The Works of William Shakespeare, Complete

Make claim and title to the crown of France.
Hugh Capet also, that usurp'd the crown
Of Charles the duke of Lorain, sole heir male
Of the true line and stock of Charles the great,-
To fine his title with some show of truth,
(Though, in pure truth, it was corrupt and naught,)
Convey'd himself as heir to the lady Lingare,
Daughter to Charlemain, who was the son
To Lewis the emperor, and Lewis the son

Of Charles the great. Also king Lewis the tenth,
Who was sole heir to the usurper Capet,
Could not keep quiet in his conscience,
Wearing the crown of France, till satisfied
That fair queen Isabel, his grandmother,
Was lineal of the lady Ermengare,

Daughter to Charles the foresaid duke of Lorain:
By the which marriage, the line of Charles the great
Was re-united to the crown of France.

So that, as clear as is the summer's sun,
King Pepin's title, and Hugh Capet's claim,
King Lewis his satisfaction, all appear
To hold in right and title of the female:
So do the kings of France unto this day;
Howbeit they would hold up this Salique law,
To bar your highness claiming from the female;
And rather choose to hide them in a net,
Than amply to imbare their crooked titles
Usurp'd from you and your progenitors.

K. Hen. May I, with right and conscience, make
this claim?

Cant. The sin upon my head, dread sovereign!
For in the book of Numbers it is writ,-
When the son dies, let the inheritance
Descend unto the daughter. Gracious lord,
Stand for your own; unwind your bloody flag;
Look back unto your mighty ancestors:

Go, my dread lord, to your great grandsire's tomb,
From whom you claim! invoke his warlike spirit,
And your great uncle's, Edward the black prince;
Who on the French ground play'd a tragedy,
Making defeat on the full power of France;
Whiles his most mighty father on a hill
Stood smiling, to behold his lion's whelp
Forage in blood of French nobility.1
O noble English, that could entertain
With half their forces the full pride of France;
And let another half stand laughing by,
All out of work, and cold for action!

Ely. Awake remembrance of these valiant dead,
And with your puissant arm renew their feats;
You are their heir, you sit upon their throne;
The blood and courage, that renowned them,
Runs in your veins; and my thrice-puissant liege
Is in the very May-morn of his youth,
Ripe for exploits and mighty enterprises.
Exe. Your brother kings and monarchs of the
earth

Do all expect that you should rouse yourself,
As did the former lions of your blood.

West. They know your grace hath cause, and
means, and might;

So hath your highness; never king of England
Hath 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 right:
In aid whereof, we of the spirituality

Will raise your highness such a mighty sum,
As never did the clergy at one time
Bring in to any of your ancestors.

But that the Scot on his unfurnish'd kingdom
Came pouring, like the tide into a breachi,
With ample and brim fullness of his force;
Galling the gleaned land with hot essays;
Girding with grievous siege, castles and towns;
| That England, being empty of defence,
Hath shook, and trembled at the ill neighborhood.
Cant. She hath been then more fear'd' then
harm'd, my liege:

For hear her but exampled by herself,-
When all her chivalry hath been in France,
And she a mourning widow of her nobles,
She hath herself not only well defended,
But taken, and impounded as a stray,

The king of Scots, whom she did send to France,-
To fill king Edward's fame with prisoner kings;
And make your chronicle as rich with praise,
As is the ooze and bottom of the sea
With sunken wreek and sumless treasuries.
West. But there's a saying, very old and true,-
If that you will France win,
Then with Scotland first begin:

For once the eagle England being in prey,
To her unguarded nest the weasel Scot
Comes sneaking, and so sucks her princely eggs;
Playing the mouse, in absence of the cat,
To spoil and havoc more than she can eat.

Ere. It follows then, the cat must stay at home:
Yet that is but a curs'd necessity;
Since we have locks to safeguard necessaries,
And pretty traps to catch the petty thieves.
While that the armed hand doth fight abroad,
The advised head defends itself at home:
For government, though high, and low, and lower,
Put into parts, doth keep in one concent;
Congruing in a full and natural close,
Like music.

Cant.

