ACT FIRST
Scene One
[London. An Antechamber in the King's Palace]
Enter the two Bishops of Canterbury and Ely.
Cant. My lord, I'll tell you; that self bill is urg'd,
Which in th' eleventh year of the last king's reign
Was like, and had indeed against us pass'd,
But that the scambling and unquiet time 4
Did push it out of further question.
Ely. But how, my lord, shall we resist it now?
Cant. It must be thought on. If it pass against us,
We lose the better half of our possession; 8
For all the temporal lands which men devout
By testament have given to the church
Would they strip from us; being valu'd thus:
As much as would maintain, to the king's honour, 12
Full fifteen earls and fifteen hundred knights,
Six thousand and two hundred good esquires;
And, to relief of lazars and weak age,
Of indigent faint souls past corporal toil, 16
A hundred almshouses right well supplied;
And to the coffers of the king beside,
A thousand pounds by the year. Thus runs the bill.
Ely. This would drink deep.
Cant.'T would drink the cup and all.
Ely. But what prevention? 21
Cant. The king is full of grace and fair regard.
Ely. And a true lover of the holy church.
Cant. The courses of his youth promis'd it not. 24
The breath no sooner left his father's body
But that his wildness, mortified in him,
Seem'd to die too; yea, at that very moment,
Consideration like an angel came, 28
And whipp'd the offending Adam out of him,
Leaving his body as a paradise,
To envelop and contain celestial spirits.
Never was such a sudden scholar made; 32
Never came reformation in a flood,
With such a heady currance, scouring faults;
Nor never Hydra-headed wilfulness
So soon did lose his seat and all at once 36
As in this king.
Ely.We are blessed in the change.
Cant. Hear him but reason in divinity,
And, all-admiring, with an inward wish
You would desire the king were made a prelate: 40
Hear him debate of commonwealth affairs,
You would say it hath been all in all his study:
List his discourse of war, and you shall hear
A fearful battle render'd you in music: 44
Turn him to any cause of policy,
The Gordian knot of it he will unloose,
Familiar as his garter; that, when he speaks,
The air, a charter'd libertine, is still, 48
And the mute wonder lurketh in men's ears,
To steal his sweet and honey'd sentences;
So that the art and practic part of life
Must be the mistress to this theoric: 52
Which is a wonder how his Grace should glean it,
Since his addiction was to courses vain;
His companies unletter'd, rude, and shallow;
His hours fill'd up with riots, banquets, sports; 56
And never noted in him any study,
Any retirement, any sequestration
From open haunts and popularity.
Ely. The strawberry grows underneath the nettle,
And wholesome berries thrive and ripen best 61
Neighbour'd by fruit of baser quality:
And so the prince obscur'd his contemplation
Under the veil of wildness; which, no doubt, 64
Grew like the summer grass, fastest by night,
Unseen, yet crescive in his faculty.
Cant. It must be so; for miracles are ceas'd;
And therefore we must needs admit the means
How things are perfected.
Ely.But, my good lord, 69
How now for mitigation of this bill
Urg'd by the commons? Doth his majesty
Incline to it, or no?
Cant.He seems indifferent, 72
Or rather swaying more upon our part
Than cherishing the exhibiters against us;
For I have made an offer to his majesty,
Upon our spiritual convocation, 76
And in regard of causes now in hand,
Which I have open'd to his Grace at large,
As touching France, to give a greater sum
Than ever at one time the clergy yet 80
Did to his predecessors part withal.
Ely. How did this offer seem receiv'd, my lord?
Cant. With good acceptance of his majesty;
Save that there was not time enough to hear,— 84
As I perceiv'd his Grace would fain have done,—
The severals and unhidden passages
Of his true titles to some certain dukedoms,
And generally to the crown and seat of France,
Deriv'd from Edward, his great-grandfather. 89
Ely. What was the impediment that broke this off?
Cant. The French ambassador upon that instant
Crav'd audience; and the hour I think is come
To give him hearing: is it four o'clock? 93
Ely. It is.
Cant. Then go we in to know his embassy;
Which I could with a ready guess declare 96
Before the Frenchman speak a word of it.
Ely. I'll wait upon you, and I long to hear it.
Scene Two
[The Presence Chamber]
Enter the King, Humphrey [Duke of Gloucester], Bedford, Clarence, Warwick, Westmoreland, and Exeter [with Attendants].
K. Hen. Where is my gracious lord of Canterbury?
Exe. Not here in presence.
K. Hen.Send for him, good uncle.
West. Shall we call in the ambassador, my liege?
K. Hen. Not yet, my cousin: we would be resolv'd, 4
Before we hear him, of some things of weight
That task our thoughts, concerning us and France.
Enter [the] two Bishops.
Cant. God and his angels guard your sacred throne,
And make you long become it!
