The Life of King Henry the Fifth

  MESSENGER. The English are embattl'd, you French peers.  CONSTABLE. To horse, you gallant Princes! straight to horse!    Do but behold yon poor and starved band,    And your fair show shall suck away their souls,    Leaving them but the shales and husks of men.    There is not work enough for all our hands;    Scarce blood enough in all their sickly veins    To give each naked curtle-axe a stain    That our French gallants shall to-day draw out,    And sheathe for lack of sport. Let us but blow on them,    The vapour of our valour will o'erturn them.    'Tis positive 'gainst all exceptions, lords,    That our superfluous lackeys and our peasants-    Who in unnecessary action swarm    About our squares of battle- were enow    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 sonance and the note to mount;    For our approach shall so much dare the field    That England shall couch down in fear and yield.

Enter GRANDPRE

  GRANDPRE. Why do you stay so long, my lords of France?    Yond island carrions, desperate of their bones,    Ill-favouredly 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 beaver peeps.    The horsemen sit like fixed candlesticks    With torch-staves in their hand; and their poor jades    Lob down their heads, dropping the hides and hips,    The gum down-roping from their pale-dead eyes,    And in their pale dull mouths the gimmal'd bit    Lies foul with chaw'd grass, still and motionless;    And their executors, the knavish crows,    Fly o'er them, all impatient for their hour.    Description cannot suit itself in words    To demonstrate the life of such a battle    In life so lifeless as it shows itself.  CONSTABLE. They have said their prayers and they stay fordeath.  DAUPHIN. Shall we go send them dinners and fresh suits,    And give their fasting horses provender,    And after fight with them?  CONSTABLE. I stay but for my guidon. To the field!    I will the banner from a trumpet take,    And use it for my haste. Come, come, away!    The sun is high, and we outwear the day. Exeunt

SCENE III. The English camp

Enter GLOUCESTER, BEDFORD, EXETER, ERPINGHAM, with all his host;

SALISBURY and WESTMORELAND  GLOUCESTER. Where is the King?  BEDFORD. The King himself is rode to view their battle.  WESTMORELAND. Of fighting men they have full three-scorethousand.  EXETER. There's five to one; besides, they all are fresh.  SALISBURY. God's arm strike with us! 'tis a fearful odds.    God bye you, Princes all; I'll to my charge.    If we no more meet till we meet in heaven,    Then joyfully, my noble Lord of Bedford,    My dear Lord Gloucester, and my good Lord Exeter,    And my kind kinsman- warriors all, adieu!  BEDFORD. Farewell, good Salisbury; and good luck go with thee!  EXETER. Farewell, kind lord. Fight valiantly to-day;    And yet I do thee wrong to mind thee of it,    For thou art fram'd of the firm truth of valour.Exit SALISBURY  BEDFORD. He is as full of valour as of kindness;    Princely in both.

Enter the KING

  WESTMORELAND. O that we now had here    But one ten thousand of those men in England    That do no work to-day!  KING. What's he that wishes so?    My cousin Westmoreland? No, my fair cousin;    If we are mark'd to die, we are enow    To do our country loss; and if to live,    The fewer men, the greater share of honour.    God's will! I pray thee, wish not one man more.    By Jove, I am not covetous for gold,    Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost;    It yearns me not if men my garments wear;    Such outward things dwell not in my desires.    But if it be a sin to covet honour,    I am the most offending soul alive.    No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England.    God's peace! I would not lose so great an honour    As one man more methinks would share from me    For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more!    Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host,    That he which hath no stomach to this fight,    Let him depart; his passport shall be made,    And crowns for convoy put into his purse;    We would not die in that man's company    That fears his fellowship to die with us.    This day is call'd the feast of Crispian.    He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,    Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam'd,    And rouse him at the name of Crispian.    He that shall live this day, and see old age,    Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,    And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian.'    Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,    And say 'These wounds I had on Crispian's day.'    Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,    But he'll remember, with advantages,    What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,    Familiar in his mouth as household words-    Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter,    Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester-    Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb'red.    This story shall the good man teach his son;    And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,    From this day to the ending of the world,    But we in it shall be remembered-    We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;    For he to-day that sheds his blood with me    Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,    This day shall gentle his condition;    And gentlemen in England now-a-bed    Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,    And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks    That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

