SCENE X.
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 Grandpree.
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.
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.
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
-- 431 --
rotten apples. You may as well say, that's a valiant
Flea, that dares eat his breakfast on the lip of a Lion.
Con.
Just, just; and the men do sympathize with
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.
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?
Orl.
'Tis two o'clock; but (let me see) by ten,
We shall have each a hundred Englishmen.
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].
