First, my fear; then, my court'sy; last, my speech. My fear is, your displeasure; my court'sy, my duty; and my speech, to beg your pardons. If you look for a good speech now, you undo me for what I have to say, is of mine own making; and what, indeed, I should say, will, I doubt, prove mine own marring. But to the purpose, and so to the venture.-Be it known to you, (as it is very well,) 1 was lately here in the end of a displeasing play, to
pray your patience for it, and to promise you a better. I did mean, indeed, to pay you with this: which, if, like an ill venture, it come unluckily home, I break, and you, my gentle creditors, lose. Here, I promised you, I would be, and here I commit my body to your mercies: bate me some, and I will pay you some, and, as most debtors do, promise you infinitely.
If my tongue cannot entreat you to acquit me, will you command me to use my legs? and yet that were but light payment,-to dance out of your debt. But a good conscience will make any possible satisfaction, and so will I. All the gentlewomen here have forgiven me; if the gentlemen will not, then the gentlemen do not agree with the gentlewomen, which was never seen before in such an assembly.
One word more, I beseech you. If you be not too much cloyed with fat nieat, our humble author will continue the story, with Sir John in it, and make you merry with fair Katharine of France: where, for any thing I know, Falstaff shall die of a sweat, unless already he be killed with your hard opinions; for Oldcastle died a martyr, and this is not the man. My tongue is weary; when my legs are too, I will bid you good night: and so kneel down before you;-but, indeed, to pray for the queen.*
Most of the ancient interludes conclude with a pray for the King or Queen. Hence, perhaps, the Fivant en et Regina, at the bottom of our modern pay-hills.
DUKE OF GLOSTER, Brothers to the King.
DUKE OF EXETER, Uncle to the King.
DUKE OF YORK, Cousin to the King.
CHARLES THE SIXTH, King of France. LEWIS, the Dauphin.
DUKES OF BURGundy, Orleans, and BOURBO The CONSTABLE of France.
RAMBURES, and GRANDPREE, French Lords.
EARLS OF SALISBURY, WESTMORELAND, and GOVERNOR OF HARFLEUR. MONTJOY, a French
AMBASSADORS to the King of England.
ISABEL, Queen of France.
KATHARINE, Daughter of Charles and Isabel. ALICE, a Lady attending on the Princess Katharine.
QUICKLY, Pistol's Wife, a Hostess.
Lords, Ladies, Officers, French and English Soldiers, Messengers, and Attendants. The SCENE, at the beginning of the Play, lies in England; but afterwards wholly in France.
O, for a muse of fire, that would ascend The brightest heaven of invention! A kingdom for a stage, princes to act, And monarchs to behold the swelling scene! Then should the warlike Harry, like himself, Assume the port of Mars; and, at his heels, Leash'd in like hounds, should famine, sword, and fire, [all, Crouch for employment. But pardon, gentles The flat unraised spirit, that hath dar'd, On this unworthy scaffold, to bring forth So great an object: Can this cockpit hold The vasty fields of France? or may we cram Within this wooden O, the very casques,t That did affright the air at Agincourt? O, pardon! since a crooked figure may Attest, in little place, a million; And let us, ciphers to this great accompt, On your imaginary forces; work: 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: [them Think, when we talk of horses, that you see 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; Who, prologue-like, your humble patience Gently to hear, kindly to judge, our play.
* An allusion to the circular form of the theatre + Helmets + Powers of fancy.
SCENE I.-London.-An Antichamber in the King's Palace.
Enter the Archbishop of CANTERBURY, and Bishop of ELY.
Cant. My lord, I'll tell you,-that self bill is urg'd,
Which, in the eleventh year o'the last king's [reign Was like, and had indeed against us pass'd, But that the scambling and unquiet time Did push it out of further question.*
Ely. But how, my lord, shall we resist it
Cant. It must be thought on. If it pass
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; being valued thus,As much as would maintain, to the king's honour,
Full fifteen earls, and fifteen hundred knights; Six thousand and two hundred good esquires; And to relief of lazars, and weak age, Of indigent faint souls, past corporal toil, A hundred alms-houses, right well supplied; And to the coffers of the king beside, [bill. A thousand pounds by the year: Thus runs the Ely. This would drink deep.
