[_The bodies of the DUKE OF YORK(L) and EARL OF SUFFOLK are borne
across the stage by soldiers._
_Trumpets sound._
_Enter KING HENRY with a part of the English forces; WARWICK,
BEDFORD, GLOSTER, EXETER, and others, L.H._
_K. Hen._ (C.) I was not angry since I came to France,
Until this instant.--Take a trumpet, herald;
Ride thou unto the horsemen on yon hill:(M)
If they will fight with us, bid them come down,
Or void the field;[27] they do offend our sight:
If they'll do neither, we will come to them;
And make them skirr away, as swift as stones
Enforced from the old Assyrian slings.
Go, and tell them so.
[_Exit HERALD with Trumpeter, R.H._
_Exe._ The Duke of York commends him to your majesty.
_K. Hen._ Lives he, good uncle? thrice within this hour,
I saw him down; thrice up again and fighting;
From helmet to the spur, all blood he was.
_Exe._ In which array, (brave soldier), did he lie,
Larding the plain; and by his bloody side,
(Yoke fellow to his honour-owing wounds),
The noble Earl of Suffolk also lay.
Suffolk first died: and York, all haggled over,
Comes to him, where in gore he lay insteep'd,
And takes him by the hand; kisses the gashes,
That bloodily did yarn upon his face;
And cries aloud:--_Tarry, dear cousin Suffolk!
My soul shall thine keep company to heaven:
Tarry, sweet soul, for mine, then fly abreast;
As in this glorious and well foughten field,
We keep together in our chivalry!_
Upon these words I came, and cheer'd him up:
He smil'd me in the face, raught me his hand,[28]
And with a feeble gripe, says,--_Dear, my lord,
Commend my service to my sovereign._
So did he turn, and over Suffolk's neck
He threw his wounded arm, and kiss'd his lips;
And so espous'd to death, with blood he seal'd
A testament of noble-ending love.
The pretty and sweet manner of it forc'd
Those waters from me, which I would have stopp'd;
But I had not so much of man in me,
But all my mother came into mine eyes,
And gave me up to tears.
[_Re-enter ENGLISH HERALD and Trumpeter, R.H._
_K. Hen._ I blame you not:
For, hearing this, I must perforce compound
With mistful eyes, or they will issue too.
[_Trumpet without, R._
_Exe._ Here comes the herald of the French, my liege.
_Glo._ His eyes are humbler than they us'd to be.
_Enter MONTJOY,(N) and attendants, R.H. MONTJOY uncovers
and kneels._
_K. Hen._ How now! what means this, herald?
Com'st thou again for ransom?
_Mont._ No, great king:
I come to thee for charitable licence,
That we may wander o'er this bloody field
To book our dead, and then to bury them;
To sort our nobles from our common men,
For many of our princes (woe the while!)
Lie drown'd and soak'd in mercenary blood;
(So do our vulgar drench their peasant limbs
In blood of princes;) and their wounded steeds
Fret fetlock deep in gore, and, with wild rage
Yerk out their armed heels at their dead masters,
Killing them twice. O, give us leave, great king,
To view the field in safety, and dispose
Of their dead bodies!
_K. Hen._ I tell thee truly, herald,
I know not if the day be ours or no;
For yet a many of your horsemen peer
And gallop o'er the field.
_Mont._ The day is yours.
_K. Hen._ Praised be Heaven, and not our strength, for it!--
What is this castle call'd that stands hard by?
_Mont._ They call it--Agincourt.
_K. Hen._ Then call we this--the field of Agincourt,
Fought on the day of Crispin Crispianus.
[_Loud flourish of Trumpets, and shouts of the soldiers.
MONTJOY rises from his knee, and stands R._
_Flu._ (L.) Your grandfather of famous memory, an't please your majesty,
and your great uncle Edward the plack prince of Wales, as I have read in
the chronicles, fought a most prave pattle here in France.
_K. Hen._ (C.) They did, Fluellen.
_Flu._ Your majesty says very true: if your majesties is remembered of
it, the Welshman did goot service in a garden where leeks did grow,
wearing leeks in their Monmouth caps;[29] which, your majesty knows, to
this hour is an honourable padge of the service; and I do believe, your
majesty takes no scorn to wear the leek upon Saint Tavy's day.
_K. Hen._ I wear it for a memorable honour;
For I am Welsh, you know, good countryman.
