Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost;
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 :
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,
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 call'd the feast of Crispian :
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this 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,
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

What feats he did that day: then shall our names,

26. yearns, grieves.

39. his fellowship to die with us, to be our comrade in death.

40. the feast of Crispian. October 25 was the feast day of the two brothers Crispinus and Crispianus.

44. He that shall live this day, and see; Pope's reading

30

40

50

50. with heightened colouring.

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.
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 remembered ;

We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
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,

And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

Re-enter SALISBURY.

Sal. My sovereign lord, bestow yourself with
speed:

The French are bravely in their battles set,
And will with all expedience charge on us.

K. Hen. All things are ready, if our minds

be so.

West. Perish the man whose mind is back-
ward now!

K. Hen. Thou dost not wish more help from
England, coz?

53. Bedford and Exeter, etc. Of these 'names,' only Gloucester and Exeter were at Agincourt. Talbot, not elsewhere mentioned in this connexion, is no doubt the hero of 1 Hen. VI.

56. the good man, the good man, head of the family.

How

60

70

the good man taught his son was a proverbial title for maxims of morality and edification.

63. gentle his condition, raise him to gentle rank.

68. bestow yourself, take up your position.

70. expedience, swiftness.

1

West. God's will! my liege, would

I alone,

you

and

Without more help, could fight this royal battle! K. Hen. 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!

Mont. 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,
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.

K. Hen.

Who hath sent thee now?

Mont. The Constable of France.

K. Hen. 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?

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

76. five thousand men; i.e. roundly, a host; it is not necessary to accuse Shakespeare

of miscalculation.

83. englutted, swallowed.
86. retire, retreat.

80

90

Find native graves; upon the which, I trust,
Shall witness live in brass of this day's work :
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,
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.

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-
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
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:

They shall have none, I swear, but these my joints;

96. native, i. e. English.

102. clime, air.

104. abounding; used with a consciousness of the (false) etymology from 'bound.'

Which if they have as I will leave 'em them,
Shall yield them little, tell the constable.

Mont. I shall, King Harry. And so fare thee
well:

Thou never shalt hear herald any more.

[Exit. K. Hen. I fear thou 'lt once more come again for ransom.

Enter YORK.

York. My lord, most humbly on my knee I beg The leading of the vaward.

K. Hen. Take it, brave York. Now, soldiers,

march away:

And how thou pleasest, God, dispose the day!

130

[Exeunt.

SCENE IV. The field of battle.

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

Pist. Yield, cur!

Fr. Sol. Je pense que vous êtes gentilhomme de bonne qualité.

Pist. Qualtitie caline custure me! a gentleman? what is thy name? discuss.

128. York. Edward, Duke of York, the Aumerle of Richard II. Holinshed mentions that he was appointed to lead the van, but not that he sought this honour. This was, however, described in almost identical words by Lydgate, and the tradition may have reached Shakespeare's ear.

3. Qualtitie caline custure me! Pistol, confronted with the Frenchman's 'gibberish,' caps

Art thou

it with an Irish refrain of somewhat similar sound, which we know to have been current in Elizabethan song-books. It is there written Calen o custure me,' or 'Callino casturame,'both phonetic reproductions of the Irish Colleen, oge astore,' young girl, my treasure. The Ff give calmie,' which the Camb. and other editors adopt. But it is more likely the Ff blundered in the strange word.