The

vapour of our valour will o'erturn them. 'Tis positive 'gainst all exceptions, lords,

That our superfluous lackeys, and our peasants,-
Who, in unnecessary action, swarm

About our squares of battle, were enow
Το purge this field of such a hilding foe,
Though we, upon this mountain's basis by
Took stand for idle speculation :

But that our honours must not. What's to say?
A very little-little let us do,

And all is done. Then let the trumpets sound
The tucket-sonance, and the note to mount;
For our approach shall so much dare the field,
That England shall couch down in fear, and yield.

Enter GRANDPRÉ.

GRAND. Why do you stay so long, my lords of
France?

Yond island carrions,(1) desperate of their bones,
Ill-favour'dly become the morning field:
Their ragged curtains poorly are let loose,
And our air shakes them passing scornfully.
Big Mars seems bankrupt in their beggar'd host,
And faintly through a rusfy beaver peeps.
The horsemen sit like fixed candlesticks,

With torch-staves in their hand: and their poor jades

Lob down their heads, dropping the hides and hips,

The gum down-roping from their pale-dead

The gimmal-bit-] Spelt Iymold, in the old text. A bit in two parts; and so called from the Latin gemellus, double or twinned.

1 stay but for my guard; on, &c.] A correspondent of Mr. Knight's ingeniously suggests, what certainly seems called for by the context, that we ought to read,

"I stay but for my guidon.-To the field!" The emendation is enforced, too, by a passage in Holinshed, where, speaking of the French, he says, "They thought themselves so sure of victory, that diverse of the noblemen made such haste towards the battle, that they left many of their servants and men of war behind them, and some of them would not once

Lies foul with chaw'd grass, still and motionless;
And their executors, the knavish crows,
Fly o'er them, all impatient for their hour.
Description cannot suit itself in words,

To demonstrate the life of such a battle
In life so lifeless as it shows itself.

CON. They have said their prayers, and they stay for death.

DAU. Shall we go send them dinners and fresh suits,

And give their fasting horses provender,
And after fight with them?

CON. I stay but for my guard;" on, to the field:

I will the banner from a trumpet take,
And use it for my haste. Come, come away!
The sun is high, and we outwear the day.

[Exeunt.

SCENE III.-The English Camp.

Enter the English Host; GLOUCESTER, BEDFORD, EXETER, SALISBURY, and WESTMORELAND.

GLO. Where is the king?

BED. The king himself is rode to view their battle.

WEST. Of fighting men they have full threescore thousand.

EXE. There's five to one; besides, they all are fresh.

SAL. God's arm strike with us! 'tis a fearful odds.

God buy' you, princes all; I'll to my charge:
If we no more meet, till we meet in heaven,
Then, joyfully, my noble lord of Bedford,--
My dear lord Gloster,-and my good lord Exeter,
And my kind kinsman,-warriors all, adieu!
BED. Farewell, good Salisbury, and good luck
go with thee!

EXE. Farewell, kind lord; fight valiantly today:

And yet I do thee wrong to mind thee of it,a
For thou art fram'd of the firm truth of valour.
[Exit SALISBURY.
BED. He is as full of valour, as of kindness,
Princely in both.
WEST.

O that we now had here

stay for their standards; as amongst other the Duke of Brabant, when his standard was not come, caused a banner to be taken from a trumpet, and fastened to a speare, the which he commanded to be borne before him, instead of a standard."

e God buy' you, princes all;] God buy' is the same as our "Good-bye,"-a corruption of "God be with you;" and in this instance, for the sake of the metre, the old form of it should be retained.

d And yet I do thee wrong, &c.] The last two lines in this speech are annexed to the preceding one of Bedford in the folio: the present arrangement was suggested by Thirlby.

For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more!

Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host,

That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made,
And crowns for convoy put into his purse:
We would not die in that man's company,
That fears his fellowship to die with us.
This day is call'd-the feast of Crispian : (2)
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam'd,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that outlives this day, and sees old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his friends,*
And say, To-morrow is saint Crispian :
Then will he strip his sleeve, and show his scars,
And say, These wounds I had on Crispin's day."
Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
But he'll remember, with advantages,

What feats he did that day. Then shall our

names,

Familiar in their mouths as household words,—c
Harry the king, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloster,-
Be in their flowing cups freshly remember'd.
This story shall the good man teach his son ;
And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by
From this day to the ending of the world,
But we in it shall be remembered,—

(*) First folio, neighbours.

a He that outlives this day, and sees old age,-] This is from the quartos, and is surely preferable to the lection of the folio:"He that shall see this day, and live old age."

b And say, These wounds I had on Crispin's day.] This line is found only in the quartos.

We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me,
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England, now a-bed,
Shall think themselves accurs'd, they were not
here;

And hold their manhoods cheap, whiles any speaks,

That fought with us upon saint Crispin's day.

Re-enter SALISBURY.

SAL. My sovereign lord, bestow yourself with speed:

The French are bravely in their battles set,
And will with all expedience charge on us.

K. HEN. All things are ready, if our minds be

So.

WEST. Perish the man, whose mind is backward

now!

K. HEN. Thou dost not wish more help from England, coz?

WEST. God's will, my liege, would you and I

alone!

Tucket. Enter MONTJOY.

