And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
But we in it shall be remember'd.
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 accursed they were not here;'
And hold their manhoods cheap, while any speaks,

That fought with us upon St. Crispin's day.'
Johnson, after observing upon this speech, that Henry prays like a
Christian, and swears like a heathen, reflects morally that,

“ We are apt to promise to ourselves a more lasting memory than the changing state of human things admits. This prediction is not verified ; the feast of Crispin passes by without any mention of Agincourt. Late events obliterate the former : the civil wars have left in this nation scarcely any tradition of more ancient history."*

Though it is true that we do not think particularly of Agincourt on the 25th of October, this famous battle cannot be said to have passed out of memory, and I should say that we are generally more familiar with it than with the military events of the civil war. Shakspeare, no doubt, has tended to realise the prediction which he imagines. It does not often happen to England to fight a land battle of the highest importance and consequences. Between Agincourt and Blenheim there was, perhaps, no battle to be compared to either of them. And until the succession of victories, crowned by Waterloo, put them out of their heads, Englishmen were accustomed to boast of Agincourt and Blenheim. The field of Naseby, however decisive, is regarded in quite a different light.

It is not exactly known what was the nature or extent of the privilege in respect of armorial bearings to which Shakspeare alludes in the line about gentling the condition of Henry's companions in arms. But it is a matter of authentic record, that when the king, a few years afterwards, forbade the assumption of coats of arms without due authority, he exempted “ those who bore arms with him at the battle of Agincourt.t”

The poet follows Holinshed in relating one more effort on the part of the French to induce Henry to ransom himself out of the danger in which he stood. When the king answered, in the sense of Holinshed, 1

“ Bid them achieve me, and then sell my bones.” Holinshed is also followed in the appointment of the Duke of York to the command of the van. “ He appointed a vaward, of the which he made Captain Edward, Duke of York, who of an haughty courage had desired that office."

A slight circumstance induces a belief that Shakspeare's materials were not confined to Holinshed.

“ York. My lord, most humbly on my knee I beg The leading of the vaward.

“ K. Henry. Take it, brave York.” In a poem of the fifteenth century, attributed to Lydgate, we read

own.

· The Duke of York then full soon,

Before our king he fell on knee.
My liege lord, grant me a boon

For His love that on cross did die !
The foreward that you this day grant me,

To be before you in the field:
By my banner, slain I will be,

'Or I will turn my back, or me yield." It is not easy to represent a battle on the stage, and Shakspeare gives us nothing besides alarums and excursions, except the capture of a French soldier by Pistol.t Between this scene and the next the victory is won, and the French princes and commanders are introduced, lamenting their defeat. The victors then appear, when the death of the Duke of York and the Earl of Suffolk! is announced. These noblemen were certainly slain in the battle :S-the particulars are Shakspeare's

The king is interrupted in his lamentations over these two brave soldiers.

But, hark ! what new alarm is this same?
The French have reinforced their scatter'd men :-
Then every soldier kill his prisoners :

Give the word through.” And then enter Fluellen and Gower, who thus account for this fatal order.

“ Fluellen. Kill the poys and the luggage! 'tis expressly against the laws of arms: 'tis as arrant a piece of knavery, mark you now, as can be desired in the world, now. In your conscience now, is it not ?

“ Gower. 'Tis certain, there's not a boy left alive; and the cowardly rascals, that ran away from the battle, have done this slaughter. Besides, they have burn'd or carried away all that was in the king's tent; wherefore the king, most worthily, has caused every soldier to cut his prisoner's throat. 0, 'tis a gallant king!" And the king, re-entering soon afterwards, is made to say

“I was not angry since I came to France

Until this instant.—Take a trumpet, herald ;
Ride thou unto the horsemen on yon bill;
If they will fight with us, bid them come down,
Or void the field ; they do offend our sight:
If they'll do neither, we will come to them ;
And make them skirr away, as swift as stones
Enforced from the old Assyrian slings :
Besides, we'll cut the throats of those we have;
And not a man of them, that we shall take,

Shall taste our mercy :-Go, and tell them so." This is Shakspeare's version of the most lamentable incident of the battle of Agincourt, by which, in the opinion of many, the fame of the victorious Henry has been tarnished." I should, perhaps, rather say, these are Shakspeare's versions, for the order to kill prisoners is twice given, and the king's expressed motive is not in either case such as that

Act iv. Sc. 4. | Michael de la Pole, third Earl, who had very recently succeeded his father, who died at Harfleur.

which his officer assigns. Nothing can illustrate better than these passages the mode in which Shakspeare wrote his historical plays.