True: therefore doth heaven divide
The state of man in divers functions,
Setting endeavor in continual motion;
To which is fixed, as an aim or butt,
Obedience: for so work the honey bees;
Creatures, that, by a rule in nature, teach
The act of order to a peopled kingdom.
They have a king, and oflicers of sorts:
Where some, like magistrates, correct at home;
Others, like merchants, venture trade abroad;
Others, like soldiers, armed in their stings,
Make boot upon the summer's velvet buds;
Which pillage they with merry march bring home
To the tent-royal of their emperor:
Who, busied in his majesty, surveys
The singing masons building roofs of gold;
The civil citizens kneading up the honey;
The poor mechanic porters crowding in
Their heavy burdens at his narrow gate;
The sad-ey'd justice, with his surly hum,
Delivering o'er to executors' pale
The lazy yawning drone. I this infer,-
That many things, having full reference
To one concent, may work contrariously;
As many arrows, loosed several ways,
Fly to one mark;

As many several ways meet in one town;
As many fresh streains run in one self sea;
As many lines close in the dial's centre;
So many a thousand actions, once afoot,
End in one purpose, and be all well borne
Without defeat. Therefore to France, my liege.
Divide your happy England into four;

K. Hen. We must not only arm to invade the Whereof take you one quarter into France,

French;

But lay down our proportions to defend
Against the Scot, who will make road upon us
With all advantages.

Cant. They of those marches, gracious sovereign,
Shall 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 intendments of the Scot,
Who hath been still a giddy neighbor to us;
For you shall read that my great grandfather
Never went with his forces into France,

7 Make showy or specious
Lay open.

8 Derived his title. 1 At the battle of Cressy. The borders of England and Scotland. General disposition.

And you withal shall make all Gallia shake.
If we, with thrice that power leit at home,
Cannot defend our own door from the dog,
Let us be worried; and our nation lose
The name of hardiness, and policy.

K. Hen. Call in the messengers, sent from the
dauphin.

[Exit an Attendant. The KING ascends his Throne.
Now are we well resolv'd: and,-by God's help,
And yours, the noble sinews of our power,-
France being ours, we'll bend it to our awe,
Or break it all to pieces: Or there we'll sit,
Ruling in large and ample empery,
O'er France, and all her almost kingly dukedoms;
Or lay these bones in an unworthy urn,

Tombless, with no remembrance over them:
Either our history shall, with full mouth,
Speak freely of our acts; or else our grave,
Like Turkish mute, shall have a tongueless mouth,
Not worshipp'd with a waxen epitaph.

Enter Ambassadors of France.

Now are we well prepar'd to know the pleasure
Of our fair cousin dauphin; for we hear,
Your greeting is from him, not from the king.
Amb. May it please your majesty, to give us leave
Freely to render what we have in charge;
Or shall we sparingly show you far off
The dauphin's meaning and our embassy?

K. Hen. We are no tyrant, but a Christian king;
Under whose grace our passion is a subject,
As are our wretches fetter'd in our prisons:
Therefore, with frank and with uncurbed plain-

ness,

Tell us the dauphin's mind.
Amb.
Thus then, in few.
Your highness, lately sending into France,
Did claim some certain dukedoms, in the right
Of your great predecessor, king Edward the third.
In answer of which claim, the prince our master
Says, that you savor too much of your youth;
And bids you be advis'd, there's nought in France,
That can be with a nimble galliard won;
You cannot revel into dukedoms there:
He therefore sends you, meeter for your spirit,
This tun of treasure; and, in lieu of this,
Desires you, let the dukedoms, that you claim,
Hear no more of you. This the dauphin speaks.
K. Hen. What treasure, uncle?
Exe.

Tennis-balls, my liege. K. Hen. We are glad, the dauphin is so pleasant with us,

His present, and our pains, we thank you for:
When we have match'd our rackets to these balls,
We will, in France, by God's grace, play a set,
Shall strike his father's crown into the hazard:1
Tell him, he hath made a match with such a
wrangler,

That all the courts of France will be disturb'd
With chaces. And we understand him well,
How he comes o'er us with our wilder days,
Not measuring what use we made of them.

