Henry V Page 4

  Six thousand and two hundred good esquires14,

  And, to relief of lazars15 and weak age

  Of indigent16 faint souls past corporal toil,

  A hundred almshouses right well supplied,

  And to the coffers18 of the king beside,

  A thousand pounds by th'year. Thus runs the bill.19

  ELY This would drink deep.20

  CANTERBURY 'Twould drink the cup and all.

  ELY But what prevention?

  CANTERBURY The king is full of grace23 and fair regard.

  ELY And a true lover of the holy church.

  CANTERBURY The courses25 of his youth promised it not.

  The breath no sooner left his father's body,

  But that his wildness, mortified27 in him,

  Seemed to die too. Yea, at that very moment

  Consideration29 like an angel came

  And whipped th'offending Adam30 out of him,

  Leaving his body as a paradise31,

  T'envelop and contain celestial spirits.32

  Never was such a sudden scholar made,

  Never came reformation in a flood,

  With such a heady currance35, scouring faults,

  Nor never Hydra-headed36 wilfulness

  So soon did lose his seat37, and all at once,

  As in this king.

  ELY We are blessed in the change.

  CANTERBURY Hear him but reason in divinity,

  And, all-admiring, with an inward wish

  You would desire the king were made a prelate.

  Hear him debate of commonwealth affairs,

  You would say it hath been all in all44 his study.

  List45 his discourse of war, and you shall hear

  A fearful battle rendered you in music.46

  Turn him to any cause of policy47,

  The Gordian knot48 of it he will unloose,

  Familiar as his garter49, that, when he speaks,

  The air, a chartered50 libertine, is still,

  And the mute wonder lurketh in men's ears

  To steal his sweet and honeyed sentences,

  So that the art and practic53 part of life

  Must be the mistress to this theoric54:

  Which is a wonder how his grace should glean55 it,

  Since his addiction was to courses vain56,

  His companies57 unlettered, rude and shallow,

  His hours filled up with riots58, banquets, sports,

  And never noted59 in him any study,

  Any retirement, any sequestration60

  From open61 haunts and popularity.

  ELY The strawberry grows underneath the nettle

  And wholesome berries thrive and ripen best

  Neighboured by fruit of baser quality.

  And so the prince obscured65 his contemplation

  Under the veil of wildness, which, no doubt,

  Grew like the summer grass, fastest by night,

  Unseen, yet crescive in his faculty.68

  CANTERBURY It must be so, for miracles are ceased.

  And therefore we must needs70 admit the means

  How things are perfected.

  ELY But, my good lord,

  How now for mitigation73 of this bill

  Urged by the commons?74 Doth his majesty

  Incline to75 it, or no?

  CANTERBURY He seems indifferent,

  Or rather swaying more upon77 our part

  Than cherishing th'exhibitors against us78,

  For I have made an offer to his majesty,

  Upon80 our spiritual convocation

  And in regard of causes81 now in hand,

  Which I have opened82 to his grace at large,

  As touching83 France, to give a greater sum

  Than ever at one time the clergy yet85

  Did to his predecessors part withal.

  ELY How did this offer seem received, my lord?

  CANTERBURY With good acceptance of his majesty,

  Save that there was not time enough to hear,

  As I perceived his grace would fain89 have done,

  The severals90 and unhidden passages

  Of his true titles to some certain dukedoms

  And generally to the crown and seat of France,

  Derived from Edward93, his great-grandfather.

  ELY What was th'impediment that broke this off?

  CANTERBURY The French ambassador upon that instant

  Craved audience; and the hour I think is come

  To give him hearing. Is it four o'clock?

  ELY It is.

  CANTERBURY Then go we in to know his embassy99,

  Which I could with a ready guess declare,

  Before the Frenchman speak a word of it.

  ELY I'll wait upon you and I long to hear it.

