Tombless, with no remembrance over them. 1 Enter Ambassadors of France. Now are we well prepared to know the pleasure K. Hên. We are no tyrant, but a Christian 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. In answer of which claim, the prince our master Says, that you savor too much of your youth; And bids you be advised, there's nought in France, That can be with a nimble galliard won; 2 You cannot revel into dukedoms there. 1 The quartos read, 26 with a paper epitaph." Either a paper or a waxen epitaph is an epitaph easily destroyed; one that can confer no lasting honor on the dead. Steevens thinks that the allusion is to waren tablets, as any thing written upon them was easily effaced. Mr. Gifford says, that a waren epitaph was an epitaph affixed to the hearse or grave with wax. But the expression may be merely metaphorical, and not allusive to either. 2 A galliard was an ancient sprightly dance, as its name implies. VOL. IV. 17 K. Hen. What treasure, uncle? Exe. Tennis-balls, my liege.' K. Hen. We are glad the dauphin is so pleasant with us; 4 His present, and your pains, we thank you for. 6 1 In the old play of King Henry V. this present consists of a gilded tun of tennis-balls, and a carpet. 2 The hazard is a place in the tennis-court, into which the ball is sometimes struck. 3 A chace at tennis is that spot where a ball falls, beyond which the adversary must strike his ball to gain a point or chace. At long tennis it is the spot where the ball leaves off rolling. We see, therefore, why the king has called himself a wrangler. 4 That is, away from this seat or throne. 5 To qualify myself for this undertaking, I have descended from my station, and studied the arts of life in a lower character. 6 "Hath turned his balls to gun-stones." When ordnance were first used, they discharged balls of stone. Shall this his mock mock out of their dear husbands; Mock mothers from their sons, mock castles down; And some are yet ungotten, and unborn, That shall have cause to curse the dauphin's scorn. But this lies all within the will of God, To whom I do appeal; and in whose name, So, get you hence in peace; and tell the dauphin, When thousands weep, more than did laugh at it.— Exe. This was a merry message. K. Hen. We hope to make the sender blush at it. [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. Cho. Now all the youth of England are on fire, And silken dalliance in the wardrobe lies; Now thrive the armorers, and honor's thought Reigns solely in the breast of every man. 1 O, England!—model to thy inward greatness, What mightst thou do, that honor would thee do, But see thy fault! France hath in thee found out 3 With treacherous crowns; and three corrupted men- 4 1 In ancient representations of trophies, &c. it is common to see swords encircled with crowns. Shakspeare's image is supposed to be taken from a wood cut in the first edition of Holinshed. 2 "Richard earl of Cambridge" was Richard de Conisbury, younger son of Edmund Langley, duke of York. He was father of Richard duke of York, and grandfather of Edward the Fourth. 3 "Henry lord Scroop" was a third husband of Joan duchess of York, mother-in-law of Richard earl of Cambridge. The king is set from London; and the scene 1 SCENE I. The same. Eastcheap. Enter NYм and BARDOLph. Bard. Well met, corporal Nym. Nym. Good morrow, lieutenant Bardolph. [Exit. Bard. What, are ancient Pistol and you friends yet? Nym. For my part, I care not. I say little but when time shall serve, there shall be smiles; 2—but that shall be as it may. I dare not fight; but I will wink, and hold out mine iron. It is a simple one; but what though? It will toast cheese; and it will endure cold as another man's sword will; and there's the humor of it. Bard. I will bestow a breakfast, to make you friends; 1 "But till the king come forth, and but till then, The old copy reads: “But till the king come forth, and not till then.” The emendation was proposed by Mr. Roderick, and deserves admission into the text. Malone has plainly shown that it is a common typographical error. The objection is, that a scene in London intervenes; but this may be obviated by transposing that scene to the end of the first act. The division into acts and scenes, it should be recollected, is the arbitrary work of Mr. Rowe and the subsequent editors; and the first act of this play, as it is now divided, is unusually short. This chorus has slipped out of its place. 2 "When time shall serve, there shall be smiles." Dr. Farmer thought that this was an error of the press for smites, i. e. blows, a word used in the Poet's age, and still provincially current. The passage, as it stands, has been explained:-"I care not whether we are friends at present; however, when time shall serve, we shall be in good humor with each other; but be it as it may." |