Cant. "Twould drink the cup and all. Ely. But what prevention?
Cant. The king is full of grace, and fair re
Ely. And a true lover of the holy church. Cant. The courses of his youth promis'd it
The breath no sooner left his father's body,
But that his wildness, mortified in him, Seem'd to die too: yea, at that very moment, Consideration like an angel came,
And whipp'd the offending Adam out of him; Leaving his body as a paradise,
To envelop and contain celestial spirits. Never was such a sudden scholar made: Never came reformation in a flood, With such a heady current, scouring faults; Nor never Hydra-headed wilfulness So soon did lose his seat, and all at once, As in this king.
Ely. We are blessed in the change.
Cant. 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
List his discourse of war, and you shall hear A fearful battle render'd you in music: Turn him to any cause of policy,
The Gordian knot of it he will unloose, Familiar as his garter; that, when he speaks, The air, a charter'd libertine, is still, And the mute wonder lurketh in men's ears, To steal his sweet and honeyed sentences; So that the art and practic part of life Must be the mistress to this theoric :+ Which is a wonder, how his grace should glean it,
Since his addiction was to courses vain: His companiest unletter'd, rude, and shallow; His hours fill'd up with riots, banquets, sport, And never noted in him any study, Any retirement, any sequestration From open haunts and popularity.
Ely. The strawberry grows underneath the nettle;
And wholesome berries thrive and ripen best, Neighbour'd by fruit of baser quality:
And so the prince obscur'd his contemplation Under the veil of wildness; which, no doubt, Grew like summer grass, fastest by night, Unseen, yet crescives in his faculty.
Cant. It must be so: for miracles are ceas'd; And therefore we must needs admit the means, How things are perfected.
Ely. But, my good lord, How now for mitigation of this bill
Urg'd by the commons? Doth his majesty Incline to it, or no?
Cant. He seems indifferent;
Or, rather, swaying more upon our part, Than cherishing the 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.
Ely. How did this offer seem receiv'd, my
SCENE II.-The same.-A Room of State in the same.
Enter King HENRY, GLOSTER, BEDFORD, ExeTER, WARWICK, WESTMORELAND, and Attendants.
K. Hen. Where is my gracious lord of Canterbury?
Exe. Not here in presence.
K. Hen. Send for him, good uncle. West. Shall we call in the ambassador, my liege?
K. Hen. Not yet, my cousin; we would be resolv'd,
Before we hear him, of some things of weight, That task our thoughts, concerning us and France.
Enter the Archbishop of CANTERBURY, and Bishop of ELY.
Cunt. God, and his angels, guard your And make you long become it! sacred throne,
K. Hen. Sure, we thank you. My fearned lord, we pray you to proceed; And justly and religiously unfold, Why the law Salique, that they have in France, Or should, or should not, bar us in our claim. And God forbid, my dear and faithful lord, That you should fashion, wrest, or bow your reading,
Or nicely charge your understanding soul With opening titles miscreate, whose right Suits not in native colours with the truth; For God doth know, how many, now in health Shall drop their blood in approbation
Of what your reverence shall incite us to: Therefore take heed how you impawn our
How you awake the sleeping sword of war; We charge you in the name of God, take heed: For never two such kingdoms did contend, Without much fall of blood; whose guiltless drops
Are every one a woe, a sore complaint, 'Gainst him, whose wrongs give edge unto the swords
That make such waste in brief mortality. Under this conjuration, speak, my lord: And we will hear, note, and believe in heart, That what you speak is in your conscience As pure as sin with baptism. [wash'd
Cant. Then hear me, gracious sovereign,and you peers,
That owe your lives, your faith, and services, To this imperial throne;-There is no bar To make against your highness' claim to France, [mond,- But this, which they produce from Phara- In terram Salicam mulieres nè succedant, No woman shall succeed in Salique land: Which Salique land the French unjustly gloze,
To be the realm of France, and Pharamond The founder of this law and female bar. Yet their own authors faithfully affirm, That the land Salique lies in Germany, Between the floods of Sala and of Elbe: Where Charles the great, having subdued the Saxons,
