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No,'t is slander,
Whose edge is sharper than the sword, whose tongue
Outvenoms all the worms of Nile, whose breath
Rides on the posting winds, and doth belie
All corners of the world.

      — Cymbeline, Act III Scene 4

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History of Henry V

Act IV

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Prologue

Scene 1. The English camp at Agincourt.

Scene 2. The French camp.

Scene 3. The English camp.

Scene 4. The field of battle.

Scene 5. Another part of the field.

Scene 6. Another part of the field.

Scene 7. Another part of the field.

Scene 8. Before KING HENRY’S pavilion.

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Prologue

      next scene .
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[Enter Chorus]

  • Chorus. Now entertain conjecture of a time
    When creeping murmur and the poring dark
    Fills the wide vessel of the universe. 1790
    From camp to camp through the foul womb of night
    The hum of either army stilly sounds,
    That the fixed sentinels almost receive
    The secret whispers of each other's watch:
    Fire answers fire, and through their paly flames 1795
    Each battle sees the other's umber'd face;
    Steed threatens steed, in high and boastful neighs
    Piercing the night's dull ear, and from the tents
    The armourers, accomplishing the knights,
    With busy hammers closing rivets up, 1800
    Give dreadful note of preparation:
    The country cocks do crow, the clocks do toll,
    And the third hour of drowsy morning name.
    Proud of their numbers and secure in soul,
    The confident and over-lusty French 1805
    Do the low-rated English play at dice;
    And chide the cripple tardy-gaited night
    Who, like a foul and ugly witch, doth limp
    So tediously away. The poor condemned English,
    Like sacrifices, by their watchful fires 1810
    Sit patiently and inly ruminate
    The morning's danger, and their gesture sad
    Investing lank-lean; cheeks and war-worn coats
    Presenteth them unto the gazing moon
    So many horrid ghosts. O now, who will behold 1815
    The royal captain of this ruin'd band
    Walking from watch to watch, from tent to tent,
    Let him cry 'Praise and glory on his head!'
    For forth he goes and visits all his host.
    Bids them good morrow with a modest smile 1820
    And calls them brothers, friends and countrymen.
    Upon his royal face there is no note
    How dread an army hath enrounded him;
    Nor doth he dedicate one jot of colour
    Unto the weary and all-watched night, 1825
    But freshly looks and over-bears attaint
    With cheerful semblance and sweet majesty;
    That every wretch, pining and pale before,
    Beholding him, plucks comfort from his looks:
    A largess universal like the sun 1830
    His liberal eye doth give to every one,
    Thawing cold fear, that mean and gentle all,
    Behold, as may unworthiness define,
    A little touch of Harry in the night.
    And so our scene must to the battle fly; 1835
    Where—O for pity!—we shall much disgrace
    With four or five most vile and ragged foils,
    Right ill-disposed in brawl ridiculous,
    The name of Agincourt. Yet sit and see,
    Minding true things by what their mockeries be. 1840

[Exit]

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Act IV, Scene 1

The English camp at Agincourt.

      next scene .
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[Enter KING HENRY, BEDFORD, and GLOUCESTER]

  • Henry V. Gloucester, 'tis true that we are in great danger;
    The greater therefore should our courage be.
    Good morrow, brother Bedford. God Almighty! 1845
    There is some soul of goodness in things evil,
    Would men observingly distil it out.
    For our bad neighbour makes us early stirrers,
    Which is both healthful and good husbandry:
    Besides, they are our outward consciences, 1850
    And preachers to us all, admonishing
    That we should dress us fairly for our end.
    Thus may we gather honey from the weed,
    And make a moral of the devil himself.
    [Enter ERPINGHAM] 1855
    Good morrow, old Sir Thomas Erpingham:
    A good soft pillow for that good white head
    Were better than a churlish turf of France.
  • Sir Thomas Erpingham. Not so, my liege: this lodging likes me better,
    Since I may say 'Now lie I like a king.' 1860
  • Henry V. 'Tis good for men to love their present pains
    Upon example; so the spirit is eased:
    And when the mind is quicken'd, out of doubt,
    The organs, though defunct and dead before,
    Break up their drowsy grave and newly move, 1865
    With casted slough and fresh legerity.
    Lend me thy cloak, Sir Thomas. Brothers both,
    Commend me to the princes in our camp;
    Do my good morrow to them, and anon
    Desire them an to my pavilion. 1870
  • Henry V. No, my good knight;
    Go with my brothers to my lords of England:
    I and my bosom must debate awhile, 1875
    And then I would no other company.

[Exeunt all but KING HENRY]

  • Henry V. God-a-mercy, old heart! thou speak'st cheerfully.

[Enter PISTOL]

  • Pistol. Discuss unto me; art thou officer?
    Or art thou base, common and popular?
  • Henry V. I am a gentleman of a company. 1885
  • Pistol. Trail'st thou the puissant pike?
  • Pistol. As good a gentleman as the emperor.
  • Henry V. Then you are a better than the king.
  • Pistol. The king's a bawcock, and a heart of gold, 1890
    A lad of life, an imp of fame;
    Of parents good, of fist most valiant.
    I kiss his dirty shoe, and from heart-string
    I love the lovely bully. What is thy name?
  • Pistol. Le Roy! a Cornish name: art thou of Cornish crew?
  • Pistol. Know'st thou Fluellen?
  • Pistol. Tell him, I'll knock his leek about his pate 1900
    Upon Saint Davy's day.
  • Henry V. Do not you wear your dagger in your cap that day,
    lest he knock that about yours.
  • Pistol. The figo for thee, then!
  • Henry V. I thank you: God be with you!
  • Pistol. My name is Pistol call'd.

