THE LIFE OF KING HENRY THE FIFTH.

DRAMATIS PERSONE.

KING HENRY THE FIFTH.

DUKE OF GLOUCESTER, Brothers to the King.
DUKE OF BEDFORD,

DUKE OF EXETER, Uncle to the King.

DUKE OF YORK, Cousin to the King.

EARLS OF SALISBURY, WESTMORELAND, and

WARWICK.

ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY,

BISHOP OF ELY.

EARL OF CAMBRIDGE.

LORD SCROOP.

SIR THOMAS GREY.

SIR THOMAS ERPINGHAM, GOWER, FLUELLEN,
MACMORRIS, JAMY, Officers in King Henry's

Army.

ACT I.
Enter CHORus.

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 war-like Harry, like himself,
Assume the port of Mars; and at his heels,
Leash'd in like hounds, should famine, sword, and
fire

PISTOL, NYM, BARDOLPH.
Boy.

A Herald.

Crouch for employment. But pardon, gentles all,
The flat unraised spirits that have 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
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;
Think, when we talk of horses, that you see them
Printing their proud hoofs i' the receiving earth;
For 'tis your thoughts that now must deck our kings,

CHARLES THE SIXTH, King of France.
LEWIS, the Dauphin.

DUKES OF BURGUNDY, ORLEANS, and BOURBON.
The Constable of France.

BATES, COURT, WILLIAMS, Soldiers in the same.

Lords, Ladies, Officers, French and English Soldiers, Citizens, Messengers, and Attendants.

Chorus.

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RAMBURES and GRANDPRÉ, French Lords.

MONTJOY, a French Herald.

Governor of Harfleur.

Ambassadors to the King of England.
ISABEL, Queen of France.

SCENE.-England; afterwards France.

KATHARINE, Daughter to Charles and Isabel.
ALICE, a Lady attending on the Princess.
Hostess of a tavern in Eastcheap, formerly Mis-
tress Quickly, and now married to Pistol.

We lose the better half of our possession;
For all the temporal lands which men devout
20 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 almshouses right well supplied;
And to the coffers of the king beside,

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A thousand pounds by the year. Thus runs the Cant. With good acceptance of his majesty; bill.

Save that there was not time enough to hear, Ely. This would drink deep.

As I perceiv'd his grace would fain have done, Cant. "Twould drink the cup and all. 20 The severals and unhidden passages Ely. But what prevention !

Of his true titles to some certain dukedoms, Cant. The king is full of grace and fair regard. And generally to the crown and seat of France, Ely. And a true lover of the holy church. Deriv'd from Edward, his great-grandfather.

Cant. The courses of his youth promis'd it not. Ely. What was the impediment that broke The breath no sooner left his father's body

this off? But that his wildness, mortified in him,

Cant. The French ambassador upon that instant Seem'd to die too; yea, at that very moment, Crav'd audience; and the hour I think is come Consideration like an angel came,

To give him hearing : is it four o'clock !
And whipp'd the offending Adam out of him, Ely. It is.
Leaving his body as a paradise,

Cant. Then go we in to know bis embassy ; To envelop and contain celestial spirits.

Which I could with a ready guess declare Never was such a sudden scholar made ;

Before the Frenchman speak a word of it. Never came reformation in a flood,

Ely. I'll wait upon you, and I long to hear it. With such a heady currance, scouring faults ;

Exeunt. Nor never Hydra-headed wilfulness So soon did lose his seat and all at once

SCENE II.-The Same. The Presence Chamber. As in this king. Ely.

We are blessed in the change. Enter King HENRY, GLOUCESTER, BEDFORD, "Cant. Hear him but reason in divinity,

EXETER, WARWICK, WESTMORELAND, and And, all-admiring, with an inward wish

Attendants. You would desire the king were made a prelate:

K. Hen. Where is my gracious lord of CanterHear him debate of commonwealth affairs,

bury? You would say it hath been all in all his study : Exe. Not here in presence. List his discourse of war, and you shall hear K. Hen.

