With busy hammers closing rivets up, Give dreadful note of preparation. The country cocks do crow, the clocks do toll, So tediously away. The poor condemned English, Sit patiently, and inly ruminate The morning's danger; and their gesture sad, So many horrid ghosts. O, now, who will behold How dread an army hath enrounded him ; His liberal eye doth give to every one, SCENE I.-The English Camp at Agincourt. For our bad neighbour makes us early stirrers, Enter ERPINGHAM. Good morrow, old sir Thomas Erpingham: K. Hen. 'Tis good for men to love their present pains, Upon example; so the spirit is eased: And, when the mind is quicken'd, out of doubt, Lend me thy cloak, sir Thomas.-Brothers both, Pist. Discuss unto me; Art thou an officer? Pist. As good a gentleman as the emperor. Of parents good, of fist most valiant ; I kiss his dirty shoe, and from my heart-strings I love the lovely bully. What's thy name? [crew? Pist. Le Roy! a Cornish name; art thou of Cornish K. Hen. No, I am a Welshman. Pist. Knowest thou Fluellen? K. Hen. Yes. Pist. Tell him, I'll knock his leek about his pate, Upon Saint Davy's day. K. Hen. Do not you wear your dagger in your cap that day, lest he knock that about yours. Pist. Art thou his friend? K. Hen. And his kinsman too. Pist. The figo for thee then! K. Hen. I thank you: God be with you! Enter FLUELLEN and GowER, severally. [Exit. Flu. So! in the name of Chesu Christ, speak lower. It is the greatest admiration in the universal 'orld, when the true and auncient 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, or pibble pabble, in Pompey's camp; 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 be otherwise. Gow. Why, the enemy is loud; you heard him all night. Flu. If the enemy is an ass, and a fool, and a prating coxcomb, is it meet, think you, that we should also, look you, be an ass, and a fool, and a prating coxcomb; in your own conscience now? Gow. I will speak lower. Flu. I pray you, and beseech will you, that you [Exeunt GoWER and FLUELLEN. K. Hen. Though it appear a little out of fashion, There is much care and valour in this Welshman. Enter BATES, COURT, and WILLIAMS. Court. Brother John Bates, is not that the morning which breaks yonder? Bates. I think it be: but we have no great cause to desire the approach of day. Will. We see yonder the beginning of the day, but I think, we shall never see the end of it.-Who goes there? K. Hen. A friend. Will. Under what captain serve you? K. Hen. Under sir Thomas Erpingham. Will. A good old commander, and a most kind gentleman: I pray you, what thinks he of our estate? K. Hen. Even as men wreck'd upon a sand, that look to be wash'd off the next tide. pre never so spotless, if it come to the arbitrement of swords, can try it out with all unspotted soldiers. Some, peradventure, have on them the guilt of meditated and contrived murder; some, of beguiling virgins with the broken seals of perjury; some, making the wars their bulwark, that have before gored the gentle bosom of peace with pillage and robbery. Now, if these men have defeated the law, and outrun native punishment, though they can outstrip men, they have no wings to fly from God: war is his beadle, war is his vengeance; so that here men are punished, for before-breach of the king's laws, in now the king's quarrel: where they feared the death, they have borne life away; and where they would be safe, they perish: Then if they die unprovided, no more is the guilty of those impieties for the which they are now visited. Every subject's duty is the king's; but every subject's soul is his own. Therefore should every soldier in the wars do as every sick man in his bed, wash every mote out of his conscience: and dying so, death is to him advantage; or, not dying, the time was blessedly lost, wherein such preparation was gained and in him that escapes, it were not sin to think, that making God so free an offer, he let him outlive that day to see his greatness, and to teach others how they should prepare. Bates. He hath not told his thought to the king? K. Hen. No; nor it is not meet he should. For, though I speak it to you, I think, the king is but a man, as I am; the violet smells to him, as it doth to me; the element shews to him, as it doth to me; all his senses have but human conditions: his ceremo-king guilty of their damnation, than he was before nies laid by, in his nakedness he appears but a man; and though his affections are higher mounted than ours, yet, when they stoop, they stoop with the like wing; therefore when he sees reason of fears, as 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 shewing it, should dishearten his army. Bates. He may shew what outward courage he will: but, I believe, as cold a night