Gow.

How now, captain Fluellen? come you from the bridge?

Flu.

I assure you, there is very excellent service committed at the pridge.

Gow.

Is the duke of Exeter safe?

Flu.

The duke of Exeter is as magnanimous as Agamemnon; and a man that I love and honour with my soul, and my heart, and my duty, and my life, and my livings, and my uttermost powers: he is not, (Got be praised and plessed!) any hurt in the 'orld; but keeps the pridge most valiantly, with excellent discipline. There is an ancient lieutenant there at the pridge,—I think, in my very conscience, he is as valiant a man as Mark Antony; and he is a man of no estimation in the 'orld; but I did see him do gallant services.

Gow.

What do you call him?

Flu.

He is call'd—ancient Pistol.

Gow.

I know him not.

Enter Pistol.

Flu.

Do you not know him? Here comes the man.

Pist.

Captain, I thee beseech to do me favours: The duke of Exeter doth love thee well.

Flu.

Ay, I praise Got; and I have merited some love at his hands.

Pist.
Bardolph, a soldier, firm and sound of heart,
Of buxom valour^{1 note}

, hath,—by cruel fate,
And giddy fortune's furious fickle wheel,
That goddess blind,
That stands upon the rolling restless stone,—

Flu.

By your patience, ancient Pistol. ^{2 note}

Flu.

It is well.

Pist.

^{6 note}

Flu.

Very good^{7 note}
.

Gow.

Why, this is an arrant counterfeit rascal; I remember him now; a bawd, a cut-purse.

Flu.

I'll assure you, 'a utter'd as prave 'ords at the pridge, as you shall see in a summer's day: But it is very well; what he has spoke to me, that is well, I warrant you, when time is serve.

Gow.

Why, 'tis a gull, a fool, a rogue; that now and then goes to the wars, to grace himself, at his return into London, under the form of a soldier. And such fellows are perfect in the great commanders' names: and they will learn you by rote, where services were done;—at such and such ^{8 note}a sconce, at such

a breach, at such a convoy; who came off bravely, who was shot, who disgrac'd, what terms the enemy stood on; and this they con perfectly in the phrase of war, which they trick up with new-tuned oaths: And what a beard of the general's cut, and a horrid suit of the camp^{9 note}, will do among foaming bottles, and alewash'd wits, is wonderful to be thought on! But you must learn to know ^{1 note}such slanders of the age, or else you may be marvellously mistook.

Flu.

I tell you what, captain Gower;—I do perceive, he is not the man that he would gladly make shew to the 'orld he is; if I find a hole in his coat, I will tell him my mind. Hear you, the king is coming; and ^{2 note}

Drum and colours. Enter the king, Gloster, and soldiers. 9Q0792

Flu.

God pless you majesty!

K. Henry.

How now, Fluellen? cam'st thou from the bridge?

Flu.

Ay, so please your majesty. The duke of Exeter has very gallantly maintain'd the pridge: the French is gone off, look you; and there is gallant and most prave passages: Marry, th'athversary was have possession of the pridge; but he is enforced to retire, and the duke of Exeter is master of the pridge: I can tell your majesty, the duke is a prave man.

K. Henry.

What men have you lost, Fluellen?

Flu.

The perdition of th'athversary hath been very great, very reasonable great: marry, for my part, I think the duke hath lost never a man, but one that is like to be executed 9Q0793 for robbing a church, one Bardolph, if your majesty know the man: his face is all bubukles, and whelks, and knobs^{3 note}

K. Henry.

We would have all such offenders so cut off:—and we give express charge, that, in our marches through the country, there be nothing compelled from the villages, nothing taken but paid for; none of the French upbraided, or abused in disdainful language; For when lenity and cruelty play for a kingdom, the gentlest gamester is the soonest winner.

Mont.

You know me ^{6 note}by my habit.

K. Henry.

Well then, I know thee; What shall I know of thee?

Mont.

My master's mind.

K. Henry.

Unfold it.

Mont.

Thus says my king:—Say thou to Harry of England, Though we seemed dead, we did but sleep; Advantage is a better soldier, than rashness. Tell him, we could have rebuk'd him at Harfleur; but that we thought not good to bruise an injury, 'till it were full ripe:—now we speak ^{7 note}upon our cue, and our voice is imperial: England shall repent his folly, see his weakness, and admire our sufferance. Bid him, therefore, consider of his ransom; which must proportion the losses we have borne, the subjects we have lost, the disgrace we have digested; which, in weight to re-answer, his pettiness would bow under. For our losses, his exchequer is too poor; for the effusion of

our blood, the muster of his kingdom too faint a number; and for our disgrace, his own person, kneeling at our feet, but a weak and worthless satisfaction. To this add—defiance: and tell him, for conclusion, he hath betray'd his followers, whose condemnation is pronounced. So far my king and master; ^{8 note}so much my office.

K. Henry.
What is thy name? I know thy quality.

Mont.
Montjoy.

K. Henry.
Thou dost thy office fairly. Turn thee back,
And tell thy king,—I do not seek him now;
But could be willing to march on to Calais
Without impeachment* ^note: for, to say the sooth,
(Though 'tis no wisdom to confess so much
Unto an enemy of craft and vantage)
My people are with sickness much enfeebled;
My numbers lessen'd; and those few I have,
Almost no better than so many French;
Who when they were in health, I tell thee, herald,
I thought, upon one pair of English legs
Did march three Frenchmen.—Yet, forgive me God,
That I do brag thus!—this your air of France
Hath blown that vice in me; I must repent.
Go, therefore, tell thy master,—here I am;
My ransom, is this frail and worthless trunk;
My army, but a weak and sickly guard;
Yet, ^{9 note}

Though France himself, and such another neighbour,
Stand in our way. There's for thy labour, Montjoy^{1 note}



.
Go, bid thy master well advise himself:
If we may pass, we will; if we be hinder'd,
We shall your tawny ground with your red blood
Discolour: and so, Montjoy, fare you well.
The sum of all our answer is but this:
We would not seek a battle, as we are;
Nor, as we are, we say, we will not shun it;
So tell your master.