Send for him, good uncle. A fearful battle render'd you in music:

West. Shall we call in the ambassador, my liege! Turn him to any cause of policy,

K. Hen. Not yet, my cousin : we would be The Gordian knot of it he will unloose,

resolv'd, Familiar as his garter; that, when he speaks, Before we hear him, of some things of weight The air, a charter'd libertine, is still,

That_task our thoughts, concerning us and And the mute wonder lurketh in men's ears

France.
To steal his sweet and honey'd sentences ;
So that the art and practic part of life

Enter the Archbishop of CANTERBURY and Must be the mistress to this theoric :

the Bishop of Ely. Which is a wonder how his grace should glean it, Cant. God and his angels guard your sacred Since his addiction was to courses vain ;

throne, His companies unletter'd, rude, and shallow ; And make you long become it! His hours fill'd up with riots, banquets, sports ; K. Hen.

Sure, we thank you. And never noted in him any study,

My learned lord, we pray you to proceed, Any retirement, any sequestration

And justly and religiously unfold From open haunts and popularity.

Why the law Salique that they have in France Eiy. The strawberry grows underneath the Or should, or should not, bar us in our claim. nettle,

And God forbid, my dear and faithful lord, And wholesome berries thrive and ripen best That you should fashion, wrest, or bow your Neighbour'd by fruit of baser quality:

reading, And so the prince obscur'd his contemplation Or nicely charge your understanding soul Under the veil of wildness ; which, no doubt, With opening titles miscreate, whose right Grew like the summer grass, fastest by night, Suits not in native colours with the truth; Unseen, yet crescive in his facultv.

For God doth know how many now in health Cant. It must be so; for miracles are ceas'd ; Shall drop their blood in approbation And therefore we must needs admit the means Of what your reverence shall incite us to. How things are perfected.

Therefore take heed how you impawn our person, Ely.

But, my good lord, How you awake our sleeping sword of war: How now for mitigation of this bill

70 We charge you, in the name of God, take heed ; Urg'd by the commons ? Doth his majesty For never two such kingdoms did contend Incline to it, or no?

Without much fall of blood ; whose guiltless Cant. He seems indifferent,

drops Or rather swaying more upon our part

Are every one a woe, a sore complaint Than cherishing the exhibiters against us ; 'Gainst him whose wrongs give edge unto the For I have made an offer to his majesty,

swords Upon our spiritual convocation,

That make such waste in brief mortality. And in regard of causes now in hand,

Under this conjuration speak, my lord, Which I have open'd to his grace at large, And we will hear, note, and believe in heart As touching France, to give a greater sum That what you speak is in your conscience wash'd Than ever at one time the clergy yet

As pure as sin with baptism. Did to his predecessors part withal.

Cant. Then hear me, gracious sovereign, and 1":1. How did this offer seem receiv'd, my lord ? you peers,

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That owe yourselves, your lives, and services | Descend unto the daughter.' Gracious lord, 100
To this imperial throne. There is no bar Stand for your own ; unwind your bloody flag;
To make against your highness' claim to France Look back into your mighty ancestors :
Bat this, which they produce from Pharamond, Go, my dread lord, to your great-grandsire's tomb,
In terram Salicam mulieres ne succedant,

From whom you claim; invoke hiswar-like spirit, No woman shall succeed in Salique land :' And your great-uncle's, Edward the Black Prince, Which Salique land the French unjustly gloze 40 Who on the French ground play'd a tragedy, To be the realm of France, and Pharamond Making defeat on the full power of France; The founder of this law and female bar.

Whiles his most mighty father on a hill Yet their own authors faithfully affirm

Stood smiling to behold his lion's whelp That the land Salique is in Germany,

Forage in blood of French nobility. Between the floods of Sala and of Elbe ;

O noble English! that could entertain Where Charles the Great, having subdued the With half their forces the full pride of France, Saxons,

And let another half stand laughing by, There left behind and settled certain French; All out of work, and cold for action. Who, holding in disdain the German women Ely. Awake remembrance of these valiant dead, For some dishonest manners of their life, And with your puissant arm renew their feats : Establish'd then this law ; to wit, no female 50 You are their heir, you sit upon their throne, Should be inheritrix in Salique land :

The blood and courage that renowned them Which Salique, as I said, 'twixt Elbe and Sala, Runs in your veins; and my thrice-puissant liege Is at this day in Germany call'd Meisen.

