands weep more than did laugh at it.
302:
Convey them with safe conduct. Fare you well.
Exeunt Ambassadors
EXETER
303:
This was a merry message.
KING HENRY V
304:
We hope to make the sender blush at it.
305:
Therefore, my lords, omit no happy hour
306:
That may give furtherance to our expedition;
307:
For we have now no thought in us but France,
308:
Save those to God, that run before our business.
309:
Therefore let our proportions for these wars
310:
Be soon collected and all things thought upon
311:
That may with reasonable swiftness add
312:
More feathers to our wings; for, God before,
313:
We'll chide this Dauphin at his father's door.
314:
Therefore let every man now task his thought,
315:
That this fair action may on foot be brought.
Exeunt. Flourish
ACT II, PROLOGUE
Enter Chorus
Chorus
001:
Now all the youth of England are on fire,
002:
And silken dalliance in the wardrobe lies:
003:
Now thrive the armourers, and honour's thought
004:
Reigns solely in the breast of every man:
005:
They sell the pasture now to buy the horse,
006:
Following the mirror of all Christian kings,
007:
With winged heels, as English Mercuries.
008:
For now sits Expectation in the air,
009:
And hides a sword from hilts unto the point
010:
With crowns imperial, crowns and coronets,
011:
Promised to Harry and his followers.
012:
The French, advised by good intelligence
013:
Of this most dreadful preparation,
014:
Shake in their fear and with pale policy
015:
Seek to divert the English purposes.
016:
O England! model to thy inward greatness,
017:
Like little body with a mighty heart,
018:
What mightst thou do, that honour would thee do,
019:
Were all thy children kind and natural!
020:
But see thy fault! France hath in thee found out
021:
A nest of hollow bosoms, which he fills
022:
With treacherous crowns; and three corrupted men,
023:
One, Richard Earl of Cambridge, and the second,
024:
Henry Lord Scroop of Masham, and the third,
025:
Sir Thomas Grey, knight, of Northumberland,
026:
Have, for the gilt of France,--O guilt indeed!
027:
Confirm'd conspiracy with fearful France;
028:
And by their hands this grace of kings must die,
029:
If hell and treason hold their promises,
030:
Ere he take ship for France , and in Southampton.
031:
Linger your patience on; and we'll digest
032:
The abuse of distance; force a play:
033:
The sum is paid; the traitors are agreed;
034:
The king is set from London; and the scene
035:
Is now transported, gentles, to Southampton;
036:
There is the playhouse now, there must you sit:
037:
And thence to France shall we convey you safe,
038:
And bring you back, charming the narrow seas
039:
To give you gentle pass; for, if we may,
040:
We'll not offend one stomach with our play.
041:
But, till the king come forth, and not till then,
042:
Unto Southampton do we shift our scene.
Exit
ACT II, SCENE I....
::
No specific directions for getting BARDOLPH, NYM, PISTOL, and Hostess off the stage.
London. A street.
Enter Corporal NYM and Lieutenant BARDOLPH
BARDOLPH
001:
Well met, Corporal Nym.
NYM
002:
Good morrow, Lieutenant Bardolph.
BARDOLPH
003:
What, are Ancient Pistol and you friends yet?
NYM
004:
For my part, I care not: I say little; but when
005:
time shall serve, there shall be smiles; but that
006:
shall be as it may. I dare not fight; but I will
007:
wink and hold out mine iron: it is a simple one; but
008:
what though? it will toast cheese, and it will
009:
endure cold as another man's sword will: and
010:
there's an end.
BARDOLPH
011:
I will bestow a breakfast to make you friends; and
012:
we'll be all three sworn brothers to France: let it
013:
be so, good Corporal Nym.
NYM
014:
Faith, I will live so long as I may, that's the
015:
certain of it; and when I cannot live any longer, I
016:
will do as I may : that is my rest, that is the
017:
rendezvous of it.
BARDOLPH
018:
It is certain , corporal, that he is married to Nell
019:
Quickly: and certainly she did you wrong; for you
020:
were troth-plight to her.
NYM
021:
I cannot tell: things must be as they may: men may
022:
sleep, and they may have their throats about them at
023:
that time; and some say knives have edges. It must
024:
be as it may: though patience be a tired mare, yet
025:
she will plod. There must be conclusions. Well, I
026:
cannot tell.
Enter PISTOL and Hostess
BARDOLPH
027:
Here comes Ancient Pistol and his wife: good
028:
corporal, be patient here.
NYM
029:
How now, mine host Pistol!
PISTOL
030:
Base tike, call'st thou me host? Now, by this hand,
031:
I swear, I scorn the term; Nor shall my Nell keep lodgers.
Hostess
032:
No, by my troth, not long; for we cannot lodge and
033:
board a dozen or fourteen gentlewomen that live
034:
honestly by the prick of their needles, but it will
035:
be thought we keep a bawdy house straight.
[NYM and PISTOL draw]
036:
O well a day, Lady, if he be not drawn now! we
037:
shall see wilful adultery and murder committed.
BARDOLPH
038:
Good lieutenant! good corporal! offer nothing here.
NYM
039:
Pish!
PISTOL
040:
Pish for thee, Iceland dog! thou prick-ear'd cur of Iceland!
Hostess
041:
Good Corporal Nym, show thy valour, and put up your sword.
NYM
042:
Will you shog off?
I would have you solus.
PISTOL
043: 'Solus,' egregious dog? O viper vile!
044: The 'solus' in thy most mervailous face;
045: The 'solus' in thy teeth, and in thy throat,
046: And in thy hateful lungs, yea, in thy maw, perdy,
047: And, which is worse, within thy nasty mouth!
048: I do retort the 'solus' in thy bowels;
049: For I can take, and Pistol's cock is up,
050:
And flashing fire will follow.
NYM
051: I am not Barbason; you cannot conjure me. I have an
052: humour to knock you indifferently well. If you grow
053: foul with me, Pistol, I will scour you with my
054: rapier, as I may, in fair terms: if you would walk
055: off,
I would prick your guts a little, in good
056:
terms, as I may: and that's the humour of it.
PISTOL
057:
O braggart vile and damned furious wight!
058: The grave doth gape, and doting death is near;
059: Therefore exhale.
BARDOLPH
060:
Hear me, hear me what I say: he that strikes the
061:
first stroke, I'll run him up to the hilts, as I am a soldier.
Draws
PISTOL
062:
An oath of mickle might; and fury shall abate.
063: Give me thy fist, thy fore-foot to me give:
064: Thy spirits are most tall.
NYM
065:
I will cut thy throat, one time or other, in fair
066:
terms: that is the humour of it.
PISTOL
067: 'Couple a gorge!'
068: That is the word. I thee defy again.
069:
O hound of Crete, think'st thou my spouse to get?
070: No; to the spital go,
071: And from the powdering tub of infamy
072: Fetch forth the lazar kite of Cressid's kind,
073: Doll Tearsheet she by name, and her espouse:
074:
I have, and I will hold, the quondam Quickly
075: For the only she; and--pauca, there's enough. Go to.
Enter the Boy
Boy
076:
Mine host Pistol, you must come to my master, and
077:
you, hostess: he is very sick, and would to bed.
078:
Good Bardolph, put thy face between his sheets, and
079:
do the office of a warming-pan. Faith, he's very ill.
BARDOLPH
080:
Away, you rogue!
Hostess
081:
By my troth,
he'll yield the crow a pudding one of
082:
these days.
The king has killed his heart. Good
083:
husband, come home presently.
Exeunt Hostess and Boy
BARDOLPH
084:
Come, shall I make you two friends? We must to
085:
France together: why the devil should we keep
086:
knives to cut one another's throats?
PISTOL
087:
Let floods o'erswell, and fiends for food howl on!
NYM
088:
You'll pay me the eight shillings I won of you at betting?
PISTOL
089:
Base is the slave that pays.
NYM
090:
That now I will have: that's the humour of it.
