King Henry the Fifth. William Shakespeare

Dauphin’s meaning and our embassy?

      K. Hen. We are no tyrant, but a Christian king;

      Therefore with frank and with uncurbed plainness

      Tell us the Dauphin’s mind.

      Amb.

      Thus, then, in few.15

      Your highness, lately sending into France,

      Did claim some certain dukedoms, in the right

      Of your great predecessor, King Edward the Third.

      In answer of which claim, the prince our master

      Says—that you savour too much of your youth;

      And bids you be advis’d, there’s nought in France

      That can be with a nimble galliard won;16

      You 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?

      Exe. Opening the chest. Tennis-balls, my liege.(H)

      K. Hen. We are glad the Dauphin is so pleasant with us;

      His present and your pains we thank you for:

      When we have match’d our rackets to these balls,

      We will, in France, by Heaven’s grace, play a set

      Shall strike his father’s crown into the hazard.

      And we understand him well,

      How he comes o’er us with our wilder days,

      Not measuring what use we made of them.

      But tell the Dauphin—I will keep my state;

      Be like a king, and show my soul of greatness,

      When I do rouse me in my throne of France:

      For 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.

      But this lies all within the will of Heaven,

      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 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.

      Exeunt Ambassador, and Attendants, L.H.

      Exe. This was a merry message.

      K. Hen. We hope to make the sender blush at it.

      The King rises.

      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 Heaven, 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 add

      More feathers to our wings; for, Heaven before,

      We’ll chide this Dauphin at his father’s door.

      The characters group round the King.

      Trumpets sound.

      Scene II.—EASTCHEAP, LONDON.

      Enter Bardolph,(I) Nym, Pistol, Mrs. Quickly, and Boy, L. 2 E.

      Quick. (L.C.) Pr’ythee, honey-sweet husband, let me bring thee to Staines.17

      Pist. (C.) No; for my manly heart doth yearn.—

      Bardolph, be blithe;—Nym, rouse thy vaunting veins;

      Boy, bristle thy courage up; for Falstaff he is dead,

      And we must yearn therefore.

      Bard. (R.) ’Would I were with him, wheresome’er he is!

      Quick. (C.) Sure, he’s in Arthur’s bosom,18 if ever man went to Arthur’s bosom. ’A made a finer end,19 and went away, an it had been any christom child;20 ’a parted even just between twelve and one, e’en at turning o’ the tide:21 for after I saw him fumble with the sheets,22 and play with flowers, and smile upon his fingers’ ends, I knew there was but one way; for his nose was as sharp as a pen, and a’ babbled of green fields. How now, Sir John! quoth I: what, man! be of good cheer. So a’ cried out—Heaven, Heaven, Heaven! three or four times. Now I, to comfort him, bid him ’a should not think of Heaven; I hoped, there was no need to trouble himself with any such thoughts yet. So ’a bade me lay more clothes on his feet: I put my hand into the bed and felt them, and they were as cold as any stone.

      Nym. (R.C.) They say he cried out of sack.

      Quick. Ay, that ’a did.

      Bard. And of women.

      Quick. Nay, that ’a did not.

      Boy. (L.) Yes, that ’a did, and said they were devils incarnate.

      Quick. crosses L.C. ’A could never abide carnation;23 ’twas a colour he never liked.

      Boy. Do you not remember, ’a saw a flea stick upon Bardolph’s nose, and ’a said it was a black soul burning in hell-fire?

      Bard. Well, the fuel is gone that maintained that fire: that’s all the riches I got in his service.

      Nym. Shall we shog off?24 the king will be gone from Southampton.

      Pist. Come, let’s away.—My love, give me thy lips.

      Look to my chattels and my moveables:

      Let senses rule;25 the word is, Pitch and pay;26

      Trust none;

      For oaths are straws, men’s faiths are wafer-cakes,

      And hold-fast is the only dog,27 my duck:

      Therefore, caveto be thy counsellor.28

      Go, clear thy crystals.29—Yoke-fellows in arms,

      Crosses L.H.

      Let us to France; like horse-leeches, my boys,

      To suck, to suck, the very blood to suck!

      Crosses R.H.

      Boy. And that is but unwholesome food, they say.

      Pitt. Touch her soft mouth, and march.

      Bard. Farewell, hostess.

      Kissing her.

      Nym. I cannot kiss, that is the humour of it; but adieu.

      Pist.