There left behind and settled certain French; Who, holding in disdain the German women, For some dishonest manners of their life, Establish'd there this law,-to wit, no female Should be inheritrix in Salique land; Which Salique, as I said, 'twixt Elbe and Sala, Is at this day in Germany call'd-Meisen. Thus doth it well appear, the Salique law Was not devised for the realm of France: Nor did the French possess the Salique land Until four hundred one and twenty years After defunction of king Pharamond, Idly suppos'd the founder of this law; Who died within the year of our redemption Four hundred twenty-six ; and Charles the great Subdued the Saxons, and did seat the French Beyond the river Sala, in the year Eight hundred five. Besides, their writers say, King Pepin, which deposed Childerick, Did, as heir general, being descended [thair, Of Blithild, which was the daughter to Clo- Make claim and title to the crown of France. Hugh Capet also,—that usurp'd the crown Of Charles the duke of Lorain, sole heir male Of the true line and stock of Charles the great,-
To fine his title with some show of truth, (Though, in pure truth, it was corrupt and naught,)
Convey'd himself as heir to the lady Lingare, Daughter to Charlemain, who was the son To Lewis the emperor, and Lewis the son Of Charles the great. Also king Lewis the tenth,
Who was sole heir to the usurper Capet, Could not keep quiet in his conscience, Wearing the crown of France, till satisfied That fair queen Isabel, his grandmother, Was lineal of the lady Ermengare, [Lorain: Daughter to Charles the foresaid duke of By the which marriage, the line of Charles the Was re-united to the crown of France. [great So that, as clear as is the summer's sun, King Pepin's title, and Hugh Capet's claim, King Lewis his satisfaction, all appear To hold in right and title of the female: So do the kings of France unto this day; Howbeit they would hold up this Salique law, To bar your highness claiming from the female; And rather choose to hide them in a net, Than amply to imbaret their crooked titles Usurp'd from you and your progenitors. K. Hen. May I, with right and conscience, make this claim?
Cant. The sin upon my head, dread so- vereign!
For in the book of Numbers is it writ,When the son dies, let the inheritance Descend unto the daughter. Gracious lord, Stand for your own; unwind your bloody flag; Look back unto your mighty ancestors: Go, my dread lord, to your great grandsire's tomb, [spirit, From whom you claim; invoke his warlike 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 Fra Whiles his most mighty father on a hill Stood smiling; to behold his lion's whelp Forage in blood of French nobility. O noble English that could entertain With half their forces the full pride of France; And let another half stand laughing by, All out of work, and cold for action!
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 sad courage, that renowned them, Runs in your veins; and my thrice-puissant Is in the very May-morn of his youth, [liege Ripe for exploits and mighty enterprizes.
Exe. Your brother kings and monarchs of the earth
Do all expect that you should rouse yourself, As did the former lions of your blood.
West. They know, your grace hath cause, and means, and might;
So hath your highness; never king of England Had nobles richer, and more loyal subjects; Whose hearts have left their bodies here in England,
And lie pavilion'd in the fields of France. Cant. O, let their bodies follow, my dear
liege, [right: With blood, and sword, and fire, to win your In aid whereof, we of the spiritualty Will raise your highness such a mighty sum, As never did the clergy at one time Bring in to any of your ancestors.
K. Hen. We must not only arm to invade the French;
But lay down our proportions to defend Against the Scot, who will make road upon us With all advantages.
Cant. They of those marches, gracious soShall be a wall sufficient to defend [vereign, Our inland from the pelfering borderers.
K. Hen. We do not mean the coursing snat
But fear the main intendment of the Scot Who hath been still a giddy neighbour to us; For you shall read, that my great grandfather Never went with his forces into France, But that the Scot on his unfurnish'd kingdom Came pouring, like the tide unto a breach, With ample and brim fulness of his force; Galling the gleaned land with hot essays; Girding with grievous siege, castles and towns; That England, being empty of defence, Hath shook, and trembled at the ill neigh bourhood.