[Exit]

  • Henry V. It sorts well with your fierceness. 1910

[Enter FLUELLEN and GOWER]

  • Gower. Captain Fluellen!
  • Fluellen. So! in the name of Jesu Christ, speak lower. It is
    the greatest admiration of the universal world, when
    the true and aunchient prerogatifes and laws of the 1915
    wars is not kept: if you would take the pains but to
    examine the wars of Pompey the Great, you shall
    find, I warrant you, that there is no tiddle toddle
    nor pibble pabble in Pompey's camp; I warrant you,
    you shall find the ceremonies of the wars, and the 1920
    cares of it, and the forms of it, and the sobriety
    of it, and the modesty of it, to be otherwise.
  • Gower. Why, the enemy is loud; you hear him all night.
  • Fluellen. If the enemy is an ass and a fool and a prating
    coxcomb, is it meet, think you, that we should also, 1925
    look you, be an ass and a fool and a prating
    coxcomb? in your own conscience, now?
  • Gower. I will speak lower.
  • Fluellen. I pray you and beseech you that you will.

[Exeunt GOWER and FLUELLEN]

  • Henry V. Though it appear a little out of fashion,
    There is much care and valour in this Welshman.

[Enter three soldiers, JOHN BATES, ALEXANDER COURT, and MICHAEL WILLIAMS]

  • Court. Brother John Bates, is not that the morning which
    breaks yonder? 1935
  • Bates. I think it be: but we have no great cause to desire
    the approach of day.
  • Williams. We see yonder the beginning of the day, but I think
    we shall never see the end of it. Who goes there?
  • Williams. Under what captain serve you?
  • Henry V. Under Sir Thomas Erpingham.
  • Williams. A good old commander and a most kind gentleman: I
    pray you, what thinks he of our estate?
  • Henry V. Even as men wrecked upon a sand, that look to be 1945
    washed off the next tide.
  • Bates. He hath not told his thought to the king?
  • Henry V. No; nor it is not meet he should. For, though I
    speak it to you, I think the king is but a man, as I
    am: the violet smells to him as it doth to me: the 1950
    element shows to him as it doth to me; all his
    senses have but human conditions: his ceremonies
    laid by, in his nakedness he appears but a man; and
    though his affections are higher mounted than ours,
    yet, when they stoop, they stoop with the like 1955
    wing. Therefore when he sees reason of fears, as we
    do, his fears, out of doubt, be of the same relish
    as ours are: yet, in reason, no man should possess
    him with any appearance of fear, lest he, by showing
    it, should dishearten his army. 1960
  • Bates. He may show what outward courage he will; but I
    believe, as cold a night as 'tis, he could wish
    himself in Thames up to the neck; and so I would he
    were, and I by him, at all adventures, so we were quit here.
  • Henry V. By my troth, I will speak my conscience of the king: 1965
    I think he would not wish himself any where but
    where he is.
  • Bates. Then I would he were here alone; so should he be
    sure to be ransomed, and a many poor men's lives saved.
  • Henry V. I dare say you love him not so ill, to wish him here 1970
    alone, howsoever you speak this to feel other men's
    minds: methinks I could not die any where so
    contented as in the king's company; his cause being
    just and his quarrel honourable.
  • Williams. That's more than we know. 1975
  • Bates. Ay, or more than we should seek after; for we know
    enough, if we know we are the kings subjects: if
    his cause be wrong, our obedience to the king wipes
    the crime of it out of us.
  • Williams. But if the cause be not good, the king himself hath 1980
    a heavy reckoning to make, when all those legs and
    arms and heads, chopped off in battle, shall join
    together at the latter day and cry all 'We died at
    such a place;' some swearing, some crying for a
    surgeon, some upon their wives left poor behind 1985
    them, some upon the debts they owe, some upon their
    children rawly left. I am afeard there are few die
    well that die in a battle; for how can they
    charitably dispose of any thing, when blood is their
    argument? Now, if these men do not die well, it 1990
    will be a black matter for the king that led them to
    it; whom to disobey were against all proportion of
    subjection.
  • Henry V. So, if a son that is by his father sent about
    merchandise do sinfully miscarry upon the sea, the 1995
    imputation of his wickedness by your rule, should be
    imposed upon his father that sent him: or if a
    servant, under his master's command transporting a
    sum of money, be assailed by robbers and die in
    many irreconciled iniquities, you may call the 2000
    business of the master the author of the servant's
    damnation: but this is not so: the king is not
    bound to answer the particular endings of his
    soldiers, the father of his son, nor the master of
    his servant; for they purpose not their death, when 2005
    they purpose their services. Besides, there is no
    king, be his cause never so spotless, if it come to
    the arbitrement of swords, can try it out with all
    unspotted soldiers: some peradventure have on them
    the guilt of premeditated and contrived murder; 2010
    some, of beguiling virgins with the broken seals of
    perjury; some, making the wars their bulwark, that
    have before gored the gentle bosom of peace with
    pillage and robbery. Now, if these men have
    defeated the law and outrun native punishment, 2015
    though they can outstrip men, they have no wings to
    fly from God: war is his beadle, war is vengeance;
    so that here men are punished for before-breach of
    the king's laws in now the king's quarrel: where
    they feared the death, they have borne life away; 2020
    and where they would be safe, they perish: then if
    they die unprovided, no more is the king guilty of
    their damnation than he was before guilty of those
    impieties for the which they are now visited. Every
    subject's duty is the king's; but every subject's 2025
    soul is his own. Therefore should every soldier in
    the wars do as every sick man in his bed, wash every
    mote out of his conscience: and dying so, death
    is to him advantage; or not dying, the time was
    blessedly lost wherein such preparation was gained: 2030
    and in him that escapes, it were not sin to think
    that, making God so free an offer, He let him
    outlive that day to see His greatness and to teach
    others how they should prepare.
  • Williams. 'Tis certain, every man that dies ill, the ill upon 2035
    his own head, the king is not to answer it.
  • Bates. But I do not desire he should answer for me; and
    yet I determine to fight lustily for him.
  • Henry V. I myself heard the king say he would not be ransomed.
  • Williams. Ay, he said so, to make us fight cheerfully: but 2040
    when our throats are cut, he may be ransomed, and we
    ne'er the wiser.
  • Henry V. If I live to see it, I will never trust his word after.
  • Williams. You pay him then. That's a perilous shot out of an
    elder-gun, that a poor and private displeasure can 2045
    do against a monarch! you may as well go about to
    turn the sun to ice with fanning in his face with a
    peacock's feather. You'll never trust his word
    after! come, 'tis a foolish saying.
  • Henry V. Your reproof is something too round: I should be 2050
    angry with you, if the time were convenient.
  • Williams. Let it be a quarrel between us, if you live.
  • Henry V. Give me any gage of thine, and I will wear it in my 2055
    bonnet: then, if ever thou darest acknowledge it, I
    will make it my quarrel.
  • Williams. Here's my glove: give me another of thine.
  • Williams. This will I also wear in my cap: if ever thou come 2060
    to me and say, after to-morrow, 'This is my glove,'
    by this hand, I will take thee a box on the ear.
  • Henry V. If ever I live to see it, I will challenge it.
  • Williams. Thou darest as well be hanged.
  • Henry V. Well. I will do it, though I take thee in the 2065
    king's company.
  • Williams. Keep thy word: fare thee well.
  • Bates. Be friends, you English fools, be friends: we have
    French quarrels enow, if you could tell how to reckon.
  • Henry V. Indeed, the French may lay twenty French crowns to 2070
    one, they will beat us; for they bear them on their
    shoulders: but it is no English treason to cut
    French crowns, and to-morrow the king himself will
    be a clipper.
    [Exeunt soldiers] 2075
    Upon the king! let us our lives, our souls,
    Our debts, our careful wives,
    Our children and our sins lay on the king!
    We must bear all. O hard condition,
    Twin-born with greatness, subject to the breath 2080
    Of every fool, whose sense no more can feel
    But his own wringing! What infinite heart's-ease
    Must kings neglect, that private men enjoy!
    And what have kings, that privates have not too,
    Save ceremony, save general ceremony? 2085
    And what art thou, thou idle ceremony?
    What kind of god art thou, that suffer'st more
    Of mortal griefs than do thy worshippers?
    What are thy rents? what are thy comings in?
    O ceremony, show me but thy worth! 2090
    What is thy soul of adoration?
    Art thou aught else but place, degree and form,
    Creating awe and fear in other men?
    Wherein thou art less happy being fear'd
    Than they in fearing. 2095
    What drink'st thou oft, instead of homage sweet,
    But poison'd flattery? O, be sick, great greatness,
    And bid thy ceremony give thee cure!
    Think'st thou the fiery fever will go out
    With titles blown from adulation? 2100
    Will it give place to flexure and low bending?
    Canst thou, when thou command'st the beggar's knee,
    Command the health of it? No, thou proud dream,
    That play'st so subtly with a king's repose;
    I am a king that find thee, and I know 2105
    'Tis not the balm, the sceptre and the ball,
    The sword, the mace, the crown imperial,
    The intertissued robe of gold and pearl,
    The farced title running 'fore the king,
    The throne he sits on, nor the tide of pomp 2110
    That beats upon the high shore of this world,
    No, not all these, thrice-gorgeous ceremony,
    Not all these, laid in bed majestical,
    Can sleep so soundly as the wretched slave,
    Who with a body fill'd and vacant mind 2115
    Gets him to rest, cramm'd with distressful bread;
    Never sees horrid night, the child of hell,
    But, like a lackey, from the rise to set
    Sweats in the eye of Phoebus and all night
    Sleeps in Elysium; next day after dawn, 2120
    Doth rise and help Hyperion to his horse,
    And follows so the ever-running year,
    With profitable labour, to his grave:
    And, but for ceremony, such a wretch,
    Winding up days with toil and nights with sleep, 2125
    Had the fore-hand and vantage of a king.
    The slave, a member of the country's peace,
    Enjoys it; but in gross brain little wots
    What watch the king keeps to maintain the peace,
    Whose hours the peasant best advantages. 2130

