With torch-staves in their hand; and their poor jades Con. They have said their prayers, and they stay for death. Dau. Shall we go send them dinners, and fresh suits, And give their fasting horses provender, And after fight with them? Con. I stay but for my guard. On, to the field! I will the banner from a trumpet take, And use it for my haste. Come, come, away! [Exeunt. SCENE III. The English Camp. Enter the English Host; GLOSTER, Bedford, Exeter, SALISBURY, and WESTMORELAND. Glo. Where is the king? Bed. The king himself is rode to view their battle. West. Of fighting men they have full threescore thousand. Exe. There's five to one; besides, they all are fresh. Sal. God's arm strike with us! 'tis a fearful odds. God be wi' you, princes all; I'll to my charge: If we no more meet, till we meet in heaven, 2 the GIMMAL bit] i. e. the double bit, from the Latin gemellus: it seems to have meant a bit composed of two links. Then, joyfully, my noble lord of Bedford,— Bed. Farewell, good Salisbury; and good luck go Exe. Farewell, kind lord. Fight valiantly to-day: And yet I do thee wrong, to mind thee of it, For thou art fram'd of the firm truth of valour3. [Exit SALISBURY. Bed. He is as full of valour, as of kindness; Princely in both. West. O! that we now had here Enter King HENRY. But one ten thousand of those men in England, That do no work to-day. K. Hen. What's he, that wishes so? My cousin Westmoreland ?—No, my fair cousin : To do our country loss; and if to live, The fewer men, the greater share of honour. Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost; I am the most offending soul alive. No, 'faith, my coz, wish not a man from England: 3 - thou art fram'd of the firm truth of valour.] This part of the dialogue is given according to Theobald's distribution of it, supported in part by the quarto editions. In the folio, 1623, the line "Farewell, kind lord. Fight valiantly today," is assigned to Bedford, and follows the two next lines, which it evidently ought to precede. The later folios adopt the error of the first. It YEARNS me not,] i. e. It grieves me not. We have had "yearn " in this sense earlier in the play, Act. ii. sc. 3, where Pistol "yearns" for the death of Falstaff. 2 As one man more, methinks, would share from me, Then will he strip his sleeve, and show his scars". But he'll remember with advantages What feats he did that day. Then shall our names, Harry the king, Bedford and Exeter, For he, to-day that sheds his blood with me, 5 of CRISPIAN :] The battle of Agincourt was fought upon the 25th of October [1415], St. Crispin's day. 6 He, that shall LIVE this day, and SEE old age,] The folio reads, "He that shall see this day and lice old age." The transposition was corrected by Pope. 7 Then will he strip his sleeve, and show his scars.] To this line Malone added another, found in the quartos, "And say, these wounds I had on Crispin's day." It is quite unnecessary to the completeness of the sense, the defectiveness of which could form the only excuse for such an insertion. Shall be my brother: be he ne'er so vile, And gentlemen in England, now a-bed, Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here, Enter SALISBURY. Sal. My sovereign lord, bestow yourself with speed: The French are bravely in their battles set, And will with all expedience charge on us. K. Hen. All things are ready, if our minds be so. West. Perish the man whose mind is backward now! K. Hen. Thou dost not wish more help from England, cousin? West. God's will! my liege, would you and I alone, Without more help, might fight this royal battle. K. Hen. Why, now thou hast unwish'd five thousand men, Which likes me better than to wish us one. You know your places: God be with you all! Tucket. Enter MONTJOY. Mont. Once more I come to know of thee, king Harry, If for thy ransom thou wilt now compound, Before thy most assured overthrow? For, certainly, thou art so near the gulf, Thou needs must be englutted. Besides, in mercy, Thy followers of repentance; that their souls. May make a peaceful and a sweet retire From off these fields, where, wretches, their poor bodies Must lie and fester. - gentle his condition :] This day shall advance him to the rank of a gentleman. Tollet informs us, that king Henry V. inhibited any person, but such as had a right by inheritance or grant, to assume coats of arms, except those who fought with him at the battle of Agincourt. K. Hen. Who hath sent thee now? Mont. The Constable of France. K. Hen. I pray thee, bear my former answer back : Bid them achieve me, and then sell my bones. Good God! why should they mock poor fellows thus? While the beast liv'd, was kill'd with hunting him. Find native graves, upon the which, I trust, And those that leave their valiant bones in France, And draw their honours reeking up to heaven, Let me speak proudly:-Tell the Constable, 9 Our gayness and our GILT, are all BESMIRCH'D] "Gilt" is gilding; and we find it used in the same sense in "Timon of Athens," as well as in "TwelfthNight." "Besmirch'd" is smirched, sullied, dirtied, of the use of which instances may be found in Vol. ii. pp. 235. 246, and in Vol. iii. p. 26. 1 But, by the mass,] Here, and elsewhere in this play, this asseveration was not objected to, though we have seen it carefully erased, probably at the instance of the Master of the Revels, who had carefully purged the copies of some preceding dramas. |