majesty's Welsh plood out of your pody, I can tell | It is the soldier's; I, by bargain, should you that: Got pless it and preserve it, as long as it Wear it myself. Follow, good cousin, Warwick: pleases his grace, and his majesty too! If that soldier strike him (as, I judge K. Hen. Thanks, good my countryman. By his blunt bearing, he will keep his word,) Flu. By Chesu, I am your majesty's country- Some sudden mischief may arise of it; I care not who know it; I will confess it to all For I do know Fluellen valiant, the 'orld: I need not to be ashamed of your majes- And, touch'd with choler, hot as gunpowder, ty, praised be Got, so long as your majesty is an And quickly will return an injury: honest man. Follow, and see there be no harm between them.Go you with me, uncle of Exeter. [Ereat, man, K. Hen. God keep me so!-Our heralds go with Bring me just notice of the numbers dead and others. Exe. Soldier, you must come to the king. K. Hen. Soldier, why wear'st thou that glove in thy cap? Will. An't please your majesty, 'tis the gage of one that I should fight withal, if he be alive. K. Hen. An Englishman? Will. An't please your majesty, a rascal, that swagger'd with me last night: who, if 'a live, and ever dare to challenge this glove, I have sworn to take him a box o' the ear: or, if I can see my glove in his cap (which he swore, as he was a soldier, he would wear, if alive,) I will strike it out soundly. K. Hen. What think you, captain Fluellen? is it fit this soldier keep his oath? Flu. He is a craven' and a villain else, an't please your majesty, in my conscience. K. Hen. It may be his enemy is a gentleman of great sort, quite from the answer of his degree.2 Flu. Though he be as goot a gentleman as the tevil is, as Lucifer and Belzebub himself, it is necessary, look your grace, that he keep his vow and his oath: if he be perjured, see you now, his reputation is as arrant a villain, and a Jack-sauce, as ever his plack shoe trod upon Got's ground and his earth, in my conscience, la. K. Hen. Then keep thy vow, sirrah, when thou meet'st the fellow. Will. So I will, my liege, as I live. for K. Hen. Call him hither to me, soldier. [Exit. K. Hen. Here, Fluellen: wear thou this favour me, and stick it in thy cap: When Alençon and myself were down together, I plucked this glove from his helm: if any man challenge this, he is a friend to Alençon and an enemy to our person; if thou encounter any such, apprehend him, an thou dost love me. Flu. Your grace does me as great honours, as can be desired in the hearts of his subjects: I would fain see the man, that has but two legs, that shall find himself aggriefed at this glove, that is all; but I would fain see it once; an please Got of his grace, that I might see it. K. Hen. Knowest thou Gower? Flu. He is my dear friend, an please you. to my tent. Flu. I will fetch him. [Exit. K. Hen. My lord of Warwick,-and my brother Follow Fluellen closely at the heels: 1 Craven. See Hamlet, Act iv. Sc. 4. 2Of great sort, quite from the answer of his degree.' Great sort is high rank. A man of such rank is not bound to answer to the challenge from one of the soldier's low degree. 2 Jack-sauce for saucy Jack. 4 Henry was felled to the ground by the duke of Alencon, but recovered and slew two of the duke's atten dants. Alençon was afterwards killed by the king's SCENE VIII. Before King Henry's Pavilion, Will. I warrant it is to knight you, captain. Flu. Got's will and his pleasure, captain, I pe seech you now, come apace to the king: there is more goot toward you, peradventure, than is in your knowledge to dream of. Will. Sir, know you this glove? Flu. Know the glove? I know, the glove is a glove. Will. I know this; and thus I challenge it. [Strikes him. Flu. 'Sblud, an arrant traitor, as any's in the universal 'orld, or in France, or in England. Gow. How now, sir? you villain! Will. Do you think I'll be forsworn? Flu. Stand away, captain Gower; I will give treason his payment into plows,' I warrant you. Will. I am no traitor. Flu. That's a lie in thy throat.