Henry V (1989)

1. Oh, for a muse of fire...

2. that would ascend the brightest heaven

3. of invention.

4. A kingdom for a stage,

5. princes to act,

6. and monarchs to behold the swelling scene.

7. Then should the warlike Harry, like himself,

8. assume the port of Mars,

9. and at his heels, leashed in like hounds,

10. the famine, sword, and fire crouch for employment.

11. But pardon, gentles all,

12. the flat, unraised spirits

13. that have dared on this unworthy scaffold

14. to bring forth so great an object.

15. Can this cockpit hold the vasty fields of France?

16. Or may we cram within this wooden O

17. the very casques that did affright the air at Agincourt?

18. Oh, pardon.

19. Let us, ciphers to this great account,

20. on your imaginary forces work.

21. For 'tis your thoughts that now must deck our kings,

22. carry them here or there, jumping o'er times,

23. turning the accomplishment of many years into an hourglass.

24. For the which supply, admit me,

25. chorus, to this history,

26. who, prologue-like,

27. your humble patience pray

28. gently to hear,

29. kindly to judge...

30. our play!

31. My lord, I'll tell you.

32. That self bill is urged,

33. which in the 11th year of the last king's reign

34. was like to have passed against us.

35. But how, my lord, shall we resist it now?

36. It must be thought on.

37. If it pass against us, we lose the better half of our possession.

38. But what prevention?

39. The king is full of grace and fair regard.

40. And a true lover of the Holy Church.

41. The courses of his youth promised it not.

42. Since his addiction was to courses vain,

43. his hours filled up with riots, banquets, sports,

44. and never noted in him any study.

45. But my good lord, how now for the mitigation

46. of this bill urged by the commons?

47. Doth His Majesty incline to it or no?

48. He seems... indifferent.

49. Or rather swaying more upon our part,

50. for I have made an offer to His Majesty

51. as touching France.

52. Where is my gracious Lord of Canterbury?

53. God and His angels guard your sacred throne

54. and make you long become it.

55. Sure, we thank you.

56. My learned lord, we pray you to proceed

57. and justly and religiously unfold

58. why the Law Salic that they have in France,

59. or should or should not bar us in our claim.

60. And, pray, take heed how you impawn our person,

61. how you awake our sleeping sword of war.

62. We charge you, in the name of God, take heed.

63. For never two such kingdoms did contend without much fall of blood.

64. Then hear me, gracious sovereign.

65. There is no bar to make against your highness' claim to France

66. but this, which they produce from Pharamond.

67. "No woman shall succeed

68. in Salic land."

69. Which Salic land the French unjustly gloze

70. to be the realm of France.

71. Yet their own authors faithfully affirm

72. that the land Salic lies in Germany

73. between the floods of Sala and of Elbe.

74. Then doth it well appear this Salic law was not devised

75. for the realm of France,

76. nor did the French possess the Salic land

77. until 421 years after defunction of King Pharamond,

78. idly supposed the founder of this law.

79. King Pepin, which deposed Childeric

80. did, as heir general, being descended of Blithilde,

81. which was the daughter to King Clothar,

82. make claim and title to the crown of France.

83. Hugh Capet also, who usurped the crown

84. of Charles, the Duke of Lorraine,

85. sole heir male of the true line and stock of Charles the Great,

86. could not keep quiet in his conscience wearing the crown of France

87. till satisfied that fair Queen Isabelle, his grandmother,

88. was lineal of the Lady Ermengarde, daughter to Charles,

89. the aforesaid Duke of Lorraine,

90. by which marriage the line of Charles the Great

91. was reunited to the crown of France.

92. So that, as clear as is the summer sun...

93. all appear to hold in right and title of the female.

94. So do the kings of France

95. unto this day.

96. Howbeit they would hold up this Salic law

97. to bar your highness claiming from the female?

98. May I, with right and conscience,

99. make this claim?

100. The sin upon my head, dread sovereign.

101. Stand for your own. Unwind your bloody flag.

102. Your brother kings and monarchs of the Earth

103. do all expect that you should rouse yourself,

104. as did the former lions of your blood.

105. Never King of England had nobles richer

106. and more loyal subjects

107. whose hearts have left their bodies here in England

108. and lie pavilioned in the fields of France.

109. Oh, let their bodies follow, my dear liege,

110. with blood and sword and fire to win your right.

111. In aid whereof

112. we of the spirituality will raise Your Highness

113. such a mighty sum as never did the clergy

114. at one time bring in to any of your ancestors.

115. Call in the messengers sent from the dauphin.

116. Now are we well resolved, and by God's help and yours,

117. the noble sinews of our power,

118. France being ours,

119. we'll bend it to our awe...

120. or break it all to pieces.

121. Now are we well prepared

122. to know the pleasure of our fair cousin dauphin.

123. Your Highness, lately sending into France,

124. did claim some certain dukedoms

125. in the right of your great predecessor, King Edward III.

126. In answer of which claim the prince, my master,

127. says that you savor too much of your youth.

128. He therefore sends you meeter for your spirit,

129. this tun of treasure.

130. And in lieu of this, desires you let

131. those dukedoms that you claim hear no more of you.

132. This the dauphin speaks.

133. What treasure, Uncle?

134. Tennis balls, my liege.

135. We are glad the dauphin is so pleasant with us.

136. His present and your pains

137. we thank you for.

138. When we have matched our rackets to these balls,

139. we will in France, by God's grace,

140. play a set shall strike his father's crown into the hazard.

141. And we understand him well,

142. how he comes o'er us with our wilder days,

143. not measuring what use we made of them.

144. But tell the dauphin I will keep my state,

145. be like a king, and show my sail of greatness

146. when I do rouse me in my throne of France.

147. And tell the pleasent prince

148. this mock of his hath turned his balls to gunstones,

149. and his soul shall stand sore charged

150. for the wasteful vengeance that shall fly with them.

151. For many a thousand widows shall this his mock,

152. mock out of their dear husbands,

153. mock mothers from their sons, mock castles down,

154. and some are yet ungotten and unborn

155. that shall have cause to curse the dauphin's scorn.

156. So get you hence in peace

157. and tell the dauphin

158. his jest will savor but of shallow wit

159. when thousands weep more than did laugh at it.

160. Convey them with safe conduct.

161. Fare you well.

162. This was a merry message.

163. We hope to make the sender blush at it.

164. Therefore, my lords,

165. omit no happy hour that may give furtherance to our expedition.

166. For we have now no thought in us but France,

167. save those to God, that run before our business.

168. Therefore, let every man now task his thought

169. that this fair action may on foot be brought.

170. Now all the youth of England are on fire

171. and silken dalliance in the wardrobe lies.

172. For now sits expectation in the air

173. and hides a sword, from hilts unto the point,

174. with crowns imperial, crowns and coronets

175. promised to Harry and his followers.

176. Well met, Corporal Nym.

177. Good morrow, Lieutenant Bardolph.

178. What, are you and Ancient Pistol friends yet?

179. For my part, I care not.

180. I say little, but when time shall serve,

181. there shall be smiles.

182. But that shall be as it may.

183. Come, I will bestow a breakfast to make you friends

184. and we'll be all three sworn brothers to France.

185. - Let it be so, good Corporal Nym. - I will do as I may.

186. It is certain, Corporal,

187. that Ancient Pistol is married to Nell Quickly.

188. For certainly she did you wrong, for you were betrothed to her.

189. How now, mine host Pistol?

190. Base tike!

191. Callest thou me host?

192. Now by this hand I swear I scorn the term!

193. Nor shall my Nell keep lodgers!

194. No, by my troth, not long.

195. For we can't lodge or board a dozen or 14 gentlewomen

196. who live honestly by the prick of their needles,

197. but it shall be thought we keep a bawdy house straight.

198. - Pish! - Pish for thee, Iceland dog!

199. Good Corporal Nym,

200. show thy valor and put up thy sword.

201. - Will you shog off?

202. Pistol, I will prick your guts a little in good terms, as I may.

203. - That's the humor of it.

