Speak freely of our acts; or else our grave,
Like Turkish mute, shall have a tongueless mouth,
Not worship'd with a waxen epitaph27.

Enter Ambassadors of France.

Now are we well prepar'd to know the pleasure
Of our fair cousin Dauphin; for, we hear,
Your greeting is from him, not from the king.
Amb. May it please your majesty, to give us leave
Freely to render what we have in charge; A
Or shall we sparingly show you far off

The Dauphin's meaning, and our embassy?
K. Hen. We are no
no tyrant, but a Christian king;
Unto whose grace our passion is as subject,
As are our wretches fetter'd in prisons:
Therefore, with frank and with uncurbed plainness,
Tell us the Dauphin's mind.

Amb.
Thus then, in few.
Your highness, lately sending into France,
Did claim some certain dukedoms, in the right
Of your great predecessor, King Edward the Third.
answer of which claim, the prince our master
Says, that
And bids you our too much of your youth;
And bids you be advis'd, there's nought in France,
That can be with a nimble galliard28 won;

27

wi Not worship'd with a maren epitaph. The quartos read a paper epitaph. Either a paper or a waxen epitaph is an epitaph easily destroyed; one that can confer no lasting honour on the dead. Steevens thinks that the allusion is to waxen tablets, as any thing written upon them was easily effaced. Mr. Gifford says that a waren epitaph was an epitaph affixed to the hearse or grave with wax. But it appears to me that the expression may be merely metaphorical, and not allusive to either. Cereus, in Latin; waren, in English; and a kindred word, in most languages, is applied to any thing soft, pliable, mutable, casily taking any impression, and as easily losing it; any thing. fragile, or changing with a light occasion. In short, the epithet conveys completely the idea of instability; and this was the intention of the poet.

28 A galliard was an ancient spritely dance, as its name implies; which Sir John Davies describes as:

A gallant dance, that lively doth bewray
AA spirit and a virtue masculine,
With lofty turns and capriols in the air,

Which with the lusty tunes accordeth fair.'

You c

cannot revel into dukedoms there: He therefore sends you, meeter for your spirit, This tun of treasure: and, in lieu of this,

Desires you, let the dukedoms, that you claim,
Hear no more of you. This the Dauphin speaks.
K. Hen. What treasure, uncle?
Tennis-balls, my liege29,
K. Hen. We are glad the Dauphin is so pleasant
with us;

Ere, and
Exe.

His present, and your pains, we thank you for:
When we have match'd our rackets to these balls,
We will, in France, by God's grace, play a set,
Shall strike his father's crown into the hazard30:
Tell him, he hath made a match with such a wrangler,
That all the courts of France will be disturb'd
With chaces31. And we understand him well,
How he comes o'er us with our wilder days,
Not measuring what use we made of them.
We never valu'd this poor seat32 of England;
And therefore, living hence33, did give ourself
To barbarous licence; As 'tis ever common,
That men are
merriest when they are from home.
But tell the Dauphin, I will keep my state;
Be like a king, and show my sail of greatness,
When I do rouse me in my throne of France:
For that I have laid by my majesty34,

And plodded like a man for working-days;

29 In the old play of King Henry V. this present consists of a gilded tun of tennis-balls, and a carpet.

30 The hazard is a place in the tennis-court, into which the ball is sometimes struck.

A chace at tennis is that spot where a ball falls, beyond which the adversary must strike his ball to gain a point or chace.

At long fem is the spot where the ball leaves off rolling.

We see

32 i. e.

why the king has called himself a wrangler. throne. Thus in King Richard III. :

supreme seat, the throne majestical.

33 And therefore living hence; that is, from hence, away from this seat or throne.

34 For that I have laid by my majesty. To qualify myself for this undertaking, I have descended from my station, and studied the arts of life in a lower character.

Vol. V.