[Enter ERPINGHAM]

  • Sir Thomas Erpingham. My lord, your nobles, jealous of your absence,
    Seek through your camp to find you.
  • Henry V. Good old knight,
    Collect them all together at my tent: 2135
    I'll be before thee.

[Exit]

  • Henry V. O God of battles! steel my soldiers' hearts;
    Possess them not with fear; take from them now 2140
    The sense of reckoning, if the opposed numbers
    Pluck their hearts from them. Not to-day, O Lord,
    O, not to-day, think not upon the fault
    My father made in compassing the crown!
    I Richard's body have interred anew; 2145
    And on it have bestow'd more contrite tears
    Than from it issued forced drops of blood:
    Five hundred poor I have in yearly pay,
    Who twice a-day their wither'd hands hold up
    Toward heaven, to pardon blood; and I have built 2150
    Two chantries, where the sad and solemn priests
    Sing still for Richard's soul. More will I do;
    Though all that I can do is nothing worth,
    Since that my penitence comes after all,
    Imploring pardon. 2155

[Enter GLOUCESTER]

  • Henry V. My brother Gloucester's voice? Ay;
    I know thy errand, I will go with thee:
    The day, my friends and all things stay for me. 2160

[Exeunt]

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Act IV, Scene 2

The French camp.

      next scene .
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[Enter the DAUPHIN, ORLEANS, RAMBURES, and others]

  • Lewis the Dauphin. Ciel, cousin Orleans.
    [Enter Constable]
    Now, my lord constable! 2170
  • Lewis the Dauphin. Mount them, and make incision in their hides,
    That their hot blood may spin in English eyes,
    And dout them with superfluous courage, ha!
  • Rambures. What, will you have them weep our horses' blood? 2175
    How shall we, then, behold their natural tears?

