Orl. And I will take up that with-Give the devil his due. Con. Well placed, there stands your friend for the devil have at the very eye of that proverb, with—A pox of the devil. Orl. You are the better at proverbs, by how muchA fool's bolt is soon shot. Con. You have shot over. Orl. 'Tis not the first time you were overshot. Enter a Messenger. Mess. My lord high constable, the English lie within fifteen hundred paces of your tent. Con. Who hath measured the ground? Mess. The lord Grandpré. 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-brained 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 crushed 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 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 we shall 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. It is now two o'clock; but, let me see,-by ten, We shall have each a hundred Englishmen. [Exeunt. [8] Alluding to the practice of capping verses. JOHNS. 191 Peevish in ancient language, signified foolish, silly. STEEV. ACT IV. Enter CHORUS. Chor. NOW entertain conjecture of a time, When creeping murmur, and the poring dark, Fills the wide vessel of the universe. From camp to camp, through the foul womb of night, That the fix'd centinels almost receive The country cocks do crow, the clocks do toll, So tediously away. The poor condemned English, Sit patiently, and inly ruminate The morning's danger; and their gesture sad, So many horrid ghosts. O, now, who will behold Walking from watch to watch, from tent to tent, How dread an army hath enrounded him; [1] That is, gently, lowly. So in the sacred writings: "a still small voice." MAL [2] Umber is a brown colour. The distant visages of the soldiers would appear of this hue, when beheld through the light of midnight fires. Umber'd however may mean shaded. STEEV. [3] That is, do play them away at dice. WARB. Nor doth he dedicate one jot of colour His liberal eye doth give to every one, A little touch of Harry in the night: -- The name of Agincourt: Yet, sit and see; SCENE I. The English Camp at Agincourt. Enter King HENRY, BEDFORD and GLOSTER. K.Hen. Gloster, 'tis true, that we are in great danger; For our bad neighbour makes us early stirrers, -Good-morrow, old sir Thomas Erpingham :6 Erp. Not so, my liege; this lodging likes me better, Since I may say now lie I like a king. K.Hen. 'Tis good for men to love their present pain Upon example; so the spirit is eased; [5] To`mind is the same as to call to remembrance. JOHNS. [oj Sir Thos. Erpingham came over with Bolingbroke from Brentagne, and was one of the commissioners to receive Richard's abdication. EDWARDS. And, when the mind is quicken'd, out of doubt, Lend me thy cloak, sir Thomas.-Brothers both, Glo. We shall, my liege. [Ex. GLOS. and BED. Erp. Shall I attend your grace ? Go with my brothers to my lords of England: And then I would no other company. Erp. The Lord in heaven bless thee, noble Harry! K.Hen. God-a-mercy, old heart! thou speakest cheer[Exit ERP. fully. Pist. Qui va la ? K.Hen. A friend. Enter PISTOL. Pist. Discuss unto me; art thou officer? Or art thou base, common, and popular? K.Hen. I am a gentleman of a company. Pist. Trailest thou the puissant pike? K.Hen. Even so what are you? Pist. As good a gentleman as the emperor. K.Hen. Then you are a better than the king. Pist. The king's a bawcock, and a heart of gold, A lad of life, an imp of fame ; Of parents good, of fist most valiant : I kiss his dirty shoe, and from my heart-strings Pist. Le Roy! a Cornish name: art thou of Cornish crew? K.Hen. No, I am a Welshman. Pist. Knowest thou Fluellen ? K.Hen. Yes. Pist. Tell him, I'll knock his leek about his pate, Upon Saint Davy's day. K.Hen. Do not you wear your dagger in your cap that day, lest he knock that about yours. [7] Slough is the skin which the serpent annually throws off, and by the change of which he is supposed to regain new vigour and fresh youth. Legerity is lightness, nimbleness. JOHNS. Pist. Art thou his friend? K.Hen. And his kinsman too. Pist. The figo for thee then! K.Hen. I thank you: God be with you! K.Hen. It sorts well with your fierceness. Enter FLUELLEN and GoWER, severally. Gow. Captain Fluellen ! [Exit: Flu. So in the name of Cheshu Christ,speak lower. It is the greatest admiration in the universal 'orld, when the true and auncient perogatifes and laws of the wars is not kept: If you would take the pains but to examine the wars of Pompey the Great, you shall find, I warrant you, that there is no tiddle taddle, nor pibble pabble, in Pompey's camp; I warrant you, you shall find the ceremonies of the wars, and the cares of it, and the forms of it, and the sobriety of it, and the modesty of it, to be otherwise. Gow. Why, the enemy is loud: you heard him all night. Flu. If the enemy is an ass and a fool, and a prating coxcomb, is it meet, think you, that we should also, look you, be an ass, and a fool, and a prating coxcomb; in your own conscience now? Gow. I will speak lower. Flu. I pray you, and beseech you,that you will. [Exe: K.Hen. Though it appear a little out of fashion, There is much care and valour in this Welshman. Enter BATES, COURT, and WILLIAMS. Court. Brother John Bates, is not that the morning which breaks yonder? Bates. I think it be: but we have no great cause to desire the approach of day. Will. We see yonder the beginning of the day, but, I think, we shall never see the end of it.-Who goes there? K.Hen. A friend. Will. Under what captain serve you? K.Hen. Under sir Thomas Erpingham. Will. A good old commander, and a most kind gentleman I pray you, what thinks he of our estate? K.Hen. Even as men wrecked upon a sand, that look to be washed off the next tide. Bates. He hath not told his thought to the king? K.Hen. No; nor it is not meet he should. For, tho' I speak it to you, I think the king is but a man, as I am ; |