IN the construction of this play, Shakespeare appears to have felt himself more than usually confined and fettered by the smallness of the theatres, and the rude state of dramatic art in his age. Participating largely in the affection borne by the English nation to the memory of Henry the Fifth, the poet deeply regretted the poor and bare nature of that medium through which his drama was to be made known to his countrymen. Although it does not rank among his best and most powerful plays, he has evidently bestowed great care upon it: he was desirous that the memory of his favourite king should be gilded by the brightest coruscations of his genius, and be embalmed in the glorious robes of imperishable poetry. Anxious to do every justice to the subject, Shakespeare, contrary to his usual custom, has adopted a Chorus, to prepare the minds of the spectators; to solicit indulgence for unavoidable imperfections in representation; and to explain what is supposed to pass between the acts of the drama. Of this innovation on the established usage of the English drama, Dr. Johnson has said "The lines given to the Chorus have many admirers; but the truth is, that in them a little may be praised, and much must be forgiven; nor can it be easily discovered why the intelligence given by the Chorus is more necessary in this play than in many others where it is omitted." more brilliant than had been achieved even by And whipp'd the offending Adam out of him; To envelop and contain celestial spirits." As a monarch, he is drawn with great spirit and power; he is sincere, magnanimous, eloquent, and pious, though it must be confessed his piety is often of a very convenient character. His address to his army before the walls of Harfleur, is a model of military oratory, full of manly fire and enthusiasm. We can fancy the soldiers listening with set teeth, dilated nostrils, and flashing eyes, and then again following him with resistless fury to the breach in the walls of the besieged city. In his warning to the governor of Harfleur, is contained the most terribly eloquent description of war in the English language. No This play being chiefly the record of a single battle, a subject in itself more epic than dramatic, Shakespeare employed the former style to convey, by description, that which could not be condensed into representation. The play would In this play we hear the last of Falstaff; his be absolutely unintelligible without the accom- death is related by Mrs. Quickly. We cannot paniment of a descriptive Chorus. For instance, help feeling sad for the poor old knight, dying two years elapse between the fourth and fifth in an inn, surrounded only by rude dependents, acts--that is, between Henry's return to England and the faithful hostess, whom we respect for after the victory of Agincourt, and his second her kind attachment to him to the last. expedition to France; still, the fourth act termi-wife or child is near; no gentle kindred hand to nates in France, and the fifth commences there, which would give rise to error and confusion, if the Chorus did not play the "interim, by remembering you-'tis past." Dr. Johnson, though he was an acute critic, and, notwithstanding his occasional ill-temper with our poet, generally an appreciative one, has much underrated these speeches of the Chorus. They are interesting, vigorous, and poetical: the first eight lines of the introduction are grand and picturesque: the comparison of "warlike Harry," prepared for conquest, to Mars, with Famine, Sword, and Fire, leashed in like hounds, and crouching at his feet for employment, is a very martial and spiritstirring metaphor-a blast on war's brazen trumpet, admirably calculated to prepare the mind for the chivalric display about to be presented. The description also of the English army the night before the battle, where the sick and dispirited soldiers sit with "umbered" faces by their watch-fires, like sacrifices, is very effective. The poet has carefully elaborated the character of Henry: he introduces him into three dramas; carries him uncontaminated through scenes of riot and dissipation; represents him repenting his lost hours with tears of shame and affection, at the feet of his father; and, on his accession to the "golden rigol," after winning the good graces of prelates, nobility, and people, and passing undaunted through a fearful ordeal, such as would have overwhelmed many a stout heart, leaves him on a summit of military glory do kind offices in the hour of weakness and despondency. The scene between the Welsh, Irish, and Scotch captains, each speaking in his peculiar patois, is very