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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 English prifoners?

Con. You must first go yourself to hazard ere you have them.

Dau. 'Tis mid-night, 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

oath.

may tread out the

Orl. He is fimply the most active gentlemen of France.

Con. Doing is activity, and he will ftill be doing. Orl. He never did harm, that I heard of.

Con. Nor will do none to-morrow: he will keep that good name ftill.

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 car'd not who knew it.

Orl. He needs not, it is no hidden virtue in him. Con. By my faith, Sir, but it is; never any body faw it, but his lacquey; 'tis a hooded valour, and when it appears, it will bate.

Orl. Ill-will never faid 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 plac'd; there ftands your friend for the devil; have at the very eye of that proverb with, A pox on the devil!

Orl. You are the better at proverbs, by how much a fool's bolt is foon fhot.

Con. You have fhot over.

Orl. 'Tis not the first time

Mess

MY

you were over-flot.

X.

SCENE

Enter a Messenger.

Y Lord high Conftable, the English lie within fifteen hundred paces of your tents.

Con. Who hath meafur'd the ground?

Me. The lord Grandpree.

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-brain'd followers fo far out of his knowledge?

Con. If the English had any apprehenfion, 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 Ifland of England breeds very valiant creatures; their maltiffs are of unmatchable courage.

Orl. Foolish curs, that run winking into the mouth of a Ruffian Bear, and have their heads crush'd like rotten apples. You may as well fay, that's a valiant Flea, that dares eat his breakfast on the lip of a Lion.

Con. Juft, juft; and the men do sympathize with the maftiffs in robuftious and rough coming on, leaving their wits with their wives; and then give them great meals of beef, and iron and fteel, they will eat like wolves, and fight like devils.

Orl, Ay; but these English are fhrewdly out of beef. Con. Then fhall we find to-morrow, they have only ftomachs to eat, and none to fight. Now is it time to arm; come, fhall we about it?

Orl.

Orl. 'Tis two o'clock; but (let me fee) by ten, We fhall have each a hundred Englishmen. [Exeunt.

N

A C T IV. SCENE I.

AGINCOURT.

Enter CHORUS.

OW entertain conjecture of a time,

When creeping murmur, and the poring dark, Fills the wide veffel of the univerfe.

From camp to camp, through the foul womb of night,
The hum of either army ftilly founds;

That the fixt centinels almoft receive
The fecret whispers of each other's watch.
Fire anfwers fire; and through their paly flames
Each battle fees the other's umber'd face,
Steed threatens fteed, in high and boastful neighs
Piercing the night's dull ear; and from the tents,
The armourers accomplishing the knights,
With bufy hammers clofing rivets up,
Give dreadful note of preparation.

The country cocks do crow, the clocks do toll:
And (the third hour of drowsy morning nam'd)
Proud of their numbers and fecure in foul,
The confident and over-lufty French

Do the low rated English play at dice;
And chide the cripple tardy-gaited night,
Who, like a foul and ugly witch, does limp

So tedioufly away. The poor condemned English.
Like facrifices, by their watchful fires

Sit patiently, and inly ruminate

The morning's danger; and their gesture fad,

* Invest in lank-lean cheeks and war-worn coats,

* Invefting lank-lean cheeks, &c.] A Gesture investing Cheeks and Coats is Nonsense. We fhould read, Invest in lank lean cheeks, which is Sense, i. e. their fad Gesture was cloth'd, or fet off, in Lean-cheeks and won Coats. The Image is ftrong and picturesque.

Pre

Presented them unto the gazing moon
So many horrid ghofts. Who now beholds
The royal captain of this ruin'd band

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 hoft,

Bids them good-morrow with a modeft fmile,
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:
But freshly looks and over-bears attaint,
With chearful femblance and fweet majefty:
That ev'ry wretch, pining and pale before,
Beholding him, plucks comfort from his looks.
A largefs univerfal, like the fun,

His lib'ral eye doth give to every one,
Thawing cold fear. Then mean, and gentle, all
Behold, (as may unworthinefs define)
A little touch of Harry in the night.
And fo our scene must to the battle fly:
Where, O for pity! we shall much difgrace,
With four or five most vile and ragged foils,
(Right ill difpos'd, in brawl ridiculous)
The name of Agincourt. Yet fit and fee,
Minding true things by what their mock'ries be. [Exit.

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The English Camp, at Agincourt.

Enter King Henry, Bedford and Gloucefter. K. Henry. GLOU'STER, 'tis true, that we are in

great danger;

The greater therefore fhou'd our courage be.
Good-morrow, brother Bedford: God Almighty!

There

There is fome foul 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.
Befides, they are our outward confciences,
And preachers to us all; admonishing,
That we should 'dress us 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 foft pillow for that good white head
Were better than a churlifh turf of France.

Erping. Not fo, my Liege; this lodging likes me better;

Since I may fay, now lie I like a King.

K. Henry. 'Tis good for men to love their present pain

Upon example; so the spirit is eased:

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 cafted flough 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
Defire them all to my pavillion.

Glou. We fhall, my Liege.

Erping. Shall I attend your grace?

K. Henry. No, my good knight;

Go with my brothers to my lords of England:
I and my bofom must debate a while,

And then I would no other company.

Erping. The Lord in heaven blefs thee, noble Harry!

[Exeunt. K. Henry, God-a-mercy, old heart, thou fpeak'st chearfully.

SCENE

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