Cant. She hath been then more fear'd than harm'd, my liege:
For hear her but exampled by herself,- When all her chivalry hath been in France, And she a mourning widow of her nobles, She hath herself not only well defended, But taken, and impounded as a stray, The king of Scots; whom she did send to France, [kings; To fill king Edward's fame with prisoner And make your chronicle as rich with praise, As is the ooze and bottom of the sea With sunken wreck and sumless treasuries. West. But there's a saying, very old and
For once the eagle England being in prey, To her unguarded nest the weasel Scot Comes sneaking, and so sucks her princely
Playing the mouse, in absence of the cat, To spoil and havoc more than she can eat. Exe. It follows then, the cat must stay at Yet that is but a curs'd necessity; Since we have locks to safeguard necessaries, [home: And pretty traps to catch the petty thieves. While that the armed hand doth fight abroad, The advised head defends itself at home:
For government, though high, and low, and lower,
Put into parts, doth keep in one concent;* Congruingt in a full and natural close, Like music.
Cant. True: therefore doth heaven divide The state of man in divers functions, Setting endeavour in continual motion; To which is fixed, as an aim or butt, Obedience: for so work the honey bees; Creatures, that, by a rule in nature, teach The act of order to a peopled kingdom. They have a king, and officers of sorts: Where some, like magistrates, correct at home; Others, like merchants, venture trade abroad; Others, like soldiers, armed in their stings, Make boot upon the summer's velvet buds; Which pillage they with merry march bring To the tent-royal of their emperor: Who, busied in his majesty, surveys [home The singing masons building roofs of gold; The civil citizens kneading up the honey; The poor mechanic porters crowding in Their heavy burdens at his narrow gate; The sad-ey'd justice, with his surly hum, Delivering o'er to executors pale
The lazy yawning drone. I this infer,- That many things, having full reference To one concent, may work contrariously; As many arrows, loosed several ways, Fly to one mark;
As many several ways meet in one town; As many fresh streams run in one self sea; As many lines close in the dial's centre; So many a thousand actions, once afoot, End in one purpose, and be all well borne Without defeat. Therefore to France, my liege.
Divide your happy England into four; Whereof take you one quarter into France, And you withal shall make all Gallia shake. If we, with thrice that power left at home, Cannot defend our own door from the dog, Let us be worried; and our nation lose The name of hardiness, and policy.
K. Hen. Call in the messengers sent from the Dauphin.
[Exit an Attendant. The KING ascends his
Now are we well resolv'd: and,-by God's
And yours, the noble sinews of our power,France being ours, we'll bend it to our awe, Or break it all to pieces: Or there we'll sit, Ruling, in large and ample empery,¶ [doms; O'er France, and all her almost kingly dukeOr 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 tongueless mouth,
Not worship'd with a waxen epitaph.
+ Agreeing. Executioners.
: Different degrees. Dominion.
Unto whose grace our passion is as subject, As are our wretches fetter'd in our prisons: Therefore, with frank and with uncurbed plain- Tell us the Dauphin's mind. [ness,
Amb. 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 mas- Says, that you savour too much of your That can be with a nimble galliard* won; youth; [France, You cannot revel into dukedoms there : And bids you be advis'd, there's nought in Desires you, let the dukedoms, that you claim, He therefore sends you, meeter for your spirit, This tun of treasure; and, in lieu of this, Hear no more of you. This the Dauphin speaks.
K. Hen. What treasure, uncle? Exe. Tennis-balls, my liege.
K. Hen. We are glad, the Dauphin is so
His present, and your pains, we thank you [for: When we have match'd our rackets to these
We will, in France, by God's grace, play a set, Shall strike his father's crown into the hazard: Tell him, he hath made a match with such a
That all the courts of France will be disturb'd With chaces. And we understand him well, How he comes o'er us with our wilder days, Not measuring what use we made of them. And therefore, living hence, did give ourself We never valu'd this poor seats of England; To barbarous licence; As 'tis 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, But I will rise there with so full a glory, And plodded like a man for working days; Yea, strike the Dauphin blind to look on us. That I will dazzle all the eyes of France, Hath turn'd his balls to gun-stones; and his And tell the pleasant prince,-this mock of his [geance
Shall stand sore charged for the wasteful ven- That shall fly with them: for many a thousand Shall this his mock mock out of their dear hus- Mock mothers from their sons, mock castles widows [bands;
And some are yet ungotten, and unborn, That shall have cause to curse the Dauphin's
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