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Which daily grew to quarrel and to bloodshed,
W Wounding supposed peace: all these bold fears,*
Thou see'st, with peril I have answered:

For all my reign hath been but as a scene
Acting that argument; and now my death
Changes the mode:† for what in me was purchas'd,‡
Falls upon thee in a more fairer sort;

So thou the garland wear'st successively.

Yet, though thou stand'st more sure than I could do,
Thou art not firm enough, since griefs are green;
And all thy friends, which thou must make thy
friends,

Have but their stings and teeth newly ta'en out;
By whose fell working I was first advanc'd.
And by whose power I well might lodge a fear
To be again displac'd; which to avoid,

I cut them off; and had a purpose now
To lead out many to the Holy Land;

Lest rest, and lying still, might make them look
Too near unto my state. Therefore, my Harry,
Be it thy course, to busy giddy minds

With foreign quarrels; that action, hence borne out,
May waste the memory of the former days.
More would I, but my lungs are wasted so,
That strength of speech is utterly denied me.
How I came by the crown, O God, forgive!
And grant it may with thee in true peace live!
P. Hen. My gracious liege,

You won it, wore it, kept, gave it me;
Then plain, and right must my possession be:
Which I, with more than with a common pain,
'Gainst all the world will rightfully maintain.

ACT V.

ADDRESS OF THE CHIEF JUSTICE TO KING HENRY V. WHOM HE HAD IMPRISONED.

If the deed were ill,

Be you contented, wearing now the garland,§

*Frights.

goods.

State of things.

Purchase, in Shakspeare, frequently means stolen. § Crown

To have a son set your decrees at naught;
To pluck down justice from your awful bench;
To trip the course of law, and blunt the sword
That guards the peace and safety of your person;
Nay, more; to spurn at your most royal image,
And mock your workings in a second body.*
Question your royal thoughts, make the case yours;
Be now the father, and propose a son;

Hear your own dignity so much profan'd,
See your most dreadful laws so loosely slighted,
Behold yourself so by a son disdained;

And then imagine me taking your part,
And, in your power, soft silencing your son

KING HENRY V.

CHORUS.

INVOCATION TO THE MUSE.

O, FOR a muse of fire, that would ascend
The brightest heaven of invention!
A kingdom for a stage, princes to act,
And monarchs to behold the swelling scene!
Then should the warlike Harry, like himself,
Assume the port of Mars; and, at his heels,

Leash'd in like hounds, should famine, sword, and fire
Crouch for employment.

ACT I.

CONSIDERATION.

Consideration like an angel came,

And whipp'd the offending Adam out of him:
Leaving his body as a paradise,

To envelop and contain celestial spirits.

PERFECTIONS OF KING HENRY V.

Hear him but reason in divinity,

And, all admiring, with an inward wish
You would desire the king were made a prelate:
Hear him debate of commonwealth affairs,

• Treat with contempt your acts executed by a representative.

You would say, it had been all-in-all his study:
List* his discourse of war, and you shall hear
A fearful battle render'd you in music:
Turn him to any cause of policy,

The Gordian knot of it he will unloose,
Familiar as his garter; that when he speaks,
The air, a charter'd libertine, is still,
And the mute wonder lurketh in men's ears,
To steal his sweet and honeyed sentences.

THE COMMONWEALTH OF BEES.

So work the honey bees;

Creatures, that, by a rule in nature, teach
The act of order to a peopled kingdom.
They have a king, and officers of sorts:†
Where some, like magistrates, correct at home;
Others, like merchants, venture trade abroad;
Others, like soldiers, armed in their stings,
Make boot upon the summer's velvet buds;
Which pillage they with merry march bring home
To the tent-royal of their emperor:
Who, busied in his majesty, surveys
The singing masons building roofs of gold;
The civilt citizens kneading up the honey;
The poor mechanic porters crowding in
Their heavy burdens at his narrrow gate;
The sad-ey'd justice, with his surly hum,
Delivering o'er to the executors§ pale
The lazy yawning drone.

ACT II.

CHORUS.

WARLIKE SPIRIT.

Now all the youth of England are on fire,
And silken dalliance in the wardrobe lies;
Now thrive the armourers, and honour's thought
Reigns solely in the breast of every man:
They sell the pasture now, to buy the horse;
Following the mirror of all Christian kings,

Listen to.
Sober, grave.

+ Different degrees.
§ Executioners.

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With winged heels, as English Mercuries.
For now sits Expectation in the air;

And hides a sword, from hilts unto the point,
With crowns imperial, crowns, and coronets,
Promis'd to Harry, and his followers.

APOSTROPHE TO ENGLAND.

O England!-model to thy inward greatness, Like little body with a mighty heart,— What might'st thou do, that honour would thee do, Were all thy children kind and natural! But see thy fault! France hath in thee found out A nest of hollow bosoms, which he* fills With treacherous crowns.

FALSE APPEARANCES.

O, how hast thou with jealousy infected
The sweetness of affiance! Show men dutiful?
Why, so didst thou: Seem they grave and learned?
Why, so didst thou: Come they of noble family?
Why, so didst thou: Seem they religious?

Why, so didst thou: Or are they spare in diet;
Free from gross passion, or of mirth, or anger;
Constant in spirit, not swerving with the blood;
Garnish'd and deck'd in modest complement;†
Not working with the eye, without the ear,
And, but in purged judgment, trusting neither?
Such, and so finely bolted, didst thou seem:
And thus thy fall hath left a kind of blot,
To mark the full-fraught man, and best indued,§
With some suspicion.

DAME QUICKLY'S ACCOUNT OF FALSTAFF'S DEATH.

'A made a finer end, and went away, an it had been any christom]|| child; "a parted even just between twelve and one, e'en at turning o' the tide, for after I saw him fumble with the sheets, and play with flowers, and smile upon his fingers' ends, I knew there was but one way; for his nose was as sharp as a * i. e. The king of France. † Accomplishment. + Sifted. § Endowed. A child not more than a month old.

pen, and 'a babbled of green fields. How now, Sir John? quoth I: what, man! be of good cheer. So 'a cried out-God, God, God! three or four times: now I, to comfort him, bid him, 'a should not think of God; I hoped there was no need to trouble himself with any such thoughts yet: So, 'a bade me lay more clothes on his feet: I put my hand into the bed, and felt them, and they were as cold as any stone.

KING HENRY'S CHARACTER BY THE CONSTABle of

FRANCE.

You are too much mistaken in this king:
Question your grace the late ambassadors,-
With what great state he heard their embassy,
How well supplied with noble counsellors,
How modest in exception,* and withal,
How terrible in constant resolution,—
And you shall find his vanities forespent†
Were but the outside of the Roman Brutus,
Covering discretion with a coat of folly;
As gardeners do with ordure hide those roots
That shall first spring, and be most delicate.

ACT III.

CHORUS.

DESCRIPTION OF A FLEET SETTING SAIL.

Suppose that you have seen

The well-appointed king at Hampton pier
Embark his royalty; and his brave fleet

With silken streamers the young Phoebus fanning,
Play with your fancies; and in them behold,
Upon the hempen tackle, ship-boys climbing:
Hear the shrill whistle, which doth order give
To sounds confus'd; behold the threaden sails,
Borne with the invisible and creeping wind,
Draw the huge bottoms through the furrow'd sea,
Breasting the lofty surge.

• In making objections.

† Wasted, exhausted.

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