Idly suppos'd the founder of this law; Who died within the year of our redemption Four hundred twenty-six; and Charles the great Subdued the Saxons, and did seat the French Beyond the river Sala, in the year
Eight hundred five. Besides, their writers say, King Pepin, which deposed Childerick, Did, as heir general, being descended Of Blithild, which was daughter to king Clothair, Make claim and title to the crown of France.
Hugh Capet also, that usurp'd the crown Of Charles the duke of Lorain, sole heir male Of the true line and stock of Charles the great, - To fine! his title with some show of truth
So hath your highness; never king of England Had nobles richer, and more loyal subjects; Whose hearts have left their bodies here in England, And lie pavilion'd in the fields of France.
Cant O, let their bodies follow, my dear liege, With blood, and sword, and fire, to win your right: in aid whereof, we of the spirituality Will raise your highness such a mighty sum, As never did the clergy at one time
Bring in to any of your ancestors.
K. Hen We must not only arm to invade the
But lay down our proportions to defend Against the Scot, who will make road upon us With all advantages.
Cant. They of those marches,5 gracious sove
Of Charles the great. Also king Lewis the tenth, Our inland from the pilfering borderers.
(Though, in pure truth, it was corrupt and naught,) Convey'd himself? as heir to the lady Lingare, Daughter to Charlemain, who was the son
To Lewis the emperor, and Lewis the son
Shall be a wall sufficient to defend
Who was sole heir to the usurper Capet,
K. Hen. We do not mean the coursing snatchers
Could not keep quiet in his conscience,
Wearing the crown of France, till satisfied That fair queen Isabel, his grandmother,
Was lineal of the lady Ermengare,
Daughter to Charles the foresaid duke of Lorain: By the which marriage, the line of Charles the great Was re-united 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 satisfaction, all appear To hold in right and title of the female: So do the kings of France unto this day; Howbeit they would hold up this Salique law, To bar your highness claiming from the female; And rather choose to hide them in a net, Than amply to imbare their crooked titles Usurp'd from you and your progenitors.
K. Hen. May I, with right and conscience,
Cant. The sin upon my head, dread sovereign! For in the book of Numbers is it writ,- When the son dies, let the inheritance Descend unto the daughter. Gracious lord, Stand for your own; unwind your bloody flag; Look back unto your mighty ancestors:
Go, my dread lord, to your great grandsire's tomb, From whom you claim; invoke his warlike spirit, And your great uncle's, Edward the black prince; Who on the French ground play'd a tragedy, Making defeat on the full power of France; Whiles his most mighty father on a hill Stood smiling; to behold bis lion's whelp Forage in blood of French nobility.4 O noble English, that could entertain With half their forces the full pride of France; And let another half stand laughing by, All out of work, and cold for action!
Ely. Awake remembrance of these valiant dead, And with your puissant arm renew their feats: You are their heir, you sit upon their throne; The blood and courage, that renowned 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.
But fear the main intendment of the Scot, Who hath been still a giddy neighbour to us; For you shall read, that my great grandfather Never went with his forces into France, But that the Scot on his unfurnish'd kingdom Came pouring, like the tide into a breach, With ample and brim fulness of his force; Galling the gleaned land with hot essays; Girding with grievous siege, castles and towns; That England, being empty of defence, Hath shook, and trembled at the ill neighbourhood. Cant. She hath been then more fear'd' than
For hear her but exampled by herself,- When all her chivalry 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 stray, The king of Scots; whom she did send to France, To fill king Edward's fame with prisoner kings; And make your chronicle as rich with praise, As is the ooze and bottom of the sea With sunken wreck and sumless treasuries.
West 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 prey, To her unguarded nest the weasel Scot Comes sneaking, and so sucks her princely eggs; Playing the mouse, in absence of the cat, To spoil and havoc more than she can eat.
