KING HENRY V 
 
The RICHARD MANSFIELD 
 
 Acting Version of 
 KING HENRY V 
 
Copyright by 
 ROSE & SANDS 
 
THE RICHARD MANSFIELD 
 ACTING VERSION OF 
 
 KING HENRY V 
 
 A History in Five ASls 
 by 
 
 W IS Shakespeare 
 
 \ - 
 
 version 'was for the jirst time 
 
 presented by M? RICH? MANSFIELD 
 
 & his Company of Players 
 
 on the STAGE of the 
 
 GARDEN THEATRE 
 
 Oftober 3^ 
 
 M C M 
 
 NEW Y O R K : 
 
 M9CLURE, PHILLIPS & C 
 
 M , CM. & I , 
 
COPYRIGHT, 1901, by 
 McCLURE, PHILLIPS & CO. 
 
An INTRODUCTION 
 
 By MR MANSFIELD 
 
 M39334 
 
|ENRY V. can hardly be termed a flay 
 it is rather an Epic or a chronicle, 
 in a series of stirring scenes, of the in- 
 vasion of France by the King of Eng- 
 land and the wooing and betrothal of 
 the Princess Katherine. As the latter 
 episode only occupies a portion of the 
 last act, the work may be said to be 
 lacking in what is technically termed 
 " love interest" But, on the other hand, the inducements 
 that led me to produce Henry F. were a consideration 
 of its healthy and virile tone ( 'so diametrically in contrast 
 to many of the performances now current} ; the nobility 
 of its language, the breadth and power of which is not 
 equalled by any living poet; the lesson it teaches of God- 
 liness, honour, loyalty, courage, cheerfulness and perse- 
 verance its beneficial influence upon young and old the 
 opportunity it affords for a pictorial representation of the 
 costumes and armour, manners and customs, of that inter- 
 esting period, and perhaps a desire to prove that the 
 American stage is, even under difficulties, quite able to 
 
An INTRODUCTION by RICHARD MANSFIELD 
 
 hold its own artistically with the European, fhe ambi- 
 tion of my stage career has been to prove the superiority 
 of the American stage and the American actor, and I 
 maintain that to-day against all those who pretend the 
 contrary. But perhaps I was influenced beyond any other 
 reason by the desire to drag Henry V. out of a slough of 
 false impressions that had materially affected his imper- 
 sonation upon the stage, tfhis role had for a long time 
 been considered as requiring on the part of the actor 
 nothing more than a healthy pair of lungs. Henry was 
 not supposed to make any claims upon the intelligence or 
 the heart of the artist. He (as an acting partj was 
 supposed to be devoid of sentiment, finesse, variety and 
 feeling. Let us see how far this is the case, tfhe stu- 
 dent who approaches the character of Henry with a view 
 to impersonation, will consider him, in looking with my 
 eyes, somewhat in this fashion : in the first act, in order 
 not to disconnect the chain that still binds him to the 
 Prince Hal of the preceding play, we must find him 
 youthful, debonair, gracious and yet with a new-born 
 kingliness and tact and state-craft, -which even after the 
 utterances of the archbishop, surprise and interest. In 
 the subsequent scene, on the quay at Southampton, in the 
 unmasking of the three traitors, Cambridge, Scroop, and 
 Grey, and especially in his address to his former bosom 
 friend, Scroop, we at once strike a note of profound mel- 
 ancholy and pathos : " ^hou that didst bear the key of all 
 my counsels? Henry in his roystering days had come 
 upon deceit and villainy and venality, but this was where 
 he might naturally expect it; here, for the first time, 
 and in the very beginning of his reign, he stumbles upon 
 treachery so hideous and lying so near to his heart, as 
 may well have shaken his very soul, ^fhis awakening, 
 his horror and his grief, cannot be expressed by mere 
 noise. We next find him exhorting his soldiers in clarion 
 tones, or depicting to the city-fathers of Harfleur in lurid 
 
 (xii) 
 
An INTRODUCTION by RICHARD MANSFIELD 
 
 colors ( 'worthy of an actor, a poet and a painter J the 
 horrors that would attend the pillage of their city. 
 
 Tou will note that Henry is commencing to exhibit the 
 many sides of a very versatile character, in the first act 
 he was not at all what he was in the second, and now in 
 the third we have him again in two different roles : first 
 as the brilliant captain and magnetic leader of men, and 
 then as a very wily and eloquent pleader, for lie infuses 
 such terror into the minds of the citizens that they are 
 moved to surrender the town then and there, instead of 
 protracting the siege a course which might have been 
 fatal to Henry. Indeed throughout this work we find 
 Henry constantly swaying men by his reasoning and his 
 powers of eloquence. He very rarely throws aside the 
 mantle of the King and the manner of the good fellow and 
 comrade, until the opportunity occurs in the fourth act. 
 Here at last alone at night by the camp-fire he and his 
 bosom debate awhile, and he is led to speak of the empti- 
 ness of royalty and ceremony, ^his speech, which ranks 
 with the finest of Shakespeare's, is one which to-day is 
 almost beyond the comprehension of the average man. 
 Indeed it is interesting to observe that it is not much ap- 
 plauded for the reason that it is spoken entirely from the 
 point of view of a king and kings happen to be in a 
 minority as the world is constituted to-day. In this solil- 
 oquy Henry refers to the fact that kings do not sleep as 
 well as the wretched slave fihe working-man} "who 
 with a body fiWd and vacant mind gets him to rest, 
 cramm'd with distressful bread" and furthermore says 
 that " such a wretch, winding up days with toil and 
 nights with sleep, had the fore-hand and vantage of a 
 king" As ninety-nine out of a hundred men sweat in 
 the eye ofPhcebus all day and wind up days of toil with 
 nights of sleep, we cannot expect much sympathy from 
 them for the lamentations of Henry. And we must re- 
 member that when Shakespeare wrote, affairs were man- 
 
 (xiii) 
 
An INTRODUCTION by RICHARD MANSFIELD 
 
 aged very differently. Merchants were not princes then. 
 Nobility and blood were everything. And a Gentleman 
 made his fortune in the battle-field and by the grace of his 
 sovereign. Again, the student, unless he is very careful 
 in his interpretation, will run upon a rock in Henry's 
 very beautiful prayer, " God of Battles," etc. My 
 favourite stage motto is : " II faut excuser Pauteur " 
 by this I mean that, no matter how great the author, the 
 actor must often disguise him and in a manner excuse 
 him to his audience. If we come to consider this prayer 
 of Henry's calmly, we find him reminding God of what 
 he, Henry, has done to deserve His favour and promising 
 to do something more if God will favour him upon that 
 day. He tells God that he has five hundred poor in 
 yearly pay and that he has built two chantries and he 
 will do still more if God will help him to thrash the 
 French, ^fhis was all then the custom of those times. It 
 was child-like faith and simplicity. But the actor's fer- 
 vour, intensity, and simple treatment of this prayer must go 
 largely towards helping out the author to-day, tfhe most 
 popular speech with the audience is the "St. Crispin," 
 because it is easily understood by everybody, tfhere are 
 no pitfalls here. It needs only a breezy, wholesome, and 
 whole-hearted delivery. In the last act I recommend an 
 earnest, manly wooing of Princess Katherine, as I recom- 
 mend to everybody an earnest, manly wooing of anybody 
 that anybody wants to woo. If the actor has a slight 
 appreciation of humour, " tant mieux." 
 
 RICHARD MANSFIELD. 
 
 (xiv) 
 
KING HENRY V 
 
A LiisTofttie PERSONS of the PLAY 
 
 "Together with the names of the Ladies and 
 
 Gentlemen who impersonate them 
 
 in the present production of 
 
 KING HENRY V. 
 
 KING HENRY V Mr Richard Mansfield 
 
 The DUKE of GLOSTER, brother of HENRY V ... Mr Ernest Warde 
 The DUKE of BEDFORD, brother of HENRY V . . Mr Malcolm Duncan 
 The DUKE ^CLARENCE, brother of HENRY V. . Mr B. W. Winter 
 
 The DUKE of EXETER, uncle of HENRY V Mr John Malone 
 
 The DUKE 0/*YoRK, cousin of HENRY V Mr Arthur Stanford 
 
 The EARL 0/* WESTMORELAND Mr C. C. Quimby 
 
 The EARL */ SUFFOLK Mr E. H. Sheilds 
 
 The EARL ^WARWICK Mr William Sorelle 
 
 The EARL of SALISBURY Mr G. H. Davis 
 
 The EARL of MARCH Mr J. H. Lee 
 
 The EARL of CAMBRIDGE . . ") conspirators C . . . Mr C. H. Geldart 
 LORD SCROOP of MASHAM . >- against \ Mr Woodward Barrett 
 
 Sir THOMAS GREY J HENRY V ( Mr F. C. Butler 
 
 ARCHBISHOP of CANTERBURY Mr John C. Dixon 
 
 BISHOP of ELY Mr Salesbury Cash 
 
 LORD FANHOPE Mr J. F. Hussey 
 
 Sir JOHN BLOUNT Mr W. J. Green 
 
 Sir JOHN ASHETON Mr M. Hutchinson 
 
 Sir JOHN MOWBRAY Mr William Robbins 
 
 STANLEY Mr W. E. Peters 
 
 Sir THOMAS ERPINGHAM . ^j ( Mr James L. Carhart 
 
 GOWER I officers in Mr J. Palmer Collins 
 
 FLUELLEN I HENRY V.'s J Mr A. G. Andrews 
 
 MACMORRIS army Mr Chas. J. Edmonds 
 
 JAMEY J ^ Mr Augustine Duncan 
 
 WILLIAMS, soldier in HENRY V.'s army Mr Joseph Whiting 
 
 BATES, soldier in HENRY V.'s army Mr J. A. Wilkes 
 
 PISTOL ") soldiers in HENRY V. 's C . . . Mr W. N. Griffith 
 
 NYM v army, formerly servants -j . . Mr Wallace Jackson 
 
 BARDOLPH . . . ) to Falstaff ( . . . Mr B. W. Turner 
 
 BOY, servant to above Miss Dorothy Chester 
 
 ENGLISH HERALD Mr P. J. Rollow 
 
 CHARLES the SIXTH, King of France Mr Sheridan Block 
 
 LEWIS, tbe Dauphin ^France Mr A. Berthelet 
 
 (xvii) 
 
A LIST of the PERSONS of the PLAY 
 
 The DUKE of BURGUNDY Mr Mervyn Dallas 
 
 The DUKE of ORLEANS Mr Richard Sterling 
 
 The DUKE of BOURBON Mr Clement Toole 
 
 The CONSTABLE of FRANCE Mr Prince Lloyd 
 
 The DUKE of ALENON Mr P. W. Thompson 
 
 LORD RAMBURES Mr E. H. Vincent 
 
 LORD GRANDPRE Mr W. H. Brown 
 
 ARCHBISHOP of SENS Mr J. E. Gordon 
 
 ARCHBISHOP of BOURGES .- Mr Bouic Clark 
 
 GOVERNOR of HARFLEUR Mr Stanley Jessup 
 
 MONTJOY, French Herald Mr Edwin Brewster 
 
 FRENCH SOLDIER Mr F. Gaillard 
 
 FRENCH MESSENGER Mr Edwin L. Belden 
 
 CHORUS Miss Florence Kahn 
 
 ISABEL, Queen of France Miss Georgine Brandon 
 
 PRINCESS KATHERINE, daughter of CHARLES and 
 
 ISABEL . -, Mile Ida Brassey 
 
 ALICE, lady attending PRINCESS KATHERINE . . . Mile Susanne Santje 
 DAME QUICKLY, a hostess, and PISTOL'S wife. . Miss Estelle Mortimer 
 
 Civic and Ecclesiastical Dignitaries, Knights, Nobles, Pages, Ladies 
 of the Court and other Attendants, Soldiers, Citizens, 5*c. 
 
 (xviii) 
 
K.HENRY, v. 
 
 of '^7 
 
ACT ONE 
 
 of K i N G HENRY V 
 
 Prologue 
 RUMOUR appears as Chorus (i) 
 O for a muse of fire, that would ascend 
 The brightest heaven of invention ! 
 A kingdom for a stage, princes to act, 
 And monarchs to behold the swelling scene ! 
 Then should the warlike Harry, like himself, 
 Assume the port (2) of Mars ; and, at his heels, 
 Leash'd in like hounds, should famine, sword, and 
 
 fire, (3) 
 
 Crouch for employment. 
 Suppose, within the girdle of these walls 
 Are now confin'd two mighty monarchies, 
 Whose high upreared and abutting fronts 
 The perilous, narrow ocean parts asunder. 
 Piece out our imperfections with your thoughts; 
 Into a thousand parts divide one man, 
 And make imaginary puissance : 
 Think, when we talk of horses, that you see them 
 Printing their proud hoofs i' the receiving earth : 
 For 'tis your thoughts that now must deck our kings, 
 Carry them here and there, jumping o'er times, 
 Turning the accomplishment of many years 
 Into an hour-glass ; for the which supply, 
 Admit me Chorus to this history. 
 
 4I.(i) Chorus is used only four times by Shakespeare : in King Henry V., 
 Rumour ; in Romeo and Juliet ; in Winter's Tale, Time ; and in Timon 
 of Athens, Gower. Though Shakespeare denominates " Rumour as 
 Chorus " in King Henry V., Charles Kean departed from that character- 
 ization and introduced "Clio, Muse of History, as Chorus," and other 
 productions have borrowed the idea of " Father Time, as Chorus" from 
 Winter's Tale. (2) That is, deportment, carriage. From the French 
 portie. (3) Holinshed says that Henry V. declared to the people of 
 Rouen "that the goddesse of battell, called Bellona, had three handmaid- 
 ens, ever of necessitie attending upon her, as blood, fire, and famine." 
 
KING HENRY the FIFTH 
 
 The FIRST Scene 
 
 (A Corridor in the Palace at Westminster) 
 
 QEmer, from Left, the ARCHBISHOP of CANTER- 
 BURY (i) and' the BISHOP ^ELY (2) 
 
 CANTERBURY (Left Centre) 
 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 (3) and unquiet time 
 Did push it out of farther question. 
 
 ELY (Right Centre) 
 But how, my lord, shall we resist it now *? 
 
 CANTERBURY 
 
 It must be thought on. If it pass against us, 
 We lose the better half of our possession ; 
 For all the temporal lands which men devout 
 By testament have given to the church 
 Would they strip from us. Thus runs the bill. 
 
 ELY 
 This would drink deep. 
 
 CANTERBURY 
 'Twould drink the cup and all. 
 
 ELY 
 But what prevention ? 
 
 CANTERBURY 
 The king is full of grace and fair regard. 
 
 ELY 
 And a true lover of holy church. 
 
 C.C 1 ) Henry Chicheley, a Carthusian monk, recently promoted to that see. 
 (2) John Fordham, consecrated 1388, died 1426. (3) Scrambling, ac- 
 cording to Percy. The time when authority is unrespected, says Knight. 
 
ACT ONE : The FIRST Scene 
 
 CANTERBURY 
 
 The courses of his youth promis'd it not. 
 The breath no sooner left his father's body,(i) 
 But that his wildness, mortified in him, 
 Seem'd to die too ; yea, at that very moment 
 Consideration, like an angel, came 
 And whipp'd the offending Adam out of him, 
 Leaving his body as a paradise 
 To envelope and contain celestial spirits. 
 
 ELY 
 
 We are blessed in the change. 
 CANTERBURY 
 
 Hear him but reason in divinity, 
 And, all-admiring, with an inward wish 
 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 : 
 List his discourse of war, and you shall hear 
 A fearful battle rendered you in music : 
 Turn him to any cause of policy, 
 The Gordian knot of it he will unloose, 
 Familiar as his garter: that, when he speaks, 
 The air, a 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(2) part of life 
 Must be the mistress to this theoric (3) : 
 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, 
 
 C,( r ) There is a theory among historians that Prince Hal assumed his 
 wildness of the Boar's Head days to dissipate the jealousy and regicidal 
 fears of his father, King Henry IV. (2) Practical. (3) Theory. 
 
KING HENRY the FIFTH 
 
 Any retirement, any sequestration 
 From open haunts and popularity. 
 
 ELY 
 
 The strawberry grows underneath the nettle, 
 And wholesome berries thrive and ripen best 
 Neighboured by fruit of baser quality: 
 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 (i) in his faculty. 
 
 CANTERBURY 
 
 It must be so ; for miracles are ceas'd, 
 
 And therefore we must needs admit the means 
 
 How things are perfected. 
 
 ELY 
 
 But, my good lord, 
 How now for mitigation of this bill 
 Urg'd by the commons *? Doth his majesty 
 Incline to it, or no*? 
 
 CANTERBURY 
 
 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 
 And in regard of causes now in hand, 
 Which I have open'd to his grace at large, 
 As touching France, to give a greater sum 
 Than ever at one time the clergy yet 
 Did to his predecessors part withal. 
 
 C.(i) Increasing. Only use of crescive by Shakespeare. 
 (4) 
 
ACT ONE : The FIRST Scene 
 
 ELY 
 How did this offer seem receiv'd, my lord ? 
 
 CANTERBURY 
 
 With good acceptance of his majesty; 
 
 Save that there was not time enough to hear, 
 
 As I perceiv'd his grace would fain have done, 
 
 The severals and unhidden passages 
 
 Of his true titles to some certain dukedoms, 
 
 And generally to the crown and seat of France 
 
 Deriv'd from Edward, his great-grandfather. 
 
 ELY 
 
 What was th' impediment that broke this off? 
 CANTERBURY 
 
 The French ambassador upon that instant 
 Crav'd audience ; and the hour, I think, is come, 
 To give him hearing. Is it four o'clock ? 
 
 ELY 
 It is. 
 
 CANTERBURY (crossing to Right) 
 
 Then we go in, to know his embassy, 
 Which I could with a ready guess declare, 
 Before the Frenchman speak a word of it. 
 
 ELY 
 
 I'll wait upon you, and I long to hear it. 
 
 (Exeunt Right.) 
 
KING HENRY the FIFTH 
 
 c fhe SECOND Scene 
 
 ('The throne Room in the Palace at Westminster various 
 
 Lords and ecclesiastics in attendance, Right 
 
 and Left of throned) 
 
 QEnter, from Left, KING HENRY, (i) BEDFORD, (2) 
 GLOSTER, (3) EXETER (4) and WESTMORELAND, pre- 
 ceded by WARWICK bearing the crown of St. Edward, 
 the bearers of the swords of State and Justice, a her- 
 ald, (5) trumpeters, pages and attendants. THE KING 
 ascends the throne. 
 
 KING HENRY 
 Where is my gracious lord of Canterbury '? 
 
 EXETER 
 Not here in presence. 
 
 KING HENRY 
 Send for him, good uncle. 
 
 WESTMORELAND 
 
 (Kneeling before throned) Shall we call in the ambas- 
 sador, my liege ? 
 
 C.C 1 ) Henry the V. of that name, and sone of Henry the IIII., began his 
 reygne over this realme of Englande ye xxi day of the moneth of Marche. 
 * * * This man, before ye deth of his fader, applyed hym unto all 
 vyce and insolency, and drewe unto hym all ryottours and wylde dysposed 
 persones ; but after he was admytted to the rule of the lande, anone and 
 sodaynly he became a newe man, and tourned all that rage and wyldnes 
 into sobernesse and wyse sadnesse, and the vyce into constant vertue. 
 Fa by an. He was Duke of Lancaster and Earl of Chester and Derby. 
 Tyler. (2) John, Duke of Bedford, was the third son of King Henry 
 IV., and his brother, Henry V., left to him the Regency of France. He 
 died in the year 1435. This duke was accounted one of the best generals 
 of the royal race of Plantagenet. (3) Humphrey, Duke of Gloster, was 
 the fourth son of King Henry IV., and on the death of his brother, 
 Henry V., became Regent of England. It is generally supposed he was 
 strangled. His death took place in the year 1446. (4) Thomas Beaufort, 
 Earl of Dorset, half brother to King Henry IV., hence uncle of Henry 
 V. He was made Duke of Exeter after the Battle of Agincourt. Lord 
 High Admiral. (5) William Burgess, herald, afterward Garter. 
 
 (6) 
 
ACT ONE: The SECOND Scene 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 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. 
 
 f[Enter,from Right, the ARCHBISHOP of CANTERBURY 
 and the BISHOP of ELY. tfhey kneel at right before throne. 
 
 CANTERBURY 
 
 God and his angels guard your sacred throne, 
 And make you long become it. 
 
 (CANTERBURY and ELY rise.) 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 Sure, we thank you, 
 
 My learned lord, we pray you to proceed 
 And justly and religiously unfold, 
 Why the law Salique,(i) that they have in France, 
 Or should, or should not, bar us in our claim. 
 And heaven forbid, my dear and faithful lord, 
 That you should fashion, wrest, or bow your reading, 
 Or nicely charge your understanding soul (2) 
 With opening titles miscreate, (3) whose right 
 Suits not in native colours with the truth; 
 For God doth know how many now in health 
 Shall drop their blood in approbation 
 Of what your reverence shall incite us to. 
 Therefore take heed how you impawn(4) our person, 
 How you awake our sleeping sword of war. 
 We charge you, in the name of Heaven, take heed : 
 For never two such kingdoms did contend 
 
 According to this law no woman was permitted to govern or be a 
 queen in her own right. The title was only allowed to the wife of the 
 monarch. This law was imported from Germany by the warlike Franks. 
 (2) The meaning of these two lines is given by Dr. Johnson : " Take 
 heed, lest, by nice and subtle sophistry, you burthen your knowing soul, 
 with the guilt of advancing a false title, or of maintaining, by specious 
 fallacies, a claim which, if shown in its native and true colors, would 
 appear to be false." (3) Spurious. (4) Engage. 
 
 (7) 
 
KING HENRY the FIFTH 
 
 Without much fall of blood ; whose guiltless drops 
 Are every one a woe, a sore complaint, 
 'Gainst him whose wrongs gives edge unto the swords 
 That make such waste in brief mortality. 
 Under this conjuration, speak, my lord ; 
 For we will hear, note, and believe in heart 
 That what you speak is in your conscience wash'd 
 As pure as sin with baptism. 
 
 CANTERBURY 
 
 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, 
 " No woman shall succeed in Salique land ; " 
 Which Salique land the French unjustly gloze(l) 
 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 of Salique is in Germany, 
 Between the floods of Sala and of Elbe.(2) 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 May I, with right and conscience, make this claim ? 
 CANTERBURY 
 
 The sin upon my head, dread sovereign ! 
 For in the Book of Numbers(3) it is writ, 
 When the man dies, let the inheritance 
 Descend unto the daughter. Gracious lord, 
 Stand for your own ; unwind your bloody flag ; 
 Look back into your mighty ancestors : 
 
 C.(i) Explain. (2) Floods, i.e., rivers. The Archbishop's speech in 
 this scene, explaining King Henry's title to the crown of France, is 
 closely copied from Holinshed's chronicle, page 545. (3) See Numbers 
 xxvii. 8. 
 