Is in the very May-morn of his youth, Then doth it well appear the Salique law Ripe for exploits and mighty enterprises. Was not devised for the realm of France;

Exe. Your brother kings and monarchs of the Nor did the French possess the Salique land

earth Uptil four hundred one and twenty years Do all expect that you should rouse yourself, After defunction of King Pharamond,

As did the former lions of your blood. Idly suppos'd the founder of this law;

West. They know your grace bath cause and Who died within the year of our redemption 60 means and might; Four hundred twenty-six; and Charles the Great So hath your highness ; never king of England Subdued the Saxons, and did seat the French Had nobles richer, and more loyal subjects, Beyond the river Sala, in the year

Whose hearts have left their bodies here in Eight hundred five. Besides, their writers say, England King Pepin, which deposed Childeric,

And lie pavilion'd in the fields of France. Did, as heir general, being descended

Cant. 0 ! let their bodies follow, my dear liege, Of Blithild, which was daughter to King Clothair, With blood and sword and fire to win your right; Make claim and title to the crown of France. In aid whereof we of the spiritualty Hugh Capet also, who usurp'd the crown Will raise your highness such a mighty sum of Charles the Duke of Lorraine, sole heir male As never did the clergy at one time Of the true line and stock of Charles the Great, Bring in to any of your ancestors. To find his title with some shows of truth,

K. Hen. We must not only arm to invade the Though, in pure truth, it was corrupt and naught, French, Convey'd himself as heir to the Lady Lingare, But lay down our proportions to defend Daughter to Charlemain, who was the son Against the Scot, who will make road upon us To Lewis the emperor, and Lewis the son With all advantages. Of Charles the Great. Also King Lewis the Tenth, Cant. They of those marches, gracious soveWho was sole heir to the usurper Capet,

reign, Could not keep quiet in his conscience,

Shall be a wall sufficient to defend Wearing the crown of France, till satisfied Our inland from the pilfering borderers. That fair Queen Isabel, his grandmother,

K. Hen. We do not mean the coursing snatchers Was lineal of the Lady Ermengare,

only, Daughter to Charles the foresaid Duke of Lor. But fear the main intendment of the Scot, raine :

Who hath been still a giddy neighbour to us; By the which marriage the line of Charles the For yon shall read that my great-grandfather Great

Never went with his forces into France Was re-united to the crown of France.

But that the Scot on his unfurnish'd kingdom So that, as clear as is the summer's sun,

Came pouring, like the tide into a breach, King Pepin's title, and Hugh Capet's claim, With ample and brim fulness of his force, King Lewis his satisfaction, all appear

Galling the gleaned land with hot essays, To hold in right and title of the female : Girding with grievous siege castles and towns; So do the kings of France unto this day ; That England, being empty of defence, Howbeit they would hold up this Salique law Hath shook and trembled at the ill neighbour. To bar your highness' claiming from the female ; hood. And rather choose to hide them in a net

Cunt. She hath been then more fear'd than Than amply to imbar their crooked titles

harm'd, my liege; Usurp'd from you and your progenitors. For hear her but exampled by herself: K. Hen. May I with right and conscience make When all her chivalry hath been in France this claim?

And she a mourning widow of her nobles, Cant. The sin upon my head, dread sovereign! She hath herself not only well defended, For in the book of Numbers is it writ :

But taken and impounded as a stray • When the man dies, let the inheritance The King of Scots; whom she did send to France,

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To fill King Edward's fame with prisoner kings, Tombless, with no remembrance over them :
And make her chronicle as rich with praise Either our history shall with full mouth
As is the ooze and bottom of the sea

Speak freely of our acts, or else our grave,
With sunken wreck and sumless treasuries. Like Turkish mute, shall have a tongueless mouth,
West. But there's a saying very old and true; Not worshipp'd with a waxen epitaph.
If that you will France win,

Enter Ambassadors of France. Then with Scotland first begin: For once the eagle England being in prey, Now are we well prepar'd to know the pleasure To her unguarded nest the weasel Scot 170 Of our fair cousin Dauphin ; for we hear Comes sneaking and so sucks her princely eggs, Your greeting is from him, not from the king. Playing the mouse in absence of the cat,

