Flu. Is it not lawful, an please your majesty, to tell how many is killed?

K. Hen. Yes, captain; but with this acknowledgment,

That God fought for us.

Flu. Yes, my conscience, he did us great goot. K. Hen. Do we all holy rites 5;

Let there be sung Non nobis, and Te Deum.

The dead with charity enclos'd in clay,
We'll then to Calais; and to England then;
Where ne'er from France arriv'd more happy men.

[Exeunt.

ACT V.

Enter CHORUS.

Chor. Vouchsafe to those that have not read the

story,

That I may prompt them: and of such as have,
I humbly pray them to admit the excuse
Of time, of numbers, and due course of things,
Which cannot in their huge and proper life
Be here presented. Now we bear the king
Toward Calais: grant him there; there seen1,

5 Do we all holy rites.' The king, when he saw no appearance of enemies, caused the retreate to be blowen; and, gathering his army together, gave thanks to Almighty God for so happy a victorie, causing his prelates and chapeleins to sing this psalme-In exitu Israel de Egypto; and commaunding every man to kneele down on the grounde at this verse-Non nobis, Domine, non nobis sed nomini tuo da gloriam; which done, he caused TE DEUM and certain anthems to be sung, giving laud and praise to God, and not boasting of his own force or any humaine power.'-Holinshed.

1 'Toward Calais: grant him there; there seen.' Steevens proposes, in order to complete the metre, that we should read :'Toward Calais: grant him there; there seen awhile.'

Heave him away upon your winged thoughts,
Athwart the sea: Behold, the English beach
Pales in the flood with men, with wives, and boys,
Whose shouts and claps outvoice the deep-mouth'd

sea,

Which, like a mighty whiffler fore the king,
Seems to prepare his way: so let him land;
And, solemnly, see him set on to London.
So swift a pace hath thought, that even now
You may imagine him upon Blackheath:
Where that his lords desire him, to have borne
His bruised helmet, and his bended sword,
Before him, through the city: he forbids it,
Being free from vainness and self-glorious pride;
Giving full trophy, signal, and ostent,

Quite from himself, to God3.

But now behold,

In the quick forge and workinghouse of thought,
How London doth pour out her citizens !
The mayor, and all his brethren, in best sort,-
Like to the senators of the antique Rome,

2 Which, like a mighty whiffler 'fore the king,
Seems to prepare his way.'

Whifflers were persons going before a great personage or procession, furnished with staves or wands to clear the way. The junior liverymen of the city companies, who walk first in processions, are still called whifflers, from the circumstance of their going before. There have been several errors, as Mr. Douce remarks, in the attempts to give the origin of the term: he derives it from whiffle, which, he says, is another name for a fife, as fifers usually preceded armies or processions. It strikes me that it may be only a corruption of way-feeler, as it exists in several northern tongues. In the old Teutonic and in the Flemish weyffeler, or wjifeler, has the same meaning as our whiffler. Bastoniera, in Italian, is 'a verger, a mace bearer, a stickler, or a whiffler, also a cudgeller, a staffman,' according to Torriano. Minsheu renders a whiffler, Bastonero, in Spanish, i. e. a clubman.' And Grose, who thought the word local, says, 'Whifflers are men who make way for the corporation of Norwich by flourishing their swords.'

3 i. e. transferring all the honours of conquest from himself to God.

With the plebeians swarming at their heels,—
Go forth, and fetch their conquering Cæsar in:
As, by a lower, but by loving likelihood*,
Were now the general of our gracious empress 5
(As, in good time, he may, from Ireland coming,
Bringing rebellion broached on his sword,
How many would the peaceful city quit,

To welcome him? much more, and much more cause, Did they this Harry. Now in London place him; (As yet the lamentation of the French

Invites the king of England's stay at home):
The emperor's coming in behalf of France,
To order peace between them, we omit,
And all the occurrences, whatever chanc'd,
Till Harry's back-return again to France;
There must we bring him; and myself have play'd
The interim, by remembering you-'tis past.
Then brook abridgement; and your eyes advance
After your thoughts, straight back again to France.
[Exit.