-I charge you in his majesty's name, apprehend him; he's a friend of the duke Alençon's. Enter WARWICK and GLOSTER. War. How now, how now! what's the matter? Flu. My lord of Warwick, here is (praised be Got for it!) a most contagious treason come to light, look you, as you shall desire in a summer's day. Here is his majesty. Enter KING HENRY and EXETER. Flu. My liege, here is a villain, and a traitor, that, look your grace, has struck the glove which your majesty is take out of the helmet of Alençon. Will. My liege, this was my glove; here is the fellow of it: and he, that I gave it to in change, promised to wear it in his cap; I promised to strike him, if he did: I met this man with my glove in his cap, and I have been as good as my word. Flu. Your majesty hear now (saving your majesty's manhood,) what an arrant, rascally, beggarly, lowsy knave it is: I hope, your majesty is pear me testimony, and witness, and avouchments, that this is the glove of Alençon, that your majesty is give me, in your conscience now. K. Hen. Give me thy glove, soldier; look, here is the fellow of it. 'Twas I, indeed, thou promised'st to strike; and thou hast given me most bitter terms. Flu. An please your majesty let his neck answer for it, if there is any martial law in the 'orld. K. Hen. How canst thou make me satisfaction? Will. All offences, my liege, come from the heart: never came any from mine, that might of fend your majesty. K. Hen. It was ourself thou didst abuse. Will. Your majesty came not like yourself: you appeared to me but as a common man; witness the night, your garments, your lowliness; and what your highness suffered under that shape, I beseech you, take it for your own fault, and not guard, contrary to Henry's intention, who wished to have saved him. 5 Into plows.' It has been suggested that we should read' in plows,' but it was not intended that Fluellen should speak very correctly, and into for in is still used in Scotland. 6 i. e. the glove that thou hast now in thy cap; it was the king's glove, which he had given to Williams KING HENRY V. mine; for had you been as I took you for, I made | None else of name; and, of all other men, K. Hen. Here, uncle Exeter, fill this glove with crowns, And give it to this fellow.-Keep it, fellow; for you. Will. I will none of Flu. It is with a goot will; I can tell your money. will serve you to mend your shoes: Come, whereyou, it fore should you be so pashful? your shoes is not so goot: 'tis a goot silling, I warrant you, or I will change it. Enter an English Herald. K. Hen. Now, Herald: are the dead numbered? Exe. Charles duke of Orleans, nephew to the king; John duke of Bourbon, and Lord Bouciqualt: K. Hen. This note doth tell me of ten thousand That in the field lie slain : of princes, in this number, And gentlemen of blood and quality. John duke of Alençon; Antony duke of Brabant, [Herald presents another Paper. 1 'Five hundred were but yesterday dubb'd knights. In ancient times the distribution of this honour appears to have been customary on the eve of a battle. 2. Davy Gam, esquire. This gentleman being sent out by Henry, before the battle, to reconnoitre the enemy, and to find out their strengt! made this report:May it please you, my liege, there are enough to be killed, enough to be taken prisoners, and enough to run away.' He saved the king's life in the field. Had the poet been apprized of this circumstance, the brave Welshman would probably have been more particularly noticed, and not have been merely a name in a muster roll,-See Drayton's Battaile of Agincourt, 1627, p. 50 and 51; and Dunster's Edition of Philips's Cyder, a poem, p. 74. I 617 But five and twenty. O God, thy arm was here, Exe. K. Hen. Come, go we in procession to the And be it death proclaimed through our host, Flu. Is it not lawful, an please your majesty, to tell how many is killed? K. Hen. Yes, captain; but with this acknowledgment, That God fought for us. Flu. Yes, my conscience, he did us great goot. Let there be sung Non nobis, and Te Deum. ACT V. Enter CHORUS. Cho. Vouchsafe to those that have not read the story, That I life humbly pray them to admit the excuse sea, Which, like a mighty whiffler 'fore the king, Domine, non nobis sed nomini tuo da gloriam; which 4 Toward Calais: grant him there; there seen.' 3 'Do we all holy rites.' The king, when he saw no appearance of enemies, caused