Pist. Si fortuna me tormenta, spero me contenta. [Exeunt FAL. SHAL, PIST. BARD. PAGE, and Officers.

P. John. I like this fair proceeding of the king's:

He hath intent, his wonted followers
Shall all be very well provided for;
But all are banish'd, till their conversations
Appear more wise and modest to the world.
Ch. Just. And so they are.

P.John. The king hath call'd his parliament, my lord.

Ch. Just. He hath.

P. John. I will lay odds,--that, ere this year expire,

We bear our civil swords, and native fire,
As far as France: I heard a bird so sing,
Whose music, to my thinking, pleas'd the king.
Come, will you hence?
[Exeunt.

EPILOGUE

SPOKEN BY A DANCER.

First, my fear; then, my court'sy; last, my speech. My fear is, your displeasure; my court'sy, my duty; and my speech, to beg your pardons. If you look for a good speech now, you undo me for what I have to say, is of mine own making; and what, indeed, I should say, will, I doubt, prove mine own marring. But to the purpose, and so to the venture.-Be it known to you, (as it is very well,) 1 was lately here in the end of a displeasing play, to

pray your patience for it, and to promise you a better. I did mean, indeed, to pay you with this: which, if, like an ill venture, it come unluckily home, I break, and you, my gentle creditors, lose. Here, I promised you, I would be, and here I commit my body to your mercies: bate me some, and I will pay you some, and, as most debtors do, promise you infinitely.

If my tongue cannot entreat you to acquit me, will you command me to use my legs? and yet that were but light payment,-to dance out of your debt. But a good conscience will make any possible satisfaction, and so will I. All the gentlewomen here have forgiven me; if the gentlemen will not, then the gentlemen do not agree with the gentlewomen, which was never seen before in such an assembly.

One word more, I beseech you. If you be not too much cloyed with fat nieat, our humble author will continue the story, with Sir John in it, and make you merry with fair Katharine of France: where, for any thing I know, Falstaff shall die of a sweat, unless already he be killed with your hard opinions; for Oldcastle died a martyr, and this is not the man. My tongue is weary; when my legs are too, I will bid you good night: and so kneel down before you;-but, indeed, to pray for the queen.*

Most of the ancient interludes conclude with a pray for the King or Queen. Hence, perhaps, the Fivant en et Regina, at the bottom of our modern play-bills

KING HENRY THE FIFTH.

DUKE OF GLOSTER, Brothers to the King.

DUKE OF BEDford,

DUKE OF EXETER, Uncle to the King.

DUKE OF YORK, Cousin to the King.

CHARLES THE SIXTH, King of France.
LEWIS, the Dauphin.

DUKES OF BURGUNDY, Orleans, and BOURBON
The CONSTABLE of France.

RAMBURES, and GRANDPREE, French Lords.

and fire,

Enter 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! Then should the warlike Harry, like himself, Assume the port of Mars; and, at his heels, Leash'd in like hounds, should famine, sword, [all, Crouch for employment. But pardon, gentles The flat unraised spirit, that hath dar'd, On this unworthy scaffold, to bring forth So great an object: Can this cockpit hold The vasty fields of France? or may we cram Within this wooden O, the very casques,t That did affright the air at Agincourt? O, pardon! since a crooked figure may Attest, in little place, a million; And let us, ciphers to this great accompt, On your imaginary forces; work: Suppose, within the girdle of these walls Are now confin'd two mighty monarchies, Whose high upreared and abutting fronts The perilous, narrow ocean parts asunder. Piece out our imperfections with your thoughts; Into a thousand parts divide one man, And make imaginary puissance: [them Think, when we talk of horses, that you see Printing their proud hoofs i'the receiving earth: For 'tis your thoughts that now must deck our kings,

Carry them here and there; jumping o'er times;
Turning the accomplishment of many years
Into an hour glass; For the which supply,
Admit me chorus to this history; [pray,
Who, prologue-like, your humble patience
Gently to hear, kindly to judge, our play.

* An allusion to the circular form of the theatre
+ Helmets
Powers of fancy.

Detate.

