LYRIC GRANDEUR OF THE SUBJECT The didactic lessons of moral prudence, the brief sententious precepts, the descriptions of high actions and high passions, are alien from the whole spirit of Shakspere's drama. The Henry V constitutes an exception to the general rules upon which he worked. "High actions" are here described as well as exhibited; and high passions, in the Shaksperian sense of the term, scarcely make their appearance upon the scene. Here are no struggles between will and fate;-no frailties of humanity dragging down its virtues into an abyss of guilt and sorrow,-no crimes,―no obduracy, no penitence. We have the lofty and unconquerable spirit of national and individual heroism riding triumphantly over every danger; but the spirit is so lofty that we feel no uncertainty for the issue. We should know, even if we had no foreknowledge of the event, that it must conquer. We can scarcely weep over those who fall in that "glorious and well-foughten field," for "they kept together in their chivalry," and their last words. sound as a glorious hymn of exultation. The subject is altogether one of lyric grandeur; but it is not one, we think, which Shakspere would have chosen for a drama.— KNIGHT, Pictorial Shakspere. DRAMATIS PERSONE KING HENRY the Fifth DUKE OF GLOUCESTER, 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 ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY 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 Mistress Quickly, and now married to Pistol Lords, Ladies, Officers, Soldiers, Citizens, Messengers, and Attendants Chorus SCENE: England; afterwards France SYNOPSIS By J. ELLIS BURDICK ACT I Henry V resolves to claim the throne of France, basing his authority on the old Salic law. He first demands certain provinces and in reply the Dauphin sends him a bag of tennis-balls, evidently thinking that the English king has not outgrown his wild youth. Henry then declares war. ACT II Sir John Falstaff and his friends cannot understand the commendable change in the character of the king, who has dismissed the wild associates of his youth. Falstaff dies of a broken heart. All England wishes success and conquest to attend the king in his invasion of France. The French, fearing for their country, bribe three English nobles to murder the king before his embarkation at South Hampton. But the plot is discovered in time and the conspirators put to death. ACT III The city of Harfleur in France is besieged and taken by the English. Sickness and lack of food weaken the English army, but nevertheless the king, relying upon the bravery of his men, pitches his camp at Agincourt, wellknowing that the French will give battle there. ACT IV The English prepare energetically for the battle, the king himself in disguise going through the camp and talk |