the retreate to be blowen; and, gathering his army together, gave thanks to Almighty God for so happy a victorie, causing his prelates and chapeleins to sing this psalme-In erit anticipation of such a reception for Essex on his returo 8 i. e. the earl of Essex. Shakspeare grounded his Israel de Egypto; and commaunding every man to from Ireland, upon what had already occurred at his kneele down on the grounde at this verse-Non nobis, I setting forth, when he was accompanied by an immenso (As, in good time, he may,) from Ireland coming, Bringing rebellion broached on his sword, How many would the peaceful city quit, To welcome him? much more, and much more cause, Did they this Harry. Now in London place him; Gow. Nay, that's right; but why wear you your leek to-day? Saint Davy's day is past. Flu. There is occasions and causes why and wherefore in all things: I will tell you, as my friend, Captain Gower; The rascally, scald, beggarly, lowsy, pragging knave, Pistol,-which you and yourself, and all the 'orld, know to be no petter than a fellow, look you now, of no merits,-he is come to me, and prings me pread and salt yesterday, look you, and bid me eat my leek: it was in a place where I could not breed no contentions with him; but I will be so pold as to wear it in my cap till I see him once again, and then I will tell him a little piece of my desires. Enter PISTOL. Gow. Why, here he comes, swelling like a turkey-cock. his Flu. 'Tis no matter for his swellings, nor turkey-cocks.-Got pless you, ancient Pistol! you scurvy, lowsy knave, Got pless you! Pist. Ha! art thou Bedlam? dost thou thirst, base Trojan, To have me fold up Parca's fatal web ?3 Hence! I am qualmish at the smell of leek. Flu. I peseech you heartily, scurvy lowsy knave, at my desires, and my requests, and my petitions, to eat, look you, this leek; because, look you, you do not love it, nor your affections, and your appetites, and your digestions, does not agree with it, I would desire you to eat it. Pist. Not for Cadwallader, and all his goats. Fu. There is one goat for you. [Strikes him.] Will you be so good, scald knave, as cat it? Pist. Base Trojan, thou shalt die. Flu. You say very true, scald knave, when Got's will is: I will desire you to live in the mean time, and eat your victuals; come, there is sauce for it. [Strikes him again.] You called me yesterday mountain-squire; but I will make you to-day a squire of low degree. I pray you, fall to; if you can mock a leek, you can eat a leek. Gow. Enough, captain; you have astonish'd^ him. concourse of all ranks, showering blessings upon his head. The continuator of Stowe's Chronicle gives us a long account of it. But how unfortunately different his return was from what the poet predicted, may be seen in the Sydney Papers, vol. ii. p. 127. 1 Broached is spitted, tran-fixed. Flu. Yes, certainly; and out of doubt, and out of questions too, and ambiguities. Pist. By this leek, I will most horribly revenge; I eat, and eke I swear." Flu. Eat, I pray you: Will you have some more sauce to your leek? there is not enough leek to swear by. Pist. Quiet thy cudgel; thou dost see, I eat. Flu. Much goot do you, scald knave, heartily. Nay, 'pray you, throw none away; the skin is goot for your proken coxcomb. When you take occasions to see leeks hereafter, I pray you, mock at them! that is all. Pist. Good. Flu. Ay, leeks is goot :-Hold you, there is a groat to heal your pate. Pist. Me a groat? Flu. Yes, verily, and in truth, you shall take it; or I have another leek in my pocket, which you shall eat. Pist. I take thy groat, in earnest of revenge. Flu. If I owe you any thing, I will pay you in cudgels; you shall be a woodmonger, and buy nothing of me but cudgels. God be wi' you, and keep you, and heal your pate. [Exit. Pist. All hell shall stir for this. Gow. Go, go; you are a counterfeit cowardly knave. Will you mock at an ancient tradition,begun upon an honourable respect, and worn as a memorable trophy of predeceased valour,-and dare not avouch in your deeds any of your words? I have seen you gleeking and galling at this gentleman twice or thrice. You thought, because he could not speak English in the native garb, he could not therefore handle an English cudgel: you find it otherwise; and, henceforth, let a Welsh correction teach you a good English condition." Fare you well. [Erit Pist. Doth fortune play the huswife with me now? News have I, that my Nell is dead i' the spital And there my rendezvous is quite cut off. SCENE II. Troyes in Champagne. __ An Apart 2The emperor's coming. The Emperor Sigismund, who was married to Henry's second cousin. This pas-gar speech. sage stands in the following embarrassed and obscure manner in the folio: 4 Now in London place him. The liberty I have taken is to transpose the word and, and substitute we in its place. 