PISTOL
091:
As manhood shall compound: push home.
They draw
BARDOLPH
092:
By this sword, he that makes the first thrust, I'll
093:
kill him; by this sword, I will.
PISTOL
094:
Sword is an oath, and oaths must have their course.
BARDOLPH
095:
Corporal Nym, an thou wilt be friends, be friends:
096:
an thou wilt not, why, then, be enemies with me too.
097:
Prithee, put up.
NYM
098:
I shall have my eight shillings I won of you at betting?
PISTOL
099:
A noble shalt thou have, and present pay;
100:
And liquor likewise will I give to thee,
101:
And friendship shall combine, and brotherhood:
102:
I'll live by Nym, and Nym shall live by me;
103:
Is not this just? for I shall sutler be
104:
Unto the camp, and profits will accrue.
105:
Give me thy hand.
NYM
106:
I shall have my noble?
PISTOL
107:
In cash most justly paid.
NYM
108:
Well, then, that's the humour of't.
Re-enter Hostess
Hostess
109:
As ever you came of women, come in quickly to Sir
110:
John. Ah, poor heart! he is so shaked of a burning
111:
quotidian tertian, that it is most lamentable to
112:
behold. Sweet men, come to him.
NYM
113:
The king hath run bad humours on the knight;
that's
114:
the even of it.
PISTOL
115:
Nym, thou hast spoke the right;
116:
His heart is fracted and corroborate.
NYM
117:
The king is a good king: but it must be as it may;
118:
he passes some humours and careers.
PISTOL
119:
Let us condole the knight; for, lambkins we will live.
ACT II, SCENE II.
Southampton. A council-chamber.
Enter EXETER, BEDFORD, and WESTMORELAND
BEDFORD
001:
'Fore God, his grace is bold, to trust these traitors.
EXETER
002:
They shall be apprehended by and by.
WESTMORELAND
003:
How smooth and even they do bear themselves!
004:
As if allegiance in their bosoms sat,
005:
Crowned with faith and constant loyalty.
BEDFORD
006:
The king hath note of all that they intend,
007:
By interception which they dream not of.
EXETER
008:
Nay, but the man that was his bedfellow,
009:
Whom he hath dull'd and cloy'd with gracious favours,
010:
That he should, for a foreign purse, so sell
011:
His sovereign's life to death and treachery.
Trumpets sound. Enter KING HENRY V, SCROOP, CAMBRIDGE, GREY, and Attendants
KING HENRY V
012:
Now sits the wind fair, and we will aboard.
013:
My Lord of Cambridge, and my kind Lord of Masham,
014:
And you, my gentle knight, give me your thoughts:
015:
Think you not that the powers we bear with us
016:
Will cut their passage through the force of France,
017:
Doing the execution and the act
018:
For which we have in head assembled them?
SCROOP
019:
No doubt, my liege, if each man do his best.
KING HENRY V
020:
I doubt not that; since we are well persuaded
021:
We carry not a heart with us from hence
022:
That grows not in a fair consent with ours,
023:
Nor leave not one behind that doth not wish
024:
Success and conquest to attend on us.
CAMBRIDGE
025:
Never was monarch better fear'd and loved
026:
Than is your majesty: there's not, I think, a subject
027:
That sits in heart-grief and uneasiness
028:
Under the sweet shade of your government.
GREY
029:
True: those that were your father's enemies
030:
Have steep'd their galls in honey and do serve you
031:
With hearts create of duty and of zeal.
KING HENRY V
032:
We therefore have great cause of thankfulness;
033:
And shall forget the office of our hand,
034:
Sooner than quittance of desert and merit
035:
According to the weight and worthiness.
SCROOP
036:
So service shall with steeled sinews toil,
037:
And labour shall refresh itself with hope,
038:
To do your grace incessant services.
KING HENRY V
039:
We judge no less.
Uncle of Exeter,
040:
Enlarge the man committed yesterday,
041:
That rail'd against our person: we consider
042:
it was excess of wine that set him on;
043:
And on his more advice we pardon him.
SCROOP
044:
That's mercy, but too much security:
045:
Let him be punish'd, sovereign, lest example
046:
Breed, by his sufferance, more of such a kind.
KING HENRY V
047:
O, let us yet be merciful.
CAMBRIDGE
048:
So may your highness, and yet punish too.
GREY
049:
Sir,
050:
You show great mercy, if you give him life,
051:
After the taste of much correction.
KING HENRY V
052:
Alas, your too much love and care of me
053:
Are heavy orisons 'gainst this poor wretch!
054:
If little faults, proceeding on distemper,
055:
Shall not be wink'd at, how shall we stretch our eye
056:
When capital crimes, chew'd, swallow'd and digested,
057:
Appear before us? We'll yet enlarge that man,
058:
Though Cambridge, Scroop and Grey, in their dear care
059:
And tender preservation of our person,
060:
Would have him punished. And now to our French causes:
061:
Who are the late commissioners?
CAMBRIDGE
062:
I one, my lord:
063:
Your highness bade me ask for it to-day.
SCROOP
064:
So did you me, my liege.
GREY
065:
And I, my royal sovereign.
KING HENRY V
066:
Then, Richard Earl of Cambridge, there is yours;
067:
There yours, Lord Scroop of Masham; and, sir knight,
068:
Grey of Northumberland, this same is yours:
069:
Read them; and know, I know your worthiness.
070:
My Lord of Westmoreland, and uncle Exeter,
071:
We will aboard to night. Why, how now, gentlemen!
072:
What see you in those papers that you lose
073:
So much complexion? Look ye, how they change!
074:
Their cheeks are paper. Why, what read you there
075:
That hath so cowarded and chased your blood
076:
Out of appearance?
CAMBRIDGE
077:
I do confess my fault;
078:
And do submit me to your highness' mercy.
GREY, SCROOP
079:
To which we all appeal.
KING HENRY V
080:
The mercy that was quick in us but late,
081:
By your own counsel is suppress'd and kill'd:
082:
You must not dare, for shame, to talk of mercy;
083:
For your own reasons turn into your bosoms,
084:
As dogs upon their masters, worrying you.
085:
See you, my princes, and my noble peers,
086:
These English monsters! My Lord of Cambridge here,
087:
You know how apt our love was to accord
088:
To furnish him with all appertinents
089:
Belonging to his honour; and this man
090:
Hath, for a few light crowns, lightly conspired,
091:
And sworn unto the practises of France,
092:
To kill us here in Hampton: to the which
093:
This knight, no less for bounty bound to us
094:
Than Cambridge is, hath likewise sworn. But, O,
095:
What shall I say to thee, Lord Scroop? thou cruel,
096:
Ingrateful, savage and inhuman creature!
097:
Thou that didst bear the key of all my counsels,
098:
That knew'st the very bottom of my soul,
099:
That almost mightst have coin'd me into gold,
100:
Wouldst thou have practised on me for thy use,
101:
May it be possible, that foreign hire
102:
Could out of thee extract one spark of evil
103:
That might annoy my finger? 'tis so strange,
104:
That, though the truth of it stands off as gross
105:
As black and white, my eye will scarcely see it.
106: Treason and murder ever kept together,
107: As two yoke-devils sworn to either's purpose,
108: Working so grossly in a natural cause,
109: That admiration did not whoop at them:
110: But thou, 'gainst all proportion, didst bring in
111: Wonder to wait on treason and on murder:
112: And whatsoever cunning fiend it was
113: That wrought upon thee so preposterously
114: Hath got the voice in hell for excellence:
115: All other devils that suggest by treasons
116: Do botch and bungle up damnation
117: With patches, colours, and with forms being fetch'd
118: From glistering semblances of piety;
119: But he that temper'd thee bade thee stand up,
120: Gave thee no instance why thou shouldst do treason,
121: Unless to dub thee with the name of traitor.
122: If that same demon that hath gull'd thee thus
123: Should with his lion gait walk the whole world,
124: He might return to vasty Tartar back,
125: And tell the legions 'I can never win
126: A soul so easy as that Englishman's.'