[Enter Messenger]

  • Messenger. The English are embattled, you French peers.
  • Constable of France. To horse, you gallant princes! straight to horse!
    Do but behold yon poor and starved band, 2180
    And your fair show shall suck away their souls,
    Leaving them but the shales and husks of men.
    There is not work enough for all our hands;
    Scarce blood enough in all their sickly veins
    To give each naked curtle-axe a stain, 2185
    That our French gallants shall to-day draw out,
    And sheathe for lack of sport: let us but blow on them,
    The vapour of our valour will o'erturn them.
    'Tis positive 'gainst all exceptions, lords,
    That our superfluous lackeys and our peasants, 2190
    Who in unnecessary action swarm
    About our squares of battle, were enow
    To purge this field of such a hilding foe,
    Though we upon this mountain's basis by
    Took stand for idle speculation: 2195
    But that our honours must not. What's to say?
    A very little little let us do.
    And all is done. Then let the trumpets sound
    The tucket sonance and the note to mount;
    For our approach shall so much dare the field 2200
    That England shall couch down in fear and yield.

[Enter GRANDPRE]

  • Grandpre. Why do you stay so long, my lords of France?
    Yon island carrions, desperate of their bones,
    Ill-favouredly become the morning field: 2205
    Their ragged curtains poorly are let loose,
    And our air shakes them passing scornfully:
    Big Mars seems bankrupt in their beggar'd host
    And faintly through a rusty beaver peeps:
    The horsemen sit like fixed candlesticks, 2210
    With torch-staves in their hand; and their poor jades
    Lob down their heads, dropping the hides and hips,
    The gum down-roping from their pale-dead eyes
    And in their pale dull mouths the gimmal bit
    Lies foul with chew'd grass, still and motionless; 2215
    And their executors, the knavish crows,
    Fly o'er them, all impatient for their hour.
    Description cannot suit itself in words
    To demonstrate the life of such a battle
    In life so lifeless as it shows itself. 2220
  • Lewis the Dauphin. Shall we go send them dinners and fresh suits
    And give their fasting horses provender,
    And after fight with them?
  • Constable of France. I stay but for my guidon: to the field! 2225
    I will the banner from a trumpet take,
    And use it for my haste. Come, come, away!
    The sun is high, and we outwear the day.

[Exeunt]

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Act IV, Scene 3

The English camp.

      next scene .
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[Enter GLOUCESTER, BEDFORD, EXETER, ERPINGHAM, with] [p]all his host: SALISBURY and WESTMORELAND]

  • Duke of Exeter. There's five to one; besides, they all are fresh. 2235
  • Earl of Salisbury. God's arm strike with us! 'tis a fearful odds.
    God be wi' you, princes all; I'll to my charge:
    If we no more meet till we meet in heaven,
    Then, joyfully, my noble Lord of Bedford,
    My dear Lord Gloucester, and my good Lord Exeter, 2240
    And my kind kinsman, warriors all, adieu!
  • Duke of Exeter. Farewell, kind lord; fight valiantly to-day:
    And yet I do thee wrong to mind thee of it,
    For thou art framed of the firm truth of valour. 2245

[Exit SALISBURY]

[Enter the KING]

  • Earl of Westmoreland. O that we now had here 2250
    But one ten thousand of those men in England
    That do no work to-day!
  • Henry V. What's he that wishes so?
    My cousin Westmoreland? No, my fair cousin:
    If we are mark'd to die, we are enow 2255
    To do our country loss; and if to live,
    The fewer men, the greater share of honour.
    God's will! I pray thee, wish not one man more.
    By Jove, I am not covetous for gold,
    Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost; 2260
    It yearns me not if men my garments wear;
    Such outward things dwell not in my desires:
    But if it be a sin to covet honour,
    I am the most offending soul alive.
    No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England: 2265
    God's peace! I would not lose so great an honour
    As one man more, methinks, would share from me
    For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more!
    Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host,
    That he which hath no stomach to this fight, 2270
    Let him depart; his passport shall be made
    And crowns for convoy put into his purse:
    We would not die in that man's company
    That fears his fellowship to die with us.
    This day is called the feast of Crispian: 2275
    He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
    Will stand a tip-toe when the day is named,
    And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
    He that shall live this day, and see old age,
    Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours, 2280
    And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian:'
    Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars.
    And say 'These wounds I had on Crispin's day.'
    Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot,
    But he'll remember with advantages 2285
    What feats he did that day: then shall our names.
    Familiar in his mouth as household words
    Harry the king, Bedford and Exeter,
    Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester,
    Be in their flowing cups freshly remember'd. 2290
    This story shall the good man teach his son;
    And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
    From this day to the ending of the world,
    But we in it shall be remember'd;
    We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; 2295
    For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
    Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
    This day shall gentle his condition:
    And gentlemen in England now a-bed
    Shall think themselves accursed they were not here, 2300
    And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
    That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

[Re-enter SALISBURY]

  • Earl of Salisbury. My sovereign lord, bestow yourself with speed:
    The French are bravely in their battles set, 2305
    And will with all expedience charge on us.
  • Henry V. All things are ready, if our minds be so.
  • Henry V. Thou dost not wish more help from England, coz?
  • Earl of Westmoreland. God's will! my liege, would you and I alone, 2310
    Without more help, could fight this royal battle!
  • Henry V. Why, now thou hast unwish'd five thousand men;
    Which likes me better than to wish us one.
    You know your places: God be with you all!