Holinshed gives two accounts. He tells us, first, that about

“ Six hundred French horsemen, which were the first that fled, hearing that the English tents and pavilions were a good way distant from the army, without any sufficient guard to defend the same, either upon a covetous meaning to gain by the spoil, or upon a desire to be revenged, entered upon the king's camp, and there spoiled the hails, robbed the tents, broke up chests, and carried away caskets, and slew such servants as they found to make any resistance.

But when the outery of the lackeys and boys which ran away for fear of the Frenchmen thus spoiling the camp, came to the king's ears, he, doubting lest his enemies should gather together again, and begin a new field, and mistrusting further that the prisoners would be an aid to his enemies, or the very enemies to their takers indeed, if they were suffered to live, contrary to his accustomed gentleness, commanded, by sound of trumpet, that every man (upon pain of death) should incontinently kill his prisoner.”

The chronicler describes the lamentable slaughter that ensued, and adds :

“Some write, that the king perceiving his enemies in one part to assemble together, as though they meant to give a new battle, for preservation of the prisoners, sent to them an herald, commanding them either to depart out of his sight, or else to come forward at once and give battle; promising herewith, that if they did offer to fight again, not only those prisoners which his people already had taken, but also so many of them as in this new conflict which they thus attempted should fall into his hands, should die the death without redemption. The Frenchmen, fearing the sentence of so terrible a decree, without further delay parted out of the field."

Shakspeare takes both accounts. Contemporary historians do not make the case quite clear; but I think that it is established that there was an actual attack upon the baggage and the “ boys,” who were left as its only guard ; and, probably, the English troops were quite incompetent to keep their prisoners safe, and, at the same time, to resist a fresh attack.* And it is to be observed, that the French writers support Holinshed's averment, that the ringleaders in the attack

upon gage were afterwards punished by their own chiefs.

Mountjoy now comes again, no longer for ransom, but for leave to assist and bury their dead. And in the enumeration of French, slain and taken prisoners, Holinshed is closely followed. This chronicler gives two estimates of the English loss, of which Shakspeare selects the lower and more improbable, which states it at twenty-five persons; though Holinshed himself says that those writers are of greater credit who estimate the loss at 500 or 600 persons. Of commanders, besides those I have named, there are mentioned

“ Sir Richard Ketley,t Davy Gam, Esquire." Of this Welsh squire it is related, that when questioned as to the number of the enemy, he answered, “My liege, there are enough to be slain, enough to be taken prisoners, and enough to run away."I

the bagIt is in one of the comic scenes that the king alludes to his personal contest with the Duke of Alençon. “When Alençon and myself were down together."* There are various accounts of this rencounter, but all

agree that these two chiefs were personally engaged.

This fourth act closes with the king's humble attribution of the victory to God only; to Henry's Christian piety, in every stage of his expedition, there is abundant testimony. I

I must beg room for a part of the chorus to the fifth act, which conveys the king home :

“ So swift a pace has thought, that even now

You may imagine him upon Blackheath ;
Where that his lords desire him, to have borne
His bruised helmet, and his bended sword,
Before him, through the city: he forbids it,
Being free from vainness and self-glorious pride;
Giving full trophy, signal, and ostent,
Quite from himself, to God. But now, behold,
In the quick forge and working-place of thought,
How London dotlı pour out her citizens !
The mayor, and all his brethren, in best sort,-
Like to the senators of antique Rome,
With the plebeians swarming at their heels, –