204. - Braggart vile! - Ah ah ah, hear me when I say

205. he that strikes the first stroke,

206. I'll run him up to the hilts, as I'm a soldier.

207. An oath of mickle might

208. and fury shall abate.

209. - Boy: My host, Pistol!

210. You must come to my master, and you, hostess!

211. He's very sick and would to bed.

212. Good Bardolph, put thy face between his sheets

213. and do the office of a warming pan.

214. - Away, you rogue.

215. Faith, he's very ill.

216. By my troth...

217. the king has killed his heart.

218. Good husband, come home presently.

219. Come, shall I make you two friends?

220. We must to France together.

221. Why the devil should we keep knives to cut one another's throats?

222. You'll pay me the eight shillings I won of you at betting.

223. Base is the slave that pays.

224. Ah ah ah. By this sword, he that makes the first thrust,

225. I'll kill him. By this sword, I will.

226. If ever you come of women, come in quickly to Sir John.

227. He is so shaked with a burning quotidian fever

228. that it is most lamentable to behold.

229. Sweet men, come to him.

230. Poor Sir John.

231. A good portly man of faith.

232. Man's voice: Aye, to a cheerful look, a pleasing eye,

233. and a most noble carriage.

234. But do I not dwindle?

235. My skin hangs about me like an old lady's loose gown.

236. Company, villainous company have been the spoil of me.

237. - Whoo! - Man: Hey, hey!

238. I was as virtuous as a gentlemen need to be.

239. - Virtuous enough.

240. - Swore a little.

241. Ahem, diced not above seven days a week.

242. Went to a bawdy house not above once in the quarter.

243. - Oh!

244. Paid money that I borrowed...

245. three or four times.

246. Lived well and in good compass.

247. What?

248. You are so fat, Sir John,

249. that you must indeed be out of all compass.

250. Do thou amend thy face and I'll amend my life.

251. Hell! Oh!

252. If sack and sugar be a fault, then God help the wicked.

253. Mm, if to be old and merry is a sin,

254. if to be fat is to be hated...

255. then, no, my good lord, when thou art king,

256. banish Pistol, banish Bardolph, banish Nym.

257. But sweet Jack Falstaff—

258. valiant Jack Falstaff,

259. and therefore more valiant being as he is,

260. old Jack Falstaff—

261. banish not him thy Harry's company.

262. Banish plump Jack and banish all the world.

263. Harry's voice: I do. I will.

264. But we have heard

265. the chimes at midnight, Master Harry.

266. Jesus.

267. Days that we have seen.

268. Harry's voice: I know thee not, old man.

269. The king hath run bad humors on the knight.

270. Nym, thou has spoke the right.

271. His heart is fracted and corroborate.

272. The king's a good king...

273. but it must be as it may.

274. He passes some humors and careers.

275. Let us condole the knight

276. for, lambkins, we will live.

277. The French, advised by good intelligence

278. of this most dreadful preparation,

279. shake in their fear

280. and with pale policy seek to divert the English purposes.

281. Oh, England, model to thy inward greatness.

282. Like a little body with a mighty heart.

283. What mightst thou do that honor would thee do

284. were all they children kind and natural?

285. But, see, thy fault France hath in thee found out.

286. A nest of hollow bosoms which he fills with treacherous crowns

287. and three corrupted men.

288. One, Richard, Earl of Cambridge,

289. and the second, Henry Lord Scroop of Masham,

290. and the third, Sir Thomas Grey, Knight of Northumberland,

291. have for the gilt of France, oh, guilt indeed,

292. confirmed conspiracy with fearful France,

293. and by their hands this grace of kings must die

294. ere he take ship for France.

295. The traitors are agreed.

296. The king is set from London

297. and the scene is now transported, gentles, to Southampton.

298. Before God, his grace is bold to trust these traitors.

299. They shall be apprehended by and by.

300. How smooth and even they do bear themselves,

301. as if allegiance in their bosoms sat

302. crowned with faith and constant loyalty.

303. The king hath note of all they intend by interception,

304. which they dream not of.

305. Nay, but the man that was his bedfellow,

306. whom he hath dulled and cloyed with gracious favors,

307. that he should, for a foreign purse,

308. so sell his sovereign's life to death and treachery.

309. Now sits the wind fair and we will aboard.

310. My Lord of Cambridge and my kind Lord of Masham,

311. and you, my gentle knight, give me your thoughts.

312. Think you not that the powers we bear with us

313. will cut their passage through the force of France?

314. No doubt, my liege, if each man do his best.

315. I doubt not that.

316. Never was monarch better feared and loved than is Your Majesty.

317. True.

318. We therefore have great cause of thankfulness.

319. Uncle of Exeter, enlarge the man committed yesterday

320. that railed against our person.

321. We consider it was excess of wine

322. - that set him on...

323. and on his more advice, we pardon him.

324. That's mercy, but too much security.

325. Let him be punished, Sovereign, lest example breed

326. by his sufferance more of such a kind.

327. Oh, let us yet be merciful.

328. So may Your Highness, and yet punish, too.

329. Sir, you show great mercy if you give him life

330. after the taste of much correction.

331. Alas, your too much love and care of me

332. are heavy orisons 'gainst this poor wretch.

333. If little faults proceeding on distemper shall not be winked at,

334. how shall we stretch our eye

335. when capital crimes,

336. chewed, swallowed, and digested, appear before us?

337. We'll yet enlarge that man,

338. though Cambridge, Scroop, and Grey,

339. in their dear care and tender preservation of our person,

340. would have him punished.

341. And now to our French causes.

342. Who are the late commissioners?

343. I one, my lord. Your Highness bade me ask for it today.

344. - So did you me, my liege. - And I, my royal sovereign.

345. Then, Richard, Earl of Cambridge, there is yours.

346. There yours, Lord Scroop of Masham,

347. and Sir Knight, Grey of Northumberland, this same is yours.

348. Read them and know...

349. I know your worthiness.

350. My Lord of Westmoreland, Uncle Exeter, we will aboard tonight.

351. Why, how now, gentlemen.

352. What see you in those papers that you lose so much complexion?

353. I do confess my fault

354. and do submit me to Your Highness' mercy.

355. To which we all appeal.

356. The mercy that was quick in us of late

357. by your own counsel is suppressed and killed.

358. You must not dare for shame to talk of mercy!

359. For your own reasons turn into your bosoms

360. as dogs upon their masters worrying you.

361. See you, my princes and my noble peers,

362. these English monsters.

363. What shall I say to thee, Lord Scroop,

364. thou cruel, ingrateful,

365. savage, and inhuman creature?

366. Thou knave, thou!

367. Thou that didst bear the key of all my counsels,

368. that knewest the very bottom of my soul,

369. that almost mightst have coined me into gold,

370. wouldst thou have practiced on me for thy use.

371. May it be possible that foreign hire

372. could out of thee extract one spark of evil

373. that might annoy my finger?

374. 'Tis so strange that though the truth of it

375. stand off as gross as black and white,

376. my eye will scarcely see it.

377. So constant

378. and unspotted didst thou seem...

379. that this thy fall hath left a kind of blot

380. to mark the full-fraught man

381. and best indued with some suspicion.

382. I will weep for thee.

383. For this revolt of thine, methinks,

384. is like another fall of man.

385. I arrest thee of high treason

386. by the name of Richard, Earl of Cambridge.

387. I arrest thee of high treason

388. by the name of Thomas Grey, Knight of Northumberland.

389. I arrest thee of high treason

390. by the name of Henry, Lord Scroop of Masham.

391. Hear your sentence.

392. You have conspired against our royal person,

393. joined with an enemy proclaimed, and from his coffers

394. received the golden earnest of our death wherein.

395. You would have sold your king to slaughter,

396. his princes and his peers to servitude,

397. his subjects to oppression and contempt,

398. and his whole kingdom into desolation!

399. Get you therefore hence,

400. poor miserable wretches, to your death,

401. the taste whereof God of his mercy

402. give you patience to endure

403. and true repentance of all your dear offenses.

404. Bear them hence.

405. Now, lords, for France,

406. the enterprise whereof shall be to you, as us, like glorious,

407. since God so graciously hath brought to light

408. this dangerous treason lurking in our way.

