The Dramatic Works of William Shakespeare

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 :

Making defeat on the full power of France;
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

Where Charles the great, having subdued the With half their forces the full ptide of France;

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

Of Blithild, which was the daughter to Clothair,
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 eonscience,
Wearing the crown of France, till satisfied
That fair queen Isabel, his grandmother,
Was lineal of the lady Ermengare, [Lorain:
Daughter to Charles the aforesaid duke of
By the which marriage, the line of Charles the
Was reunited 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 imbare 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 sove-
reign!

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,
From whom you claim; invoke his warlike spirit,
And your great uncle's, Edward the black
prince;

Who on the French ground play'd a tragedy,

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 and courage, that renowned them,
Runs in your veins; and my thrice-puissant liege
Is in the very May-morn of his youth,
Ripe for exploits and mighty enterprises.

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 Eng

land,

In aid whereof, we of the spirituality
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.

[reign,

Cant. They of those marches,† gracious sove-
Shall be a wall sufficient to defend
Our inland from the pelfering borderers.
K. Hen. We do not mean the coursing snatch-
ers 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 neighbourhood.

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.
To fill king Edward's fame with prisoner kings;
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:

* At the battle of Cressy.

†The borders of England and Scotland. General dispostion.

Frightene

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 home:
Yet that is but a curs'd necessity;
Since we have locks to safeguard necessaries,
And petty traps to catch the pretty 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 stage 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 home
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-cy'd justice, with his surly hum,
Delivering over 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;

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.

[doms;

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, T
O'er France, and all her almost kingly duke-
Or 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 pleasure
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-
ness,

Tell us the Dauphin's mind.

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.
In answer of which claim, the prince our master
Says, that you savour too much of your youth;
And bids you be advis'd, there's nought in France,
That can be with a nimble galliard won;
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 plea

sant with us;

His present and your pains, we thank you for:
When we have match'd our rackets to these balls,
We will, in France, by God's grace, play a set,
Shall strike his father's crown into the hazard:†
Tell him, he hath made a match with such a
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 seat◊ of England;
And therefore, living hence,|| did give ourself
To barbarous license; 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,
And plodded like a man for working days;
But I will rise there with so full a glory,
That I will dazzle all the eyes of France,
Yea, strike the Dauphin blind to look on us.
And tell the pleasant prince,-this mock of his
Hath turn'd his balls to gun-stones; and his soul
Shall stand sore charged for the wasteful ven-
geance

That shall fly with them: for many a thousand

widows

Shall this his mock mock out of their dear husbands;

Mock mothers from their sons, mock castles

down;

And some are yet ungotten, and unborn,
That shall have cause to curse the Dauphin's

scorn.

* An ancient dance.

† A place in the tennis-court into which the ball is some times struck.

But this lies all within the will of God,
To whom I do appeal; And in whose name,
Tell you the Dauphin, I am coming on,
To venge me as I may, and to put forth
My rightful hand in a well-hallow'd cause.
So get you hence in peace; and tell the Dauphin,
His jest will savour but of shallow wit.
When thousands weep, more than did laugh at
it.-

Convey them with safe conduct.-Fare you well.
[Exeunt AMBASSADORS.
Exe. This was a merry message.
K. Hen. We hope to make the sender blush
at it.
[Descends from his Throne.
Therefore, my lords, omit no happy hour,
That may give furtherance to our expedition :
For we have now no thought in us but France;
Save those to God, that run before our business.
Therefore let our proportions for these wars
Be soon collected; and all things thought upon,
That may with reasonable swiftness, add
More feathers to our wings; for, God before,
We'll chide this Dauphin at his father's door.
Therefore, let every man now task his thought,
That this fair action may on foot be brought.
[Exeunt.

ACT. II.

Enter. CHORUS.

Chor. Now all the youth of England are on fire,

And silken dalliance in the wardrobe lies;
Now thrive the armourers, and honour's thought
Reigns solely in the breast of every man :
They sell the pasture now, to buy the horse;
Following the mirror of all Christian kings,
With winged heels, as English Mercuries.
For now sits expectation in the air;
And hides a sword, from hilts unto the point,
With crowns imperial, crowns, and coronets,
Promis'd to Harry and his followers.
The French, advis'd by good intelligence
Of this most dreadful preparation,
Shake in their fear; and with pale policy
Seek to divert the English purposes.
O England!-model to thy inward greatness,
Like little body with a mighty heart,-
What might'st thou do, that honour would thee
Were all thy children kind and natural!
But see thy fault! France hath in thee found
A nest of hollow bosoms, which he* fills
With treacherous crowns: and three corrupted

men,

yet?

