King Henry V · William Shakespeare
SCENE II.--FRANCE. A ROOM IN THE FRENCH KING'S PALACE.
_Trumpets sound._ _Enter the FRENCH KING,[15] attended; the DAUPHIN, the DUKE OF BURGUNDY, the CONSTABLE, and Others,(E) L.H._ _Fr. King._ (C.) Thus come the English with full power upon us; And more than carefully it us concerns[16] To answer royally in our defences. Therefore the Dukes of Berry and of Bretagne, Of Brabant and of Orleans, shall make forth,-- And you, Prince Dauphin,--with all swift despatch, To line and new repair our towns of war With men of courage and with means defendant. _Dau._ (R.C.) My most redoubted father, It is most meet we arm us 'gainst the foe: And let us do it with no show of fear; No, with no more than if we heard that England Were busied with a Whitsun morris-dance: For, my good liege, she is so idly king'd, Her sceptre so fantastically borne By a vain, giddy, shallow, humorous youth, That fear attends her not. _Con._ (L.C.) O peace, prince Dauphin You are too much mistaken in this king: With what great state he heard our embassy, How well supplied with noble counsellors, How modest in exception,[17] and withal How terrible in constant resolution, And you shall find his vanities fore-spent Were but the outside of the Roman Brutus, Covering discretion with a coat of folly. _Dau._ Well, 'tis not so, my lord high constable; But though we think it so, it is no matter: In cases of defence 'tis best to weigh The enemy more mighty than he seems: So the proportions of defence are fill'd.
_Fr. King._ Think we King Harry strong; And, princes, look you strongly arm to meet him. The kindred of him hath been flesh'd upon us; And he is bred out of that bloody strain[18] That haunted us[19] in our familiar paths: Witness our too much memorable shame When Cressy battle fatally was struck, And all our princes captiv'd by the hand Of that black name, Edward, black prince of Wales; Whiles that his mountain sire,--on mountain standing, Up in the air, crown'd with the golden sun,--[20] Saw his heroical seed, and smil'd to see him Mangle the work of nature, and deface The patterns that by Heaven and by French fathers Had twenty years been made. This is a stem Of that victorious stock; and let us fear The native mightiness and fate of him.[21] _Enter MONTJOY,[22] L.H., and kneels C. to the KING._ _Mont._ Ambassadors from Henry King of England Do crave admittance to your majesty. _Fr. King._ We'll give them present audience. (_MONTJOY rises from his knee._) Go, and bring them. [_Exeunt MONTJOY, and certain LORDS, L.H._ You see this chase is hotly follow'd, friends. _Dau._ Turn head, and stop pursuit; for coward dogs Most spend their mouths,[23] when what they seem to threaten Runs far before them. Good my sovereign, Take up the English short; and let them know Of what a monarchy you are the head: Self-love, my liege, is not so vile a sin As self-neglecting.
_Fr. King._ For us, we will consider of this further: To-morrow shall you bear our full intent Back to our brother England. [_MONTJOY rises, and retires to R._ _Dau._ (_R. of throne._) For the Dauphin, I stand here for him: What to him from England? _Exe._ Scorn and defiance; slight regard, contempt, And any thing that may not misbecome The mighty sender, doth he prize you at. Thus says my king: an if your father's highness Do not, in grant of all demands at large, Sweeten the bitter mock you sent his majesty, He'll call you to so hot an answer for it, That caves and womby vaultages of France Shall chide your trespass,[25] and return your mock In second accent of his ordnance. _Dau._ Say, if my father render fair reply, It is against my will; for I desire Nothing but odds with England: to that end, As matching to his youth and vanity, I did present him with those Paris balls. _Exe._ He'll make your Paris Louvre shake for it: And, be assur'd, you'll find a difference Between the promise of his greener days And these he masters now: now he weighs time, Even to the utmost grain: which you shall read[26] In your own losses, if he stay in France. _Fr. King._ To-morrow shall you know our mind at full.
_Exe._ Despatch us with all speed, lest that our king Come here himself to question our delay; For he is footed in this land already. _Fr. King._ You shall be soon despatch'd with fair conditions: [_MONTJOY crosses to the English party._ A night is but small breath and little pause To answer matters of this consequence. [_English party exit, with MONTJOY and others, L.H. French Lords group round the KING._ _Trumpets sound._ [Footnote II.15: ----FRENCH KING,] The costume of Charles VI. is copied from Willemin, Monuments Francais. The dresses of the other Lords are selected from Montfaucon Monarchie Francoise.] [Footnote II.16: _----more than carefully it us concerns,_] _More than carefully_ is _with more than common care_; a phrase of the same kind with _better than well_. --JOHNSON.] [Footnote II.17: _How modest in exception,_] How diffident and decent in making objections.] [Footnote II.18: _----strain_] _lineage_.] [Footnote II.19: _That +haunted+ us_] To _haunt_ is a word of the utmost horror, which shows that they dreaded the English as goblins and spirits.] [Footnote II.20: _----crown'd with the golden sun,--_] Shakespeare's meaning (divested of its poetical fancy) probably is, that the king stood upon an eminence, with the sun shining over his head. --STEEVENS.] [Footnote II.21: _----+fate+ of him._] His _fate_ is what is allotted him by destiny, or what he is fated to perform.] [Footnote II.22: _Montjoy,_] Mont-joie is the title of the principal king-at-arms in France, as Garter is in our country.] [Footnote II.23: _----spend their mouths,_] That is, bark; the sportsman's term.] [Footnote II.24: _----memorable +line+,_] This genealogy; this deduction of his _lineage_.] [Footnote II.25: _Shall +chide+ your trespass,_] To _chide_ is to _resound_, to _echo_.] [Footnote II.26: _----you shall read_] i.e., shall _find_.]
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.