_Flu._ All the water in Wye cannot wash your majesty's Welsh plood out
of your pody, I can tell you that: Heaven pless it, and preserve it, as
long as it pleases his grace, and his majesty too!
_K. Hen._ Thanks, good my countryman.
_Flu._ I am your majesty's countryman, I care not who know it: I will
confess it to all the 'orld: I need not to be ashamed of your majesty,
praised be Heaven, so long as your majesty is an honest man.
_K. Hen._ Heaven keep me so!--Our herald go with him:
Bring me just notice of the numbers dead
On both our parts.--
[_Exeunt MONTJOY and attendants, with English Herald, R.H._
Call yonder fellow hither.
[_Points to WILLIAMS, who is standing in the ranks up the stage, L._
_Exe._ Soldier, you must come to the king.
_K. Hen._ (C.) Soldier, why wear'st thou that glove in thy cap?
_Will._ (_kneels R._) An't please your majesty, 'tis the gage of one
that I should fight withal, if he be alive.
[_Rises from his knee._
_K. Hen._ An Englishman?
_Will._ An't please your majesty, a rascal that swaggered with me last
night; who, if 'a live, and ever dare to challenge this glove, I have
sworn to take him a box o' the ear: or, if I can see my glove in his cap
(which he swore, as he was a soldier, he would wear, if alive,) I will
strike it out soundly.
_K. Hen._ What think you, Captain Fluellen? is it fit this soldier keep
his oath?
_Flu._ (L.) He is a craven and a villain else, an't please your majesty,
in my conscience.
_K. Hen._ It may be his enemy is a gentleman of great sort,[30] quite
from the answer of his degree.[31]
_Flu._ Though he be as goot a gentleman as the tevil is, as Lucifer and
Belzebub himself, it is necessary, look your grace, that he keep his vow
and his oath.
_K. Hen._ Then keep thy vow, sirrah, when thou meet'st the fellow.
_Will._ So I will, my liege, as I live.
_K. Hen._ Who servest thou under?
_Will._ Under Captain Gower, my liege.
_Flu._ Gower is a goot captain, and is good knowledge and literature in
the wars.
_K. Hen._ Call him hither to me, soldier.
_Will._ I will, my liege.
[_Exit, R.H._
_K. Hen._ Here, Fluellen; wear thou this favour for me, and stick it in
thy cap: When Alencon and myself were down together,(O) I plucked this
glove from his helm: if any man challenge this, he is a friend to
Alencon and an enemy to our person; if thou encounter any such,
apprehend him, an thou dost love me.
_Flu._ Your grace does me as great honours as can be desired in the
hearts of his subjects: I would fain see the man, that has but two legs,
that shall find himself aggriefed at this glove, that is all.
_K. Hen._ Knowest thou Gower?
_Flu._ He is my dear friend, an please you.
_K. Hen._ Pray thee, go seek him, and bring him to my tent.
_Flu._ (L.) I will fetch him.
[_Crosses to R., and exit R.H._
_K. Hen._ (L.C.) My lord of Warwick,--and my brother Gloster,
[_Both advance to the KING._
Follow Fluellen closely at the heels:
The glove which I have given him for a favour
May haply purchase him a box o' the ear;
It is the soldier's; I, by bargain, should
Wear it myself. Follow, good cousin Warwick:
[_WARWICK crosses to R._
If that the soldier strike him (as, I judge,
By his blunt bearing, he will keep his word,)
Some sudden mischief may arise of it;
For I do know Fluellen valiant,
And, touch'd with choler, hot as gunpowder,
And quickly will return an injury:
Follow,
(_GLOSTER crosses to R._)
and see there be no harm between them.--
[_WARWICK and GLOSTER exeunt R.H._
Go you with me, Uncle of Exeter.
[_Exeunt Omnes, L.H._
_Trumpets sound._
[Footnote IV.27: _Or void the field;_] i.e., avoid, withdraw from
the field.]
[Footnote IV.28: _----+raught+ me his hand,_] _Raught_ is the old
preterite of the verb _to reach_.]
[Footnote IV.29: _----Monmouth caps;_] Monmouth caps were formerly
much worn, and Fuller, in his "Worthies of Wales," says the best
caps were formerly made at Monmouth.]
[Footnote IV.30: _----great sort,_] High rank.]
[Footnote IV.31: _----quite from the answer of his degree._] A man
of such station as is not bound to hazard his person to _answer_
to a challenge from one of the soldier's _low degree_.]