KING HENRY V. PERSONS REPRESENTED. KING HENRY THE FIFTH. DUKE OF GLOSTER, Brothers to DUKE OF BEDFORD, S the King. DUKE OF EXETER, Uncle to the King. DUKE OF YORK, Cousin to the King. EARLS OF SALISBURY, WESTMORELAND, and WARWICK. ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. BISHOP OF ELY. EARL OF CAMBRIDGE,) ConspiLORD SCROOP, rators SIR THOMAS GREY, against the King. SIR THOMAS ERPINGHAM, GOWER, FLUELLEN, MAC.. MORRIS, JAMY, Officers in King Henry's Army. BATES, COURT, WILLIAMS, Soldiers in the same. NYM, BARDOLPH, PISTOL, formerly Servants to Falstaff, now Soldiers in the same. BOY, Servant to them. A HERALD.-CHORUS. CHARLES THE SIXTH, King of France. LEWIS, the Dauphin. DUKES OF BURGUNDY, ORLEANS, and BOURBON. THE CONSTABLE OF FRANCE. RAMBURES, and GRANDPREE, French Lords. GOVERNOR OF HARFLEUR. MONTJOY, a French Herald. AMBASSADORS to the King of England. ISABEL, Queen of France. KATHARINE, Daughter of Charles and Isabel. ALICE, a Lady attending on the Princess Katharine. QUICKLY, Pistol's Wife, a Hostess. LORDS, LADIES, OFFICERS, French and English SOLDIERS, MESSENGERS, and ATTENDANTS. The SCENE, at the beginning of the Play, lies in England; but afterwards wholly in France. Enter CHORUS. 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, VOL. III. B The flat unraised spirit, that hath dared, And let us, ciphers to this great accompt, Think, when we talk of horses, that you see them Who, prologue-like, your humble patience pray, ACT I. SCENE I-London. An Antichamber in the King's Palace. Enter the Archbishop of CANTERBURY, and Bishop of ELY. Cant. My lord, I'll tell you,-that self bill is urged, Which, in the eleventh year o' the last king's reign Was like, and had indeed against us pass'd, But that the scambling and unquiet time Did push it out of further question. Ely. But how, my lord, shall we resist it now? Cant. It must be thought on. If it pass against us, We lose the better half of our possession: For all the temporal lands, which men devout Would they strip from us; being valued thus,→ * An allusion to the circular form of the Globe Theatre. Of indigent faint souls, past corporal toil, A thousand pounds by the year: Thus runs the bill Cant. "Twould drink the cup and all. Ely. But what prevention? Cant. The king is full of grace, and fair regard. Cant. The courses of his youth promised it not. And whipp'd the offending Adam out of him; To envelop and contain celestial spirits. With such a heady current, scouring faults; So soon did lose his seat, and all at once, Ely. We are blessed in the change. Cant. Hear him but reason in divinity, You would desire, the king were made a prelate : You would say,-it hath been all-in-all his study: Turn him to any cause of policy, The Gordian knot of it he will unloose, And the mute wonder lurketh in men's ears, So that the art and practic part of life Which is a wonder, how his grace should glean it, His companies unletter'd, rude, and shallow; Any retirement, any sequestration From open haunts and popularity.§ Ely. The strawberry grows underneath the nettle; And wholesome berries thrive and ripen best, Neighbour'd by fruit of baser quality: And so the prince obscured his contemplation * Listen to. * Companions. †Theory and practice. § Plebeian intercourse. Under the veil of wildness; which, no doubt, Cant. It must be so: for miracles are ceased: Ely. But, my good lord, How now for mitigation of this bill Urged by the cominons? Incline to it, or no? Doth his majesty Cant. He seems indifferent; Or, rather, swaying more upon our part, And in regard of causes now in hand, Ely. How did this offer seem received, my lord? Of his true titles to some certain dukedoms; Ely. What was the impediment that broke this off? Ely. It is. Cant. Then go we in, to know his embassy; Which I could, with a ready guess, declare, Before the Frenchman speak a word of it. Ely. I'll wait upon you; and I long to hear it. [Exeunt. SCENE II.-The same. A Room of State in the same. Enter KING HENRY, GLOSTER, BEDFORD, EXETER, WARWICK, K. Hen. Where is my gracious lord of Canterbury? K. Hen. Send for him, good uncle. West. Shall we call in the ambassador, my liege? * Increasing. Enter the Archbishop of CANTERBURY, and Bishop of ELY. Cant. God and his angels guard your sacred throne, And make you long become it! K. Hen. Sure, we thank you. My learned lord, we pray you to proceed; And justly and religiously unfold, Why the law Salique, that they have in France, 'Gainst him, whose wrongs give edge unto the swords Under this conjuration, speak, my lord: And we will hear, note, and believe in heart, That what you speak is in your conscience wash'd As pure as sin with baptism. Cant. Then hear me, gracious sovereign,-and you peers, That owe your lives, your faith, and services, To this imperial throne;-There is no bar To make against your highness' claim to France, But this, which they produce from Pharamond,- No woman shall succeed in Salique land: Which Salique land the French unjustly gloze,§ The founder of this law and female bar. Where Charles the great, having subdued the Saxons, Which Salique, as I said, 'twixt Elbe and Sala, |