ACT ONE : The SECOND Scene 
 
 Go, my dread lord, to your great grandsire's (i) 
 
 tomb, 
 
 From whom you claim ; invoke his warlike spirit, 
 And your great-uncle's, Edward the Black Prince ; 
 Who on the French ground play'd a tragedy, 
 Making defeat on the full power of France ; 
 Whiles his most mighty father on a hill 
 Stood smiling, to behold his lion's whelp 
 Forage in blood of French nobility.(2) 
 
 ELY 
 
 Awake remembrance of these valiant dead, 
 And with your puissant arm renew their feats. 
 You are their heir, you sit upon their throne ; 
 The blood and courage, that renowned them, 
 Runs in your veins ; and my thrice-puissant liege 
 Is in the very May-morn of his youth, 
 Ripe for exploits and mighty enterprises. 
 
 EXETER 
 
 Your brother kings and monarchs of the earth 
 Do all expect that you should rouse yourself, 
 As did the former lions of your blood. 
 
 WESTMORELAND 
 They know your grace hath cause, and means and 
 
 might : 
 
 So hath your highness ; never king of England 
 Had nobles richer, and more loyal subjects ; 
 Whose hearts have left their bodies here in England, 
 And lie pavilion'd in the fields of France. 
 
 KING HENRY 
 Call in the messengers sent from the Dauphin. 
 
 (Exit Herald and Trumpeters Right.) 
 Now we are resolved ; and, by Heaven's help 
 
 C.(i) Edward III. (2) The allusion is to the battle of Cressy, fought 
 August 25th, 1346. 
 
 (9) 
 
KING HENRY the FIFTH 
 
 And yours, the noble sinews of our power, 
 France being ours, we'll bend it to our awe, 
 Or break it all to pieces ; there we'll sit, 
 Ruling in large and ample empery(i) 
 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 
 Speak freely of our acts, or else our grave, 
 Like Turkish mute, shall have a songless mouth, 
 Not worshipp'd with a waxen epitaph. (2) 
 
 ARCHBISHOP of CANTERBURY and the BISHOP 
 <?/~ELY ascend the throne and sit either side of the KING. 
 *fhe attendants relieve them of their crosiers. 
 
 4[Enter,from Right, the ARCHBISHOP of BOURGES, the 
 CONSTABLE of FRANCE and other French Amhassa- 
 dors, (3) with attendants carrying a treasure chest, cov- 
 ered wiih a velvet cloth sprinkled with rleur-de-lys. fhe 
 bearers deposit the chest at the foot of the throne and re- 
 tire Right. 
 
 Now are we well prepared to know the pleasure 
 Of our fair cousin Dauphin ; for, we hear, 
 Your greeting is from him, not from the king. 
 
 BOURGES 
 
 May't please your majesty to give us leave 
 Freely to render what we have in charge ; 
 Or shall we sparingly show you far off 
 The Dauphin's meaning, and our embassy^ 
 
 C,(i) Kingdom, from empere, old French. (2) Perishable epitaph. 
 (3) The charge of this Ambassade was committed unto the Erie of Ven- 
 dosme to Mayster Bouratier, Archbyshop of Bourgues. * * * And the 
 King, sitting under his cloth of Estate, the said Ambassador had accesse 
 unto him. Stow. Une ambassade compose'e des Comtes de Vendome 
 et de Tancarville, de 1'archeveque de Bourges, de 1'e'veque de Lisieux et 
 d'aucuns autres du grand conseil. Recordes de St. Denis, 6, xxxiv. 
 
 (10) 
 
ACT ONE : The SECOND Scene 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 We are no tyrant, but a Christian king ; 
 Unto whose grace our passion is as subject 
 As are our wretches fetter'd in our prisons: 
 Therefore, with frank and with uncurbed plainness 
 Tell us the Dauphin's mind. 
 
 BOURGES 
 
 Thus, then, in few. 
 
 Your highness, lately sending into France, 
 Did claim some certain dukedoms, in the right 
 Of your great predecessor, King Edward the Third, 
 In answer of which claim, the prince our master 
 Says that you savour too much of your youth, (i) 
 And bids you be advis'd there's nought in France 
 That can be with a nimble galliard(2) won : 
 You cannot revel into dukedoms there. 
 He therefore sends you, meeter for your spirit, 
 This tun of treasure ; and, in lieu of this, 
 Desires you, let the dukedoms that you claim 
 Hear no more of you. This the Dauphin speaks. 
 
 KING HENRY 
 What treasure, uncle ? 
 
 draws back the cloth disclosing a box of ten- 
 nis-balls. tfhe discovery creates a sensation among the 
 English nobles. 
 
 EXETER 
 Tennis-balls, my liege ! 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 We are glad the Dauphin is so pleasant with us ; 
 His present, and your pains, we thank you for. 
 
 C,(i) King Henry V. was born August 9, 1388. The campaign against 
 France began in the summer of 1415. Henry was then in his twenty- 
 seventh year. (2) A French dance. 
 
KING HENRY the FIFTH 
 
 When we have match'd our rackets to these balls, 
 We will in France, by Heaven's grace, play a set 
 Shall strike his father's crown into the hazard : 
 Tell him, he hath made a match with such a wrangler, 
 That all the courts of France will be disturb'd 
 With chaces.(i) And we understand him well, 
 How he comes o'er us with our wilder days, 
 Not measuring what use we made of them. 
 We never valued this poor seat of England, 
 And therefore, living hence, did give ourself 
 To barbarous license ; as 't is ever common 
 That men are merriest when they are from home. 
 But tell the Dauphin I will keep my state, 
 Be like a king, and show my sail of greatness 
 When I do rouse me in my throne of France : 
 For that I have laid by my majesty 
 And plodded like a man for working-days, 
 But I will rise there with so full a glory 
 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; (2) and his soul 
 Shall stand sore charged for the wasteful vengeance 
 That shall fly with them : for many a thousand widows 
 Shall this his mock mock out of their dear husbands, 
 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. 
 But this lies all within the will of God, 
 To whom I do appeal ; and in whose name, 
 Tell you the Dauphin, I am coming on 
 To venge me as I may, and to put forth 
 My rightful hand in a well-hallow'd cause. 
 
 C,U) The spot where a ball must fall in the game of tennis, beyond which 
 the adversary must strike his ball to gain a point, or chace. (2) Cannon 
 balls were at first made of stone. 
 
ACT ONE : The SECOND Scene 
 
 So, get you hence in peace ; and tell the Dauphin, 
 His jest will savour but of shallow wit, 
 When thousands weep, more than did laugh at it. 
 Convey them with safe conduct. Fare you well. 
 
 (Exeunt Ambassadors and Attendants escorted 
 
 by the English herald.) 
 
 EXETER 
 This was a merry message. 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 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; (i) 
 Save those to God, that runs 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, Heaven before, 
 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. 
 
 C.(i) "About the middle of the year 1414, Henry V., influenced by the 
 persuasions of Chichely, Archbishop of Canterbury, by the dying injunc- 
 tions of his royal father, not to allow the kingdom to remain long at 
 peace, or more probably by those feelings of ambition, which were no 
 less natural to his age and character, than consonant with the manners of 
 the time in which he lived, resolved to assert that claim to the crown of 
 France which his great grandfather, King Edward the Third, had urged 
 with such confidence and success." Nicolas' 's History of the Battle of 
 Agincotirt. 
 
KING HENRY the FIFTH 
 
 THIRD Scene 
 
 (Exterior of the Boar's Head, Eastcheap, London) 
 er from Right, NYM, and from Left, BARDOLPH. 
 
 BARDOLPH 
 Well met, Corporal Nym. 
 
 NYM 
 Good morrow, Lieutenant Bardolph. 
 
 BARDOLPH 
 What, are Ancient(i) Pistol and you friends yet? 
 
 NYM 
 
 For my part, I care not : I say little ; but when 
 time shall serve, there shall be smiles ; but that shall 
 be as it may. I dare not fight, but I will wink, and 
 hold out mine iron. It is a simple one ; but what 
 though *? It will toast cheese ; and it will endure 
 cold as another man's sword will ; and there's an end. 
 
 BARDOLPH 
 
 I will bestow a breakfast to make you friends; and 
 we'll be three sworn brothers to France ; let it be so, 
 good Corporal Nym. 
 
 NYM 
 
 'Faith, I will live so long as I may, that's the cer- 
 tain of it ; and when I cannot live any longer, I will 
 do as I may ; that is my rest, and that is the rendez- 
 vous of it. 
 
 BARDOLPH 
 
 It is certain, corporal, that he is married to Nell 
 Quickly : and, certainly, she did you wrong ; for you 
 were troth-plight to her. 
 
 CL(0 Corruption of Ensign. 
 (14) 
 
ACT ONE : The THIRD Scene 
 
 NYM 
 
 I cannot tell ; things must be as they may ; men 
 may sleep, and they may have their throats about 
 them at that time ; and, some say, knives have edges. 
 It must be as it may ; though patience be a tired 
 mare, yet she will plod. There must be conclusions. 
 Well, I cannot tell. 
 
 QEnter,fro?n Left, PISTOL and DAME QUICKLY. 
 
 BARDOLPH 
 
 Here comes Ancient Pistol, and his wife : good 
 corporal, be patient here. How now, mine host 
 Pistol ? 
 
 PISTOL 
 
 Base tike,(i) call'st thou me host ? 
 
 Now, by this hand I swear, I scorn the term ; 
 
 Nor shall my Nell keep lodgers. 
 
 (NYM and PISTOL draw.) 
 
 QUICKLY 
 
 O well-a-day, Lady,(2) if he be not here. Now 
 we shall see wilful adultery and murther committed. 
 Good Lieutenant Bardolph 
 
 BARDOLPH 
 
 Good corporal, offer nothing here. 
 
 (Steps between them?) 
 NYM 
 Pish! 
 
 PISTOL 
 
 Pish for thee, Iceland dog ! thou prick eared cur of 
 Iceland ! 
 
 C.(i) Cur. (2) "Our blessed Lady," i.e., the Virgin Mary. 
 
 Os) 
 
KING HENRY the FIFTH 
 
 QUICKLY 
 
 Good Corporal Nym, show thy valour and put up 
 thy sword. 
 
 NYM 
 
 Wilt thou shog(i) off? I would have you solus. 
 
 (Sheathing his sword.) 
 
 PISTOL 
 
 Solus, egregious dog ? O viper vile ! 
 
 The solus in thy most marvellous face ; 
 
 The solus in thy teeth, and in thy throat, 
 
 And in thy hateful lungs, yea, in thy maw, perdy (2) ; 
 
 And, which is worse, within thy nasty mouth ! 
 
 I do retort the solus in thy bowels. 
 
 NYM 
 
 I am not Barbason (3), you cannot conjure me. 1 
 have an humour to knock you indifferently well. If 
 you grow foul with me, Pistol, I will scour you with 
 my rapier, as I may, in fair terms. And that's the 
 humour of it. 
 
 PISTOL 
 
 O braggart vile, and damned furious wight! 
 The grave doth gape, and doting death is near; 
 Therefore exhale (4). (PISTOL and NYM draw.) 
 
 BARDOLPH 
 
 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.) 
 
 C.(i) Nym's word for jog. Schmidt. (2) Corruption of " par Dieu." 
 
 (3) A demon. The unmeaning humour of Pistol's speech very naturally 
 reminds Nym of the sounding nonsense uttered by conjurers. Steevens. 
 
 (4) The commentators are in doubt whether this means "draw your 
 sword" or "die." Either makes sense if it be necessary to make 
 Pistol speak sense. Rolfe. 
 
 (16) 
 
ACT ONE : The THIRD Scene 
 
 PISTOL 
 
 An oath of mickle might; and fury shall abate. 
 
 (PISTOL sheathes sword.) 
 Give me thy fist, thy fore-foot to me give ; 
 Thy spirits are most tall. 
 
 NYM 
 
 I will cut thy throat, one time or other, in fair 
 terms ; that is the humour of it. 
 
 sheathes sword) 
 
 BOY from Left. 
 
 BOY 
 
 Mine host Pistol, you must come to my master, 
 and you, hostess ; he is very sick, and would to bed. 
 Good Bardolph, put thy face between his sheets, and 
 do the office of a warming pan. Faith he's very ill. 
 
 BARDOLPH 
 Away, you rogue. 
 
 QUICKLY 
 
 By my troth, he'll yield the crow a pudding one 
 of these days ; the king has killed his heart. Good 
 husband, come home presently. 
 
 (Exeunt DAME QUICKLY and BOY, Left.) 
 
 BARDOLPH 
 
 Come, shall I make you two friends *? We must 
 to France together ; why, the devil, should we keep 
 knives to cut one another's throats ? 
 
 PISTOL 
 Let floods o'erswell, and fiends for food howl on. 
 
 NYM 
 
 You'll pay me the eight shillings I won of you at 
 betting. 
 
KING HENRY the FIFTH 
 
 PISTOL 
 Base is the slave that pays, (i) 
 
 NYM 
 That now I will have ; that's the humour of it. 
 
 PISTOL 
 As manhood shall compound : push home. 
 
 (ffkey draw.) 
 BARDOLPH (draws) 
 
 By this sword, he that makes the first thrust I'll kill 
 him; by this sword, I will. 
 
 PISTOL 
 
 Sword is an oath, and oaths must have their course. 
 
 (PISTOL sheathes sword) 
 
 BARDOLPH 
 
 Corporal Nym, an thou wilt be friends, be friends : 
 an thou wilt not, why, then be enemies with me 
 too. Prithee, put up. 
 
 NYM 
 
 I shall have my eight shillings I won of you at bet- 
 ting. (NYM sheathes sword) 
 
 PISTOL 
 
 A noble shalt thou have, and present pay; 
 And liquor likewise will I give thee ; 
 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. (Offers hand) 
 
 NYM 
 I shall have my noble ? 
 
 C.C 1 ) A quotation from an old play, like much of Pistol's nonsense. 
 White. 
 
 (18) 
 
ACT ONE: The THIRD Scene 
 
 PISTOL 
 In cash most justly paid. 
 
 NYM 
 
 Well, then, that's the humour of it. 
 
 (Takes PISTOL'S hand.) 
 
 ^Re-enter DAME QUICKLY from Left. 
 QUICKLY 
 
 As ever you came of women, come in quickly to 
 Sir John. Ah, poor heart ! he is so shaked of a 
 burning quotidian tertian,(i) that it is most lament- 
 able to behold. Sweet men, come to him. 
 
 (Exit Left.) 
 NYM 
 
 The king hath run bad humours on the knight; 
 that's the even of it. 
 
 PISTOL 
 
 Nym, thou hast spoke the right ; 
 
 His heart is fracted(2) and corroborate. 
 
 NYM 
 
 The king is a good king; but it must be as it 
 may : he passes some humours and careers. 
 
 PISTOL (going Left) 
 
 Let us condole the knight; for lambkins we will 
 live. (Exeunt Left.) 
 
 RUMOUR appears as Chorus. 
 Now all the youth of England are on fire, 
 And silken dalliance in the wardrobe lies; 
 
 C.d) The dame jumbles together the quotidian fever, the paroxysms of 
 which recurred daily, and the tertian, in which the period was three 
 days. (2) Broken. 
 
 (19) 
 
KING HENRY the FIFTH 
 
 Now thrive the armourers, and honour's thought 
 
 Reigns solely in the breast of every man. 
 
 They sell the pasture now to buy the horse, 
 
 Following the mirror of all Christian kings, 
 
 With winged heels, as English Mercuries. 
 
 For now sits expectation in the air, 
 
 And hides a sword, from hilts unto the point 
 
 With crowns imperial, crowns and coronets, 
 
 Promis'd to Harry and his followers. 
 
 The French, advis'd by good intelligence 
 
 Of this most dreadful preparation, 
 
 Shake in their fear, and with pale policy 
 
 Seek to divert the English purposes. 
 
 O England ! model to thy inward greatness, 
 
 Like little body with a mighty heart, 
 
 What might'st thou do, that honour would thee do, 
 
 Were all thy children kind and natural ! 
 
 But see thy fault ! France hath in thee found out 
 
 A nest of hollow bosoms which he fills 
 
 With treacherous crowns; and three corrupted 
 
 men, 
 
 One, Richard Earl of Cambridge ;(i) and the second, 
 Henry, Lord Scroop(2) of Masham ; and the third, 
 Sir Thomas Grey, knight, of Northumberland, 
 Have, for the guilt(3) 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 
 The sum is paid ; the traitors are agreed ; 
 The king is set from London ; and the scene 
 Is now transported, gentles, to Southampton. 
 
 C.(i) Richard de Coningsbury, younger son of Edmund of Langley, 
 Duke of York. He was father of Richard Duke of York, who was 
 father of Edward IV. (2) Third husband of Joan Duchess of York, 
 mother-in-law of Richard Earl of Cambridge. (3) The gold. (4) Com- 
 plimentary sense, like " Mirror of all Christian Kings " above. 
 
 (20) 
 
ACT ONE : The FOURTH Scene 
 
 FOURTH Scene 
 
 (T'he *j)uay at Southampton^) 
 
 BEDFORD, GLOSTER, WARWICK, WEST- 
 MORELAND, with other lords and attendants, await the 
 KING. Soldiers cross at rear. 
 
 BEDFORD 
 
 Tore Heaven, his grace is bold, to trust these 
 traitors.(i) 
 
 EXETER 
 They shall be apprehended by and by. 
 
 WESTMORELAND 
 
 How smooth and even they do bear themselves ! 
 As if allegiance in their bosoms sat, 
 Crowned with faith and constant loyalty. 
 
 BEDFORD 
 
 The king hath note of all that they intend, 
 By interception which they dream not of. (2) 
 
 EXETER 
 
 Nay, but the man that was his bedfellow, (3) 
 Whom he hath dull'd and cloy'd with gracious 
 
 favours, 
 
 That he should, for a foreign purse, so sell 
 His sovereign's life to death and treachery ! 
 
 C,(i) His Men shipped, and the King himself ready to go on board: a 
 conspiracy against his life is discovered, forged by Richard Earl of Cam- 
 bridge, Henry Lord Scroope of Masham, the Lord Treasurer, and Sir 
 Thomas Grey of Northumberland, who, being suborned by the French 
 for a Million of Gold, as upon their apprehension they confessed (though 
 their indictment contains other matter), were all three put to death ! which 
 was no sooner performed but that the Wind blowing fair, King Henry 
 weighs Anchor, and with a fleet of 160 ships sets sail on Lady Day, An. 
 1414. Sanford^s Genealogical History of the Kings. (2) The Earl of 
 March, of the house of Clarence, who was to be placed upon the throne 
 by the conspiracy, informed the King. (3) This does not refer to any 
 particular person. Bedfellow was common as a familiar appellation 
 among the nobility in olden time. 
 
KING HENRY the FIFTH 
 
 (^Trumpets) 
 
 the KING, SCROOP, GREY, CAMBRIDGE and 
 
 attendants from Left. 
 
 KING HENRY (Centre) 
 
 Now sits the wind fair, and we will aboard. 
 
 My Lord of Cambridge, and my kind Lord of 
 
 Masham, 
 
 And you, my gentle knight, give me your thoughts. 
 Think you not, that the powers we bear with us 
 Will cut their passage through the force of France; 
 Doing the execution, and the act, 
 For which we have in head assembled them ? 
 
 SCROOP (at Right Centre) 
 No doubt, my liege, if each man do his best. 
 KING HENRY 
 
 I doubt not that : since we are well persuaded, 
 We carry not a heart with us from hence 
 That grows not in a fair consent with ours,(i) 
 Nor leave not one behind that does not wish 
 Success and conquest to attend on us. 
 
 CAMBRIDGE (at Left Centre) 
 
 Never was monarch better fear'd and lov'd 
 Than is your majesty ; there's not, I think, a subject 
 That sits in heart-grief and uneasiness 
 Under the sweet shade of your government. 
 
 GREY (near SCROOP) 
 
 True : those that were your father's enemies 
 Have steep'd their galls in honey and do serve you 
 With hearts create of duty and of zeal. 
 
 In friendly concord. 
 
 (22) 
 
ACT ONE : The FOURTH Scene 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 We therefore have great cause of thankfulness ; 
 And shall forget the office of our hand, 
 Sooner than quittance of desert and merit, 
 According to the weight and worthiness. 
 
 SCROOP 
 
 So service shall with steeled sinews toil, 
 And labour shall refresh itself with hope, 
 To do your grace incessant services. 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 We judge no less. Uncle of Exeter 
 Enlarge the man committed yesterday, 
 That rail'd against our person ; we consider 
 It was excess of wine that set him on ; 
 And, on our more advice, we pardon him. 
 
 SCROOP 
 
 That's mercy, but too much security : 
 Let him be punished, sovereign ; lest example 
 Breed, by his sufferance, more of such a kind. 
 
 KING HENRY 
 O, let us yet be merciful. 
 
 CAMBRIDGE 
 So may your highness, and yet punish too. 
 
 GREY 
 
 Sir, you show great mercy if you give him life, 
 After the taste of much correction. 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 Alas, your too much love and care of me 
 Are heavy orisons 'gainst this poor wretch. 
 If little faults proceeding on distemper,(i) 
 
 C,(i) Distempered, old meaning for having too much liquor. 
 
KING HENRY the FIFTH 
 
 Shall not be wink'd at, how shall we stretch our eye 
 
 When capital crimes, chew'd, swallow'd, and di- 
 gested, 
 
 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 : 
 
 Who are the late commissioners ? 
 
 CAMBRIDGE 
 
 I one, my lord ; (Kneels.) 
 
 Your highness bade me ask for it to-day. 
 
 SCROOP 
 So did you me, my liege. (Kneels) 
 
 GREY 
 And I, my royal sovereign. (Kneels) 
 
 KING HENRY (as he takes rolls of parchment from EXE- 
 TER and hands to each of the three) 
 
 Then, Richard, Earl of Cambridge, there is yours ; 
 There yours, Lord Scroop of Masham ; and, sir 
 
 knight, 
 
 Grey of Northumberland, this same is yours: 
 Read them ; and know, we know your worthiness. 
 My Lord of Westmoreland and uncle Exeter, 
 We will aboard to-night, 
 
 Qtfhe conspirators hopefully open their commission but, 
 reading, disclose their horror in their faces. 
 
 Why, how now, gentlemen ? 
 
 What see you in those papers, that you lose 
 
 So much complexion *? Look ye, how they change ! 
 
ACT ONE : The FOURTH Scene 
 
 Their cheeks are paper.(i) Why, what read you 
 
 there, 
 
 That hath so cowarded and chas'd your blood 
 Out of appearance ? 
 
 CAMBRIDGE 
 
 I do confess my fault ; 
 And do submit me to your highness' mercy. 
 