Re-enter SALISBURY

  SALISBURY. My sovereign lord, bestow yourself with speed:    The French are bravely in their battles set,    And will with all expedience charge on us.  KING HENRY. All things are ready, if our minds be so.  WESTMORELAND. Perish the man whose mind is backward now!  KING HENRY. Thou dost not wish more help from England, coz?  WESTMORELAND. God's will, my liege! would you and I alone,    Without more help, could fight this royal battle!  KING HENRY. Why, now thou hast unwish'd five thousand men;    Which likes me better than to wish us one.    You know your places. God be with you all!

Tucket. Enter MONTJOY

  MONTJOY. Once more I come to know of thee, King Harry,    If for thy ransom thou wilt now compound,    Before thy most assured overthrow;    For certainly thou art so near the gulf    Thou needs must be englutted. Besides, in mercy,    The constable desires thee thou wilt mind    Thy followers of repentance, that their souls    May make a peaceful and a sweet retire    From off these fields, where, wretches, their poor bodies    Must lie and fester.  KING HENRY. Who hath sent thee now?  MONTJOY. The Constable of France.  KING HENRY. I pray thee bear my former answer back:    Bid them achieve me, and then sell my bones.    Good God! why should they mock poor fellows thus?    The man that once did sell the lion's skin    While the beast liv'd was kill'd with hunting him.    A many of our bodies shall no doubt    Find native graves; upon the which, I trust,    Shall witness live in brass of this day's work.    And those that leave their valiant bones in France,    Dying like men, though buried in your dunghills,    They shall be fam'd; for there the sun shall greet them    And draw their honours reeking up to heaven,    Leaving their earthly parts to choke your clime,    The smell whereof shall breed a plague in France.    Mark then abounding valour in our English,    That, being dead, like to the bullet's grazing    Break out into a second course of mischief,    Killing in relapse of mortality.    Let me speak proudly: tell the Constable    We are but warriors for the working-day;    Our gayness and our gilt are all besmirch'd    With rainy marching in the painful field;    There's not a piece of feather in our host-    Good argument, I hope, we will not fly-    And time hath worn us into slovenry.    But, by the mass, our hearts are in the trim;    And my poor soldiers tell me yet ere night    They'll be in fresher robes, or they will pluck    The gay new coats o'er the French soldiers' heads    And turn them out of service. If they do this-    As, if God please, they shall- my ransom then    Will soon be levied. Herald, save thou thy labour;    Come thou no more for ransom, gentle herald;    They shall have none, I swear, but these my joints;    Which if they have, as I will leave 'em them,    Shall yield them little, tell the Constable.  MONTJOY. I shall, King Harry. And so fare thee well:    Thou never shalt hear herald any more. Exit  KING HENRY. I fear thou wilt once more come again for a ransom.

Enter the DUKE OF YORK

  YORK. My lord, most humbly on my knee I beg    The leading of the vaward.  KING HENRY. Take it, brave York. Now, soldiers, march away;    And how thou pleasest, God, dispose the day! Exeunt