Exe. It follows then, the cat must stay at home: Yet that is but a curs'd necessity;
Since we have locks to safeguard necessaries, And pretty traps to catch the petty thieves. While that the armed hand doth fight abroad, The advised head defends itself at home: For government, though high, and low, and lower, Put into parts, doth keep in one concent;8 Congruing in a full and natural close,
True: therefore doth heaven divide
The state of man in divers functions,
Exe. Your brother kings and monarchs of the Setting endeavour in continual motion;
Do all expect that you should rouse yourself, As did the former lions of your blood.
To which is fixed, as an aim or butt, Obedience: for so work the honey-bees; Creatures, that, by a rule in nature, teach
West. They know, your grace hath cause, and The act of order to a peopled kingdom. means, and might;
(1) Make showy or specious. (2) Derived his title. (3) Lay open. (4) At the battle of Cressy. 5) The borders of England and Scotland.
They have a king, and officers of sorts: 10
(6) General disposition. (7) Frightened. (8) Harmony. (10) Different degrees.
Where some, like magistrates, correct at home; Others, like merchants, venture trade abroad; Others, like soldiers, armed in their stings, Make boot upon the summer's velvet buds;
You cannot revel into dukedoms there: He therefore sends you, meeter for your spirit, This tun of treasure; and, in lieu of this, Desires you, let the dukedoms, that you claim,
K. Hen. What treasure, uncle?
K. Hen. We are glad, the dauphin is so plea sant with us;
Which pillage they with merry march bring home Hear no more of you. This the dauphin speaks.
To the tent-royal of their emperor: Who, busied in his majesty, surveys The singing masons building roofs of gold; The civill citizens kneading up the honey; The poor mechanic porters crowding in Their heavy burdens at his narrow gate; The sad-ey'd justice, with his surly hum, Delivering o'er to executors? pale The lazy yawning drone. I this infer,- That many things, having full reference To one concent, may work contrariously; As many arrows, loosed several ways,
His present, and your pains, we thank you for: When we have match'd our rackets to these balls, We will, in France, by God's grace, play a set, Shall strike his father's crown into the hazard;5 Tell him, he hath made a match with such a
As many several ways meet in one town; As many fresh streams run in one self sea; As many lines close in the dial's centre;
So may a thousand actions, once afoot,
End in one purpose, and be all well borne
That all the courts of France will be disturb'd With chaces. And we understand him well, How he comes o'er us with our wilder days, Not measuring what use we made of them. We never valu'd this poor seat of England; And therefore, living hence, did give ourself To barbarous license; As 'tis ever common, That men are merriest when they are from home.
Without defeat. Therefore to France, my liege. But tell the dauphin,-I will keep my state;
Divide your happy England into four;
Whereof take you one quarter into France, And you withal shall make all Gallia shake. If we, with thrice that power left at home, Cannot defend our own door from the dog, Let us be worried; and our nation lose The name of hardiness, and policy.
Be like a king, and show my sail of greatness, When I do rouse me in my throne of France:
K. Hen. Call in the messengers sent from the
[Exit an attendant. The King ascends his throne.
Now are we well resolv'd: and, by God's help; And yours, the noble sinews of our power,- France being ours, we'll bend it to our awe, Or break it all to pieces: Or there we'll sit, Ruling in large and ample empery,3 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 mouth, Speak freely of our acts; or else our grave, Like Turkish mute, shall have a tongueless mouth, Not worship'd with a waxen epitaph.
Enter Ambassadors of France,
Now are we well prepar'd to know the pleasure Of our fair cousin dauphin; for, we hear, Your greeting is from him, not from the king. Amb. May it please your majesty, to give us leave Freely to render what we have in charge; Or shall we sparingly show you far off
The dauphin's meaning, and our embassy?
For that I have laid by my majesty, And plodded like a man for working days; But I will rise there with so full a glory, That I will dazzle all the eyes of France, Yea, strike the dauphin blind to look on us. And tell the pleasant prince, this mock of his Hath turn'd his balls to gun-stones; and his soul Shall stand sore charged for the wasteful vengeance That shall fly with them: for many a thousand widows
Shall this his mock mock out of their dear husbands; Mock mothers from their sons, mock castles down; And some are yet ungotten, and unborn, That shall have cause to curse the dauphin's scorn. But this lies all within the will of God, To whom I do appeal; And in whose name, Tell you the dauphin, I am coming on, To venge me as I may, and to put forth My rightful hand in a well-hallow'd cause. So, get you hence in peace; and tell the dauphin, His jest will savour but of shallow wit, When thousands weep, more than did laugh atit.- Convey them with safe conduct. Fare you well. [Exeunt Ambassadors.