127:
O, how hast thou with 'jealousy infected
128:
The sweetness of affiance! Show men dutiful?
129:
Why, so didst thou: seem they grave and learned?
130:
Why, so didst thou: come they of noble family?
131:
Why, so didst thou: seem they religious?
132:
Why, so didst thou : or are they spare in diet,
133: Free from gross passion or of mirth or anger,
134: Constant in spirit, not swerving with the blood,
135: Garnish'd and deck'd in modest complement,
136: Not working with the eye without the ear,
137: And but in purged judgment trusting neither?
138: Such and so finely bolted didst thou seem:
139:
And thus thy fall hath left a kind of blot,
140:
To mark the full-fraught man and best indued
141:
With some suspicion. I will weep for thee;
142:
For this revolt of thine, methinks, is like
143:
Another fall of man. Their faults are open:
144:
Arrest them to the answer of the law;
145:
And God acquit them of their practises!
EXETER
...
:: branagh
Branagh has Exeter (Brian Blessed) addressing Lord Scroop (Stephen Simms) last and slapping Scroop
in the face... emphasizing Exeter's disgust over the betrayal of Henry by his bed-fellow.
146:
I arrest thee of high treason, by the name of
147:
Richard Earl of Cambridge.
148:
I arrest thee of high treason, by the name of
149:
Henry Lord Scroop of Masham.
150:
I arrest thee of high treason, by the name of
151:
Thomas Grey, knight, of Northumberland.
SCROOP
152:
Our purposes God justly hath discover'd;
153:
And I repent my fault more than my death;
154:
Which I beseech your highness to forgive,
155:
Although my body pay the price of it.
CAMBRIDGE
156:
For me, the gold of France did not seduce;
157:
Although I did admit it as a motive
158:
The sooner to effect what I intended:
159:
But God be thanked for prevention;
160:
Which I in sufferance heartily will rejoice,
161:
Beseeching God and you to pardon me.
GREY
162:
Never did faithful subject more rejoice
163:
At the discovery of most dangerous treason
164:
Than I do at this hour joy o'er myself.
165:
Prevented from a damned enterprise:
166:
My fault, but not my body, pardon, sovereign.
KING HENRY V
167:
God quit you in his mercy! Hear your sentence.
168:
You have conspired against our royal person,
169:
Join'd with an enemy proclaim'd and from his coffers
170:
Received the golden earnest of our death;
171:
Wherein you would have sold your king to slaughter,
172:
His princes and his peers to servitude,
173:
His subjects to oppression and contempt
174:
And his whole kingdom into desolation.
175:
Touching our person seek we no revenge;
176:
But we our kingdom's safety must so tender,
177:
Whose ruin you have sought, that to her laws
178:
We do deliver you. Get you therefore hence,
179:
Poor miserable wretches, to your death:
180:
The taste whereof, God of his mercy give
181:
You patience to endure, and true repentance
182:
Of all your dear offences! Bear them hence.
[Exeunt CAMBRIDGE, SCROOP and GREY, guarded]
183:
Now, lords, for France; the enterprise whereof
184:
Shall be to you, as us, like glorious.
185:
We doubt not of a fair and lucky war,
186:
Since God so graciously hath brought to light
187:
This dangerous treason lurking in our way
188:
To hinder our beginnings. We doubt not now
189:
But every rub is smoothed on our way.
190:
Then forth, dear countrymen: let us deliver
191:
Our puissance into the hand of God,
192:
Putting it straight in expedition.
193:
Cheerly to sea; the signs of war advance:
194:
No king of England, if not king of France.
Exuent
ACT II, SCENE III.
London. Before a tavern.
Enter PISTOL, Hostess, NYM, BARDOLPH, and Boy
Hostess
001:
Prithee, honey-sweet husband, let me bring thee to Staines.
PISTOL
002:
No; for my manly heart doth yearn.
003:
Bardolph, be blithe: Nym, rouse thy vaunting veins:
004:
Boy, bristle thy courage up; for Falstaff he is dead,
005:
And we must yearn therefore.
BARDOLPH
006:
Would I were with him, wheresome'er he is, either in
007:
heaven or in hell!
Hostess
008:
Nay, sure, he's not in hell: he's in Arthur's
009:
bosom, if ever man went to Arthur's bosom. A' made
010:
a finer end and went away an it had been any
011:
christom child; a' parted even just between twelve
012:
and one, even at the turning o' the tide: for after
013:
I saw him fumble with the sheets and play with
014:
flowers and smile upon his fingers' ends, I knew
015:
there was but one way; for his nose was as sharp as
016:
a pen, and a' babbled of green fields. 'How now,
017:
sir John!' quoth I 'what, man! be o' good
018:
cheer.' So a' cried out 'God, God, God!' three or
019:
four times. Now I, to comfort him, bid him a'
020:
should not think of God; I hoped there was no need
021:
to trouble himself with any such thoughts yet. So
022:
a' bade me lay more clothes on his feet: I put my
023:
hand into the bed and felt them, and they were as
024:
cold as any stone; then I felt to his knees, and
025:
they were as cold as any stone, and so upward and
026:
upward, and all was as cold as any stone.
NYM
027:
They say he cried out of sack.
Hostess
028:
Ay, that a' did.
BARDOLPH
029:
And of women.
Hostess
030:
Nay, that a' did not.
Boy
031:
Yes, that a' did; and said they were devils
032:
incarnate.
Hostess
033:
A' could never abide carnation; 'twas a colour he
034:
never liked.
Boy
035:
A' said once, the devil would have him about women.
Hostess
036:
A' did in some sort, indeed, handle women; but then
037:
he was rheumatic, and talked of the whore of Babylon.
Boy
038:
Do you not remember, a' saw a flea stick upon
039:
Bardolph's nose, and a' said it was a black soul
040:
burning in hell-fire?
BARDOLPH
041:
Well, the fuel is gone that maintained that fire:
042:
that's all the riches I got in his service.
NYM
043:
Shall we shog? the king will be gone from
044:
Southampton.
PISTOL
045:
Come, let's away. My love, give me thy lips.
046:
Look to my chattels and my movables:
047: Let senses rule; the word is 'Pitch and Pay:'
048: Trust none;
049: For oaths are straws, men's faiths are wafer-cakes,
050: And hold-fast is the only dog, my duck:
051: Therefore, Caveto be thy counsellor.
052:
Go, clear thy crystals. Yoke-fellows in arms,
053:
Let us to France; like horse-leeches, my boys,
054:
To suck, to suck, the very blood to suck!
Boy
055:
And that's but unwholesome food they say.
PISTOL
056:
Touch her soft mouth, and march.
BARDOLPH
057:
Farewell, hostess.
Kissing her
NYM
058:
I cannot kiss, that is the humour of it; but, adieu.
PISTOL
059:
Let housewifery appear: keep close, I thee command.
Hostess
060:
Farewell; adieu.
Exeunt
ACT II, SCENE IV.
France. The KING'S palace.
Flourish. Enter the FRENCH KING, the DAUPHIN, the DUKES of BERRI and BRETAGNE, the Constable, and others
KING OF FRANCE
001:
Thus comes the English with full power upon us;
002:
And more than carefully it us concerns
003:
To answer royally in our defences.
004:
Therefore the Dukes of Berri and of Bretagne,
005:
Of Brabant and of Orleans, shall make forth,
006:
And you, Prince Dauphin, with all swift dispatch,
007:
To line and new repair our towns of war
008:
With men of courage and with means defendant;
009: For England his approaches makes as fierce
010: As waters to the sucking of a gulf.
011: It fits us then to be as provident
012: As fear may teach us out of late examples
013: Left by the fatal and neglected English
014: Upon our fields.
DAUPHIN
015:
My most redoubted father,
016:
It is most meet we arm us 'gainst the foe;
017:
For peace itself should not so dull a kingdom,
018:
Though war nor no known quarrel were in question,
019:
But that defences, musters, preparations,
020:
Should be maintain'd, assembled and collected,
021:
As were a war in expectation.