We never valued this poor seat of England;
And therefore, living hence, did give ourself
To barbarous license; As 'tis ever common,
That men are merriest when they are from home
But tell the dauphin,-I will keep my state;
Be like a king, and show my sail of greatness,
When I do rouse me in my throne of France:
For that I have laid by my majesty,
And plodded like a man for working-days;
But I will rise there with so full a glory,
That I will dazzle all the eyes of France,
Yea, strike the dauphin blind to look on vs.
And tell the pleasant prince,-this mock of his
Hath turned his balls to gun-stones; and his soud
Shall stand sore charged for the wasteful vengeance
That shall fly with them: for many a thousand
widows

Shall this his mock mock out of their dear husbands;

Mock mothers from their sons, mock castles down;
And some are yet ungotten, and unborn,
That shall have cause to curse the dauphin's scorn.
But this lies all within the will of God,
To whom I do appeal; and in whose name,
Tell you the dauphin, I am coming on,
To venge me as I may, and to put forth
My rightful hand in a well-hallow'd cause.
So, get you hence in peace; and tell the dauphin,
His jest will savor but of shallow wit,
When thousands weep, more than did laugh atit.-
Convey them with sate conduct.-Fare you well.
[Exeunt Ambassadors.
Exe. This was a merry message.
K. Hen. We hope to make the sender blush at it.
[Descends from his Throne.
Therefore, my lords, omit no happy hour,
That may give furtherance to our expedition:
For we have now no thought in us but France;
Save those to God, that run before our business.
Therefore, let our proportions for these wars
Be soon collected; and all things thought upon,
That may, with reasonable swiftness, add
More feathers to our wings; for, God before,
We'll chide this dauphin at his father's door.
Therefore, let every man now task his thought,
That this fair action may on foot be brought.

[Exeunt

Enter CHORUS.

ACT II.

Chor. Now all the youth of England are on fire, And silken da!liance in the wardrobe lies; Now thrive the armorers, and honor's thought Reigns solely in the breast of every man: They sell the pasture now, to buy the horse; Following the mirror of all Christian kings, With winged heels, as English Mercuries. For now sits Expectation in the air; And hides a sword, from hilts unto the point, With crowns imperial, crowns, and coronets, Promis'd to Harry, and his followers. The French, advis'd by good intelligence

Of this most dreadful preparation,

Shake in their fear; and with pale policy

Seek to divert the English purposes.

O England!-model to thy inward greatness,

Like little body with a mighty heart,

What might'st thou do, that honor would thee do,
Were all thy children kind and natural!
But see thy fault! France hath in thee found out
A nest of hollow bosoms, which he fills
With treacherous crowns: and three corrupted

Ere he take ship for France, and in Southampton.
The abuse of distance, while we force a play.
Linger your patience on; and well digest
The sum is paid; the traitors are agreed;
The king is set from London; and the scene
Is now transported, gentles, to Southampton:
There is the playhouse now, there must you sit:
And thence to France shall we convey you safe,
And bring you back, charming the narrow seas
To give you gentle pass; tor, if we may,
We'll not offend one stomach with our play.
But, till the king comes forth, and not till then,
Unto Southampton do we shift our scene. [Exit
SCENE I-London. Before Quickly's House in
Eastcheap.

Enter NYM and BARDOLPH.

Bard. Well met, corporal Nym.
Nym. Good morrow, lieutenant Bardolph.
Burd. What, are ancient Pistol and you friends

yet?

Nym. For my part, I care not; I say little: but when time shall serve, there shall be smiles;-but that shall be as it may. I dare not fight; but I will wink, and hold out mine iron: It is a simple one; but what though? it will toast cheese; and it will endure cold as another man's sword will: and there's the humor of it.

Bard. I will bestow a breakfast, to make you friends; and we'll be all three sworn brothers to France; let it be so, good corporal Nym.

Nym. 'Faith, I will live so long as I may, that's the certain of it; and when I cannot live any longer 4 The throne.

Withdrawing from the court

I will do as I may: that is my rest, that is the rendezvous of it.

Bard. It is certain, corporal, that he is married to Nell Quickly: and, certainly, she did you wrong; for you were troth-plight to her.

Nym. I cannot tell; things must be as they may: men may sleep, and they may have their throats about them at that time; and some say, knives have edges. It must be as it may: though patience be a tired mare, yet she will plod. There must be conclusions. Well, I cannot tell.

Enter PISTOL and Mrs. QUICKLY.

Bard. Here comes ancient Pistol, and his wife:good coporal, be patient here.-How now, mine host Pistol?

Pist. Base tike, call'st thou me-host?
Now, by this hand, I swear, I scorn the term;
Nor shall my Nell keep lodgers.

Bard. Come, shall I make you two friends? We must to France together; Why, the devil, should we keep knives to cut one another's throats? Pist. Let floods o'erswell, and fiends for food howl on!

Nym. You'll pay me the eight shillings I won of you at betting?

Pist. Base is the slave that pays.

Nym. That now I will have; that's the humor of it.