409. Cheerly to sea.

410. The signs of war advance.

411. No king of England if not king of France.

412. Prithee, honey-sweet husband, let me bring thee to Staines.

413. No, for my manly heart doth yearn.

414. Bardolph, be blithe.

415. Nym, rouse thy vaunting veins.

416. Boy, bristle thy courage up.

417. For Falstaff is dead and we must yearn therefore.

418. Would I were with him, wheresome'er he is,

419. - either in heaven or in hell. - Nay, sure, he's not in hell.

420. He's in Arthur's bosom, if ever a man went to Arthur's bosom.

421. He made a finer end and went away than it had been any Christian child.

422. He parted even just between 12:00 and 1:00...

423. even at the turning of the tide.

424. For after I saw him fumble with the sheets

425. and play with flowers and smile upon his fingers' ends...

426. I knew there was but one way.

427. For his nose was as sharp as a pen...

428. and he babbled of green fields.

429. "How now, Sir John," quoth I.

430. "What, man? Be of good cheer."

431. So he cried out, "God, God...

432. God,"

433. three or four times.

434. Now I, to comfort him, bid him he should not think of God.

435. I hoped there was no need to trouble himself

436. with any such thoughts yet.

437. He bade me put more clothes on his feet.

438. I put my hand into the bed and felt them...

439. and they were as cold as any stone.

440. Then I felt to his knees...

441. and so upward and upward...

442. and all was...

443. as cold as any stone.

444. They say he cried out for sack.

445. That he did.

446. - And of women. - No, that he did not.

447. Yeah, that he did.

448. He said they were devils incarnate.

449. He could never abide carnation. It was a color he never liked.

450. He said once the devil would have him about women.

451. Well, he did, in some sort...

452. handle women.

453. But then he was rheumatic and talked of the whore of Babylon.

454. Do you not remember he saw a flea stick upon Bardolph's nose?

455. He said it was a black soul burning in hell.

456. - Well, the fuel is gone

457. that maintained that fire.

458. That's all the riches I got in his service.

459. Shall we shog?

460. The king will be gone from Southampton.

461. Farewell, hostess.

462. I cannot kiss.

463. That's the humor of it.

464. But...

465. adieu.

466. Let housewifery appear.

467. Keep close.

468. I thee command.

469. Farewell.

470. Adieu.

471. Follow, follow.

472. For who is he whose chin is but enriched with one appearing hair

473. that will not follow these culled and choice-drawn cavaliers

474. to France?

475. Thus comes the English

476. with full power upon us.

477. And more than carefully it us concerns

478. to answer royally in our defenses.

479. Therefore, the Dukes of Berri

480. and of Bretagne,

481. of Brabant and of Orleans shall make forth.

482. And you, Prince Dauphin—

483. My most redoubted father,

484. it is most meet we arm us 'gainst the foe.

485. For peace itself should not so dull a kingdom

486. but the defenses, musters, preparations should be maintained,

487. assembled, and collected as were a war in expectation.

488. Therefore, I say 'tis meet we all go forth to view

489. the sick and feeble parts of France.

490. And let us do it with no show of fear.

491. No, with no more than if we heard that England were busied with,

492. uh, a Whitsun morris dance.

493. For, my good liege, she is so idly kinged

494. by a vain, giddy, shallow, humorous youth

495. - that fear attends her not. - Oh, peace, Prince Dauphin.

496. You're too much mistaken in this king.

497. Question, Your Grace, the late ambassadors.

498. With what great state he heard their embassy,

499. how well supplied with noble counselors,

500. how modest in exception and withal how terrible

501. in constant resolution.

502. Well, 'tis not so, my Lord High Constable.

503. Though we think it so, 'tis no matter.

504. In matters of defense, 'tis best to weigh the enemy

505. more mighty than he seems.

506. Think we King Harry strong?

507. And, Princes, look you strongly arm to meet him?

508. For he is bred out of that bloody strain

509. that haunted us in our familiar paths.

510. Witness our too-much memorable shame

511. when Crécy Battle fatally was struck...

512. and all our princes captived

513. by the hand of that black name—

514. Edward, Black Prince of Wales.

515. This is a stem of that victorious stock.

516. And let us fear the native mightiness

517. and fate of him.

518. Ambassadors from Harry, King of England,

519. do crave admittance to Your Majesty.

520. Go and bring them.

521. You see, this chase is hotly followed, friends.

522. Good my sovereign,

523. take up the English short,

524. and let them know of what a monarchy you are the head.

525. Self-love, my liege, is not so vile a sin as self-neglecting.

526. From our brother England?

527. From him, and thus he greets Your Majesty.

528. He wills you, in the name of God Almighty,

529. that you divest yourself and lay apart

530. the borrowed glories that by gift of heaven,

531. by law of nature and of nations,

532. belongs to him and to his heirs.

533. Namely, the crown.

534. Willing you overlook this pedigree...

535. and when you find him evenly derived

536. from his most famed of famous ancestors,

537. Edward III,

538. he bids you then resign your crown and kingdom,

539. indirectly held from him,

540. the native and true challenger.

541. Or else what follows?

542. Bloody constraint.

543. For if you hide the crown, even in your hearts,

544. there will he rake for it.

545. Therefore, in fierce tempest is he coming,

546. in thunder and in earthquake like a Jove

547. that if requiring fail, he will compel.

548. This is his claim, his threatening,

549. and my message.

550. Unless the dauphin be in presence here,

551. to whom expressly I bring greeting, too.

552. For the dauphin, I stand here for him.

553. What to him from England?

554. Scorn and defiance,

555. slight regard, contempt,

556. and anything that might not misbecome the mighty sender,

557. doth he prize you at.

558. Thus says my king.

559. Say, if my father render fair return, it is against my will,

560. for I desire nothing but odds with England.

561. And to that end, as matching to his youth and vanity,

562. I did present him with the Paris balls!

563. He'll make your Paris Louvre shake for it.

564. And be assured you'll find a difference,

565. as we his subjects have in wonder found,

566. between the promise of his greener days and these he masters now.

567. Tomorrow...

568. shall you know our mind at full.

569. Thus with imagined wing

570. our swift scene flies in motion of no less celerity

571. - than that of thought!

572. Work, work your thoughts

573. and in them see a siege!

574. Behold the ordnance on their carriages

575. with fatal mouths gaping on girded Harfleur!

576. Suppose the ambassador from the French comes back,

577. tells Harry that the king doth offer him Katherine, his daughter,

578. and with her to dowry, some petty and unprofitable dukedoms.

579. The offer likes him not,

580. and the nimble gunner with linstock now

581. the devilish cannon touches and down goes all before them!

582. Once more unto the breach, dear friends!

583. Once more or close the wall up with our English dead.

584. In peace there's nothing so becomes a man

585. as modest stillness and humility.

586. But when the blast of war blows in our ears,

587. then imitate the action of the tiger!

588. Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood,

589. disguise fair nature with hard-favored rage.

590. Then lend the eye a terrible aspect.

591. Let it pry through the portage of the head like the brass cannon.

592. Let the brow o'erwhelm it as fearfully as doth a galled rock

593. o'erhang and jutty his confounded base

594. swill'd with the wild and wasteful ocean.

595. Now set the teeth and stretch the nostril wide,

596. hold hard the breath

597. and bend up every spirit to his full height!

598. On, on, you noblest England!

599. Dishonor not your mothers.

600. Now attest that those whom you called fathers did beget you.

601. And you, good yeoman, whose limbs were made in England,

602. show us here the mettle of your pasture.

603. Let us swear that you are worth your breeding, which I doubt not!

604. For there is none of you so mean and base

605. that hath not noble luster in your eyes!

606. I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips, straining upon the start.

607. The game's afoot!

608. Follow your spirit and upon this charge cry,

609. "God for Harry, England,

610. and Saint George!"

611. God for Harry, England, and Saint George!

612. Up to the breach, you dogs!

613. Avaunt, you cullions!

614. Jesus.

615. Captain Fluellen, you must come presently to the mines.

616. The Duke of Gloucester would speak with you.

617. Tell the duke 'tis not so good to come to the mines.

618. For look you, the mines is not according

619. to the disciplines of war.