022:
Therefore, I say 'tis meet we all go forth
023:
To view the sick and feeble parts of France:
024:
And let us do it with no show of fear;
025:
No, with no more than if we heard that England
026:
Were busied with a Whitsun morris-dance:
027:
For, my good liege, she is so idly king'd,
028:
Her sceptre so fantastically borne
029:
By a vain, giddy, shallow, humorous youth,
030:
That fear attends her not.
Constable
031:
O peace, Prince Dauphin!
032:
You are too much mistaken in this king:
033:
Question your grace the late ambassadors,
034:
With what great state he heard their embassy,
035:
How well supplied with noble counsellors,
036:
How modest in exception, and withal
037:
How terrible in constant resolution,
038:
And you shall find his vanities forespent
039:
Were but the outside of the Roman Brutus,
040:
Covering discretion with a coat of folly;
041:
As gardeners do with ordure hide those roots
042:
That shall first spring and be most delicate.
DAUPHIN
043:
Well, 'tis not so, my lord high constable;
044:
But though we think it so, it is no matter:
045:
In cases of defence 'tis best to weigh
046:
The enemy more mighty than he seems:
047:
So the proportions of defence are fill'd;
048:
Which of a weak or niggardly projection
049:
Doth, like a miser, spoil his coat with scanting
050:
A little cloth.
KING OF FRANCE
051:
Think we King Harry strong;
052:
And, princes, look you strongly arm to meet him.
053:
The kindred of him hath been flesh'd upon us;
054:
And he is bred out of that bloody strain
055:
That haunted us in our familiar paths:
056:
Witness our too much memorable shame
057:
When Cressy battle fatally was struck,
058:
And all our princes captiv'd by the hand
059:
Of that black name, Edward, Black Prince of Wales;
060: Whiles that his mountain sire, on mountain standing,
061: Up in the air, crown'd with the golden sun,
062: Saw his heroical seed, and smiled to see him,
063: Mangle the work of nature and deface
064: The patterns that by God and by French fathers
065: Had twenty years been made.
This is a stem
066:
Of that victorious stock; and let us fear
067:
The native mightiness and fate of him.
Enter a Messenger
Messenger
068:
Ambassadors from Harry King of England
069:
Do crave admittance to your majesty.
KING OF FRANCE
070:
We'll give them present audience. Go, and bring them.
[Exeunt Messenger and certain Lords]
071:
You see this chase is hotly follow'd, friends.
DAUPHIN
072:
Turn head, and stop pursuit; for coward dogs
073:
Most spend their mouths when what they seem to threaten
074:
Runs far before them.
Good my sovereign,
075:
Take up the English short, and let them know
076:
Of what a monarchy you are the head:
077:
Self-love, my liege, is not so vile a sin
078:
As self-neglecting.
Re-enter Lords, with EXETER and train
KING OF FRANCE
079:
From our brother England?
EXETER
080:
From him; and thus he greets your majesty.
081:
He wills you, in the name of God Almighty,
082:
That you divest yourself, and lay apart
083:
The borrow'd glories that by gift of heaven,
084:
By law of nature and of nations, 'long
085:
To him and to his heirs; namely, the crown
086:
And all wide-stretched honours that pertain
087:
By custom and the ordinance of times
088:
Unto the crown of France. That you may know
089: 'Tis no sinister nor no awkward claim,
090: Pick'd from the worm-holes of long-vanish'd days,
091: Nor from the dust of old oblivion raked,
092: He sends you this most memorable line,
093: In every branch truly demonstrative;
094:
Willing to overlook this pedigree:
095:
And when you find him evenly derived
096:
From his most famed of famous ancestors,
097:
Edward the Third, he bids you then resign
098:
Your crown and kingdom, indirectly held
099:
From him the native and true challenger.
KING OF FRANCE
100:
Or else what follows?
EXETER
101:
Bloody constraint; for if you hide the crown
102:
Even in your hearts, there will he rake for it:
103:
Therefore in fierce tempest is he coming,
104:
In thunder and in earthquake, like a Jove,
105:
That, if requiring fail, he will compel;
106:
And bids you, in the bowels of the Lord,
107:
Deliver up the crown, and to take mercy
108:
On the poor souls for whom this hungry war
109:
Opens his vasty jaws; and on your head
110:
Turning the widows' tears, the orphans' cries
111:
The dead men's blood, the pining maidens groans,
112:
For husbands, fathers and betrothed lovers,
113:
That shall be swallow'd in this controversy.
114:
This is his claim, his threatening and my message;
115:
Unless the Dauphin be in presence here,
116:
To whom expressly I bring greeting too.
KING OF FRANCE
117:
For us, we will consider of this further:
118:
To-morrow shall you bear our full intent
119:
Back to our brother England.
DAUPHIN
120:
For the Dauphin,
121:
I stand here for him: what to him from England?
EXETER
122:
Scorn and defiance; slight regard, contempt,
123:
And any thing that may not misbecome
124:
The mighty sender, doth he prize you at.
125:
Thus says my king; an' if your father's highness
126:
Do not, in grant of all demands at large,
127:
Sweeten the bitter mock you sent his majesty,
128: He'll call you to so hot an answer of it,
129: That caves and womby vaultages of France
130: Shall chide your trespass and return your mock
131: In second accent of his ordnance.
DAUPHIN
132:
Say, if my father render fair return,
133:
It is against my will; for I desire
134:
Nothing but odds with England: to that end,
135:
As matching to his youth and vanity,
136:
I did present him with the Paris balls.
EXETER
137:
He'll make your Paris Louvre shake for it,
138:
Were it the mistress-court of mighty Europe:
139:
And, be assured, you'll find a difference,
140:
As we his subjects have in wonder found,
141:
Between the promise of his greener days
142:
And these he masters now: now he weighs time
143:
Even to the utmost grain: that you shall read
144:
In your own losses, if he stay in France.
KING OF FRANCE
145:
To-morrow shall you know our mind at full.
EXETER
146:
Dispatch us with all speed, lest that our king
147:
Come here himself to question our delay;
148:
For he is footed in this land already.
KING OF FRANCE
149:
You shall be soon dispatch's with fair conditions:
150:
A night is but small breath and little pause
151:
To answer matters of this consequence.
Flourish. Exeunt
ACT III, PROLOGUE.
Enter Chorus
Chorus
001:
Thus with imagined wing our swift scene flies
002:
In motion of no less celerity
003:
Than that of thought.
Suppose that you have seen
004:
The well-appointed king at Hampton pier
005:
Embark his royalty; and his brave fleet
006:
With silken streamers the young Phoebus fanning:
007:
Play with your fancies, and in them behold
008:
Upon the hempen tackle ship-boys climbing;
009:
Hear the shrill whistle which doth order give
010:
To sounds confused; behold the threaden sails,
011:
Borne with the invisible and creeping wind,
012:
Draw the huge bottoms through the furrow'd sea,
013:
Breasting the lofty surge: O, do but think
014:
You stand upon the ravage and behold
015:
A city on the inconstant billows dancing;
016:
For so appears this fleet majestical,
017:
Holding due course to Harfleur. Follow, follow:
018:
Grapple your minds to sternage of this navy,
019:
And leave your England, as dead midnight still,
020:
Guarded with grandsires, babies and old women,
021:
Either past or not arrived to pith and puissance;
022:
For who is he, whose chin is but enrich'd
023:
With one appearing hair, that will not follow
024:
These cull'd and choice-drawn cavaliers to France?
025:
Work, work your thoughts, and therein see a siege;
026:
Behold the ordnance on their carriages,
027:
With fatal mouths gaping on girded Harfleur.
028:
Suppose the ambassador from the French comes back;
029:
Tells Harry that the king doth offer him
030:
Katharine his daughter, and with her, to dowry,
031:
Some petty and unprofitable dukedoms.
