Page images
PDF
EPUB

His sparkling eyes, replete with wrathful fire,
More dazzled and drove back his enemies,

Than mid-day sun fierce bent against their faces.
What should I say? his deeds exceed all speech:

He ne'er lift up his hand but conquered.

Exe. We mourn in black: why mourn we not in blood? Henry is dead, and never shall revive.

Upon a wooden coffin we attend;
And death's dishonourable victory
We with our stately presence glorify,
Like captives bound to a triumphant car.
What! shall we curse the planets of mishap,
That plotted thus our glory's overthrow?
Or shall we think the subtle-witted French
Conjurers and sorcerers, that, afraid of him,
By magic verses have contriv'd his end?

Win. He was a king, bless'd of the King of kings.
Unto the French the dreadful judgment day

So dreadful will not be, as was his sight.
The battles of the Lord of hosts he fought:

The church's prayers made him so prosperous.

Glo. The church! where is it? Had not churchmen

pray'd,

His thread of life had not so soon decay'd:

None do you like but an effeminate prince,

Whom, like a school-boy, you may over-awe.

Win. Gloster, whate'er we like, thou art protector,

And lookest to command the prince, and realm.

Thy wife is proud; she holdeth thee in awe,

More than God, or religious churchmen may.

Glo. Name not religion, for thou lov'st the flesh;

And ne'er throughout the year to church thou go'st,

Except it be to pray against thy foes.

Bed. Cease, cease these jars, and rest your minds in peace! Let's to the altar-Heralds, wait on us.-

Instead of gold, we'll offer up our arms,

Since arms avail not, now that Henry's dead.

Posterity, await for wretched years,

When at their mothers' moist eyes babes shall suck',

3 When at their mothers' MOIST eyes babes shall suck,] This is the line as it stands in the folio, 1632: that of 1623 has moisten'd for "moist," giving a redundant syllable. It is impossible to read the line as verse, if moisten'd be preserved in it.

Our isle be made a marish of salt tears',
And none but women left to wail the dead.—
Henry the fifth! thy ghost I invocate;
Prosper this realm, keep it from civil broils!
Combat with adverse planets in the heavens!
A far more glorious star thy soul will make,
Than Julius Cæsar, or bright Cassiopé3.

Enter a Messenger.

Mess. My honourable lords, health to you all.
Sad tidings bring I to you out of France,
Of loss, of slaughter, and discomfiture:
Guienne, Champaigne, Rheims, Orleans,
Paris, Guysors, Poictiers, are all quite lost.

Bed. What say'st thou, man, before dead Henry's corse

Speak softly, or the loss of those great towns

Will make him burst his lead, and rise from death.
Glo. Is Paris lost? is Rouen yielded up?

If Henry were recall'd to life again,

These news would cause him once more yield the ghost.
Exe. How were they lost? what treachery was us'd?
Mess. No treachery; but want of men and money.
Among the soldiers this is muttered,—

That here you maintain several factions;

And whilst a field should be despatch'd and fought,
You are disputing of your generals.
One would have lingering wars with little cost;
Another would fly swift, but wanteth wings;
A third man thinks, without expense at all",
By guileful fair words peace may be obtain❜d.

?

4 a MARISH of salt tears,] Pope substituted "marish," i. e. marsh, for nourish, which is the word in the first and in the later folios.

5 Than Julius Cæsar, or bright CASSIOPE.] In all the old copies a blank is left for the name of the constellation. It is difficult to account for the omission, and various modes of supplying the deficiency have been proposed, the most plausible (indeed so apparently right that we have inserted it) being that of the old annotator on the folio, 1632, who wrote "Cassiopé" in the margin. Drayton in his "Endymion and Phoebe," 1594, applies the same epithet to the same constellation—" bright Cassiopey" as he there spells it; and we have little doubt that Cassiopé, or Cassiopey was what the poet wrote. Professor Mommsen adopts "Cassiopé" without any question:

"Als Julius Cäsar oder Cassiopeia."

6 A third MAN thinks, without expense at all.] "Man" is from the folio, 1632; and it is necessary, unless we suppose, as Malone might have contended, that "third" is to be pronounced as a dissyllable.

Awake, awake, English nobility!

Let not sloth dim your honours new-begot :
Cropp'd are the flower-de-luces in your arms;
Of England's coat one half is cut away.

Exe. Were our tears wanting to this funeral,
These tidings would call forth her flowing tides.

Bed. Me they concern; regent I am of France.-
Give me my steeled coat! I'll fight for France.-
Away with these disgraceful wailing robes!
Wounds will I lend the French, instead of eyes,
To weep their intermissive miseries.

Enter another Messenger.

2 Mess. Lords, view these letters, full of bad mischance. France is revolted from the English quite,

Except some petty towns of no import:

The Dauphin, Charles, is crowned king in Rheims;
The bastard of Orleans with him is join'd;
Reignier, duke of Anjou, doth take his part;
The duke of Alençon flieth to his side.

Exe. The Dauphin crowned king! all fly to him!

O! whither shall we fly from this reproach?

Glo. We will not fly, but to our enemies' throats.— Bedford, if thou be slack, I'll fight it out.