Pist. As manhood shall compound; Push home. Bard. By this sword, he that makes the first thrust, I'll kill him; by this sword, I will.

Pist. Sword is an oath, and oaths must have their course.

Bard. Corporal Nym, an thou wilt be friends, be friends: an thou wilt not, why then be enemies with me too. Pr'ythee, put up.

Nym. I shall have my eight shillings, I won of you at betting?

Quick. No, by my troth, not long: for we cannot lodge and board a dozen or fourteen gentlewomen, Pist. A noble shalt thou have, and present pay that live honestly by the prick of their needles, but And liquor likewise will I give to thee, it will be thought we keep a bawdy-house straight. And friendship shall combine, and brotherhood: [NYM draws his sword.] O well-a-day, Lady, if he'll live by Nym, and Nym shall live by me;be not drawn now! O Lord! here's corporal Nym's Is not this just?-for I shall sutler be -now shall we have willful adultery and murder Unto the camp, and profits will accrue. committed. Good lieutenant Bardolph,-good cor- Give me thy hand. poral, offer nothing here.

Nym. Pish!

Pist. Pish for thee, Iceland dog! thou prick-ear'd cur of Iceland!

Quick. Good corporal Nym, show the valor of a man, and put up thy sword.

solus.

Nym. Will you shog off? I would have you [Sheathing his sword. Pist. Solus, egregious dog? O viper vile! The solus in thy most marvellous face; The solus in thy teeth, and in thy throat, And in thy hateful lungs, yea, in thy maw, perdy; And, which is worse, within thy nasty mouth! I do retort the solus in thy bowels: For I can take, and Pistol's cock is up, And lashing fire will follow.

Nym. I am not Barbason; you cannot conjure me. I have a humor to knock you indifferently well: If you grow foul with me, Pistol, I will scour you with my rapier, as I may, in fair terms: If you would walk off, I would prick your guts a little, in good terms, as I may; and that's the hu

mor of it.

Pist. O braggard vile, and damned furious wight! The grave doth gape, and doting death is near; Therefore exhale. [PISTOL and NYм draw. Bard. Hear me, hear me, what I say:-he that strikes the first stroke, I'll run him up to the hilts, as I am a soldier. [Draws. Pist. An oath of mickle might: and fury shall abate.

Give me thy fist, thy fore-foot to me give;
Thy spirits are most tall,

Nym. I will cut thy throat, one time or other, in fair terms; that is the humor of it.

Pist. Couple gorge, that's the word?-I thee defy

Nym. I shall have my noble?
Pist. In cash most justly paid.

Nym. Well, then, that's the humor of it.
Re-enter Mrs. QUICKLY.

Quick. As you ever came of women, come in of a burning quotidian tertian, that it is most laquickly to sir John: Ah, poor heart! he is so shaked

mentable to behold. Sweet men, come to him.

Nym. The king hath run bad humors on the knight, that's the even of it.

His heart is fracted and corroborate.
Pist. Nym, thou hast spoke the right;

Num. The king is a good king: but it must be as it may; he passes some humors, and careers. Pist. Let us condole the knight; for, lambkins, we will live. [Exeunt. SCENE II.-Southampton. A Council-Chamber. Enter EXETER, BEDFORD, and WESTMORELAND. Bed. 'Fore God, his grace is bold, to trust these

traitors.

Exe. They shall be apprehended by-and-by. West. How smooth and even they do bear themselves!

As if allegiance in their bosoms sat,
Crowned with faith, and constant loyalty.

Bed. The king hath note of all that they intend,
By interception which they dream not of.
Exe. Nay, but the man that was his bedfellow,
Whom he hath cloy'd and graced with princely
favors,-

That he should, for a foreign purse, so sell
His sovereign's life to death and treachery!
Trumpet sounds. Enter KING HENRY, SCROOP,
CAMBRIDGE, GREY, Lords, and Attendants.
K. Hen. Now sits the wind fair, and we will
aboard.

My lord of Cambridge,-and my kind lord of Masham,

And you, my gentle knight,-give me your thoughts:

Think you not, that the powers we bear with us, Will cut their passage through the force of France; Doing the execution, and the act,

For which we have in head' assembled them?

Scroop. No doubt, my liege, if each man do his best. K. Hen. I doubt not that: since we are well persuaded,

We carry not a heart with us from hence,
That grows not in a fair consent with ours;
Nor leave not one behind, that doth not wish
Success and conquest to attend on us.

