Orleans, Rambures, and Others.
Orl.
The sun doth gild our armour; up, my lords.
Dau.
Montez cheval:14Q0754—My horse! valet note! lacquay! ha!
Orl.
O brave spirit!
Dau.
Via! l' eau et terre.14Q0755
Orl.
Rien plus? l' air et feu.
Enter Constable.
Dau.
Ciel! cousin Orleans,—Now, my lord constable?
Con.
Hark, how our steeds for present service neigh.
Dau.
Mount them, and make incision in their hides;
That their hot blood may spin in English eyes,
And daunt note them with superfluous courage. Ha!
Ram.
What, will you have them weep our horses' blood?
How shall we then behold their natural tears?
Enter a Messenger.
Mes.
The English are embattl'd, you French peers.
Con.
To horse, you gallant princes! straight to horse!
Do but behold yon' poor and starved band,
And your fair shew shall suck away their souls,
Leaving them but the shales and husks of men.
There is not work enough for all our hands;
-- 73 --
Scarce blood enough in all their sickly veins,
To give each naked curtle-ax a stain,
That our French gallants shall to-day draw out,
And sheath for lack of sport: let us but blow on them,
The vapour of our valour will o'er-turn them.
'Tis positive 'gainst note all exceptions note, lords,
That our superfluous lacqueys, and our peasants,—
Who, in unnecessary action, swarm
About our squares of battle,—were enough
To purge this field of such a hilding foe;
Though we upon this mountain's basis by
Took stand for idle speculation:
But that our honours must not. What's to say?
A very little little let us do,
And all is done. Then let the trumpets sound
The tucket sonuance, and the note to mount:
For our approach shall so much dare the field,
That England shall couch down in fear, and yield.
Enter Grandpree .
Gra.
Why do you stay so long, my lords of France?
Yon' island carrions, desperate of their bones,
Ill-favour'dly become the morning field:
Their ragged curtains poorly are let loose,
And our air shakes them passing scornfully.
Big Mars seems bankrupt in their beggar'd host,
And faintly through a rusty bever peeps.
Their horsemen sit like fixed candlesticks,
With torch-staves in their hand note: and their poor jades
Lob down their heads, drooping the hide note and hips;
The gum down-roping from their pale-dead eyes;
And in their palled mouths note the jymold bit
Lies foul with chaw'd grass, still and motionless;
-- 74 --
And their executors, the knavish crows,
Fly o'er them all, impatient for their hour.
Description cannot suit itself in words,
To démonstrate the life of such a battle
In life so lifeless as it shews itself.
Con.
They have said their prayers, and they stay for death.
Dau.
Shall we go send them dinners, and fresh suits,
And give their fasting horses provender,
And after fight with them?
Con.
I stay but for my guard; On, to the field: note
I will the banner from a trumpet take,
And use it for my haste. Come, come away;
The sun is high, and we out-wear the day.
[Exeunt.
Edward Capell [1767], Mr William Shakespeare his comedies, histories, and tragedies, set out by himself in quarto, or by the Players his Fellows in folio, and now faithfully republish'd from those Editions in ten Volumes octavo; with an introduction: Whereunto will be added, in some other Volumes, notes, critical and explanatory, and a Body of Various Readings entire (Printed by Dryden Leach, for J. and R. Tonson [etc.], London) [word count] [S10601].