3 To have me fold up Parca's fatal web ? thou desire to have me put thee to death? Dost 9 [Erit.] The comic scenes of these plays are now at an end, and all the comic personages are now dis missed. Falstaff and Mrs. Quickly are dead; Nym and Bardolph are hanged; Gadshill was lost immedi ately after the robbery; Poins and Peto have vanished since, one knows not how; and Pistol is now beaten into obscurity. I believe every reader regrets their departure.'-Johnson. 10 Peace to this meeting, wherefore we are met? Peace, for which we are here met, be to this meeting. Here, Johnson thought, that the chorus should have been prefixed, and the fifth act begin. Unto our brother France,-and to our sister, Most worthy brother England; fairly met :- Q. Isa. So happy be the issue, brother England, With all my wits, my pains, and strong endeavours, Her vine, the merry cheerer of the heart, And as our vineyards, fallows, meads, and hedges, 1 The basilisk was a serpent which, it was anciently supposed, could destroy the object of his vengeance by merely looking at it. 2 This bar; that is, this barrier, this place of congris. The Chronicles represent a former interview in a felt near Melon, with a barre or barrier of separation between the pavilions of the French and English; but the treaty was then broken off. It was now renewed at Troyes, but the scene of conference was St. Peter's church in that town, a place inconvenient for Shak. speare's action; his editors have therefore laid it in a palace. 3 To deracinate is to force up by the roots. 4 Defective in their natures. It has been proposed to read nurtures, i. e. culture, as I think, very plausibly. But Steevens concurs in Upton's opinion, that change is unnecessary. Sua deficiunt natura: They were not defective in their crescive nature, for they grew Should not expel these inconveniences, And bless us with her former qualities. K. Hen. If, duke of Burgundy, you would the peace, Whose want gives growth to the imperfections You have, enschedul'd briefly, in your hands. as yet, There is no answer made. K. Hen. Brother, we shall.-Go, uncle Exeter,- Q. Isa. Our gracious brother, I will go with them; She is our capital demand, compris'd | Q. Isa. She hath good leave. K. Hen. [Exeunt all but HENRY, KATHARINE, and her Gentlewoman. Fair Katharine, and most fair! Will you vouchsafe to teach a soldier terms, Such as will enter at a lady's ear, And plead his lovesuit to her gentle heart? Kath. Your majesty shall mock at me; I cannot speak your England. K. Hen. O fair Katharine, if you will love me soundly with your French heart, I will be glad to hear you confess it brokenly with your English tongue. Do you like me, Kate? Kath. Pardonnez moy, I cannot tell vat is-like me. K. Hen. An angel is like you, Kate; and you are like an angel. Kath. Que dit il? que je suis semblable à les anges. Alice. Ouy, vrayment, (sauf vostre grace,) ainsi dit il. K. Hen. I said so, dear Katharine; and I must not blush to affirm it. Kath. O bon Dieu! les langues des hommes sont pleines de tromperies. K. Hen. What says she, fair one? that the tongues of men are full of deceits? Alice. Ouy; dat de tongues of de mans is be full of deceits: dat is de princess. K. Hen. The princess is the better Englishwo to wildness; but they were defective in their proper and favourable nature, which was to bring forth food for man." 5 Diffused attire. I have observed, in a note on The Merry Wives of Windsor, Activ. Sc. 4, that diffuse was used for obscure, confused. I find, from Florio's Dictionary, that diffused, or defused, were used for con fused. Dffused attire is therefore disordered or dishecelled attire. 