DRAMATIS PERSON Æ. KING HENRY THE FIFTH. DUKE OF GLOSTER, DUKE OF BEDFORD, brothers to the king. DUKE OF EXETER, uncle to the king. DUKE OF YORK, cousin to the king. EARLS OF SALISBURY, WESTMORELAND, and WARWICK. BISHOP OF ELY. EARL OF CAMBRIDGE. LORD SCROOP. SIR THOMAS GREY. SIR THOMAS ERPINGHAM, GOWER, FLUELLEN, MACMORRIS, JAMY, officers in King Henry's army. BATES, COURT, WILLIAMS, soldiers in the same. PISTOL, NYM, BARDOLPH. Boy. A Herald. CHARLES THE SIXTH, king of France. LEWIS, the Dauphin. DUKES OF BURGUNDY, ORLEANS, and Bourbon. The Constable of France. RAMBURES and GRANDPRÉ, French lords. Governor of Harfleur. MONTJOY, a French herald. Ambassadors to the king of England. ISABEL, queen of France. KATHARINE, daughter to Charles and Isabel. ALICE, a lady attending on her. Hostess of a tavern in Eastcheap (formerly Mrs Quickly, and now married to Pistol). Lords, Ladies, Officers, Soldiers, Citizens, Messengers, and Attendants. CHORUS. SCENE-IN ENGLAND AND IN FRANCE. KING HENRY V. PROLOGUE. Enter CHORUS. Chorus. O for a Muse of fire, that would ascend The brightest heaven of invention A kingdom for a stage, princes to act, And monarchs to behold the swelling scene! 5 Leash'd in like hounds, should Famine, Sword, and Fire Crouch for employment. But, pardon, gentles all, The flat unraised spirit, that hath dared On this unworthy scaffold to bring forth 10 So great an object. Can this cockpit hold Suppose, within the girdle of these walls 15 20 And make imaginary puissance: Think, when we talk of horses, that you see them Who, prologue-like, your humble patience pray, [Exit. ACT I. SCENE I.-London. An antechamber in the KING'S Palace. Enter ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY and BISHOP OF ELY. CANT. My lord, I'll tell you that self bill is urg'd, Which, in the eleventh year of the last king's reign, Was like, and had indeed against us pass'd, But that the scambling and unquiet time Did push it out of further question. 5 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: For all the temporal lands, which men devout By testament have given to the church, 10 Would they strip from us; being valued thus As much as would maintain, to the king's honour, Full fifteen earls, and fifteen hundred knights; A hundred almshouses, right well supplied; 15 And to the coffers of the king beside A thousand pounds by the year: thus runs the bill. Ely. This would drink deep. Ely. But what prevention? 'Twould drink the cup and all. Cant. The king is full of grace and fair regard. And whipp'd the offending Adam out of him ; To envelop and contain celestial spirits. 30 Ely. 40 You would desire the king were made a prelate : You would say it hath been all-in-all his study: A fearful battle render'd you in music : The Gordian-knot of it he will unloose, 45 And the mute wonder lurketh in men's ears, To steal his sweet and honey'd sentences; 50 So that the art and practic part of life Must be the mistress to this theoric: Which is a wonder, how his grace should glean it, His companies unletter'd, rude, and shallow; His hours fill'd up with riots, banquets, sports; Any retirement, any sequestration From open haunts and popularity. 55 Ely. The strawberry grows underneath the nettle; Cant. It must be so; for miracles are ceas'd; Ely. But, my good lord, Doth his majesty How now for mitigation of this bill Urg'd by the commons? Cant. He seems indifferent: Or, rather, swaying more upon our part, And in regard of causes now in hand, As touching France-to give a greater sum Ely. How did this offer seem receiv'd, my lord? |