4 i. e. similitude.

5 i. e. the earl of Essex. Shakspeare grounded his anticipation of such a reception for Essex on his return from Ireland, upon what had already occurred at his setting forth, when he was accompanied by an immense concourse of all ranks, showering blessings upon his head. The continuator of Stowe's Chronicle gives us a long account of it. But how unfortunately different his return was from what the poet predicted, may be seen in the Sydney Papers, vol. ii. p. 127.

6 Broached is spitted, transfixed.

7 The emperor's coming.' The Emperor Sigismund, who was married to Henry's second cousin. This passage stands in the following embarrassed and obscure manner in the folio:Now in London place him.

As yet the lamentation of the French
Invites the king of England's stay at home:
The emperor's coming in behalf of France,
To order peace between them: and omit
All the occurrences,' &c.

The liberty I have taken is to transpose the word and, and substitute we in its place.

SCENE I.

France. An English Court of Guard.

Enter FLUELLEN and Gower.

Gow. Nay, that's right; but why wear you your leek to-day? Saint Davy's day is past.

Flu. There is occasions and causes why and wherefore in all things: I will tell you, as my friend, Captain Gower; The rascally, scald, beggarly, lowsy, pragging knave, Pistol,—which you and yourself, and all the 'orld, know to be no petter than a fellow, look you now, of no merits,-he is come to me, and prings me pread and salt yesterday, look you, and bid me eat my leek: it was in a place where I could not breed no contentions with him; but I will be so pold as to wear it in my cap till I see him once again, and then I will tell him a little piece of my desires.

Enter PISTOL.

Gow. Why, here he comes, swelling like a turkey-cock.

Flu. 'Tis no matter for his swellings, nor his turkey-cocks.-Got pless you, ancient Pistol! you scurvy, lowsy knave, Got bless you!

Pist. Ha! art thou Bedlam? dost thou thirst, base Trojan,

To have me fold up Parca's fatal web1?
Hence! I am qualmish at the smell of leek.

Flu. I peseech you heartily, scurvy lowsy knave, at my desires, and my requests, and my petitions, to eat, look you, this leek; because, look you, you

1 To have me fold up Parca's fatal web?' 'Dost thou desire to have me put thee to death?'

do not love it, nor your affections, and your appetites, and your digestions, does not agree with it, I would desire you to eat it.

Pist. Not for Cadwallader, and all his goats. Flu. There is one goat for you, [Strikes him.] Will you be so goot, scald knave, as eat it? Pist. Base Trojan, thou shalt die.

Flu. You say very true, scald knave, when Got's will is: I will desire you to live in the mean time, and eat your victuals; come, there is sauce for it. [Striking him again.] You called me yesterday mountain-squire; but I will make you to-day a squire of low degree. I pray you, fall to; if you can mock a leek, you can eat a leek.

Gow. Enough, captain; you have astonished him. Flu. I say, I will make him eat some part of my leek, or I will peat his pate four days:-Pite, I pray you; it is goot for your green wound, and your ploody coxcomb.

Pist. Must I bite?

Flu. Yes, certainly; and out of doubt, and out of questions too, and ambiguities.

Pist. By this leek, I will most horribly revenge; I eat, and eke I swear 3

Flu. Eat, I pray you: Will you have some more sauce to your leek? there is not enough leek to swear by.

Pist. Quiet thy cudgel; thou dost see, I eat.

Flu. Much goot do you, scald knave, heartily. Nay, 'pray you, throw none away; the skin is goot for your proken coxcomb. When you take occasions to see leeks hereafter, I pray you, mock at them! that is all.

Pist. Good.

2 Stunned.

3I eat, and eke I swear.' The folio has 'eat I swear.'