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.

Herald.

AMBASSADORS to the King of England.

ISABEL, Queen of France.

KATHARINE, Daughter of Charles and Isabel. ALICE, a Lady attending on the Princess Katharine.

QUICKLY, Pistol's Wife, a Hostess.

Lords, Ladies, Officers, French and English Soldiers, Messengers, and Attendants. The SCENE, at the beginning of the Play, lies in England; but afterwards wholly in France.

and fire,

Enter CHоrus.

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 ailusion to the circular form of the theatre + Helmets + Powers of fancy.

ACT I.

SCENE I.-London.-An Antichamber in the King's Palace.

Enter the Archbishop of CANTERBURY, and Bishop of ELY.

Cant. My lord, I'll tell you,-that self bill is Which, in the eleventh year o'the last king's urg'd, [reign Was like, and had indeed against us pass'd, But that the scambling and unquiet time Did push it out of further question.*

Ely. But how, my lord, shall we resist it now?

Cant. It must be thought on. If it pass

against us,

We lose the better half of our possession:
For all the temporal lands, which men devout
By testament have given to the church,
Would they strip from us; being valued thus,-
As much as would maintain, to the king's
honour,

Full fifteen earls, and fifteen hundred knights;
Six thousand and two hundred good esquires;
And to relief of lazars, and weak age,

Of indigent faint souls, past corporal toil,
A hundred alms-houses, right well supplied;
And to the coffers of the king beside, [bill.
A thousand pounds by the year: Thus runs the
Ely. This would drink deep.

Cant. "Twould drink the cup and all.
Ely. But what prevention?

Cant. The king is full of grace, and fair regard.

Ely. And a true lover of the holy church. Cant. The courses of his youth promis'd it

not.

The breath no sooner left his father's body,

• Ditate.

But that his wildness, mortified in him, Seem'd to die too: yea, at that very moment, Consideration like an angel came,

And whipp'd the offending Adam out of him;
Leaving his body as a paradise,

To envelop and contain celestial spirits.
Never was such a sudden scholar made:
Never came reformation in a flood,
With such a heady current, scouring faults;
Nor never Hydra-headed wilfulness
So soon did lose his seat, and all at once,
As in this king.

Ely. We are blessed in the change. Cant. Hear him but reason in divinity, And, all-admiring, with an inward wish You would desire, the king were made a prelate:

Hear him debate of commonwealth affairs, You would say,-it hath been all-in-all his study:

List his discourse of war, and you shall hear
A fearful battle render'd you in music:
Turn him to any cause of policy,
The Gordian knot of it he will unloose,
Familiar as his garter; that, when he speaks,
The air, a charter'd libertine, is still,
And the mute wonder lurketh in men's ears,
To steal his sweet and honeyed sentences;
So that the art and practic part of life
Must be the mistress to this theoric :t
Which is a wonder, how his grace should
glean it,

Since his addiction was to courses vain:
His companies‡ unletter'd, rude, and shallow;
His hours fill'd up with riots, banquets, sport,
And never noted in him any study,
Any retirement, any sequestration
From open haunts and popularity.

Ely. The strawberry grows underneath the
nettle;

And wholesome berries thrive and ripen best, Neighbour'd by fruit of baser quality:

And so the prince obscur'd his contemplation Under the veil of wildness; which, no doubt, Grew like summer grass, fastest by night, Unseen, yet crescives in his faculty.

Cant. It must be so: for miracles are ceas'd; And therefore we must needs admit the means, How things are perfected.

Ely. But, my good lord,

How now for mitigation of this bill
Urg'd by the commons? Doth his majesty
Incline to it, or no?

Cant. He seems indifferent;
Or, rather, swaying more upon our part,
Than cherishing the exhibiters against us:
For I have made an offer to his majesty,-
Upon our spiritual convocation;
And in regard of causes now in hand,
Which I have open'd to his grace at large,
As touching France,-to give a greater sum
Than ever at one time the clergy yet
Did to his predecessors part withal.

Ely. How did this offer seem receiv'd, my
lord?

Cant. With good acceptance of his majesty; Save, that there was not time enough to hear (As, I perceiv'd, his grace would fain have done,)

The severals, and unhidden passages,
Of his true titles to some certain dukedoms;
And, generally, to the crown and seat of
France,

Deriv'd from Edward, his great grandfather.

