It fits us then to be as provident As fear may teach us out of late examples Dau. My most redoubted father, It is most meet we arm us 'gainst the foe; For peace itself should not so dull a kingdom, Though war nor no known quarrel were in question, Should be maintain'd, assembled and collected, Therefore, I say 't is meet we all go forth To view the sick and feeble parts of France: No, with no more than if we heard that England For, my good liege, she is so idly king'd, By a vain, giddy, shallow, humorous youth, Con. 20 O peace, Prince Dolphin! You are too much mistaken in this king: Question your grace the late ambassadors, How modest in exception, and withal How terrible in constant resolution, And you shall find his vanities forespent 30 25. morris-dance: a dance in which the performers were dressed in fantastic costumes and assumed fantastic characters. W. 27. fantastically; i. e. as by one ruled by fancy or fantasy or, as in the next line, the humour of any moment. 30. This slight difference of opinion indicates real factions at the French court. Were but the outside of the Roman Brutus, 40 Dau. Well, 't is not so, my Lord High Constable; But though we think it so, it is no matter: In cases of defence 't is best to weigh The enemy more mighty than he seems : upon us; Fr. King. 50 Of that black name, Edward, Black Prince of Wales; Whiles that his mountain sire, on mountain standing, Up in the air, crown'd with the golden sun, The patterns that by God and by French fathers 50. The kindred of him, etc. preyed upon us. W. 60 members of his family have 57. Cf. I, ii, 108. Enter a Messenger. Mess. Ambassadors from Harry King of England Do crave admittance to your majesty. Fr. King. We'll give them present audience. Go, and bring them. [Exeunt Messenger and certain Lords. You see this chase is hotly follow'd, friends. Dau. Turn head, and stop pursuit; for coward dogs Most spend their mouths when what they seem to threaten Runs far before them. Good my sovereign, Take up the English short, and let them know Self-love, my liege, is not so vile a sin Fr. King. Re-enter Lords, with EXETER and train. From our brother England? 70 Exe. From him; and thus he greets your majesty. Unto the crown of France. That you may know 90. overlook; not in the modern sense. 80 90 Edward the Third, he bids you then resign 100 Exe. Bloody constraint; for if you hide the crown Even in your hearts, there will he rake for it : Therefore in fierce tempest is he coming, In thunder and in earthquake, like a Jove, That, if requiring fail, he will compel ; And bids you, in the bowels of the Lord, Deliver up the crown, and to take mercy On the poor souls for whom this hungry war Opens his vasty jaws; and on your head Turning the widows' tears, the orphans' cries, The dead men's blood, the pining maidens' groans, For husbands, fathers and betrothed lovers, That shall be swallow'd in this controversy. This is his claim, his threatening and my message; 110 Unless the Dolphin be in presence here, To whom expressly I bring greeting too. Fr. King. For us, we will consider of this further: To-morrow shall you bear our full intent Back to our brother England. Dau. For the Dolphin, I stand here for him: what to him from England? Exe. Scorn and defiance; slight regard, contempt, And any thing that may not misbecome The mighty sender, doth he prize you at. Thus says my king; an if your father's highness 120 102. in the bowels of the Lord: taken right out of Holinshed. W. That caves and womby vaultages of France Dau. Say, if my father render fair return, Nothing but odds with England: to that end, I did present him with the Paris balls. 130 Exe. He'll make your Paris Louvre shake for it, Were it the mistress-court of mighty Europe: And, be assur'd, you'll find a difference, As we his subjects have in wonder found, Between the promise of his greener days And these he masters now: now he weighs time Even to the utmost grain: that you shall read In your own losses, if he stay in France. Fr. King. To-morrow shall you know our mind at full. 140 Exe. Dispatch us with all speed, lest that our king Come here himself to question our delay; For he is footed in this land already. Fr. King. You shall be soon dispatch'd with fair conditions: A night is but small breath and little pause To answer matters of this consequence. |