Tucket founds. Enter Mountjoy.

Mount You know me 2 by my habit.

K. Henry. Well then, I know thee; what shall I know of thee?

Mount. My master's mind.

K. Henry. Unfold it.

Mount. Thus fays my King. Say thou to Harry England,

3

Although we seemed dead, we did but sleep;
Advantage is a better foldier than rashness.
Tell him, we could at Harfleur have rebuk'd him,
But that we thought not good to bruise an injury,
'Till it were ripe. Now, fpeak we3 on our cue,
With voice imperial. England fhall repent
His folly, fee his weakness, and admire
Our fuff'rance. Bid him therefore to confider,
What must the ransom be, which must proportion
The loffes we have borne, the subjects we
Have loft, and the difgrace we have digested,
To answer which, his pettiness would bow under.
First for our lofs, too poor is his Exchequer ;
For the effufion of our blood, his army
Too faint a number; and for our disgrace,
Ev'n his own perfon kneeling at our feet
A weak and worthlefs fatisfaction.

To this, defiance add; and for conclufion,
Tell him he hath betrayed his followers,
Whofe condemnation is pronounc'd. So far
My King and master; and so much my office.
K. Henry. What is thy name? I know thy quality.
Mount. Mountjoy.

2 By my babit.] That is, by his herald's coat, The perfon of a herald being inviolable was diftinguished in thofe times of formality by a peculiar drefs, which is likewife yet worn on

particular occafions.

3 On our cue.] In our turn. This phrafe the author learned among players, and has impart ed it to kings.

K. Henry.

K. Henry. Thou doft thy office fairly. Turn thee

back,

And tell thy King, I do not feek him now;
But could be willing to march on to Calais
Without impeachment; for to fay the footh,
Though 'tis no wisdom to confess so much
Unto an enemy of craft and vantage,
My people are with fickness much enfeebled,
My numbers leffen'd; and those few I have,
Almost no better than fo many French;

Who, when they were in health, I tell thee, herald,
I thought, upon one pair of English legs

Did march three Frenchmen. Yet, forgive me God,
That I do brag thus; this your air of France
Hath blown that vice in me; I muft repent.
Go, therefore, tell thy mafter, here I am,
My ranfom is this frail and worthless trunk,
My army but a weak and fickly guard,
Yet, God before, tell him we will come on,
Though France himself, and fuch another neighbour,
Stand in our way. There's for thy labour, Mountjoy,
Go, bid thy mafter well advise himself :

If we may pafs, we will; if we be hinder'd,
We fhall your tawny ground with your red blood
Difcolour; and fo, Mountjoy, fare you well.
The fum of all our answer is but this;
We would not feek a battle as we are,
Yet, as we are, we fay, we will not shun it:
So tell your master.

Mount. I fhall deliver fo. Thanks to your High

nefs.

God before.] This was an expreffion in that age for God being my guide, or when used to another, God be thy guide. So in an old dialogue between a herdfman and a maiden going on pilgrimage to Walfingham, the

[Exit.

herdsman takes his leave in these words,

Now go thy ways, and God before.

To prevent was used in the fame fenfe.

Glou.

Glou. I hope, they will not come upon us now.
K. Henry. We are in God's hand, brother, not in
theirs.

March to the bridge; it now draws towards night;
Beyond the River we'll encamp ourselves;
And on to morrow bid them march away.

"SCENE IX.

The French Camp near Agincourt.

[Exeunt.

Euter the Conftable of France, the Lord Rambures, Orleans, Dauphin, with others.

Con:

T

UT, I have the beft armour of the world.
Would it were day!

Orl. You have an excellent armour, but let my horfe have his due.

Con. It is the best horfe of Europe.

Orl. Will it never be morning?

Dau. My Lord of Orleans, and my Lord high Conftable, you talk of horse and armour,

Orl. You are as well provided, of both, as any Prince in the world.

Dau. What a long night is this! I will not change my horfe with any that treads but on four pafterns; ca, ba? le Cheval volant, the Pegafus, chez les Narines de feu"! he bounds from the earth, as if his entrails were hairs; when I beftride him, I foar, I am a Hawk; he trots the air, the earth fings when he touches it; the

5 SCENE IX.] This fcene is shorter, and I think better, in the first editions of 1600 and 16c8. But as the enlargements appear to be the author's own, I would not omit them. POPE.

he bounds from the earth, as

if his entrails were hairs ;] AlJuding to the bounding of tennisballs, which were stuffed with hair, as appears from Much ado about Nothing, And the old ornament of his cheek hath already fufft tennis-balls. WARBURTON.

basest

baseft horn of his hoof is more musical than the pipe of Hermes,

Orl. He's of the colour of the nutmeg.

Dau. And of the heat of the ginger. It is a beast for Perfeus; he is pure air and fire; and the dull elements of earth and water never appear in him, but only in patient ftillness while his rider mounts him; he is indeed a horfe'; and all other jades you may call beafts.

Con. Indeed, my Lord, it is a most abfolute and excellent horse.

Dan. It is the prince of palfreys; his neigh is like the bidding of a monarch, and his countenance enforces homage.

Orl. No more, coufin.

Dau. Nay, the man hath no wit, that cannot, from the rifing of the lark to the lodging of the lamb, vary deserved praise on my palfry; it is a theme as fluent as the fea; turn the fands into eloquent tongues, and my horse is argument for them all; 'tis a fubject for a Sovereign to reafon on, and for a Sovereign's Sovereign to ride on; and for the world familiar to us and unknown to lay apart their particular functions and wonder at him. I once writ a fonnet in his praise, and began thus, Wonder of nature.

Orl. I have heard a fonnet begin so to one's mistress. Dau. Then did they imitate that, which I compos'd to my courfer; for my horfe is my miftrefs.

Orl. Your mistress bears well.

Dau. Me, well;-which is the prefcript praise, and perfection, of a good and particular mistress.

And all other jades you may call beafts.] It is plain that jades and beafts should change. places, it being the firft word and not the last, which is the term of reproach; as afterwards it is faid,

I bad as lieve have my mistress a jade. WARBURTON.

8 Wonder of nature. -] Here, 1 fuppofe, fome foolish poem of our author's time is ridiculed; which indeed partly appears from the answer. WARE.

Con.

Con. Methought, yesterday your mistress fhrewdly fhook your back.

Dau. So, perhaps did yours.

Con. Mine was not bridled.

Dau. O, then, belike, fhe was old and gentle; and you rode, like a Kerne of Ireland, your French hofe off, and in your ftrait Troffers '.

Con. You have good judgment in horfemanship.

Dau. Be warn'd by me then; they that ride so and ride not warily, fall into foul bogs; I had rather have horse to my mistress.

my

Con. I had as lieve have my mistress a jade.

Dau. I tell thee, Conftable, my mistress wears her own hair.

Con. I could make as true a boaft as that, if I had a Sow to my mistress.

Dau. Le chien eft retourné à fon proper vomiffement, & la truie lavée au bourbier; thou mak'st use of any thing.

any

Con. Yet do I not use my horfe for my mistress; or fuch proverb, fo little kin to the purpose. Ram. My Lord Conftable, the armour, that I faw in your tent to-night, are those ftars, or funs upon it? Con. Stars, my Lord.

Dau. Some of them will fall to-morrow, I hope. Con. And yet my sky shall not want.

Dau. That may be, for you bear many superfluoufly; and 'twere more honour, fome were away. Con. Ev'n as your horfe bears your praifes, who would trot as well, were fome of your brags dif

mounted.

Dau. Would I were able to load him with his defert. Will it never be day? I will trot to-morrow a mile, and my way shall be paved with English faces.

9 Like a Kerne of Ireland, your French bofe off, and in your Arait Stroffers.] Thus all the

1

Editions have miftaken this Word, which fhould be Troffers; and fignifies, a pair of Breeches.

THEOBALD.

Con.