Bed. Gloster, why doubt'st thou of my forwardness? An army have I muster'd in my thoughts, Wherewith already France is over-run.

Enter a third Messenger.

3 Mess. My gracious lords, to add to your laments, Wherewith you now bedew king Henry's hearse, I must inform you of a dismal fight,

Betwixt the stout lord Talbot and the French.

Win. What! wherein Talbot overcame? is't so ?

3 Mess. O, no! wherein lord Talbot was o'erthrown: The circumstance I'll tell you more at large.

The tenth of August last, this dreadful lord,
Retiring from the siege of Orleans,

Having scarce full six thousand in his troop,
By three-and-twenty thousand of the French
Was round encompassed and set upon.
No leisure had he to enrank his men;

He wanted pikes to set before his archers;
Instead whereof, sharp stakes, pluck'd out of hedges,
They pitched in the ground confusedly,

To keep the horsemen off from breaking in.
More than three hours the fight continued;
Where valiant Talbot, above human thought,
Enacted wonders with his sword and lance.
Hundreds he sent to hell, and none durst stand him;
Here, there, and every where, enrag'd he slew.
The French exclaim'd, the devil was in arms;
All the whole army stood agaz'd on him.
His soldiers, spying his undaunted spirit,
A Talbot! A Talbot! cried out amain,
And rush'd into the bowels of the battle.
Here had the conquest fully been scal'd up,
If sir John Fastolfe' had not play'd the coward:
He, being in the vaward, plac'd behind
With purpose to relieve and follow them,
Cowardly fled, not having struck one stroke.
Hence grew the general wreck and massacre:
Enclosed were they with their enemies.

8

A base Walloon, to win the Dauphin's grace,
Thrust Talbot with a spear into the back;

Whom all France, with their chief assembled strength,
Durst not presume to look once in the face.

Bed. Is Talbot slain? then, I will slay myself,
For living idly here in pomp and ease,
Whilst such a worthy leader, wanting aid,
Unto his dastard foe-men is betray'd.

7 If sir John FASTOLFE] Mis-spelt Falstaffe in the old copies, but not of course intended for the humorous knight, who figures in "Henry IV.," Parts I. and II. and who died in "Henry V." The text relates to the historical sir John Fastolfe, who, as Fuller complains (Worthies, 1662, p. 253), had been misrepresented on the stage, as "a Thrasonical puff," when in fact he was "as valiant as any of his age." However, Hall and Holinshed assert that he was degraded for cowardice, although subsequently, "upon good reason alleged in his defence, restored to his honours."

8 He being in the VAWARD, plac'd behind] The "vaward" is the advanced body of the army (see Vol. ii. p. 447), and this passage has been hitherto thought a contradiction, inasmuch as the "vaward" could not be "behind." But the meaning of Shakespeare seems to be, that what was usually the "vaward" of the army had in this instance purposely been "plac'd behind," in order to "relieve and follow" the rest. This explanation seems to remove a difficulty felt and expressed by most of the commentators. The corr. fo. 1632 has "rearward" for "vaward," but if that were right, "plac'd behind " would be unnecessary: we therefore leave the text as in the old copies.

3 Mess. O, no! he lives; but is took prisoner, And lord Scales with him, and lord Hungerford: Most of the rest slaughter'd, or took, likewise.

Bed. His ransom there is none but I shall pay.
I'll hale the Dauphin headlong from his throne;
His crown shall be the ransom of my friend:
Four of their lords I'll change for one of our's.-
Farewell, my masters; to my task will I.
Bonfires in France forthwith I am to make,
To keep our great Saint George's feast withal:
Ten thousand soldiers with me I will take,
Whose bloody deeds shall make all Europe quake.
3 Mess. So you had need; for Orleans is besieg'd.
The English army is grown weak and faint;
The earl of Salisbury craveth supply,

And hardly keeps his men from mutiny,
Since they, so few, watch such a multitude.

Exe. Remember lords, your oaths to Henry sworn,
Either to quell the Dauphin utterly,

Or bring him in obedience to your yoke.

Bed. I do remember it; and here take my leave,

To go about my preparation.

[Exit.

Glo. I'll to the Tower, with all the haste I can,

To view th' artillery and munition;

And then I will proclaim young Henry king.

[Exit.

Exe. To Eltham will I, where the young king is,

Being ordain'd his special governor ;

And for his safety there I'll best devise.

[Exit.

Win. Each hath his place and function to attend:

I am left out; for me nothing remains.

But long I will not be Jack-out-of-office:

The king from Eltham I intend to steal',
And sit at chiefest stern of public weal.

[Exit.

9

shall MAKE all Europe quake.] " Make" and "quake" sound awkwardly, but that of itself is no sufficient reason for substituting cause, which we find in the margin of the corr. fo. 1632.

1 I intend to STEAL,] “I intend to send" is the word in the folios, but "steal," as we are assured by the corr. fo. 1632, ought to be substituted: the fact was historically so, the rhyme most probable; and the old printer, who had just composed "intend," following it by send, may have fancied that it afforded the proper jingle at the conclusion of the scene. Mason was in favour of "steal," and

was the first, in modern times, to propose it.

« PreviousContinue »