KING HENRY V 3.7

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KING HENRY V 3.7

The French camp, near Agincourt:

[Enter the Constable of France, the LORD RAMBURES,

ORLEANS, DAUPHIN, with others]

Constable Tut! I have the best armour of the world. Would it were day!

ORLEANS You have an excellent armour; but let my horse have his due.

Constable It is the best horse of Europe.

ORLEANS Will it never be morning?

DAUPHIN My lord of Orleans, and my lord high constable, you 5

talk of horse and armour?

ORLEANS You are as well provided of both as any prince in the world.

DAUPHIN What a long night is this! I will not change my

horse with any that treads but on four pasterns.

Ca, ha! he bounds from the earth, as if his 10

entrails were hairs; le cheval volant, the Pegasus,

chez les narines de feu! When I bestride him, I

soar, I am a hawk: he trots the air; the earth

sings when he touches it; the basest horn of his

hoof is more musical than the pipe of Hermes. 15

ORLEANS He's of the colour of the nutmeg.

DAUPHIN And of the heat of the ginger. It is a beast for

Perseus: he is pure air and fire; and the dull

elements of earth and water never appear in him, but

only in Patient stillness while his rider mounts 20

him: he is indeed a horse; and all other jades you

may call beasts.

Constable Indeed, my lord, it is a most absolute and excellent horse.

DAUPHIN It is the prince of palfreys; his neigh is like the

bidding of a monarch and his countenance enforces homage. 25

ORLEANS No more, cousin.

DAUPHIN Nay, the man hath no wit that cannot, from the

rising of the lark to the lodging of the lamb, vary

deserved praise on my palfrey: it is a theme as

fluent as the sea: turn the sands into eloquent 30

tongues, and my horse is argument for them all:

'tis a subject for a sovereign to reason 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 35

once writ a sonnet in his praise and began thus:

'Wonder of nature,'--

ORLEANS I have heard a sonnet begin so to one's mistress.

DAUPHIN Then did they imitate that which I composed to my

courser, for my horse is my mistress. 40

ORLEANS Your mistress bears well.

DAUPHIN Me well; which is the prescript praise and

perfection of a good and particular mistress.

Constable Nay, for methought yesterday your mistress shrewdly

shook your back. 45

DAUPHIN So perhaps did yours.

Constable Mine was not bridled.

DAUPHIN O then belike she was old and gentle; and you rode,

like a kern of Ireland, your French hose off, and in

your straight strossers. 50

Constable You have good judgment in horsemanship.

DAUPHIN Be warned by me, then: they that ride so and ride

not warily, fall into foul bogs. I had rather have

my horse to my mistress.

Constable I had as lief have my mistress a jade. 55

DAUPHIN I tell thee, constable, my mistress wears his own hair.

Constable I could make as true a boast as that, if I had a sow

to my mistress.

DAUPHIN 'Le chien est retourne a son propre vomissement, et

la truie lavee au bourbier;' thou makest use of any thing. 60

Constable Yet do I not use my horse for my mistress, or any

such proverb so little kin to the purpose.

RAMBURES My lord constable, the armour that I saw in your tent

to-night, are those stars or suns upon it?

Constable Stars, my lord. 65

DAUPHIN Some of them will fall to-morrow, I hope.

Constable And yet my sky shall not want.

DAUPHIN That may be, for you bear a many superfluously, and

'twere more honour some were away.

Constable Even as your horse bears your praises; who would 70

trot as well, were some of your brags dismounted.

DAUPHIN Would I were able to load him with his desert! Will

it never be day? I will trot to-morrow a mile, and

my way shall be paved with English faces.

Constable I will not say so, for fear I should be faced out of 75

my way: but I would it were morning; for I would

fain be about the ears of the English.

RAMBURES Who will go to hazard with me for twenty prisoners?

Constable You must first go yourself to hazard, ere you have them.

DAUPHIN 'Tis midnight; I'll go arm myself. 80

[Exit]

ORLEANS The Dauphin longs for morning.

RAMBURES He longs to eat the English.

Constable I think he will eat all he kills.

ORLEANS By the white hand of my lady, he's a gallant prince.

Constable Swear by her foot, that she may tread out the oath. 85

ORLEANS He is simply the most active gentleman of France.

Constable Doing is activity; and he will still be doing.

ORLEANS He never did harm, that I heard of.

Constable Nor will do none to-morrow: he will keep that good name still.

ORLEANS I know him to be valiant. 90

Constable I was told that by one that knows him better than

you.

ORLEANS What's he?

Constable Marry, he told me so himself; and he said he cared

not who knew it 95

ORLEANS He needs not; it is no hidden virtue in him.

Constable By my faith, sir, but it is; never any body saw it

but his lackey: 'tis a hooded valour; and when it

appears, it will bate.

ORLEANS Ill will never said well. 100

Constable I will cap that proverb with 'There is flattery in friendship.'

ORLEANS And I will take up that with 'Give the devil his due.'

Constable Well placed: there stands your friend for the

devil: have at the very eye of that proverb with 'A

pox of the devil.' 105

ORLEANS You are the better at proverbs, by how much 'A

fool's bolt is soon shot.'

Constable You have shot over.

ORLEANS 'Tis not the first time you were overshot.

[Enter a Messenger]

Messenger My lord high constable, the English lie within 110

fifteen hundred paces of your tents.