SCENE IV. The field of battle

Alarum. Excursions. Enter FRENCH SOLDIER, PISTOL, and BOY

  PISTOL. Yield, cur!  FRENCH SOLDIER. Je pense que vous etes le gentilhomme de bonne    qualite.  PISTOL. Cality! Calen o custure me! Art thou a gentleman?    What is thy name? Discuss.  FRENCH SOLDIER. O Seigneur Dieu!  PISTOL. O, Signieur Dew should be a gentleman.    Perpend my words, O Signieur Dew, and mark:    O Signieur Dew, thou diest on point of fox,    Except, O Signieur, thou do give to me    Egregious ransom.  FRENCH SOLDIER. O, prenez misericorde; ayez pitie de moi!  PISTOL. Moy shall not serve; I will have forty moys;    Or I will fetch thy rim out at thy throat    In drops of crimson blood.  FRENCH SOLDIER. Est-il impossible d'echapper la force de tonbras?  PISTOL. Brass, cur?    Thou damned and luxurious mountain-goat,    Offer'st me brass?  FRENCH SOLDIER. O, pardonnez-moi!  PISTOL. Say'st thou me so? Is that a ton of moys?    Come hither, boy; ask me this slave in French    What is his name.  BOY. Ecoutez: comment etes-vous appele?  FRENCH SOLDIER. Monsieur le Fer.  BOY. He says his name is Master Fer.  PISTOL. Master Fer! I'll fer him, and firk him, and ferret him-   discuss the same in French unto him.  BOY. I do not know the French for fer, and ferret, and firk.  PISTOL. Bid him prepare; for I will cut his throat.  FRENCH SOLDIER. Que dit-il, monsieur?  BOY. Il me commande a vous dire que vous faites vous pret; carce    soldat ici est dispose tout a cette heure de couper votregorge.  PISTOL. Owy, cuppele gorge, permafoy!    Peasant, unless thou give me crowns, brave crowns;    Or mangled shalt thou be by this my sword.  FRENCH SOLDIER. O, je vous supplie, pour l'amour de Dieu, me    pardonner! Je suis gentilhomme de bonne maison. Gardez mavie, et    je vous donnerai deux cents ecus.  PISTOL. What are his words?  BOY. He prays you to save his life; he is a gentleman of a good    house, and for his ransom he will give you two hundredcrowns.  PISTOL. Tell him my fury shall abate, and I    The crowns will take.  FRENCH SOLDIER. Petit monsieur, que dit-il?  BOY. Encore qu'il est contre son jurement de pardonner aucun    prisonnier, neamnoins, pour les ecus que vous l'avez promis,il    est content a vous donner la liberte, le franchisement.  FRENCH SOLDIER. Sur mes genoux je vous donne mille remercimens;et    je m'estime heureux que je suis tombe entre les mains d'un    chevalier, je pense, le plus brave, vaillant, et tresdistingue    seigneur d'Angleterre.  PISTOL. Expound unto me, boy.  BOY. He gives you, upon his knees, a thousand thanks; and he    esteems himself happy that he hath fall'n into the hands ofone-    as he thinks- the most brave, valorous, and thrice-worthy    signieur of England.  PISTOL. As I suck blood, I will some mercy show.    Follow me. Exit  BOY. Suivez-vous le grand capitaine. Exit FRENCH SOLDIER    I did never know so full a voice issue from so empty a heart;but    the saying is true- the empty vessel makes the greatestsound.    Bardolph and Nym had ten times more valour than this roaring    devil i' th' old play, that every one may pare his nails witha    wooden dagger; and they are both hang'd; and so would thisbe, if    he durst steal anything adventurously. I must stay with the    lackeys, with the luggage of our camp. The French might havea    good prey of us, if he knew of it; for there is none to guardit    but boys. Exit

SCENE V. Another part of the field of battle

Enter CONSTABLE, ORLEANS, BOURBON, DAUPHIN, and RAMBURES

  CONSTABLE. O diable!  ORLEANS. O Seigneur! le jour est perdu, tout est perdu!  DAUPHIN. Mort Dieu, ma vie! all is confounded, all!    Reproach and everlasting shame    Sits mocking in our plumes. [A short alarum]    O mechante fortune! Do not run away.  CONSTABLE. Why, an our ranks are broke.  DAUPHIN. O perdurable shame! Let's stab ourselves.    Be these the wretches that we play'd at dice for?  ORLEANS. Is this the king we sent to for his ransom?  BOURBON. Shame, and eternal shame, nothing but shame!    Let us die in honour: once more back again;    And he that will not follow Bourbon now,    Let him go hence and, with his cap in hand    Like a base pander, hold the chamber-door    Whilst by a slave, no gender than my dog,    His fairest daughter is contaminated.  CONSTABLE. Disorder, that hath spoil'd us, friend us now!    Let us on heaps go offer up our lives.  ORLEANS. We are enow yet living in the field    To smother up the English in our throngs,    If any order might be thought upon.  BOURBON. The devil take order now! I'll to the throng.    Let life be short, else shame will be too long. Exeunt

