Orl. By the white hand of my lady, he's a gallant prince.

Con. Swear by her foot, that she may tread out the oath.

Orl. He is simply the most active gentleman of France.

101

Con. Doing is activity; and he will still be doing. Orl. He never did harm, that I heard of. Con. Nor will do none to-morrow: he will keep that good name still.

Orl. I know him to be valiant.

Con. I was told that by one that knows him better than you.

Orl. What's he?

Con. Marry, he told me so himself; and he said he car'd not who knew it.

Orl. He needs not; it is no hidden virtue in him.

Con. By my faith, sir, but it is; never any body saw it but his lackey; 't is a hooded valour; and when it appears, it will bate.

Orl. Ill will never said well.

113

Con. I will cap that proverb with "There is flattery in friendship."

Orl. And I will take up that with "Give the Devil his due."

Con. Well plac'd; there stands your friend for the Devil: have at the very eye of that proverb with "A pox of the Devil."

121

Orl. You are the better at proverbs, by how much

"A fool's bolt is soon shot."

Con. You have shot over.

Orl. 'Tis not the first time you were overshot.

112. hooded.. bate: terms of falconry of obvious meaning. W.

Enter a Messenger.

Mess. My Lord High Constable, the English lie within fifteen hundred paces of your tents.

Con. Who hath measur'd the ground?
Mess. The Lord Grandpré.

Con. A valiant and most expert gentleman. Would it were day! Alas, poor Harry of England! he longs not for the dawning as we do.

132

Orl. What a wretched and peevish fellow is this King of England, to mope with his fat-brain'd followers so far out of his knowledge!

Con. If the English had any apprehension, they would run away.

Orl. That they lack; for if their heads had any intellectual armour, they could never wear such heavy head-pieces.

140

Ram. That island of England breeds very valiant creatures; their mastiffs are of unmatchable courage.

Orl. Foolish curs, that run winking into the mouth of a Russian bear and have their heads crush'd like rotten apples! You may as well say, that's a valiant flea that dare eat his breakfast on the lip of a lion.

Con. Just, just; and the men do sympathize with the mastiffs in robustious and rough coming on, leaving their wits with their wives: and then give them great meals of beef and iron and steel, they will eat like wolves and fight like devils.

151

Orl. Ay, but these English are shrewdly out of beef.

Con. Then shall we find to-morrow they have only stomachs to eat and none to fight. Now is it time to arm: come, shall we about it?

143. Shakespeare's audiences were quite familiar with bearbaiting.

Orl. It is now two o'clock: but, let me see, by ten We shall have each a hundred Englishmen.

[Exeunt.

ACT IV

PROLOGUE

Enter Chorus.

Chor. Now entertain conjecture of a time When creeping murmur and the poring dark Fills the wide vessel of the universe.

From camp to camp through the foul womb of night The hum of either army stilly sounds,

That the fix'd sentinels almost receive

The secret whispers of each other's watch :
Fire answers fire, and through their paly flames
Each battle sees the other's umber'd face;

Steed threatens steed, in high and boastful neighs 10
Piercing the night's dull ear, and from the tents
The armourers, accomplishing the knights,
With busy hammers closing rivets up,
Give dreadful note of preparation :

The country cocks do crow, the clocks do toll,
And the third hour of drowsy morning name.
Proud of their numbers and secure in soul,
The confident and over-lusty French
Do the low-rated English play at dice;
And chide the cripple tardy-gaited night
Who, like a foul and ugly witch, doth limp

20

Prologue. Here again we have description, rhetoric, poetry,

to make up for the lack of scenic realism.

9. battle = an army drawn up for battle as in IV, iii, 2, 69,

and often in earlier use. Cf. embattled, IV, ii, 14.

12. accomplishing = giving them all they needed.

19. low-rated, i. e. by the French.

So tediously away. The poor condemned English,
Like sacrifices, by their watchful fires

Sit patiently and inly ruminate

The morning's danger, and their gesture sad
Investing lank-lean cheeks and war-worn coats
Presenteth them unto the gazing moon

So many horrid ghosts. O now, who will behold
The royal captain of this ruin'd band

Walking from watch to watch, from tent to tent, 30

Let him cry, Praise and glory on his head!

For forth he goes and visits all his host,
Bids them good morrow with a modest smile
And calls them brothers, friends and countrymen.
Upon his royal face there is no note

How dread an army hath enrounded him;
Nor doth he dedicate one jot of colour
Unto the weary and all-watched night,
But freshly looks and over-bears attaint
With cheerful semblance and sweet majesty ;
That every wretch, pining and pale before,
Beholding him, plucks comfort from his looks:
A largess universal like the sun

His liberal eye doth give to every one,
Thawing cold fear, that mean and gentle all,
Behold, as may unworthiness define,
A little touch of Harry in the night.
And so our scene must to the battle fly;
Where - O for pity! — we shall much disgrace
With four or five most vile and ragged foils,
Right ill-disposed in brawl ridiculous,

The name of Agincourt. Yet sit and see,

Minding true things by what their mockeries be.

25. gesture= bearing.

40

50

[Exit.

SCENE I. The English camp at Agincourt.

Enter KING HENRY, BEDFORD, and GLOUCESTER. K. Hen. Glou'ster, 't is true that we are in great danger;

The greater therefore should our courage be.
Good morrow, brother Bedford. God Almighty!
There is some soul of goodness in things evil,
Would men observingly distil it out.

For our bad neighbour makes us early stirrers,
Which is both healthful and good husbandry:
Besides, they are our outward consciences,
And preachers to us all, admonishing
That we should dress us fairly for our end.
Thus may we gather honey from the weed,
And make a moral of the Devil himself.
Enter ERPINGHAM.

Good morrow, old Sir Thomas Erpingham:
A good soft pillow for that good white head
Were better than a churlish turf of France.

10

Erp. Not so, my liege: this lodging likes me better, Since I may say, Now lie I like a king.

K. Hen. 'Tis good for men to love their present

pains

Upon example; so the spirit is eas'd :

And when the mind is quicken'd, out of doubt,
The organs, though defunct and dead before,
Break up their drowsy grave and newly move,
With casted slough and fresh legerity.

=

7. good husbandry thrift. W. 10. dress us = order ourselves.

12. moral, so Fluellen, III, vi, 33.

19. spirit: one syllable; pronounced spreet. W.

20

lightness; one of the common Gallicisms in