Nym. For my part, I care not: I say little; but when time shall serve, there shall be smiles; but that shall be as it may. I dare not fight; but I will wink, and hold out mine iron; It is a simple one: but what though? it will toast cheese; and it will endure cold as another man's sword will: and there's the humour of it,

Bard. I will bestow a breakfast, to make you friends; and we'll be all three sworn brothers to France; let it be so, good corporal Nym.

Nym. 'Faith, I will live so long as I may, that's the certain of it; and when I cannot live any longer, I will do as I may: that is my rest,* that is the rendezvous of it.

Bard. It is certain coporal, that he is married to Nell Quickly and, certainly, she did you wrong; for you were troth-plight to her.

Nym. I cannot tell; things must be as they may men may sleep, and they may have their throats about them at that time; and, some say, patience be a tired mare, yet she will plod. knives have edges. It must be as it may though There must be conclusions. Well, I cannot tell. Enter PISTOL and Mrs. QUICKLY.

Bard. Here comes ancient Pistol, and his wife:-good corporal, be patient here.-How, now, mine host Pistol?

Pist. Base tike,† call'st thou me-host? Now, by this hand I swear, I scorn the term; Nor shall my Nell keep lodgers.

Quick. No, by my troth, not long: for we cannot lodge and board a dozen or fourteen gentlewomen, that live honestly by the prick of their needles, but it will be thought we keep a bawdyhouse straight. [NYM draws his sword.] O well-a-day, Lady, if he be not drawn now! O Lord! here's corporal Nym's-now shall we have wilful adultery and murder committed. [out Good lieutenant Bardolph,-good corporal, offer nothing here.

[do,

[cond,
One, Richard earl of Cambridge: and the se-
Henry lord Scroop of Marsham; and the third,
Sir Thomas Grey knight of Northumberland,-
Have, for the giltf of France, [O guilt, indeed!)
Confirm'd conspiracy with fearful France;
And by their hands this grace of kings must die,
(If hell and treason hold their promises,) [ton.
Ere he take ship for France, and in Southamp-
Linger your patience on; and well digest
The abuse of distance, while we force a play.
The sum is paid; the traitors are agreed;
The king is set from London; and the scene
Is now transported, gentles, to Southampton:
There is the playhouse now, there must you sit :
And thence to France shall we convey you safe,
And bring you back, charming the narrow seas
To give you gentle pass; for, if we may,
We'll not offend one stomach with our play.
i. e. The king of France.
† Golden money

Nym. Pish!

Pist. Pish for thee, Iceland dog! thou prickeared cur of Iceland!

Quick. Good corporal Nym, show the valour
of a man, and put up thy sword.
Nym. Will you shog off? I would have you
solus.
[Sheathing his sword.
Pist. Solus, egregious dog? O viper vile!
The solus in thy most marvellous face;
The solus in thy teeth, and in thy throat,
And in thy hateful lungs, yea, in thy maw,
perdy:‡

And, which is worse, within thy nasty mouth;
do retort the solus in thy bowels;
For I can take, and Pistol's cock is up,
And flashing fire will follow.

Nym. I am not Barbason; you cannot con-
jure me. I have a humour, to knock you in-
differently well: If you grow foul with me,
Pistol, I will scour you with my rapier, as I may,
in fair terms: if you would walk off, I would
* What I am resolved on. + Clown.
Par Dien.

Name of a demor.

prick your guts a little, in good terms, as I may;
and that's the humour of it.
[wight!
Pist. O braggard vile, and damned furious
The grave doth gape, and doting death is near:
Therefore exhale.* [PISTOL and NYм draw.
Bard. Hear me, hear me what I say :-he that
strikes the first stroke, I'll run him up to the
bilts, as I am a soldier.
[Draws.
Pist. An oath of mickle might; and fury
shall abate.

Give me thy fist, thy fore-foot to me give;
Thy spirits are most tall.

Nym I will cut thy throat, one time or other, in fair terms; that is the humour of it. Pist. Coup le gorge, that's the word?

defy again.

I thee

O hound of Crete,† think'st thou my spouse to get?

No; to the spital‡ go,

And from the powdering tub of infamy
Fetch forth the lazar kite of Cressid's kind,
Doll Tear-sheet she by name, and her espouse:
I have, and I will hold, the quondam|| Quickly
For the only she; and-Pauca, there's enough.
Enter the Boy.