 GREY and SCROOP 
 To which we all appeal. 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 The mercy that was quick (2) in us but late, 
 By your own counsel is suppress'd and kill'd : 
 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, 
 
 You know how apt our love was, to accord 
 To furnish him with all appertinents 
 Belonging to his honour ; and this man 
 Hath, for a few light crowns, lightly conspir'd, 
 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, 
 Ingrateful, savage, and inhuman creature ! 
 Thou, that didst bear the key of all my counsels, 
 That knew'st the very bottom of my soul, 
 That almost mightst have coined me into gold, 
 Wouldst thou have practis'd on me for thy use; 
 May it be possible, that foreign hire 
 
 C.( J ) That is, white as paper. (2) Alive. 
 
 (25) 
 
KING HENRY the FIFTH 
 
 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(i) 
 
 As black from white, my eye will scarcely see it. 
 
 Treason and murther 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 
 
 Wonder to wait on treason and on murther : 
 
 And whatsoever cunning fiend it was 
 
 That wrought upon thee so preposterously 
 
 Hath got the voice (2) in hell for excellence. 
 
 All other devils that suggest by treasons 
 
 Do botch and bungle up damnation 
 
 With patches, colours, and with forms, being fetch'd 
 
 From glistering semblances of piety; 
 
 But he that temper'd(3) thee bade thee stand up, 
 
 Gave thee no instance why thou should'st do treason, 
 
 Unless to dub thee with the name of traitor. 
 
 If that same demon that hath gull'd thee thus 
 
 Should with his lion gait(4) walk the whole world, 
 
 He might return to vasty Tartar back, 
 
 And tell the legions, " I can never win 
 
 A soul so easy as that Englishman's." 
 
 O, how hast thou with jealousy infected 
 
 The sweetness of affiance ! Show men dutiful ? 
 
 Why, so didst thou : seem they grave and learned ? 
 
 Why, so didst thou : come they of noble family? 
 
 Why, so didst thou : seem they religious 2 
 
 Why, so didst thou : or are they spare in diet, 
 
 Free from gross passion or of mirth or anger, 
 
 Constant in spirit, not swerving with the blood, 
 
 Palpable. (2) Verdict, judgment. (3) Moulded, fashioned. (4) 
 An allusion to the Devil going "about like a lion, seeking whom he 
 may devour." 
 
 (26) 
 
ACT ONE : The FOURTH Scene 
 
 Garnish'd and deck'd in modest complement, 
 Not working with the eye without the ear, 
 And but in purged judgment trusting neither? 
 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 
 Another fall of man. Their faults are open. 
 Arrest them to the answer of the law ; 
 And God acquit them of their practices ! 
 
 (^furns away) 
 
 EXETER (as he touches the shoulder of each with his 
 baton. GOWER draws the sword of each.) 
 
 I arrest thee of high treason, by the name of Richard 
 
 Earl of Cambridge. 
 I arrest thee of high treason, by the name of Henry 
 
 Lord Scroop of Masham. 
 I arrest thee of high treason, by the name of Thomas 
 
 Grey, knight, of Northumberland. 
 
 SCROOP 
 
 Our purposes Heaven justly hath discovered; 
 And I repent my fault more than my death ; 
 Which I beseech your highness to forgive, 
 Although my body pay the price of it. 
 
 CAMBRIDGE 
 
 For me, the gold of France did not seduce ; 
 Although I did admit it as a motive, 
 The sooner to effect what I intended.(i) 
 But heaven be thanked for prevention; 
 Which I in sufferance heartily will rejoice, 
 Beseeching God and you, to pardon me. 
 
 C,(0 The confession of the Earl of Cambridge, and his supplication for 
 mercy in his own handwriting, are in the British Museum. 
 
 (27) 
 
KING HENRY the FIFTH 
 
 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. 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 Heav'n quit you in its mercy ! Hear your sentence. 
 You have conspir'd against our royal person, 
 Join'd with an enemy proclaim'd, and from his coffers 
 Received the golden earnest of our death, 
 Wherein you would have sold your king to slaughter, 
 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 ;(O 
 But we our kingdom's safety must so tender, (2) 
 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 
 Of all your dear offences ! Bear them hence. 
 
 (^urns up to the sea wall.) 
 
 (Exeunt Conspirators Right, guarded.) 
 
 (turning.) 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 Heaven so graciously hath brought to light 
 
 This speech is taken from Holinshed: Revenge herein touching 
 my person, though I seek not ; yet for the safeguard of my dear friends, 
 and for due preservation of all sorts, I am by office to cause example to 
 be showed ; get ye hence, therefore, you poor miserable wretches, to the 
 receiving of your just reward, wherein God's majesty give you grace of 
 His mercy, and repentance of your heinous offences." (2) Regard. 
 
 (28) 
 
ACT ONE : The FIFTH Scene 
 
 This dangerous treason, lurking in our way, 
 To hinder our beginnings. We doubt not now 
 But every rub is smoothed on our way. 
 Then, forth, dear countrymen ; let us deliver 
 Our puissance into the hand of God, 
 Cheerly to sea ; the signs of war advance : 
 No king of England, if not king of France. 
 
 (tableau) 
 
 Vie FIFTH Scene 
 
 (Exterior of the Boar's Head, Eastcheap, London) 
 
 , from Left, NYM, BARDOLPH, PISTOL, DAME 
 QUICKLY and BOY, prepared for departure to the war. 
 
 HOSTESS (to PISTOL, as they enter , following the others) 
 Prithee, honey-sweet husband, let me bring thee 
 to Staines. 
 
 PISTOL (Left) 
 
 No; for my manly heart doth yearn (i). 
 Bardolph, be blithe : Nym, rouse thy vaunting veins : 
 Boy, bristle thy courage up; for Falstaffhe is dead, 
 And we must yearn therefore. 
 
 BARDOLPH (Right) 
 
 Would I were with him, wheresome'er he is, 
 either in heaven or in hell ! 
 
 HOSTESS (Centre) 
 
 Nay, sure, he's in Arthur's(2) bosom, if ever man 
 went to Arthur's bosom. A' made a finer end, and 
 went away an it had been any christom(3) child ; a' 
 parted even just between twelve and one, even at 
 
 C,(!) Grieve, mourn. (2) Mrs. Quickly is not strong on Scripture. 
 Rolfe. She means Abraham's bosom. (3) A Quicklyism for chrisom, 
 the white vesture put upon the child after baptism. 
 
 (29) 
 
KING HENRY the FIFTH 
 
 the turning o' the tide: (i) for after I saw him fumble 
 with the sheets and play with flowers and smile upon 
 his fingers' ends, I knew there was but one way ; 
 for his nose was as sharp as a pen, and a' babbled of 
 green fields. ' How now, Sir John ! ' quoth I : 
 4 what, man ! be o' good cheer.' So a' cried out 
 4 Lord, Lord, Lord ! ' three or four times. Now I, 
 to comfort him, bid him a' should not think of God ; 
 I hoped there was no need to trouble himself with 
 any such thoughts yet. So a' bade me lay more 
 clothes on his feet : I put my hand into the bed and 
 felt them, and they were as cold as any stone. 
 
 NYM (Right Centre) 
 They say he cried out of sack. 
 
 HOSTESS 
 Ay, that a' did. 
 
 BARDOLPH 
 And of women. 
 
 HOSTESS 
 Nay, that a' did not. 
 
 BOY (Left Centre) 
 Yes, that a' did ; and said they were devils incarnate. 
 
 HOSTESS 
 
 A' could never abide carnation ; 'twas a colour he 
 never liked. 
 
 BOY 
 
 Do you not remember, a' saw a flea stick upon 
 Bardolph's nose, and a' said it was a black soul burn- 
 ing in hell-fire ? 
 
 BARDOLPH 
 
 Well, the fuel is gone that maintained that fire : 
 that's all the riches I got in his service. 
 
 C.C 1 ) Alluding to the old notion that nobody dies except at the ebb of 
 the tide. 
 
 (3) 
 
ACT ONE : The FIFTH Scene 
 
 NYM 
 
 Shall we snog*? the king will be gone from 
 Southampton. 
 
 PISTOL 
 
 Come, let's away. (Crosses to Centre.) My love, 
 
 give me thy lips. (Kisses QUICKLY.) 
 Look to my chattels and my movables : 
 Let senses rule ; ( i ) 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(2) be thy counsellor. 
 Go, clear thy crystals. (3) Yoke-fellows in arms, 
 Let us to France ; like horse-leeches, my boys, 
 To suck, to suck, the very blood to suck ! 
 
 BOY 
 
 And that's but unwholesome food, they say. 
 
 PISTOL 
 Touch her soft mouth, and march. 
 
 BARDOLPH 
 Farewell, hostess. (Kisses her, then exit Right.) 
 
 NYM (approaches to kiss QUICKLY. PISTOL inter- 
 feres) 
 
 I cannot kiss, that is the humour of it ; but, adieu. 
 
 (Exit Right) 
 PISTOL 
 
 Let housewifery appear : keep close, I thee command. 
 
 HOSTESS 
 Farewell; adieu. (Exit PISTOL Right, QUICKLY Left.) 
 
 Let prudence govern you. (2) Take care. (3) Dry thine eyes. 
 
 (so 
 
KING HENRY the FIFTH 
 
 BOY (Centre) 
 
 As young as I am, I have observed these three 
 swashers(i). 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(2) do not 
 amount to a man. For Bardolph, he is white-liv- 
 ered (3), and red-faced; by the means whereof, a' faces 
 it out, but fights not. For Pistol, he hath a killing 
 tongue, and a quiet sword; by the means whereof 
 'a breaks words, and keeps whole weapons. For 
 Nym, he hath heard, that men of few words are 
 the best men ; and therefore he scorns to say his 
 prayers, lest 'a should be thought a coward : but his 
 few bad words are matched with as few good deeds ; 
 for 'a never broke any man's head, but his own, and 
 that was against a post, when he was drunk. They 
 will steal anything, and call it, purchase. Bardolph 
 stole a lute-case, bore it twelve leagues, and sold it 
 for three half-pence. Nym and Bardolph are sworn 
 brothers in filching.(4)! They would have me as 
 familiar with men's pockets, as their gloves or their 
 handkerchiefs : which makes much against my man- 
 hood, 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 service : their 
 villainy goes against my weak stomach, and there- 
 fore I must cast it up. (Exit BOY Right.) 
 
 The END of the FIRST ACT 
 
 . Bullies. (2) Buffoons, fools. (3) Cowardly. (4) Grey suggests 
 that Shakespeare took Nym's name from the old Anglo-Saxon word 
 nitn, to filch. 
 
 (32) 
 
ACT TWO 
 
 of KING HENRY V 
 
 <The FIRST Scene 
 (A Room in the Palace of CHARLES the SIXTH, at Rouen) 
 
 ^KiNG CHARLES (i) seated at Centre, the DAUPHIN, (2) 
 the CONSTABLE <?/' FRANCE, (3) the DUKES of ORLEANS 
 and BOURBON from Centre to Left, RAMBURES and 
 GRANDPRE and other lords on Right, with Pages on either 
 side of the KING. 
 
 CHARLES 
 
 Thus come the English with full power upon us ; 
 And more than carefully it us concerns, 
 To answer royally in our defences. 
 Therefore the Dukes of Berry, and of Bretange, 
 Of Brabant and of Orleans, shall make forth, 
 And you, prince Dauphin, with all swift despatch, 
 To line and new repair our towns of war, 
 With men of courage, and with means defendant. 
 
 DAUPHIN 
 
 My most redoubted father, 
 It is most meet we arm us 'gainst the foe : 
 
 C.(i) Charles VI., surnamed the Well-Beloved, was King of France dur- 
 ing the most disastrous period of its history. He ascended the throne in 
 1380, when only thirteen years of age. In 1385 he married Isabella of 
 Bavaria, who was equally remarkable for her beauty and her depravity. 
 The unfortunate king was subject to fits of insanity, which lasted for 
 several months at a time. On the 2ist of October, 1422, seven years 
 after the battle of Agincourt, Charles VI. ended his unhappy life at the 
 age of fifty-five, having reigned forty-two years. (2) Lewis, the Dauphin, 
 was the eldest son of Charles VI. He was born 22d January, 1396, 
 and died before his father, December 18, 1415, in his twentieth year. 
 History says : " Shortly after the Battle of Agincourt, either for melan- 
 choly that he had for the loss, or by some sudden disease, Lewis, Dovphin 
 of Viennois, heir apparent to the French king, departed this life without 
 issue." (3) The Constable, Charles D'Albret, commanded the French 
 army at the battle of Agincourt, and was slain on the field. 
 
KING HENRY the FIFTH 
 
 But let us do it with no show of fear ; 
 
 No, with no more, than if we heard that England 
 
 Were busied with a Whitsun morris-dance (l) ; 
 
 For, my good liege, she is so idly king'd, 
 
 Her sceptre so fantastically borne 
 
 By a vain, giddy, shallow, humorous youth, 
 
 That fear attends her not. 
 
 CONSTABLE 
 
 O peace, prince Dauphin ! 
 You are too much mistaken in this king : 
 With what great state he heard our embassy, 
 How well supplied with noble counsellors, 
 How modest in exception, (2) and withal, 
 How terrible in constant resolution, 
 Your grace shall find his vanities fore-spent (3) 
 Were but the outside of the Roman Brutus, 
 Covering discretion with a coat of folly. 
 
 DAUPHIN 
 
 Well, 'tis not so, my lord high constable, 
 But though we think it so, it is no matter : 
 In case of defence, 'tis best to weigh 
 The enemy more mighty than he seems. 
 
 QEnter, from Right, MONTJOY (4), who kneels at the 
 K ING'S feet. 
 
 MONTJOY 
 
 Ambassadors from Harry, King of England, 
 Do crave admittance to your majesty. 
 
 C.C 1 ) An ancient dance in which the performers were dressed in grotesque 
 costume, with bells, etc. Morris from morisco or moorish. Douce. 
 (2) Diffident and decent in making objections. (3) Past. Refers to his 
 rakish days when Prince of Wales. (4) Mont-joie is the title of the prin- 
 cipal King-at-arms in France, as Garter is in England. 
 
 (34) 
 
ACT Two : The FIRST Scene 
 
 FRENCH KING 
 
 We'll give them present audience. Go, and bring 
 them. (Exit MONT JOY, Right.) 
 
 You see this chase is hotly follow'd, friends. 
 
 DAUPHIN 
 
 Turn head, and stop pursuit : for coward dogs 
 Most spend their mouths, ( i ) when what they seem 
 
 to threaten 
 
 Runs far before them. Good my sovereign, 
 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 
 
 , from Right, MONT JOY, the ENGLISH HERALD, 
 the DUKE of EXETER and English Lords they stand 
 Right of K.IUG. 
 
 FRENCH KING 
 From our brother of England fc ? 
 
 EXETER 
 
 From him ; and thus he greets your majesty. 
 
 He wills you, in the name of Heaven, 
 
 That you divest yourself and lay apart 
 
 The borrow'd glories, that by gift of Heaven, 
 
 By law of nature and of nations, 'long 
 
 To him and to his heirs ; namely, the crown, 
 
 And all the wide-stretched honours that pertain 
 
 By custom and the ordinance of times 
 
 Unto the crown of France. That you may know 
 
 'Tis no sinister nor no awkward claim, 
 
 Pick'd from the worm-holes of long vanish'd days, 
 
 C.(i) Bark. 
 
 (35) 
 
KING HENRY the FIFTH 
 
 Nor from the dust of long oblivion rak'd, 
 He sends you this most memorable line (i), 
 
 (Gives a paper to MONTJOY who delivers it to the 
 
 KING.) 
 
 In every branch truly demonstrative ; 
 Willing you overlook this pedigree : 
 And, when you find him evenly (2) deriv'd 
 From his most fam'd of famous ancestors, 
 Edward the Third, he bids you then resign 
 Your crown and kingdom, indirectly held 
 From him the native and true challenger. 
 
 FRENCH KING 
 Or else what follows *? 
 
 EXETER 
 
 Bloody constraint ; for if you hide the crown 
 Even in your hearts, there will he rake for it : 
 This is his claim, his threat'ning, and my message ; 
 Unless the Dauphin be in presence here, 
 To whom expressly I bring greeting too. 
 
 FRENCH KING 
 
 For us, we will consider of this further ; 
 To-morrow shall you bear our full intent 
 Back to our brother of England. 
 
 DAUPHIN 
 
 For the Dauphin, 
 I stand here for him. What to him from England ? 
 
 EXETER 
 
 Scorn and defiance ; slight regard, contempt. 
 And anything that may not misbecome 
 The mighty sender, doth he prize you at. 
 Thus says the king : and, if your father's highness 
 
 C.( : ) Pedigree. Exeter holds the document in his hand. (2) In a 
 straight line. 
 
 (36) 
 
ACT Two : The FIRST Scene 
 
 Do not, in grant of all demands at large, 
 Sweeten the bitter mock (i) you sent his majesty, 
 He'll call you to so hot an answer of it, 
 That caves and womby vaultages of France 
 Shall chide your trespass, and return your mock 
 In second accent of his ordinance (2). 
 
 DAUPHIN 
 
 Say, if my father render fair return, 
 It is against my will ; for I desire 
 Nothing but odds with England ; to that end, 
 As matching to his youth and vanity, 
 I did present him with those Paris balls. 
 
 EXETER 
 He'll make your Paris Louvre (3) shake for it. 
 
 FRENCH KING (rises') 
 To-morrow shall you know our mind at full. 
 
 EXETER 
 
 Despatch us with all speed, lest that our king 
 Come here to question our delay ; 
 For he is footed (4) in this land already. 
 
 FRENCH KING 
 
 You shall soon be despatch'd, with fair conditions. 
 A night is but small breath, and little pause, 
 To answer matters of this consequence, (tableau.) 
 
 RUMOUR appears as Chorus 
 Thus with imagin'd wing our swift scene flies, 
 In motion of no less celerity 
 
 C,(i) That is, the insult conveyed in the present of tennis balls in Act I., 
 Scene 2. (2) Ordnance. The spelling is a concession to the rhythm. 
 
 (3) According to some writers the ancient palace of the Louvre was built 
 in the seventh century. What is now called the "Old Louvre" was 
 begun in 1528 under Francis I., and completed by Henry II. in 1548. 
 
 (4) That is, he has set foot, is landed. 
 
 (37) 
 
KING HENRY the FIFTH 
 
 Than that of thought. Suppose that you have seen 
 The well appointed king at Hampton pier 
 Embark his royalty; (i) and his brave fleet 
 With silken streamers the young Phoebus fanning. 
 Play with your fancies ; and in them behold 
 Upon the hempen tackle ship-boys climbing : 
 Hear the shrill whistle which doth order give 
 To sounds confus'd : behold the threaden sails, 
 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, (2) and behold 
 A city on the inconstant billows dancing; 
 For so appears this fleet majestical, 
 Holding due course to Harfleur. Follow, follow ! 
 Grapple your minds to sternage (3) of this navy ; 
 And leave your England, as dead midnight still, 
 Guarded with grandsires, babies, and old women, 
 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 cull'd and choice-drawn cavaliers to France *? 
 Work, work your thoughts, and therein see a siege : 
 Behold the ordnance on their carriages, 
 With fatal mouths gaping on girded Harfleur, 
 The nimble gunner 
 
 With linstock (4) now the devilish cannon touches, 
 And down goes all before them. 
 
 C,(i) The place where Henry's army was embarked, at Southampton, is 
 now entirely covered with the sea, and called Westport. (2) Shore. (3) The 
 stern, hence in the wake of this navy. Some read steerage. (4) The staff 
 to which the match is fixed when the ordnance is fired. Johnson. 
 
ACT Two : The SECOND Scene 
 
 SECOND Scene 
 
 English Entrenchment before Harfleur. KING 
 HENRY and his army) 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 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 : 
 
 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-favour'd rage : 
 
 Then lend the eye a terrible aspect; 
 
 Let it pry through the portage (i) of the head 
 
 Like the brass cannon ; let the brow o'erwhelm it, 
 
 As fearfully as doth a galled rock 
 
 O'erhang and jutty (2) his confounded (3) base, 
 
 Swill'd with the wild and wasteful ocean. 
 
 Now set the teeth, and stretch the nostril wide ; 
 
 Hold hard the breath, and bend up every spirit 
 
 To his full height ! On, on, you nobless (4) Eng- 
 lish, 
 
 Whose blood is fet (5) from fathers of war-proof! 
 
 Fathers that, like so many Alexanders, 
 
 Have in these parts from morn till even fought, 
 
 And sheath'd their swords for lack of argument. 
 
 Dishonour not your mothers ; now attest 
 
 That those whom you call'd fathers did beget you. 
 
 Be copy now to men of grosser blood, 
 
 And teach them how to war ! And you, good yeo- 
 men, 
 
 C.(i) Comparing the eyes to cannon prying through portholes. (2) 
 Jutting, common term applied to land. (3) Confounded is said to have 
 often the same meaning as destroyed. (4) The original of 1623 gives 
 Noblish English. Some authorities give noblest. (5) Fetched. 
 
 (39) 
 
KING HENRY the FIFTH 
 
 Whose limbs were made in England, show us here 
 
 The mettle of your pasture ; let us swear 
 
 That you are worth your breeding : which I doubt 
 
 not; 
 
 For there is none of you so mean and base 
 That hath not noble lustre in your eyes. 
 I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips (i), 
 Straining upon the start. The game's afoot ; 
 Follow your spirit : and, upon this charge, 
 Cry " God for Harry ! England ! and Saint 
 
 George ! " (tableau.) 
 
 'The THIRD Scene 
 
 e DUKE of GLOSTER'S Quarters) 
 
 QEnter, alarmedly, NYM, BARDOLPH, PISTOL and BOY. 
 
 BARDOLPH 
 On, on, on, on, on ! to the breach, to the breach ! 
 
 NYM 
 
 Tray thee, corporal, stay ; the knocks are too hot ; 
 and, for mine own part, I have not a case of lives : (2) 
 the humour of it is too hot, that is the very plain- 
 
 son g (3) of * 
 
 PISTOL 
 
 The plain - song is most just ; for humours do 
 abound ; 
 
 Knocks go and come ; our vassals drop and die ; 
 And sword and shield, 
 In bloody field, 
 Doth win immortal fame. 
 
 Noose about the neck in which the dogs were held until started 
 for the game. (2) Not merely one life but two or more lives. Figure 
 drawn from a case of pistols or knives. (3) That is, with no variations. 
 
 (-40) 
 
ACT Two : The THIRD Scene 
 
 BOY 
 
 'Would I were in an alehouse in London ! I 
 would give all my fame for a pot of ale and safety. 
 
 PISTOL 
 And I : 
 
 If wishes would prevail with me, 
 My purpose should not fail with me, 
 But thither I would hie. 
 