To be the realm of France, and Pharamond
The founder of this law and female bar.
Yet their own authors faithfully affirm,
That the land Salique lies in Germany,
Between the floods of Sala and of Elbe:
Where Charles the great, having subdued the
Saxons,

There left behind and settled certain French;
Who, holding in disdain the German women,
For some dishonest manners of their life,
Establish'd there this law,-to wit, no female
Should be inheritrix in Salique land;
Which Salique, as I said, 'twixt Elbe and Sala,
Is at this day in Germany call'd-Meisen.
Thus doth it well appear, the Salique law
Was not devised for the realm of France:
Nor did the French possess the Salique land
Until four hundred one and twenty years
After defunction of king Pharamond,
Idly suppos'd the founder of this law;
Who died within the year of our redemption
Four hundred twenty-six ; and Charles the great
Subdued the Saxons, and did seat the French
Beyond the river Sala, in the year
Eight hundred five. Besides, their writers say,
King Pepin, which deposed Childerick,
Did, as heir general, being descended [thair,
Of Blithild, which was the daughter to Clo-
Make claim and title to the crown of France.
Hugh Capet also,—that usurp'd the crown
Of Charles the duke of Lorain, sole heir male
Of the true line and stock of Charles the
great,-

To fine his title with some show of truth,
(Though, in pure truth, it was corrupt and
naught,)

Convey'd himself as heir to the lady Lingare,
Daughter to Charlemain, who was the son
To Lewis the emperor, and Lewis the son
Of Charles the great. Also king Lewis the
tenth,

Who was sole heir to the usurper Capet,
Could not keep quiet in his conscience,
Wearing the crown of France, till satisfied
That fair queen Isabel, his grandmother,
Was lineal of the lady Ermengare, [Lorain:
Daughter to Charles the foresaid duke of
By the which marriage, the line of Charles the
Was re-united to the crown of France. [great
So that, as clear as is the summer's sun,
King Pepin's title, and Hugh Capet's claim,
King Lewis his satisfaction, all appear
To hold in right and title of the female:
So do the kings of France unto this day;
Howbeit they would hold up this Salique law,
To bar your highness claiming from the female;
And rather choose to hide them in a net,
Than amply to imbaret their crooked titles
Usurp'd from you and your progenitors.
K. Hen. May I, with right and conscience,
make this claim?

Cant. The sin upon my head, dread so-
vereign!

For in the book of Numbers is it writ,-
When the son dies, let the inheritance
Descend unto the daughter. Gracious lord,
Stand for your own; unwind your bloody flag;
Look back unto your mighty ancestors:
Go, my dread lord, to your great grandsire's
tomb,
[spirit,
From whom you claim; invoke his warlike
And your great uncle's, Edward the black

prince;

Who on the French ground play'd a tragedy,

Making defeat on the full power of Fra
Whiles his most mighty father on a hill
Stood smiling; to behold his lion's whelp
Forage in blood of French nobility.*
O noble English that could entertain
With half their forces the full pride of France;
And let another half stand laughing by,
All out of work, and cold for action!

Ely. Awake remembrance of these valiant dead,

And with your puissant arm renew their feats: You are their heir, you sit upon their throne; The blood sad courage, that renowned them, Runs in your veins; and my thrice-puissant Is in the very May-morn of his youth, [liege Ripe for exploits and mighty enterprizes.

Exe. Your brother kings and monarchs of the earth

Do all expect that you should rouse yourself, As did the former lions of your blood.

West. They know, your grace hath cause, and means, and might;

So hath your highness; never king of England Had nobles richer, and more loyal subjects; Whose hearts have left their bodies here in England,

liege,

And lie pavilion'd in the fields of France.
Cant. O, let their bodies follow, my dear
[right:
With blood, and sword, and fire, to win your
In aid whereof, we of the spiritualty
Will raise your highness such a mighty sum,
As never did the clergy at one time
Bring in to any of your ancestors.

K. Hen. We must not only arm to invade the French;

But lay down our proportions to defend Against the Scot, who will make road upon us With all advantages.

Cant. They of those marches, gracious soShall be a wall sufficient to defend [vereign, Our inland from the pelfering borderers.

K. Hen. We do not mean the coursing snat

chers only,

But fear the main intendment of the Scot
Who hath been still a giddy neighbour to us;
For you shall read, that my great grandfather
Never went with his forces into France,
But that the Scot on his unfurnish'd kingdom
Came pouring, like the tide unto a breach,
With ample and brim fulness of his force;
Galling the gleaned land with hot essays;
Girding with grievous siege, castles and towns;
That England, being empty of defence,
Hath shook, and trembled at the ill neigh-
bourhood.

Cant. She hath been then more fear'd§ than

harm'd, my liege:

For hear her but exampled by herself,-
When all her chivalry hath been in France,
And she a mourning widow of her nobles,
She hath herself not only well defended,
But taken, and impounded as a stray,
The king of Scots; whom she did send to
France,
[kings;
To fill king Edward's fame with prisoner
And make your chronicle as rich with praise,
As is the ooze and bottom of the sea
With sunken wreck and sumless treasuries.
West. But there's a saying, very old and
true,-

If that you will France win,
Then with Scotland first begin:

For once the eagle England being in prey,
To her unguarded nest the weasel Scot
Comes sneaking, and so sucks her princely

eggs;

Playing the mouse, in absence of the cat,
To spoil and havoc more than she can eat.

