Burgundy,
and the Constable.
Fr. King.
Thus come the English with full power upon us,
3 note
And more than carefully it us concerns
To answer royally in our defences.
Therefore the Dukes of Berry, and of Britain,
Of Brabant, and of Orleans, shall make forth,
And you, Prince Dauphin, with all swift dispatch,
To line, and new repair our towns of war,
With men of courage, and with means defendant;
For England his Approaches makes as fierce,
As waters to the sucking of a gulph.
It fits us then to be as provident,
As fear may teach us out of late examples,
Left by the fatal and neglected English
Upon our fields.
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,
But that defences, musters, preparations,
Should be maintain'd, assembled, and collected,
As were a war in expectation.
-- 400 --
Therefore, I say, 'tis meet we all go forth,
To view the sick and feeble parts of France;
And let us do it with no shew of fear,
No, with no more, than if we heard that England
Were busied with a Whitson morris-dance,
For, my good Liege, she is so idly king'd,
Her scepter so fantastically borne,
By a vain, giddy, shallow, humorous youth,
That fear attends her not.
Con.
O peace, Prince Dauphin!
4 noteYou are too much mistaken in this King.
Question your Grace the late ambassadors,
With what great state he heard their embassy;
How well supply'd with noble counsellors,
* noteHow modest in exception, and withal
How terrible in constant resolution,
And you shall find, his vanities fore-spent
5 noteWere but the out-side of the Roman Brutus,
Covering discretion with a coat of folly;
As gardeners do with ordure hide those roots,
That shall first spring and be most delicate.
Dau.
Well, 'tis not so, my Lord high Constable,
But tho' we think it so, it is no matter.
-- 401 --
In causes of defence, 'tis best to weigh
The enemy more mighty than he seems;
So the proportions of defence are fill'd,
Which of a weak and niggardly projection
Doth like a miser spoil his coat with scanting
A little cloth.
Fr. King.
Think we King Harry strong;
And, Princes, look you strongly arm to meet him.
The kindred of him hath been flesh'd upon us,
And he is bred out of that bloody strain,
6 note
That haunted us in our familiar paths.
Witness our too much memorable shame,
When Cressy-battle fatally was struck;
And all our Princes captiv'd by the hand
Of that black name, Edward black Prince of Wales;
7 noteWhile that his mounting sire, on mountain standing,
8 note
Up in the air, crown'd with the golden sun,
Saw his heroick seed, and smil'd to see him
Mangle the work of nature, and deface
The patterns, that by God and by French fathers
Had twenty years been made. This is a stem
Of that victorious stock; and let us fear
The native mightiness and 9 notefate of him.
Enter a Messenger.
Mess.
Ambassadors from Harry, King of England,
Do crave admittance to your Majesty.
-- 402 --
Fr. King.
We'll give them present audience. Go, and bring them.
—You see, this chase is hotly follow'd, friends.
Dau.
Turn head, and stop pursuit; for coward dogs
Most * notespend their mouths, when, what they seem to threaten,
Runs far before them. Good, my Sovereign,
Take up the English short; and let them know
Of what a monarchy you are the head.
Self-love, my Liege, is not so vile a sin,
As self-neglecting.
Samuel Johnson [1765], The plays of William Shakespeare, in eight volumes, with the corrections and illustrations of Various Commentators; To which are added notes by Sam. Johnson (Printed for J. and R. Tonson [and] C. Corbet [etc.], London) [word count] [S11001].