 BOY 
 
 As duly, but not as truly, 
 As bird doth sing on bough. 
 (Exeunt, each trying to push the other before, crying 
 
 " On, on.") 
 
 , from Right, GOWER and, from Left, FLUEL- 
 LEN(I). 
 
 GOWER (Right Centre) 
 
 Captain Fluellen, you must come presently to the 
 mines ; the Duke of Gloster would speak with you. 
 
 FLUELLEN (Left Centre) 
 
 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 concavi- 
 ties of it is not sufficient ; for, look you, th' athversars 
 (you may discuss unto the duke, look you) is digged 
 himself four yards under the countermines; by Saint 
 Tavy, I think a' will plow up all, if there is not bet- 
 ter directions. 
 
 GOWER 
 
 The Duke of Gloster, to whom the order of the 
 
 C,(i)An approximation to the pronunciation of the frequently used 
 Welsh name, Llewellyn. A soldierly pedant, in favour with Henry, who 
 further on acknowledges his own Welsh blood. In the course of the 
 scene Fluellen, a Welshman, Jamy, a Scotchman, and Macmorris, an 
 Irishman, each speaks with his native inflection and dialect. 
 
 (40 
 
KING HENRY the FIFTH 
 
 siege is given, (i) is altogether directed by an Irish- 
 man ; a very valiant gentleman, i' faith. 
 
 FLUELLEN 
 It is Captain Macmorris, is it not? 
 
 GOWER 
 I think it be. 
 
 FLUELLEN 
 
 By Saint Tavy, he is an ass as in the 'orld : I will 
 verily as much in his peard; he has no more direc- 
 tions in the true disciplines of the wars, look you, of 
 the Roman disciplines, than is a puppy-dog. 
 
 GOWER (indicating off Left) 
 
 Here 5 a comes, and the Scots captain, Captain 
 Jamy, with him. 
 
 FLUELLEN 
 
 Captain Jamy is a marvellous falorous gentleman, 
 that is certain ; and of great expedition and knowl- 
 edge in the ancient wars, upon my particular knowl- 
 edge of his directions : by Saint Tavy, he will main- 
 tain his argument as well as any military man in the 
 'orld in the disciplines of the pristine wars of the 
 Romans. 
 
 , from Left, MACMORRIS and JAMY. 
 
 JAMY (Left Centre) 
 I say, gud-day, Captain Fluellen. 
 
 FLUELLEN 
 God-den to your worship, goot Captain Jamy. 
 
 The Duke of Gloucester, to who the ordre of the assaulte was 
 comitted, made thre mynes under the ground, and approached the walles 
 with ordinaunce and engynes and would not suffer theim within to reste 
 at any tyme Hall's Chronicle. 
 
 (42) 
 
ACT Two: The THIRD Scene 
 
 GOWER 
 
 How now, Captain Macmorris? have you quit 
 the mines'? have the pioneers given o'er? 
 
 MACMORRIS (Left) 
 
 By Saint Patrick, 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 ; 
 it ish give over ; I would have blowed up the town. 
 O, tish ill done, tish ill done ; by my hand, tish ill 
 done. 
 
 FLUELLEN 
 
 Captain Macmorris, I peseech you now, will you 
 voutsafe me, look you, a few disputations with you, 
 as partly touching or concerning the disciplines of 
 the war, the Roman wars, in the way of argument, 
 look you, and friendly communication? partly to 
 satisfy my opinion, and partly for the satisfaction, 
 look you, of my mind, as touching the direction of 
 the military discipline ; that is the point. 
 
 JAMY 
 
 It sail be vary gud, gud feith, gud captains bath ; 
 and I sail quit (i) you with gud leve, as I may 
 pick occasion, that sail I, marry. 
 
 MACMORRIS 
 
 It is no time to discourse ; the day is hot, and the 
 weather, and the wars, and the kings, and the dukes : 
 it is no time to discourse. The town is beseeched, 
 and the trumpet calls us to the breach ; and we 
 talk, and s'death, do nothing ; 'tis shame for us all : 
 by Saint Patrick, 'tis shame to stand still; it is 
 shame, by my hand : and there is throats to be cut, 
 and works to be done ; and there ish nothing done. 
 
 C.(i) Requite, that is, answer. 
 (43) 
 
KING HENRY the FIFTH 
 
 JAMY 
 
 By the mess, (i) ere these eyes of mine take them- 
 selves to slumber, aile do gude service, or aile ligge 
 i' the grund for it ; ay, or go to death ; and aile pay 
 it as valorously as I may, that sail I surely do, that 
 is the breff and the long. Marry, I wad full fain 
 heard some question 'tween you tway. 
 
 FLUELLEN 
 
 Captain Macmorris, I think, look you, under 
 your correction, there is not many of your nation 
 
 MACMORRIS 
 
 Of my nation ? What ish my nation ? ish it a 
 villain, and a bastard, and a knave, and a rascal *? 
 What ish my nation ? Who talks of my nation *? 
 
 FLUELLEN 
 
 Look you, if you take the matter otherwise than 
 is meant, Captain Macmorris, peradventure I shall 
 think you do not use me with affability as in dis- 
 cretion you ought to use me, look you ; being as 
 goot a man as yourself, both in the disciplines of 
 wars, and in the derivation of my birth, and in other 
 particularities. 
 
 MACMORRIS 
 
 I do not know you so good a man as myself: 
 s'blood, I will cut off your head. 
 
 (MACMORRIS raises battle-axe. JAMY and GOWER 
 
 interfered) 
 GOWER 
 
 Gentlemen, both, you will mistake each other. 
 (A parley sounded on the trumpets?) 
 
 CX 1 ) Mass. A common oath then. Used by King Henry later. 
 (44) 
 
ACT Two : The FOURTH Scene 
 
 GOWER 
 
 The town sounds a parley. 
 
 (Exeunt GOWER and JAMY, Right. FLUELLEN and 
 MACMORRIS cross to Right.} 
 
 FLUELLEN 
 
 Captain Macmorris, when there is more better 
 opportunity to be required, look you, I will be so 
 bold as to tell you, I know the disciplines of war ; 
 and there is an end. (Exeunt Right?) 
 
 The FOURTH Scene 
 
 (The English Entrenchment at Harfleur) 
 
 Centre KING HENRY and at Left Centre his army ; 
 the GOVERNOR of HARFLEUR (i) and attendants stand 
 forward Right Front. 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 How yet resolves the governor of the town ? 
 This is the latest parle (2) we will admit : 
 Therefore to our best mercy give yourselves ; 
 Or, like to men proud of destruction, 
 Defy us to our worst ; for, as I am a soldier, 
 A name that in my thoughts becomes me best, 
 If I begin the battery once again, 
 I will not leave the half-achieved Harfleur 
 Till in her ashes she lie buried. 
 The gates of mercy shall be all shut up, 
 And the flesh'd (3) 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. 
 
 Le Sieur de Estoteville. (2) Parley, interview. (3) Who has 
 tasted blood and whose animal passions are aroused. 
 
 (45) 
 
KING HENRY the FIFTH 
 
 What is it then to me, if impious war, 
 
 Array'd in flames, like to the prince of fiends, 
 
 Do, with his smirch'd complexion, all fell feats (i) 
 
 Enlink'd to waste and desolation *? 
 
 What is 't to me, when you yourselves are cause, 
 
 If your pure maidens fall into the hand 
 
 Of hot and forcing violation? 
 
 What rein can hold licentious wickedness 
 
 When down the hill he holds his fierce career ? 
 
 We may as bootless spend our vain command 
 
 Upon the enraged soldiers in their spoil, 
 
 As send precepts to the leviathan 
 
 To come ashore. Therefore, you men of Har- 
 
 fleur, 
 
 Take pity of your town and of your people, 
 Whiles yet my soldiers are in my command ; 
 Whiles yet the cool and temperate wind of grace 
 O'erblows the filthy and contagious clouds 
 Of headly murther, spoil and villainy. 
 If not, why, in a moment, look to see 
 The blind and bloody soldier with foul hand 
 Defile the locks of your shrill-shriek ing daughters ; 
 Your fathers taken by the silver beards, 
 And their most reverend heads dashed to the walls; 
 Your naked infants spitted upon pikes ; 
 Whiles the mad mothers with their howls confus'd 
 Do break the clouds, as did the wives of Jewry (2) 
 At Herod's bloody-hunting slaughtermen. 
 What say you ? will you yield, and this avoid ? 
 Or, guilty in defence, be thus destroyed? 
 
 GOVERNOR confers a moment with his atten- 
 dants, ^hen the flag of truce is lowered and the 
 French kneel before KING HENRY.) 
 
 C/0 All the savage practices naturally concomitant to the sack of cities. 
 Johnson. (2) Judea. 
 
 (46) 
 
ACT Two : The FIFTH Scene 
 
 GOVERNOR 
 
 Our expectation hath this day an end : 
 The Dauphin, whom of succours 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 : 
 Enter our gates : dispose of us and ours ; 
 For we no longer are defensible. 
 
 KING HENRY 
 Open your gates. 
 
 (ffbe GOVERNOR and attendants retire off Right?) 
 
 Come, uncle Exeter, 
 
 Go you and enter Harfleur ; there remain. 
 And fortify it strongly 'gainst the French : 
 Use mercy to them all. For us, dear uncle, 
 The winter coming on, and sickness growing 
 Upon our soldiers, we will retire to Calais. 
 To-night in Harfleur we will be your guest ; 
 To-morrow for the march are we address'd (i). 
 
 GOVERNOR of HARFLEUR and attendants 
 return and, kneeling, present the keys of the 
 city to KING HENRY.) (tableau.} 
 
 FIFTH Scene 
 
 (A Room in the Palace of CHARLES the SIXTH) 
 
 CHARLES at Centre, the DAUPHIN, the CONSTA- 
 BLE, Lords, herald, and attendants Left and Right. 
 
 FRENCH KING 
 'Tis certain he hath passed the River Somme. (2) 
 
 C.(i) Prepared. (2) The French King being at Roan, and hering that 
 the King of England had passed the water of Some, was not a little dis- 
 content. * * * And so Mountjoy, King at Armes, was sent to the 
 King of Englande to defye him as the enemie of Fraunce. Stowe. 
 
 (47) 
 
KING HENRY the FIFTH 
 
 CONSTABLE 
 
 And if he be not fought withal (i), my lord, 
 Let us not live in France ; let us quit all, 
 And give our vineyards to a barbarous people. (2) 
 
 BOURBON 
 
 Mort de ma vie /If they march along 
 Unfought withal, but I will sell my dukedom, 
 To buy a slobbery (3) and a dirty farm 
 In that nook-shotten (4) isle of Albion. 
 Dieu de battailes ! where have they this mettle ? 
 
 FRENCH KING 
 
 Where is Montjoy, the herald ? speed him hence ; 
 Let him greet England with our sharp defiance. 
 Up, princes; and, with spirit of honour edged. 
 More sharper than your swords, hie to the field ; 
 Charles De-la-bret, high constable of France ; 
 You dukes of Orleans, Bourbon, and of Berri, 
 Alen9on, Brabant, Bar, and Burgundy ; 
 Jacques Chatillon, Grandpre, and Charolois ; 
 High dukes, great princes, barons, lords and knights, 
 For your great seats, now quit you of great shames. 
 Bar Harry England, that sweeps through our land 
 With pennons (5) painted in the blood of Har- 
 
 fleur: 
 
 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, 
 And in a captive chariot into Rouen 
 Bring him our prisoner. 
 
 C,(0 Emphatic form of with. (2) The French, Italians, and Spaniards, 
 even in Shakespeare's day, regarded the English as semi-barbarians. 
 (3) Wet and foul. (4) Uneven shore, shot with nooks. (5) Schmidt 
 thinks the meaning of wings and flags are here combined. Rolfe. 
 
 (48) 
 
ACT Two : The SIXTH Scene 
 
 CONSTABLE 
 
 This becomes the great. 
 Sorry am I his numbers are so few, 
 His soldiers sick and famished in their march ; 
 For, I am sure, when he shall see our army, 
 He'll drop his heart into the sink of fear, 
 And, for achievement (i), offer us his ransom. 
 
 FRENCH KING 
 
 Therefore, lord constable, haste on Montjoy; 
 And let him say to England, that we send 
 To know what willing ransom he will give. 
 Prince Dauphin, you shall stay with us in Rouen. 
 
 DAUPHIN 
 Not so, I do beseech your majesty. 
 
 FRENCH KING 
 
 Be patient, for you shall remain with us. 
 Now, forth, lord constable, and princes all; 
 And quickly bring us word of England's fall. 
 
 (Tableau.} 
 
 The SIXTH Scene 
 
 (A view in Picardy) 
 
 QEnter GOWER and FLUELLEN, from either side, meeting. 
 
 GOWER 
 
 How now, Captain Fluellen ! come you from the 
 bridge <? (2) 
 
 C.(i) Achievement in the old chivalry probably had some precise signifi- 
 cance not handed down to us. The King, in Act III., scene 3, says 
 "Bid them achieve me." The meaning here is plainly that instead of 
 fighting he will offer to pay ransom. (2) The reference here is to an 
 historical fact. After Henry had passed the Somme, the French at- 
 tempted to break down the only bridge over the Ternoise, at Blangy, 
 and thus cut off his passage to Calais ; but Henry, learning their design, 
 sent forward troops who put the French to flight, and guarded the bridge 
 until the English had crossed. 
 
 (49) 
 
KING HENRY the FIFTH 
 
 FLUELLEN 
 
 I assure you, there is very excellent services com- 
 mitted at the pridge. (^Trumpets.) 
 
 Hark you, the king is coming, and I must speak 
 with him from the pridge. (ffbey move Lefty 
 
 , from Right, KING HENRY, GLOSTER, BED- 
 FORD, other nobles and soldiers, and pages bearing the 
 KING'S helmet and shield. 
 
 Got pless your majesty ! 
 
 KING HENRY (Centre) 
 How now, Fluellen ! earnest thou from the bridge ? 
 
 FLUELLEN (Left) 
 
 Ay, so please your majesty. The Duke of Exe- 
 ter has very gallantly maintained the pridge : the 
 French is gone off, look you : and there is gallant 
 and most prave passages ; marry, th' athversary was 
 have possession of the pridge ; but he is enforced to 
 retire, and the Duke of Exeter is master of the 
 pridge : I can tell your majesty, the duke is a prave 
 man. 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 What men have you lost, Fluellen? 
 
 FLUELLEN 
 
 The perdition of th' athversary hath peen very 
 great, reasonable great: marry, for my part, I think 
 the duke hath lost never a man, but one that is like 
 to pe executed for robbing a church, one Bardolph, 
 if your majesty know the man ; his face is all bu- 
 bukles (i), and whelks, and knobs, and flames of fire ; 
 and his lip plows at his nose, and it is like a coal of 
 
 C,(i) A corrupt word, formed half of carbuncle, half of bubo, probably 
 meaning a red pimple. Schmidt. 
 
 (5) 
 
ACT Two : The SIXTH Scene 
 
 fire, sometimes plue and sometimes red; but his 
 nose is executed, and his fire's out. 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 We would have all such offenders so cut off: (i) 
 and we give express charge, that, in our marches 
 through the country, there be nothing compelled from 
 the villages, nothing taken but paid for, none of the 
 French upbraided or abused in disdainful language ; 
 for when lenity and cruelty play for a kingdom, the 
 gentler gamester is the soonest winner. 
 
 from Right, MONTJOY, with trumfeters. 
 MONT JOY kneels, Right Centre. 
 
 MONTJOY 
 You know me by my habit (2). 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 Well, then, I know thee. What shall I know of 
 thee? 
 
 MONTJOY 
 My master's mind. 
 
 KING HENRY 
 Unfold it. 
 
 MONTJOY (rises) 
 
 Thus says my king : Say thou to Harry of Eng- 
 land, Though we seemed dead, we did but sleep : 
 Advantage is a better soldier than rashness. Tell 
 
 C,(i) It will be seen by the following extract from an anonymous chron- 
 icler how minutely Shakespeare has adhered to history : ' ' There was 
 brought to the king in that plain a certain English robber, who, contrary 
 to the laws of God and the Royal proclamation, had stolen from a church 
 a pix of copper gilt, found in his sleeve, which he happened to mistake 
 for gold, in which the Lord's body was kept ; and in the next village 
 where he passed the night, by decree of the King he was put to death on 
 the gallows." Titus Livius relates that Henry commanded his army to 
 halt until the sacrilege was expiated. lie first caused the pix to be re- 
 stored to the church, and the offender was then led, bound as a thief, 
 through the army, and afterwards hung upon a tree, that every man 
 might behold him. (2) Herald's coat. 
 
 (so 
 
KING HENRY the FIFTH 
 
 him, we could have rebuked him at Harfleur ; but 
 that we thought not good to bruise an injury till it 
 were full ripe. Now we speak upon our cue, ( i ) and 
 our voice is imperial ; England shall repent his folly, 
 see his weakness, and admire our sufferance. Bid 
 him, therefore, consider of his ransom : which must 
 proportion (2) the losses we have borne, the subjects 
 we have lost, the disgrace we have digested (3). 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 
 kneeling at our feet, but a weak and worthless sat- 
 isfaction. 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. 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 What is thy name *? I know thy quality (4). 
 MONTJOY 
 
 Montjoy. 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 Thou dost thy office fairly. Turn thee back, 
 And tell thy king I do not seek him now; 
 But could be willing to march on to Calais 
 Without impeachment (5) ; for, to say the sooth, (6) 
 Though 't is 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 
 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, 
 
 In our turn. (2) Be in proportion to. (3) Put up with. (4) Pro- 
 fession. (5) Hindrance, impediment. (6) Truth. 
 
 (s*) 
 
ACT Two : The SIXTH Scene 
 
 That I do brag thus! This your air of France 
 Hath blown that vice in me ; I must repent. 
 Go therefore, tell thy master here I am : 
 My ransom is this frail and worthless trunk, 
 My army but a weak and sickly guard ; 
 Yet, God before, tell him we will come on, 
 Though France himself and such another neighbour 
 Stand in our way. There 's for thy labour, (i) 
 
 Montjoy. (Hands pursed) 
 
 Go, bid thy master well advise himself: 
 If we may pass, we will ; if we be hinder'd, 
 We shall your tawny ground with your red blood 
 Discolour: (2) and so, Montjoy, fare you well. 
 The sum of all our answer is but this : 
 We would not seek a battle, as we are, 
 Nor, as we are, we say we will not shun it : 
 So tell your master. 
 
 MONTJOY 
 I shall deliver so. Thanks to your highness. 
 
 (MONTJOY and trumpeters Exeunt, Right?) 
 
 GLOSTER (Left Centre) 
 I hope they will not come upon us now. 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 We are in God's hand, brother, not in theirs. 
 March to the bridge ; it now draws toward night. 
 Beyond the river we'll encamp ourselves, 
 And on to-morrow bid them march away. 
 
 (Exeunt, Left.) 
 
 The END of the SECOND ACT 
 
 C.(i) It was customary to reward a herald, no matter what was his mes- 
 sage. (2) My desire is, that none of you be so unadvised, as to be the 
 occasion that I, in my defence, shall colour and make red yotir tawny 
 ground with the effusion of Christian blood. When he (Henry) had thus 
 answered the Herald, he gave him a great reward, and licensed him to 
 depart. Holinshed. 
 
 (53) 
 
ACT THREE 
 
 of KING HENRY V 
 
 RUMOUR appears as Chorus 
 
 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 (i) sounds, 
 That the fixed sentinels almost receive 
 The secret whispers of each other's watch. (2) 
 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, 
 Piercing the night's dull ear ; and from the tents, 
 The armourers, accomplishing the knights, 
 With busy hammers closing rivets up, (3) 
 Give dreadful note of preparation. 
 The country cocks do crow, the clocks do toll, 
 And the third hour of drowsy morning name. 
 Proud of their numbers, and secure in soul, 
 The confident and over-lusty French 
 Do the low-rated English play at dice ; 
 And chide the cripple tardy-gaited night,(4) 
 
 C.(i) Gently, lowly. (2) The armies were only 250 paces apart, accord- 
 ing to Holinshed. (3) The plate armour was not only riveted in parts, 
 before it was put on, but the armourers were employed in closing up 
 parts which fitted to each other by rivets, when the knight was being 
 equipped for the battle or tournament. Knight. (4) This scene and 
 the next are intended by Shakespeare to contrast the difference in the 
 demeanor of the French and the English on the eve of battle. The night 
 was passed in silence and earnest devotion in the English camp, every 
 one contemplated the morrow with an awful solemnity. The resolution 
 to exert themselves to their last breath for their own preservation and 
 honour was universal ; but their state of weakness from disease and suffer- 
 ing, and the vast superiority of the enemy, forbad much hope. Sharon 
 Turner. The Frenchmen made greate fires about their banners * * * 
 and all that night made greate chere, and were very mery. The English- 
 
 (54) 
 
ACT THREE: The FIRST Scene 
 
 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 
 
 The morning's danger ; and their gesture sad 
 
 Investing lank-lean cheeks, and war-worn coats, 
 
 Presenteth them unto the gazing moon 
 
 So many horrid ghosts. O, now, who will behold 
 
 The royal captain of this ruin'd band, 
 
 Walking from watch to watch, from tent to tent, 
 
 Let him cry " Praise and glory on his head ! " 
 
 For forth he goes, and visits all his host, 
 
 Bids them good morrow, with a modest smile, 
 
 And calls them brothers, friends and countrymen. 
 
 Upon his royal face there is no note 
 
 How dread an army hath enrounded him. 
 
 <fbe FIRST Scene 
 
 DAUPHIN'S Tent near Agincourf) 
 
 DAUPHIN reclines on couch, Centre, ^fhe CONSTA- 
 BLE and ORLEANS flay at dice at table, Right. BOUR- 
 BON, RAMBURES( i) ^^GRANDPRE flay at dice on drum- 
 head Left. Attendants at back. A sentinel paces before 
 the door on the outside. Pages are serving wine. T/6<? 
 DAUPHIN rises and goes up to the door of the tent, Centre. 
 
 CONSTABLE 
 
 Tut ! I have the best armour of the world. Would 
 it were day ! 
 
 men that night sounded their trompettes and diverse instruments musicale 
 with greate melody, and yet they were bothe hungery, wery, sore traveled 
 and much vexed with colde deseases : Howbeit they made peace with God, 
 in confessyng their synnes, requiring hym of help, and receivyng the holy 
 sacramente, every man encouragyng and determying clerely rather to die 
 than either to yelde or flie. Hallos Chronicle. 
 
 C.(i) The Lord of Rambures was commander of the cross-bows of the 
 French army at Agincourt. 
 
 (55) 
 
KING HENRY the FIFTH 
 
 ORLEANS. 
 
 You have an excellent armour ; but let my horse 
 have his due. 
 
 CONSTABLE 
 It is the best horse of Europe. 
 
 ORLEANS 
 v Will it never be morning? 
 