  Exeunt

  [Act 1 Scene 2]

  running scene 1 continues

  Enter the King [Henry V], Humphrey [Duke of Gloucester], Bedford, Clarence, Warwick, Westmorland, Exeter [and Attendants]

  KING HENRY V Where is my gracious1 lord of Canterbury?

  EXETER Not here in presence.2

  KING HENRY V Send for him, good uncle.

  WESTMORLAND Shall we call in th'ambassador, my liege?

  KING HENRY V Not yet, my cousin5: we would be resolved,

  Before we hear him, of some things of weight

  That task7 our thoughts, concerning us and France.

  Enter [the] two Bishops

  CANTERBURY God and his angels guard your sacred throne

  And make you long become9 it!

  KING HENRY V Sure, we thank you.

  My learned lord, we pray you to proceed

  And justly12 and religiously unfold

  Why the law Salic13 that they have in France

  Or14 should, or should not, bar us in our claim.

  And God forbid, my dear and faithful lord,

  That you should fashion, wrest, or bow16 your reading,

  Or nicely charge17 your understanding soul

  With opening titles miscreate18, whose right

  Suits not in native colours19 with the truth,

  For God doth know how many now in health

  Shall drop their blood21 in approbation

  Of what your reverence shall incite us to.

  Therefore take heed how you impawn our person23,

  How you awake our sleeping sword of war;

  We charge25 you, in the name of God, take heed,

  For never two such kingdoms did contend

  Without much fall of blood, whose guiltless drops

  Are every one a woe, a sore complaint28

  Gainst him whose wrongs29 gives edge unto the swords

  That make such waste in brief mortality.

  Under this conjuration31, speak, my lord,

  For we will hear, note32 and believe in heart

  That what you speak is in your conscience washed

  As pure as sin with baptism.

  CANTERBURY Then hear me, gracious sovereign, and you peers,

  That owe yourselves, your lives and services

  To this imperial throne. There is no bar

  To make against your highness' claim to France

  But this, which they produce from Pharamond39,

  'In terram Salicam mulieres ne succedant',

  'No woman shall succeed in Salic land.'

  Which Salic land the French unjustly gloss42

  To be the realm of France, and Pharamond

  The founder of this law and female bar.

  Yet their own authors faithfully affirm

  That the land Salic is in Germany,

  Between the floods47 of Sala and of Elbe,

  Where Charles the Great48, having subdued the Saxons,

  There left behind and settled certain French,

  Who, holding in disdain the German women

  For some dishonest manners51 of their life,

  Established then this law; to wit52, no female

  Should be inheritrix5
3 in Salic land --

  Which Salic, as I said, 'twixt54 Elbe and Sala,

  Is at this day in Germany called Meisen.

  Then doth it well appear the Salic law

  Was not devised for the realm of France,

  Nor did the French possess the Salic land

  Until four hundred one-and-twenty years

  After defunction60 of King Pharamond --

  Idly61 supposed the founder of this law --

  Who died within the year of our redemption62

  Four hundred twenty-six, and Charles the Great

  Subdued the Saxons, and did seat64 the French

  Beyond the river Sala, in the year

  Eight hundred five. Besides66, their writers say,

  King Pepin, which deposed Childeric,

  Did, as heir general68, being descended

  Of Blithild, which was daughter to King Clothair,

  Make claim and title to the crown of France.

  Hugh Capet also, who usurped the crown

  Of Charles the Duke of Lorraine, sole heir male

  Of the true line and stock of Charles the Great,

  To find74 his title with some shows of truth,

  Though, in pure truth, it was corrupt and naught,

  Conveyed himself76 as th'heir to th'Lady Lingare,

  Daughter to Charlemagne77, who was the son

  To Lewis the emperor, and Lewis the son

  Of Charles the Great. Also King Lewis the Tenth79,

  Who was sole heir to the usurper Capet,

  Could not keep quiet81 in his conscience,

  Wearing the crown of France, till satisfied

  That fair Queen Isabel, his grandmother,

  Was lineal84 of the Lady Ermengare,

  Daughter to Charles the foresaid Duke of Lorraine:

  By the which marriage the line of Charles the Great

  Was reunited to the crown of France.

