If we no more meet till we meet in heaven,
Then, joyfully, my noble Lord of Bedford,
My dear Lord Gloucester, 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 to-day:
And yet I do thee wrong to mind thee of it,
For thou art framed of the firm truth of valour.

[Exit Salisbury.

BED. He is as full of valour as of kindness; Princely in both.

WEST.

Enter the KING

O that we now had here
But one ten thousand of those men in England
That do no work to-day!

K. HEN.

What's he that wishes so?

My cousin Westmoreland? No, my fair cousin :
If we are mark'd to die, we are enow

To do our country loss; and if to live,

The fewer men, the greater share of honour.
God's will! I pray thee, wish not one man more.
By Jove, I am not covetous for gold,

Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost;

10 my kind kinsman] Salisbury's family had intermarried with Westmoreland's.

16-18 O that we now . . . to-day] The speaker, Westmoreland, was

not present at the battle of Agincourt. This despairing exclamation is assigned in the Quarto to Warwick, who was also absent; he was at Calais. Holinshed merely says that "one of the host" uttered this note of despair. But a contemporary life of Henry V-Henrici Quinti Gesta-assigns the exclamation to Sir Walter Hungerford.

10

20

It yearns me not if men my garments wear;
Such outward things dwell not in my desires:
But if it be a sin to covet honour,

I am the most offending soul alive.

No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England:
God's peace! I would not lose so great an honour
As one man more, methinks, would share from me
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:
He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
Will stand a tip-toe when this day is named,
And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
He that shall live this day, and see old age,
Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
And say,
"To-morrow is Saint Crispian:"
Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
And "These wounds I had on Crispin's day."

say

26 yearns] grieves.

39 That fears . . . with us] That fears to be our comrade in death. 40 the feast of Crispian] October 25 was the day of two brothers,

Crispin and Crispian, who suffered martyrdom for their fidelity to Christianity at Soissons, about 300 a. D. Both followed the trade of shoemakers, and hence became jointly the patron saints of cobblers. See line 57, infra, and cf. IV, vii, 88.

45 the vigil feast] the eve of the festival.

30

40

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 his mouth as household words,
Harry the king, Bedford and Exeter,

Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester,
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;

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 whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

Re-enter SALISBURY

SAL. My sovereign lord, bestow yourself with speed:

50 with advantages] with embellishments.

53-54 Bedford . . . Gloucester] Of these six noblemen, only Exeter and Gloucester as a matter of fact fought at Agincourt.

57 Crispin Crispian] The names of the two brother-saints commemorated on the day of the battle. See note on line 40, supra, and cf. IV, vii, 88, infra.

63 gentle his condition] raise him to rank of gentleman.

50

60

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 Eng-
land, coz?

WEST. God's will! my liege, would you and I alone, Without more help, could fight this royal battle!

K. HEN. Why, now thou hast unwish'd five thousand

men;

Which likes me better than to wish us one.
You know your places: God be with you all!

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.

70

80

K. HEN. I pray thee, bear my former answer back: 90

69 battles] battle order.

70 expedience] speed, expedition.

83 englutted] engulfed, swallowed up.

86 retire] retreat, withdrawal.

Bid them achieve me and then sell my bones.

Good God! why should they mock poor fellows thus ?
The man that once did sell the lion's skin

While the beast lived, was killed with hunting him.
A many of our bodies shall no doubt

Find native graves; upon the which, I trust,
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 famed; for there the sun shall greet them,
And draw their honours reeking 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-

91 achieve] conquer, finish off. Cf. III, iii, 8, "half-achieved" [i. e., half conquered] Harfleur.

104 abounding] Thus the Folios. The Quarto has abundant which gives the general intention of the word. There is probably some additional suggestion of "rebounding."

105 the bullet's grazing] the bullet's glancing off after grazing.

107 Killing . . . mortality] Killing when they are at the point of death, when they are relapsing into the mortal elements, out of which they were created.

110 gilt] gilding, outward brilliance.

101

110