SCENE II. The French Camp. Enter Dauphin, ORLEANS, RAübures, and others. Orl. The sun doth gild our armour; up, my lords. Dau. Montez a cheval:-My horse! valet! lacquey! ha! Orl. O brave spirit! Dau. Via!-les eaux et la terre ? Orl. Rien puis? l'air et le feu Dau. Ciel! cousin Orleans. Enter Constable. Now, my lord Constable ! Con. Hark, how our steeds for present service neigh. Dau. Mount them, and make incision in their hides; That their hot blood may spin in English eyes, And dout them with superfluous courage: Ha! Ram. What, will you have them weep our horses' blood? How shall we then behold their natural tears? Enter a Messenger. Mess. The English are embattled, you French peers. Con. To horse, you gallant princes! straight to horse! Do but behold yon poor and starved band, And your fair show shall suck away their souls,' That our superfluous lackeys, and our peasants,- About our squares of battle,- What's to say? Then let the trumpets sound [9] To dout, for do out, is a common phrase in the western counties; where they often dout the fire, that is, put out the fire. MALONE. say, [1] This strong expression did not escape the notice of Dryden and Pope, who have both made use of it. STEEVENS. The tucket sonuance, and the note to mount :" Grand. Why do you stay so long, my lords of France? With torch-staves in their hand : and their poor jades Fly o'er them all, impatient for their hour." To démonstrate the life of such a battle In life so lifeless as it shows itself. Con. They have said their prayers, and they stay for death. Dau. Shall we go send them dinners, and fresh suits, And giving their fasting horses provender, And after fight with them? Con. I stay but for my guard; On, to the field : I will the banner from a trumpet take, And use it for my haste. Come, come away! [Exeunt. [2] The tucket-sonuance was, I believe the name of an introductory flourish on the trumpet, as toccata in Italian is the prelude of a sonata on the harpsichord, and toccar la tromba is to blow the trumpet. STEEVENS. [3] He uses the terms of the field as if they were going out to the chace for sport. To dare the field is a phrase in falconry. Birds are dared when by the falcon in the air they are terrified from rising, so that they will be sometimes taken by the hand. Such an easy capture the lords expected to make of the English. JOHNSON [4] Their colours. M. MASON. The idea seems to have been taken from ragged curtains put in motion by the air. when the windows of mean houses are left open. STEEVÉNS. [5] Grandpre alludes to the form of ancient candlesticks, which frequently represented human figures holding the sockets for the lights in their extended hands. STEEVENS. [6] Grimmal is, in the western counties, a ring; a grimmal bit is therefore a bit of which the parts played one within another. JOHNSON. [7] The crows who are to have the disposal of what they shall leave, their hides and their flesh. JOHNSON SCENE III. The English Camp. Enter the English Host; GLOSTER, BEDFORD, EXETER, SALISBURY, and WESTMOREland. Glo. Where is the king? Bed. The king himself is rode to view their battle. West. Of fighting men they have full threescore thousand. Exe. There's five to one; besides they all are fresh. Sal. God's arm strike with us! 'tis a fearful odds. God be wi' you, princes all; I'll to my charge: If we no more meet, till we meet in heaven, Then, joyfully, my noble lord of Bedford,My dear lord Gloster,-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 fram'd of the firm truth of valour. [Ex. Sal. Bed. He is as full of valour, as of kindness; Princely in both. West. O that we now had here Enter King HENRY. But one ten thousand of those men in England, K. Hen. What's he, that wishes so? My cousin Westmoreland ?—No, my fair cousin : To do our country loss; and if to live, The fewer men, the greater share of honour. 8 Nor care I, who doth feed upon my cost; I am the most offending soul alive. No, 'faith, my coz, wish not a man from England: [8] To yearn is to grieve, to vex. STEEVENS. Let him depart; his passport shall be made, Then will he strip his sleeve, and show his scars, What feats he did that day :' Then shall our names, Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloster,- We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; And gentlemen in England, now a-bed, Shall think themselves accurs'd, they were not here; [9] The battle of Agincourt was fought upon the 25th of October, St. Crispin's day; the legend upon which this is founded, follows:-" Crispinus and Crispianus were brethren, born at Rome; from whence they travelled to Soissons in France, about the year 303, to propagate the christian religion; but because they would not be chargeable to others for their maintenance, they exercised the trade of shoemakers; but the governor of the town discovering them to be Christians, ordered them to be bebeaded about the year 303. From which time, the shoemakers made choice of them for their tutelar saints." See Hall's Chronicle, fol. 47. GREY. [1] Old men, notwithstanding the natural forgetfulness of age, shall remember their feats of this day, and remember to tell them with advantage. Age is commonly boastful, and inclined to magnify past acts and past times. JOHNSON. [2] King Henry V. inhibited any person but such as had a right by inheritance, or grant, to assume coats of arms, except those who fought with him at the battle of Agincourt; and, I think, these last were allowed the chief seats of honour at all feasts and public meetings. TOLLET. Enter SALISBURY. Sal. My sovereign lord, bestow yourself with speed: K. Hen. All things are ready, if our minds be so. West. God's will, my liege, 'would you and I alone, K. Hen. Why, now thou hast unwish'd five thousand men ;* Which likes me better, than to wish us one.- Mont. Once more I come to know of thee, king Harry, If for thy ransome 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 K. Hen. Who hath sent thee now? K. Hen. I pray thee, bear my former answer back Good God! why should they mock poor fellows thus ? The man, that once did sell the lion's skin While the beast liv'd, was kill'd 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 :5 And those that leave their valiant bones in France, They shall be fam'd; for there the sun shall greet them, [4] Holinshed makes the English army consist of 15,000, and the French of 60,000 horse, besides foot, &c. in all 100,000; while Walsingham and Harding represent the English es but 9000; and other authors say that the number of the French amounted to 150,000. STEEVENS. [5] That is, in brazen plates anciently let into tomb stones. STEEVENS. |