My army but a weak and sickly guard;
Yet, God before, tell him we will come on,
Though France himself and such another neigh-
bour

Stand in our way. There's for thy labour,
Montjoy.

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.

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Mont. I shall deliver so.1 Thanks to your highness. [Exit.

Glo. I hope they will not come upon us now. King. We are in God's hand, brother, not in theirs.

March to the bridge; it now draws towards night:

Beyond the river we'll encamp ourselves, 180 And on to-morrow bid them march away.

[Exeunt.

SCENE VII. The French camp, near Agincourt.

Enter the CONSTABLE OF FRANCE, the LORD RAMBURES, 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.

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Dau. And of the heat of the ginger. It is a beast for Perseus: he is pure air and fire; 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; and all other jades you may call beasts. 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.

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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: 't is 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: "Wonder of nature,"

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Dau. Be warned 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 his own hair.

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

Dau. Le chien est retourné à son propre vomissement, et la truie lavée au bourbier:1 thou makest use of any thing.

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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 faced out of my way: but I would it were morning; for I would fain be about the ears of the English.]

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Con. By my faith, sir, but it is; never any body saw it but his lackey:2 't is a hooded valour; and when it appears, it will bate.3

[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: have at the very eye of that proverb, with-A pox of the devil.

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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.

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Orl. What a wretched and peevish fellow is this king of England, to mope with his fatbrain'd followers so far out of his knowledge!

Con. If the English had any apprehension,7 they would run away.

2 But his lackey, i.e. the only person he has had courage to beat is his lackey. 3 Bate, i.e. flutter, like a hawk. 4 Bolt, a blunt-headed arrow.

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;
And chide the cripple tardy-gaited night
Who, like a foul and ugly witch, doth limp
So tediously away. The poor condemned

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6 Over-lusty, over merry.

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.

behold

O now, who will

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,
But freshly looks and over-bears attaint 10
With cheerful semblance and sweet majesty; 40
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;

7 No note, nothing to show.

8 Enrounded, surrounded.

All-watched, spent in watching.

10 Over-bears attaint, conceals his anxiety

40

Pist. Discuss unto me; art thou officer? Or art thou base, common, and popular?5 King. I am a gentleman of a company. Pist. Trail'st thou the puissant pike? King. Even so. What are you? Pist. As good a gentleman as the emperor. King. 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 heart-string
I love the lovely bully.-What is thy name?
King. Harry le Roi.

Pist. Le Roy! a Cornish name: art thou of Cornish crew?

King. No, I am a Welshman.

Pist. Know'st thou Fluellen?

King. Yes.

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Pist. Tell him, I'll knock his leek about his pate

Upon Saint Davy's day.

1 Legerity, alacrity (Fr. légèreté). 2 Desire, invite.

3 God-a-mercy, God have mercy.

4 Qui va là? "who goes there?"

Popular, plebeian.

Bawcock, from Fr. beau coq.=fine cock.

7 Imp, youngster.

Enter FLUELLEN and Gower.

Gow. Captain Fluellen!

Flu. So! in the name of Cheshu Christ, speak lower. It is the greatest admiration in the universal 'orld, when the true and auncient prerogatifs 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 10 nor pibble-pabble11 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.

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