Cant. The French ambassador, upon that in stant,

Crav'd audience: and the hour I think, is come,
To give him hearing: Is it four o'clock?
Ely. It is.

Cant. Then go we in, to know his embassy; Which I could, with a ready guess, declare, Before the Frenchman speak a word of it. Ely. I'll wait upon you; and I long to hear it. [Exeunt.

SCENE 11.-The sume.-A Room of State in the same.

Enter King HENRY, GLOSTER, Bedford, ExeTER, WARWICK, WESTMORELAND, and Atten

dants.

K. Hen. Where is my gracious lord of Canterbury?

Exe. Not here in presence.

K. Hen. Send for him, good uncle.

West. Shall we call in the ambassador, my liege?

K. Hen. Not yet, my cousin; we would be resolv'd,

Before we hear him, of some things of weight, That task our thoughts, concerning us and France.

Enter the Archbishop of CANTERBURY, and Bishop of ELY.

Cant. God, and his angels, guard your And make you long become it! sacred throne,

K. Hen. Sure, we thank you.
My learned lord, we pray you to proceed;
And justly and religiously unfold,
Why the law Salique, that they have in France,
Or should, or should not, bar us in our claim.
And God forbid, my dear and faithful lord,
That you should fashion, wrest, or bow your
reading,

Or nicely charge your understanding soul
With opening titles miscreate, whose right
Suits not in native colours with the truth;
Shall drop their blood in approbation
For God doth know, how many, now in health.

Of what your reverence shall incite us to:
Therefore take heed how you impawn our

person,

How you awake the sleeping sword of war; We charge you in the name of God, take heed: For never two such kingdoms did contend, Without much fall of blood; whose guiltless drops

Are every one a woe, a sore complaint,
'Gainst him, whose wrongs give edge unto the
swords

That make such waste in brief mortality.
Under this conjuration, speak, my lord:
And we will hear, note, and believe in heart,
That what you speak is in your conscience
As pure as sin with baptism.
[wash'd

Cant. Then hear me, gracious sovereign,

and you peers, That owe your lives, your faith, and services, To this imperial throne;-There is no bar To make against your highness' claim to France, [mond,But this, which they produce from PharaIn terram Salicam mulieres nè succedant, No woman shall succeed in Salique land: Which Salique land the French unjustly gloze,

* Spurious.

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
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 sovereign!

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 end courage, that renowned them, Runs in vir 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 carth

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

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 civils 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. + Agreeing. : Different degrees. Executioners. Dominion.

* Harmony. Sober, grave.

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

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

king;

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 mas-
Says,-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,
Desires you, let the dukedoms, that you claim,
This tun of treasure; and, in lieu of this,
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.
And therefore, living hence,|| did give ourself
We never valu'd this poor seats of England;
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

Shall stand sore charged for the wasteful venThat shall fly with them: for many a thousand widows Shall this his mock mock out of their dear hus[bands; Mock mothers from their sons, mock castles

down;

Exe. This was a merry message.

at it.

K. Hen. We hope to make the sender blush [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! [do,
But see thy fault! France hath in thee found
A nest of hollow bosoms, which he fills [out
With treacherous crowns: and three corrupted
[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 gilt of France, (O guilt, indeed!)
Confirm'd conspiracy with fearful France;
And by their hands this grace of kings must
(If hell and treason hold their promises,) [die,
Ere he take ship for France, and in Southamp-

men,

ton.

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:

nd 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.

Iden money.

SCENE I.-The same.-Eastcheap. Enter NYM and BARDOLPH. Bard. Well met, corporal Nym. Nym. Good morrow, lieutenant Bardolph. friends yet? Bard. What, are ancient Pistol and you

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

mour of it.

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

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

rest,* that is the rendezvous of it.

Bard. It is certain, corporal, 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, knives have edges. It must be as it may: though patience be a tired mare, yet she will plod. 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 bawdy-house 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. Good lieutenant Bardolph,good corporal, offer nothing here. 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 month.
I 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 coujure me. I have a humour to knock you indifferently well: If you grow foul with me, Pistol, I will scour you with my rapier, as may, in fair terms: if you would walk off, I