Boy. Mine host Pistol, you must come to my master, and you, hostess;--he is very sick, and would to bed.-Good Bardolph, put thy nose between his sheets, and do the office of a warmingpan: 'faith, he's very ill.

Bard. Away, you rogue.

Quick. By my troth, he'll yield the crow a pudding one of these days: the king has killed his heart.-Good husband, come home presently. [Exeunt Mrs. QUICKLY and Box. Bard. Come, shall I make you two friends? We must to France together; Why, the devil, should we keep knives to cut one another's throats?

Re-enter Mrs. QUICKLY.

Quick. As ever you came of women, come in quickly to Sir John: Ah, poor heart! he is so shaked of a burning quotidian tertian, that it is most lamentable to behold. Sweet men, come to him.

Nym. The king hath run bad humours on the knight, that's the even of it.

Pist. Nym, thou hast spoke the right; His heart is fracted and corroborate.

Nym. The king is a good king: but it must be as it may; he passes some humours, and careers.

Pist. Let us condole the knight; for, lambkins, we will live. [Exeunt. SCENE II.-Southampton.-A CouncilChamber.

Enter EXETER, BEDFORD, and WESTMORE

That he should for a foreign purse, so sell
His sovereign's life to death and treachery!
Trumpet sounds. Enter King HENRY, SCROOP,
CAMBRIDGE, GREY, Lords, and Attendants.
K. Hen. Now sits the wind fair, and we will
aboard.

Pist. Let floods o'erswell, and fiends for food My lord of Cambridge,-and my kind lord of

howl on!

Nym. You'll pay me the eight shillings I won of you at betting?

Pist. Base is the slave that pays.

Nym. That now I will have; that's the humour of it.

Pist. Asmanhood shall compound; Push home. Bard By this sword, he that makes the first thrust, I'll kill him; by this sword, I will.

Pist. Sword is an oath, and oaths must have their course.

Bard. Corporal Nym, an thou wilt be friends, be friends; and thou wilt not, why then be enemies with me too. Pr'ythee, put up.

Nym. I shall have my eight shillings, I won of you at betting.

Pist. A noble shalt thou have, and presen
pay;

And liquor likewise will I give to thee,
And friendship shall combine, and brotherhood:
I'll live by Nym, and Nym shall live by me;—
Is not this just for I shall sutler be
Unto the camp, and profits will accrue.
Give me thy hand.

Nym. I shall have my noble?
Pist. In cash most justly paid.

Nym. Well then, that's the humour of it.

Breathe your last. † Blood hound.

Hospital.

Of Cressida's nature: see the play, of Troilus and

Cressida

Masham,

K. Hen. I doubt not that: since we are well
persuaded,

We carry not a heart with us from hence,
That grows not in a fair consent with ours;

Success and conquest to attend on us.

Nor leave not one behind that does not wish

Cam. Never was monarch better fear'd and lov'd, [subject, Than is your majesty; there's not, I think, a Under the sweet shade of your government. That sits in heart-grief and uneasiness

Grey. Even those, that were your father's enemies,

Have steep'd their galls in honey; and do serve

you

With hearts createt of duty and of zeal.

K. Hen. We therefore have great cause of
thankfulness;

And shall forget the office of our hand,
Sooner than quittance of desert and merit
According to the weight and worthiness.

*Force. Compounded. Recompense.

Scroop. So service shall with steeled sinews | Ingrateful, savage, and inhuman creature! toil;

And labour shall refresh itself with hope,
To do your grace incessant services.

K. Hen. We judge no less.-Uncle of Exeter,
Enlarge the man committed yesterday,
That rail'd against our person: we consider,
It was excess of wine that set him on;
And, on his more advice, we pardon him.
Scroop. That's mercy, but too much security:
Let him be punished, sovereign; lest example
Breed, by his sufferance, more of such a kind.
K. Hen. O let us yet be merciful.

Cam. So may your highness, and yet punish

too.

Grey. Sir, you show great mercy, if you give him life,

After the taste of much correction.

K. Hen. Alas, your too much love and care

of me

eye,

Are heavy orisonst 'gainst this poor wretch.
If little faults, proceeding on distemper,
Shall not be wink'd at, how shall we stretch our
[digested,
When capital crimes, chew'd, swallow'd, and
Appear before us?-We'll yet enlarge that man,
Though Cambridge, Scroop, and Grey,-in their
dear care,

And tender preservation of our person,

Thou that didst bear the key of all my counsels,
That knewest the very bottom of my soul,
That almost might'st have coin'd me into gold,
Would'st thou have practis'd on me for thy use:
May it be possible that foreign hire

Could out of thee extract one spark of evil,
That might annoy my finger? 'tis so strange,
That, though the truth of it stands off as gross
As black from white, my eye will scarcely see it.
Treason and murder, ever kept together,
As two yoke-devils sworn to either's purpose,
Working so grossly in a natural cause,
That admiration did not whoop at them:
But thou 'gainst all proportion, didst bring in
Wonder, to wait on treason, and on murder:
And whatsoever cunning fiend it was,
That wrought upon thee so preposterously,
H'ath got the voice in hell for excellence:
And other devils, that suggest by treasons,
Do botch and bungie up damnation [fetch'd
With patches, colours, and with forms being
From glistering semblances of piety;
But he, that temper'd thee, bade thee stand up,
Gave thee no instance why thou shouldst do
treason,

Unless to dub thee with the name of traitor.
If that same demon, that hath gull'd thee thus,
Should with his lion gait+ walk the whole world,

Would have him punish'd. And now to our He might return to vasty Tartar‡ back,

French causes;

Who are the late‡ commissioners ?
Cam. I one, my lord;

Your highness bade me ask for it to-day.
Scroop. So did you me, my liege.
Grey. And me, my royal sovereign.

K. Hen. Then, Richard, earl of Cambridge,
there is yours;-
[knight,
There yours, lord Scroop of Masham ;-and, Sir
Grey of Northumberland, this same is yours:-
Read them; and know, I know your worthiness.
My lord of Westmoreland,-and uncle Exeter,-
We will aboard to-night.—Why, how now, gen-
tlemen?

What see you in those papers, that you lose
So much complexion?-look ye, how they change!
Their cheeks are paper.-Why, what read you
there,

That hath so cowarded and chas'd your blood
Out of appearance?

Cam. I do confess my fault;
And do submit me to your highness' mercy.

Grey. Scroop. To which we all appeal.
K. Hen. The mercy, that was quick in us
but late,

By your own counsel is suppress'd and kill'd :
You must not dare, for shame, to talk of mercy;
For your own reasons turn into your bosoms,
As dogs upon their masters, worrying them.--
See you, my princes, and my noble peers,
These English monsters! My lord of Cambridge
here,-

You know, how apt our love was, to accord,
To furnish him with all appertinents
Belonging to his honour; and this man
Hath, for a few light crowns, lightly conspir'd,
And sworn unto the practices of France,
To kill us here in Hampton: to the which,
This knight, no less for bounty bound to us
Than Cambridge is,-hath likewise sworn:

But O!

And tell the legions-I can never win
A soul so easy as that Englishman's.
O, how hast thou with jealousy infected
The sweetness of affiance! Show men dutiful?
Why, so didst thou seem they grave and

learned?
Why, so didst thou: come they of noble family?
Why, so didst thou: seem they religious?
Why, so didst thou: or are they spare in diet;
Free from gross passion, or of mirth, or anger;
Constant in spirit, not swerving with the
blood;

Garnish'd and deck'd in modest complement ;§
Not working with the eye, without the ear,
And, but in purged judgement trusting neither?
Such, and so finely bolted,|| didst thou seem:
And thus thy fall hath left a kind of blot,
To mark the full-fraught man, and best en-
dued, T

With some suspicion. I will weep for thee;
For this revolt of thine, methinks, is like
Another fall of man.-Their faults are open,
Arrest them to the answer of the law;-
And God acquit them of their practices!

Exe. I arrest thee of high treason, by the name of Richard, earl of Cambridge.

I arrest thee of high treason, by the name of Henry lord Scroop of Masham.

I arrest thee of high treason, by the name of Thomas Grey, knight of Northumberland. [ver'd; Scroop. Our purposes God justly hath discoAnd I repent my fault, more than my death; Which I beseech your highness to forgive, Although my body pay the price of it.

Cam. For me, the gold of France did not
seduce;

Although I did admit it as a motive,
The sooner to effect what I intended :
But God be thanked for prevention;
Which I in sufferance heartily will rejoice,
Beseeching God, and you, to pardon me.
Grey. Never did faithful subject more rejoice
* Rendered thee pliable. † Pace, step.
Accomplishment
# Sifted.

↑ Tartarus. ↑ Endowed.

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The Dramatic Works of William Shakespeare: From the Text of ..., Volume 1