Exe. This was a merry message. K. Hen. We hope to make the sender blush at it. [Descends from his throne. Therefore, my lords, omit no happy hour, That may give furtherance to our expedition: For we have now no thought in us but France;
K. Hen. We are no tyrant, but a Christian king; Save those to God, that run before our business.
Unto whose grace our passion is as subject, As are our wretches fetter'd in our prisons: Therefore, with frank and with uncurbed plainness, Tell us the dauphin's mind.
Amb. Thus then, in few. Your highness, lately sending into 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 savour too much of your youth; And bids you be advis'd, there's nought in France, That can be with a nimble galliard won;
Chor. Now all the youth of England are on fire,
(6) A term at tennis. (7) The throne. (8) Withdrawing from the court.
And silken dalliance in the wardrobe lies; Now thrive the armourers, and honour's thought Reigns solely in the breast of every man: They sell the pasture now, to buy the horse; Following the mirror of all Christian kings, With winged heels, as English Mercuries. For now sits Expectation in the air;
And hides a sword, from hilts unto the point, With crowns imperial, crowns, and coronets, Promis'd to Harry, and his followers. The French, advis'd by good intelligence Of this most dreadful preparation, Shake in their fear; and with pale policy Seek to divert the English purposes. O England!-model to thy inward greatness, Like little body with a mighty heart, - What might'st thou do, that honour would thee do, Were all thy children kind and natural! But see thy fault! France hath in thee found out A nest of hollow bosoms, which hel fills
With treacherous crowns; and three corrupted
One, Richard earl of Cambridge; and the second, Henry lord Scroop of Masham; and the third, Sir Thomas Grey, knight of Northumberland,- Have, for the gilt of France, (O guilt, indeed!) Confirm'd conspiracy with fearful France; And by their hands this grace of kings must die (If hell and treason hold their promises,) Ere he take ship for France, and in Southampton.
Linger your patience on; and well digest The abuse of distance, while we force a play. The sum is paid; the traitors are agreed; The king is set from London; and the scene Is now transported, gentles, to Southampton: There is the playhouse now, there must you sit: And thence to France shall we convey you safe, And bring you back, charming the narrow seas To give you gentle pass; for, if we may, We'll not offend one stomach with our play. But, till the king come forth, and not till then, Unto Southampton do we shift our scene. [Exit. SCENE I.-The same. Eastcheap. Enter Nym and Bardolph.
Bard. Well met, corporal Nym. Nym. Good morrow, lieutenant Bardolph. Bard. What, are ancient Pistol and you friends yet?
Nym. For my part, I care not: I say little: but when time shall serve, there shall be smiles;-but that shall be as it may. I dare not fight; but I will wink, and hold out mine iron: It is a simple one: but what though? it will toast cheese; and it will
endure cold as another man's sword will: and there's the humour of it.
breakfast, to make you friends; and we'll be all three sworn brothers to France; let it be so, good corporal Nym.
Nym. 'Faith, I will live so long as I may, that's the certain of it; and when I cannot live any longer, I will do as I may: that is my rest,3 that is the
Bard. It is certain, corporal, that he is married to Nell Quickly: and, certainly, she did you wrong; for you were troth-plight to her.
Nym. I cannot tell; things must be as they may men may sleep, and they may have their throats about them at that time; and, some say, knives
(1) i. e. The king of France. (2) Golden money. (3) What I am resolved on. (4) Clown. (5) Par Dieu! (6) Name of a demon. (7) Breathe your last.
have edges. It must be as it may: though patience be a tired mare, yet she will plod. There must be conclusions. Well, I cannot tell.
Enter Pistol and Mrs. Quickly.
Bard. Here comes ancient Pistol, and his wife -good corporal, be patient here.-How now, mine host Pistol?
Pist. Base tike, 4 call'st thou me-host? Now, by this hand I swear, I scorn the term; Nor shall my Nell keep lodgers.
Quick. No, by my troth, not long: for we cannot lodge and board a dozen or fourteen gentlewomen, that live honestly by the prick of their needles, but it will be thought we keep a bawdy-house straight. [Nym draws his sword.] O well-a-day, Lady, if he be not drawn now! O Lord! here's corporal Nym's-now we shall have wilful adultery and inurder committed. Good lieutenant Bardolph,good corporal, offer nothing here.
Pist. Pish for thee, Iceland dog! thou prick-ear'd cur of Iceland!
Quick. Good corporal Nym, show the valour of a man, and put up thy sword.
Nym. Will you shog off? I would have you solus. [Sheathing his sword.
Pist. Solus, egregious dog? O viper vile! The solus in thy most marvellous face; The solus in thy teeth, and in thy throat, And in thy hateful lungs, yea, in thy maw, perdy;5 And, which is worse, within thy nasty mouth! I do retort the solus in thy bowels: For I can take, and Pistol's cock is up, And flashing fire will follow.
Nym. I am not Barbason;6 you cannot conjure I have a humour to knock you indifferently well: If you grow foul with me, Pistol, I will scour you with my rapier, as I may, in fair terms: if you would walk off, I would prick your guts a little, in good terms, as I may; and that's the hu
Pist. O braggard vile, and damned furious wight! The grave doth gape, and doting death is near; Therefore exhale.7 [Pistol and Nym draw. Bard. Hear me, hear me what I say: he that strikes the first stroke, I'll run him up to the hilts, as I am a soldier. [Draws.
Pist. An oath of mickle might; and fury shall abate.
Give me thy fist, thy fore-foot to me give; Thy spirits are most tall.
Nym. I will cut thy throat, one time or other, in fair terms; that is the humour of it.
Pist. Coup le gorge, that's the word? I thee
O hound of Crete, think'st thou my spouse to get? No; to the spital go, And from the powdering tub of infamy Fetch forth the lazar kite of Cressid's kind, 10 Doll Tear-sheet she by name, and her espouse: I have, and I will hold, the quondam!! Quickly For the only she; and-Pauca, there's enough. Enter the Boy.
Boy. Mine host Pistol, you must come to my would to bed. Good Bardolph, put thy nose bemaster, and you, hostess; he is very sick, and tween his sheets, and do the office of a warmingpan: 'faith, he's very ill.
(8) Blood-hound. (9) Hospital. (10) Of Cressida's nature, see the play of Troilus
and Cressida.
(11) Formerly.
Bard. Away, you rogue. Quick. By my troth, he'll yield the crow a pudding one of these days: the king has killed his heart-Good husband, come home presently.
[Exeunt Mrs. Quickly and Boy.
Bard. Come, shall I make you two friends? We must to France together; Why, the devil, should we keep knives to cut one another's throats?
Pist. Let floods o'erswell, and fiends for food howl on!
Nym. You'll pay me the eight shillings I won of you at betting?
Pist. Base is the slave that pays.
Nym. That now I will have; that's the humour
Pist. As manhood shall compound; Push home. Bard. By this sword, he that makes the first thrust, I'll kill him; by this sword, I will.
Pist. Sword is an oath, and oaths must have their course.
Bard. Corporal Nym, an thou wilt be friends, be friends: an thou wilt not, why then be enemies with me too. Pr'ythee, put up.
Nym. I shall have my eight shillings, I won of you at betting?
Pist. A noblel shalt thou have, and present pay; And liquor likewise will I give to thee, And friendship shall combine, and brotherhood: I'll live by Nym, and Nym shall live by me;- Is not this just?-for I shall sutler be Unto the camp, and profits will accrue. Give me thy hand.
Nym. I shall have my noble? Pist. In cash most justly paid.
Nym. Well then, that's the humour of it.
Re-enter Mrs. Quickly.
