England shall double gild his treble guilt,
England shall give him office, honour, might;
For the fifth Harry from curb'd licence plucks
The muzzle of restraint, and the wild dog
Shall flesh his tooth on every innocent.

O my poor kingdom, sick with civil blows!
When that my care could not withhold thy riots,
What wilt thou do when riot is thy care?

O, thou wilt be a wilderness again,

Peopled with wolves, thy old inhabitants!

Prince. O, pardon me, my liege! but for my tears, The moist impediments unto my speech,

I had forestall'd this dear and deep rebuke,
Ere you with grief had spoke and I had heard
The course of it so far. There is your crown;
And He that wears the crown immortally
Long guard it yours! If I affect it more
Than as your honour and as your renown,
Let me no more from this obedience rise,
Which my most inward true and duteous spirit
Teacheth, this prostrate and exterior bending.
God witness with me, when I here came in,
And found no course of breath within your majesty,
How cold it struck my heart! If I do feign,

O, let me in my present wildness die,

And never live to show the incredulous world
The noble change that I have purposed!
Coming to look on you, thinking you dead,
And dead almost, my liege, to think you were,
I spake unto this crown as having sense,

And thus upbraided it: "The care on thee depending

Hath fed upon the body of my father;

Therefore, thou best of gold art worst of gold:
Other, less fine in carat, is more precious,
Preserving life in medicine potable; 1

But thou, most fine, most honour'd, most renown'd,
Hast eat thy bearer up." Thus, my most royal liege,
Accusing it, I put it on my head,

To try with it, as with an enemy

That had before my face murder'd my father,

The quarrel of a true inheritor.

But if it did infect my blood with joy,

Or swell my thoughts to any strain of pride;
If any rebel or vain spirit of mine
Did with the least affection of a welcome
Give entertainment to the might of it,
Let God for ever keep it from my head,
And make me as the poorest vassal is,

That doth with awe and terror kneel to it!

King. O my son,

God put it in thy mind to take it hence,

That thou mightst win the more thy father's love,
Pleading so wisely in excuse of it!

Come hither, Harry, sit thou by my bed;
And hear, I think, the very latest counsel
That ever I shall breathe. God knows, my son,
By what by-paths and indirect crook'd ways
I met this crown; and I myself know well
How troublesome it sat upon my head.

1 drinkable.

To thee it shall descend with better quiet,
Better opinion, better confirmation;

For all the soil of the achievement goes
With me into the earth. It seem'd in me

But as an honour snatch'd with boisterous hand,
And I had many living to upbraid

My gain of it by their assistances;

Which daily grew to quarrel and to bloodshed,
Wounding supposèd peace. All these bold fears
Thou see'st with peril I have answerèd;

For all my reign hath been but as a scene
Acting that argument1: and now my death
Changes the mode; for what in me was purchas'd,
thee in a more fairer sort;
So thou the garland wear'st successively.

Falls

upon

Yet, though thou stand'st more sure than I could do,
Thou art not firm enough, since griefs are green;
And all my friends, which thou must make thy friends,
Have but their stings and teeth newly ta'en out;
By whose fell working I was first advanc'd
And by whose power I well might lodge a fear
To be again displac'd: which to avoid,

I cut them off, and had a purpose now
To lead out many to the Holy Land,

Lest rest and lying still might make them look
Too near unto my state. Therefore, my Harry,
Be it thy course to busy giddy minds

With foreign quarrels, that action, hence borne out,
May waste the memory of the former days.

1 subject.

More would I, but my lungs are wasted so
That strength of speech is utterly denied me. —
How I came by the crown, O God forgive;
And grant it may with thee in true peace live!
Prince. My gracious liege,

You won it, wore it, kept it, gave it me;
Then plain and right must my possession be:
Which I with more than with a common pain
'Gainst all the world will rightfully maintain.

(Enter Prince John of Lancaster.)

King. Look, look, here comes my John of Lan

caster.

Lancaster. Health, peace, and happiness to my
royal father!

King. Thou bring'st me happiness and peace, son
John;

But health, alack, with youthful wings is flown
From this bare wither'd trunk: upon thy sight
My worldly business makes a period.

Where is my Lord of Warwick?
Prince.

My Lord of Warwick!

(Reënter Warwick, and others.)

King. Doth any name particular belong Unto the lodging where I first did swoon?

Warwick. 'Tis call'd Jerusalem, my noble lord. King. Laud be to God! even there my life must end.

It hath been prophesied to me many years

I should not die but in Jerusalem,

Which vainly I suppos'd the Holy Land. -
But bear me to that chamber: there I'll lie;
In that Jerusalem shall Harry die.

[Exeunt.

KING HENRY THE FIFTH

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

THE brave and self-confident young king undertook to recover the French provinces. He even renewed Edward III.'s claim to the French crown. The brilliant victories won by the English were due in part to their enthusiasm and excellent discipline, but even more to the utter incapacity of France. The French king, Charles VI., was an imbecile, and the land was torn by the strife of rival factions. Famine and disease had reduced the people to a state of abject despair. Henry V. regarded his mission as a crusade against the vices of a demoralized nation.

ACT III

SCENE I. FRANCE. Before Harfleur.

(Alarum. Enter King Henry, Exeter, Bedford, Gloucester, and Soldiers with scaling-ladders.)

King Henry. Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;

Or close the wall up with our English dead!

In peace there's nothing so becomes a man
As modest stillness and humility;

But when the blast of war blows in our ears,
Then imitate the action of the tiger:
Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood,