Con. I will not fay fo, for fear I should be fac'd out of my way; but I would it were morning, for I would fain be about the ears of the English. Ram. Who will go to hazard with me for twenty English prifoners ? Con. You must first go yourself to hazard ere you have them. Dau. 'Tis mid-night, I'll go arm myself. [Exit. Orl. The Dauphin longs for morning. Ram. He longs to eat the English. Con. I think, he will eat all he kills. Orl. By the white hand of my lady, he's a gallant Prince. Con. Swear by her foot, that she may tread out the oath. Orl. He is fimply the most active gentleman of France. Con. Doing is activity, and he will ftill be doing. Orl. He never did harm, that I heard of. Con. Nor will do none to-morro w :he will keep that good name ftill. Orl. I know him to be valiant, Con. I was told that, by one that knows him better than you. Orl. What's he? Con. Marry, he told me fo himself; and he said, he car'd not who knew it. Orl. He needs not, it is no hidden virtue in him. Con. By my faith, Sir, but it is; never any body faw it, but his lacquey; 'tis a hooded valour, and when it appears, it will bate. Orl. Ill-will never faid well. bis lacquey ;] He has beaten no body yet but his foot-boy. I 'Tis a booded valour, and when it appears, it will bait.] This is faid with allufion to falcons which are kept hooded when they are not to fly at game, and as foon as the hood is off bait or flap the wing. The meaning is, the dauphin's valour has never been let loofe upon an enemy, yet, when he makes his firft effay, we fhall fee how he will flutter, Con. Con. I will cap that proverb with, There is flatteny in friendship. Orl. And I will take up that with, Give the devil bis due. Con. Well plac'd; there ftands your friend for the devil; have at the very eye of that proverb with, A pox on the devi!! Orl. You are the better at proverbs, by how much a fool's bolt is foon shot. Con. You have fhot over. Orl. 'Tis not the first time you were over-fhot. Meff. My Lord high Conftable, the English lie within fifteen hundred paces of your tents. Con. Who hath measur'd the ground? Meff. The Lord Grandpree. Con. A valiant and moft expert gentleman-'Would it were day!Alas, poor Harry of England! he longs not for the dawning as we do. Örl. What a wretched and peevish fellow is this King of England, to mope with his fat-brain'd followers fo far out of his knowledge? Con. If the English had any apprehenfion, they would run away. Orl. That they lack; for if their heads had any intellectual armour, they could never wear fuch heavy head-pieces. Ram. That Ifland of England breeds very valiant creatures their maftiffs are of unmatchable courage. Orl. Foolish curs, that run winking into the mouth of a Ruffian Bear, and have their heads crufh'd like 2 I will cap that proverb.] Alluding to the practice of capping verfes. rotten rotten apples. You may as well fay, that's a valiant Flea, that dares eat his breakfast on the lip of a Lion. Con. Juft, juft; and the men do fympathize with maftiffs in robuftious and rough coming on, leaving their wits with their wives; and then give them great meals of beef, and iron and steel, they will eat like wolves, and fight like devils. Orl. Ay; but thefe English are fhrewdly out of beef. Con. Then fhall we find to-morrow, they have only stomachs to eat, and none to fight. Now is it time to arm; come, fhall we about it? Orl. 'Tis two o'clock; but (let me fee) by ten, We shall have each a hundred Englishmen. ACT IV. SCENE I. Chorus. Enter CHORUS. •NOW TOW entertain conjecture of a time, When creeping murmur, and the poring dark, Fills the wide veffel of the universe. 3 Fills the wide veffel of the univerfe.] Univerfe for borizon: for we are not to think Shakespeare fo ignorant as to imagiue it was night over the whole globe at once. He intimates he knew otherwife. by that fine line in Midsummer Night's Dream. -following darkness like a dream. Befides, the image he employs fhews he meant but half the globe; the horizon round, which has the shape of a veffel or goblet. WARBURTON. There is a better proof that Shakespeare knew the order of night and day in Macbeth. Now o'er one half the world Nature feems dead. But there was no great need of any juflification. The univerfe, in its original fenfe, no more means this globe fingly than the circuit of the horizon; but, however large in its philofophical fenfe, it may be poetically used for as much of the world as falls under obfervation. Let me remark further, that ignorance cannot be certainly inferred from inaccuracy. Knowledge is not always prefent. From From camp to camp, through the foul womb of night, The hum of either army ftilly founds That the fixt Sentinels almoft receive . The secret whispers of each other's watch. 4 Steed threatens steed, in high and boastful neighs The country cocks do crow, the clocks do toll 5 Do the low-rated English play at dice; Sit patiently, and inly ruminate The morning's danger: and their gesture fad, So many horrid ghofts. Who now beholds Walking from watch to watch, from tent to tent, the other's umber'd face.] Umber'd or umbred. is a term in blazonry, and figfies fhadowed. WARBURTON. 5 Do the low-rated English play at dice ;] i. e. do play them away at dice. WARBURTON. 6 INVESTING lank lean cheeks, &c.] A gefture investing cheeks and coats is nonfenfe. We fhould read. INVEST IN lank-lean cheeks, which is fenfe, i. e. their fad gefture was cloath'd, or set off, in lean-cheeks and worn-coats. The image is ftrong and picturefque. WARBURTON. For For forth he goes, and vifits all his hoft, Bids them good morrow with a modest smile, And calls them brothers, friends, and countrymen. How dread an army hath enrounded him; His lib'ral eye doth give to ev'ry one, 7 Thawing cold fear. Then, mean and gentle, all Behold, as may unworthinefs define, A little touch of Harry in the night. And fo our scene muft to the battle fly, The name of Agincourt. Yet fit and fee, SCENE II. The English Camp, at Agincourt. Enter King Henry and Gloucefter. Lofter, 'tis true, that we are in great K. Henry: Gdanger; |