Quick. As ever you came of women, come in quickly to sir John: Ah, poor heart! he is so shaked of a burning quotidian tertian, that it is most lamentable to behold. Sweet men, come to him. Nym. The king hath run bad humours on the knight, that's the even of it.
Pist. Nym, thou hast spoke the right;
His heart is fracted, and corroborate.
Nym. The king is a good king: but it must be as it may; he passes some humours, and careers. Pist. Let us condole the knight; for, lambkins,
[Exeunt. SCENE II.-Southampton. A council-chamber. Enter Exeter, Bedford, and Westmoreland.
Bed. 'Fore God, his grace is bold, to trust these traitors.
Exe. They shall be apprehended by and by. West. How smooth and even they do bear themselves!
As if allegiance in their bosom sat, Crowned with faith, and constant loyalty.
Bed. The king hath note of all that they intend, By interception which they dream not of.
Exe. Nay, but the man that was his bedfellow, Whom he hath cloy'd and grac'd with princely
That he should, for a foreign purse, so sell His sovereign's life to death and treachery!
Trumpet sounds. Enter King Henry, Scroop, Cambridge, Grey, Lords, and Attendants.
K. Hen. Now sits the wind fair, and we will aboard.
(1) A coin, value six shillings and eight-pence. (2) Force. (3) Compounded. (4) Recompense.
K. Hen. I doubt not that: since we are well persuaded,
We carry not a heart with us from hence, That grows not in a fair consent with ours; Nor leave not one behind, that doth not wish Success and conquest to attend on us.
Cam. Never was monarch better fear'd, and lov'd, Than is your majesty; there's not, I think, a subject, That sits in heart-grief and uneasiness Under the sweet shade of your government.
Grey. Even those, that were your father's enemies, Have steep'd their galls in honey; and do serve you With hearts creates of duty and of zeal. K. Hen. We therefore have great cause of
And shall forget the office of our hand, Sooner than quittance of desert and merit, According to the weight and worthiness.
Scroop. So service shall with steeled sinews toil; And labour shall refresh itself with hope, To do your grace incessant services,
K. Hen. We judge no less. - Uncle of Exeter, Enlarge the man committed yesterday, That rail'd against our person: we consider, It was excess of wine that set him on; And, on his more advice, we pardon him.
Scroop. That's mercy, but too much security: Let him be punish'd, sovereign; lest example Breed, by his sufferance, more of such a kind. K. Hen. O, let us yet be merciful. Cam. So may your highness, and yet punish too. Grey. Sir, you show great mercy, if you give him life,
After the taste of much correction.
K. Hen. Alas, your too much love and care of me Are heavy orisons 'gainst this poor wretch. If little faults, proceeding on distemper, Shall not be wink'd at, how shall we stretch our eye, When capital crimes, chew'd, swallow'd, and digested,
Appear before us?-We'll yet enlarge that mau, Though Cambridge, Scroop, and Grey, in their dear care,
And tender preservation of our person,Would have him punish'd. And now to our French
That hath so cowarded and chas'd your blood Out of appearance?
I do confess my fault; And do submit me to your highness' mercy. Grey. Scroop. To which we all appeal. K. Hen. The mercy, that was quick in us but late, By your own counsel is suppress'd and kill'd: You must not dare, for shame, to talk of mercy; For your own reasons turn into your bosoms, As dogs upon their masters, worrying them.- See you, my princes, and my noble peers, These English monsters! My lord of Cambridge here,-
You know, how apt our love was, to accord To furnish him with all appertinents Belonging to his honour; and this man Hath, for a few light crowns, lightly conspir'd, And sworn unto the practices of France, To kill us here in Hampton: to the which, This knight, no less for bounty bound to us Than Cambridge is, hath likewise sworn.-But O! What shall I say to thee, lord Scroop; thou cruel, Ingrateful, savage, and inhuman creature! Thou, that didst bear the key of all my counsels, That knew'st the very bottom of my soul, That almost might'st have coin'd me into gold, Would'st thou have practis'd on me for thy use? May it be possible, that foreign hire
Could out of thee extract one spark of evil, That might annoy my finger? 'tis so strange, That, though the truth of it stands off as gross As black from white, my eye will scarcely see it. Treason, and murder, ever kept together, As two yoke-devils sworn to either's purpose, Working so grossly in a natural cause, That admiration did not whoop at them: But thou, 'gainst all proportion, didst bring in Wonder, to wait on treason, and on murder: And whatsoever cunning fiend it was, That wrought upon thee so preposterously, H'ath got the voice in hell for excellence: And other devils, that suggest by treasons, Do botch and bungle up damnation With patches, colours, and with forms being fetch'd From glistering semblances of piety;
But he, that temper'd2 thee, bade thee stand up, Gave thee no instance why thou should'st do treason, Unless to dub thee with the name of traitor.