Cam. Never was monarch better fear'd, and lov'd,
Than is your majesty; there's not. I think, a subject,
That sits in heart-grief and uneasiness
Under the sweet shade of your government.

Grey. Even those, that were your father's enemies, Have steep'd their galls in honey; and do serve you With hearts create of duty and of zeal.

A coin, value six shillings and eight-pence.

7 Force.

K. Hen. We therefore have great cause of thank- That admiration did not whoop at them: fulness;

And shall forget the office of our hand,
Sooner than quittance of desert and merit,
According to the weight and worthiness.

But thou, 'gainst all proportion, didst bring in
Wonder, to wait on treason, and on murder:
And whatsoever cunning fiend it was,
That wrought upon thee so preposterously,

Scroop. So service shall with steeled sinews toil; H'ath got the voice in hell for excellence:

And labor shall refresh itself with hope;
To do your grace incessant services.

K. Hen. We judge no less.-Uncle of Exeter,
Enlarge the man committed yesterday,
That rail'd against our person: we consider,
It was excess of wine that set him on;
And, on his more advice, we pardon him.

Scroop. That's mercy, but too much security:
Let him be punish'd, sovereign; lest example
Breed, by his sufferance, more of such a kind.
K. Hen. O, let us yet be merciful.

Cam. So may your highness, and yet punish too. Grey. You show great mercy, if you give him life,

After the taste of much correction.

And other devils, that suggest by treasons,
Do botch and bungle up damnation

With patches, colors, and with forms being fetch'd
From glistering semblances of piety;

But he, that temper'd thee, bade thee stand up,
Gave thee no instance why thou shouldst do trea-

son,

Unless to dub thee with the name of traitor.
If that same demon, that hath gull'd thee thus,
Should with his lion gait, walk the whole world,
He might return to vasty Tartar back,
And tell the legions-I can never win
A soul so easy as that Englishman's.
O, how hast thou with jealousy infected
The sweetness of affiance! Show men duitiful?

K. Hen. Alas, your too much love and care of me Why, so didst thou: Seem they grave and learned? Are heavy orisons' 'gainst this poor wretch. If little faults, proceeding on distemper, Shall not be wink'd at, how shall we stretch our eye, When capital crimes, chew'd, swallow'd, and digested,

Appear before us?-We'll yet enlarge that man,
Though Cambridge, Scroop, and Grey,-in their

dear care,

And tender preservation of our person,

Why, so didst thou: Come they of noble family?
Why, so didst thou: Seem they religious?
Why, so didst thou: Or are they spare in diet;
Free from gross passion, or of mirth, or anger;
Constant in spirit, not swerving with the blood;
Garnish'd and deck'd in modest complement;
Not working with the eye, without the ear,
And, but in purged judgment, trusting neither?
Such, and so finely bolted, didst thou seem:

Would have him punish'd. And now to our French And thus thy fall hath left a kind of blot,

causes;

Who are the late1 commissioners?

Cam. I one, my lord;

Your highness bade me ask for it to-day.

Scroop. So did you me, my liege.

Grey. And me, my royal sovereign.

K. Hen. Then, Richard, earl of Cambridge, there is yours;

There yours, lord Scroop of Masham;-and, sir

knight,

Grey of Northumberland, this same is yours:

To mark the full-fraught man, and best indued,
With some suspicion. I will weep for thee;
For this revolt of thine, methinks, is like
Another fall of man.-Their faults are open,
Arrest them to the answer of the law;-
And God acquit them of their practices!

Exe. I arrest thee of high treason, by the name of Richard earl of Cambridge.

I arrest thee of high treason, by the name of Henry lord Scroop of Masham.

I arrest thee of high treason, by the name of

Read them; and know, I know your worthiness.-Thomas Grey, knight of Northumberland.
My lord of Westmoreland,-and uncle Exeter,-
We will aboard to-night.-Why, how now, gentle-
men?

What see you in those papers, that you lose

So much complexion?-look ye, how they change?
Their cheeks are paper.--Why, what read you
there,

That hath so cowarded and chas'd your blood
Out of appearance?

Cam.
I do confess my fault:
And do submit me to your highness' mercy.
Grey. Scroop. To which we all appeal.