032:
The offer likes not: and the nimble gunner
033:
With linstock now the devilish cannon touches,
[Alarum, and chambers go off]
034:
And down goes all before them. Still be kind,
035:
And eke out our performance with your mind.
Exit
ACT III, SCENE I.
France. Before Harfleur.
Alarum. Enter KING HENRY, EXETER, BEDFORD, GLOUCESTER, and Soldiers, with scaling-ladders
KING HENRY V
001:
Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;
002:
Or close the wall up with our English dead.
003:
In peace there's nothing so becomes a man
004:
As modest stillness and humility:
005:
But when the blast of war blows in our ears,
006:
Then imitate the action of the tiger;
007:
Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood,
008:
Disguise fair nature with hard-favour'd rage;
009:
Then lend the eye a terrible aspect;
010:
Let pry through the portage of the head
011:
Like the brass cannon; let the brow o'erwhelm it
012:
As fearfully as doth a galled rock
013:
O'erhang and jutty his confounded base,
014:
Swill'd with the wild and wasteful ocean.
015:
Now set the teeth and stretch the nostril wide,
016:
Hold hard the breath and bend up every spirit
017:
To his full height. On, on, you noblest English.
018:
Whose blood is fet from fathers of war-proof!
019:
Fathers that, like so many Alexanders,
020:
Have in these parts from morn till even fought
021:
And sheathed their swords for lack of argument:
022:
Dishonour not your mothers; now attest
023:
That those whom you call'd fathers did beget you.
024:
Be copy now to men of grosser blood,
025:
And teach them how to war. And you, good yeoman,
026:
Whose limbs were made in England, show us here
027:
The mettle of your pasture; let us swear
028:
That you are worth your breeding; which I doubt not;
029:
For there is none of you so mean and base,
030:
That hath not noble lustre in your eyes.
031:
I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips,
032:
Straining upon the start. The game's afoot:
033:
Follow your spirit, and upon this charge
034:
Cry 'God for Harry, England, and Saint George!'
Exeunt. Alarum, and chambers go off
ACT III, SCENE II.
The same.
Enter NYM, BARDOLPH, PISTOL, and Boy
BARDOLPH
001:
On, on, on, on, on! to the breach, to the breach!
NYM
002:
Pray thee, corporal, stay: the knocks are too hot;
003:
and, for mine own part, I have not a case of lives:
004:
the humour of it is too hot, that is the very
005:
plain-song of it.
PISTOL
006:
The plain-song is most just: for humours do abound:
007:
Knocks go and come; God's vassals drop and die;
008:
And sword and shield,
009:
In bloody field,
010:
Doth win immortal fame.
Boy
011:
Would I were in an alehouse in London! I would give
012:
all my fame for a pot of ale and safety.
PISTOL
013:
And I:
014:
If wishes would prevail with me,
015:
My purpose should not fail with me,
016:
But thither would I hie.
Boy
017:
As duly, but not as truly,
018:
As bird doth sing on bough.
Enter FLUELLEN
FLUELLEN
019:
Up to the breach, you dogs! avaunt, you cullions!
Driving them forward
PISTOL
020:
Be merciful, great duke, to men of mould.
021:
Abate thy rage, abate thy manly rage,
022:
Abate thy rage , great duke!
023:
Good bawcock, bate thy rage; use lenity, sweet chuck!
NYM
024:
These be good humours! your honour wins bad humours.
Exeunt all but Boy
Boy
025:
As young as I am, I have observed these three
026:
swashers. I am boy to them all three: but all they
027:
three, though they would serve me, could not be man
028:
to me; for indeed three such antics do not amount to
029:
a man. For Bardolph, he is white-livered and
030:
red-faced; by the means whereof a' faces it out, but
031:
fights not. For Pistol, he hath a killing tongue
032:
and a quiet sword; by the means whereof a' breaks
033:
words, and keeps whole weapons. For Nym, he hath
034:
heard that men of few words are the best men; and
035:
therefore he scorns to say his prayers, lest a'
036:
should be thought a coward: but his few bad words
037:
are matched with as few good deeds; for a' never
038:
broke any man's head but his own, and that was
039:
against a post when he was drunk. They will steal
040:
any thing, and call it purchase. Bardolph stole a
041:
lute-case, bore it twelve leagues, and sold it for
042:
three half pence. Nym and Bardolph are sworn
043:
brothers in filching, and in Calais they stole a
044:
fire-shovel: I knew by that piece of service the
045:
men would carry coals. They would have me as
046:
familiar with men's pockets as their gloves or their
047:
handkerchers: which makes much against my manhood,
048:
if I should take from another's pocket to put into
049:
mine; for it is plain pocketing up of wrongs. I
050:
must leave them, and seek some better service:
051:
their villany goes against my weak stomach, and
052:
therefore I must cast it up.
Exit
Re-enter FLUELLEN, GOWER following
GOWER
053:
Captain Fluellen, you must come presently to the
054:
mines; the Duke of Gloucester would speak with you.
FLUELLEN
055:
To the mines! tell you the duke, it is not so good
056:
to come to the mines; for, look you, the mines is
057:
not according to the disciplines of the war: the
058:
concavities of it is not sufficient; for, look you,
059:
the athversary, you may discuss unto the duke, look
060:
you, is digt himself four yard under the
061:
countermines: by Cheshu, I think a' will plough up
062:
all, if there is not better directions.
GOWER
063:
The Duke of Gloucester, to whom the order of the
064:
siege is given, is altogether directed by an
065:
Irishman, a very valiant gentleman, i' faith.
FLUELLEN
066:
It is Captain Macmorris, is it not?
GOWER
067:
I think it be.
FLUELLEN
068:
By Cheshu, he is an ass, as in the world: I will
069:
verify as much in his beard: he has no more
070:
directions in the true disciplines of the wars, look
071:
you, of the Roman disciplines, than is a puppy-dog.
Enter MACMORRIS and Captain JAMY
GOWER
072:
Here a' comes; and the Scots captain, Captain Jamy, with him.
FLUELLEN
073:
Captain Jamy is a marvellous falourous gentleman,
074:
that is certain; and of great expedition and
075:
knowledge in th' aunchient wars , upon my particular
076:
knowledge of his directions: by Cheshu, he will
077:
maintain his argument as well as any military man in
078:
the world, in the disciplines of the pristine wars
079:
of the Romans.
JAMY
080:
I say gud-day, Captain Fluellen.
FLUELLEN
081:
God-den to your worship, good Captain James.
GOWER
082:
How now, Captain Macmorris! have you quit the
083:
mines? have the pioneers given o'er?
MACMORRIS
084:
By Chrish, la! tish ill done:
085:
over, the trompet sound the retreat. By my hand, I
086:
swear, and my father's soul, the work ish ill done;
087:
it ish give over: I would have blowed up the town, so
088:
Chrish save me, la! in an hour: O, tish ill done,
089:
tish ill done; by my hand, tish ill done!
FLUELLEN
090:
Captain Macmorris, I beseech you now, will you
091:
voutsafe me, look you, a few disputations with you,
092:
as partly touching or concerning the disciplines of
093:
the war , the Roman wars, in the way of argument,
094:
look you, and friendly communication;
partly to
095:
satisfy my opinion, and partly for the satisfaction,
096:
look you, of my mind, as touching the direction of
097:
the military discipline; that is the point.
JAMY
098:
It sall be vary gud, gud feith, gud captains bath:
099:
and I sall quit you with gud leve, as I may pick
100:
occasion; that sall I, marry.
MACMORRIS
101:
It is no time to discourse, so Chrish save me: the
102:
day is hot, and the weather, and the wars, and the
103:
king, and the dukes: it is no time to discourse. The
104:
town is beseeched, and the trumpet call us to the
105:
breach; and we talk, and, be Chrish, do nothing:
106:
'tis shame for us all: so God sa' me, 'tis shame to
107:
stand still; it is shame, by my hand: and there is
108:
throats to be cut, and works to be done; and there
109:
ish nothing done, so Chrish sa' me, la!