  So that, as clear as is the summer's sun,

  King Pepin's title and Hugh Capet's claim,

  King Lewis his satisfaction90, all appear

  To hold in91 right and title of the female:

  So do the kings of France unto this day,

  Howbeit93 they would hold up this Salic law

  To bar your highness claiming from the female,

  And rather choose to hide them in a net95

  Than amply96 to imbar their crooked titles

  Usurped from you and your progenitors.97

  KING HENRY V May I with right and conscience make this claim?

  CANTERBURY The sin upon my head99, dread sovereign!

  For in the book of Numbers is it writ100,

  When the man dies, let the inheritance

  Descend unto the daughter. Gracious lord,

  Stand for103 your own, unwind your bloody flag,

  Look back into your mighty ancestors:

  Go, my dread lord, to your great-grandsire's105 tomb,

  From whom you claim106; invoke his warlike spirit,

  And your great-uncle's, Edward the Black Prince107,

  Who on the French ground played a tragedy,

  Making defeat on the full power of France,

  Whiles his most mighty father on a hill

  Stood smiling to behold his lion's whelp111

  Forage112 in blood of French nobility.

  O, noble English, that could entertain113

  With half their forces the full pride of France

  And let another half stand laughing by,

  All out of work and cold for116 action!

  ELY Awake remembrance of these valiant dead117

  And with your puissant118 arm renew their feats;

  You are their heir, you sit upon their throne:

  The blood and courage that renowned120 them

  Runs in your veins, and my thrice-puissant liege

  Is in the very May-morn of his youth,

  Ripe for exploits and mighty enterprises.

  EXETER Your brother kings and monarchs of the earth

  Do all expect that you should rouse yourself,

  As did the former lions of your blood.126

  WESTMORLAND They know your grace hath cause and means and might;

  So hath your highness. Never King of England

  Had nobles richer and more loyal subjects,

  Whose hearts have left their bodies here in England130

  And lie pavilioned131 in the fields of France.

  CANTERBURY O, let their bodies follow, my dear liege,

  With bloods and sword and fire to win your right.133

  In aid whereof we of the spiritualty134

  Will raise your highness such a mighty sum

  As never did the clergy at one time

  Bring in to any of your ancestors.

  KING HENRY V We must not only arm t'invade the French,

  But lay down our proportions139 to defend

  Against the Scot, who will make road140 upon us

  With all advantages.141

  CANTERBURY They of those marches142, gracious sovereign,

  Shall be a wall sufficient to defend

  Our inland from the pilfering borderers.144

  KING HENRY V We do not mean the coursing snatchers145 only,

  But fear the main intendment146 of the Scot,

  Who hath been still a giddy147 neighbour to us.

  For you shall read that my great-grandfather

  Never went with his forces into France

  But that the Scot on his unfurnished150 kingdom

  Came pouring like the tide into a breach151,

  With ample and brim152 fullness of his force,

  Galling153 the gleaned land with hot assays,

  Girding154 with grievous siege castles and towns,

  That England, being empty of defence,

  Hath shook and trembled at th'ill neighbourhood.156

  CANTERBURY She157 hath been then more feared than harmed, my liege,

  For hear her but exampled by herself158:

  When all her chivalry159 hath been in France

  And she a mourning widow of her nobles,

  She hath herself not only well defended

  But taken and impounded as a stray162

  The king of Scots, whom she did send to France163,

  To fill King Edward's fame164 with prisoner kings

  And make their165 chronicle as rich with praise

  As is the ooze166 and bottom of the sea

  With sunken wreck and sumless treasuries.

  ELY168 But there's a saying very old and true,

  'If that you will France win,

  Then with Scotland first begin.'