620. By Cheshu, I think he will blow up all if there is not better direction.

621. The duke of Gloucester,

622. to whom the order of the siege is given,

623. is altogether directed by an Irishman.

624. It's Captain MacMorris, is it not?

625. I think it be.

626. By Cheshu, he is an ass in the world.

627. - Fluellen: He has no more directions

628. in the true disciplines of the wars than is a puppy dog.

629. Here he comes, and the Scots captain, Captain Jamy, with him.

630. Oh, no, Captain Jamy is a marvelous, valorous gentleman.

631. That is certain.

632. I say, good day, Captain Fluellen.

633. Good day to Your Worship, good Captain James.

634. How now, Captain MacMorris? Have you quit the mines?

635. By Christ, la.

636. The workish give over.

637. The trumpets sound the retreat.

638. By my hand, 'tis ill done.

639. Captain MacMorris, I beseech you now,

640. a few disputations as partly touching the disciplines of the war,

641. partly to satisfy my opinion

642. and partly for the satisfaction of my mind,

643. as touching the direction of the military discipline.

644. - That is the point. - It is no time to discourse,

645. so Christ save me. The town is besieged

646. and the trumpet calls us to the breach.

647. We talk and, by Christ, do nothing.

648. By the mass, ere these eyes of mine take themselves to slumber,

649. I'll do good service or I'll lie in the ground for it.

650. Captain MacMorris, I think, look you.

651. Under your correction, there are not many of your nation.

652. What is my nation?

653. Who talks of my nation is a villain and a bastard

654. and a knave and a rascal.

655. Look you, if you take the matter otherwise

656. than it is meant, Captain MacMorris,

657. peradventure, I shall think you do not use me with that affability

658. as in discretion you ought to use me, now look you,

659. being as good a man as yourself.

660. I do not know you so good a man as myself.

661. So Christ save me, I will cut off your head!

662. How yet resolves the governor of the town?

663. This is the latest parle we will admit!

664. Therefore, to our best mercy give yourselves,

665. or like to men proud of destruction, defy us to our worst.

666. For as I am soldier, if I begin the battery once again,

667. I will not leave the half-achieved Harfleur

668. till in her ashes she lie buried.

669. Therefore, you men of Harfleur,

670. take pity of your town and of your people

671. whiles yet my soldiers are in my command,

672. whiles yet the cool and temperate wind of grace

673. o'erblows the filthy and contagious clouds

674. of heady murder, spoil, and villainy!

675. If not, why, in a moment

676. look to see the blind and bloody soldier

677. with foul hand defile the locks

678. of your shrill, shrieking daughters,

679. your fathers taken by their silver beards

680. and their most reverend heads dashed to the walls,

681. your naked infants spitted upon pikes

682. whiles the mad mothers with their howls confused

683. do break the clouds!

684. What say you?

685. Will you yield

686. and this avoid?

687. Or, guilty in defense,

688. be thus destroyed?

689. The dauphin, of whose succor we entreated,

690. returns us that his powers are not yet ready

691. to raise so great a siege.

692. Therefore, dread king,

693. enter our gates,

694. dispose of us and ours...

695. for we no longer are defensible.

696. Go you and enter Harfleur.

697. There remain and fortify it strongly against the French.

698. Use mercy to them all.

699. For us, dear Uncle, the winter coming on

700. and sickness growing upon our soldiers,

701. we will retire to Calais.

702. Tonight in Harfleur will we be your guest.

703. Tomorrow for the march are we addressed.

704. Alice?

705. the hand.

706. - The hand? - Mm-hmm.

707. the fingers.

708. La main, the hand. Le doigts, the fingers.

709. Mm-hmm.

710. the nails.

711. The nails?

712. The hand, the fingers,

713. et the nails.

714. - "D'elbow." - "D'elbow."

715. The hand, the fingers, the nails, the arm, the "bilbow."

716. D'elbow, madame.

717. - De neck, madame. - De neck?

718. De chin.

719. De chin.

720. The hand, the fingers...

721. - Mm. - ... the "mails."

722. - The nails, madame. - "The nails, madame."

723. - The arm, the "bulbow."

724. d'elbow.

725. The elbow.

726. - Mm. - The neck et de chin.

727. Le foot, madame.

728. Et de "coun."

729. - Foot et le coun? - Mm.

730. - Le foot et le coun.

731. The hand, the fingers...

732. The "arma."

733. The neck, the chin,

734. the foot, et le "coun"!

735. 'Tis certain he hath passed the river Somme?

736. And if he be not fought withal, my lord, let us not live in France.

737. Normans.

738. Bastard Normans.

739. Norman bastards!

740. Where have they this mettle?

741. Is not their climate foggy, raw, and dull?

742. - Oh, for honor of our land. - By faith and honor,

743. our madams mock at us and plainly say our mettle is bred out!

744. And they will give their bodies to the lust of English youth,

745. to new-store France with bastard warriors!

746. Where is Montjoy the herald?

747. Speed him hence.

748. Let him greet England with our sharp defiance.

749. Up, Princes, and with spirit of honor edged

750. more sharper than your swords,

751. hie to the field.

752. Bar Harry England,

753. that sweeps through our land with pennons

754. painted in the blood of Harfleur.

755. Go down upon him. You have power enough.

756. And in a captive chariot into Rouen bring him our prisoner.

757. This becomes the great.

758. Sorry I am his numbers are so few,

759. his soldiers sick and famished in their march.

760. For I am sure when he shall see our army,

761. he'll drop his heart into the sink of fear

762. and for achievement offer us his ransom.

763. Therefore, Lord Constable, haste on Montjoy.

764. Prince Dauphin, you shall stay with us in Rouen.

765. Not so, I do beseech Your Majesty.

766. Be patient, for you shall remain with us.

767. Now forth, Lord Constable and princes all,

768. and quickly bring us word of England's fall.

769. Man #2: That's it!

770. - Man #3: Come on, men!

771. Come. Come in.

772. Captain Fluellen?

773. Come you from the bridge? Is the Duke of Exeter safe?

774. He is not.

775. God be praised and blessed any hurt in the world

776. but keeps the bridge most valiantly with excellent discipline.

777. Captain! I thee beseech to do me favors.

778. The Duke of Exeter doth love thee well.

779. Aye, I praise God and I have merited some love at his hands.

780. Bardolph, a soldier firm and sound of heart

781. and buxom valor, hath by cruel fate

782. and giddy fortune's furious, fickle wheel...

783. Touching your patience, Ancient Pistol,

784. fortune is an excellent moral.

785. Well, fortune is Bardolph's foe and frowns on him,

786. for he hath stolen a pax

787. and hanged must he be.

788. Therefore, go speak.

789. The duke will hear thy voice.

790. Speak, Captain, for his life,

791. and I will thee requite.

792. Ancient Pistol, I do partly understand your meaning.

793. Why, then, rejoice therefore!

794. 'Tis not a thing to rejoice at.

795. Look you, if he were my brother,

796. I would desire the duke to do his good pleasure

797. and put him to execution.

798. Discipline ought to be used.

799. Then die and be damned

800. and figo for thy friendship!

801. How now, Fluellen, comest thou from the bridge?

802. Aye, so please Your Majesty.

803. The Duke of Exeter hath very gallantly maintained the bridge.

804. What men have you lost, Fluellen?

805. I think the duke hath lost never a man...

806. but one that is like to be executed for robbing a church.

807. One Bardolph, if Your Majesty know the man.

808. His face is all bubukles and whelks and knobs and flames of fire.

809. And his lips blows at his nose.

810. 'Tis like a coal of fire, sometimes blue, sometimes red.

811. But his nose is executed and his fire's out.

812. Get up!

813. Shh!

814. - Oh!

815. - Oh, oh, oh, oh!

816. Do not, when thou art king,

817. hang a thief.

818. No...

819. thou shalt.

820. Oh!

821. We would have all such offenders so cut off.

822. And we give express charge that in our marches through the country

823. there be nothing compelled from the villages,

824. nothing taken but paid for...

825. none of the French upbraided or abused in disdainful language.

826. For when lenity and cruelty play for a kingdom,

827. the gentler gamester...

828. is the soonest winner.

829. Thus says my king, "Say thou to Harry of England

830. though we seemed dead, we did but sleep.

831. Tell him we could have rebuked him at Harfleur.

832. Now we speak, and our voice is imperial.

833. England shall repent his folly.

834. Bid him, therefore, consider of his ransom

835. which must proportion the losses we have borne,

836. which in weight to re-answer his pettiness would bow under.

837. To this add defiance,

838. and tell him, for conclusion, he hath betrayed his followers

839. whose condemnation is pronounced."

840. So far my king and master, so much my office.

841. - What is thy name? - Montjoy.

842. Thou dost thy office fairly.

843. Turn thee back and tell thy king I do not seek him now,

844. but could be willing to march on to Calais without impeachment.

845. Go, therefore, tell thy master here I am.

846. My ransom is this frail and worthless trunk,

847. my army but a weak and sickly guard.

848. Yet, God before, tell him we will come on,

849. though France himself and such another neighbor stand in our way.

850. So, Montjoy, fare you well.

851. The sum of all our answer is but this:

852. we would not seek a battle as we are,

853. nor as we are we say we will not shun it.

854. So tell your master.

855. I shall deliver so.

856. Thanks to Your Majesty.

857. I hope they will not come upon us now.

858. We are in God's hand, brother, not in theirs.

859. March to the bridge.

860. It now draws towards night.

861. Beyond the river, we'll encamp ourselves

862. and on tomorrow...

863. bid them march away.

864. Now entertain conjecture of a time

865. when creeping murmur and the poring dark

866. fills the wide vessel of the universe.

867. From camp to camp through the foul womb of night

868. the hum of either army stilly sounds

869. that the fixed sentinels almost receive

870. the secret whispers of each other's watch.

871. Fire answers fire, and through their paly flames

872. each battle sees the other's umbered face.

873. Steed threatens steed in high and boastful neighs,

874. piercing the night's dull ear.

875. And from the tents, the armorers,

876. accomplishing the knights with busy hammers closing rivets up,

877. give dreadful note of preparation.

878. Proud of their numbers and secure in soul,

879. the confident and overlusty French

880. do the low-rated English play at dice

881. and chide the cripple, tardy-gaited night

882. who, like a foul and ugly witch,

883. doth limp so tediously away.

884. I have the best armor in the world.

885. Would it were day.

886. You have an excellent armor, but let my horse have his due.

887. It is the best horse of Europe.

888. Will it never be morning?

889. My Lord of Orleans and my Lord High Constable,

890. you talk of horse and armor?

891. You are as well provided of both as any prince in the world.

892. I will not change my horse

893. for any that treads but on four hooves.

894. When I bestride him, I soar.

895. I am a hawk, and he is pure air and fire!

896. And the dull elements of earth and water never appear in him,

897. but only in patient stillness while his rider mounts him.

898. Indeed, my lord, it is a most absolute and excellent horse.

899. My lord constable, the armor in your tent tonight.

900. Are those suns or stars on it?

901. Stars, Montjoy.

902. Some of them will fall tomorrow, I hope.

903. And yet my sky shall not want.

904. Will it never be day?

905. I will trot tomorrow a mile,

906. and my way shall be paved with English faces.

907. I will not say so

908. for fear I should be faced out of my way.

909. I'll go arm myself.

910. The dauphin longs for morning.

911. He longs to eat the English.

912. I think he will eat all he kills.

913. He never did harm that I heard of.

914. Nor will do none tomorrow.

915. Would it were day.

916. Alas, poor Harry of England.

917. He longs not for the dawning as we do.

918. If the English had any apprehension, they would run away.

919. Hmph.

920. That island of England breeds very valiant creatures.

921. Now is it time to arm.

922. Come, shall we about it?

923. It is now 2:00.

924. But let me see, by 10:00,

925. we shall have each 100 Englishmen.

926. The poor, condemned English,

927. like sacrifices,

928. by their watchful fires sit patiently

929. and inly ruminate the morning's danger.

930. And their gesture sad,

931. investing lank-lean cheeks and war-worn coats,

932. presenteth them unto the gazing moon

933. so many horrid ghosts.

934. Oh, now...

935. who will behold the royal captain of this ruined band,

936. walking from watch to watch, from tent to tent?

937. Let him cry, "Praise and glory on his head,"

938. for forth he goes and visits all his host.

939. Bids them good morrow with a modest smile

940. and calls them brothers, friends, and countrymen.

941. A largesse universal, like the sun,

942. his liberal eye doth give to everyone.

943. Thawing cold fear that mean and gentle all

944. behold, as may unworthiness define,

945. a little touch of Harry in the night.

946. Good morrow, old Sir Thomas Erpingham.

947. A good soft pillow for that good white head

948. were better than a churlish turf of France.

949. Not so, my liege.

950. This lodging likes me better...

951. since I may say, "Now lie I like a king."

952. Lend me thy cloak, Sir Thomas.

953. Brothers both, commend me to the princes in our camp.

954. Do my good morrow to them, and anon desire them all to my pavilion.

955. We shall, my liege.

956. Shall I attend Your Grace?

957. No, my good knight.

958. I and my bosom must debate awhile,

959. and then I would no other company.

960. The Lord in heaven bless thee, noble Harry.

961. God-a-mercy, old heart.

962. Thou speakest cheerfully.

963. - Henry: Ahem. - Qui va la?

964. A friend.

965. Discuss unto me.

966. Art thou officer

967. or art thou base, common, and popular?

968. I am a gentleman of a company.

969. Trailest thou the puissant pike?

970. Even so. What are you?

971. As good a gentleman as the emperor.

972. Ah, then you are a better than the king.

973. The king's a bawcock and a heart of gold,

974. a lad of life, an imp of fame,

975. of parents good, of fist most valiant.

976. I kiss his dirty shoe,

977. and from heartstring I love the lovely bully.

978. What is thy name?

979. Uh, Harry le Roy.

980. Le Roy?

981. A— a Cornish name?

982. No, I am a Welshman.

983. Knowest thou Fluellen?

984. Aye.

985. Tell him I'll knock his leek about his pate

986. upon Saint Davy's day.

987. Do not wear your dagger in your cap that day,

988. lest he knock that about yours.

989. Art thou his friend?

990. And his kinsman, too.

991. - The figo for thee, then. - Henry: I thank you.

992. God be with you.

993. My name is Pistol called.

994. It sorts well with your fierceness.

995. - Captain Fluellen. - Shh!

996. In the name of Jesus Christ, speak lower.

997. If you would take the pains but to examine

998. the wars of Pompey the great, you shall find, I warrant you,

999. that there is no tiddle taddle nor pibble babble

1000. in Pompey's camp.

1001. The enemy is loud. You hear him all night.

1002. If the enemy is an ass and a fool and a prating coxcomb,

1003. is it meet, think you, that we should also, look you,

1004. be an ass and a fool and a prating coxcomb,

1005. in your conscience now?

1006. I will speak lower.

1007. I pray you and beseech you that you will.

1008. Brother John Bates,

1009. is not that the morning which breaks yonder?

1010. I think it be, but we have no great cause

1011. to desire the approach of day.

1012. We see yonder the beginning of the day,

1013. but I think we shall never see the end of it.

1014. Who goes there?

1015. A friend.

1016. Under what captain serve ya?

1017. Under Sir Thomas Erpingham.

1018. A good old commander and a most kind gentleman.

1019. I pray ya, what thinks he of our estate?

1020. Even as men wrecked upon a sand

1021. that look to be washed off with the next tide.

1022. He hath not told his thought to the king?

1023. No, nor it is not meet he should.

1024. I think the king is but a man, as I am.

1025. The violet smells to him as it doth to me.

1026. His ceremonies laid by, in his nakedness

1027. he appears but a man.

1028. Therefore, when he sees reason to fear, as we do,

1029. his fears, out of doubt, be of the same relish as ours are.

1030. He may show what outward courage he will,

1031. but I believe, as cold a night as 'tis

1032. that he could wish himself in Thames up to the neck.

1033. And so I would he were, and I by him.

1034. At all adventures, so we were quit here.

1035. I think he would not wish himself anywhere but where he is.

1036. Then I would he were here alone.

1037. Methinks I could not die anywhere so contented

1038. as in the king's company,

1039. his cause being just and his quarrel honorable.

1040. That's more than we know.

1041. Aye, and more than we should seek after.

1042. For we know enough if we know we are the king's subjects.

1043. If his cause be wrong, our obedience to the king

1044. wipes the crime of it out of us.

1045. But if the cause be not good,

1046. the king himself hath a heavy reckoning to make.

1047. And all those legs and arms and heads

1048. chopped off in the battle shall join together at the latter day

1049. and cry all,

1050. "We died at such a place."

1051. Some swearing, some crying for a surgeon,

1052. some upon their wives left poor behind them,

1053. some upon the debts they owe,

1054. some upon their children rawly left.

1055. I'm afeared there are few die well

1056. that die in a battle,

1057. for how can they charitably dispose of anything

1058. when blood is their argument?

1059. Now, if these men do not die well,

1060. it will be a black matter for the king that led them to it.

1061. So if a son that is by his father

1062. sent about merchandise do sinfully miscarry upon the sea,

1063. the imputation of his wickedness, by your rule,

1064. should be imposed upon the father that sent him?

1065. But this is not so.

1066. The king is not bound to answer the particular endings of his soldiers

1067. nor the father of his son,

1068. for they purpose not their deaths when they purpose their services.

1069. Besides, there is no king, be his cause never so spotless,

1070. can try it out with all unspotted soldiers.

1071. Every subject's duty is the king's...

1072. but every subject's soul's his own.

1073. 'Tis certain.

1074. Every man that dies ill, the ill upon his own head.

1075. The king is not to answer it.

1076. I do not desire he should answer for me.

1077. Yet I determine to fight lustily for him.

1078. I myself heard the king say he would not be ransomed.

1079. Aye, he said so to make us fight cheerfully.

1080. But when our throats are cut, he may be ransomed,

1081. and we ne'er the wiser.

1082. If I live to see it, I'll never trust his word after.

1083. You pay him then!

1084. You'll never trust his word after?

1085. Come.

1086. 'Tis a foolish saying.

1087. Your reproof is something too round.

1088. I should be angry with you if time were convenient.

1089. Let it be a quarrel between us, if you live!

1090. Be friends, you English fools!

1091. Be friends! We have French quarrels enough!

1092. - Hyah! - Get—

1093. Upon the king.

1094. Let us our lives, our souls, our debts,

1095. our careful wives, our children,

1096. and our sins lay on the king.

1097. We must bear all.

1098. Oh, hard condition.

1099. Twin-born with greatness,

1100. subject to the breath of every fool.

1101. What infinite heart's ease must kings neglect

1102. that private men enjoy?

1103. And what have kings that privates have not too

1104. save ceremony?

1105. And what art thou, thou idle ceremony?

1106. What drink'st thou oft instead of homage sweet but poison'd flattery?

1107. Oh, be sick, great greatness,

1108. and bid thy ceremony give thee cure.

1109. Canst thou, when thou commandest the beggar's knee,

1110. command the health of it?

1111. No, thou proud dream

1112. that playest so subtly with a king's repose.

1113. I am a king that find thee,

1114. and I know...

1115. 'tis not the balm, the scepter, and the ball,

1116. the sword, the mace, the crown imperial,

1117. the intertissued robe of gold and pearl,

1118. the farced title running 'fore the king,

1119. the throne he sits on,

1120. nor the tide of pomp

1121. that beats upon the high shore of this world.

1122. No, not all these thrice-gorgeous ceremony,

1123. not all these laid in bed majestical

1124. can sleep so soundly

1125. as the wretched slave,

1126. who, with a body filled and vacant mind,

1127. gets him to rest, crammed with distressful bread,

1128. never sees horrid night,

1129. the child of hell, but like a lackey from the rise to the set,

1130. sweats in the eye of Phoebus

1131. and all night sleeps

1132. in Elysium.

1133. Next day after dawn, doth rise and help Hyperion to his horse

1134. and follows so the ever-running year

1135. with profitable labor to his grave.

1136. And but for ceremony...

1137. such a wretch, winding up days with toil

1138. and nights with sleep

1139. had the forehand and vantage...

1140. of a king.

1141. My lord, your nobles, jealous of your absence,

1142. seek through the camp to find you.

1143. Good old knight, collect them all together at my tent.

1144. I'll be before thee.

1145. Oh, God of battles,

1146. steel my soldiers' hearts.

1147. Possess them not with fear.

1148. Take from them now their sense of reckoning

1149. if the opposed numbers pluck their hearts from them.

1150. Not today, oh, God, oh, not today.

1151. Think not upon the fault my father made in compassing the crown.

1152. I Richard's body have interred anew

1153. and on it have bestowed more contrite tears

1154. than from it issued forced drops of blood.

1155. Five hundred poor I have in yearly pay

1156. who twice a day their withered hands

1157. hold up toward heaven to pardon blood.

1158. And I have built two chantries

1159. where the sad and solemn priests sing still for Richard's soul.

1160. More will I do,

1161. though all that I can do

1162. is nothing worth

1163. since my penitence comes, after all,

1164. imploring pardon.

1165. My liege!

1166. My brother Gloucester's voice.

1167. I know thy errand.

1168. I will go with thee.

1169. The day, my friends,

1170. and all things

1171. stay

1172. for me.

1173. Hark how our steeds for present service neigh.

1174. Mount them and make incision in their hides

1175. that their hot blood may spin in English eyes.

1176. Do but behold yon poor and starved band.

1177. Your fair show shall suck away their souls,

1178. leaving them but the shales and husks of men.

1179. There is not work enough for all our hands.

1180. Why do you stay so long, my lords of France?

1181. Yon island carrions, desperate of their bones,

1182. ill-favoredly become the morning field.

1183. They have said their prayers,

1184. and they stay for death.

1185. A very little, little let us do, and all is done.

1186. Then let the trumpets sound the tucket sonance

1187. and the note to mount,

1188. for our approach will so much dare the field

1189. that England shall crouch down in fear

1190. and yield!

1191. Where is the king?

1192. The king himself is rode to view their battle.

1193. Of fighting men, they have full threescore thousand.

1194. That's five to one.

1195. Besides, they are all fresh.

1196. 'Tis a fearful odds.

1197. Oh, that we now had here but one ten thousand

1198. of those men in England that do no work today.

1199. What's he that wishes so?

1200. My cousin Westmoreland?

1201. No, my fair cousin.

1202. If we are marked to die, we are enough to do our country loss.

1203. And if to live, the fewer men,

1204. the greater share of honor.

1205. God's will, I pray thee, wish not one man more.

1206. Rather, proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host,

1207. that he which hath no stomach to this fight

1208. let him depart.

1209. His passport shall be made

1210. and crowns for convoy put into his purse.

1211. We would not die in that man's company

1212. that fears his fellowship to die with us.

1213. This day is called the feast of Crispian.

1214. He that outlives this day and comes safe home

1215. will stand a-tiptoe when this day is named

1216. and rouse him at the name of Crispian.

1217. He that shall see this day and live old age

1218. will yearly, on the vigil, feast his neighbors

1219. and say, "Tomorrow is Saint Crispian's."

1220. Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars

1221. and say, "These wounds I had on Crispian's day."

1222. Old men forget,

1223. yet all shall be forgot, but he'll remember with advantages

1224. what feats he did that day.

1225. Then shall our names, familiar in their mouths as household words—

1226. Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter,

1227. Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester...

1228. be in their flowing cups freshly remembered.

1229. This story shall a good man teach his son.

1230. And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,

1231. from this day to the ending of the world,

1232. but we in it shall be remembered.

1233. We few...

1234. we happy few,

1235. we band of brothers.