[Tucket. Enter MONTJOY]

  • Montjoy. Once more I come to know of thee, King Harry,
    If for thy ransom thou wilt now compound,
    Before thy most assured overthrow:
    For certainly thou art so near the gulf,
    Thou needs must be englutted. Besides, in mercy, 2320
    The constable desires thee thou wilt mind
    Thy followers of repentance; that their souls
    May make a peaceful and a sweet retire
    From off these fields, where, wretches, their poor bodies
    Must lie and fester. 2325
  • Henry V. I pray thee, bear my former answer back:
    Bid them achieve me and then sell my bones.
    Good God! why should they mock poor fellows thus? 2330
    The man that once did sell the lion's skin
    While the beast lived, was killed with hunting him.
    A many of our bodies shall no doubt
    Find native graves; upon the which, I trust,
    Shall witness live in brass of this day's work: 2335
    And those that leave their valiant bones in France,
    Dying like men, though buried in your dunghills,
    They shall be famed; for there the sun shall greet them,
    And draw their honours reeking up to heaven;
    Leaving their earthly parts to choke your clime, 2340
    The smell whereof shall breed a plague in France.
    Mark then abounding valour in our English,
    That being dead, like to the bullet's grazing,
    Break out into a second course of mischief,
    Killing in relapse of mortality. 2345
    Let me speak proudly: tell the constable
    We are but warriors for the working-day;
    Our gayness and our gilt are all besmirch'd
    With rainy marching in the painful field;
    There's not a piece of feather in our host— 2350
    Good argument, I hope, we will not fly—
    And time hath worn us into slovenry:
    But, by the mass, our hearts are in the trim;
    And my poor soldiers tell me, yet ere night
    They'll be in fresher robes, or they will pluck 2355
    The gay new coats o'er the French soldiers' heads
    And turn them out of service. If they do this,—
    As, if God please, they shall,—my ransom then
    Will soon be levied. Herald, save thou thy labour;
    Come thou no more for ransom, gentle herald: 2360
    They shall have none, I swear, but these my joints;
    Which if they have as I will leave 'em them,
    Shall yield them little, tell the constable.
  • Montjoy. I shall, King Harry. And so fare thee well:
    Thou never shalt hear herald any more. 2365

[Exit]

  • Henry V. I fear thou'lt once more come again for ransom.

[Enter YORK]

  • Duke of York. My lord, most humbly on my knee I beg
    The leading of the vaward. 2370
  • Henry V. Take it, brave York. Now, soldiers, march away:
    And how thou pleasest, God, dispose the day!

[Exeunt]

---
. previous scene      

Act IV, Scene 4

The field of battle.

      next scene .
---

[Alarum. Excursions. Enter PISTOL, French Soldier, and Boy]

  • Pistol. Qualtitie calmie custure me! Art thou a gentleman?
    what is thy name? discuss.
  • Pistol. O, Signieur Dew should be a gentleman: 2380
    Perpend my words, O Signieur Dew, and mark;
    O Signieur Dew, thou diest on point of fox,
    Except, O signieur, thou do give to me
    Egregious ransom.
  • Pistol. Moy shall not serve; I will have forty moys;
    Or I will fetch thy rim out at thy throat
    In drops of crimson blood.
  • Pistol. Brass, cur! 2390
    Thou damned and luxurious mountain goat,
    Offer'st me brass?
  • Pistol. Say'st thou me so? is that a ton of moys?
    Come hither, boy: ask me this slave in French 2395
    What is his name.
  • Boy. Ecoutez: comment etes-vous appele?
  • Boy. He says his name is Master Fer.
  • Pistol. Master Fer! I'll fer him, and firk him, and ferret 2400
    him: discuss the same in French unto him.
  • Boy. I do not know the French for fer, and ferret, and firk.
  • Pistol. Bid him prepare; for I will cut his throat.
  • Boy. Il me commande de vous dire que vous faites vous 2405
    pret; car ce soldat ici est dispose tout a cette
    heure de couper votre gorge.
  • Pistol. Owy, cuppele gorge, permafoy,
    Peasant, unless thou give me crowns, brave crowns;
    Or mangled shalt thou be by this my sword. 2410
  • French Soldier. O, je vous supplie, pour l'amour de Dieu, me
    pardonner! Je suis gentilhomme de bonne maison:
    gardez ma vie, et je vous donnerai deux cents ecus.
  • Boy. He prays you to save his life: he is a gentleman of 2415
    a good house; and for his ransom he will give you
    two hundred crowns.
  • Pistol. Tell him my fury shall abate, and I the crowns will take.
  • Boy. Encore qu'il est contre son jurement de pardonner 2420
    aucun prisonnier, neanmoins, pour les ecus que vous
    l'avez promis, il est content de vous donner la
    liberte, le franchisement.
  • French Soldier. Sur mes genoux je vous donne mille remercimens; et
    je m'estime heureux que je suis tombe entre les 2425
    mains d'un chevalier, je pense, le plus brave,
    vaillant, et tres distingue seigneur d'Angleterre.
  • Pistol. Expound unto me, boy.
  • Boy. He gives you, upon his knees, a thousand thanks; and
    he esteems himself happy that he hath fallen into 2430
    the hands of one, as he thinks, the most brave,
    valorous, and thrice-worthy signieur of England.
  • Pistol. As I suck blood, I will some mercy show.
    Follow me!
  • Boy. Suivez-vous le grand capitaine. 2435
    [Exeunt PISTOL, and French Soldier]
    I did never know so full a voice issue from so
    empty a heart: but the saying is true 'The empty
    vessel makes the greatest sound.' Bardolph and Nym
    had ten times more valour than this roaring devil i' 2440
    the old play, that every one may pare his nails with
    a wooden dagger; and they are both hanged; and so
    would this be, if he durst steal any thing
    adventurously. I must stay with the lackeys, with
    the luggage of our camp: the French might have a 2445
    good prey of us, if he knew of it; for there is
    none to guard it but boys.