If that same dæmon, that hath gull'd thee thus, Should with his lion gait3 walk the whole world, He might return to vasty Tartar4 back, And tell the legions-I can never win A soul so easy as that Englishman's. O, how hast thou with jealousy infected
The sweetness of affiance! Show men dutiful? Why, so didst thou: Seem they grave and learned? Why, so didst thou Come they of noble family? Why, so didst thou: Seem they religious? Why, so didst thou: Or are they spare in diet; Free from gross passion, or of mirth, or anger; Constant in spirit, not swerving with the blood; Garnish'd and deck'd in modest complement;5 Not working with the eye, without the ear, And, but in purged judgment, trusting neither? Such, and so finely bolted, 6 didst thou seem: And thus thy fall hath left a kind of blot, To mark the full-fraught man, and best indued,7 With some suspicion. I will weep for thee;
(1) Living. (2) Rendered thee pliable. (3) Pace, step. (4) Tartarus.
For this revolt of thine, methinks, is like Another fall of man. Their faults are open,
Arrest them to the answer of the law ;- And God acquit them of their practices!
Exe. I arrest thee of high treason, by the name of Richard earl of Cambridge.
I arrest thee of high treason, by the name of Henry lord Scroop of Masham.
I arrest thee of high treason, by the name of Thomas Grey, knight of Northumberland.
Scroop. Our purposes God justly hath discover'd; And I repent my fault, more than my death; Which I beseech your highness to forgive, Although my body pay the price of it.
Cam. For me, the gold of France did not seduce; Although I did admit it as a motive, The sooner to effect what I intended: But God be thanked for prevention; Which I in sufferance heartily will rejoice, Beseeching God, and you, to pardon me.
Grey. Never did faithful subject more rejoice
At the discovery of most dangerous treason, Than I do at this hour joy o'er my self, Prevented from a damned enterprise: My fault, but not my body, pardon, sovereign.
K. Hen. God quit you in his mercy! Hear your
You have conspir'd against our royal person, Join'd with an enemy proclaim'd, and from his coffers
Receiv'd the golden earnest of our death; Wherein you would have sold your king to slaughter, His princes and his peers to servitude, His subjects to oppression and contempt, And his whole kingdom unto desolation. Touching our person, seek we no revenge; But we our kingdom's safety must so tender, Whose ruin you three sought, that to her laws We do deliver you. Get you therefore hence, Poor miserable wretches, to your death: The taste whereof, God, of his mercy, give you Patience to endure, and true repentance
Of all your dear offences! - Bear them hence. [Exeunt conspirators, guarded.
Now, lords, for France; the enterprise whereof Shall be to you, as us, like glorious. We doubt not of a fair and lucky war; Since God so graciously hath brought to light This dangerous treason, lurking in our way, To hinder our beginnings, we doubt not now, But every rub is smoothed on our way. Then, forth, dear countrymen; let us deliver Our puissance into the hand of God, Putting it straight in expedition. Cheerly to sea; the signs of war advance: No king of England, if not king of France. [Ese.
SCENE III.-London. Mrs. Quickly's house in Eastcheap. Enter Pistol, Mrs. Quickly, Nym, Bardolph, and Boy.
Quick. Pr'ythee, honey-sweet husband, let me brings thee to Staines.
Pist. No; for my manly heart doth yearn. Bardolph, be blithe;-Nym, rouse thy vaunting
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