K. Hen. The mercy, that was quick in us but
late,

By your own counsel is suppress'd and kill'd:
You must not dare, for shame, to talk of mercy;
For your own reasons turn into your bosoms,
As dogs upon their masters, worrying them.-
See you, my princes, and my noble peers,
These English monsters! My lord of Cambridge
here,-

You know, how apt our love was, to accord
To furnish him with all appertinents
Belonging to his honor; and this man
Hath, for a few light crowns, lightly conspir'd
And sworn unto the practices of France,
To kill us here in Hampton: to the which,
This knight, no less for bounty bound to us
Than Cambridge is,-hath likewise sworn:-But O!
What shall I say to thee, lord Scroop; thou cruel,
Ingrateful, savage, and inhuman creature!
Thou, that didst bear the key of all my counsels,
That knew'st the very bottom of my soul,
That almost mightst have coin'd me into gold,
Wouldst thou have practis'd on me for thy use?
May it be possible, that foreign hire

Could out of thee extract one spark of evil,
That might annoy my finger? 'tis so strange,
That though the truth of it stands off as gross
As black from white, my eye will scarcely see it.
Treason, and murder, ever kept together,
As two yoke-devils sworn to either's purpose,
Working so grossly in a natural cause,

Scroop. Our purposes God justly hath discover'd;
And I repent my fault, more than my death;
Which I beseech your highness to forgive,
Although my body pay the price of it.

Cam. For me-the gold of France did not seduce;
Although I did admit it as a motive,
The sooner to effect what I intended:
But heaven be thanked for prevention;
Which I in sufferance heartily will rejoice,
Beseeching God, and you, to pardon me.

Grey. Never did faithful subject more rejoice
At the discovery of most dangerous treason,
Than I do at this hour joy o'er myself,
Prevented from a damned enterprise:

My fault, but not my body, pardon, sovereign.
K. Hen. God quit you in his mercy! Hear your

Receiv'd the golden earnest of our death;
Wherein you would have sold your king to
slaughter,

His princes and his peers to servitude,
His subjects to oppression and contempt,
And his whole kingdom unto desolation.
Touching our person, seek we no revenge:
But we our kingdom's safety must so tender,
Whose ruin you three sought, that to her laws
We do deliver you. Get you therefore hence,
Poor miserable wretches, to your death:
The taste whereof, God, of his mercy, give you
Patience to endure, and true repentance
Of all your dear offences!-Bear them hence.

[Exeunt Conspirators, guarded.
Now, lords, for France; the enterprise whereof
Shall be to you, as us, like glorious.
We doubt not of a fair and lucky war;
Since God so graciously hath brought to light
This dangerous treason, lurking in our way,
To hinder our beginnings, we doubt not now,
But every rub is smoothed on our way.
Then forth, dear countrymen; let us deliver
3 Rendered thee pliable. 4 Pace, step. 5 Tartarus.

Accomplishment.

7 Sifted.

SCENE III.-Mrs. QUICKLY'S House in Eastcheap. Enter PISTOL, Mrs. QUICKLY, NYM, BARDOLPH, and Boy.

Quick. Pr'ythee, honey-sweet husband, let me bring thee to Staines.

Pist. No; for my manly heart doth yearn.— Bardolph, be blithe;-Nym, rouse thy vaunting veins;

Boy, bristle thy courage up; for Falstaff he is dead, And we must yearn therefore.

Bard. 'Would, I were with him, wheresome'er he is, either in heaven, or in hell!

Quick. Nay, sure, he's not in hell; he's in Arthur's bosom, if ever man went to Arthur's bosom. 'A made a finer end, and went away, an it had been any christom child; 'a parted even just between twelve and one, c'en at turning o'the tide: for after I saw him fumble with the sheets, and play with flowers, and smile upon his finger's ends, I knew there was but one way; for his nose was as sharp as a pen, and 'a babbled of green fields. How now, sir John? quoth I: what, man! be of good cheer. So 'a cried out-God, God, God! three or four times: now I, to comfort him, bid him, 'a should not think of God; I hoped, there was no need to trouble himself with any such thoughts yet: So, 'a bade me lay more clothes on his feet: I put my hand into the bed, and felt them, and they were as cold as any stone; then I felt to his knees, and so upward, and upward, and all was cold as any stone.

Nym. They say, he cried out of sack.
Quick. Ay, that 'a did.

Bard. And of woman.
Quick. Nay, that 'a did not.

Boy. Yes, that 'a did; and said, they were devils incarnate.

Quick. 'A could never abide carnation: 'twas a color he never liked.

Boy. 'A said once, the devil would have him about women.