[Exit]

---
. previous scene      

Act IV, Scene 5

Another part of the field.

      next scene .
---

[Enter Constable, ORLEANS, BOURBON, DAUPHIN, and RAMBURES]

  • Lewis the Dauphin. Mort de ma vie! all is confounded, all!
    Reproach and everlasting shame
    Sits mocking in our plumes. O merchante fortune!
    Do not run away. 2455

[A short alarum]

  • Lewis the Dauphin. O perdurable shame! let's stab ourselves.
    Be these the wretches that we play'd at dice for?
  • Duke of Bourbon. Shame and eternal shame, nothing but shame!
    Let us die in honour: once more back again;
    And he that will not follow Bourbon now,
    Let him go hence, and with his cap in hand,
    Like a base pander, hold the chamber-door 2465
    Whilst by a slave, no gentler than my dog,
    His fairest daughter is contaminated.
  • Constable of France. Disorder, that hath spoil'd us, friend us now!
    Let us on heaps go offer up our lives.
  • Duke of Orleans. We are enow yet living in the field 2470
    To smother up the English in our throngs,
    If any order might be thought upon.
  • Duke of Bourbon. The devil take order now! I'll to the throng:
    Let life be short; else shame will be too long.

[Exeunt]

---
. previous scene      

Act IV, Scene 6

Another part of the field.

      next scene .
---

[Alarums. Enter KING HENRY and forces, EXETER, and others]

  • Henry V. Well have we done, thrice valiant countrymen:
    But all's not done; yet keep the French the field.
  • Henry V. Lives he, good uncle? thrice within this hour 2480
    I saw him down; thrice up again and fighting;
    From helmet to the spur all blood he was.
  • Duke of Exeter. In which array, brave soldier, doth he lie,
    Larding the plain; and by his bloody side,
    Yoke-fellow to his honour-owing wounds, 2485
    The noble Earl of Suffolk also lies.
    Suffolk first died: and York, all haggled over,
    Comes to him, where in gore he lay insteep'd,
    And takes him by the beard; kisses the gashes
    That bloodily did spawn upon his face; 2490
    And cries aloud 'Tarry, dear cousin Suffolk!
    My soul shall thine keep company to heaven;
    Tarry, sweet soul, for mine, then fly abreast,
    As in this glorious and well-foughten field
    We kept together in our chivalry!' 2495
    Upon these words I came and cheer'd him up:
    He smiled me in the face, raught me his hand,
    And, with a feeble gripe, says 'Dear my lord,
    Commend my service to me sovereign.'
    So did he turn and over Suffolk's neck 2500
    He threw his wounded arm and kiss'd his lips;
    And so espoused to death, with blood he seal'd
    A testament of noble-ending love.
    The pretty and sweet manner of it forced
    Those waters from me which I would have stopp'd; 2505
    But I had not so much of man in me,
    And all my mother came into mine eyes
    And gave me up to tears.
  • Henry V. I blame you not;
    For, hearing this, I must perforce compound 2510
    With mistful eyes, or they will issue too.
    [Alarum]
    But, hark! what new alarum is this same?
    The French have reinforced their scatter'd men:
    Then every soldier kill his prisoners: 2515
    Give the word through.

[Exeunt]

---
. previous scene      

Act IV, Scene 7

Another part of the field.

      next scene .
---

[Enter FLUELLEN and GOWER]

  • Fluellen. Kill the poys and the luggage! 'tis expressly
    against the law of arms: 'tis as arrant a piece of 2520
    knavery, mark you now, as can be offer't; in your
    conscience, now, is it not?
  • Gower. 'Tis certain there's not a boy left alive; and the
    cowardly rascals that ran from the battle ha' done
    this slaughter: besides, they have burned and 2525
    carried away all that was in the king's tent;
    wherefore the king, most worthily, hath caused every
    soldier to cut his prisoner's throat. O, 'tis a
    gallant king!
  • Fluellen. Ay, he was porn at Monmouth, Captain Gower. What 2530
    call you the town's name where Alexander the Pig was born!
  • Gower. Alexander the Great.
  • Fluellen. Why, I pray you, is not pig great? the pig, or the
    great, or the mighty, or the huge, or the
    magnanimous, are all one reckonings, save the phrase 2535
    is a little variations.
  • Gower. I think Alexander the Great was born in Macedon; his
    father was called Philip of Macedon, as I take it.
  • Fluellen. I think it is in Macedon where Alexander is porn. I
    tell you, captain, if you look in the maps of the 2540
    'orld, I warrant you sall find, in the comparisons
    between Macedon and Monmouth, that the situations,
    look you, is both alike. There is a river in
    Macedon; and there is also moreover a river at
    Monmouth: it is called Wye at Monmouth; but it is 2545
    out of my prains what is the name of the other
    river; but 'tis all one, 'tis alike as my fingers is
    to my fingers, and there is salmons in both. If you
    mark Alexander's life well, Harry of Monmouth's life
    is come after it indifferent well; for there is 2550
    figures in all things. Alexander, God knows, and
    you know, in his rages, and his furies, and his
    wraths, and his cholers, and his moods, and his
    displeasures, and his indignations, and also being a
    little intoxicates in his prains, did, in his ales and 2555
    his angers, look you, kill his best friend, Cleitus.
  • Gower. Our king is not like him in that: he never killed
    any of his friends.
  • Fluellen. It is not well done, mark you now take the tales out
    of my mouth, ere it is made and finished. I speak 2560
    but in the figures and comparisons of it: as
    Alexander killed his friend Cleitus, being in his
    ales and his cups; so also Harry Monmouth, being in
    his right wits and his good judgments, turned away
    the fat knight with the great belly-doublet: he 2565
    was full of jests, and gipes, and knaveries, and
    mocks; I have forgot his name.
  • Gower. Sir John Falstaff.
  • Fluellen. That is he: I'll tell you there is good men porn at Monmouth.
  • Gower. Here comes his majesty. 2570
    [Alarum. Enter KING HENRY, and forces; WARWICK,]
    GLOUCESTER, EXETER, and others]
  • Henry V. I was not angry since I came to France
    Until this instant. Take a trumpet, herald;
    Ride thou unto the horsemen on yon hill: 2575
    If they will fight with us, bid them come down,
    Or void the field; they do offend our sight:
    If they'll do neither, we will come to them,
    And make them skirr away, as swift as stones
    Enforced from the old Assyrian slings: 2580
    Besides, we'll cut the throats of those we have,
    And not a man of them that we shall take
    Shall taste our mercy. Go and tell them so.

[Enter MONTJOY]

  • Henry V. How now! what means this, herald? know'st thou not
    That I have fined these bones of mine for ransom?
    Comest thou again for ransom?
  • Montjoy. No, great king: 2590
    I come to thee for charitable licence,
    That we may wander o'er this bloody field
    To look our dead, and then to bury them;
    To sort our nobles from our common men.
    For many of our princes—woe the while!— 2595
    Lie drown'd and soak'd in mercenary blood;
    So do our vulgar drench their peasant limbs
    In blood of princes; and their wounded steeds
    Fret fetlock deep in gore and with wild rage
    Yerk out their armed heels at their dead masters, 2600
    Killing them twice. O, give us leave, great king,
    To view the field in safety and dispose
    Of their dead bodies!
  • Henry V. I tell thee truly, herald,
    I know not if the day be ours or no; 2605
    For yet a many of your horsemen peer
    And gallop o'er the field.
  • Henry V. Praised be God, and not our strength, for it!
    What is this castle call'd that stands hard by? 2610
  • Henry V. Then call we this the field of Agincourt,
    Fought on the day of Crispin Crispianus.
  • Fluellen. Your grandfather of famous memory, an't please your
    majesty, and your great-uncle Edward the Plack 2615
    Prince of Wales, as I have read in the chronicles,
    fought a most prave pattle here in France.
  • Fluellen. Your majesty says very true: if your majesties is
    remembered of it, the Welshmen did good service in a 2620
    garden where leeks did grow, wearing leeks in their
    Monmouth caps; which, your majesty know, to this
    hour is an honourable badge of the service; and I do
    believe your majesty takes no scorn to wear the leek
    upon Saint Tavy's day. 2625
  • Henry V. I wear it for a memorable honour;
    For I am Welsh, you know, good countryman.
  • Fluellen. All the water in Wye cannot wash your majesty's
    Welsh plood out of your pody, I can tell you that:
    God pless it and preserve it, as long as it pleases 2630
    his grace, and his majesty too!
  • Henry V. Thanks, good my countryman.
  • Fluellen. By Jeshu, I am your majesty's countryman, I care not
    who know it; I will confess it to all the 'orld: I
    need not to be ashamed of your majesty, praised be 2635
    God, so long as your majesty is an honest man.
  • Henry V. God keep me so! Our heralds go with him:
    Bring me just notice of the numbers dead
    On both our parts. Call yonder fellow hither.

[Points to WILLIAMS. Exeunt Heralds with Montjoy]

  • Henry V. Soldier, why wearest thou that glove in thy cap?
  • Williams. An't please your majesty, 'tis the gage of one that
    I should fight withal, if he be alive.
  • Williams. An't please your majesty, a rascal that swaggered
    with me last night; who, if alive and ever dare to
    challenge this glove, I have sworn to take him a box
    o' th' ear: or if I can see my glove in his cap,
    which he swore, as he was a soldier, he would wear 2650
    if alive, I will strike it out soundly.
  • Henry V. What think you, Captain Fluellen? is it fit this
    soldier keep his oath?
  • Fluellen. He is a craven and a villain else, an't please your
    majesty, in my conscience. 2655
  • Henry V. It may be his enemy is a gentleman of great sort,
    quite from the answer of his degree.
  • Fluellen. Though he be as good a gentleman as the devil is, as
    Lucifer and Belzebub himself, it is necessary, look
    your grace, that he keep his vow and his oath: if 2660
    he be perjured, see you now, his reputation is as
    arrant a villain and a Jacksauce, as ever his black
    shoe trod upon God's ground and his earth, in my
    conscience, la!
  • Henry V. Then keep thy vow, sirrah, when thou meetest the fellow. 2665
  • Williams. So I will, my liege, as I live.
  • Williams. Under Captain Gower, my liege.
  • Fluellen. Gower is a good captain, and is good knowledge and
    literatured in the wars. 2670
  • Henry V. Call him hither to me, soldier.

[Exit]

  • Henry V. Here, Fluellen; wear thou this favour for me and
    stick it in thy cap: when Alencon and myself were 2675
    down together, I plucked this glove from his helm:
    if any man challenge this, he is a friend to
    Alencon, and an enemy to our person; if thou
    encounter any such, apprehend him, an thou dost me love.
  • Fluellen. Your grace doo's me as great honours as can be 2680
    desired in the hearts of his subjects: I would fain
    see the man, that has but two legs, that shall find
    himself aggrieved at this glove; that is all; but I
    would fain see it once, an please God of his grace
    that I might see. 2685
  • Fluellen. He is my dear friend, an please you.
  • Henry V. Pray thee, go seek him, and bring him to my tent.

[Exit]

  • Henry V. My Lord of Warwick, and my brother Gloucester,
    Follow Fluellen closely at the heels:
    The glove which I have given him for a favour
    May haply purchase him a box o' th' ear;
    It is the soldier's; I by bargain should 2695
    Wear it myself. Follow, good cousin Warwick:
    If that the soldier strike him, as I judge
    By his blunt bearing he will keep his word,
    Some sudden mischief may arise of it;
    For I do know Fluellen valiant 2700
    And, touched with choler, hot as gunpowder,
    And quickly will return an injury:
    Follow and see there be no harm between them.
    Go you with me, uncle of Exeter.

[Exeunt]

---
. previous scene      

Act IV, Scene 8

Before KING HENRY’S pavilion.

