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 shall 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 ransome then
Will soon be levied. Herald, save thou thy labour;
Come thou no more for ransome, gentle herald;
They shall have none, I swear, but these my joints:
Which if they have as I will leave 'em to them,
Shall yield them little, tell the constable.

Mont. I shall, king Harry. And so fare thee well:
Thou never shalt hear herald any more.

[Exit. K. Hen. I fear, thou'lt once more come again for ran

some.

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.

march away:

Now, soldiers,

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

SCENE IV.

The Field of Battle. Alarums, excursions.

Soldier, PISTOL, and Boy.

Pist. Yield, cuṛ.

Enter French

Fr. Sol. Je pense, que vous estes le gentilhomme de bonne

qualité.

Pist. Quality, call you me ?

-Construe me, art thou a gentleman? What is thy name? discuss.

[7] This personage is the same who appears in our author's King Richard II. by the title of Duke of Aumerle. Richard Earl of Cambridge, who appears in the second act of this play, was a younger brother of this Edward Duke of York. MAL

VOL. VI.

D

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,"
Except, O signieur, thou do give to me

Egregious ransome.

Fr. Sol. O, prennez misericorde! ayez pitié de moy! Pist. Moy shall not serve, I will have forty moys ;~ For I will fetch thy rym9 out at thy throat,

In drops of crimson blood.

Fr. Sol. Est il impossible d'eschapper la force de ton bràs?

Pist. Brass, cur!'

Thou damned and luxurious mountain goat,

Offer'st me brass?

Fr. Sol. O pardonnez moy!

Pist. Say'st thou me so? is that a ton of moys Come hither, boy; Ask me this slave in French, What is his name?

Boy. Escoutez; comment estes vous appellé ?

Fr. Sol. Monsieur le Fer.

Boy. He says, his name is-master Fer.

?

Pist. Master Fer! I'll fer him, and firk him, and ferret him-discuss the same in French unto him.

Boy. I do not know the French for fer, and ferret, and firk.

Pist. Bid him prepare, for I will cut his throat.

Fr. Sol. Que dit-il, monsieur ?

Boy. Il me commande de vous dire que vous faites vous prest; car ce soldat icy est disposé tout à cette heure de couper vostre gorge.

Pist. Ouy, couper gorge, par may foy, pesant, Unless thou give me crowns, brave crowns ;

Or mangled shalt thou be by this my sword.

Fr. Sol. O, je vous supplie pour l'amour de Dieu, me pardonner! Je suis gentilhomme de bonne maison; gardez ma vie, et je vous donneray deux cents escus.

[8] Fox is an old cant word for sword. STEEVENS.

[9] I should suppose ryno, instead of rym, to be the true reading. MASON. [1] Either Shakespeare had very little knowledge in the French language, or his over-fondness for punning led him, in this place, contrary to his own judgment, into an error. Almost every one knows that the French word bras is pronounced brau; and what resemblance of sound does this bear to brass, that Pistol should reply, Brass, cur? The joke would appear to a reader, but could scarce be discovered in the performance of the play. SIR W. RAWLINSON.

[2] Moy is a piece of money; whence moi d'or or moi of gold. JOHNSON.

Pist. What are his words?

Boy. He prays you to save his life he is a gentleman of a good house; and, for his ransome, he will give you two hundred crowns.

Pist. Tell him,-my fury shall abate, and I

The crowns will take.

Fr. Sol. Petit monsieur, que dit-il ?

Boy. Encore qu'il est contre son jurement, de pardonner aucun prisonnier, neantmoins, pour les escus que vous l'avez promis, il est content de vous donner la liberté le franchise

ment.

Fr. Sol. Sur mes genoux, je vous donne mille remerciemens: et je m'estime heureux que je suis tombé entre les mains d'un chevalier, je pense, le plus brave, valiant, & tres distingué seigneur d'Angleterre.

Pist. Expound unto me, boy.

Boy. He gives you, upon his knees, a thousand thanks: and he esteems himself happy, that he hath fallen into the hands of (as he thinks) the most brave, valorous, and thrice worthy signieur of England.

Pist. As I suck blood, I will some mercy show.

Follow me, cur.

:

[Exit PISTOL. Boy. Suivez vous le grand capitaine. [Ex. Fr. Sol. I did never know so full a voice issue from so empty a heart but the saying is true,-The empty vessel makes the greatest sound. Bardolph, and Nym, had ten times. more valour than this roaring devil i' the old play,' that every one may pare his nails with a wooden dagger; and they are both hanged; and so would this be, if he durst steal any thing advent'rously. I must stay with the lackeys, with the luggage of our camp: the French might have a good prey of us, if he knew of it; for there is none to guard it, but boys. [Exit.