Mont.
I shall deliver so. Thanks to your highness. [Exit.

Glo.
I hope, they will not come upon us now.

K. Henry.
We are in God's hand, brother, not in theirs.—
March to the bridge; it now draws toward night:—
Beyond the river we'll encamp ourselves;
And on to-morrow bid them march away. [Exeunt.

3 ^noteSCENE VII.

The French camp near Agincourt. Enter the constable of France, the lord Rambures, the Duke of Orleans, Dauphin, with others.

Con.

Tut! I have the best armour of the world.— Would, it were day!

Orl.

You have an excellent armour; but let my horse have his due.

Con.

It is the best horse of Europe.

Orl.

Will it never be morning?

Dau.

My lord of Orleans, and my lord high constable, you talk of horse and armour,—

Orl.

You are as well provided of both, as any prince in the world.

Dau.

What a long night is this!—I will not change my horse with any that treads but on four pasterns. Ça, ha! ^{4 note}He bounds from the earth, as if his entrails were hairs; le cheval volant, the Pegasus, qui a les narines de feu! When I bestride him, I soar, I am a hawk: he trots the air; the earth sings when he touches it; the basest horn of his hoof is more musical than the pipe of Hermes.

Orl.

He's of the colour of the nutmeg.

Dau.

And of the heat of the ginger. It is a beast for Perseus: he is pure air and fire^{5 note}

; and the

dull elements of earth and water never appear in him, but only in patient stillness, while his rider mounts him: he is, indeed, a horse; ^{6 note}

Con.

Indeed, my lord, it is a most absolute and excellent horse.

Dau.

It is the prince of palfreys; his neigh is like the bidding of a monarch, and his countenance enforces homage.

Orl.

No more, cousin.

Dau.

Nay, the man hath no wit, that cannot, from the rising of the lark to the lodging of the lamb, vary deserved praise on my palfrey: it is a theme as fluent as the sea; turn the sands into eloquent tongues, and my horse is argument for them all: 'tis a subject for a sovereign to reason on, and for a sovereign's sovereign to ride on; and for the world (familiar to us, and unknown) to lay apart their particular functions, and wonder at him. I once writ a sonnet in his praise, and began thus, ^{7 note}

Orl.

I have heard a sonnet begin so to one's mistress.

Dau.

Then did they imitate that which I compos'd to my courser; for my horse is my mistress.

Orl.

Your mistress bears well.

Dau.

Me well; which is the prescript praise and perfection of a good and particular mistress.

Con.

Ma foy! the other day, methought, your mistress shrewdly shook your back.

Dau.

So, perhaps, did yours.

Con.

Mine was not bridled.

Dau.

O! then, belike, she was old and gentle; and you rode, ^{8 note}

Con.

You have good judgment in horsemanship.

Dau.

Be warn'd by me then: they that ride so, and ride not warily, fall into foul bogs; I had rather have my horse to my mistress.

Con.

I had as lief have my mistress a jade.

Dau.

I tell thee, constable, my mistress wears her own hair.

Con.

I could make as true a boast as that, if I had a sow to my mistress.

Dau.

Le chien est retournè à son propre vomissement, & la truie lavée au bourbier: thou mak'st use of any thing.

Con.

Yet do I not use my horse for my mistress; or any such proverb, so little kin to the purpose.

Ram.

My lord constable, the armour, that I saw in your tent to-night, are those stars, or suns, upon it?

Con.

Stars, my lord.

Dau.

Some of them will fall to-morrow, I hope.

Con.

And yet my sky shall not want.

Dau.

That may be, for you bear many superfluously; and 'twere more honour, some were away.

Con.

Even as your horse bears your praises; who would trot as well, were some of your brags dismounted.

Dau.

Would I were able to load him with his desert!

Will it never be day? I will trot to-morrow a mile, and my way shall be paved with English faces.

Con.

I will not say so, for fear I should be fac'd out of my way: But I would it were morning, for I would fain be about the ears of the English.

Ram.

Who will go to hazard with me for twenty English prisoners^{9 note}

Con.

You must first go yourself to hazard, ere you have them.

Dau.

'Tis midnight, I'll go arm myself.

Orl.

The Dauphin longs for morning.

Ram.

He longs to eat the English.

Con.

I think, he will eat all he kills.

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.

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

aw it, but ^{1 note}his lacquey: ^{2 note}'tis a hooded valour; and, when it appears, it will bate.

Orl.

Ill will never said well.

Con.

^{3 note}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, ^{4 note}with —A pox of the devil.

Or.

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 over-shot.

Mess.

My lord high constable, the English lie within fifteen hundred paces of your tent.

Con.

Who hath measur'd the ground?

Mess.

The lord Grandpré.

Con.

A valiant and most expert gentleman.— ^{5 note}

'Would it were day!—Alas, poor Harry of England! he longs not for the dawning, as we do.

Orl.

What a wretched and peevish* ^note
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 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^{6 note}

, 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 we shall find to-morrow—they have only stomachs to eat, and none to fight. Now it is 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.

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