       
---

[Enter GOWER and WILLIAMS]

  • Williams. I warrant it is to knight you, captain.

[Enter FLUELLEN]

  • Fluellen. God's will and his pleasure, captain, I beseech you
    now, come apace to the king: there is more good 2710
    toward you peradventure than is in your knowledge to dream of.
  • Fluellen. Know the glove! I know the glove is glove.
  • Williams. I know this; and thus I challenge it.

[Strikes him]

  • Fluellen. 'Sblood! an arrant traitor as any is in the
    universal world, or in France, or in England!
  • Gower. How now, sir! you villain!
  • Williams. Do you think I'll be forsworn?
  • Fluellen. Stand away, Captain Gower; I will give treason his 2720
    payment into ploughs, I warrant you.
  • Fluellen. That's a lie in thy throat. I charge you in his
    majesty's name, apprehend him: he's a friend of the
    Duke Alencon's. 2725

[Enter WARWICK and GLOUCESTER]

  • Fluellen. My Lord of Warwick, here is—praised be God for it!
    —a most contagious treason come to light, look
    you, as you shall desire in a summer's day. Here is 2730
    his majesty.

[Enter KING HENRY and EXETER]

  • Henry V. How now! what's the matter?
  • Fluellen. My liege, here is a villain and a traitor, that,
    look your grace, has struck the glove which your 2735
    majesty is take out of the helmet of Alencon.
  • Williams. 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 2740
    have been as good as my word.
  • Fluellen. Your majesty hear now, saving your majesty's
    manhood, what an arrant, rascally, beggarly, lousy
    knave it is: I hope your majesty is pear me
    testimony and witness, and will avouchment, that 2745
    this is the glove of Alencon, that your majesty is
    give me; in your conscience, now?
  • Henry V. Give me thy glove, soldier: look, here is the
    fellow of it.
    'Twas I, indeed, thou promised'st to strike; 2750
    And thou hast given me most bitter terms.
  • Fluellen. An please your majesty, let his neck answer for it,
    if there is any martial law in the world.
  • Henry V. How canst thou make me satisfaction?
  • Williams. All offences, my lord, come from the heart: never 2755
    came any from mine that might offend your majesty.
  • Henry V. It was ourself thou didst abuse.
  • Williams. 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 2760
    suffered under that shape, I beseech you take it for
    your own fault and not mine: for had you been as I
    took you for, I made no offence; therefore, I
    beseech your highness, pardon me.
  • Henry V. Here, uncle Exeter, fill this glove with crowns, 2765
    And give it to this fellow. Keep it, fellow;
    And wear it for an honour in thy cap
    Till I do challenge it. Give him the crowns:
    And, captain, you must needs be friends with him.
  • Fluellen. By this day and this light, the fellow has mettle 2770
    enough in his belly. Hold, there is twelve pence
    for you; and I pray you to serve Got, and keep you
    out of prawls, and prabbles' and quarrels, and
    dissensions, and, I warrant you, it is the better for you.
  • Williams. I will none of your money. 2775
  • Fluellen. It is with a good will; I can tell you, it will
    serve you to mend your shoes: come, wherefore should
    you be so pashful? your shoes is not so good: 'tis
    a good silling, I warrant you, or I will change it.

[Enter an English Herald]

  • Henry V. Now, herald, are the dead number'd?
  • Herald. Here is the number of the slaughter'd French.
  • Henry V. What prisoners of good sort are taken, uncle?
  • Duke of Exeter. Charles Duke of Orleans, nephew to the king;
    John Duke of Bourbon, and Lord Bouciqualt: 2785
    Of other lords and barons, knights and squires,
    Full fifteen hundred, besides common men.
  • Henry V. This note doth tell me of ten thousand French
    That in the field lie slain: of princes, in this number,
    And nobles bearing banners, there lie dead 2790
    One hundred twenty six: added to these,
    Of knights, esquires, and gallant gentlemen,
    Eight thousand and four hundred; of the which,
    Five hundred were but yesterday dubb'd knights:
    So that, in these ten thousand they have lost, 2795
    There are but sixteen hundred mercenaries;
    The rest are princes, barons, lords, knights, squires,
    And gentlemen of blood and quality.
    The names of those their nobles that lie dead:
    Charles Delabreth, high constable of France; 2800
    Jaques of Chatillon, admiral of France;
    The master of the cross-bows, Lord Rambures;
    Great Master of France, the brave Sir Guichard Dolphin,
    John Duke of Alencon, Anthony Duke of Brabant,
    The brother of the Duke of Burgundy, 2805
    And Edward Duke of Bar: of lusty earls,
    Grandpre and Roussi, Fauconberg and Foix,
    Beaumont and Marle, Vaudemont and Lestrale.
    Here was a royal fellowship of death!
    Where is the number of our English dead? 2810
    [Herald shews him another paper]
    Edward the Duke of York, the Earl of Suffolk,
    Sir Richard Ketly, Davy Gam, esquire:
    None else of name; and of all other men
    But five and twenty. O God, thy arm was here; 2815
    And not to us, but to thy arm alone,
    Ascribe we all! When, without stratagem,
    But in plain shock and even play of battle,
    Was ever known so great and little loss
    On one part and on the other? Take it, God, 2820
    For it is none but thine!
  • Henry V. Come, go we in procession to the village.
    And be it death proclaimed through our host
    To boast of this or take the praise from God 2825
    Which is his only.
  • Fluellen. Is it not lawful, an please your majesty, to tell
    how many is killed?
  • Henry V. Yes, captain; but with this acknowledgement,
    That God fought for us. 2830
  • Fluellen. Yes, my conscience, he did us great good.
  • Henry V. Do we all holy rites;
    Let there be sung 'Non nobis' and 'Te Deum;'
    The dead with charity enclosed in clay:
    And then to Calais; and to England then: 2835
    Where ne'er from France arrived more happy men.

[Exeunt]