 DAUPHIN (returning Centre at Front) 
 My Lord of Orleans, and my lord high constable, 
 you talk of horse and armour ? 
 
 ORLEANS (rises) 
 
 You are as well provided of both as any prince 
 in the world. (Sits again.} 
 
 DAUPHIN 
 
 What a long night is this! I will not change 
 my horse with any that treads but on four pasterns. 
 Ca, ha ! he bounds from the earth, as if his entrails 
 were hairs ;(i ) le cheval volant, the Pegasus, chez les 
 narines de feu ! When I bestride him, I soar, I am 
 a hawk : he trots the air ; the earth sings when he 
 touches it ; the basest horn of his hoof is more musi- 
 cal than the pipe of Hermes. Will it never be 
 day ? I will trot to-morrow a mile, and my way 
 shall be paved with English faces. (2) 
 
 CONSTABLE (rises) 
 
 I will not say so, for fear I should be faced out of 
 my way. But I would it were morning, for I would 
 fain be about the ears of the English. 
 
 ORLEANS 
 
 Who will go to hazard with me for twenty pris- 
 oners ? 
 
 C.( J ) That is, as if he were a tennis ball stuffed with hair. Rolfe. (2) 
 They were estemed to be in numbre sixe times as many, or more than 
 was the whole compaigny of the Englishmen with wagoners, pages, and 
 all. Hall 's Chronicle. 
 
 (56) 
 
ACT THREE : The FIRST Scene 
 
 CONSTABLE 
 
 You must first go yourself to hazard, ere you have 
 them. 
 
 DAUPHIN 
 'Tis past midnight, I'll go arm myself. 
 
 (Exit DAUPHIN, Right. Others laugh.) 
 
 ORLEANS 
 
 The Dauphin longs for morning. 
 He longs to eat the English. 
 
 CONSTABLE 
 I think he will eat all he kills. 
 
 ORLEANS 
 By the white hand of my lady, he's a gallant prince. 
 
 CONSTABLE 
 Swear by her foot, that she may tread out the oath. 
 
 ORLEANS 
 He is, simply, the most active gentleman of France. 
 
 CONSTABLE 
 Doing is activity; and he will still be doing. (i) 
 
 ORLEANS 
 He never did harm, that I heard of. 
 
 CONSTABLE 
 
 Nor will do none to-morrow: he will keep that 
 good name still. 
 
 ORLEANS 
 I know him to be valiant. 
 
 CONSTABLE 
 
 I was told that, by one that knows him better 
 than you. 
 
 White says "doing" has here an amorous sense. 
 
 (57) 
 
KING HENRY the FIFTH 
 
 ORLEANS 
 What's he 4 ? 
 
 CONSTABLE 
 
 Marry, he told me so himself; and he said, he 
 cared not who knew it. 
 
 QEnter a MESSENGER at Centre. 
 
 MESSENGER 
 
 My lord high constable, the English lie within 
 fifteen hundred paces of your tents.(i) 
 
 CONSTABLE 
 Who hath measured the ground ? 
 
 MESSENGER 
 The Lord Grandpre. 
 
 CONSTABLE 
 A valiant and most expert gentleman. 
 
 (Exit MESSENGER.) 
 
 Would it were day ! Alas, poor Harry of Eng- 
 land ! he longs not for the dawn, as we do. 
 
 ORLEANS 
 
 What a wretched and peevish fellow is this king 
 of England, to mope with his fat-brained (2) followers 
 so far out of his knowledge ! 
 
 CONSTABLE 
 
 If the English had any apprehension, they would 
 run away. 
 
 ORLEANS 
 
 That they lack ; for if their heads had any intel- 
 lectual armour, they could never wear such heavy 
 head-pieces. 
 
 C.(i) Holinshed says that the distance between the two armies was but 
 250 paces. (2) Stupid. 
 
 (58) 
 
ACT THREE : The FIRST Scene 
 
 RAMBURES 
 
 That island of England breeds very valiant creat- 
 ures ; their mastiffs are of unmatchable courage. 
 
 ORLEANS 
 
 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 vali- 
 ant flea that dare eat his breakfast on the lip of a 
 lion. 
 
 CONSTABLE 
 
 Just, just; and the men do sympathize with the 
 mastiffs in robustious and rough coming on, leaving 
 their wits with their wives : and then give them 
 great meals of beef and iron and steel, they will eat 
 like wolves and fight like devils. 
 
 ORLEANS 
 Ay, but these English are shrewdly out of beef. 
 
 CONSTABLE 
 
 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 '? 
 
 (Bell of strikes two.} 
 
 ORLEANS 
 
 It is now two o'clock : but, let me see, by ten 
 We shall have each a hundred Englishmen. 
 
 (Exeunt. Others off sing a night song.} 
 
KING HENRY the FIFTH 
 
 SECOND Scene 
 
 English Lines near Agincourt just before dawn.) 
 
 nting is heard in the distance, ^he monks confess 
 nd bless the soldiers. Retiring, they leave the young 
 DUKE ^BEDFORD standing over the embers of a smoul- 
 dering/ire. He is joined by his brothers, KING HENRY 
 and the DUKE <?/*GLOSTER. 
 
 KING HENRY (Centre) 
 
 Gloster, 'tis true that we are in great danger ; 
 The greater therefore should our courage be. 
 Good morrow, brother Bedford. God Almighty ! 
 There is some soul of goodness in things evil, 
 Would men observingly distil it out ; 
 For our bad neighbour makes us early stirrers, 
 Which is both healthful and good husbandry (i) : 
 That we should dress us(2) fairly for our end. 
 Thus may we gather honey from the weed, 
 And make a moral of the devil himself. 
 
 QEnter ERPINGHAM (3) from Left 
 
 Good morrow, old Sir Thomas Erpingham : 
 A good soft pillow for that good white head 
 Were better than a churlish turf of France. 
 
 ERPINGHAM (Left Centre) 
 
 Not so, my liege : this lodging likes me better, 
 Since I may say, now lie I like a king. 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 'Tis good for men to love their present pains. 
 Lend me thy cloak, Sir Thomas. Brothers both, 
 Commend me to the princes in our camp ; 
 
 C.(0 Thrift. (2) To address, that is, set in order, prepare. (3) Sir 
 Thomas Erpingham came over with Bolingbroke from Brittany, and was 
 one of the commissioners to receive King Richard's abdication. 
 
 (6) 
 
ACT THREE: Th e SECOND Scene 
 
 Do my good morrow to them ; and, anon, 
 Desire them all to my pavilion. 
 
 (He throws ERPINGHAM'S cloak about him.) 
 
 GLOSTER 
 We shall, my liege. 
 
 (Exeunt GLOSTER and BEDFORD.) 
 
 ERPINGHAM 
 Shall I attend your grace ? 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 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. 
 
 ERPINGHAM 
 The Lord in Heaven bless thee, noble Harry ! 
 
 (Exit ERPINGHAM, Right) 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 God-a-mercy, old heart ! thou speakest cheerfully. 
 
 (He goes up) 
 
 QEnter PISTOL from Left. 
 
 PISTOL 
 
 Qui va Id ? 
 
 KING HENRY (hooded and cloaked) 
 
 A friend. 
 
 PISTOL 
 
 Discuss unto me ; art thou an officer 4 ? 
 
 Or, art thou base, common and popular (i) ? 
 
 KING HENRY 
 I am a gentleman of a company. 
 
 C,(i) Of the people, not noble or of royalty. 
 (61) 
 
KING HENRY the FIFTH 
 
 PISTOL 
 Trail'st thou the puissant pike ? 
 
 KING HENRY 
 Even so : what are you ? 
 
 PISTOL 
 As good a gentleman as the emperor. 
 
 KING HENRY 
 Then you are a better(i) than the king. 
 
 PISTOL 
 
 The king's a bawcock(2) and a heart of gold, 
 A lad of life, an imp (3) of fame; 
 Of parents good, of fist most valiant ; 
 I kiss his dirty shoe, and from my heartstrings 
 I love the lovely bully. What's thy name ? 
 
 KING HENRY 
 Harry Le Roy. 
 
 PISTOL 
 Le Roy ! a Cornish name ; art thou of Cornish crew? 
 
 KING HENRY 
 No, I am a Welshman. 
 
 PISTOL 
 Knowest thou Fluellen ? 
 
 KING HENRY 
 Yes. 
 
 PISTOL . 
 
 Tell him, I'll knock his leek about his pate, 
 Upon St. Davy's day. (Crosses to Right.) 
 
 d.(0 A better man. (2) A term of endearment, says Schmidt, synony- 
 mous to chuck, but always masculine. White says " jolly good fellow : 
 beau cocq." (3) Youngling, youngster, son. 
 
ACT THREE: Th e SECOND Scene 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 Do not you wear your dagger in your cap that 
 day, lest he knock that about yours. 
 
 PISTOL 
 Art thou his friend ? 
 
 KING HENRY 
 And his kinsman too. 
 
 PISTOL 
 
 The/^(l) for thee, then ! 
 
 KING HENRY 
 I thank you : God be with you. 
 
 PISTOL 
 My name is Pistol called. 
 
 KING HENRY 
 It sorts (2) well with your fierceness. 
 
 (Exit PISTOL, Right.) 
 
 (KiNG HENRY retires into the shadow as FLUELLEN 
 and GOWER enter from Right and Left, meeting.) 
 
 GOWER 
 Captain Fluellen ! 
 
 FLUELLEN 
 
 So ! in the name of Cheshu Christ, speak lower. (3) 
 It is the greatest admiration in the universal world, 
 when the true and aunchient prerogatifes and laws 
 of the wars is not kept. If you would take the 
 pains but to examine the wars of Pompey the 
 Great, you shall find, I warrant you, that there is no 
 tiddle taddle nor pibble pabble in Pompey's camp ; 
 
 C,(i) Fig. (2) Agrees. (3) Shakespeare has here, as usual, followed 
 Holinshed : " Order was taken by commandment from the king, after 
 the army was first set in battle array, that no noise or clamor should be 
 made in the host." 
 
 (63) 
 
KING HENRY the FIFTH 
 
 I warrant you, you shall find the ceremonies of the 
 wars, and the cares of it, and the forms of it, and 
 the sobriety of it, and the modesty of it, to pe other- 
 wise. 
 
 GOWER 
 Why, the enemy is loud ; you hear him all night. 
 
 FLU ELLEN 
 
 If the enemy is an ass and a fool and a prating 
 coxcomb, is it meet, think you, that we should also, 
 look you, pe an ass and a fool and a prating cox- 
 comb? in your own conscience (i), now? 
 
 GOWER 
 I will speak lower. 
 
 FLUELLEN 
 I pray you, and beseech you, that you will. 
 
 (Exeunt GOWER and FLUELLEN, Right?) 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 Though it appear a little out of fashion, 
 There is much care and valour in this Welshman. 
 
 , from Left, BATES and WILLIAMS, stopping 
 before the fire, Left Centre. 
 
 WILLIAMS {Left Centre) 
 
 Brother John Bates, is not that the morning 
 which breaks yonder *? 
 
 BATES (Left) 
 
 I think it be : but we have no great cause to de- 
 sire the approach of day. 
 
 WILLIAMS 
 
 We see yonder the beginning of the day, but I 
 think we shall never see the end of it. Who goes 
 there ? _ 
 
 Opinion. 
 
 (64) 
 
ACT THREE: The SECOND Scene 
 
 KING HENRY (up Centre) 
 A friend. 
 
 WILLIAMS 
 Under what captain serve you ? 
 
 KING HENRY 
 Under Sir Thomas Erpingham. 
 
 WILLIAMS 
 
 A good old commander and a most kind gentle- 
 man : I pray you, what thinks he of our estate ? 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 Even as men wrecked upon a sand, that look to 
 be washed off the next tide. 
 
 BATES 
 He hath not told his thought to the king? 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 No ; nor it is not meet he should. For, though 
 I speak it to you, I think the king is but a man, as 
 I am : the violet smells to him as it doth to me ; 
 the element shows to him as it doth to me; all his 
 senses have but human conditions : his 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.( i ) 
 Therefore when 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 appearance of fear, lest he, by showing it, should 
 dishearten his army. 
 
 BATES 
 
 He may show what outward courage he will ; but 
 I believe, as cold a night as 'tis, he could wish him- 
 
 d.( J ) The terms mounted, stoop, and wing are borrowed from falconry. 
 
 (65) 
 
KING HENRY the FIFTH 
 
 self in the Thames up to the neck ; and so I would 
 he were, and I by him, at all adventures, so we 
 were quit here. 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 By my troth, I will speak my conscience 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 many poor men's lives 
 saved. 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 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 ; his cause 
 being just and his quarrel honourable. 
 
 WILLIAMS 
 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 sub- 
 jects ; if his cause be wrong, our obedience to the 
 king wipes the crime of it out of us. 
 
 WILLIAMS 
 
 But if the cause be not good, the king himself 
 hath a heavy reckoning to make. I am afeard there 
 are few die well that die in 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 disobey were against all proportion of 
 subjection (l). 
 
 C,(i) That is, reasonable service. 
 (66) 
 
A c T T H R E E : Th e SECOND Scene 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 So, if a son that is by his father sent about mer- 
 chandise, do sinfully miscarry upon the sea, the im- 
 putation of his wickedness, by your rule, should be 
 imposed upon his father that sent him ; or if a ser- 
 vant, under his master's command, transporting a sum 
 of money, be assailed by robbers, 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 king is not bound to answer 
 the particular endings of his soldiers, the father of 
 his son, nor the master of his servant; for they pur- 
 pose not their death when they purpose their ser- 
 vices. Besides, there is no king, be his cause never 
 so spotless, if it come to the arbitrement of swords, 
 can try it out with all unspotted soldiers. Every 
 subject's duty is the king's ; but every subject's soul 
 is his own. Therefore should every soldier in the 
 wars do as every sick man in his bed, wash every 
 mote out of his conscience ; and dying so, death is 
 to him advantage ; or not dying, the time was bless- 
 edly lost, wherein such preparation was gained. 
 
 WILLIAMS 
 
 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 me ; and yet 
 I determine to fight lustily for him. 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 I myself heard the king say he would not be ran- 
 somed. (Comes forward, Right?) 
 
 WILLIAMS 
 Ay, he said so, to make us fight cheerfully; but, 
 
 (67) 
 
KING HENRY the FIFTH 
 
 when our throats are cut, he may be ransomed, and 
 we ne'er the wiser. 
 
 KING HENRY 
 If I live to see it, I will never trust his word after. 
 
 WILLIAMS 
 
 You pay him then ! (Rises, going Centred) That's 
 a perilous shot out of an elder gun(i), that a poor and 
 private displeasure can do against a monarch ! you 
 may as well go about to turn the sun to ice, with 
 fanning in his face with a peacock's feather. You'll 
 never trust his word after ! come, 'tis a foolish saying. 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 Your reproof is something too rourid(2) : I should 
 be angry with you if the time were convenient. 
 
 WILLIAMS 
 Let it be a quarrel between us, if you live. 
 
 (Approaches, threatening^) 
 
 KING HENRY 
 I embrace it. 
 
 WILLIAMS 
 How shall I know thee again? 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 Give me any gage of thine, and I will wear it in 
 my bonnet : then, if ever thou darest acknowledge 
 it, I will make it my quarrel. 
 
 WILLIAMS 
 Here's my glove : give me another of thine. 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 There. (T*hey exchange gloves.) 
 
 C.(i) A gun made of elder wood, a pop gun. (2) Rough, unceremonious. 
 
 (68) 
 
ACT THREE : The SECOND Scene 
 
 WILLIAMS 
 
 This will I also wear in my cap : if ever thou 
 come to me and say, after to-morrow, "This is my 
 glove," by this hand, I will take thee a box on the 
 ear. 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 If ever I live to see it, I will challenge it. 
 
 WILLIAMS 
 Thou darest as well be hanged. 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 Well, I will do it, though I take thee in the king's 
 company. (Crosses to Left.} 
 
 WILLIAMS (Right) 
 Keep thy word : fare thee well. 
 
 BATES (coming between, Right Centre) 
 Be friends, you English fools, be friends : we have 
 French quarrels enow(l), if you could tell how to 
 reckon. 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 Indeed, the French may lay twenty French 
 crowns (2) to one, they will beat us ; for they bear 
 them on their shoulders : but it is no English treason 
 to cut French crowns, and to-morrow the king him- 
 self will be a clipper. 
 
 (Exeunt WILLIAMS and BATES, Right} 
 
 (The KING alone, Left Centre) 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 Upon the king ! let us our lives, our souls, 
 Our debts, our careful (3) wives, 
 
 C.O) Old plural of enough. (2) A common expression for a bald head, 
 but the pun here, Tyrwhitt points out, may turn simply on the double 
 meaning of crown. To cut French crowns is an allusion to the crime of 
 clipping coin. (3) Full of care. 
 
 (6 9 ) 
 
KING HENRY the FIFTH 
 
 Our children, and our sins, lay on the king. 
 We must bear all. 
 
 hard condition ! twin-born with greatness, 
 Subject to the breath of every fool, whose sense 
 No more can feel but his own wringing (i) ! 
 What infinite hearts-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 idle ceremony ? 
 
 What kind of god art thou, that suffer'st more 
 
 Of mortal griefs than do thy worshippers ? 
 
 Art thou aught else but place, degree and form, 
 
 Creating awe and fear in other men ? 
 
 Wherein thou art less happy, being feared, 
 
 Than they in fearing. 
 
 What drink'st thou oft, instead of homage sweet, 
 
 But poison'd flattery ? O, be sick, great greatness, 
 
 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 flexure and low bending? 
 
 Canst thou, when thou command'st the beggar's 
 
 knee, 
 
 Command the health of it ? No, thou proud dream, 
 That play'st so subtly with a king's repose ; 
 
 1 am a king that find thee, and I know 
 
 'Tis not the balm (2), the sceptre, and the ball, 
 The sword, the mace, the crown imperial, 
 The inter-tissued robe of gold and pearl, 
 The farced title running 'fore the king, 
 The throne he sits on, nor the tide of pomp 
 That beats upon the high shore of this world ; 
 No, not all these, thrice-gorgeous ceremony, 
 
 C.(i) Suffering. (2) The anointing oil used at coronation. 
 (70) 
 
ACT THREE: jf/?^ SECOND Scene 
 
 Not all these, laid in bed majestical, 
 
 Can sleep so soundly as the wretched slave, 
 
 Who with a body lill'd and vacant mind 
 
 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, 
 
 Doth rise and help Hyperion to his horse; (i) 
 
 And follows so the ever-running year, 
 
 With profitable labour, to his grave : 
 
 And, but for ceremony, such a wretch, 
 
 Winding up days with toil and nights with sleep, 
 
 Had the fore-hand and vantage (2) of a king. 
 
 QEnter, from Right, ERPINGHAM. 
 
 ERPINGHAM 
 
 My lord, your nobles, jealous of your absence, 
 Seek through your camp to find you. 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 Good old knight, 
 
 Collect them all together at my tent : 
 I'll be before thee. 
 
 ERPINGHAM 
 
 I shall do 't, my lord. 
 
 (Exit Right.) 
 KING HENRY 
 
 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 
 My father made in compassing (3) the crown ! 
 
 C.(i) Is up before the sun. (2) Advantage. (3) Obtaining. 
 (70 
 
KING HENRY the FIFTH 
 
 I Richard's body have interred new, 
 And on it have bestow'd more contrite tears 
 Than from it issued forced drops of blood. 
 Five hundred poor I have in yearly pay, 
 Who twice a day their wither'd hands hold up 
 Toward heaven, to pardon blood ; and I have built 
 Two chantries, (i) where the sad and solemn priests 
 Sing still for Richard's soul. (2) More will I do ; 
 Though all that I can do is nothing worth, 
 Since that my penitence comes after all, 
 Imploring pardon. 
 
 GLOSTER (of Left) 
 My liege ! 
 
 KING HENRY 
 My brother Gloster's voice *? 
 
 QEnter GLOSTER, Left. 
 
 Ay; 
 
 I know thy errand, I will go with thee : 
 
 (Ex// G LOST E R 
 
 The day, my friends, and all things stay for me. 
 
 (tableau.) 
 
 ^L(i) One of these monasteries was for Carthusian monks, and was called 
 Bethlehem ; the other was for religious men and women of the order of 
 St. Bridget, and was named Sion. They were on opposite sides of the 
 Thames, and adjoined the royal manor of Sheen, now called Richmond. 
 Malone. (2) He sent unto ye fryers of Langley, where the corps of 
 kynge Richarde was buryed, and caused it to be taken out of ye erth, and 
 so with reverence and solempntie to be conveyed unto Westmynster, 
 and upon the south syde of seynt Edwardes shryne, there honourably to 
 be buryed by quene Anne his wife, which there before tyme was entered. 
 And after a solempn terment there holdon, he provyded that iiii tapers 
 shulde breune daye and nyght about his grave, whyle the world endureth : 
 and one day in the weke a solempne dirige, and upon the morrowe a masse 
 of Requiem by note ; after which masse endyed, to be gyven wekely unto 
 pore people XI. S. VIII. in pens ; and upon ye day of his anniversary, 
 after ye sayd masse of Requiem is songe, to be yerely distrybuted for his 
 soule, XX. li. d. Fabyan. 
 
 (72) 
 
ACT THREE: Th e THIRD Scene 
 
 The THIRD Scene 
 -English Position at Agincourt, Morning) 
 
 GLOSTER, BEDFORD, EXETER, YORK, SALIS- 
 BURY, ERPINGHAM, WESTMORELAND, a herald, a stand- 
 ard bearer, trumpeters and soldiers. 
 
 GLOSTER (Left) 
 Where is the king? 
 
 BEDFORD (Left) 
 The king himself is rode to view their battle. 
 
 WESTMORELAND (Centre) 
 Of fighting men they have full threescore thousand. 
 
 EXETER (Left Centre) 
 There's five to one ; besides they are all fresh. 
 
 ERPINGHAM (Right) 
 'Tis a fearful odds. 
 
 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, 
 And my kind kinsmen, warriors all, adieu ! 
 
 BEDFORD 
 
 Farewell, good Erpingham ; and good luck go with 
 thee ! (Exit ERPINGHAM, Right.) 
 
 WESTMORELAND 
 O that we now had here 
 
 But one ten thousand of those men in England 
 That do no work to-day ! ( i ) 
 
 C.(i) A certain lord, Walter Hungerford, knight, was regretting in the 
 King's presence that he had not, in addition to the small retinue which 
 he had there, ten thousand of the best English Archers, who would be 
 desirous of being with him ; when the King said, Thou speakest foolish- 
 ly, for, by the God of Heaven, on whose grace I have relied, and in whom 
 
 (73) 
 
KING HENRY the FIFTH 
 
 {[Enter KING HENRY through ranks of soldiers, from 
 Right Centre. 
 
 KING HENRY (Centre] 
 
 What's he that wishes so ? 
 