17*

But I will rise there with so full a glory,
That I will dazzle all the eyes of France,

Yea, strike the Dauphin blind to look on us.T And tell the pleasant prince, this mack of his Hath turn'd his balls to gun-stones35; and his soul

Shall stand sore charged for the wasteful vengeance That shall fly with them: for many a thousand widows

Shall this his mock mock out of their dear husbands;
Mock mothers from their sons, mock castles down;
And some are yet ungotten, and unborn,
That shall have cause to curse the Dauphin's scorn.
But this lies all within the will of God,
To whom I do appeal; And in whose name,
Tell you the Dauphin, I am coming on,
To venge me as I may, and to put forth
My rightful hand in a well hallow'd c
cause.
So, get you hence in peace; and tell the Dauphin,
His jest will savour but of shallow wit,

When thousands weep, more than did laugh at it.-
Convey them with safe conduct.-Fare you well.
Latola, magam
[Exeunt Ambassadors.

Ere. This was a merry message.

K. Hen. We hope to make the sender blush at it. Descends from his Throne. Therefore, my lords, omit no happy hour, That may give furtherance to our expedition: For we have now no thought in us but France; Save those to God, that run before our business. Therefore, let our proportions for these wars Be soon collected; and all things thought upon, That may, with reasonable swiftness, additus More feathers to our wings; for, God before,be We'll chide this Dauphin at his father's door.

રાજા વસવ

35 Hath turn'd his balls to gun-stones. When ordnance was first used they discharged balls not of iron but stones 901 bulben

Therefore, let every man now task his thought36, That this fair action may on foot be brought.

[Exeunt.

ACT II.

Enter CHORUS.

Chor. 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,
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 coronets1,
Promis'd to Harry, and his followers.
The French advis'd by good intelligence
Of this most dreadful preparation,
Shake in their fear; and with pale policy
Seek to divert the English purposes.

O England!-model to thy inward greatness,
Like little body with a mighty heart,-

182

What mightst thon do, that honour would thee do, Were all thy children kind and natural!

But see thy fault! France hath in thee found out

36 Task his thought. We have this phrase before. See note

on p. 316.

1

For now sits Expectation in the air;

And hides a sword, from hilts unto the point

With crowns,' &c.

In ancient representations of trophies, &c. it is common to see swords encircled with crowns. Shakspeare's image is supposed to be taken from a wood cut in the first edition of Holinshed.

A nest of hollow bosoms, which he fills

With treacherous crowns: and three corrupted

men,

One, Richard earl of Cambridge2; and the second,
Henry Lord Scroops of Masham; and the third,
Sir Thomas Grey, knight of Northumberland,-
Have, for the gilt of France, (0 guilt, indeed!)
Confirm'd conspiracy with fearful France;

And by their hands this grace of kings must die
(If hell and treason hold their promises),
Ere he take ship for France, and in Southampton.
Linger your patience on; digest
and well
The abuse of distance, while we force a play5.
The sum is paid; the traitors are agreed;
The king is set from London; and the scene
Is now transported, gentles, to Southampton:
There is the playhouse now, there must you sit:
And thence to France shall we convey you safe,
And bring you back, charming the narrow seas
To give you gentle pass; for, if we may,
We'll not offend one stomach with our play.
But, till the king come forth, and but till then,
Unto Southampton do we shift our scene. [Exit.

2 'Richard earl of Cambridge' was Richard de Conisbury, younger son of Edmund Langley, duke of York. He was father of Richard duke of York, and grandfather of Edward the Fourth. 3 Henry Lord Scroop' was a third husband of Joan, duchess of York, mother in law of Richard earl of Cambridge.

4 Gilt for golden money.

5 The old copy reads:

Linger your patience on, and we'll digest

The abuse of distance; force a play."

The alteration was made by Pope.

6 'But till the king come forth, and but till then, Unto Southampton do we shift our scene.'

The old copy reads:

But till the king come forth, and not till then." The emendation was proposed by Mr. Roderick, and deserves admission into the text. Malone has plainly shown that it is a common typographical error. The objection is, that a scene in London intervenes; but this may be obviated by transposing that scene to the end of the first act. The division into acts and scenes, it should be recollected, is the arbitrary work of Mr. Rowe and the subsequent editors; and the first act of this play, as it is now divided, is unusually short. This chorus has slipped out of its place.