Will. Keep thy word: fare thee well. Bates. Be friends, you English fools, be friends: we have French quarrels enow, if you could tell how to reckon. K. Hen. Indeed, the French may lay twenty French crowns to one they will beat us, for they bear them on their shoulders; but it is no English treason to cut French crowns, and to-morrow the king himself will be a clipper. [Exeunt Soldiers. Upon the king! let us our lives, our souls, Our debts, our careful wives, our children, and Our sins, lay on the king!—we must bear all. O hard condition! twin-born with greatness, Subject to the breath of every fool, Whose sense no more can feel but his own wringing! What infinite heart's ease must kings neglect, That private men enjoy? And what have kings, that privates have not too, And what art thou, thou idol ceremony? What is thy soul of adoration"? Art thou aught else but place, degree, and form? Wherein thou art less happy, being fear'd, Than they in fearing. What drink'st thou oft, instead of homage sweet, Think'st thou, the fiery fever will go out 5 What is THY soul of ADORATION?] In the folio, where alone the speech is found, this line stands exactly thus: "What? is thy soul of odoration?” Odoration is an evident misprint; and it may be questioned whether we ought not to read "What is the soul of adoration?" or what is the essence or worth of adoration? but we prefer adhering to the original. Johnson recommended, "What is thy soul, O adoration?" With titles blown from adulation? Will it give place to flexure and low bending? Canst thou, when thou command'st the beggar's knee, I am a king, that find thee; and I know, Can sleep so soundly as the wretched slave, Gets him to rest, cramm'd with distressful bread, What watch the king keeps to maintain the peace, Enter ERPINGHAM. Erp. My lord, your nobles, jealous of your absence, 6 The FARCED title running 'fore the king,] i. e. the stuffed, tumid, or inflated title. The use of "farced " for stuffed is common. It has been plausibly suggested by Mr. Knight, in his "Pictorial Shakspere," that "the farced title running 'fore the king," refers to the herald who preceded the king on some state occasions to proclaim his title. K. Hen. O, God of battles! steel my soldiers' hearts: Possess them not with fear: take from them now The sense of reckoning, if th' opposed numbers My father made in compassing the crown. I Richard's body have interred new, Who twice a day their wither'd hands hold up Glo. My liege! K. Hen. Enter GLOSTER. My brother Gloster's voice?—Ay; [Exeunt. I know thy errand, I will go with thee.— The day, my friend, and all things stay for me. Pluck their hearts from them.] The folio has of for "if," an easy misprint, the correction of which seems necessary to the intelligibility of the passage; unless we were to read, "Pluck their hearts from them not to-day, O Lord!" which would be an awkward inversion, and would injure the emphasis of the imprecation, that the manner in which Henry IV. came by the crown should not that day be remembered. SCENE II. The French Camp. Enter DAUPHIN, ORLEANS, RAMBURES, and Others. Orl. The sun doth gild our armour: up, my lords! Dau. Montez à cheval:-My horse! valet! lacquay! ha! Orl. O brave spirit! Dau. Via!-les eaux et la terres! 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 doubt 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, 8 Via! les eaux et la terre !] "Via!" is an exclamation, signifying away! often met with: it is not easy to understand what the dauphin means by les eaux et la terre, or his cousin by l'air et le feu, unless they are to be taken as exhortatory exclamations, or have reference to the four elements, which, in a previous scene (p. 520), the Dauphin had spoken of in connection with his horse. 9 And DOUBT them with superfluous courage:] This is the old reading, and taking" doubt them " in the sense of making them doubt, or alarming them for the issue, is quite as intelligible as dout or do out, extinguish, which some modern editors would substitute. Pope read daunt. 10 And your fair show shall suck away their souls; That our French gallants shall to-day draw out, 'Tis positive against all exceptions, lords, What's to say? About our squares of battle, were enow Enter GRANDpré. Grand. Why do you stay so long, my lords of Yond' island carrions, desperate of their bones, The horsemen sit like fixed candlesticks, 10 the SHALES and husks of men.] "Shale" was the old form of shell; from the Sax. schale. 1 The TUCKET-SONNANCE,] i. e. The sounding of the tucket. A tucket, as is explained in a note to "The Merchant of Venice," Vol. ii. p. 557, note 7, was properly not a trumpet, but the sound produced by a trumpet. This is what the constable of France calls "the tucket-sonnance." |