SCENE VI. Another part of the field

Alarum. Enter the KING and his train, with prisoners; EXETER, and others

  KING HENRY. Well have we done, thrice-valiant countrymen;    But all's not done- yet keep the French the field.  EXETER. The Duke of York commends him to your Majesty.  KING HENRY. Lives he, good uncle? Thrice within this hour    I saw him down; thrice up again, and fighting;    From helmet to the spur all blood he was.  EXETER. In which array, brave soldier, doth he lie    Larding the plain; and by his bloody side,    Yoke-fellow to his honour-owing wounds,    The noble Earl of Suffolk also lies.    Suffolk first died; and York, all haggled over,    Comes to him, where in gore he lay insteeped,    And takes him by the beard, kisses the gashes    That bloodily did yawn upon his face,    He cries aloud 'Tarry, my cousin Suffolk.    My soul shall thine keep company to heaven;    Tarry, sweet soul, for mine, then fly abreast;    As in this glorious and well-foughten field    We kept together in our chivalry.'    Upon these words I came and cheer'd him up;    He smil'd me in the face, raught me his hand,    And, with a feeble grip, says 'Dear my lord,    Commend my service to my sovereign.'    So did he turn, and over Suffolk's neck    He threw his wounded arm and kiss'd his lips;    And so, espous'd to death, with blood he seal'd    A testament of noble-ending love.    The pretty and sweet manner of it forc'd    Those waters from me which I would have stopp'd;    But I had not so much of man in me,    And all my mother came into mine eyes    And gave me up to tears.  KING HENRY. I blame you not;    For, hearing this, I must perforce compound    With mistful eyes, or they will issue too. [Alarum]    But hark! what new alarum is this same?    The French have reinforc'd their scatter'd men.    Then every soldier kill his prisoners;    Give the word through. Exeunt

SCENE VII. Another part of the field

Enter FLUELLEN and GOWER

  FLUELLEN. Kill the poys and the luggage! 'Tis expressly againstthe    law of arms; 'tis as arrant a piece of knavery, mark you now,as    can be offert; in your conscience, now, is it not?  GOWER. 'Tis certain there's not a boy left alive; and thecowardly    rascals that ran from the battle ha' done this slaughter;    besides, they have burned and carried away all that was inthe    King's tent; wherefore the King most worthily hath caus'devery    soldier to cut his prisoner's throat. O, 'tis a gallant King!  FLUELLEN. Ay, he was porn at Monmouth, Captain Gower. What callyou    the town's name where Alexander the Pig was born?  GOWER. Alexander the Great.  FLUELLEN. Why, I pray you, is not 'pig' great? The pig, orgreat,    or the mighty, or the huge, or the magnanimous, are all one    reckonings, save the phrase is a little variations.  GOWER. I think Alexander the Great was born in Macedon; hisfather    was called Philip of Macedon, as I take it.  FLUELLEN. I think it is in Macedon where Alexander is porn. Itell    you, Captain, if you look in the maps of the 'orld, I warrantyou    sall find, in the comparisons between Macedon and Monmouth,that    the situations, look you, is both alike. There is a river in    Macedon; and there is also moreover a river at Monmouth; itis    call'd Wye at Monmouth, but it is out of my prains what isthe    name of the other river; but 'tis all one, 'tis alike as my    fingers is to my fingers, and there is salmons in both. Ifyou    mark Alexander's life well, Harry of Monmouth's life is come    after it indifferent well; for there is figures in allthings.    Alexander- God knows, and you know- in his rages, and hisfuries,    and his wraths, and his cholers, and his moods, and his    displeasures, and his indignations, and also being a little    intoxicates in his prains, did, in his ales and his angers,look    you, kill his best friend, Cleitus.  GOWER. Our king is not like him in that: he never kill'd any ofhis    friends.  FLUELLEN. It is not well done, mark you now, to take the talesout    of my mouth ere it is made and finished. I speak but in the    figures and comparisons of it; as Alexander kill'd his friend    Cleitus, being in his ales and his cups, so also HarryMonmouth,    being in his right wits and his good judgments, turn'd awaythe    fat knight with the great belly doublet; he was full ofjests,    and gipes, and knaveries, and mocks; I have forgot his name.  GOWER. Sir John Falstaff.  FLUELLEN. That is he. I'll tell you there is good men porn at    Monmouth.  GOWER. Here comes his Majesty.