1236. For he today that sheds his blood with me shall be my brother.

1237. Be he ne'er so vile, this day shall gentle his condition.

1238. And gentlemen in England now abed

1239. shall think themselves accursed they were not here

1240. and hold their manhoods cheap

1241. whiles any speaks that fought with us

1242. upon Saint Crispin's day!

1243. My Sovereign Lord!

1244. Bestow yourself with speed!

1245. The French are bravely in their battles set

1246. and will with all expedience march upon us!

1247. All things are ready if our minds be so!

1248. Perish the man whose mind is backward now.

1249. Thou dost not wish more help from England, coz?

1250. God's will, my liege.

1251. Would you and I alone, without more help,

1252. - could fight this royal battle.

1253. You know your places!

1254. God be with you all!

1255. Once more I come to know of thee, King Harry,

1256. if for thy ransom, thou wilt now compound

1257. before thy most assured overthrow.

1258. Who hath sent thee now?

1259. The constable of France.

1260. I pray thee bear my former answer back.

1261. Bid them achieve me and then sell my bones!

1262. Good God, why should they mock poor fellows thus?

1263. Let me speak proudly.

1264. Tell the constable we are but warriors for the working day.

1265. Our gayness and our gilt are all besmirched

1266. with rainy marching in the painful field,

1267. but by the mass, our hearts are in the trim.

1268. Herald, save thou thy labor.

1269. Come thou no more for ransom, gentle herald.

1270. They shall have none,

1271. I swear, but these my joints!

1272. - Which, if they have

1273. as I shall leave 'em them,

1274. shall yield them little.

1275. Tell the constable.

1276. I shall, King Harry.

1277. And so fare thee well.

1278. Thou never shalt hear herald anymore.

1279. My lord, most humbly on my knee,

1280. I beg the leading of the vaward.

1281. Take it, brave York.

1282. Now, soldiers, march away,

1283. and how Thou pleasest, God,

1284. dispose the day.

1285. And so our scene must to the battle fly

1286. where, oh, for pity we shall much disgrace

1287. with four or five most vile and ragged foils

1288. right ill-disposed in brawl ridiculous

1289. the name of Agincourt.

1290. Ready!

1291. Ready!

1292. - Fire!

1293. Ready!

1294. Ah!

1295. Ah!

1296. Ah!

1297. Why, all our ranks are broke.

1298. Oh, perdurable shame!

1299. Shame and eternal shame.

1300. Nothing but shame.

1301. Let us die in arms.

1302. Once more back again.

1303. We are enough yet living in the field

1304. to smother up the English in our throngs

1305. if any order might be thought upon.

1306. The devil take order now!

1307. I'll to the throng!

1308. Let life be short!

1309. Else shame will be too long!

1310. Well have we done, thrice-valiant countrymen!

1311. Yet all's not done!

1312. Yet keep the French the field!

1313. Kill the boys and the luggage.

1314. 'Tis expressly against the law of arms.

1315. 'Tis as errant a piece of knavery,

1316. mark you now, as can be offered.

1317. In your conscience, now, is it not?

1318. 'Tis certain there's not a boy left alive.

1319. I was not angry since I came to France

1320. until this instant!

1321. Here comes the herald of the French, my liege.

1322. - What means this, herald?

1323. Huh? Com'st thou again for ransom?

1324. No! Great King!

1325. I come to thee for charitable license

1326. that we may wander o'er this bloody field

1327. to book our dead and then to bury them.

1328. To sort our nobles from our common men.

1329. For many of our princes— woe the while—

1330. lie drowned and soaked in mercenary blood.

1331. Oh, give us leave, great King, to view the field in safety

1332. and to dispose of their dead bodies.

1333. I tell thee truly, herald,

1334. I know not if the day be ours or no.

1335. The day is yours.

1336. Praised be God

1337. and not our strength for it.

1338. What is this castle called

1339. that stands hard by?

1340. They call it Agincourt.

1341. Then call we this

1342. the field of Agincourt

1343. fought on the day of Crispin Crispianus.

1344. Ahem, your grandfather of famous memory,

1345. an't please Your Majesty,

1346. and your great-uncle, Edward,

1347. the Black Prince of Wales,

1348. as I have read in the chronicles...

1349. fought a most brave battle here in France.

1350. They did, Fluellen.

1351. Y-Your Majesty says very true.

1352. If Your Majesty is remembered of it,

1353. the Welshmen did good service

1354. in a garden where leeks did grow,

1355. wearing leeks in their Monmouth caps, which, as Your Majesty know,

1356. to this hour is an honorable badge of service.

1357. And I do believe Your Majesty takes no scorn

1358. to wear the leek upon Saint Davy's day.

1359. I wear it for a memorable honor...

1360. for I am Welsh, you know, good my countryman.

1361. All the water in Wye

1362. cannot wash Your Majesty's Welsh blood out of your body,

1363. I can tell you that.

1364. God bless it and preserve it, so long as it pleases His Grace

1365. and His Majesty, too.

1366. Thanks, good my countryman.

1367. By Jeshu, I am Your Majesty's countryman!

1368. I care not who know it.

1369. I shall confess it to all the world!

1370. And I need not be ashamed of Your Majesty, praised be God...

1371. so long as Your Majesty is an honest man.

1372. God keep me so.

1373. Doth fortune play the huswife with me now?

1374. News I have that my Nell is dead.

1375. Tsk!

1376. Old do I wax,

1377. and from my weary limbs honor is cudgeled.

1378. Well, bawd I'll turn

1379. and something lean to cutpurse

1380. - of quick hand.

1381. To England will I steal,

1382. and there I'll...

1383. steal.

1384. Herald, are the dead numbered?

1385. Here is the number of the slaughtered French.

1386. This note doth tell me...

1387. of 10,000 French

1388. that in the field lie slain.

1389. Of princes in this number, 126.

1390. Added to these, of knights, esquires, and gallant gentlemen,

1391. eight thousand and four hundred...

1392. of the which five hundred

1393. were but yesterday dubbed knights.

1394. Here was a royal fellowship of death.

1395. Where is the number of our English dead?

1396. "Edward, the Duke of York,

1397. the Earl of Suffolk...

1398. Sir Richard Ketly...

1399. Davy Gam, esquire."

1400. None else of name...

1401. and of all other men...

1402. but five and twenty.

1403. 'Tis wonderful.

1404. Come.

1405. Go we in procession to the village

1406. and be it death proclaimed through our host

1407. to boast of this

1408. or take that praise from God which is his only.

1409. Is it not lawful, an please Your Majesty,

1410. to tell how many is killed?

1411. Aye, Captain,

1412. but with this

1413. that God fought...

1414. for us.

1415. Yes, my conscience.

1416. He did us great good.

1417. Do we all holy rites.

1418. Let there be sung "Non nobis" and "Te Deum."

1419. The dead with charity enclosed in clay.

1420. And then to Calais...

1421. and to England then...

1422. where ne'er from France arrived

1423. more happy men.

1424. Peace to this meeting.

1425. Unto our brother France, health and fair time of day.

1426. Joy and good wishes to our most fair and princely cousin Katherine.

1427. And as a branch and member of this royalty

1428. by whom this great assembly is contrived,

1429. we do salute you, Duke of Burgundy.

1430. And, princes French and peers,

1431. health to you all.

1432. Right joyous are we to behold your face,

1433. most worthy brother England.

1434. Fairly met.

1435. So are you, princes English, every one.

1436. My duty to you both, on equal love,

1437. great kings of France and England.

1438. Since that my office hath so far prevailed

1439. that face to face and royal eye to eye you have congreeted,

1440. let it not disgrace me if I demand before this royal view

1441. why that the naked, poor, and mangled peace

1442. should not in this best garden of the world,

1443. our fertile France, put up her lovely visage?

1444. Alas, she hath from France too long been chased,

1445. and all her husbandry doth lie on heaps,

1446. corrupting in its own fertility.

