Mangle the work of nature, and deface The patterns that by God and by French fathers The native mightiness and fate of him.' Enter a Messenger. Mes. Ambassadors from Henry king of England Do crave admittance to your majesty. Fr. King. We'll give them present audience. Go, and bring them. [Ex. Mess. and certain lords. You see, this chace is hotly follow'd, friends. Dau. Turn head, and stop pursuit: for coward dogs Most spend their mouths, when what they seem to threaten, Runs far before them. Good my sovereign, Take up the English short; and let them know Self-love, my liege, is not so vile a sin As self-neglecting. Re-enter Lords, with EXETER and train. Fr. King. From our brother England? Exe. From him; and thus he greets your majesty. He wills you, in the name of God Almighty, That you divest yourself, and lay apart The borrow'd glories, that, by gift of heaven, To him, and to his heirs; namely, the crown, Unto the crown of France. That you may know, [Gives a paper. [1] His fate is what is allotted him by destiny, or what he is fated to perform.— So Virgil, speaking of the future deeds of the descendants of Æneas: "Attollens humeris famamque et fata nepotum." STEEVENS [2] That is, bark; the sportsman's term. JOHNSON. [3] This genealogy; this deduction of his lineage. JOHNSON. From him the native and true challenger. Exe. Bloody constraint; for if you hide the crown To whom expressly I bring greeting too. Fr. King. For us, we will consider of this further: To-morrow shall you bear our full intent Back to our brother England. Dau. For the dauphin, I stand here for him: What to him from England? The mighty sender, doth he prize you at. Dau. Say, if my father render fair reply, It is against my will: for I desire Nothing but odds with England; to that end, I did present him with those Paris balls. Exe. He'll make your Paris Louvre shake for it, Were it the mistress court of mighty Europe: And, be assur'd, you'll find a difference. (As we, his subjects, have in wonder found,) [4] To chide is to resound, to echo. STEEVENS. VOL. IV Between the promise of his greener days, And these he masters now; now he weighs time, Fr. King. To-morrow shall you know our mind at full. Exe. Despatch us with all speed, lest that our king Come here himself to question our delay; For he is footed in this land already. Fr. King You shall be soon despatch'd, with fair A night is but small breath, and little pause, [Exeunt. ACT III. Enter CHORUS. Chor. THUS with imagin'd wing our swift scene flies, In motion of no less celerity Than that of thought. Suppose, that you have seen With silken streamers the young Phoebus fanning. Holding due course to Harfleur. Follow, follow! Rivage the bank or shore. JOHNSON. The stern being the hinder part of the ship, the meaning is let your minds follow close after the navy. Stern, however, seems to have been anciently synonymous to rudder. ANON. Work, work, your thoughts, and therein see a siege : With fatal mouths gaping on girded Harfleur. Suppose, th' ambassador from the French comes back; The offer likes not: and the nimble gunner [Alarum; and chambers go off And down goes all before them. Still be kind, And eke out our performance with your mind. SCENE I. [Exit The same. Before Harfleur. Alarums. Enter King HENRY, EXETER, BEDFORD, GLOSTER, and Soldiers, with scaling ladders. K. Hen. Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more; Or close the wall up with our English dead! But when the blast of war blows in our ears, O'erhang and jutty, his confounded base,3 Now set the teeth, and stretch the nostril wide; [8] The staff to which the match is fixed when ordnance is fired. JOHNSON. 191 Chambers-small pieces of ordnance. STEEVENS. [1] Portage-open space, from port, a gate. Let the eye appear in the head as cannon through the battlements,or embrasures, of a fortification. JOHNSON. [2] The force of the word jutty, when applied to a rock projecting into the sea, is not felt by those who are unaware that this word anciently signified a mole raised to withstand the encroachment of the tide. WHITE. Jutty-heads, in sea-language, are platforms standing on piles, near the docks, and projecting without the wharves, for the more convenenient docking and undocking ships. STEEVENS. [3] His worn or wasted base. [4] A metaphor from the bow. JOHNS. Fathers, that, like so many Alexanders, Have, in these parts, from morn till even fought, That those, whom you call'd fathers, did beget you! And teach them how to war!-And you, good yeomen, That you are worth your breeding: which I doubt not; [Exeunt. Alarum, and chambers go off. SCENE II. The same. Forces pass over; then enter NYм, Bardolph, PISTOL, and Boy. Bard. On, on, on, on, on! to the breach, to the breach! Nym. 'Pray thee, corporal, stay; the knocks are too hot; and, for mine own part, I have not a case of lives : the humour of it is too hot, that is the very plain-song of it. Pist. The plain-song is most just; for humours do abound; Knocks go and come; God's vassals drop and die ; In bloody field, Doth win immortal fame. Boy. 'Would I were in an alehouse in London! I would give all my fame for a pot of ale, and safety. Pist. And I: If my wishes would prevail with me, My purpose should not fail with me, But thither would I hie. Boy. As duly, but not as truly, as bird doth sing on bough. [3] Argument-matter, or subject. JOHNSON. [4] Slips are a contrivance of leather, to start two dogs at one time. C. [5] A care of pistols, which was the current phrase for a pair or brace of pistols, in our author's time, is at this day the term always used in Ireland, where much of the language of the age of Elizabeth is yet retained. MALONE |