  For once the eagle England being in prey171,

  To her unguarded nest the weasel Scot

  Comes sneaking and so sucks her princely eggs,

  Playing the mouse in absence of the cat,

  To 'tame175 and havoc more than she can eat.

  EXETER It follows then the cat must stay at home,

  Yet that is but a crushed177 necessity,

  Since we have locks to safeguard necessaries

  And pretty179 traps to catch the petty thieves.

  While that the armed hand doth fight abroad,

  Th'advised181 head defends itself at home,

  For government, though high182 and low and lower,

  Put into parts, doth keep in one consent183,

  Congreeing184 in a full and natural close,

  Like music.

  CANTERBURY Therefore doth heaven divide

  The state of man in divers187 functions,

  Setting endeavour in continual motion,

  To which is fixed, as an aim189 or butt,

  Obedience, for so work the honeybees,

  Creatures that by a rule in nature teach

  The act of order to a peopled kingdom.

  They have a king193 and officers of sorts,

  Where some, like magistrates, correct194 at home,

  Others, like merchants, venture trade abroad:


  Others, like soldiers, armed in their stings196,

  Make boot upon197 the summer's velvet buds,

  Which pillage198 they with merry march bring home

  To the tent-royal of their emperor,

  Who, busied in his majesty200, surveys

  The singing masons201 building roofs of gold,

  The civil202 citizens kneading up the honey,

  The poor mechanic203 porters crowding in

  Their heavy burdens at his narrow gate,

  The sad-eyed justice205, with his surly hum,

  Delivering o'er to executors206 pale

  The lazy yawning drone.207 I this infer,

  That many things, having full reference208

  To one consent, may work contrariously209

  As many arrows, loosed several ways,

  Come to one mark211, as many ways meet in one town,

  As many fresh streams meet in one salt sea,

  As many lines close213 in the dial's centre,

  So may a thousand actions, once afoot

  End in one purpose, and be all well borne215

  Without defeat. Therefore to France, my liege.

  Divide your happy217 England into four,

  Whereof take you one quarter into France,

  And you withal219 shall make all Gallia shake.

  If we with thrice such powers left at home

  Cannot defend our own doors from the dog,

  Let us be worried222 and our nation lose

  The name of hardiness and policy.223

  KING HENRY V Call in the messengers sent from the dauphin.224

  [Exeunt some]

  Now are we well resolved225, and, by God's help

  And yours, the noble sinews of our power,

  France being ours, we'll bend it to our awe227,

  Or break it all to pieces. Or there228 we'll sit,

  Ruling in large229 and ample empery

  O'er France and all her almost kingly dukedoms,

  Or lay these bones in an unworthy urn,

  Tombless, with no remembrance over them:

  Either our history shall with full mouth233

  Speak freely of our acts, or else our grave,

  Like Turkish mute235, shall have a tongueless mouth,

  Not worshipped with a waxen236 epitaph.

  Enter Ambassadors of France

  Now are we well prepared to know the pleasure237

  Of our fair cousin dauphin, for we hear

  Your greeting is from him, not from the king.

  FIRST AMBASSADOR May't please your majesty to give us leave

  Freely to render241 what we have in charge,

  Or shall we sparingly242 show you far off

  The dauphin's meaning and our embassy?

  KING HENRY V We are no tyrant, but a Christian king,

  Unto whose grace our passion is as subject245

  As are our wretches fettered246 in our prisons:

  Therefore with frank and with uncurbed plainness

  Tell us the dauphin's mind.

  FIRST AMBASSADOR Thus, then, in few249:

  Your highness, lately sending into250 France,

  Did claim some certain dukedoms, in the right

  Of your great predecessor, King Edward the Third.

  In answer of which claim, the prince our master

  Says that you savour254 too much of your youth,

  And bids you be advised255 there's naught in France

  That can be with a nimble galliard256 won.

  You cannot revel into dukedoms there: