cited, to show the magnanimity of the latter, who slept soundly, though so near his greatest enemy, then his prisoner.—Nares.

(B) For me, the gold of France did not seduce;] Holinshed observes, that Richard, Earl of Cambridge, did not conspire with the Lord Scroop and Thomas Grey, for the murdering of King Henry to please the French king, but only to the intent to exalt to the crown his brother-in-law Edmund, Earl of March, as heir to Lionel, Duke of Clarence; after the death of which Earl of March, for divers secret impediments not able to have issue, the Earl of Cambridge was sure that the crown should come to him by his wife, and to his children of her begotten; and therefore (as was thought), he rather confessed himself for need of money to be corrupted by the French king, than he would declare his inward mind, &c., which if it were espied, he saw plainly that the Earl of March should have tasted of the same cup that he had drunk, and what should have come to his own children he merely doubted,

&c.'

A million of gold is stated to have been given by France to the conspirators.

Historians have, however, generally expressed their utter inability to explain upon what grounds the conspirators built their expectation of success; and unless they had been promised powerful assistance from France, the design seems to have been one of the most absurd and hopeless upon record. The confession of the Earl of Cambridge, and his supplication for mercy in his own hand writing, is in the British Museum.

(c) Touching our person, seek we no revenge;] This speech is taken from Holinshed::-

"Revenge herein touching my person, though I seek not; yet for the safeguard of my dear friends, and for due preservation of all sorts, I am by office to cause example to be showed: Get ye hence, therefore, you poor miserable wretches, to the receiving of your just reward, wherein God's majesty give you grace of his mercy, and repentance of your heinous offences.'

(D) Cheerly to sea; the signs of war advance:] "The king went from his castle of Porchester in a small vessel to the sea, and embarking on board his ship, called The Trinity, between the ports of Southampton and Portsmouth, he immediately ordered that the sail should be set, to signify his readiness to depart." "There were about fifteen hundred vessels, including about a hundred which were left behind. After having passed the Isle of Wight, swans were seen swimming in the midst of the fleet, which, in the opinion of all, were said to be happy auspices of the undertaking. On the next day, the king entered the mouth of the Seine, and cast anchor before a place called Kidecaus, about three miles from Harfleur, where he proposed landing."-Nicolas's History of Agincourt.

The departure of Henry's army on this occasion, and the separation between those who composed it and their relatives and

friends, is thus described by Drayton, who was born in 1563, and died in 1631 :

There might a man have seen in every street,

The father bidding farewell to his son;
Small children kneeling at their father's feet:

The wife with her dear husband ne'er had done:
Brother, his brother, with adieu to greet:

One friend to take leave of another, run;
The maiden with her best belov'd to part,
Gave him her hand who took away her heart.
The nobler youth the common rank above,

On their curveting coursers mounted fair:
One wore his mistress' garter, one her glove;
And he a lock of his dear lady's hair:
And he her colours, whom he did most love;

There was not one but did some favour wear:
And each one took it, on his happy speed,

To make it famous by some knightly deed.

(E) Enter the FRENCH KING, the DAUPHIN, the DUKE OF BUR GUNDY, the CONSTABLE, and others.] Charles VI., surnamed the Well Beloved, was King of France during the most disastrous period of its history. He ascended the throne in 1380, when only thirteen years of age. In 1385 he married Isabella of Bavaria, who was equally remarkable for her beauty and her depravity. The unfortunate king was subject to fits of insanity, which lasted for several months at a time. On the 21st October, 1422, seven years after the battle of Agincourt, Charles VI. ended his unhappy life at the age of 55, having reigned 42 years. Lewis the Dauphin was the eldest son of Charles VI. He was born 22nd January, 1396, and died before his father, December 18th, 1415, in his twentieth year. History says, "Shortly after the battle of Agin court, either for melancholy that he had for the loss, or by some sudden disease, Lewis, Dovphin of Viennois, heir apparent to the French king, departed this life without issue."

John, Duke of Burgundy, surnamed the Fearless, succeeded to the dukedom in 1403. He caused the Duke of Orleans to be assassinated in the streets of Paris, and was himself murdered August 28, 1419, on the bridge of Montereau, at an interview with the Dauphin, afterwards Charles VII. John was succeeded by his only son, who bore the title of Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy.