as 'tis, he could wish himself 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. K. Hen. By my troth, I will speak my conscience of the king; I think, he would not wish himself any where but where he is. Bates. Then, 'would he were here alone; so should he be sure to be ransomed, and a many poor men's lives saved. K. Hen. I dare say, you love him not so ill, to wish him here alone: howsoever you speak this, to feel other men's minds: Methinks, I could not die any where so contented, as in the king's company; his cause being just, and his quarrel honourable. Will. That's more than we know. Bates. Ay, or more than we should seek after; for we know enough, if we know we are the king's subjects; if his cause be wrong, our obedience to the king wipes the crime of it out of us. Will. 'Tis certain, every man that dies ill, the ill is upon his own head, the king is not to answer for it. Bates. I do not desire he should answer for me; and yet 1 determine to fight lustily for him. K. Hen. I myself heard the king say, he would not be ransomed. Will. Ay, he said so, to make us fight cheerfully: but, when our throats are cut, he may be ransomed, and we ne'er the wiser. K. Hen. If I live to see it, I will never trust his word after. Will. 'Mass, you'll pay him then! That's a perilous shot out of an elder gun, 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. K. Hen. Your reproof is something too round; I should be angry with you, if the time were convenient. Will. Let it be a quarrel between us, if you live. Will. How shall I know thee again? Will. But if the cause be not good, the king himself hath a heavy reckoning to make; when all those legs, and arms, and heads, chopped off in a battle, shall join together at the latter day, and cry all-We died at such place; some, swearing; some, crying for a surgeon; some, upon their wives left poor behind them; some, upon the debts they owe; some, upon their children rawly left. I am afeard there are few die well, that die in battle; for how can they charitably dispose of any thing, when blood is their argument? Now, if these men do not die well, it will Will. This will I also wear in my cap: if ever be a black matter for the king that led them to it; thou come to me and say, after to-morrow, This is my whom to disobey, were against all proportion of sub-glove, by this hand, I will take thee a box on the ear. jection. a K. Hen. So, if a son, that is by his father sent about merchandise, do sinfully miscarry upon the sea, the imputation of his wickedness, by your rule, should be imposed upon his father that sent him: or if a servant, under his master's command, transporting 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 purpose not their death, when they purpose their services. Besides, there is no king, be his cause Will. Here's my glove; give me another of thine. K. Hen. If ever I live to see it, I will challenge it. K. Hen. Well, I will do it, though I take thee in the king's company. Will. Keep thy word: fare thee well. Butes. Be friends, you English fools, be friends; we have French quarrels enough, if you could tell how to reckon. K. Hen. Indeed, the French may lay twenty French crowns to one, they will beat us; for they bear them on their shoulders: But it is no English treason, to cut French crowns; and, to-morrow, the king himself will be a clipper. [Exeunt Soldiers. Upon the king! let us our lives, our souls, Our debts, our careful wives, our children, and ? And what have kings, that privates have not too, Art thou aught else but place, degree, and form, What drink'st thou oft, instead of homage sweet, Will it give place to flexure and low bending? Can sleep so soundly as the wretched slave; Erp. I shall do't, my lord. [Exit. K. Hen. O God of battles! steel my soldiers' hearts! Possess them not with fear; take from them now The sense of reckoning, if the opposed numbers Pluck their hearts from them!-Not to-day, O Lord, O not to-day, think not upon the fault My father made in compassing the crown! I Richard's body have interred new; And on it have bestow'd more contrite tears, Than from it issued forced drops of blood. Five hundred poor I have in yearly pay, SCENE II.-The French Camp. Enter DAUPHIN, ORLEANS, RAMBURES, and others. Dau. Via!-les eaux et la terre- Dau. Ciel! cousin Orleans.- Now, my lord Constable ! [ha! Con. Hark, how our steeds for present service neigh. That their hot blood may spin in English eyes, Dau. Mount them, and make incision in their hides; And dout them with superfluous courage: Ha! Ram. What, will you have them weep our horses' How shall we then behold their natural tears? [blood? Enter a Messenger. Mess. The English are embattled, you French peers. That our French gallants shall to-day draw out, But that our honours must not. What's to say? And all is done. Then let the trumpets sound Grand. Why do you stay so long, my lords of France, SCENE III.