humorous; but these three do not amount to one Falstaff. The episode between Pistol and the French soldier, whom, by his fierce looks, he frightens into paying a good ransom for his life, is much richer: but the crown of mirth, in this play, is where the Welshman cudgels Pistol, and makes him eat his leek for having mocked him respecting it. All the group that surrounded Falstaff are here disposed of: Bardolph and Nym are hanged; the boy is killed by the flying French soldiers after the battle; Mrs. Quickly dies in the hospital; and Pistol sneaks home to disgrace and obscurity. Although there is tragic matter enough in this play, it ends like a comedy-with a marriage of convenience. Henry espoused the princess Katharine on the 2nd of June, 1418, in the church of St. John, at Troyes. The next day, after he had given a splendid banquet, it was proposed by the French that the event should be honoured by a series of tournaments and public rejoicings. This Henry would not sanction. "I pray, " said he to the French monarch, "my lord the king to permit, and I command his servants and mine to be all ready to-morrow morning to go and lay siege to Sens, wherein are our enemies: there every man may have jousting and tourneying enough, and may give proof of his prowess; for there is no finer prowess than that of doing justice on the wicked, in order that the poor people may breathe and live." In the exhibition of this courage, activity, and feeling for the lower orders, lay the secret of Henry's popularity. He lived four years after his marriage, a period which Shakespeare has left unrecorded; but the death of this heroic king was a scene for the poet. Still only in his thirty-fourth year-a conqueror in the full blaze of military glory-a king beloved by his people almost to idolatry-the husband of a young, beautiful, and accomplished wife, and the father of an infant son-this world was to him a demi-paradise, an earthly Eden; still he breathed his last without one complaint, and was himself calm and resigned, though all around wept as they promised to protect his wife and child. The solemn pomp displayed at his funeral was extraordinary; no such procession had hitherto attended the remains of any English king. His funeral car was preceded and flanked by a crowd of heralds, banner-bearers, and priests clothed in white and carrying lighted torches; and it was followed by some hundreds of knights and esquires in black armour and plumes, with their lances reversed in token of mourning; while, far in the rear, travelled the young widow, with a gorgeous and numerous retinue. She, however, does not appear to have been inconsolable, for she was married again shortly after Henry's death, to a Welsh gentleman, Sir Owen Tudor, one of the handsomest men of his time. She brought him two sons, of whom the eldest, Edmund, was created Earl of Richmond; and his son afterwards ascended the English throne, under the title of Henry VII. Henry the Fifth was produced in 1599; it was entered on the Stationers' books, August 14th, 1600; and printed in the same year. King Henry the Fifth. KING HENRY THE FIFTH. Persons Represented. DUKE OF GLOSTER, Brothers to the King. DUKE OF EXETER, Uncle to the King. Boy, Servant to them. A Herald. Chorus. DUKES OF BURGUNDY, ORLEANS, and BOURBon. EARLS OF SALISBURY, WESTMORELAND, and RAMBURES and GRANDPRE, French Lords. ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. BISHOP OF ELY. EARL OF CAMBRIDGE, Conspirators against the LORD SCROOP, Sir THOMAS GREY, King. Sir THOMAS ERPINGHAM, GOWER, FLUELLEN, BATES, COURT, WILLIAMS, Soldiers in the same. Governor of Harfleur. MONTJOY, a French Herald. ISABEL, Queen of France. KATHARINE, Daughter of Charles and Isabel. Lords, Ladies, Officers, French and English SCENE. At the beginning of the Play lies in England; but afterwards wholly in France. Enter Chorus. Chorus. O, FOR a muse of fire, that would ascend An allusion to the circular form of + Powers of fancy. Attest, in little place, a million; And let us, ciphers to this great accompt, Printing their proud hoofs i' the receiving earth: Carry them here and there; jumping o'er times; the Admit me chorus to this history; Who, prologue-like, your humble patience pray, Act First. SCENE 1.