JAMY
110:
By the mess, ere theise eyes of mine take themselves
111:
to slomber, ay'll de gud service, or ay'll lig i'
112:
the grund for it; ay, or go to death; and ay'll pay
113:
't as valourously as I may, that sall I suerly do,
114:
that is the breff and the long. Marry, I wad full
115:
fain hear some question 'tween you tway.
FLUELLEN
116:
Captain Macmorris, I think, look you, under your
117:
correction, there is not many of your nation--
MACMORRIS
118:
Of my nation! What ish my nation? Ish a villain,
119:
and a bastard, and a knave, and a rascal. What ish
120:
my nation? Who talks of my nation?
FLUELLEN
121:
Look you, if you take the matter otherwise than is
122:
meant, Captain Macmorris, peradventure I shall think
123:
you do not use me with that affability as in
124:
discretion you ought to use me, look you: being as
125:
good a man as yourself , both in the disciplines of
126:
war, and in the derivation of my birth, and in
127:
other particularities.
MACMORRIS
128:
I do not know you so good a man as myself: so
129:
Chrish save me, I will cut off your head.
GOWER
130:
Gentlemen both, you will mistake each other.
JAMY
131:
A! that's a foul fault.
A parley sounded
GOWER
132:
The town sounds a parley.
FLUELLEN
133:
Captain Macmorris, when there is more better
134:
opportunity to be required, look you, I will be so
135:
bold as to tell you I know the disciplines of war;
136:
and there is an end.
Exeunt
ACT III, SCENE III.
The same. Before the gates.
The Governor and some Citizens on the walls; the English forces below. Enter KING HENRY and his train
KING HENRY V
001:
How yet resolves the governor of the town?
002:
This is the latest parle we will admit;
003:
Therefore to our best mercy give yourselves;
004:
Or like to men proud of destruction
005:
Defy us to our worst: for, as I am a soldier,
006:
A name that in my thoughts becomes me best,
007:
If I begin the battery once again,
008:
I will not leave the half-achieved Harfleur
009:
Till in her ashes she lie buried.
010:
The gates of mercy shall be all shut up,
011:
And the flesh'd soldier, rough and hard of heart,
012:
In liberty of bloody hand shall range
013:
With conscience wide as hell, mowing like grass
014:
Your fresh-fair virgins and your flowering infants.
015: What is it then to me, if impious war,
016: Array'd in flames like to the prince of fiends,
017: Do, with his smirch'd complexion, all fell feats
018: Enlink'd to waste and desolation?
019: What is't to me, when you yourselves are cause,
020: If your pure maidens fall into the hand
021: Of hot and forcing violation?
022: What rein can hold licentious wickedness
023: When down the hill he holds his fierce career?
024: We may as bootless spend our vain command
025: Upon the enraged soldiers in their spoil
026: As send precepts to the leviathan
027: To come ashore. Therefore, you men of Harfleur,
028:
Take pity of your town and of your people,
029:
Whiles yet my soldiers are in my command;
030:
Whiles yet the cool and temperate wind of grace
031:
O'erblows the filthy and contagious clouds
032:
Of heady murder, spoil and villany.
033:
If not, why, in a moment look to see
034:
The blind and bloody soldier with foul hand
035:
Defile the locks of your shrill-shrieking daughters;
036:
Your fathers taken by the silver beards,
037:
And their most reverend heads dash'd to the walls,
038:
Your naked infants spitted upon pikes,
039:
Whiles the mad mothers with their howls confused
040:
Do break the clouds , as did the wives of Jewry
041: At Herod's bloody-hunting slaughtermen.
042:
What say you? will you yield, and this avoid,
043:
Or, guilty in defence, be thus destroy'd?
GOVERNOR
044:
Our expectation hath this day an end:
045:
The Dauphin, whom of succors we entreated,
046:
Returns us that his powers are yet not ready
047:
To raise so great a siege. Therefore, great king,
048:
We yield our town and lives to thy soft mercy.
049:
Enter our gates; dispose of us and ours;
050:
For we no longer are defensible.
KING HENRY V
051:
Open your gates. Come, uncle Exeter,
052:
Go you and enter Harfleur; there remain,
053:
And fortify it strongly 'gainst the French:
054:
Use mercy to them all. For us, dear uncle,
055:
The winter coming on and sickness growing
056:
Upon our soldiers, we will retire to Calais.
057:
To-night in Harfleur we will be your guest;
058:
To-morrow for the march are we addrest.
Flourish. The King and his train enter the town
ACT III, SCENE IV....
:: bbcolivierbranagh
All three versions use 99%+ of the dialogue in this scene.
Might speak to Shakespeare's abilities as a writer of comedy... or to the lack of anything overly political in the scene.
The FRENCH KING's palace.
Enter KATHARINE and ALICE
KATHARINE
001:
Alice, tu as ete en Angleterre, et tu parles bien le langage.
ALICE
002:
Un peu, madame.
KATHARINE
003:
Je te prie, m'enseignez: il faut que j'apprenne a
004:
parler. Comment appelez-vous la main en Anglois?
ALICE
005:
La main? elle est appelee de hand.
KATHARINE
006:
De hand. Et les doigts?
ALICE
007:
Les doigts? ma foi, j'oublie les doigts; mais je me
008:
souviendrai. Les doigts? je pense qu'ils sont
009:
appeles de fingres; oui, de fingres.
KATHARINE
010:
La main, de hand; les doigts, de fingres. Je pense
011:
que je suis le bon ecolier; j'ai gagne deux mots
012:
d'Anglois vitement. Comment appelez-vous les ongles?
ALICE
013:
Les ongles? nous les appelons de nails.
KATHARINE
014:
De nails. Ecoutez; dites-moi, si je parle bien: de
015:
hand, de fingres, et de nails.
ALICE
016:
C'est bien dit, madame; il est fort bon Anglois.
KATHARINE
017:
Dites-moi l'Anglois pour le bras.
ALICE
018:
De arm, madame.
KATHARINE
019:
Et le coude?
ALICE
020:
De elbow.
KATHARINE
021:
De elbow. Je m'en fais la repetition de tous les
022:
mots que vous m'avez appris des a present.
ALICE
023:
Il est trop difficile, madame, comme je pense.
KATHARINE
024:
Excusez-moi, Alice; ecoutez: de hand, de fingres,
025:
de nails, de arma, de bilbow.
ALICE
026:
De elbow, madame.
KATHARINE
027:
O Seigneur Dieu, je m'en oublie! de elbow. Comment
028:
appelez-vous le col?
ALICE
029:
De neck, madame.
KATHARINE
030:
De nick. Et le menton?
ALICE
031:
De chin.
KATHARINE
032:
De sin. Le col, de nick; de menton, de sin.
ALICE
033:
Oui. Sauf votre honneur, en verite, vous prononcez
034:
les mots aussi droit que les natifs d'Angleterre.
KATHARINE
035:
Je ne doute point d'apprendre, par la grace de Dieu,
036:
et en peu de temps.
ALICE
037:
N'avez vous pas deja oublie ce que je vous ai enseigne?
KATHARINE
038:
Non, je reciterai a vous promptement: de hand, de
039:
fingres, de mails--
ALICE
040:
De nails, madame.
KATHARINE
041:
De nails, de arm, de ilbow.
ALICE
042:
Sauf votre honneur, de elbow.
KATHARINE
043:
Ainsi dis-je; de elbow, de nick, et de sin. Comment
044:
appelez-vous le pied et la robe?
ALICE
045:
De foot, madame; et de coun.
KATHARINE
046:
De foot et de coun! O Seigneur Dieu! ce sont mots
047:
de son mauvais, corruptible, gros, et impudique, et
048:
non pour les dames d'honneur d'user: je ne voudrais
049:
prononcer ces mots devant les seigneurs de France
050:
pour tout le monde. Foh! le foot et le coun!