 My cousin Westmoreland ? No, my fair cousin : 
 If we are mark'd to die, we are enow 
 To do our country loss ; and if to live, 
 The fewer men, the greater share of honour. 
 God's will ! I pray thee, wish not one man more. 
 By Jove, (i) I am not covetous for gold, 
 Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost ; 
 It yearns (2) me not if men my garments wear; 
 Such outward things dwell not in my desires : 
 But if it be a sin to covet honour, 
 I am the most offending soul alive. 
 No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England : 
 God's peace ! I would not lose so great an honour 
 As one man more, methinks, would share from me 
 For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more ! 
 Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host, 
 That he which hath no stomach to this fight, 
 Let him depart; his passport shall be made, 
 And crowns for convoy (3) put into his purse : 
 We would not die in that man's company 
 That fears his fellowship to die with us. 
 This day is call'd the feast of Crispian : (4) 
 
 I have a firm hope of victory, I would not, even if I could, increase my 
 number by one ; for those whom I have are the people of God, whom he 
 thinks me worthy to have at this time. Nicholas's History of Agincourt. 
 C,(i) " The King prays like a Christian and swears like a heathen," says 
 Johnson. (2) Grieves. (3) Travelling expenses. (4) The 25th of Octo- 
 ber, Saint Crispin's day. Crispin and Crispian were brothers, born in 
 Rome ; whence they travelled to Soissons, France, about A. D. 303, to 
 propagate the Christian religion. They supported themselves by working 
 at their trade of shoemaking ; but the governor of the town, learning that 
 they were Christians, caused them to be beheaded. They subsequently 
 became the tutelar saints of the shoemakers. 
 
 (74) 
 
ACT TnREEiThe THIRD Scene 
 
 He that outlives this day, and comes safe home, 
 
 Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam'd, 
 
 And rouse him at the name of Crispian. 
 
 He that outlives this day, and sees old age, 
 
 Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours, 
 
 And say, " To-morrow is Saint Crispian : " 
 
 Then will he strip his sleeve, and show his scars: 
 
 And say, " These wounds I had on Crispin's day." 
 
 Then shall our names, 
 
 Familiar in their mouths as household words, 
 
 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, 
 
 From this day to the ending of the world, 
 
 But we in it shall be remember'd : 
 
 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, 
 
 This day shall gentle his condition ; (i) 
 
 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. 
 
 GOWER from Right, kneels Right Centre before 
 the KING. 
 
 GOWER 
 
 My sovereign lord, bestow (2) yourself with speed ; 
 The French are bravely (3) in their battles set, 
 And will with all expedience (4) charge on us. 
 
 C,(i) Advance him to the rank of gentleman. (2) Repair to your post. 
 (3) With great display. (4) Expedition, haste. 
 
 (75) 
 
KING HENRY the FIFTH 
 
 KING HENRY 
 All things are ready, if our minds be so. 
 
 (GOWER rises.) 
 
 WESTMORELAND (Left Centre) 
 Perish the man whose mind is backward now ! 
 
 KING HENRY 
 Thou dost not wish more help from England, coz? 
 
 WESTMORELAND 
 
 Heaven's will, my liege, would you and I alone, 
 Without more help, could fight this royal battle ! 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 Why, now, thou hast unwish'd five thousand men, 
 Which likes me better than to wish us one. 
 You know your places : God be with you all ! 
 
 QEnter MONT JOY and trumpeters from Right. 
 
 MONTJOY 
 
 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 (i). Besides, in 
 
 mercy, 
 
 The constable desires thee thou wilt mind 
 Thy followers of repentance ; that their souls 
 May make a peaceful and a sweet retire 
 From off these fields, where, wretches, their poor 
 
 bodies 
 Must lie and fester. 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 Who has sent thee now"? 
 
 CL( r ) Swallowed up. 
 (76) 
 
ACT THREE: The THIRD Scene 
 
 MONTJOY 
 
 The Constable of France. 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 I pray thee, bear my former answer back ; 
 Bid them achieve me, and then sell my bones. 
 Good God! why should they mock poor fellows 
 
 thus*? 
 
 The man that once did sell the lion's skin 
 While the beast liv'd, was kill'd with hunting him. 
 Let me speak proudly. Tell the constable, 
 We are but warriors for the working-day: (i) 
 Our gayness, and our gilt (2), are all besmirch'd 
 With rainy marching in the painful field; 
 There's not a piece of feather in our host 
 (Good argument, I hope, we will not fly), 
 And time hath worn us into slovenry : 
 But, by the mass, our hearts are in the trim : 
 And my poor soldiers tell me, yet ere night 
 They'll be in fresher robes ; or they will pluck 
 The gay new coats o'er the French soldiers' heads, 
 And turn them out of service. If they do this 
 (As, if Heaven please, they shall), my ransom then 
 Will soon be levied. Herald, save thou thy labour, 
 Come thou no more for ransom, gentle herald ; 
 They shall have none, I swear, but these my joints ; 
 Which, if they have as I will leave 'em them, 
 Shall yield them little, tell the constable. 
 
 MONTJOY 
 
 I shall, King Harry. And so fare thee well : 
 Thou never shalt hear herald any more. 
 
 (Exeunt Right) 
 KING HENRY 
 I fear, thou wilt once more come again for ransom. 
 
 C.(i) Soldiers ready for work, not dressed up for holiday. (2) Refers to 
 the gilding on their armour and weapons. 
 
 (77) 
 
KING HENRY the FIFTH 
 
 YORK (kneels Left Centre) 
 My lord, most humbly on my knee I beg 
 The leading of the vaward (i). 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 Take it, brave York. Now, soldiers, march away : 
 And how thou pleasest, God, dispose the day ! 
 
 The FOURTH Scene 
 
 (Part of the field of Battle, ^fhe din of battle nearby is 
 
 heard) 
 
 nter, from Right, FRENCH SOLDIER, PISTOL and 
 BOY. PISTOL drags the FRENCH SOLDIER by a halter. 
 
 PISTOL (Left Centre) 
 Yield, cur. 
 
 FRENCH SOLDIER (Right Centre, on his knees) 
 O, prennez misericorde ! ayez pitie de moi ! 
 
 PISTOL 
 
 Moy shall not serve, I will have forty moys; 
 For I will fetch thy rim (2) out at thy throat, 
 In drops of crimson blood. 
 
 FRENCH SOLDIER 
 Est-il impossible d'echapper la force de ton bras? 
 
 PISTOL 
 Brass, cur ! 
 
 Thou damned and luxurious (3) mountain goat, 
 Offer'st me brass *? 
 
 FRENCH SOLDIER 
 O pardonnez moi ! 
 
 C.(i) Vanguard. (2) The caul in which the bowels are wrapped. (3) 
 Lustful. 
 
 (78) 
 
ACT THREE: The FOURTH Scene 
 
 PISTOL 
 
 Say'st them me so ? is that a ton of moys ? 
 Come hither, boy. Ask me this slave in French, 
 What is his name. 
 
 BOY (Centre) 
 Ecoutez ; comment etes-vous appelle ? 
 
 FRENCH SOLDIER 
 Monsieur le Fer. 
 
 BOY 
 He says his name is Master Fer. 
 
 PISTOL 
 
 Master Fer! I'll fer him, and firk(i) him, and 
 ferret(2) him : discuss the same in French unto 
 him. 
 
 BOY 
 
 I do not know the French for fer, and ferret, and 
 firk. 
 
 PISTOL 
 
 Bid him prepare, for I will cut his throat. 
 
 FRENCH SOLDIER 
 Cue dit-il, monsieur ? 
 
 BOY 
 
 II me commande de vous dire que vous faites vous 
 pret ; car ce soldat ici est dispose tout a cette heure 
 de couper votre gorge. 
 
 PISTOL 
 
 Ouy, couper gorge, par ma foy, pesant. 
 Unless thou give me crowns, brave crowns; 
 Or mangled shalt thou be by this my sword. 
 
 C.(i) Beat, drub. (2) To worry, as a ferret does. 
 (79) 
 
KING HENRY the FIFTH 
 
 FRENCH SOLDIER 
 
 O je vous supplie, me pardonner ! Je suis gentil- 
 homme de bonne maison; gardez ma vie, et je 
 vous donnerai deux cent ecus. 
 
 PISTOL 
 What are his words ? 
 
 BOY 
 
 He prays you to save his life ; he is a gentleman 
 of a good house ; and for his ransom he will give 
 you two hundred crowns. 
 
 PISTOL 
 
 Tell him, my fury shall abate, and I 
 The crowns will take. (Sheathes sword.) 
 
 FRENCH SOLDIER 
 Petit monsieur, que dit-il ? 
 
 BOY 
 
 Encore qu'il est contre son jurement de pardonner 
 aucun prisonnier, neanmoins, pour les ecus que vous 
 1'avez promis, il est content de vous donner la 
 liberte, le franchisement. 
 
 FRENCH SOLDIER 
 
 Sur mes genoux je vous donne mille remerci- 
 ments; et je m'estime heureux que je suis tombe 
 entre les mains d'un chevalier, je pense, le plus 
 brave, vaillant, et tres distingue seigneur d'Angle- 
 terre. 
 
 PISTOL 
 Expound unto me, boy. 
 
 BOY 
 
 He gives you, upon his knees, a thousand thanks : 
 and he esteems himself happy that he hath fallen 
 
ACT THREE :The FIFTH Scene 
 
 into the hands of one (as he thinks) the most brave, 
 valorous, and thrice-worthy signieur of England. 
 
 (Goes Right.) 
 PISTOL 
 
 As I suck blood, I will some mercy show. 
 Follow me. (Exit PISTOL, Left.) 
 
 BOY 
 Suivez-vous le grand capitaine. 
 
 (Exit FRENCH SOLDIER, Left.) 
 I did never know so full a voice issue from so 
 empty a heart : but the saying is true, the empty 
 vessel makes the greatest sound. Bardolph and 
 Nym had ten times more valour than this roaring 
 devil i' the old play,(i) that every one may pare his 
 nails with a wooden dagger ; and they are both 
 hanged ; and so would this be, if he durst steal any- 
 thing adventurously. I must stay with the lackeys, 
 with the luggage of our camp : the French might 
 have a good prey of us, if he knew of it ; for there 
 is none to guard it but boys. (Exit Left.) 
 
 FIFTH Scene 
 
 (Tableau *fbe Battle of Agmcourt)(2) 
 
 C.(i) In the old " moralities " or comedies, the Vice or buffoon had a 
 sword or dagger of lath with which he used to beat the devil, and some- 
 times attempted to pare his long nails. (2) The king is reported to have 
 dismounted before the battle commenced, and to have fought on foot. 
 King Henry was habited in his "cote d'armes," containing the arms of 
 France and England quarterly, and wore on his bacinet a very rich crown 
 of gold and jewels, circled like an imperial crown, that is, arched over. 
 The earliest instance of an arched crown worn by an English monarch. 
 Planchd. Holinshed states that the English army consisted of 15,000, 
 and the French of 60,000 horse and 40,000 infantry in all, 100,000. 
 Walsingham and Harding represent the English as but 9,000, and other 
 authors say that the number of French amounted to 150,000. Fabian 
 says the French were 40,000, and the English only 7,000. The battle 
 lasted only three hours. The noble Duke of Gloucester, the king's 
 brother, pushing himself too vigorously on his horse into the conflict, 
 was grievously wounded, and cast down to the earth by the blows of the 
 
 (81) 
 
KING HENRY the FIFTH 
 
 the SIXTH Scene 
 (A Part of the Field of Battle) 
 
 , from Right, DAUPHIN, CONSTABLE, ORLEANS, 
 BOURBON, and others in confusion. 
 
 CONSTABLE (Right Centre) 
 O diable ! 
 
 ORLEANS (Right Centre) 
 O seigneur ! le jour est perdu, tout est perdu ! 
 
 DAUPHIN 
 
 Mort de ma vie ! all is confounded, all ! 
 Reproach and everlasting shame 
 Sits mocking in our plumes. O mechante for- 
 tune ! 
 Do not run away. (A short alarum without.) 
 
 CONSTABLE (Left Centre) 
 
 Why, all our ranks are broke. 
 
 French, for whose protection the King being interested, he bravely leapt 
 against his enemies in defence of his brother, defended him with his own 
 body, and plucked and guarded him from the raging malice of the 
 enemy's, sustaining perils of war scarcely possible to be borne. Nico- 
 las' s History of Agincoitrt. Thus this battaile continued iii long houres, 
 some strake, some defeded, some foyned, some traversed, some kylled, 
 some toke prisoners, no man was idle, every man fought either in hope 
 of victory or to save him selfe. The Kyng that day shewed him selfe 
 like a valiaunt knight, whiche notwithstandyng that he was almost felled 
 with the Duke of Alaunson, yet with plain strength he slew ii of the 
 Duke's company, and felled the Duke ; but when the Duke would have 
 yieulded to him, the Kynge's garde, contrary to the Kynge's minde, out- 
 ragiously slewe him. Hall's Chronicle. During the battle the Duke of 
 Alen9on most valiantly broke through the English lines, and advanced 
 fighting near the King inasmuch that he wounded and struck down the 
 Duke of York. King Henry seeing this stepped forth to his aid, and as 
 he was leaning down to aid him the Duke of Alen9on gave him a blow on 
 his helmet that struck off part of his crown. The King's guards on 
 this surrounded him, when seeing he could no way escape death but by 
 surrendering, he lifted up his arms and said to the king, " I am the Duke 
 of Alencon, and yield myself to you." But as the King was holding out 
 his hands to receive his pledge he was put to death by the guards. 
 Monstrelet. 
 
 (82) 
 
ACT THREE : The SEVENTH Scene 
 
 DAUPHIN 
 
 O perdurable(i) shame ! let's stab ourselves. 
 Be these the wretches that we play'd at dice for ? 
 
 ORLEANS 
 Is this the king we sent to for his ransom ? 
 
 DAUPHIN 
 
 Shame, and eternal shame, nothing but shame ! 
 Let's die in honour : Once more back again. 
 
 CONSTABLE 
 
 Disorder, that hath spoil'd us, friend us now ! 
 Let us, on heaps, go offer up our lives. 
 
 ORLEANS 
 
 We are enow, yet living in the field, 
 To smother up the English in our throngs, 
 If any order might be thought upon. 
 
 CONSTABLE 
 
 The devil take order now ! I'll to the throng; 
 Let life be short; else shame will be too long. 
 
 (Exeunt Right, rushing again to 
 
 SEVENTH Scene 
 
 (The Plains of Agincourt, after the Victory) 
 
 QEnter, from Right, KING HENRY, BEDFORD, GLOS- 
 TER, WARWICK, and others, -with a fart of the English 
 forces. 
 
 KING HENRY (Centre) 
 
 Well have we done, thrice valiant countrymen : 
 But all's not done, yet keep the French the field. 
 
 _ <L(i) Lasting. _ 
 
 (83) 
 
KING HENRY the FIFTH 
 
 QEnter EXETER from Left. 
 
 EXETER 
 The Duke of York commends him to your majesty. 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 Lives he, good uncle ? thrice within this hour 
 I saw him down ; thrice up again, and fighting ; 
 From helmet to the spur, all blood he was. 
 
 EXETER 
 
 In which array (brave soldier !) doth he lie, 
 Larding(i) the plain : and by his bloody side 
 (Yoke-fellow to his honour-owing(2) wounds) 
 The noble Earl of Suffolk also lies. 
 Suffolk first died: and York all haggled (3) over, 
 Comes to him, where in gore he lay insteep'd, 
 And takes him by the beard, kisses the gashes 
 That bloodily did yawn upon his face, 
 And cries aloud, " Tarry, dear Cousin Suffolk ! 
 My soul shall thine keep company to heaven : 
 Tarry, sweet soul, for mine, then fly a-breast ; 
 As, in this glorious and well-foughten field, 
 We kept together in our chivalry ! " 
 Upon these words I came, and cheer'd him up : 
 He smil'd me in the face, raught(4) 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 
 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-ended love. 
 The pretty and sweet manner of it forc'd 
 Those waters from me, which I would have stopp'd 
 But I had not so much of man in me, 
 
 Enriching. (2) Honorable. (3) Cut, mangled. (4) Reached, 
 from Old English. 
 
 (84) 
 
ACTTHREE: The SEVENTH Scene 
 
 And all my mother came into mine eyes 
 And gave me up to tears. 
 
 KING HENRY (turns /# EXETER and grasps his hand] 
 
 I blame you not ; 
 
 For, hearing this, I must perforce compound 
 With mistful eyes, or they will issue too. 
 But, hark ! what new alarum is this same ? 
 The French have reinforced their scattered men : 
 Give the word through. 
 
 (Exeunt Right, all but FLU ELLEN and GOWER, 
 
 who come forward.) 
 FLUELLEN 
 
 Kill the poys and the luggage ! 5 t is expressly 
 against the law of arms : 't is as arrant a piece of 
 knavery, mark you now, as can pe offert; in your 
 conscience, now, is it not*? 
 
 GOWER 
 O, 't is a gallant king ! 
 
 FLUELLEN 
 
 Ay, he was porn at Monmouth, Captain Gower. 
 What call you the town's name where Alexander 
 the Pig was porn ? 
 
 GOWER 
 Alexander the Great. 
 
 FLUELLEN 
 
 Why, I pray you, is not pig, great *? The pig or 
 the great, or the mighty, or the huge, or the mag- 
 nanimous, are all one reckonings save the phrase is 
 a little variations. 
 
 GOWER 
 
 I think Alexander the Great was born in Mace- 
 don; his father was called Philip of Macedon, as I 
 take it. (Exeunt, talking.) 
 
 (85) 
 
KING HENRY the FIFTH 
 
 cr, from Right, KING HENRY and forces, WAR- 
 WICK, GLOSTER, EXETER, and others, attended. 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 I was not angry since I came to France 
 Until this instant. Take a trumpet, herald ; 
 Ride thou unto the horsemen on yon hill : 
 If they will fight with us, bid them come down, 
 Or void(i) the field ; they do offend our sight. 
 If they'll do neither, we will come to them r 
 And make them skirr(2) away as swift as stones 
 Enforced from the old Assyrian slings. 
 Besides, we'll cut the throats of those we have, 
 And not a man of them that we shall take 
 Shall taste our mercy. Go and tell them so. 
 
 (Exit English Herald, Right, 2.) 
 
 EXETER 
 Here comes the herald of the French, my liege. 
 
 {[Enter MONTJOY, Right, i ; he kneels before the KING. 
 
 GLOSTER 
 His eyes are humbler than they us'd to be. 
 
 KING HENRY 
 How now ! what means this, herald ? know'st thou 
 
 not 
 
 That I have fin'd(3) these bones of mine for ran- 
 som 2 
 Com'st thou again for ransom ? 
 
 MONTJOY 
 
 No, great king : 
 
 I come to thee for charitable license, 
 That we may wander o'er this bloody field 
 To look(4) our dead, and then to bury them. 
 
 C.(i) Avoid, withdraw. (2) Move rapidly. (3) Defined as the sum for 
 ransom. (4) Look for. 
 
 (86) 
 
ACT THREE: The SEVENTH Scene 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 I tell thee, truly, herald, 
 I know not if the day be ours, or no ; 
 For yet a many of your horsemen peer, 
 And gallop o'er the field. 
 
 MONTJOY 
 The day is yours. (Rises.} 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 Praised be Heaven, and not our strength, for it. 
 What is this castle call'd that stands hard by *? 
 
 MONTJOY 
 They call it Agincourt. 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 Then call we this the field of Agincourt, 
 Fought on the day of Crispin Crispianus. 
 
 FLUELLEN 
 
 Your grandfather of famous memory, an't please 
 your majesty, and your great uncle Edward the 
 plack prince of Wales, as I have read in the chron- 
 icles, fought a most prave pattle here in France. 
 
 KING HENRY 
 They did, Fluellen. 
 
 FLUELLEN 
 
 Your majesty says very true : if your majesties is 
 remembered of it, the Welshmen did goot service 
 in a garden where leeks did grow,(i) wearing leeks 
 in their Monmouth caps (2) ; which your majesty 
 
 C.(i) King Arthur won a great victory over the Saxons " in a garden 
 where leeks did grow," and Saint David ordered that every one of the 
 king's soldiers should wear a leek in his cap in honour thereof. Hence 
 the Welsh custom of wearing the emblem on Saint David's day, March 
 1st. (2) A kind of woollen cap made at Monmouth and much worn by 
 soldiers. 
 
 (8 7 ) 
 
KING HENRY the FIFTH 
 
 knows, to this hour is an honourable padge of the 
 service ; and, I do pelieve, your majesty takes no 
 scorn to wear the leek upon Saint Tavy's day. 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 I wear it for a memorable honour : 
 For I am Welsh, you know, good countryman. 
 
 FLUELLEN 
 
 All the water in Wye cannot wash your 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 ! 
 
 KING HENRY 
 Thanks, good my countryman. 
 
 FLUELLEN 
 
 By Saint Tavy, I am your Majesty's countryman, 
 I care not who know it ; I will confess it to all the 
 'orld: I need not be ashamed of your majesty, 
 praised be Heaven, so long as your majesty is an 
 honest man. 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 God keep me so ! Our heralds go with him ; 
 Bring me just notice of the numbers dead 
 On both our parts. Call yonder fellow hither. 
 
 (Points to WILLIAMS. Exeunt MONTJOY and 
 
 others?) 
 EXETER 
 Soldier, you must come to the king. 
 
 (WILLIAMS advances^ 
 
 KING HENRY 
 Soldier, why wearest thou that glove in thy cap *? 
 
 WILLIAMS 
 
 An't please your majesty, 'tis the gage of one 
 that I should fight withal, if he be alive. 
 
 (88) 
 
ACT THREE : The SEVENTH Scene 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 An Englishman? 
 
 WILLIAMS 
 
 An't please your majesty, a rascal that swaggered 
 with me last night : who, if 'a live and ever dare to 
 challenge this glove, I have sworn to take him a 
 box o' the ear : or, if I can see my glove in his cap 
 (which he swore, as he was a soldier, he would wear 
 if alive), I will strike it out soundly. 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 What think you, Captain Fluellen ? is it fit this 
 soldier keep his oath ? 
 
 FLUELLEN 
 
 He is a craven and a villain else, an't please your 
 majesty, in my conscience. 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 It may be his enemy is a gentleman of great sort, 
 quite from the answer of his degree.(i) 
 
 FLUELLEN 
 
 Though he be as goot a gentleman as the tevil is, 
 as Lucifer and Belzebub himself, it is necessary, 
 look your grace, that he keep his vow and his oath. 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 Then keep thy vow, sirrah, when thou meet'st the 
 fellow. 
 
 WILLIAMS 
 
 So I will, my liege, as I live. 
 
 KING HENRY 
 Who servest thou under? 
 
 C.(i) A person of such station as is not bound to hazard his person to 
 answer to a challenge from one of the soldier's low degree. 
 
 (89) 
 
KING HENRY the FIFTH 
 
 WILLIAMS 
 Under Captain Gower, my liege. 
 
 FLUELLEN 
 
 Gower is a goot captain ; and is goot knowledge 
 and literatured in the wars. 
 
 KING HENRY 
 Call him hither to me, soldier. 
 
 WILLIAMS 
 I will, my liege. (Exit WILLIAMS, Right) 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 Here, Fluellen ; wear thou this favour for me, 
 and stick it in thy cap. (Gives glove to FLUELLEN 
 who receives it on his knee.) When Alen^on and 
 myself were down together,(i) I plucked this glove 
 from his helm ; if any man challenge this, he is a 
 friend to Alen9on and an enemy to our person ; if 
 thou encounter any such, apprehend him, as thou 
 dost me love. 
 
 FLUELLEN (rises) 
 
 Your grace does me as great honours as can be 
 desired in the hearts of his subjects : I would fain 
 see the man, that has but two legs, that shall find 
 himself aggriefed at this glove, that is all; but I 
 would fain see it once : an please Heaven of its 
 grace that I might see it. 
 
 KING HENRY 
 Knowest thou Gower ? 
 
 FLUELLEN 
 He is my dear friend, an please you. 
 
 C.(i) This alludes to an historical fact. Henry was felled to the ground 
 by the Duke of Alen9on, but recovered himself and slew two of the 
 Duke's attendants. 
 
 (9) 
 
ACT THREE : The SEVENTH Scene 
 
 KING HENRY 
 Pray thee, go seek him, and bring him to my tent. 
 
 FLUELLEN 
 I will fetch him. (Exit FLUELLEN, Right.) 
 
 HENRY 
 
 My lord of Warwick, and my brother Gloster, 
 Follow Fluellen closely at the heels. 
 The glove, which I have given him for a favour, 
 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 : 
 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. 
 Follow, and see there be no harm between them. 
 (Exeunt WARWICK and GLOSTER, Right.} 
 Go you with me, uncle of Exeter. (Exeunt Left.} 
 
 QEnter, from Right, GOWER and WILLIAMS. 
 
 WILLIAMS 
 I warrant it is to knight you, captain. 
 
 QEnter FLUELLEN, following them from Right. 
 
 FLUELLEN (Centre) 
 
 Got's will and his pleasure, captain, I peseech 
 you now, come apace to the king : there is more 
 goot toward you peradventure than is in your knowl- 
 edge to dream of 
 
 (WILLIAMS notices the glove in FLUELLEN'S helmet. 
 He starts with surprise. He takes the glove from his 
 own helmet and holds it to FLUELLEN.) 
 
 WILLIAMS (Right) 
 Sir, know you this glove *? 
 
KING HENRY the FIFTH 
 
 FLUELLEN 
 Know the glove ! I know the glove is a glove. 
 
 WILLIAMS 
 I know this, and thus I challenge it. (Strikes him.) 
 
 FLUELLEN 
 
 'Sblood !(i) an arrant traitor as any is in the uni- 
 versal world, or in France, or in England ! 
 
 GOWER 
 How now, sir ! you villain ! 
 
 (Draws and comes between them, Centre) 
 
 WILLIAMS 
 Do you think I'll be forsworn ? 
 
 FLUELLEN 
 
 Stand away, Captain Gower; I will give treason 
 his payment into plows, I warrant you. 
 
 WILLIAMS 
 I am no traitor. 
 
 FLUELLEN 
 
 That's a lie in thy throat. I charge you in his 
 majesty's name, apprehend him: he's a friend of the 
 Duke Alen9on's. 
 
 QEnter WARWICK and GLOSTER from Right. 
 
 WARWICK 
 How now, how now ! what's the matter ? 
 
 FLUELLEN 
 
 My Lord of Warwick, here is praised pe Got 
 for it! a most contagious treason come to light, 
 look you, as you shall desire in a summer's day. 
 Here is his majesty. 
 
 C.U) A common oath, an abbreviation for God's blood. 
 (92) 
 
ACT THREE :Tbe SEVENTH Scene 
 
 , from Left, KING HENRY and EXETER, other 
 lords and attendants. 
 
 KING HENRY (Centre) 
 How now! what's the matter? 
 
 FLU ELLEN (Left) 
 
 My liege, here is a villain and a traitor, that, look 
 your grace, has struck the glove which your ma- 
 jesty is take out of the helmet of Alencon. 
 
 WILLIAMS (Right) 
 
 My liege, this was my glove ; here is the fellow of 
 it : and he that I gave it to in change 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. 
 
 FLUELLEN 
 
 Your majesty hear now (saving your majesty's 
 manhood), what an arrant, rascally, beggarly, lousy 
 knave it is : I hope your majesty is pear me in testi- 
 mony, and witness, and will avouchment, that this 
 is the glove of Alencon, that your majesty is give 
 me, in your conscience now. 
 
 KING HENRY 
 Give me thy glove, soldier! Look, here's the fel- 
 
 low of it. 
 
 'Twas I, indeed, thou promised'st to strike; 
 And thou hast given me most bitter terms (i). 
 
 FLUELLEN 
 
 And please your majesty, let his neck answer for 
 it, if there is any martial law in the 'orld. 
 
 C,(i) Words. 
 (93) 
 
KING HENRY the FIFTH 
 
 KING HENRY 
 How canst thou make me satisfaction ? 
 
 WILLIAMS (kneeling) 
 
 All offences, my liege, come from the heart: 
 never came any from mine that might offend your 
 majesty. 
 
 KING HENRY 
 It was ourself thou didst abuse. 
 
 WILLIAMS 
 
 Your majesty came not like yourself; you ap- 
 peared to me but as a common man ; witness the 
 night, your garments, your lowliness; and what 
 your highness suffered under that shape, I beseech 
 you, take it for your own fault, and not mine : for 
 had you been as I took you for, I made no offence ; 
 therefore, I beseech your highness, pardon me. 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 Here, Uncle Exeter, fill this glove with crowns. 
 And give it to this fellow. Keep it, fellow; 
 And wear it for an honour in thy cap, 
 Till I do challenge it. Give him the crowns : 
 And, captain, you must needs be friends with him. 
 
 FLUELLEN 
 
 By this day and this light, the fellow has mettle 
 enough in his pelly: (Crosses, Right, to WILLIAMS 
 and offers coin.} Hold, there is twelve pence for you. 
 
 WILLIAMS 
 I will none of your money. (Retires up Right.} 
 
 FLUELLEN (following) 
 It is with a goot will. 
 
 (94) 
 
ACT THREE : The SEVENTH Scene 
 
 ENGLISH HERALD from Right. He kneels be- 
 fore the KING. 
 
 KING HENRY (Left Centre) 
 Now, herald ; are the dead number'd *? 
 
 HERALD 
 Here is the number of slaughtered French. 
 
 (Delivers a paper.} 
 
 KING HENRY 
 What prisoners of good sort are taken, uncle ? 
 
 EXETER 
 
 Charles, Duke of Orleans,(i) nephew to the king; 
 John, Duke of Bourbon, and Lord Bouciqualt : 
 Of other lords and barons, knights and 'squires, 
 Full fifteen hundred, besides common men. (2) 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 This note doth tell me of ten thousand French 
 That in the field lie slain : of princes, in this num- 
 
 ber, 
 
 And nobles bearing banners, there lie dead 
 One hundred twenty-six: added to these, 
 Of knights, esquires, and gallant gentlemen, 
 Eight thousand and four hundred ; of the which, 
 
 Charles, Duke of Orleans, was wounded and taken prisoner at Agin- 
 court. Henry .refused all ransom for him, and he remained in captivity 
 twenty-three years. (2) Among the most illustrious persons slain were 
 the Dukes of Brabant, Barre, and Alenfon, five counts, and a still greater 
 proportion of distinguished knights ; and the Duke of Orleans, the Count 
 of Vendome, who was taken by Sir John Cornwall, the Marshal Bouci- 
 qualt, and numerous other individuals of distinction, whose names are 
 minutely recorded by Monstrelet, were made prisoners. The loss of the 
 English army has been variously estimated. The discrepancies respect- 
 ing the number slain on the part of the victors, form a striking contrast 
 to the accuracy of the account of the loss of their enemies. The English 
 writers vary in their statements from seventeen to one hundred, whilst 
 the French chroniclers assert that from three hundred to sixteen hundred 
 individuals fell on that occasion. St. Remy and Monstrelet assert that 
 sixteen hundred were slain. Nicolas 1 s History of Agincourt. 
 
 (95) 
 
KING HENRY the FIFTH 
 
 Five hundred were but yesterday, dubb'd knights :(i) 
 So that, in these ten thousand they have lost, 
 There are but sixteen hundred mercenaries; 
 The rest are princes, barons, lords, knights, 'squires, 
 And gentlemen of blood and quality. 
 Here was a royal fellowship of death ! 
 Where is the number of our English dead ? 
 
 (Herald shows him another paper, then rises and 
 
 retires Right Centred) 
 
 Edward the Duke of York, the Earl of Suffolk, 
 Sir Richard Ketly, Davy Gam, esquire (2) : 
 None else of name (3) ; and of all other men 
 But five and twenty. O God, thy arm was here ; 
 And not to us, but to thy arm alone, 
 Ascribe we all ! When, without stratagem, 
 But in plain shock and even play of battle, 
 Was ever known so great and little loss 
 On one part and on the other ? Take it, God, 
 For it is none but thine ! 
 
 EXETER 
 
 'Tis wonderful ! 
 
 KING HENRY 
 Do we all holy rites ; 
 
 Let there be sung Non Nobis and Tl? Deum ; 
 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. 
 (All kneel. Song of thanksgiving.') 
 
 The END of the THIRD ACT 
 
 C.(i) In ancient times the distribution of this honour appears to have been 
 customary on the eve of battle. (2) This gentleman, being sent by 
 Henry, before the battle, to find out the strength of the enemy, made 
 this report : " May it please you, my liege, there are enough to be killed, 
 enough to be taken prisoners, and enough to run away." He saved the 
 king's life in the field. Malone. (3) Of eminence. 
 
 (96) 
 
ACT FOUR 
 of KING HENRY V 
 
 An HISTORICAL Episode (i) 
 
 QThe Return of Henry P. to London, after the Battle of 
 Agincourt. 
 
 k HE scene represents London Bridge at 
 the Surrey end. Gaily decorated booths 
 are banked against the fronts of the 
 houses banners, flags, and garlands 
 float in the air ; a holiday throng crowds 
 the ways, the booths and the windows 
 the chimes of St. Paul are heard above 
 the babel of the crowd. Peddlers of bal- 
 lads, gilded ginger-bread and other holiday knick-knacks 
 do a thriving business. A Merry Andrew amuses with 
 athletic antics, Two small boys get into a fight and 
 anxious mothers separate them. 
 
 'The blare of trumpets attracts attention to the coming 
 0/~ NICHOLAS WOTTON, Lord Mayor of London, attended 
 by the Civic Sword-bearer, the Sergeant at Mace, and 
 Aldermen. The Lord Mayor bears the key of the city. 
 They pass along the bridge to meet the KING on the Surrey 
 side and present the freedom of the city. Presently sol- 
 diers of the Civic Guard return and crowd the people 
 
 C.(i) Extracts of King Henry's reception into London from an anony- 
 mous Chronicler, who was an eye-witness of the events he describes : 
 
 ' ' And when the wished-f or Saturday dawned, the citizens went forth 
 to meet the King. * * * viz., the Mayor and Aldermen in scarlet, 
 and the rest of the inferior citizens in red suits, with party-coloured 
 hoods, red and white. * * * When they had come to the Tower at 
 the approach to the bridge, as it were at the entrance to the authorities 
 to the city. * * * Banners of the Royal Arms adorned the Tower, 
 elevated on its turrets ; and trumpets, clarions, and horns, sounded in 
 various melody ; and in front there was this elegant and suitable inscrip- 
 tion upon the wall, ' Civitas Regis justicie ' (' The City to the King's 
 Righteousness.') * * * And behind the tower were innumerable 
 boys, representing angels, arrayed in white, and with countenances shin- 
 
 ~(97) 
 
KING HENRY the FIFTH 
 
 back against the houses to make way for the procession 
 and the festivities, tfhe Lord Mayor and party return 
 from their errand of courtesy and occupy a booth to review 
 the troops. 
 
 A flourish of trumpets announces the head of the 
 column. Company after company of bowmen, archers, 
 pikemen, miners and sappers, and other soldiers enter and 
 pass through the crawds. ^fheir ranks are broken and 
 their files depleted by the fatalities of their victory. At 
 the head of each group marches a knight, with a page 
 bearing his shield and a standard-bearer with his colours, 
 ^he crowd cheers its favourites, soldiers recognize familiar 
 faces in the crowds. A mother kisses her returning son 
 as he marches past. A young wife rushes to the embrace 
 of her wounded husband and marches away with him. 
 Another girl scans the faces of the passing troopers, but 
 seems not to find the one she seeks. She rushes out to an 
 officer. He shakes his head and whispers to her. She 
 faints and is borne back into the crowd, her little tragedy 
 unnoticed in the festivity. 
 
 ing with gold, and glittering wings, and virgin locks set with precious 
 sprigs of laurel, who, at the King's approach sang, with melodious 
 voices, and with organs, an English anthem. 
 
 ******** 
 
 "A company of prophets, of venerable hoariness, dressed in golden 
 coats and mantels, with their heads covered and wrapped in gold and 
 crimson, sang with sweet harmony, bowing to the ground, a psalm of 
 thanksgiving. 
 
 ******** 
 
 "And they sent forth upon him round leaves of silver mixed with 
 wafers, equally thin and round. And there proceeded out to meet the 
 King a chorus of most beautiful virgin girls, elegantly attired in white, 
 singing with timbrel and dance, as it were an angelic multitude, decked 
 with celestial gracefulness, white apparel, shining feathers, virgin locks, 
 studded with gems and other resplendent and most elegant array, who 
 sent forth upon the head of the King passing beneath minae of gold, with 
 bows of laurel ; round about angels shone with celestial gracefulness, 
 chaunting sweetly, and with all sorts of music. 
 
 " And besides the pressure in the standing places, and of men crowd- 
 ing through the streets, and the multitude of both sexes along the way 
 from the bridge, from one end to the other, that scarcely the horsemen 
 could ride through them. A greater assembly, or a nobler spectacle, was 
 not recollected to have been ever before in London." 
 
ACT FOUR : HISTORICAL EPISODE 
 
 Following the troops come other knights and attendants, 
 '(hey line the 'way on both sides. Another Jiourish of 
 trumpets and forth from the bridge come a troop of 
 maidens in flowing white, who wave palm branches as 
 they trip through their figures. Singing in their train 
 come a choir of scarlet-vested cathedral boys, six English 
 prophets and six English kings. They precede the ARCH- 
 BISHOP of CANTERBURY and the BISHOP of ELY and 
 the nobles of the royal court. A huzzah spreads through 
 the multitude, the chimes ring out again, the trumpets 
 blare, drums roll, banners wave in a riot of colour, and 
 victorious KING HARRY, on his gaily-caparisoned white 
 charger, rides into the midst of his welcome. 
 
 RUMOUR appears as Chorus. 
 
 Now we bear the king 
 
 Toward Calais : grant him there ; there seen, 
 Heave him away upon your winged thoughts 
 Athwart the sea. Behold, the English beach 
 Pales in (i) the flood with men, with wives, and boys, 
 Whose shouts and claps out-voice the deep-mouth'd 
 
 sea, 
 
 Which like a mighty whiffler (2) fore the king 
 Seems to prepare his way : so let him land, 
 And solemnly see him set on to London. 
 So swift a pace hath thought that even now 
 You may imagine him upon Blackheath; 
 Where that his lords desire him to have borne 
 His bruised helmet and his bended sword 
 Before him through the city : he forbids it, 
 Being free from vainness and self-glorious pride ; 
 Giving full trophy, signal and ostent 
 Quite from himself to God. But now behold, 
 
 C,(i) Encompasses. (2) A whiffler is an officer who walks first in pro- 
 cessions, or before persons of high stations, on occasions of ceremony. 
 
 (99) 
 
K i 
 
 N G 
 
 H 
 
 E N R Y 
 
 the F 
 
 I F T H 
 
 In the quick forge and working-house of thought, 
 How London doth pour out her citizens ! 
 The mayor and all his brethren in best sort (i), 
 Like to the senators of the antique Rome, 
 With the plebeians swarming at their heels, 
 Go forth and fetch their conquering Csesar in. 
 
 The END of the FOURTH ACT 
 
 L(0 Style. 
 
 (100) 
 
ACT F I V 
 
 of KING HENRY V 
 
 <fke FIRST Scene 
 
 (Interior of the French King's Palace at 
 
 PRINCESS KATHERINE at her embroidery, attended 
 by the LADY ALICE. 
 
 KATHERINE (Left Centre) 
 
 Alice, tu as ete en Angleterre, et tu paries bien 
 le langage. 
 
 ALICE (Centre) 
 Un peu, madame. 
 
 KATHERINE 
 
 Je te prie, m'enseignez ; il faut que j'apprenne a 
 parler. Comment appelez-vous la main en Anglais? 
 
 ALICE 
 La main ? elle est appelee de hand. 
 
 KATHERINE 
 De hand. Et les doigts *? 
 
 ALICE 
 
 Les doigts ? ma foi, j'oublie les doigts ! mais je 
 me souviendrai. Les doigts *? je pense qu'ils sont 
 appeles de fingres : oui, de fingres. 
 
 KATHERINE 
 
 I La main, de hand ; les doigts, de fingres. Je 
 pense que je suis le bon ecolier ; j'ai gagne deux 
 mots d'Anglais vitement. Comment appelez-vous 
 les ongles *? 
 
 ALICE 
 Les ongles ? nous les appelons de nails. 
 
KING HENRY the FIFTH 
 
 KATHERINE 
 
 De nails. Ecoutez ; dites-moi, si je parle bien : 
 de hand, de fingres, et de nails. 
 
 ALICE 
 C'est bien dit, madame ; il est fort bon Anglais. 
 
 KATHERINE 
 Dites-moi PAnglais pour le bras. 
 
 ALICE 
 De arm, madame. 
 
 KATHERINE 
 Et le coude ? 
 
 ALICE 
 De elbow. 
 
 KATHERINE 
 
 De elbow. Je m'en fais la repetition de tous les 
 mots que vous m'avez appris des a present. 
 
 ALICE 
 II est trop difficile, madame, comme je pense. 
 
 KATHERINE 
 
 Excusez-moi, Alice ; ecoutez : de hand, de fin- 
 gres, de nails, de arm, de bilbow. 
 
 ALICE 
 De elbow, madame. 
 
 KATHERINE 
 
 O Seigneur Dieu, je m'en oublie ! de elbow. 
 Comment appelez-vous le col ? 
 
 ALICE 
 De neck, madame. 
 
 (102) 
 
ACT FIVE : The FIRST Scene 
 
 KATHERINE 
 De nick. Et le menton? 
 
 ALICE 
 De chin. 
 
 KATHERINE 
 De sin. Le col, de nick ; le menton, de sin. 
 
 ALICE 
 
 Oui. Sauf votre honneur, en verite, vous pro- 
 noncez les mots aussi droit que les natifs d' Angle- 
 terre. 
 
 KATHERINE 
 
 Je ne doute point d'apprendre, par la grace de 
 Dieu, et en peu de temps. 
 
 ALICE 
 
 N'avez vous pas deja oublie ce que je vous ai en- 
 seigne ? 
 
 KATHERINE 
 
 Non, je reciterai a vous promptement : de hand, 
 de fingres, de mails, 
 
 ALICE 
 De nails, madame. 
 
 KATHERINE 
 De nails, de arm, de ilbow. 
 
 ALICE 
 
 Sauf votre honneur, de elbow. (tfhey retire up.) 
 
 (103) 
 
KING HENRY the FIFTH 
 
 , on left side, the FRENCH KING and QUEEN, with 
 their Court, and on the Right the KING of ENGLAND, 
 with knights and attendants. 
 
 KING HENRY (Right Centre) 
 
 Peace to this meeting, wherefore we are met!(i) 
 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 Katherine ; 
 And (as a branch and member of this royalty, 
 By whom this great assembly is contriv'd) 
 We do salute you, Duke of Burgundy(2) ; 
 And, princes French, and peers, health to you all ! 
 
 FRENCH KING (Left Centre) 
 
 Right joyous are we to behold your face, 
 Most worthy brother England ; fairly met : 
 So are you, princes English, every one. 
 
 QUEEN ISABEL (Left) 
 You English princes all, I do salute you. 
 
 BURGUNDY (Centre) 
 
 My duty to you both, on equal love, 
 
 Great Kings of France and England ! That I have 
 
 labour'd 
 
 With all my wits, my pains, and strong endeavours, 
 To bring your most imperial majesties 
 
 C.(i) Shortly after his arrival he waited on the King and Queen of 
 France, and the Lady Catharine their daughter, when great honour and 
 attentions were by them mutually paid to each other. Monstrelet. (2) 
 John, Duke of Burgundy, surnamed the Fearless, succeeded to the 
 Dukedom in 1403. He caused the Duke of Orleans to be assassinated 
 in the streets of Paris, and was himself murdered August 28th, 1419, on 
 the bridge of Montereau, at an interview with the Dauphin, afterwards 
 Charles VII. John was succeeded by his only son, who bore the title of 
 Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy. 
 
 (104) 
 
ACT FIVE : The FIRST Scene 
 
 Unto this bar(i) and royal interview, 
 
 Your mightiness on both parts best can witness. 
 
 Since then my office hath so far prevail'd 
 
 That face to face, and royal eye to eye, 
 
 You have congreeted(l); let it not disgrace me, 
 
 If I demand, before this royal view, 
 
 What rub(3), or what impediment, there is, 
 
 Why that naked, poor, and mangled peace, 
 
 Dear nurse of arts, plenties and joyful births, 
 
 Should not, in this best garden of the world, 
 
 Our fertile France, put up her lovely visage ? 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 If, Duke of Burgundy, you would the peace, 
 Whose want gives growth to the imperfections 
 Which you have cited, you must buy that peace 
 With full accord to all our just demands : 
 Whose tenors and particular effects 
 You have, enschedul'd(4) briefly, in your hands. 
 
 BURGUNDY 
 
 The king hath heard them ; to the which, as yet, 
 There is no answer made. 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 Well, then, the peace 
 Which you before so urg'd, lies in his answer. 
 
 FRENCH KING 
 
 I have but with a cursorary(5) eye 
 O'er-glanced the articles : pleaseth(6) your grace 
 To appoint some of your council presently 
 To sit with us once more, with better heed 
 
 C.(i) Place of congress. (2) Met in a friendly way. (3) Hindrance. 
 (4) Written down. (5) Cursory. (6) May it please. 
 
 (105) 
 
KING HENRY the FIFTH 
 
 To re-survey them, we will, suddenly, 
 Pass our accept(i) and peremptory answer. 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 Brother, we shall. Go, uncle Exeter, 
 And brother Clarence, and you, brother Gloster ; 
 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(2) for our dignity, 
 Anything in, or out of, our demands ; 
 And we'll consign thereto. Will you, fair sister, 
 Go with the princes, or stay here with us ? 
 
 QUEEN ISABEL 
 
 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. 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 Yet leave our cousin Katherine here with us ; 
 She is our capital demand, compris'd 
 Within the fore-rank of our articles. 
 
 QUEEN ISABEL 
 She hath good leave. 
 
 (Exeunt all excepting KING HENRY, the PRINCESS, and 
 ALICE, who stand Left Centre, up near window-seat.) 
 
 KING HENRY (Centre) 
 
 Fair Katherine, and most fair ! 
 (KATHERINE and LADY ALICE curtsey low) 
 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? 
 
 C.(i) Declare our acceptance. (2) Profitable. 
 
ACT FIVE : The FIRST Scene 
 
 KATHERINE {Left Centre) 
 
 Your majesty shall mock at me ; I cannot speak 
 your England. 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 fair Katherine, if you will love me soundly with 
 your French heart, I will be glad to hear you con- 
 fess it brokenly with your English tongue. Do you 
 like me, Kate? 
 
 KATHERINE 
 Pardonnez-moi, I cannot tell vat is like me. 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 An angel is like you, Kate, and you are like an 
 angel. 
 
 KATHERINE 
 
 Que dit-il ? que je suis semblable a les anges ? 
 
 ALICE (Left) 
 Oui, vraiment, sauf votre grace, ainsi dit-il. 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 1 said so, dear Katherine ; and I must not blush 
 to affirm it. 
 
 KATHERINE 
 
 O bon Dieu ! les langues des hommes sont pleines 
 de tromperies. 
 
 (She comes forward to her chair, Left Centre) 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 What says she, fair one? that the tongues of men 
 are full of deceits *? 
 
 (107) 
 
KING HENRY the FIFTH 
 
 ALICE (up at Left Centre curtseys low) 
 Oui, dat the tongues of de mans is be full of de- 
 ceits : dat is de princess. 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 The princess is the better Englishwoman. P 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 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/ Give me 
 your answer ; i' faith, do : and so clap hands and a 
 bargain : how say you, lady ? 
 
 KATHERINE 
 Sauf votre honneur, me understand veil. 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 Marry, if you would put me to verses or to 
 dance for your sake, Kate, why you undid me. If 
 I could win a lady at leap-frog, or by vaulting into 
 my saddle with my armour on my back, under the 
 correction of bragging be it spoken, I should quickly 
 leap into a wife. Or if I might buffet (i) for my love, 
 or bound my horse for her favours, I could lay on 
 like a butcher and sit like a jack-an-apes, never ofT. 
 But, before God, Kate, I cannot look greenly nor 
 gasp out my eloquence, nor I have no cunning in 
 protestation; only downright oaths, which I never 
 use till urged, nor never break for urging. If thou 
 canst love a fellow of this temper, Kate, whose face 
 is not worth sunburning, that never looks in his 
 glass for love of anything he sees there, let thine 
 eye be thy cook. I speak to thee plain soldier : If 
 
 Box - 
 (108) 
 
ACT FIVE : The FIRST Scene 
 
 thou canst love me for this, take me : if not, to say 
 to thee that I shall die, is true : but for thy love, 
 by the Lord, no; yet I love thee too. And while 
 thou livest, dear Kate, take a fellow of plain and 
 uncoined constancy ;(i) for he perforce must do 
 thee right, because he hath not the gift to woo in 
 other places: for these fellows of infinite tongue, 
 that can rhyme themselves into ladies' favours, they 
 do always reason themselves out again. What ! a 
 speaker is but a prater ; a rhyme is but a ballad. A 
 good leg will fall (2); a straight back will stoop; a 
 black beard will turn white ; a curled pate will grow 
 bald; a fair face will wither; a full eye will wax 
 hollow ; but a good heart, Kate, is the sun and the 
 moon ; or, rather the sun, and not the moon ; for it 
 shines bright, and never changes, but keeps his 
 course truly. If thou wouldst have such a one, take 
 me; and take me, take a soldier; take a soldier, 
 take a king. And what sayest thou then to my 
 love ? Speak, my fair, and fairly, I pray thee. 
 
 KATHERINE 
 
 Is it possible dat I should love de enemy of 
 France *? 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 No; it is not possible you should love the ene- 
 my of France, Kate : but in loving me, you should 
 love the friend of France ; for I love France so well 
 that I will not part with a village of it; I will 
 have it all mine : and, Kate, when France is mine, 
 and I am yours, then yours is France, and you are 
 mine. 
 
 KATHERINE 
 I cannot tell vat is dat. 
 
 C,(i) That is like a plain piece of metal, that has not yet received any 
 impression. (2) Grow thin. 
 
 (I0 9 ) 
 
KING HENRY the FIFTH 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 No, Kate ? I will tell thee in French ; which, I 
 am sure, will hang upon my tongue like a new-mar- 
 ried wife about her husband's neck, hardly to be 
 shook off. Quand j'ai la possession de France, et 
 quand vous avez la possession de moi (let me see, 
 what then fc ? Saint Dennis( i ) be my speed ! ) done 
 votre est France, et vous etes mienne. It is as easy 
 for me, Kate, to conquer the kingdom as to speak 
 so much more French : I shall never move thee in 
 French, unless it be to laugh at me. 
 
 KATHERINE 
 
 Sauf votre honneur, le Fra^ois que vous parlez 
 est meilleur que 1 Anglois lequel je parle. 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 No, 'faith, is't not, Kate: but thy speaking of 
 my tongue, and I thine, must needs be granted to 
 be much at one. But, Kate, dost thou understand 
 thus much English ? Canst thou love me ? 
 
 KATHERINE 
 I cannot tell. 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 Can any of your neighbours tell, Kate? I'll ask 
 them. Come, I know thou lovest me: and at 
 night, when you come into your closet, you'll ques' 
 tion 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 answer you, la 
 
 C.1 1 ) Patron saint of France. 
 (no) 
 
ACT FIVE : The FIRST Scene 
 
 plus belle Katherine du monde, mon trcs-chere et 
 divine deesse ? 
 
 KATHERINE 
 
 Your majeste, ave fausse French enough to de- 
 ceive de most sage demoiselle dat is en France. 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 Now, fie upon my false French ! By mine 
 honour, in true English, I love thee, Kate. Now, 
 beshrew my father's ambition ! he was thinking of 
 civil wars ; therefore was I 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 : and 
 therefore tell me, most fair Katherine, will you 
 have me *? Put off your maiden blushes; avouch the 
 thoughts of your heart with the looks of an em- 
 press ; take me by the hand, and say " Harry of 
 England, I am thine : " which word thou shall no 
 sooner bless mine ear withal but I 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 answer in broken music ; for 
 thy voice is music, and thy English broken. Wilt 
 thou have me? 
 
 KATHERINE 
 Dat is as it shall please de roi mon pere. 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 Nay, it will please him well, Kate ; it shall please 
 him, Kate. 
 
KING HENRY the FIFTH 
 
 KATHERINE 
 Den it shall also content me. 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 Upon that I kiss your hand, and I call you my 
 queen. (Kneels to kiss the PRINCESS' hand.) 
 
 KATHERINE (timidly drawing away, Left) 
 Laissez, mon seigneur, laissez, laissez; ma foi, 
 je ne veux point que vous abbaissez votre grandeur, 
 en baisant la main d'une votre indigne serviteure ; 
 excuzez-moi, je vous supplie, mon tres puissant 
 seigneur. 
 
 KING HENRY 
 Then I will kiss your lips, Kate. 
 
 KATHERINE 
 
 Les dames, et demoiselles, pour etre baissees de- 
 vant leur noces, il n'est pas le coutume de France. 
 
 KING HENRY 
 Madam my interpreter, what says she? 
 
 ALICE (who has crossed to Right Centre front) 
 
 Dat it is not be de fashion pour les ladies of 
 France, (curtseys) I cannot tell what is baiser, en 
 English. 
 
 KING HENRY 
 To kiss. 
 
 ALICE (curtseys} 
 
 Your majesty entendre bettre que moi. 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 It is not the fashion for the maids in France to 
 kiss before they are married, would she say? 
 
ACT FIVE : The SECOND Scene 
 
 ALICE 
 Oui, vraiment. (Curtseys) 
 
 KING HENRY 
 
 O Kate, nice customs curt'sy to great kings. 
 Dear Kate, you and I cannot be confined within 
 the weak list (i) of a country's fashion. We are the 
 makers of manners, Kate ; and the liberty that fol- 
 lows our places stops the mouth of all find-faults (2) ; 
 as I will do yours, for upholding the nice fashion of 
 your country in denying me a kiss: therefore, pa- 
 tiently and yielding. (Kissing her.) You have 
 witchcraft in your lips, Kate : there is more eloquence 
 in a sugar touch of them than in the tongues of the 
 French council; and they should sooner persuade 
 Harry of England than a general petition of mon- 
 archs (about to kiss her again). Here comes your 
 father. 
 
 The SECOND Scene 
 
 (Troyes, from the Bridge) 
 
 CAPTAIN GOWER and FLUELLEN from Left. 
 FLUELLEN wears a leek in his cap. 
 
 GOWER (Left) 
 
 Nay, that's right ; but why wear you your leek 
 to-day ? Saint Davy's day is past. (3) 
 
 FLUELLEN (Right) 
 
 There is occasions and causes why and wherefore 
 in all things : I will tell you, as my friend, Captain 
 Gower : the rascally, scald, (4) beggarly, lousy, prag- 
 ging knave, Pistol, he is come to me, and prings me 
 
 C.(i) Boundary. (2) Fault-finders. (3) St. David's Day is March I. 
 The leek is the national Welsh emblem. (4) Scurvy, with diseased scalp. 
 
 ("3) " 
 
KING HENRY the FIFTH 
 
 pread and salt yesterday, look you, and bid me eat 
 my leek ; it was in a place where I could not breed 
 no contentions 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. 
 
 ^Enter PISTOL from Right 
 
 GOWER 
 
 Why, here he comes, swelling like a turkey-cock. 
 
 FLUELLEN 
 
 'Tis no matter for his swellings, nor his turkey- 
 cocks. (Going toward PISTOL.) Got pless you, 
 ancient Pistol ! you scurvy, lousy knave, Got pless 
 you! 
 
 PISTOL 
 Ha ! art thou Bedlam ? dost thou thirst, base 
 
 Trojan, 
 
 To have me fold up Parca's (i) fatal web^ 
 Hence ! I am qualmish at the smell of leek. 
 
 FLUELLEN (takes leek from his cap and shakes it under 
 
 PISTOL'S nose) 
 
 I peseech you heartily, scurvy, lousy knave, at 
 my desires, and my requests, and my petitions, to 
 eat, look you, this leek ; because, look you, you do 
 not love it, nor your affections, and your appetites, 
 and your digestions, does not agree with it, I would 
 desire you to eat it. 
 
 PISTOL 
 Not for Cadwallader (2) and all his goats. 
 
 FLUELLEN 
 There is one goat for you. 
 
 (Strikes him to his knees.) 
 
 C,(i) The Parcae were the Fates. The meaning of the line is "Dost 
 thou wish me to put thee to death ? " (2) Last of the Welsh Kings. 
 
ACT FIVE : The SECOND Scene 
 
 Will you be so goot, scald knave, as eat it ? 
 
 (Forces leek into PISTOL'S mouth) 
 
 PISTOL (Centre) 
 Base Trojan, thou shalt die. 
 
 FLUELLEN (Right Centre) 
 
 You say, very true, scald knave, when Heaven's 
 will is ; I will desire you to live in the mean time, 
 and eat your victuals ; come, there is sauce for it. 
 (Striking him again.) You called me yesterday, 
 mountain-squire, but I will make to-day a squire of 
 low degree. (Strikes) I pray you, fall to, if you can 
 mock a leek, you can eat a leek. 
 
 GOWER (Left Centre) 
 Enough, captain ; you have astonished ( i ) him. 
 
 FLUELLEN 
 
 I say, I will make him eat some part of my leek, 
 or I will peat his pate four days : Bite, I pray you ; 
 it is goot for your green wound, and your ploody 
 coxcomb. 
 
 PISTOL 
 Must I bite *? 
 
 FLUELLEN 
 
 Yes, certainly ; and out of doubt and out of 
 questions, too, and ambiguities. (Strikes.) 
 
 PISTOL 
 
 By this leek, I will most horribly revenge. (Fore- 
 seeing another blow from FLUELLEN'S cudgel) I eat 
 and yet I swear. 
 
 FLUELLEN 
 Eat, I pray you : will you have some more sauce 
 
 C.(i) Dr Johnson claims this is the pugilistic sense of the word astonish, 
 that is, stunned. 
 
 ("5) 
 
KING HENRY the FIFTH 
 
 to your leek ? (Strikes) there is not enough leek to 
 swear by. 
 
 PISTOL 
 Quiet thy cudgel ; thou dost see, I eat. 
 
 FLUELLEN 
 
 Much goot do you, scald knave, heartily. Nay, 
 pray .you, throw none away, the skin is goot for 
 your proken coxcomb. When you take occasions 
 to seek leeks hereafter, I pray you mock at 'em ; 
 that is all. (Going, Left.) 
 
 PISTOL 
 Good. 
 
 FLUELLEN 
 
 Ay, leeks is goot: (Returns) Hold you, there 
 is a groat to heal your pate. (Offers coin) 
 
 PISTOL 
 Me a groat ! 
 
 FLUELLEN 
 
 Yes, verily, and in truth you shall take it; or I 
 have another leek in my pocket, which you shall 
 eat. 
 
 PISTOL 
 I take thy groat, in earnest of revenge. 
 
 FLUELLEN 
 
 If I owe you anything I will pay you in cudgels. 
 (Shakes cudgel under PISTOL'S nose) Heaven be wi' 
 you, and keep you, and heal your pate. 
 
 (Strikes again. Exit ^u^th GOWER, Left) 
 
 PISTOL (draws sword with a growl and a flourish, 
 
 mightily bold) 
 All hell shall stir for this. 
 
 (He struts boldly off, but, perceiving FLUELLEN, lowers 
 his sword and runs in the opposite direction.) 
 
ACT FIVE : The THIRD Scene 
 
 cfhe THIRD Scene 
 
 (Interior of the Cathedral at ^froyes. Ceremony of 
 the Espousal of KING HENRY and the PRINCESS 
 KATHERINE. (i) ) 
 
 Right and left outside the chancel screen stand French 
 and English nobles. Enter the surpliced choir of boys and 
 men, singing, tfhey march into the chancel and dispose 
 themselves either side of the altar. Following the choir, 
 crucifers and thurifers, come three Archbishops in full 
 canonicals, ^fhe ecclesiastics ascend the steps of the high 
 altar, ^he FRENCH KING leads in the PRINCESS 
 KATHERINE in her bridal robes, the train borne by six 
 pages of Valois in pure -white, ^fhe DUKE of BUR- 
 GUNDY escorts QUEEN ISABEL, followed by LADY ALICE, 
 the French Court and attendants, ^hey dispose them- 
 selves without the chancel on the left. KING HENRY, 
 preceded by eight pages of Lancaster, enters from the 
 opposite side, ^he English nobles in full armour follow 
 him, and dispose themselves outside the chancel on the 
 right. KING HENRY advances to the foot of the altar 
 and genuflects to receive the prelates' blessing. He re- 
 turns and leads the PRINCESS KATHERINE to the foot of 
 the altar, ^hey and all kneel while the ARCHBISHOP of 
 SEWS blesses them. c fhe choir breaks forth into a joyous 
 Gloria. 
 
 ( Curtain) 
 
 The END of the FIFTH ACT 
 
 On the morrow of Trinity-day the King of England espoused her 
 in the parish church near to where he was lodged. Great pomp and 
 magnificence were displayed by him and his prince, as if he were at that 
 moment King of all the world. Monstrelet. 
 
 (II?) 
 
NOTES on the HERALDRY 
 of KING HENRY V 
 
 By ALFRED J. RODWAYE, F.R.H.S. 
 
O thoroughness in mounting Henry V. 
 could be approximated without a de- 
 tailed attention to the heraldry. It is a 
 war play of mediaeval England, when 
 nobles entered the peaceful lists of the 
 tournament or the martial lists of war 
 in full heraldic equipment. Individual 
 devices and bearings early became so 
 popular and consequently so intricate 
 that a college of heraldry was instituted, which has since 
 been the arbiter as well as the repository of the science, 
 '-fhis was composed of three kings, six heralds, and four 
 poursuivants. It was indeed under King Henry V. that 
 the heralds first acted in their collegiate capacity, and 
 heraldry was recognised as an exact science. 
 
 No official heraldic data exist of that period of English 
 history prior to the reign of Henry F. tfhe well-known 
 Rolls of Battle and Caerlaverock, invaluable as they are, 
 contain many apocryphal blazons, and therefore monu- 
 ments, seals, ancient missals, etc., have been resorted to in 
 order to obtain the correct armorials of the notables rep- 
 
 (121) 
 
HERALDRY of KING HENRY the FIFTH 
 
 resented in the flay. In the Middle Ages heraldry en- 
 tered into all branches of art, civil, military, and ecclesi- 
 astic, and was indeed practically essential, tfhe Baron 
 had his surcoat, shield, and banner emblazoned with his 
 ancestral Arms. His servitors ( 'considered unworthy to 
 bear ArmsJ were apparelled in the livery-colours and 
 wore their Lord's crest embroidered upon their sleeves. 
 
 In those days, when few of the laity could read and 
 write, heraldry was the only means of identification and 
 recognition, and we read of King Henry J^. sending his 
 Herald (William Bruges, afterwards first Garter King 
 at Arms} with his assistants over the battle-field of A gin- 
 court to examine the shields and report the names and 
 quality of the dead. *fo read the blazons of the dead 
 warriors would be as an open book to those versed in the 
 science. 
 
 It must not be supposed that the designs or charges 
 have no meaning. Each blazon presented in the play has 
 some reference to the past history of the family it repre- 
 sents, fhe armorials of Beauchamp of Warwick, De 
 Vere of Oxford, Neville, Roos, ^albot, Cornwall, Robsart, 
 et al., are each in themselves unwritten records, ^fhey 
 refer to some deed of valour or piety of long ago, now 
 only known to the initiated. Although most of the families 
 have perished off the earth, their sculptured shields still 
 bear silent testimony in out-of-the-way places, ruined 
 castles, abbeys, etc. 
 
 THE ENGLISH ROYAL BADGES used in the play are 
 the IV kite Swan of the De Bohuns, the Gorged Antelope, 
 the Root of Bedford, the Foxtail, and the single Ostrich 
 Feather ( 'progenitor of the Prince of Wales' plume J. 
 Each has its historical significance and was worn sus- 
 pended from a collar of repeated SS. of fine metal or 
 embroidery, ^he Order of the Garter was represented at 
 this period by the simple pale-blue garter with the legend 
 " Honi soit qui mal y pense," worn around the left 
 
HERALDRY of KING HENRY the FIFTH 
 
 leg and embroidered upon the robe. The collar, star, and 
 pendant were added at a later date. 
 
 THE ROYAL ARMS OF ENGLAND used by Henry V. 
 -were emblazoned France ( 'modern J and England quar- 
 terly, ^his arrangement was continued until the death 
 of Elizabeth, when the accession of James J. necessitated 
 the introduction of the Scottish Lion to the Regal Armory, 
 rfhe shield shown suspended over King Henry V?s tomb 
 at Westminster Abbey has long since been proven entirely 
 French-Navarrese in character, and, as it is known the 
 trophies were removed to the ^ower during Cromwellian 
 times it is highly probable that in the confusion the wrong 
 ones were replaced. 
 
 THE CROWN OF ENGLAND underwent a complete tran- 
 sition during this reign, ^fbe beautiful " Harry Crown " 
 depicted upon the tomb of Henry W. at Canterbury was 
 broken up and pledged to provide funds for the French 
 campaign, and King Henry /^., upon his return from 
 France and on the advice of his guest, the Emperor Sig- 
 ismund, adopted an imperial or arched crown surmounted 
 by the ball and cross, ^fhis was effected by merely arch- 
 ing the circlet of crosses, paties, and fleur s-de-ly s worn 
 by the King around his steel bascinet. In the centre of 
 the circlet was the famous Black Ruby of Edward the 
 Black Prince, still the most prized gem in Britain's 
 diadem. 
 
 THE FLAGS AND BANNERS of various shapes and 
 sizes form a most interesting and decorative feature in 
 this revival of King Henry V. tfke Pennon was a 
 swallow-tailed pendant from a lance charged with ar- 
 morial devices. ^he Banner, and its diminutive, the 
 Banneret, was square in form, charged only with the coat- 
 armour of the bearer, ^he Standard was of large di- 
 mensions, charged with the owner's arms, badges, and 
 livery colours. In addition to the regal and noble banners, 
 the English, during this campaign, always carried their 
 
HERALDRY of KING HENRY the FIFTH 
 
 sacred colours, the banners of the trinity, St. George, St. 
 Edmund, and St. Edward. 
 
 THE HERALDRY OF FRANCE, owing to the continual 
 change of dynasty and recreation of titles, and considering 
 that every vestige of royalty and aristocracy was swept 
 away during the Revolution, has been most difficult to 
 obtain. France modern, viz., " three golden fleurs-de-lys 
 upon a blue field? was the arms of Charles f^L, and was 
 borne with various differences by all the Princes of the 
 blood, Burgundy, Orleans, Bourbon, Alengon, et al. 
 Tfe Dauphin, or Heir Apparent, quartered the arms of 
 France with those of his own appanage, as Dauphin of 
 f^ienne, a blue dolphin on a gold shield. Former produc- 
 tions of this play have assigned the Order of St. Esprit to 
 the French, and the well-known Golden Fleece to the Bur- 
 gundians. As a matter of fact, they were not instituted 
 until some years after the date of the play, tfhe Orders 
 used in Mr. Mansfield's production are those of the Corse 
 de Genest or broom-plant, founded by St. Louis in 1234, 
 and the Order of the Cockle Shell and St. Michael. The 
 regalia fcroivn, sceptres, etc.J are copied from the seals 
 of the period and other sources in the Louvre. In addi- 
 tion to the other banners of the French Noblesse, that 
 famous piece of red taffeta, known as the Oriflamme, or 
 sacred standard of France (long religiously kept at St. 
 Denis and supposed to be of miraculous origin}, is de- 
 picted in the play. It was unfurled only in times of 
 great national peril, and after many vicissitudes the his- 
 toric relic made its last appearance upon the battle-field 
 of Agincourt. 
 
 ("4) 
 
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