-The English Camp. Enter the English Host; GLOSTER, BEDFORD, EXETER, SALISBURY, and WESTMORELAND. Glo. Where is the king? Bed. The king himself is rode to view their battle. West. Of fighting men they have full threescore thousand. Exe. There's five to one; besides, they all are fresh. Sul. God's arm strike with us! 'tis a fearful odds. God be wi' you, princes all; I'll to my charge: If we no more meet, till we meet in heaven, Then, joyfully,-my noble lord of Bedford,My dear lord Gloster,-and my good lord Exeter,And my kind kinsman,- warriors, all adieu! Bed. Farewell, good Salisbury; and good luck go with thee! Exe. Farewell, kind lord, fight valiantly to-day; And yet I do thee wrong, to mind thee of it, For thou art fram'd of the firm truth of valour. [Exit SALISBURY. Bed. He is as full of valour, as of kindness; Princely in both. West. O that we now had here But one ten thousand of those men in England, K. Hen. What feats he did that day: Then shall our names, Sal. My sovereign lord, bestow yourself with speed: K. Hen. All things are ready, if our minds be so. West. God's will, my liege, 'would you and I alone, Which likes me better, than to wish us one.- Mont. Once more I come to know of thee, king Harry, For, certainly, thou art so near the gulf, K. Hen. [bodies Who hath sent thee now? Mont. The Constable of France. K. Hen. I pray thee, bear my former answer back; Let me speak proudly ;-Tell the Constable, They'll be in fresher robes; or they will pluck Mont. I shall, king Harry. And so fare thee well: ransome. Enter the DUKE OF YORK. York. My lord, most humbly on my knee I beg The leading of the vaward. [march away:K. Hen. Take it, brave York. Now, soldiers, And how thou pleasest, God, dispose the day! [Exeunt. Boy. Encore qu'il est contre son jurement, de vardonner aucun prisonnier; neantmoins, pour les escus que vous l'avez promis, il est content de vous donner la liberté, le franchisement. Fr. Sol. Sur mes genoux, je vous donne mille remerciemens: et je m'estime heureux que je suis tombé entre les mains d'un chevalier, je pense, le plus brave, valiant, et tres distingué seigneur d'Angleterre. Pist. Expound unto me, boy. Boy. He gives you, upon his knees, a thousand thanks: and he esteems himself happy that he hath fallen into the hands of (as he thinks) the most brave, valorous, and thrice-worthy seignieur of England. Pist. As I suck blood, I will some mercy shew.Follow me, cur. [Exit PISTOL. Boy. Suivez vous le grand capitaine. [Exit Fr. Sol. I did never know so full a voice issue from so empty makes the greatest sound. Bardolph, and Nym, had a heart but the saying is true, the empty vessel ten times more valour than this roaring devil i' the old play, that every one may pare his nails with a wooden dagger; and they are both hanged; and so would this be, if he durst steal any thing adventurously. I must stay with the lackeys, with the luggage of our Fr. Sol. Je pense, que vous estes le gentilhomme de camp: the French might have a good prey of us, bonne qualité. he knew of it; for there is none to guard it, but boys. [Exit. SCENE IV.-The Field of Battle. Alarums: Excursions. Enter French Soldier, PISTOL, and Boy. Pist. Yield, cur. Pist. Quality, call you me?- Construe me, art thou a gentleman? What is thy name? discuss. Fr. Sol. O seigneur Dieu! Pist. O, signieur Dew should be a gentleman :- Fr. Sol. O, prennez misericorde! ayez pitié de moy! In drops of crimson blood. Fr. Sol. Est il impossible d'eschapper la force de ton bras? Pist. Brass, cur! Thou damned and luxurious mountain goat, Fr. Sol. O pardonnez moy! Pist. Say'st thou me so? is that a ton of moys? Boy. Escoutez; Comment estes vous appellé ? Boy. He says, his name is-master Fer. ferret him :-discuss the same in French unto him. and firk. Pist. Bid him prepare, for I will cut his throat. Boy. Il me commande de vous dire que vous faites vous prest; car ce soldat icy est disposé tout à cette heure de couper vostre gorge. Pist. Ouy, couper gorge, par ma foy, pesant, Fr. Sol. O, je vous supplie pour l'amour de Dieu, me Boy. He prays you to save his life: he is a gentleman of a good house; and, for his ransome, he will give you two hundred crowns. Pist. Tell him,-my fury shall abate, and I The crowns will take. Fr. Sol. Petit monsieur, que dit-il? SCENE V.-Another Part of the Field of Battle. Con. O diable! if Orl. O seigneur !—le jour est perdu, tout est perdu! Con. Disorder, that hath spoil'd us, friend us now! To smother up the English in our throngs, Bour. The devil take order now! I'll to the throng; [Exeunt. |