Orl. I have heard a fonnet begin fo to one's miftrefs. Dau. Then did they imitate that, which I compos'd courfer; for my horfe is horfe is my mistress.

to my

• Orl. Your mistress bears well.

• Dau. Me, well; which is the prefcript praife, and perfection, of a good and particular miftrefs. Con. Methought, yesterday your mistress fhrewdly shook your back.

Dau. So, perhaps, did yours.

Con. Mine was not bridled.

Dau. O, then, belike, fhe was old and gentle; and you rode, like a Kern of Ireland, your French hofe off, and in your ftrait Troffers.

• Con. You have good judgment in horfemanship. Dau. Be warn'd by me then; they that ride fo ' and ride not warily, fall into foul bogs; I had rather • have my horse to my mistress.

• Con. I had as lieve have my miftrefs a jade.

Dau. I tell thee, Conftable, my mistress wears her own hair.

Con. I could make as true a boaft as that, if I had a Sow to my mistress,

"Dau. Le chien eft retourné à son propre vomiffement, && la truie lavée au bourbier; thou mak'ft ufe of any <thing.

• Con. Yet do I not use my horse for my mistress; or any fuch proverb, fo little kin to the purpose.

Ram. My lord Conftable, the armour, that I faw in your tent to night, are thofe ftars, or funs upon it? Con. Stars, my lord.

• Dau. Some of them will fall to morrow, I hope. Con. And yet my sky fhall not want.

Dau. That may be, for you bear many fuperfluoufly; and 'twere more honour, fome were

away.

Con. Ev'n as your horfe bears your praifes, who 'would trot as well, were fome of your brags dif mounted.

• Dau.

• Dau. Would I were able to load him with his defert.' Will it never be day? I will trot to morrow a mile, and my way fhall be paved with English faces.

Con. I will not fay fo, for fear I fhou'd be fac'd out of my way; but I would it were morning, for I would fain be about the ears of the English.

Ram. Who will go to hazard with me for twenty English prisoners?

Con. You must first go your self to hazard ere you

have them.

Dau. 'Tis mid-night, I'll go arm my self.
Orl. The Dauphin longs for morning.
Ram. He longs to eat the English.

Con. I think, he will eat all he kills.

[Exit.

• Orl. By the white hand of my lady, he's a gallant • Prince.

• Con. Swear by her foot, that fhe may tread out ⚫ the oath.

Orl. He is fimply the moft active gentleman of France. Con. Doing is activity, and he will still be doing. Orl. He never did harm, that I heard of.

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

Orl. I know him to be valiant.

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

Orl. What's he?

Con. Marry, he told me fo himself; and he said, he car'd not who knew it.

• Orl. He needs not, it is no hidden virtue in him. Con. By my faith, Sir, but it is; never any body faw it, but his lacquey; 'tis a hooded valour, and when it appears, it will bate.

Orl. Ill will never faid well.

Cor. I will cap that proverb with, There is flattery in friendship.

Orl.

Orl. And I will take up that with, Give the Devil bis due.

Con. Well plac'd; there ftands your friend for the devil; have at the very eye of that proverb with, A pox on the devil!

Orl. You are the better at proverbs, by how much a fool's bolt is foon foot.

Con. You have shot over.

Orl. 'Tis not the first time you were over-fhot.

Me. My Lord high Conftable, the English lye within Fifteen hundred paces of your tents.

Con. Who hath meafur'd the ground?

Mell. The lord Grandpree.

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

Orl. What a wretched and peevish fellow is this King of England, to mope with his fat-brain'd followers fo far out of his knowledge?

Con. If the English had any apprehenfion, they would

run away.

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

Ram. That Ifland of England breeds very valiant creatures; their mastiffs are of unmatchable courage,

Orl." Foolish curs, that run winking into the mouth "of a Ruffian Bear, and have their heads crush'd like "rotten apples. You may as well fay, that's a valiant Flea, that dares eat his breakfast on the lip of a Lion.

Con. "Juft, juft; and the men do fympathize with "the maftiffs in robuftious and rough coming on, leaving

66

"leaving their wits with their wives; and then give "them great meals of beef, and iron and fteel, they "will eat like wolves, and fight like devils.

Orl. Ay; but thefe English are fhreudly out of beef. Con. Then fhall we find to morrow, they have only ftomachs to eat, and none to fight. Now is it time to arm; come, fhall we about it?

Orl. 'Tis two o'clock; but (let me fee) by ten, We shall have each a hundred Englishmen.

[Exeunt.

ACT IV.

SCENE I...

N

AGINCOURT.

Enter CHORUS.

OW entertain conjecture of a time,

When creeping murmur, and the poring dark,

I Fills the wide veffel of the universe.

"From camp to camp,through the foul womb of night, "The hum of either army ftilly founds;

2

"That the fixt centinels almoft receive "The fecret whifpers of each other's watch. "Fire anfwers fire; and through their paly flames "Each battel fees the other's umber'd face, "Steed threatens fteed, in high and boastful neighs "Piercing the night's dull ear; and from the tents, "The armourers accomplishing the knights,

1 Fills the wide veffel of the univerfe.] Univerfe for horizon: for we are not to think Shakespear to ignorant as to imagine it was night over the whole globe at once. He intimates he knew otherwife, by that fine line in Mid-fummer Night's Dream.

-following darkness like a dream. Befides, the image he employs fhews he meant but half the globe; the horizon round which has the fhape of a veffel or goblet. -the other's umber'd face.] Umber'd or umbred, is a term in blazonry, and fignifes fhadowed.

2

"With bufie hammers clofing rivets up, "Give dreadful note of preparation.

"The country cocks do crow, the clocks do toll: "And (the third hour of droufie morning nam'd) Proud of their numbers and fecure in foul, The confident and over-lufty French 3 Do the low-rated English play at dice; And chide the cripple tardy-gated night, Who, like a foul and ugly witch, does limp So tedioufly away. "The poor condemned English, "Like facrifices, by their watchful fires "Sit patiently, and inly ruminate

"The morning's danger: and their gefture fad,
<< 4 Invest in lank-lean cheeks and war-worn coats,
"Prefented them unto the gazing moon
"So many horrid ghofts. Who now beholds
"The royal captain of this ruin'd band
"Walking from watch to watch, from tent to tent,
"Let him cry, Praise and glory on his head!
For forth he goes and vifits all his hoft,
Bids them good morrow with a modeft fmile,
And calls them brothers, friends, and countrymen.
Upon his royal face there is no note,

How dread an army hath enrounded him;
Nor doth he dedicate one jot of colour
Unto the weary and all-watched night:
But freshly looks and over-bears attaint,
With chearful femblance and sweet majefty:
That ev'ry wretch, pining and pale before,
Beholding him, plucks comfort from his looks.

3 Do the low-rated English play at dice ;] i. e. do play them away at dice.

4 INVESTING lank-lean cheeks &c.] A gefture invefting cheeks and coats is nonfenfe. We fhould read,

INVEST IN lank lean cheeks, which is fenfe, i. e. their fad gefture was cloath'd, or fet off, in lean-cheeks and worn coats. The image is ftrong and picturesque.

A