Quick. 'A did in some sort, indeed, handle women: but then he was rheumatic1 and talked of the whore of Babylon.

Boy. Do you not remember, 'a saw a flea stick upon Bardolph's nose; and 'a said, it was a black soul burning in hell-fire?

Bard. Well, the fuel is gone, that maintained that fire: that's all the riches I got in his service. Nym. Shall we shog off? the king will be gone from Southampton.

Pist. Come, let's away.-My love, give me thy lips.

Look to my chattels, and my moveables:
Let senses rule; the word is, Pitch and pay;
Trust none;

For oaths are straws, men's faiths are wafer cakes,
And hold-fast is the only dog, my duck;
Therefore, caveto be thy counsellor.

Go, clear thy crystals.-Yoke-fellows in arms,
Let us to France! like horse-leeches, my boys;
To suck, to suck, the very blood to suck!

Boy. And that is but unwholesome food, they say.
Pist. Touch her soft mouth and march.
Bard. Farewell, hostess.

[Kissing her.

Nym. I cannot kiss, that is the humor of it; but, adieu.

Pist. Let housewifery appear; keep close, I thee command.

Quick. Farewell; adieu.

[Exeunt.

Of Brabant, and of Orleans, shall make forth,-
And you, prince dauphin,-with all swift despatch
To line, and new repair, our towns of war,
With men of courage, and with means defendant:
For England his approaches makes as fierce,
As waters to the sucking of a gulf.
It fits us then, to be as provident
As fear may teach us, out of late examples
Left by the fatal and neglected English
Upon our fields.

Dau.

My most redoubted father,

It is most meet we arm us 'gainst the foe:
For peace itself should not so dull2 a kingdom,
(Though war, nor no known quarrel, were in
question,)

But that defences, musters, preparations,
Should be maintained, assembled, and collected,
As were a war in expectation.

Therefore, I say, 'tis meet we all go forth,
To view the sick and feeble parts of France:
And let us do it with no show of fear;
No, with no more, than if we heard that England
Were busied with a Whitsun morrice-dance:
For, my good liege, she is so idly king'd,
Her sceptre so fantastically borne
By a vain, giddy, shallow, humorous youth,
That fear attends her not.
Com.
O peace, prince dauphin!
You are too much mistaken in this king:
Question your grace the late ambassadors,—
With what great state he heard their embassy,
How well supplied with noble counsellors,
How modest in exception, and, withal,
How terrible in constant resolution,-
And you shall find his vanities fore-spent
Were but the outside of the Roman Brutus,
Covering discretion with a coat of folly;
As gardeners do with ordure hide those roots
That shall first spring, and be most delicate.
Dau. Well, 'tis not so, my lord high constable,
But though we think it so, it is no matter:
In cases of defence, 'tis best to weigh
The enemy more mighty than he seems,
So the proportions or defence are fill'd;
Which, of a weak and niggardly projection,
Doth, like a miser, spoil his coat, with scanting
A little cloth.

Fr. King.
Think we king Harry strong;
And, princes, look you strongly arm to meet him.
The kindred of him hath been flesh'd upon us;
And he is bred out of that bloody strain,*
That haunted us in our familiar paths:
Witness our too much memorable shame,
When Cressy battle fatally was struck,
And all our princes captiv'd, by the hand
Of that black name, Edward black prince of Wales;
Whiles that his mountain sire,-on mountain
standing,

Up in the air, crown'd with the golden sun,-
Saw his heroical seed, and smiled to see him
Mangle the work of nature, and deface
The patterns that by God and by French fathers
Had twenty years been made. This is a stem
Of that victorious stock; and let us fear
The native mightiness and fate of him.

Enter a Messenger.

Mess. Ambassadors from Henry king of England Do crave admittance to your majesty. Fr. King. We'll give them present audience. Go, and bring them.

[Exeunt Mess. and certain Lords. You see this chase is hotly follow'd, friends. Dau. Turn head, and stop pursuit: for coward dogs

Most spend their mouths, when what they seem to threaten,

Runs far before them. Good my sovereign,
Take up the English short; and let them know
Of what a monarchy you are the head:
Self-love, my liege, is not so vile a sin
As self-neglecting.

Re-enter Lords, with EXETER and Train.
Fr. King.
From our brother England?
Exe. From him: and thus he greets your ma

jesty.

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The Works of William Shakespeare, Complete: Accurately Printed from the Text ...