1447. And as our vineyards, fallows, meads, and hedges,

1448. defective in their natures, grow to wildness,

1449. even so our houses and ourselves, our children have lost

1450. or do not learn for want of time

1451. those sciences which should become our country,

1452. but grow like savages, as soldiers will

1453. that nothing do but meditate on blood

1454. to swearing and stern looks, diffused attire,

1455. and everything that seems

1456. unnatural.

1457. And my speech entreats that I may know

1458. the let why gentle peace

1459. should not expel these inconveniences

1460. and bless us with her former qualities.

1461. If, Duke of Burgundy, you would the peace

1462. whose want gives growth to the imperfections

1463. which you have cited, then you must buy that peace

1464. with full accord to all our just demands.

1465. I have but with a cursorary eye

1466. o'erglanced the articles.

1467. Pleaseth your grace to appoint some of your council

1468. to sit with us once more.

1469. We will suddenly pass our accept

1470. and peremptory answer.

1471. Brother, we shall.

1472. Yet leave our cousin Katherine

1473. here with us.

1474. She is our capital demand

1475. comprised within the fore-rank of our articles.

1476. She hath good leave.

1477. Fair Katherine, and most fair,

1478. will you vouchsafe to teach a soldier

1479. terms such as will enter at a lady's ear

1480. and plead his love suit to her gentle heart?

1481. Your Majesty shall mock at me.

1482. I cannot speak your England.

1483. Oh.

1484. Fair Katherine, if you will love me soundly with your French heart,

1485. I will be glad to hear you confess it brokenly with your English tongue.

1486. Do you like me, Kate?

1487. Pardonnez-moi. I cannot tell what is "like me."

1488. An angel is like you, Kate, and you are like an angel.

1489. What says she, fair one?

1490. That the tongues of men are full of deceits?

1491. Oui.

1492. That the tongues of the mens is be full of deceits.

1493. That is the princess.

1494. I'faith, my wooing is fit for thy understanding.

1495. I know no ways to mince it in love,

1496. but directly to say, "I love you."

1497. Then if you urge me farther than to say,

1498. "Do you in faith?" I wear out my suit.

1499. Give me your answer, I'faith, do,

1500. and so clap hands and a bargain. How say you, lady?

1501. Me understand well.

1502. Marry, if you would put me to verses or to dance for your sake, Kate,

1503. why, you undid me.

1504. If I could win a lady at leapfrog or by vaulting into my saddle

1505. with my armor on my back, I should quickly leap into a wife.

1506. I could lay on like a butcher and sit like a jackanapes, never off.

1507. But before God, Kate, I cannot look greenly

1508. nor gasp out my eloquence nor I have no cunning in protestation.

1509. If thou canst love a fellow of this temper, Kate,

1510. that never looks in his glass for love of anything he sees there,

1511. let thine eye be thy cook.

1512. I speak to thee plain soldier.

1513. If thou canst love me for this, take me.

1514. If not, to say to thee that I shall die, 'tis true,

1515. but for thy love, by the Lord, no.

1516. Yet I love thee, too.

1517. If thou would have such a one, take me.

1518. And take me, take a soldier.

1519. Take a soldier, take a king.

1520. And what sayest thou then to my love?

1521. Speak, my fair.

1522. And fairly, too, I pray thee.

1523. Is it possible that I should love the enemy of France?

1524. No, Kate.

1525. It is not possible that you should love the enemy of France, Kate.

1526. But in loving me, you should love the friend of France,

1527. for I love France so well that I will not part with a village of it.

1528. I will have it all mine.

1529. And, Kate, when France is mine and I am yours,

1530. then yours is France and you are mine.

1531. I cannot tell what is that.

1532. No, Kate?

1533. I will tell thee in French,

1534. which I am sure will hang about my tongue

1535. like a new-married wife about her husband's neck,

1536. hardly to be shook off.

1537. - Oh, wh— let me see.

1538. Uh, oh...

1539. It is as easy for me, Kate, to conquer the kingdom

1540. as to speak so much more French!

1541. I will never move thee in French unless it be to laugh at me.

1542. No, faith, it is not.

1543. But tell me, Kate,

1544. canst thou understand thus much English?

1545. Canst thou love me?

1546. I cannot tell.

1547. Well, can any of your neighbors tell, Kate?

1548. I'll ask them.

1549. By mine honor, in true English, I swear I love thee,

1550. by which honor I dare not swear thou lovest me.

1551. Yet my blood begins to flatter me that thou dost

1552. notwithstanding the poor and untempering effect of my visage.

1553. Now beshrew my father's ambition!

1554. He was thinking of civil wars when he got me.

1555. Therefore was I created with a stubborn outside,

1556. with an aspect of iron, that when I come to woo ladies,

1557. I fright them.

1558. But, in faith, Kate, the elder I wax, the better I shall appear.

1559. My comfort is that old age,

1560. that ill layer-up of beauty,

1561. can do no more spoil upon my face.

1562. Thou hast me— if thou hast me—

1563. at the worst.

1564. And thou shalt wear me— if thou wear me—

1565. better and better.

1566. And, therefore, tell me, most fair Katherine.

1567. Will you have me?

1568. Come, your answer in broken music,

1569. for thy voice is music,

1570. and thy English broken.

1571. Therefore, queen of all, Katherine,

1572. wilt thou have me?

1573. That is as it shall please le roi mon pere.

1574. Nay, it shall please him well, Kate.

1575. It shall please him, Kate.

1576. Then it shall also content me.

1577. Upon that, I kiss your hand

1578. and I call you my queen.

1579. Then I will kiss your lips, Kate.

1580. - Oh!

1581. Madame my interpreter, what says she?

1582. That is not be the fashion for the ladies of France—

1583. I cannot tell what is "baiser" in English.

1584. To kiss?

1585. Your Majesty entendre bettre que moi.

1586. Ah, it is not a fashion for the maids in France

1587. to kiss before they are married, would she say?

1588. Oui, vraiment.

1589. Oh, Kate.

1590. Nice customs curtsy to great kings.

1591. You and I cannot be confined within the weak list

1592. of a country's fashion.

1593. We...

1594. are the makers of manners, Kate.

1595. Therefore, patiently

1596. and yielding.

1597. You have witchcraft in your lips, Kate.

1598. There is more eloquence in a sugar touch of them

1599. than in the tongues of the French council.

1600. - Here comes your father.

1601. God save Your Majesty.

1602. My royal cousin, teach you our princess English?

1603. I would have her learn, my fair cousin,

1604. how perfectly I love her...

1605. and that is good English.

1606. We have consented to all terms of reason.

1607. And thereupon give me your daughter.

1608. Take her, fair son...

1609. and from her blood raise up issue to me...

1610. that the contending kingdoms of France and England,

1611. whose very shores look pale with envy of each other's happiness,

1612. may cease their hatred...

1613. and this dear conjunction

1614. plant neighborhood

1615. and Christian-like accord in their sweet bosoms

1616. that never war advance

1617. his bleeding sword

1618. 'twixt England and fair France.

1619. Amen.

1620. Now, welcome, Kate, and bear me witness all

1621. that here I kiss her as my sovereign queen.

1622. God, the best maker of all marriages,

1623. combine our hearts in one, our realms in one.

1624. As man and wife, being two, are one in love,

1625. so be there 'twixt our kingdoms such a spousal

1626. that never may ill office or fell jealousy,

1627. which troubles oft to the bed of blessed marriage,

1628. thrust in between the paction of these kingdoms

1629. to make divorce of their incorporate league,

1630. that English may as French,

1631. French Englishmen, receive each other.

1632. God speak this.

1633. Amen.

1634. Amen.

1635. Thus far, with rough and all-unable pen

1636. our bending author hath pursued the story

1637. in little room confining mighty men

1638. mangling by starts the full course of their glory.

1639. Small time, but in that small

1640. most greatly lived this star of England.

1641. Fortune made his sword

1642. by which the world's best garden he achieved,

1643. and of it left his son imperial lord.

1644. Henry VI, in infant bands crowned King of France and England,

1645. did this king succeed

1646. whose state so many had the managing

1647. that they lost France

1648. and made his England bleed...

1649. which oft our stage hath shown,

1650. and, for their sake,

1651. in your fair minds

1652. let this acceptance take.