Orl. I have heard a sonnet begin so to one's mistress. Dau. Then did they imitate that which I composed to my courser; for my horse is my mistress.

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 a many superfluously; and 'twere more honour some were away.

Con. E'en 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 faced 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 prisoners? 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.

[Exit.

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 cared not who knew it.

Orl. He needs not, it is no hidden virtue in him.

Con. By my faith, sir, but it is; never anybody saw it, but his lackey 'tis a hooded valour; and, when it appears, it will bate.i

:

(1) 'Tis a hooded valour; and, when it appears, it will bate. Alluding to falcons which were kept hooded till it was time for them to fly at the game; when the hood was taken off they would bate or flap their wings. The meaning is, that the dauphin's valour has never yet been let loose on an enemy; when it is we shall see how he will flutter.

Orl. Ill will never said well.

Con. 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 placed; there stands your friend for the devil. Orl. 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 overshot.

Enter a Messenger.

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

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 the 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. It is now two o'clock; but, let me see,—by ten, We shall have each a hundred Englishmen.

[Exeunt.

CHORUS.

Now entertain conjecture of a time,

When creeping murmur, and the poring dark,
Fills the wide vessel of the universe.1

From camp to camp, through the foul womb of night,
The hum of either army stilly sounds,

That the fix'd sentinels almost receive

The secret whispers of each other's watch :2
Fire answers fire: and through their paly flames
Each battle sees the other's umber'd face :3
Steed threatens steed, in high and boastful neighs
Piercing the night's dull ear; and from the tents,
The armourers, accomplishing the knights,
With busy hammers closing rivets up,
Give dreadful note of preparation.

The country cocks do crow, the clocks do toll,
And the third hour of drowsy morning name.
Proud of their numbers, and secure in soul,
The confident and over-lusty French
Do the low-rated English play at dice ;5
And chide the cripple tardy-gaited night,
Who, like a foul and ugly witch, doth-limp

So tediously away. The poor condemned English,
Like sacrifices, by their watchful fires

Sit patiently, and inly ruminate

The morning's danger; and their gesture sad
Investing lank-lean cheeks, and war-worn coats,
Presenteth them unto the gazing moon

So many horrid ghosts. O, now, who will behold
The royal captain of this ruin'd band,

(1) Fills the wide vessel of the universe. Universe is here used for the horizon; the meaning is, that, the darkness fills the wide vessel of the horizon; the sky to us, as we look up at it, having the appearance of a vessel or goblet reversed, of which the horizon would be the rim.

(2) The secret whispers of each other's watch. Holinshed tells us that the distance between the two armies was only two hundred and fifty paces.

(3) Umber'd face; umber'd means here discoloured by the gleam of the watchfires.

(4)

The armourers, accomplishing the knights,
With busy hammers closing rivets up.

This alludes both to the rivetting of the armour before it was put on, and also to the fitting of some parts, more particularly the helmet and cuirass, after the knights had put them on.

(5) Do the low-rated English play at dice. This is taken from Holinshed:"The Frenchmen," he says, "in the mean while, as though they had been sure of victory, made great triumph, for the captaines had determined before how to divide the spoil, and the soldiers, the night before, had plaid the English at dice.”

Walking from watch to watch, from tent to tent,
Let him cry-Praise and glory on his head!
For forth he goes, and visits all his host;
Bids them good morrow, with a modest smile:
And calls them-brothers, friends, and countrymen.
Upon his royal face there is no note

How dread an army hath enrounded him;
Nor doth he dedicate one jot of colour
Unto the weary and all-watched night:1
But freshly looks, and overbears attaint
With cheerful semblance and sweet majesty;
That every wretch, pining and pale before,
Beholding him, plucks comfort from his looks:
A largess universal, like the sun,

His liberal eye doth give to every one,
Thawing cold fear, that mean and gentle all
Behold (as may unworthiness define)
A little touch of Harry in the night :
And so our scene must to the battle fly;
Where (O for pity!) we shall much disgrace-
With four or five most vile and ragged foils,
Right ill dispos'd in brawl ridiculous-
The name of Agincourt: Yet, sit and see;
Minding true things2 by what their mockeries be.

ACT IV.

SCENE I.—The English Camp at Agincourt.

Enter KING Henry, Bedford, and GLOSTER.

K. Hen. Gloster, 'tis true that we are in great danger; The greater therefore should our courage be.

Good morrow, brother Bedford.-God Almighty!

There is some soul of goodness in things evil,

Would men observingly distil it out;

For our bad neighbour makes us early stirrers,
Which is both healthful and good husbandry:

(1) Nor doth he dedicate, &c., i. e. He has not allowed the weariness and the watching of the night past to deprive him of his good looks.

(2) Minding true things. To mind is here used for to call to remembrance. This expression is still common in some parts of England. "Do you mind it?" is valent to "Do you recollect it?"

Besides, they are our outward consciences,
And preachers to us all; admonishing
That we should dress us1 fairly for our end.
Thus may we gather honey from the weed,
And make a moral of the devil himself.

Enter ERPINGHAM.

Good morrow, old sir Thomas Erpingham :
A good soft pillow for that good white head
Were better than a churlish turf of France.

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 pains,
Upon example; so the spirit is eas'd:

And, when the mind is quicken'd, out of doubt,
The organs, though defunct and dead before,
Break up their drowsy grave, and newly move
With casted slough' and fresh legerity.

Lend me thy cloak, Sir Thomas :-brothers both,
Commend me to the princes in our camp;

Do my good-morrow to them; and, anon,
Desire them all to my pavilion.

Glo. We shall, my liege.

Erp. Shall I attend your grace?

K. Hen.

[Exeunt GLO. and BED.

No, my good knight;

Go with my brothers to my lords of England:

I and my bosom must debate awhile,

And then I would no other company.

Erp. The Lord in heaven bless thee, noble Harry!

[Exit ERPINGHAM. K. Hen. God-a-mercy, old heart, thou speak'st cheerfully.

Pist. Qui va là?

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. Trail'st thou the puissant pike?
K. Hen. Even so: What are you?
Pist. As good a gentleman as the emperor.

(1) Dress us, i. e. address ourselves or prepare ourselves for. To address or dress is used in this sense in "Pilgrim's Progress;" "Christian began to gird up his loins, and to address himself to his journey."

(2) With casted slough. The slough is the skin which the serpent casts every year.

S