051:
Neanmoins, je reciterai une autre fois ma lecon
052:
ensemble: de hand, de fingres, de nails, de arm, de
053:
elbow, de nick, de sin, de foot, de coun.
ALICE
054:
Excellent, madame!
KATHARINE
055:
C'est assez pour une fois: allons-nous a diner.
Exeunt
ACT III, SCENE V.
The same.
Enter the KING OF FRANCE, the DAUPHIN, the DUKE oF BOURBON, the Constable Of France, and others
KING OF FRANCE
001:
'Tis certain he hath pass'd the river Somme.
Constable
002:
And if he be not fought withal, my lord,
003:
Let us not live in France; let us quit all
004:
And give our vineyards to a barbarous people.
DAUPHIN
005:
O Dieu vivant! shall a few sprays of us,
006:
The emptying of our fathers' luxury,
007:
Our scions, put in wild and savage stock,
008:
Spirt up so suddenly into the clouds,
009:
And overlook their grafters?
BOURBON
g
branagh gives the following text to DAUPHIN.
Normans, but bastard Normans, Norman bastards!
010:
Normans, but bastard Normans, Norman bastards!
011:
Mort de ma vie! if they march along
012:
Unfought withal, but I will sell my dukedom,
013:
To buy a slobbery and a dirty farm
014:
In that nook-shotten isle of Albion.
Constable
g
branagh gives the following text to ORLEANS.
O, for honour of our land,
015:
Dieu de batailles! where have they this mettle?
016:
Is not their climate foggy, raw and dull,
017:
On whom, as in despite, the sun looks pale,
018:
Killing their fruit with frowns? Can sodden water,
019: A drench for sur-rein'd jades, their barley-broth,
020: Decoct their cold blood to such valiant heat?
021:
And shall our quick blood, spirited with wine,
022:
Seem frosty?
O, for honour of our land,
023: Let us not hang like roping icicles
024: Upon our houses' thatch, whiles a more frosty people
025: Sweat drops of gallant youth in our rich fields!
026: Poor we may call them in their native lords.
DAUPHIN
027:
By faith and honour,
028:
Our madams mock at us, and plainly say
029:
Our mettle is bred out and they will give
030:
Their bodies to the lust of English youth
031:
To new-store France with bastard warriors.
BOURBON
032: They bid us to the English dancing-schools,
033: And teach lavoltas high and swift corantos;
034: Saying our grace is only in our heels,
035: And that we are most lofty runaways.
KING OF FRANCE
036:
Where is Montjoy the herald? speed him hence:
037:
Let him greet England with our sharp defiance.
038:
Up, princes! and, with spirit of honour edged
039:
More sharper than your swords, hie to the field:
040: Charles Delabreth, high constable of France;
041: You Dukes of Orleans, Bourbon, and of Berri,
042: Alencon, Brabant, Bar, and Burgundy;
043: Jaques Chatillon, Rambures, Vaudemont,
044: Beaumont, Grandpre, Roussi, and Fauconberg,
045: Foix, Lestrale, Bouciqualt, and Charolois;
046: High dukes, great princes, barons, lords and knights,
047: For your great seats now quit you of great shames.
048:
Bar Harry England, that sweeps through our land
049:
With pennons painted in the blood of Harfleur:
050: Rush on his host, as doth the melted snow
051: Upon the valleys, whose low vassal seat
052: The Alps doth spit and void his rheum upon:
053:
Go down upon him, you have power enough,
054:
And in a captive chariot into Rouen
055:
Bring him our prisoner.
Constable
056:
This becomes the great.
057:
Sorry am I his numbers are so few,
058:
His soldiers sick and famish'd in their march,
059:
For I am sure, when he shall see our army,
060:
He'll drop his heart into the sink of fear
061:
And for achievement offer us his ransom.
KING OF FRANCE
062:
Therefore, lord constable, haste on Montjoy.
063:
And let him say to England that we send
064:
To know what willing ransom he will give.
065:
Prince Dauphin, you shall stay with us in Rouen.
DAUPHIN
066:
Not so, I do beseech your majesty.
KING OF FRANCE
067:
Be patient, for you shall remain with us.
068:
Now forth, lord constable and princes all,
069:
And quickly bring us word of England's fall.
Exeunt
ACT III, SCENE VI.
The English camp in Picardy.
Enter GOWER and FLUELLEN, meeting
GOWER
001:
How now, Captain Fluellen! come you from the bridge?
FLUELLEN
002:
I assure you, there is very excellent services
003:
committed at the bridge.
GOWER
004:
Is the Duke of Exeter safe?
FLUELLEN
005:
The Duke of Exeter is as magnanimous as Agamemnon;
006:
and a man that I love and honour with my soul, and my
007:
heart, and my duty, and my life, and my living, and
008:
my uttermost power: he is not-God be praised and
009:
blessed!--any hurt in the world; but keeps the
010:
bridge most valiantly, with excellent discipline.
011:
There is an aunchient lieutenant there at the
012:
pridge, I think in my very conscience he is as
013:
valiant a man as Mark Antony; and he is a man of no
014:
estimation in the world; but did see him do as
015:
gallant service.
GOWER
016:
What do you call him?
FLUELLEN
017:
He is called Aunchient Pistol.
GOWER
018:
I know him not.
Enter PISTOL
FLUELLEN
019:
Here is the man.
PISTOL
020:
Captain, I thee beseech to do me favours:
021:
The Duke of Exeter doth love thee well.
FLUELLEN
022:
Ay, I praise God; and I have merited some love at
023:
his hands.
PISTOL
024:
Bardolph, a soldier, firm and sound of heart,
025:
And of buxom valour, hath, by cruel fate,
026:
And giddy Fortune's furious fickle wheel,
027:
That goddess blind,
028:
That stands upon the rolling restless stone--
FLUELLEN
029:
By your patience, Aunchient Pistol. Fortune is
030:
painted blind, with a muffler afore her eyes, to
031:
signify to you that Fortune is blind; and she is
032:
painted also with a wheel, to signify to you, which
033:
is the moral of it, that she is turning, and
034:
inconstant, and mutability, and variation: and her
035:
foot, look you, is fixed upon a spherical stone,
036:
which rolls, and rolls, and rolls: in good truth,
037:
the poet makes a most excellent description of it:
038:
Fortune is an excellent moral.
PISTOL
039:
Fortune is Bardolph's foe, and frowns on him;
040:
For he hath stolen a pax, and hanged must a' be:
041:
A damned death!
042:
Let gallows gape for dog; let man go free
043:
And let not hemp his wind-pipe suffocate:
044:
But Exeter hath given the doom of death
045:
For pax of little price.
046:
Therefore, go speak: the duke will hear thy voice:
047:
And let not Bardolph's vital thread be cut
048:
With edge of penny cord and vile reproach:
049:
Speak, captain, for his life, and I will thee requite.
FLUELLEN
050:
Aunchient Pistol, I do partly understand your meaning.
PISTOL
051:
Why then, rejoice therefore.
FLUELLEN
052:
Certainly, aunchient, it is not a thing to rejoice
053:
at: for if, look you, he were my brother, I would
054:
desire the duke to use his good pleasure, and put
055:
him to execution; for discipline ought to be used.
PISTOL
056:
Die and be damn'd! and figo for thy friendship!
FLUELLEN
057: It is well.
PISTOL
058: The fig of Spain!
Exit
FLUELLEN
059: Very good.
GOWER
060:
Why, this is an arrant counterfeit rascal; I
061:
remember him now; a bawd, a cutpurse.
FLUELLEN
062: I'll assure you, a' uttered as brave words at the
063: bridge as you shall see in a summer's day. But it
064: is very well; what he has spoke to me, that is well,
065: I warrant you, when time is serve.