Exe. It follows then, the cat must stay at Yet that is but a curs'd necessity; [home: Since we have locks to safeguard necessaries, And pretty traps to catch the petty thieves. While that the armed hand doth fight abroad, The advised head defends itself at home:

For government, though high, and low, and lower,

Put into parts, doth keep in one concent;*
Congruingt in a full and natural close,
Like music.

Cant. True: therefore doth heaven divide
The state of man in divers functions,
Setting endeavour in continual motion;
To which is fixed, as an aim or butt,
Obedience: for so work the honey bees;
Creatures, that, by a rule in nature, teach
The act of order to a peopled kingdom.
They have a king, and officers of sorts:
Where some, like magistrates, correct at home;
Others, like merchants, venture trade abroad;
Others, like soldiers, armed in their stings,
Make boot upon the summer's velvet buds;
Which pillage they with merry march bring
To the tent-royal of their emperor:
Who, busied in his majesty, surveys
The singing masons building roofs of gold;
The civil citizens kneading up the honey;
The poor mechanic porters crowding in
Their heavy burdens at his narrow gate;
The sad-ey'd justice, with his surly hum,
Delivering o'er to executors pale

The lazy yawning drone. I this infer,-
That many things, having full reference
To one concent, may work contrariously;
As many arrows, loosed several ways,
Fly to one mark;

[home

As many several ways meet in one town;
As many fresh streams run in one self sea;
As many lines close in the dial's centre;
So many a thousand actions, once afoot,
End in one purpose, and be all well borne
Without defeat. Therefore to France, my
liege.

Divide your happy England into four;
Whereof take you one quarter into France,
And you withal shall make all Gallia shake.
If we, with thrice that power left at home,
Cannot defend our own door from the dog,
Let us be worried; and our nation lose
The name of hardiness, and policy.

K. Hen. Call in the messengers sent from the Dauphin.

[Exit an Attendant. The KING ascends his

Throne.

Now are we well resolv'd: and,-by God's help;

And yours, the noble sinews of our power,France being ours, we'll bend it to our awe, Or break it all to pieces: Or there we'll sit, Ruling, in large and ample empery, [doms; O'er France, and all her almost kingly dukeOr lay these bones in an unworthy urn, Tombless, with no remembrance over them: Either our history shall, with full mouth, Speak freely of our acts; or else our grave, Like Turkish mute, shall have a tongueless mouth,

Not worship'd with a waxen epitaph.

Enter AMBASSADORS of France.

Now are we well prepar'd to know the

sure

Of our fair cousin Dauphin; for, we hear,
Your greeting is from him, not from the king-
Amb. May it please your majesty, to give us
leave

Freely to render what we have in charge;
Or shall we sparingly show you far off
The Dauphin's meaning, and our embassy?
K. Hen. We are no tyrant, but a Christian
king;

Unto whose grace our passion is as subject,
As are our wretches fetter'd in our prisons:
Therefore, with frank and with uncurbed plain-
Tell us the Dauphin's mind.
[ness,

Amb. Thus then, in few.
Your highness, lately sending into France,
Did claim some certain dukedoms, in the right
Of your great predecessor, king Edward the
third.

[ter In answer of which claim, the prince our masSays, that you savour too much of your youth; [France, That can be with a nimble galliard* won; And bids you be advis'd, there's nought in You cannot revel into dukedoms there: He therefore sends you, meeter for your spirit, This tun of treasure; and, in lieu of this, Desires you, let the dukedoms, that you claim, Hear no more of you. This the Dauphin speaks.

K. Hen. What treasure, uncle?
Exe. Tennis-balls, my liege.

K. Hen. We are glad, the Dauphin is so

pleasant with us;

[for: His present, and your pains, we thank you When we have match'd our rackets to these

wrangler,

That all the courts of France will be disturb'd
With chaces. And we understand him well,
How he comes o'er us with our wilder days,
Not measuring what use we made of them.
We never valu'd this poor seats of England;
And therefore, living hence,|| did give ourself
To barbarous licence; As 'tis ever common,
That men are merriest when they are from
home.

But tell the Dauphin,-I will keep my state;
Be like a king, and show my sail of greatness,
When I do rouse me in my throne of France:
For that I have laid by my majesty,
But I will rise there with so full a glory,
And plodded like a man for working days;
That I will dazzle all the eyes of France,
Yea, strike the Dauphin blind to look on us.
Hath turn'd his balls to gun-stones; and his
And tell the pleasant prince,-this mock of his
[geance

soul

A place in the tennis-court into which the ball a sometimes struck.

1 A term at tennis. The throne.

Withdrawing from the court.