Alarum. Enter the KING, WARWICK, GLOUCESTER,

EXETER, and others, with prisoners. Flourish

  KING HENRY. I was not angry since I came to France    Until this instant. Take a trumpet, herald,    Ride thou unto the horsemen on yond hill;    If they will fight with us, bid them come down    Or void the field; they do offend our sight.    If they'll do neither, we will come to them    And make them skirr away as swift as stones    Enforced from the old Assyrian slings;    Besides, we'll cut the throats of those we have,    And not a man of them that we shall take    Shall taste our mercy. Go and tell them so.

Enter MONTJOY

  EXETER. Here comes the herald of the French, my liege.  GLOUCESTER. His eyes are humbler than they us'd to be.  KING HENRY. How now! What means this, herald? know'st thou not    That I have fin'd these bones of mine for ransom?    Com'st thou again for ransom?  MONTJOY. No, great King;    I come to thee for charitable licence,    That we may wander o'er this bloody field    To book our dead, and then to bury them;    To sort our nobles from our common men;    For many of our princes- woe the while! -    Lie drown'd and soak'd in mercenary blood;    So do our vulgar drench their peasant limbs    In blood of princes; and their wounded steeds    Fret fetlock deep in gore, and with wild rage    Yerk out their armed heels at their dead masters,    Killing them twice. O, give us leave, great King,    To view the field in safety, and dispose    Of their dead bodies!  KING HENRY. I tell thee truly, herald,    I know not if the day be ours or no;    For yet a many of your horsemen peer    And gallop o'er the field.  MONTJOY. The day is yours.  KING HENRY. Praised be God, and not our strength, for it!    What is this castle call'd that stands hard by?  MONTJOY. They call it Agincourt.  KING HENRY. Then call we this the field of Agincourt,    Fought on the day of Crispin Crispianus.  FLUELLEN. Your grandfather of famous memory, an't please your    Majesty, and your great-uncle Edward the Plack Prince ofWales,    as I have read in the chronicles, fought a most prave pattlehere    in France.  KING HENRY. They did, Fluellen.  FLUELLEN. Your Majesty says very true; if your Majesties is    rememb'red of it, the Welshmen did good service in gardenwhere    leeks did grow, wearing leeks in their Monmouth caps; whichyour    Majesty know to this hour is an honourable badge of theservice;    and I do believe your Majesty takes no scorn to wear the leek    upon Saint Tavy's day.  KING HENRY. I wear it for a memorable honour;    For I am Welsh, you know, good countryman.  FLUELLEN. All the water in Wye cannot wash your Majesty's Welsh    plood out of your pody, I can tell you that. Got pless it and    preserve it as long as it pleases his Grace and his Majestytoo!  KING HENRY. Thanks, good my countryman.  FLUELLEN. By Jeshu, I am your Majesty's countryman, care notwho    know it; I will confess it to all the 'orld: I need not be    asham'd of your Majesty, praised be Got, so long as yourMajesty    is an honest man.