GOWER
066:
Why, 'tis a gull, a fool, a rogue, that now and then
067:
goes to the wars, to grace himself at his return
068:
into London under the form of a soldier. And such
069: fellows are perfect in the great commanders' names:
070: and they will learn you by rote where services were
071: done; at such and such a sconce, at such a breach,
072: at such a convoy; who came off bravely, who was
073: shot, who disgraced, what terms the enemy stood on;
074: and this they con perfectly in the phrase of war,
075: which they trick up with new-tuned oaths: and what
076: a beard of the general's cut and a horrid suit of
077:
the camp will do among foaming bottles and
078:
ale-washed wits, is wonderful to be thought on. But
079: you must learn to know such slanders of the age, or
080: else you may be marvellously mistook.
FLUELLEN
081:
I tell you what, Captain Gower; I do perceive he is
082:
not the man that he would gladly make show to the
083:
world he is: if I find a hole in his coat, I will
084:
tell him my mind.
[Drum heard]
085:
Hark you, the king is coming, and I must speak with
086:
him from the pridge.
[Drum and colours. Enter KING HENRY, GLOUCESTER, and Soldiers]
087:
God pless your majesty!
KING HENRY V
088:
How now, Fluellen! camest thou from the bridge?
FLUELLEN
089:
Ay, so please your majesty. The Duke of Exeter has
090:
very gallantly maintained the pridge: the French is
091:
gone off, look you; and there is gallant and most
092:
prave passages; marry, th' athversary was have
093:
possession of the pridge; but he is enforced to
094:
retire, and the Duke of Exeter is master of the
095:
pridge: I can tell your majesty, the duke is a
096:
prave man.
KING HENRY V
097:
What men have you lost, Fluellen?
FLUELLEN
098:
The perdition of th' athversary hath been very
099:
great, reasonable great: marry, for my part, I
100:
think the duke hath lost never a man, but one that
101:
is like to be executed for robbing a church, one
102:
Bardolph, if your majesty know the man: his face is
103:
all bubukles, and whelks, and knobs, and flames o'
104:
fire: and his lips blows at his nose, and it is like
105:
a coal of fire, sometimes plue and sometimes red;
106:
but his nose is executed and his fire's out.
KING HENRY V
107:
We would have all such offenders so cut off: and we
108:
give express charge, that in our marches through the
109:
country, there be nothing compelled from the
110:
villages, nothing taken but paid for, none of the
111:
French upbraided or abused in disdainful language;
112:
for when lenity and cruelty play for a kingdom, the
113:
gentler gamester is the soonest winner.
Tucket. Enter MONTJOY
MONTJOY
114:
You know me by my habit.
KING HENRY V
115:
Well then I know thee: what shall I know of thee?
MONTJOY
116:
My master's mind.
KING HENRY V
117:
Unfold it.
MONTJOY
118:
Thus says my king: Say thou to Harry of England:
119:
Though we seemed dead, we did but sleep:
advantage
120:
is a better soldier than rashness.
Tell him we
121:
could have rebuked him at Harfleur , but that we
122:
thought not good to bruise an injury till it were
123:
full ripe: now we speak upon our cue, and our voice
124:
is imperial: England shall repent his folly , see
125:
his weakness, and admire our sufferance. Bid him
126:
therefore consider of his ransom; which must
127:
proportion the losses we have borne, the subjects we
128:
have lost,
the disgrace we have digested;
which in
129:
weight to re-answer, his pettiness would bow under.
130:
For our losses, his exchequer is too poor; for the
131:
effusion of our blood, the muster of his kingdom too
132:
faint a number; and for our disgrace, his own
133:
person, kneeling at our feet, but a weak and
134:
worthless satisfaction.
To this add defiance: and
135:
tell him, for conclusion, he hath betrayed his
136:
followers, whose condemnation is pronounced. So far
137:
my king and master; so much my office.
KING HENRY V
138:
What is thy name? I know thy quality.
MONTJOY
139:
Montjoy.
KING HENRY V
140:
Thou dost thy office fairly. Turn thee back.
141:
And tell thy king I do not seek him now;
142:
But could be willing to march on to Calais
143:
Without impeachment: for, to say the sooth,
144:
Though 'tis no wisdom to confess so much
145:
Unto an enemy of craft and vantage,
146:
My people are with sickness much enfeebled,
147:
My numbers lessened, and those few I have
148:
Almost no better than so many French;
149:
Who when they were in health, I tell thee, herald,
150:
I thought upon one pair of English legs
151:
Did march three Frenchmen. Yet, forgive me, God,
152:
That I do brag thus! This your air of France
153:
Hath blown that vice in me: I must repent.
154:
Go therefore, tell thy master here I am;
155:
My ransom is this frail and worthless trunk,
156:
My army but a weak and sickly guard;
157:
Yet, God before, tell him we will come on,
158:
Though France himself and such another neighbour
159:
Stand in our way. There's for thy labour, Montjoy.
160:
Go bid thy master well advise himself:
161:
If we may pass, we will; if we be hinder'd,
162:
We shall your tawny ground with your red blood
163:
Discolour: and so Montjoy, fare you well.
164:
The sum of all our answer is but this:
165:
We would not seek a battle, as we are;
166:
Nor, as we are, we say we will not shun it:
167:
So tell your master.
MONTJOY
168:
I shall deliver so. Thanks to your highness.
Exit
GLOUCESTER
169:
I hope they will not come upon us now.
KING HENRY V
170:
We are in God's hand, brother, not in theirs.
171:
March to the bridge; it now draws toward night:
172:
Beyond the river we'll encamp ourselves,
173:
And on to-morrow, bid them march away.
Exeunt
ACT III, SCENE VII.
The French camp, near Agincourt:
Enter the Constable of France, the LORD RAMBURES, ORLEANS, DAUPHIN, with others
Constable
001:
Tut! I have the best armour of the world. Would it were day!
ORLEANS
002:
You have an excellent armour; but let my horse have his due.
Constable
003:
It is the best horse of Europe.
ORLEANS
004:
Will it never be morning?
DAUPHIN
005:
My lord of Orleans, and my lord high constable, you
006:
talk of horse and armour?
ORLEANS
007:
You are as well provided of both as any prince in the world.
DAUPHIN
008:
What a long night is this! I will not change my
009:
horse with any that treads but on four pasterns.
010:
Ca, ha! he bounds from the earth, as if his
011:
entrails were hairs; le cheval volant, the Pegasus,
012:
chez les narines de feu!
When I bestride him, I
013:
soar, I am a hawk: he trots the air; the earth
014:
sings when he touches it; the basest horn of his
015:
hoof is more musical than the pipe of Hermes.
ORLEANS
016:
He's of the colour of the nutmeg.
DAUPHIN
017:
And of the heat of the ginger. It is a beast for
018:
Perseus:
he is pure air and fire; and the dull
019:
elements of earth and water never appear in him, but
020:
only in Patient stillness while his rider mounts
021:
him: he is indeed a horse; and all other jades you
022:
may call beasts.
Constable
023:
Indeed, my lord, it is a most absolute and excellent horse.
DAUPHIN
024:
It is the prince of palfreys; his neigh is like the
025:
bidding of a monarch and his countenance enforces homage.
ORLEANS
026:
No more, cousin.
DAUPHIN
027:
Nay, the man hath no wit that cannot, from the
028:
rising of the lark to the lodging of the lamb, vary
029:
deserved praise on my palfrey: it is a theme as
030:
fluent as the sea: turn the sands into eloquent
031:
tongues, and my horse is argument for them all:
032:
'tis a subject for a sovereign to reason on, and for
033:
a sovereign's sovereign to ride on; and for the
034:
world, familiar to us and unknown to lay apart
035:
their particular functions and wonder at him. I
036:
once writ a sonnet in his praise and began thus:
037:
'Wonder of nature,'--
ORLEANS
038:
I have heard a sonnet begin so to one's mistress.
DAUPHIN
039:
Then did they imitate that which I composed to my
040:
courser, for my horse is my mistress.
ORLEANS
041: Your mistress bears well.
DAUPHIN
042: Me well; which is the prescript praise and
043: perfection of a good and particular mistress.
Constable
044: