Mount. I fhall deliver fo: thanks to you Highness. [Exit. 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 toward night; Beyond the River we'll encamp our felves; And on to morrow bid them march away. [Exeunt. SCENE, the French Camp near Agincourt. Enter the Conftable of France, the Lord Rambures, Orleans, Dauphin, with others. Con. Twould have the best armour of the world. it were day! Orl. You have an excellent armour; but let my horfe have his due. Con. It is the best horse 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; ça, ha! 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 baseft horn of his hoof is more mu fical than the pipe of Hermes. Ort. He's of the colour of the Nutmeg. Dau. And of the heat of the ginger. It is is a beaft for Perfeus; he is pure air and fire; and the dull elements of earth and water never appear in him, but only in patient ftilnefs while his rider mounts him; he is,. indeed, a horse; and all other jades you may call beafts. Con. Indeed, my lord, it is a most abfolute and excellent horfe. Dau. It is the prince of palfreys; his neigh is like the 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 deferved praise on my palfrey; it is a theme as fluent as the fea: turn the fands into eloquent tongues, and my horfe is argument for them all; 'tis a subject 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 fo to one's mistress. Dau. Then did they imitate that, which I compos'd to my courfer; for my horfe is my mistress. Ork. Your mistress bears well. Dau. Me, well; which is the prefcript praise, and perfection, of a good and particular miftrefs. 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 hose off, and in your ftrait 'Troffers. (18) 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 my horse to my mistress. Con. I had as lieve have my mistress a jade. (18) Like a Kerne of Ireland, your French bofe off, and in your firait Stroffers.] Thus all the Editions have mistaken this Word, which fhould be Troffers; and fignifies, a pair of Breeches. The French call, to trufs or pack up, troffer; whether our Word, Trowfers, be deriv'd from thence, I am not certain: But, by ftrait Troffers, our Poet humorously means, femoribus denudatis; for the Kernes of Ireland, wear no Breeches, any more than the Scotch-Highlanders do. Dau Dau. I tell thee, Conftable, my miftrefs 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 son propre vomiffement, & la truie lavée au bourbier; thou mak'st use of any thing. Con. Yet do I not use my horfe for my mistress; or any fuch proverb, fo little kin to the purpose. Ram. My lord Conftable, the armour, that I faw in your tent to night, are those stars, or funs upon it? Con. Stars, my lord. Dau. Some of them will fall to morrow, I hope. Dau. That may be, for you bear many fuperfluously; 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 difmounted. 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. Con. I will not fay fo, for fear I fhou'd 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 your self to hazard ere you have them. Dau. 'Tis mid-night, I'll go arm my self. [Exit. 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 still be doing. Orl. He never did harm, that I heard of. Con. Con. Nor will do none to morrow: 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 faid, 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. Con. I will cap that proverb with, There is flattery 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, Apox of the devil! 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. Enter a Meffenger. Me. My Lord high Conftabie, the English lye within fifteen hundred paces of your tents. Con. Who hath meafur'd the ground? Me. The lord Grandpree. Con. A valiant and most expert gentleman. Would it were day! Alas, poor Harry of England! he longs. not for the dawning as we do. Orl. 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 in- Р tellectual tellectual armour, they could never wear fuch heavy head-pieces. Ram. That Ifland of England breeds very valiant creatures; their mastiffs are of unmatchable courage. Orl. Foolish curs, that run winking into the mouth of a Ruffian Bear, and have their heads crufh'd like 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 the 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 these English are fhreudly out of beef. Con. Then fhall we find to morrow, they have only ftomachs to eat, and none to fight. Now is it time to arm; come, shall we about it? Orl. "Tis two o'clock; but (let me fee) by ten, We shall have each a hundred Englishmen. Enter Chorus. Now entertain conjecture of a time, When creeping murmur, and the poring dark, [Exeunt. From camp to camp, through the foul womb of night, The hum of either army ftilly founds; That the fixt centinels almost receive The fecret whispers of each other's watch. Fire answers fire; and through their paly flames The country cocks do crow, the clocks do toll; And |