-London. An Ante-chamber in the King's Palace. Enter the ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY and BISHOP OF ELY. Cant. My lord, I'll tell you, that self bill is urg'd, [reign, Which, in the eleventh year o' the last king's Was like, and had indeed against us pass'd, But that the scambling and unquiet time Did push it out of further question. Ely. But how, my lord, shall we resist it now? Cant. It must be thought on. If it pass against us, We lose the better half of our possession: Full fifteen earls, and fifteen hundred knights; Of indigent faint souls past corporal toil, [bill. A thousand pounds by the year: Thus runs the Ely. This would drink deep. Cant. "Twould drink the cup and all. Ely. But what prevention? Cant. The king is full of grace and fair regard. Ely. And a true lover of the holy church. Cant. The courses of his youth promis'd it not. The breath no sooner left his father's body, But that his wildness, mortified in him, Seem'd to die too: yea, at that very moment, Consideration like an angel came, And whipp'd the offending Adam out of him; To envelop and contain celestial spirits. With such a heady current, scouring faults; [it, And the mute wonder lurketh in men's ears, • Listen to. [nettle; + Increasing. And so the prince obscured his contemplation Under the veil of wildness; which, no doubt, Grew like the summer grass, fastest by night, Unseen, yet crescive † in his faculty. Cant. It must be so: for miracles are ceas'd; And therefore we must needs admit the means How things are perfected. Ely. Cant. But, my good lord, And in regard of causes now in hand, Ely. How did this offer seem receiv'd, my lord? Of his true titles to some certain dukedoms; [stant, Cant. The French ambassador, upon that inCrav'd audience: and the hour, I think, is come To give him hearing: Is it four o'clock ? Ely. It is. Cant. Then go we in, to know his embassy; Which I could, with a ready guess, declare, Before the Frenchman speak a word of it. Ely. I'll wait upon you; and I long to hear it. [Exeunt. SCENE II. A Room of State in the same. Enter KING HENRY, GLOSTER, BEDFORD, EXETter, WARWICK, WESTMORELAND, and Attendants. K. Hen. Where is my gracious lord of CanExe. Not here in presence. [terbury? K. Hen. Send for him, good uncle. West. Shall we call in the ambassador, my liege? [resolv'd, K. Hen. Not yet, my cousin; we would be Before we hear him, of some things of weight That task our thoughts, concerning us and France. Enter the ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY, and BISHOP OF ELY. Cant. God and his angels guard your sacred And make you long become it! [throne, K. Hen. Or nicely charge your understanding soul For never two such kingdoms did contend There left behind and settled certain French; Of Blithild, which was daughter to King Clothair, Convey'd himself as heir to the Lady Lingare, Of Charles the Great. Also King Lewis the Tenth, Howbeit they would hold up this Salique law, K. Hen. May I, with right and conscience, make this claim? Cant. The sin upon my head, dread sovereign! Who on the French ground play'd a tragedy, Ely. Awake remembrance of these valiant dead, Exe. Your brother kings and monarchs of the earth Do all expect that you should rouse yourself, West. They know your grace hath cause, and means, and might; So hath your highness; never king of England Had nobles richer, and more loyal subjects; Whose hearts have left their bodies here in England, And lie pavilion'd in the fields of France. Cant. O, let their bodies follow, my dear liege, With blood, and sword, and fire, to win your In aid whereof, we of the spirituality [right: Will raise your highness such a mighty sum, As never did the clergy at one time Bring in to any of your ancestors. [French, K. Hen. We must not only arm to invade the But lay down our proportions to defend Against the Scot, who will make road upon us With all advantages. [reign, Cant. They of those marches, gracious soveShall be a wall sufficient to defend Our inland from the pilfering borderers. K. Hen. We do not mean the coursing snatchers only, But fear the main intendment** of the Scot, For hear her but exampled by herself,- But taken, and impounded as a stray, Exe. It follows, then, the cat must stay at home: Since we have locks to safeguard necessaries, For government, though high, and low, and Put into parts, doth keep in one concent; Cant. France being ours, we'll bend it to our awe, Enter Ambassadors of France. Now are we well prepared to know the pleasure Freely to render what we have in charge; K. Hen. We are no tyrant, but a Christian Unto whose grace our passion is as subject The state of man in divers functions, The lazy yawning drone. I this infer,- As many several ways meet in one town; [ness, Amb. In answer of which claim, the prince our master That can be with a nimble galliard won; with us; His present, and your pains, we thank you for: That all the courts of France will be disturb'd That shall fly with them: for many a thousand down; |