SCENE V.

Another part of the Field of Battle. Alarums. Enter Dauphin, ORLEANS, BOURBON, Constable, RAMBURES, and others. Con. O diable!

Orl. O seigneur !-le jour est perdu, tout est perdu!
Dau. Mort de ma vie! all is confounded, all !

Reproach and everlasting shame

[3] In modern puppet shows, which seem to be copied from the old farces Punch sometimes fights the devil, and always overcomes him. I suppose the vice of the old farce to whom Punch succeeds, used to fight the devil with a wooden dagger. JOHNSON

Sits mocking in our plumes.-O meschante fortune!-
Do not run away.

Con. Why, all our ranks are broke.

[A short alarum.

Dau. O perdurable shame!-let's stab ourselves. Be these the wretches that we play'd at dice for? Orl. Is this the king we sent to for his ransome ? Bour. Shame, and eternal shame, nothing but shame! Let us die instant: Once more back again; And he that will not follow Bourbon now, Let him go hence, and, with his cap in hand, Like a base pander, hold the chamber-door, Whilst by a slave, no gentler than my dog, His fairest daughter is contaminate.

Con. Disorder, that hath spoil'd us, friend us now! Let us, in heaps, go offer up our lives

Unto these English, or else die with fame.*

Orl. We are enough, yet living in the field,

To smother up the English in our throngs,

If

any order might be thought upon.

Bour. The devil take order now! I'll to the throng; Let life be short; else, shame will be too long. [Exeunt.

SCENE VI.

Another Part of the Field.

Alarums. Enter King HENRY and Forces; EXETER, and others.

K. Hen. Well have we done, thrice valiant countrymen: But all's not done, yet keep the French the field.

Exe. The duke of York commends him to your majesty. K. Hen. Lives he, good uncle? thrice, within this hour, I saw him down; thrice up again, and fighting;

From helmet to the spur, all blood he was.

Exe. In which array, (brave soldier,) doth he lie, Larding the plain and by his bloody side,

:

(Yoke-fellow to his honour-owing wounds,)

The noble earl of Suffolk also lies.

:

Suffolk first died and York, all haggled over,
Comes to him, where in gore he lay insteep'd,
And takes him by the beard; kisses the gashes,
That bloodily did yawn upon his face;
And cries aloud,-Tarry, dear cousin Suffolk!
My soul shall thine keep company to heaven:
Tarry, sweet soul, for mine, then fly a-breast;

[4] The Constable of France is throughout the play represented as a brave and generous enemy. STEEVENS.

As, in this glorious and well-foughten field,
We kept together in our chivalry!

Upon these words I came, and cheer'd him up:
He smil'd me in the face, raught me his hand,
And, with a feeble gripe, says,-Dear

Commend my service to my sovereign.

So did he turn, and over Suffolk's neck

my

lord,

He threw his wounded arm, and kiss'd his lips;
And so, espous'd to death, with blood he seal'd

A testament of noble-ending love.

The pretty and sweet manner of it forc'd

Those waters from me, which I would have stopp'd;
But I had not so much of man in me,

But all my mother came into mine eyes,
And gave me up to tears.

K. Hen. I blame you not ;'

[Alarum,

For, hearing this, I must perforce compound
With mistful eyes, or they will issue too.-
But, hark! what new alarum is this same ?-
The French have reinforc'd their scatter'd men :-
Then, every soldier kill his prisoners;
Give the word through.

SCENE VII.

[Exeunt

Another Part of the Field. Alarums. Enter FLUELLEN and GOWER.

Flu. Kill the boys and the luggage! 'tis expressly against the law of arms: 'tis as arrant a piece of knavery, mark you now, as can be offered in the 'orld: In your conscience now, is it not?

Gow. 'Tis certain, there's not a boy left alive; and the cowardly rascals, that ran from the battle, have done this slaughter besides, they have burned and carried away all that was in the king's tent; wherefore the king, most worthily, hath caused every soldier to cut his prisoner's throat. O, 'tis a gallant king!

Flu. Ay, he was porn at Monmouth, captain Gower: What call you the town's name, where Alexander the pig was born?

[5] The king gives one reason for his order to kill the prisoners, and Gower anather. The king killed his prisoners because he expected another battle, and he had not men sufficient to guard one army and fight another. Gower declares that the gallant king has worthily ordered the prisoners to be destroyed, because the luggage was plundered, and the boys were slain. JOHNSON.

Our author has here, as in all his historical plays, followed Holinshed; in whose Chronicle both these reasons are assigned. MALONE.