The Constable, Charles D'Albret, commanded the French army at the Battle of Agincourt, and was slain on the field.

Enter CHORUS.

Chor. Thus with imagin'd wing our swift scene flies,
In motion of no less celerity

Than that of thought. Suppose that you have seen
The well-appointed king' at Hampton pier
Embark his royalty;2 and his brave fleet

With silken streamers the young Phoebus fanning:
Play with your fancies; and in them behold
Upon the hempen tackle ship-boys climbing;
Hear the shrill whistle, which doth order give
To sounds confus'd; behold the threaden sails,
Borne with the invisible and creeping wind,
Draw the huge bottoms through the furrow'd sea,
Breasting the lofty surge: O, do but think
You stand upon the rivage,3 and behold
A city on the inconstant billows dancing;
For so appears this fleet majestical,

Holding due course to Harfleur. Follow, follow!
Grapple your minds to sternage of this navy ;*
And leave your England, as dead midnight still,
Guarded with grandsires, babies, and old women,
Either past, or not arriv'd to, pith and puissance;
For who is he, whose chin is but enrich'd

1 The well-appointed king] i.e., well furnished with all the neces saries of war.

* Embark his royalty;] The place where Henry's army was encamped, at Southampton, is now entirely covered with the sea, and called Westport.

to sternage of this navy ;] The stern being the hinder part of the ship, the meaning is, let your minds follow close after the navy. Stern, however, appears to have been anciently synony←mous to rudder.

With one appearing hair, that will not follow
These cull'd and choice-drawn cavaliers to France ?
Work, work your thoughts, and therein see a siege;
Behold the ordnance on their carriages,

With fatal mouths gaping on girded Harfleur.
Suppose the ambassador from the French comes back;
Tells Harry-that the king doth offer him
Katharine his daughter; and with her, to dowry,
Some petty and unprofitable dukedoms.
The offer likes not: and the nimble gunner
With linstock3 now the devilish cannon touches,

[Alarums, and cannon shot off.

And down goes all before them. Still be kind,
And eke out our performance with your mind.

SCENE CHANGES TO

[Exit.

THE SIEGE OF HARFLEUR.

THE WALLS ARE MANNED BY THE FRENCH.

THE ENGLISH ARE REPULSED FROM AN
ATTACK ON THE BREACH.

Alarums. Enter KING HENRY, EXETER, BEDFORD, GLOSTER, and Soldiers, R.H.

K. Hen. Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once

more;

Or close the wall up with our English dead!"

In peace there's nothing so becomes a man

As modest stillness and humility:

But when the blast of war blows in our ears,

5 linstock] The staff to which the match is fixed when ordnance is fired.

6 Or close the wall up with our English dead!] i. e., re-enter the breach you have made, or fill it up with your own dead bodies.

Then imitate the action of the tiger!

On, on, you noble English,

Whose blood is fet' from fathers of war-proof!

And you, good yeomen,

Whose limbs were made in England, show us here
The mettle of your pasture; let us swear

That
you are worth
your breeding: which I doubt not;
For there is none of you so mean and base,
That hath not noble lustre in your eyes.
I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips,
Straining upon the start. The game's afoot:
Follow your spirit; and, upon this charge,
Cry-God for Harry! England! and Saint George!
[The English charge upon the breach, headed by
the KING. Alarums. The GOVERNOR of
the Town appears on the walls with a flag of

truce.

K. Hen. How yet resolves the governour of the town? This is the latest parle we will admit:

Therefore, to our best mercy give yourselves;

Or, like to men proud of destruction,

Defy us to our worst: for, as I am a soldier

(A name that, in my thoughts, becomes me best,) If I begin the battery once again,

I will not leave the half-achieved Harfleur

Till in her ashes she lie buried.

The gates of mercy shall be all shut up.
What say you? will you yield, and this avoid?
Or, guilty in defence, be thus destroy'd?

Gov. Our expectation hath this day an end:
The Dauphin, whom of succour we entreated,
Returns us-that his powers are not yet ready
To raise so great a siege. Therefore, dread king,

"Whose blood is fet] To fet is an obsolete word meaning to fetch. That is, "whose blood is derived," &c. The word is used by Spencer and Ben Jonson.

8 like greyhounds in the slips,] Slips are a contrivance of leather, to start two dogs at the same time.