Constable Who hath measured the ground?

Messenger The Lord Grandpre.

Constable A valiant and most expert gentleman. Would it were

day! Alas, poor Harry of England! he longs not for 115

the dawning as we do.

ORLEANS What a wretched and peevish fellow is this king of

England, to mope with his fat-brained followers so

far out of his knowledge!

Constable If the English had any apprehension, they would run away. 120

ORLEANS That they lack; for if their heads had any

intellectual armour, they could never wear such heavy

head-pieces.

RAMBURES That island of England breeds very valiant

creatures; their mastiffs are of unmatchable courage. 125

ORLEANS Foolish curs, that run winking into the mouth of a

Russian bear and have their heads crushed like

rotten apples! You may as well say, that's a

valiant flea that dare eat his breakfast on the lip of a lion.

Constable Just, just; and the men do sympathize with the 130

mastiffs in robustious 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.

ORLEANS Ay, but these English are shrewdly out of beef. 135

Constable Then shall we find to-morrow they have only stomachs

to eat and none to fight. Now is it time to arm:

come, shall we about it?

ORLEANS It is now two o'clock: but, let me see, by ten

We shall have each a hundred Englishmen. 140

[Exeunt]

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		[Enter the Constable of France, the LORD RAMBURES,
		ORLEANS, DAUPHIN, with others]

DAUPHIN		My lord of Orleans, and my lord high constable, you	5
		talk of horse and armour?

DAUPHIN	What a long night is this! I will not change my
	horse with any that treads but on four pasterns.
	Ca, ha! he bounds from the earth, as if his	10
	entrails were hairs; le cheval volant, the Pegasus,
	chez les narines de feu! When I bestride him, I
	soar, I am a hawk: he trots the air; the earth
	sings when he touches it; the basest horn of his
	hoof is more musical than the pipe of Hermes.	15

DAUPHIN	And of the heat of the ginger. It is a beast for
	Perseus: he is pure air and fire; and the dull
	elements of earth and water never appear in him, but
	only in Patient stillness while his rider mounts	20
	him: he is indeed a horse; and all other jades you
	may call beasts.

DAUPHIN		It is the prince of palfreys; his neigh is like the
		bidding of a monarch and his countenance enforces homage.	25

DAUPHIN	Nay, the man hath no wit that cannot, from the
	rising of the lark to the lodging of the lamb, vary
	deserved praise on my palfrey: it is a theme as
	fluent as the sea: turn the sands into eloquent	30
	tongues, and my horse is argument for them all:
	'tis a subject for a sovereign to reason 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	35
	once writ a sonnet in his praise and began thus:
	'Wonder of nature,'--

DAUPHIN		Then did they imitate that which I composed to my
		courser, for my horse is my mistress.	40

DAUPHIN		Me well; which is the prescript praise and
		perfection of a good and particular mistress.

Constable		Nay, for methought yesterday your mistress shrewdly
		shook your back.	45

DAUPHIN	O then belike she was old and gentle; and you rode,
	like a kern of Ireland, your French hose off, and in
	your straight strossers.	50

DAUPHIN		Be warned by me, then: they that ride so and ride
		not warily, fall into foul bogs. I had rather have
		my horse to my mistress.

Constable		I could make as true a boast as that, if I had a sow
		to my mistress.

DAUPHIN		'Le chien est retourne a son propre vomissement, et
		la truie lavee au bourbier;' thou makest use of any thing.	60

Constable		Yet do I not use my horse for my mistress, or any
		such proverb so little kin to the purpose.

RAMBURES		My lord constable, the armour that I saw in your tent
		to-night, are those stars or suns upon it?

DAUPHIN		That may be, for you bear a many superfluously, and
		'twere more honour some were away.

Constable		Even as your horse bears your praises; who would	70
		trot as well, were some of your brags dismounted.

DAUPHIN		Would I were able to load him with his desert! Will
		it never be day? I will trot to-morrow a mile, and
		my way shall be paved with English faces.

Constable	I will not say so, for fear I should be faced out of	75
	my way: but I would it were morning; for I would
	fain be about the ears of the English.

Constable		I was told that by one that knows him better than
		you.

Constable		Marry, he told me so himself; and he said he cared
		not who knew it	95

Constable		By my faith, sir, but it is; never any body saw it
		but his lackey: 'tis a hooded valour; and when it
		appears, it will bate.

Constable	Well placed: there stands your friend for the
	devil: have at the very eye of that proverb with 'A
	pox of the devil.'	105

ORLEANS		You are the better at proverbs, by how much 'A
		fool's bolt is soon shot.'

ORLEANS		'Tis not the first time you were overshot.
		[Enter a Messenger]

Messenger		My lord high constable, the English lie within	110
		fifteen hundred paces of your tents.

Constable	A valiant and most expert gentleman. Would it were
	day! Alas, poor Harry of England! he longs not for	115
	the dawning as we do.

ORLEANS		What a wretched and peevish fellow is this king of
		England, to mope with his fat-brained followers so
		far out of his knowledge!

ORLEANS		That they lack; for if their heads had any
		intellectual armour, they could never wear such heavy
		head-pieces.

RAMBURES		That island of England breeds very valiant
		creatures; their mastiffs are of unmatchable courage.	125