ENGLISH.

HENRY THE FIFTH, KING OF

ENGLAND

DUKE OF GLOSTER

DUKE OF BEDFORD

DUKE OF EXETER

EARL OF WESTMORELAND
ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY

BISHOP OF ELY

EARL OF CAMBRIDGE

LORD SCROOP

SIR THOMAS GREY

SIR THOMAS ERPINGHAM

GOWER

FLUELLEN

WILLIAMS

BATES

NYM

BARDOLPH

PISTOL

Boy

MRS. QUICKLY

Mr. Kemble.

Mr. C. Kemble.
Mr. W. Murray.
Mr. Pope.

Mr. Claremont.

Mr. Creswell.
Mr. Waddy.
Mr. King.
Mr. Field.
Mr. Jefferies.
Mr. Hull.
Mr. Chapman.
Mr. Blanchard.

Mr. Emery.

Mr. Beverly.

Mr. Wilde.

Mr. Davenport. Mr. Simmons. Master Benson.

Mrs. Davenport.

FRENCH.

OF} Mr. Murray.

CHARLES THE SIXTH, KING OF

FRANCE

THE DAUPHIN

DUKE OF BURGUNDY

CONSTABLE OF FRANCE

BOURBON

GOVERNOR OF HARFLEUR
MONTJOY

ISABEL, QUEEN OF FRANCE

PRINCESS KATHARINE

LORDS, HERALDS, MESSENGERS, CITIZENS, FRENCH and ENGLISH ARMIES, and ATTENDANTS.

The SCENE, at the beginning of the Play, lies in Eng land; but afterwards wholly in France.

KING HENRY V.

ACT THE FIRST.

SCENE I.

An Antechamber in the English Court.

Enter the ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY, and the BISHOP OF ELY.

Can. My lord, I'll tell you,-That self bill is urg'd, Which, in the eleventh year o' the last king's reign, Was like, and had indeed against us pass'd,

But that the scambling and unquiet time
Did push it out of further question.

Ely. But how, my lord, shall we resist it now?
Can. It must be thought on; If it pass against us,

We lose the better half of our possession;

For all the temporal lands, which men devout
By testament have given to the church,

Would they strip from us.

Ely. But what prevention?

Can. The king is full of grace, and fair regard.
Ely. And a true lover of the holy church.

Can. The courses of his youth promis'd it not.
The breath no sooner left his father's body,
But that his wildness, mortify'd in him,
Seem'd to die too: yea, at that very moment,
Consideration, like an angel, came,

And whipp'd the offending Adam out of him;
Leaving his body as a paradise,

To envelope and contain celestial spirits.
Never was such a sudden scholar made:
Never came reformation in a flood,
With such a heady current, scouring faults;
Nor never Hydra-headed wilfulness

So soon did lose his seat, and all at once,
As in this king.

Ely. We're blessed in the change.

Can. Hear him but reason in divinity,
And, all admiring, with an inward wish

You would desire the king were made a prelate;
Hear him debate of common-wealth affairs,
You would say,-it hath been all-in-all his study:
List his discourse of war, and you shall hear
A fearful battle render'd you in music :
Turn him to any cause of policy,

The gordian knot of it he will unloose,
Familiar as his garter; that, when he speaks,
The air, a charter'd libertine, is still,
And the mute wonder lurketh in men's ears,
To steal his sweet and honied sentences;
So that the art, and practic part of life,

•Must be the mistress to this theoric:

Which is a wonder, how his grace should glean it,
Since his addiction was to courses vain;

His companies unletter'd, rude, and shallow;
His hours fill'd up with riots, banquets, sports;
And never noted in him any study,

Any retirement, any sequestration

From open haunts, and popularity.

Ely. The strawberry grows underneath the nettle,

And wholesome berries thrive, and ripen best,
Neighbour'd by fruit of baser quality:
And so the prince obscur'd his contemplation
Under the veil of wildness; which, no doubt,
Grew like the summer grass, fastest by night,
Unseen, yet crescive in his faculty.—
But, my good lord,

How now for mitigation of this bill,

Urg'd by the commons? Doth his majesty
Incline to it, or no?

Can. He is rather swaying more upon our part
Than cherishing the exhibitors against us:
For I have made an offer to his majesty,-
As touching France, to give a greater sum
Than ever at one time the clergy yet
Did to his predecessors part withal.

lord?

Ely. How did this offer seem receiv'd, my
Can. With good acceptance of his majesty;
Save, that there was not time enough to hear
(As, I perceiv'd, his grace would fain have done,)
The severals, and unhidden passages,

Of his true titles to some certain dukedoms,
And, generally, to the crown of France,
Deriv'd from Edward, his great grandfather.

Ely. What was the impediment that broke this off?
Can. The French embassador, upon that instant,
Crav'd audience: and the hour, I think, is come,
To give him hearing: Is it four o'clock ?
Ely. It is.

Can. Then go we in, to know his embassy.
Ely. I'll wait upon you; and I long to hear it.

[Exeunt.

SCENE II.

The Audience Chamber.

Flourish of Drums and Trumpets.

KING HENRY discovered on his Throne. GLOSTER, BEDFORD, EXETER, WESTMORELAND, CAMBRIDGE, SCROOP, GREY, HERALDS, &c. attending.

K. Hen. Where is my gracious lord of Canterbury? Bed. Not here in presence.

K. Hen. Send for him, good brother.

[Exit a HERALD. West. Shall we call in the embassador, my liege ? K. Hen. Not yet, my cousin : we would be resolv'd, Before we hear him, of some things of weight, That task our thoughts, concerning us and France.

Enter HERALD, with the ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY, and the BISHOP OF ELY.

Can. Heav'n and his angels, guard your sacred throne,

And make you long become it!

K. Hen. Sure we thank you.

My learned lord, we pray you to proceed;
And justly, and religiously unfold,

Why the law Salique, that they have in France,
Or should, or should not, bar us in our claim.
And Heav'n forbid, my dear and faithful lord,
That you should fashion, wrest, or bow your read-
ing;

Or nicely charge your understanding soul

With opening titles miscreate, whose right