6 Favour here means comeliness of appearance. We still say well or ill faroured for well or ill looking. Το 7 Pass our accept, and peremptory answer.' pass here signifies to finish, end, or agree upon the acceptance which we shall give them, and return our peremptory answer.' 8Huntingdon. John Holland, earl of Huntingdon, who afterwards married the widow of Edmund Morti mer, earl of March. Neither Huntingdon nor Clarence are in the list of Dramatis Personæ, as neither of them speak a word man. I'faith, Kate, my wooing is fit for thy under- | vostre est France, et vous estes mienne. It is as easy standing: I am glad, thou canst speak no better for me, Kate, to conquer the kingdom, as to speak English; for if thou could'st, thou would'st find me so much more French: I shall never move thee in such a plain king, that thou would'st think, I had French, unless it be to laugh at me. sold my farm to buy my crown.1 I know no ways to mince it in love, but directly to say-I love you: then, if you urge me further than to say-Do you in faith? I wear out my suit. Give me your answer; i'faith, do; and so clap hands and a bargain: How say you, lady? Kath. Sauf vostre honneur, le François que vous parlez est meilleur que l'Anglois lequel je parle. K. Hen. No, 'faith, is't not, Kate: but thy speaking of my tongue, and I thine, most truly falsely, must needs be granted to me much at one. But, Kate, dost thou understand thus much English Canst thou love me? Kath. I cannot tell. K. Hen. Can any of your neighbours tell, Kate? I'll ask them. Come, I know, thou lovest me: and at night when you come into your closet, you'll question this gentlewoman about me; and I know, Kate, you will, to her, dispraise those parts in me, that you love with your heart; but, good Kate, mock me mercifully; the rather, gentle princess, because I love thee cruelly. If ever thou be'st mine, Kate, (as I have a saving faith within me, tells me,-thou shalt,) I get thee with scambling, and thou must therefore needs prove a good solderbreeder: Shall not thou and I, 'between Saint Den nis and Saint George, compound a boy, half French half English, that shall go to Constantinople, and take the Turk by the beard ? shall we not ? what sayest thou, my fair flower-de-luce? Kath. I do not know dat. Kath. Sauf vostre honneur, me understand well. K. Hen. Marry, if you would put me to verses, or to dance for your sake, Kate, why you undid me: for the one, I have neither words nor measure; and for the other, I have no strength in measure,2 yet a reasonable measure in strength. If I could win a lady at leap-frog, or by vaulting into my saddle with my armour on my back, under the correction of bragging be it spoken, I should quickly leap into a wife. Or, if I might buffet for my love, or bound my horse for her favours, I could lay on like a butcher, and sit like a jack-an-apes, never off: but, before God, I cannot look greenly, nor gasp out my eloquence, nor I have no cunning in protestation; only downright oaths, which I never use till urged, nor never break for urging. If thou canst love a fellow of this temper, Kate, whose face is not worth sun-burning, that never looks in his glass for love of any thing he sees there, let thine eye be thy cook. I speak to thee plain soldier: If thou K. Hen. No; 'tis hereafter to know, but now to canst love me for this, take me: if not, to say to promise: do but now promise, Kate, you will en thee-that I shall die, is true; but-for thy love, deavour for your French part of such a boy; and, by the Lord, no; yet I love thee too. And while for my English moiety, take the word of a king and thou livest, dear Kate, take a fellow of plain and a bachelor. How answer you, la plus belle Kathauncoined constancy; for he perforce must do theerine du monde, mon très chere et divine déesse ? right, because he hath not the gift to woo in other places: for these fellows of infinite tongue, that can rhyme themselves into ladies' favours,-they do always reason themselves out again. What! a speaker is but a prater; a rhyme is but a ballad. A good leg will fall; a straight back will stoop; a black beard will turn white; a curled