Enter WILLIAMS

  KING HENRY. God keep me so! Our heralds go with him:    Bring me just notice of the numbers dead    On both our parts. Call yonder fellow hither.Exeunt heralds with MONTJOY  EXETER. Soldier, you must come to the King.  KING HENRY. Soldier, why wear'st thou that glove in thy cap?  WILLIAMS. An't please your Majesty, 'tis the gage of one that I    should fight withal, if he be alive.  KING HENRY. An Englishman?  WILLIAMS. An't please your Majesty, a rascal that swagger'dwith me    last night; who, if 'a live and ever dare to challenge this    glove, I have sworn to take him a box o' th' ear; or if I cansee    my glove in his cap- which he swore, as he was a soldier, he    would wear if alive- I will strike it out soundly.  KING HENRY. What think you, Captain Fluellen, is it fit this    soldier keep his oath?  FLUELLEN. He is a craven and a villain else, an't please your    Majesty, in my conscience.  KING HENRY. It may be his enemy is a gentlemen of great sort,quite    from the answer of his degree.  FLUELLEN. Though he be as good a gentleman as the Devil is, as    Lucifier and Belzebub himself, it is necessary, look yourGrace,    that he keep his vow and his oath; if he be perjur'd, see you    now, his reputation is as arrant a villain and a Jacksauce as    ever his black shoe trod upon God's ground and his earth, inmy    conscience, la.  KING HENRY. Then keep thy vow, sirrah, when thou meet'st the    fellow.  WILLIAMS. So I Will, my liege, as I live.  KING HENRY. Who serv'st thou under?  WILLIAMS. Under Captain Gower, my liege.  FLUELLEN. Gower is a good captain, and is good knowledge and    literatured in the wars.  KING HENRY. Call him hither to me, soldier.  WILLIAMS. I will, my liege. Exit  KING HENRY. Here, Fluellen; wear thou this favour for me, andstick    it in thy cap; when Alencon and myself were down together, I    pluck'd this glove from his helm. If any man challenge this,he    is a friend to Alencon and an enemy to our person; if thou    encounter any such, apprehend him, an thou dost me love.  FLUELLEN. Your Grace does me as great honours as can be desir'din    the hearts of his subjects. I would fain see the man that hasbut    two legs that shall find himself aggrief'd at this glove,that is    all; but I would fain see it once, an please God of his grace    that I might see.  KING HENRY. Know'st thou Gower?  FLUELLEN. He is my dear friend, an please you.  KING HENRY. Pray thee, go seek him, and bring him to my tent.  FLUELLEN. I will fetch him. Exit  KING HENRY. My Lord of Warwick and my brother Gloucester,    Follow Fluellen closely at the heels;    The glove which I have given him for a favour    May haply purchase him a box o' th' ear.    It is the soldier's: I, by bargain, should    Wear it myself. Follow, good cousin Warwick;    If that the soldier strike him, as I judge    By his blunt bearing he will keep his word,    Some sudden mischief may arise of it;    For I do know Fluellen valiant,    And touch'd with choler, hot as gunpowder,    And quickly will return an injury;    Follow, and see there be no harm between them.    Go you with me, uncle of Exeter. Exeunt

SCENE VIII. Before KING HENRY'S PAVILION

Enter GOWER and WILLIAMS

WILLIAMS. I warrant it is to knight you, Captain.

Enter FLUELLEN

  FLUELLEN. God's will and his pleasure, Captain, I beseech younow,    come apace to the King: there is more good toward you    peradventure than is in your knowledge to dream of.  WILLIAMS. Sir, know you this glove?  FLUELLEN. Know the glove? I know the glove is a glove.  WILLIAMS. I know this; and thus I challenge it. [Strikes him]  FLUELLEN. 'Sblood, an arrant traitor as any's in the universal    world, or in France, or in England!  GOWER. How now, sir! you villain!  WILLIAMS. Do you think I'll be forsworn?  FLUELLEN. Stand away, Captain Gower; I will give treason his    payment into plows, I warrant you.  WILLIAMS. I am no traitor.  FLUELLEN. That's a lie in thy throat. I charge you in hisMajesty's    name, apprehend him: he's a friend of the Duke Alencon's.

Enter WARWICK and GLOUCESTER