Go forth, and fetch their conquering Cæsar in."
This is from Holinshed:S—

“ The Mayor of London, and the aldermen, appear in orient grained scarlet, and four hundred commoners clad in beautiful murry, well mounted and trimly horsed, with rich collars and great chains, met the king on Blackheath, rejoicing at his return; and the clergy of London, with rich crosses, sumptuous capes, and massive censers, received him at St. Thomas of Walerengs, with solemn procession. The king, like a great and sober personage, and as one remembering from whom all victories are sent, seemed little to regard such vain pomp and shows as were in triumphant sort devised for his welcoming home from so prosperous a journey, insomuch that he would not suffer his helmet to be carried with him, whereby might have appeared to the people the blows and dents that were to be seen in the same ; neither would he suffer any ditties to be made and sung by minstrels of his glorious victory, for that he would wholly have the praise and thanks altogether given to God.” Chorus here makes a comparison :

“ As, by a lower but by loving likelihood,

Were now the general of our gracious empress,
(As, in good time, he may,) from Ireland coming,
Bringing rebellion broached on his sword,
How many would the peaceful city quit,
To welcome him ? much more, and much more cause,

Did they this Harry." If this play was written, as Mr. Malone conjectures, in 1599,| it is unquestionably probable that the allusion here is to the Earl of Essex; but that is not certain. The dates would suit Mountjoy, who accepted * Act iv. Sc. 7.

+ Nicolas, 127. Shakspeare follows Holinshed, 81. See Tyler, 32; Elmham, 164, &c.; Nicolas ; Hol., 84.

§ P. 84. || Bosw., ii. 359. But it is partly by this passage, supposed to allude to Essex, that the date is fixed. But though the argument is circular, I believe it to be sound, for the play was entered and printed in 1600.

the office of Lord Deputy after Essex's return, and who was much more successful in broaching rebellion. I think that Shakspeare's lines, which are supposed to furnish an instance of the devotion of poets to the unaccountable Essex, are surely only moderately complimentary; if, indeed, they are not intended as a rebuke of popular applause bestowed upon an unworthy object. Chorus goes on :

“ The emperor's coming in behalf of France,

To order peace between them, and omit
All the occurrences, whatever chanced,

Till Harry's back-return again to France." The readers of Shakspeare are not generally aware of the multitude of events, and the long period which they are called upon to imagine. The impression conveyed by the play is, that the victory of Agincourt was speedily followed by the marriage of Henry and Catherine, and peace between the two kingdoms; whereas, in fact, nearly five years elapsed before those events were accomplished.

The Emperor Sigismund came over to England, and went also to France, but unsuccessfully endeavoured to mediate a peace.* The war was carried on languidly, but much in favour of Henry, until the year 1419, when the Duke of Burgundy made a new attempt to bring about a peace;t and this is the earliest event, after the battle of Agincourt, which is mentioned by Shakspeare, who, however, confounds the meeting which occurred between the two courts near Meulan with that which subsequently took place at Troyes.

The poet introduces (at Troyes) both the kings, and Queen Isabel of Bavaria, wife of the French monarch, who was himself absent on account of his constitutional malady. The princess Catherine is also brought on the stage, as well as the Duke of Burgundy. I

“ The said Lady Katharine (says Holinshed) was brought by her mother only to the intent that the king of England, beholding her excellent beauty, should be so inflamed and rapt in her love, that, to obtain her to his wife, should the sooner agree to a gentle peace and loving concord."

But Henry was not so easily caught, for Shakspeare is warranted by the Chronicle 8 in making him tell Burgundy, who had set forth the evils of war

“ If, Duke of Burgundy, you would the peace

Whose want gives growth to the imperfections
Which you have cited, you must buy that peace

With full accord to all our just demands.” Shakspeare brings about his dénouement by making the French king agree to everything ; but in truth this negotiation, in which the Duke of Burgundy was concerned, was broken off;| the war was renewed, and it was not until 1420 (after the murder of the Duke of Burgundy D) that the meeting was held at Troyes. * Hol., 85 ; Elmh.; Tyler, 204.

† Hol. 107 ; Elmh. Jean Sanspeur, the same whom Henry the Fourth assisted. Of English nobles are named, Bedford, Gloucester, Exeter, Warwick, and Westmoreland. I am not enabled to say whether these were, or were not, present either at Meulan or Troyes.

§ Monstrelet, iii. ; see Sismondi, xii., 572. || Hol., 108 ; and see Elmham, 216–226.

John Duke of Burgundy was succeeded in 1419 by his son, Philip Count of Charolois.