pate will grow bald; fair face will wither; a full eye will wax hollow but a good heart, Kate, is the sun and moon; or, rather, the sun, and not the moon; for it shines bright, and never changes, but keeps his course truly. If thou would have such a one, take me: And take me, take a soldier; take a soldier, take a king: And what sayest thou then to my love? speak, my fair, and fairly, I pray thee. Kath. Is it possible dat I should love de enemy of France? K. Hen. No; it is not possible you should love the enemy of France, Kate: but, in loving me, you should love the friend of France; for I love France so well, that I will not part with a village of it; I will have it all mine: and, Kate, when France is mine, and I am yours, then yours is France, and you are mine. Kath. I cannot tell vat is dat. K. Hen. No, Kate? I will tell thee in French; which, I am sure, will hang upon my tongue like a new-married wife about her husband's neck, hardly to be shook off. Quand j'ay la possession de France, et quand vous avez le possession de moi (let me sec, what then? Saint Dennis be my speed!)-done 1 That thou would'st think I had old my farm to buy my crown.' Johnson thinks this blunt honest kind of English wooing is ine stent with the previous character of the king, and quotes the Duaphin's opinion of him, that he was fitter for a ball-room than the field. This opinion however was erroneous. Shak. speare only meant to characterise English downright sincerity; and surely the previous habits of Henry, as represented in former scenes, do not mike us expect great refinement or polish in him upon this occasion, especially as fine speeches would be lost upon the princess from her imperfect comprehension of his language. 2 i. e. in dancing. 3 i. e. like a young lover, awkwardly. 4 A fellow of plain and uncoined constancy. This passage has been sadly misunderstood. The prince evidently means to say, Take a fellow of blunt un Kath. Your majesté 'ave fausse French enough to deceive the most sage damoiselle dat is en France. K. Hen. Now, fye upon my false French! By mine honour, in true English, I love thee, Kate: by which honour I dare not swear, thou lovest me; yet my blood begins to flatter me that thou dost, notwithstanding the poor and untempering effect of my visage. Now beshrew my father's ambition! he was thinking of civil wars when he got me; therefore was I created with a stubborn outside, with an aspect of iron, that, when I come to woo ladies, I fright them. But, in faith, Kate, the elder I wax, the better I shall appear: my comfort is, that old age, that ill layer-up of beauty, can do no more spoil upon my face; thou hast me, if the hast me, at the worst; and thou shalt wear me, if thou wear me, better and better; And therefore tell me, most fair Katharine, will you have me? Put off your maiden blushes; avouch the thoughts of your heart with the looks of an empress; take me by the hand, and say,-Harry of England, I am thine: which word thou shalt no sooner bless mine ear withal, but I will tell thee aloud-England is thine, Ireland is thine, France is thine, and Henry Plantagenet is thine; who, though I speak it before his face, if he be not fellow with the best king, then shalt find the best king of good fellows. Come, your answer in broken music; for thy voice is music, and thy English broken: therefore, queen of all, Katharine, break thy mind to me in broken English,-Wilt thou have me? Kath. Dat is, as it shall please de roy mon pere adorned courage or purpose, because he hath not the gift to woo in other places like these fellows of infiuste tongue.” Constancy is most frequently used for courage, or resolution, by Shakspeare. 5 i. e. shrink, fall away. 6 Take the Turk by the beard. This is one of the poet's anachronisms. The Turks had not possession of Constantinople until the year 1453; when Henry had been dead thirty-one years. 7 The poor and intempering effect of my visage.' Untempering is unsoftening, unmitigating. I am surprised that Steevens should not have objected to this word as he did to seasoning. It is of the same formation. To temper or mitigate sorrow with mirth. Condire per translationem, ut condire tristitiam hilaritate, Cicero. Baret. |