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

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 worshipp'd with a waxen epitaph.

Enter Ambassadors of France.

Now are we well prepar'd to know the pleasure
Of our fair cousin Dolphin; for we hear

Your greeting is from him, not from the King.

230

First Amb. May 't please your majesty to give us

leave

Freely to render what we have in charge;

Or shall we sparingly show you far off

The Dolphin's meaning and our embassy?

240

K. Hen. We are no tyrant, but a Christian

king;

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 Dolphin's mind.

227. In the middle ages France was more of a combination of powerful dukedoms than a kingdom. The dukes of Normandy, Burgundy, Brittany, and others were practically independent rulers, and were obedient to the King of France only as he could compel obedience.

232. mute = a servant whose tongue has been cut out.

233. waxen = soft, perishable; suggested by waxen tablets for writing. W.

Thus, then, in few.

250

First Amb. 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; 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 Hear no more of you. This the Dolphin speaks. K. Hen. What treasure, uncle?

Exe.

Tennis-balls, my liege. K. Hen. We are glad the Dolphin is so pleasant

with us;

260

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.
Tell him he hath made a match with such a wrangler
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 valued this poor seat of England;
And therefore, living hence, did give ourself

270

247. certain dukedoms: Normandy, Brittany, Touraine, and the earldoms of Anjou and Maine.

259. pleasant =

full of jest.

261. rackets, set, hazard, chaces: technical terms in the game of court tennis.

267. The Dauphin was thinking that Henry was still his younger self.

To barbarous license; as 't is ever common
That men are merriest when they are from home.
But tell the Dolphin I will keep my state,
Be like a king and show my sail of greatness
When I do rouse me in my throne of France:
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 Dolphin 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 Dolphin's scorn.
But this lies all within the will of God,

To whom I do appeal; and in whose name
Tell you the Dolphin 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 Dolphin
His jest will savour but of shallow wit,

When thousands weep more than did laugh at it.
Convey them with safe conduct. Fare you well.

Exe. This was a merry message.

280

290

[Exeunt Ambassadors.

K. Hen. We hope to make the sender blush at it.

Therefore, my lords, omit no happy hour

That may give furth'rance to our expedition;

300

282. gun-stones cannon balls, made at first of stone. W. 300. happy fortunate.

=

For we have now no thought in us but France,
Save those to God, that run before our business.
Therefore, let our proportions for these wars
Be soon collected and all things thought upon
That may with reasonable swiftness add
More feathers to our wings; for, God before,
We'll chide this Dolphin at his father's door.
Therefore let every man now task his thought,
That this fair action may on foot be brought.

ACT II

PROLOGUE

Enter Chorus.

310

[Exeunt. Flourish.,

Chor. Now all the youth of England are on fire,
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

10

307. God before: = God going before, Deo juvante. W. Prologue. This exemplifies one of the great functions of the Chorus; it tells us about things instead of showing them to us; it is narrative and not dramatic. Shakespeare uses it for matters that could not easily be presented in action.

9. And hides a sword, etc. Swords with crowns thus spitted on them may be seen in some old engraved royal portraits. W.

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 mightst thou do, that honour would thee do,
Were all thy children kind and natural !

But see thy fault! France hath in thee found out 20
A nest of hollow bosoms, which he fills

With treacherous crowns; and three corrupted men,
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. 30
Linger your patience on; and we'll digest

The abuse of distance; 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,

16. model to thy inward greatness = proportioned to thy inward greatness. W.

19. kind and natural. The meaning of the two words is here much the same.

20. France = the King of France. So England in II, iv, 75. 23. Cambridge: cousin to Henry IV. Scroop: third husband of Joan, widow of Edmund, Duke of York. W.

32. force a play. Either this phrase is hopelessly corrupt, or something before it has been lost. W.

34. scene = place of action.