MONT. Once more I come to know of thee,
king Harry,

If for thy ransom thou wilt now compound,
Before thy most assured overthrow:
For, certainly, thou art so near the gulf,
Thou needs must be englutted. Besides, in mercy,
The constable desires thee thou wilt mind
Thy followers, of repentance; that their souls
May make a peaceful and a sweet retire
From off these fields, where, wretches, their poor
bodies
Must lie and fester.
K. HEN.
Who hath sent thee now?
MONT. The constable of France.
K. HEN. I pray thee, bear my
back;

Bid them achieve me, and then sell

former answer

my

bones.

e Familiar in their mouths as household words,-] So the quartos. In the folio the line runs,

"Familiar in his mouth as household words."

d Shall gentle his condition:] "King Henry V. inhibited any person but such as had a right by inheritance, or grant, to assume coats of arms, except those who fought with him at the battle of Agincourt; and, I think, these last were allowed the chief seats of honour at all feasts and publick meetings."-TOLLET.

many of our bodies shall no doubt

Find native graves; upon the which, I trust,

a

Shall witness live in brass of this day's work:
And those that leave their valiant bones in France,
Dying like men, though buried in your dunghills,
They shall be fam'd; for there the sun shall greet
them,

And draw their honours recking up to heaven,
Leaving their earthly parts to choke your clime,
The smell whereof shall breed a plague in France.
Mark, then, abounding valour in our English;
That, being dead, like to the bullet's grazing,*
Break out into a second course of mischief,
Killing in relapse of mortality.

Let me speak proudly:-Tell the constable
We are but warriors for the working day:
Our gayness and our gilt are all besmirch'd
With rainy marching in the painful field;
There's not a piece of feather in our host,
(Good argument, I hope, we will not fly,)
And time hath worn us into slovenry:
But, by the mass, our hearts are in the trim:
And my poor soldiers tell me-
—yet ere night
They'll be in fresher robes, or they will pluck

The

gay new coats o'er the French soldiers' heads, And turn them out of service. If they do this, (As, if God please, they shall,) my ransom then Will soon be levied. Herald, save thou thy labour;

Come thou no more for ransom, gentle herald; They shall have none, I swear, but these my

joints,

Which if they have as I will leave 'em them,
Shall yield them little, tell the constable.
MONT. I shall, king Harry. And so, fare thee

well:

[Exit.

Thou never shalt hear herald any more. K. HEN. I fear thou wilt once more come again for ransom.b

(*) Old text, crasing.

Shall witness live in brass-] The effigy, engraved on brass, of John Leventhorp, Esq. one of the heroes of Agincourt, who died in 1133, still remains in Sawbridgeworth church, Herts. I fear thou wilt once more come again for ransom.] This is not in the quartos; and the folio has,

"Qualitie calmie custure me."

"I fear thou wilt once more come again for a ransom." Quality! cality! construe me, art thou a gentleman?] In the folio (the line is not found in the quartos) this is printed, Sonet of a Lover in the Praise of his Lady, to Calen o custure me, Malone, having met with "A sung at every line's end," concluded that the incomprehensible Jargon of the folio was nothing else than this very burden, and he accordingly gave the line,

"Quality? Calen o custure me." Subsequently, Boswell discovered that "Callino, castore me" is an old Irish song, still preserved in Playford's" Musical Companion." The line is now, therefore, usually printed,—

Enter the DUKE of YORK.

YORK. My lord, most humbly on my knee I beg

The leading of the vaward.

K. HEN. Take it, brave York.-Now, soldiers, march away:

And how thou pleasest, God, dispose the day! [Exeunt.

SCENE IV.-The Field of Battle.

Alarums; Excursions. Enter PISTOL, French Soldier, and Boy.

PIST. Yield, cur!

FR. SOL. Je pense, que vous êtes le gentilhomme de bonne qualité.

PIST. Quality! cality! construe me, art thou a gentleman? What is thy name? discuss!

FR. SOL. O seigneur Dieu!

PIST. O signieur Dew should be a gentleman:Perpend my words, O signieur Dew, and mark ;O signieur Dew, thou diest on point of fox,d Except, O signieur, thou do give to me Egregious ransom.

FR. SOL. O, prennez miséricorde! ayez pitié de moi ! [moys; PIST. Moy shall not serve, I will have forty For I will fetch thy rim out at thy throat, In drops of crimson blood.

e

"Quality? Callino, castore me!"

This solution of the difficulty is certainly curious and very captivating; but to us the idea of Pistol holding a prisoner by the threat and quoting the fag end of a ballad at the same moment, is too preposterous, and in default of any better explanation of the mysterious syllables, we have adopted that of Warburton.

d On point of fox-] The modern editors all agree in informing us that "For was an old cant word for a sword;" but why a sword was so called none of them appears to have been aware. The name was given from the circumstance that Andrea Ferrara, and, since his time, other foreign sword-cutlers, adopted a fox as the blade-mark of their weapons. Swords, with a running-fox rudely engraved on the blades, are still occasionally to be met with in the old curiosity-shops of London.

e For I will fetch thy rim out at thy throat,-] Rim was a term formerly used, not very definitively, for a part of the intestines; but Pistol s rim (the folio spells it rymme) was, perhaps, as Mr. Knight conjectured, no more than a word coined for the nonce, in mimickry of the Frenchman's guttural pronunciation.