Pirst Amb. May't please your majesty to give To tear and havoc more than she can eat.

us leave Exe. It follows then the cat must stay at home: Freely to render what we have in charge ; Yet that is but a crush'd necessity,

Or shall we sparingly show you far off Since we have locks to safeguard necessaries The Dauphin's meaning and our embassy ? And pretty traps to catch the petty thieves. K. Hen. Weare no tyrant, but a Christian king; While that the armed hand doth fight abroad Unto whose grace our passion is as subject The advised head defends itself at home : As are our wretches fetter'd in our prisons: For government, though high and low and lower, Therefore with frank and with uncurbed plainPut into parts, doth keep in one consent, Congreeing in a full and natural close,

Tell us the Dauphin's mind. Like music.

First Amb.

Thus then, in few. Cant. Therefore doth heaven divide Your highness, lately sending into France, The state of man in divers functions,

Did claim some certain dukedoms, in the right Setting endeavour in continual motion ; Of your great predecessor, King Edward the To which is fixed, as an aim or butt,

Third. Obedience : for so work the honey-bees, In answer of which claim, the prince our master Creatures that by a rule in nature teach Says that you savour too much of your youth, 50 The act of order to a peopled kingdom.

And bids you be advis'd there's nought in France They have a king and officers of sorts ; 190 That can be with a nimble galliard won; Where some, like magistrates, correct at home, You cannot revel into dukedoms there. Others, like merchants, venture trade abroad, He therefore sends you, meeter for your spirit, Others, like soldiers, armed in their stings, This tun of treasure ; and, in lieu of this, Make boot upon the summer's velvet buds; Desires you let the dukedoms that you claim Which pillage they with merry march bring home Hear no more of you. This the Dauphin speaks. To the tent-royal of their emperor :

K. Hen. What treasure, uncle ? Who, busied in his majesty, surveys

Exe.

Tennis-balls, my liege. The singing masons building roofs of gold, K. Hen. We are glad the Dauphin is so pleasant The civil citizens kneading up the honey, The poor mechanic porters crowding in 200 His present and your pains we thank you for : Their heavy burdens at his narrow gate,

When we have match'd our rackets to these balls, The sad-ey'd justice, with his surly hum, We will in France, by God's grace, play a set Delivering o'er to executors pale

Shall strike his father's crown into the hazard. The lazy yawning drone. I this infer,

Tell him he hath made a match with such a That many things, having full reference

wrangler To one consent, may work contrariously; That all the courts of France will be disturb'd As many arrows, loosed several ways,

With chases. And we understand him well, Come to one mark; as many ways meet in one How he comes o'er us with our wilder days, town;

Not measuring what use we made of them. As many fresh streams meet in one salt sea; We never valu'd this poor seat of England ;' As many lines close in the dial's centre; 20 And therefore, living hence, did give ourself ra So may a thousand actions, once afoot,

To barbarous license; as 'tis ever common End in one purpose, and be all well borne That men are merriest when they are from home. Without defeat. Therefore to France, my liege. But tell the Dauphin I will keep my state, Divide your happy England into four;

Be like a king and show my sail of greatness Whereof take you one quarter into France, When I do rouse me in my throne of France : And you withal shall make all Gallia shake. For that I have laid by my majesty If we, with thrice such powers left at home, And plodded like a man for working days, Cannot defend our own doors from the dog, But I will rise there with so full a glory Let us be worried and our nation lose

That I will dazzle all the eyes of France, The name of hardiness and policy.

220 Yea, strike the Dauphin blind to look on us. K. Hen. Call in the messengers sent from the And tell the pleasant prince this mock of his Dauphin.

Exit an Attendant. Hath turn'd his balls to gun-stones; and his soul Now are we well resolv'd ; and by God's help, Shall stand sore charged for the wasteful And yours, the noble sinews of our power,

vengeance France being ours, we bend it to our awe That shall fly with them : for many a thousand Or break it all to pieces : or there we 'll sit,

widows Ruling in large and ample empery

Shall this his mock mock out of their dear O'er France and all her almost kiugly dukedoms, husbands; Or lay these bones in an unworthy urn,

Mock mothers from theirsons, mock castles down;

with us;