K. Hen.Sure, we thank you.
My learned lord, we pray you to proceed, 9
And justly and religiously unfold
Why the law Salique that they have in France
Or should, or should not, bar us in our claim. 12
And God forbid, my dear and faithful lord,
That you should fashion, wrest, or bow your reading,
Or nicely charge your understanding soul
With opening titles miscreate, whose right 16
Suits not in native colours with the truth;
For God doth know how many now in health
Shall drop their blood in approbation
Of what your reverence shall incite us to. 20
Therefore take heed how you impawn our person,
How you awake our sleeping sword of war:
We charge you in the name of God, take heed;
For never two such kingdoms did contend 24
Without much fall of blood; whose guiltless drops
Are every one a woe, a sore complaint,
'Gainst him whose wrongs give edge unto the swords
That make such waste in brief mortality. 28
Under this conjuration speak, my lord,
For we will hear, note, and believe in heart,
That what you speak is in your conscience wash'd
As pure as sin with baptism. 32
Cant. Then hear me, gracious sovereign, and you peers,
That owe yourselves, your lives, and services
To this imperial throne. There is no bar
To make against your highness' claim to France 36
But this, which they produce from Pharamond,
In terram Salicam mulieres ne succedant,
'No woman shall succeed in Salique land':
Which Salique land the French unjustly gloze 40
To be the realm of France, and Pharamond -
The founder of this law and female bar.
Yet their own authors faithfully affirm
That the land Salique is in Germany, 44
Between the floods of Sala and of Elbe;
Where Charles the Great, having subdu'd the Saxons,
There left behind and settled certain French;
Who, holding in disdain the German women 48
For some dishonest manners of their life,
Established then this law; to wit, no female
Should be inheritrix in Salique land:
Which Salique, as I said, 'twixt Elbe and Sala,
Is at this day in Germany call'd Meisen. 53
Then doth it well appear the Salique law
Was not devised for the realm of France;
Nor did the French possess the Salique land 56
Until four hundred one-and-twenty years
After defunction of King Pharamond,
Idly suppos'd the founder of this law;
Who died within the year of our redemption 60
Four hundred twenty-six; and Charles the Great
Subdu'd the Saxons, and did seat the French
Beyond the river Sala, in the year
Eight hundred five. Besides, their writers say,
King Pepin, which deposed Childeric, 65
Did, as heir general, being descended
Of Blithild, which was daughter to King Clothair,
Make claim and title to the crown of France. 68
Hugh Capet also, who usurp'd the crown
Of Charles the Duke of Lorraine, sole heir male
Of the true line and stock of Charles the Great,
To find his title with some shows of truth,— 72
Though in pure truth, it was corrupt and naught,—
Convey'd himself as th' heir to the Lady Lingare,
Daughter to Charlemain, who was the son
To Lewis the emperor, and Lewis the son 76
Of Charles the Great. Also King Lewis the Tenth,
Who was sole heir to the usurper Capet,
Could not keep quiet in his conscience,
Wearing the crown of France, till satisfied 80
That fair Queen Isabel, his grandmother,
Was lineal of the Lady Ermengare,
Daughter to Charles the aforesaid Duke of Lorraine:
By the which marriage the line of Charles the Great 84
Was re-united to the crown of France.
So that, as clear as is the summer's sun,
King Pepin's title, and Hugh Capet's claim,
King Lewis his satisfaction, all appear 88
To hold in right and title of the female:
So do the kings of France unto this day;
Howbeit they would hold up this Salique law
To bar your highness claiming from the female;
And rather choose to hide them in a net 93
Than amply to imbar their crooked titles
Usurp'd from you and your progenitors.
K. Hen. May I with right and conscience make this claim? 96
Cant. The sin upon my head, dread sovereign!
For in the book of Numbers is it writ:
'When the man dies, let the inheritance
Descend unto the daughter.' Gracious lord, 100
Stand for your own; unwind your bloody flag;
Look back into your mighty ancestors:
Go, my dread lord, to your great-grandsire's tomb,
From whom you claim; invoke his warlike spirit, 104
And your great-uncle's, Edward the Black Prince,
Who on the French ground play'd a tragedy,
Making defeat on the full power of France;
Whiles his most mighty father on a hill 108
Stood smiling to behold his lion's whelp
Forage in blood of French nobility.
O noble English! that could entertain
With half their forces the full pride of France,
And let another half stand laughing by, 113
All out of work, and cold for action.
Ely. Awake remembrance of these valiant dead,
And with your puissant arm renew their feats:
You are their heir, you sit upon their throne,
The blood and courage that renowned them
Runs in your veins; and my thrice-puissant liege
Is in the very May-morn of his youth, 120
Ripe for exploits and mighty enterprises.
Exe. Your brother kings and monarchs of the earth
Do all expect that you should rouse yourself,
As did the former lions of your blood. 124
West. They know your Grace hath cause and means and might;
So hath your highness; never King of England
Had nobles richer, and more loyal subjects,
Whose hearts have left their bodies here in England 128
And lie pavilion'd in the fields of France.
Cant. O! let their bodies follow, my dear liege,
With blood and sword and fire to win your right;
In aid whereof we of the spiritualty 132
Will raise your highness such a mighty sum
As never did the clergy at one time
Bring in to any of your ancestors.
K. Hen. We must not only arm to invade the French, 136
But lay down our proportions to defend
Against the Scot, who will make road upon us
With all advantages.
Cant. They of those marches, gracious sovereign, 140
Shall be a wall sufficient to defend
Our inland from the pilfering borderers.
K. Hen. We do not mean the coursing snatchers only,
But fear the main intendment of the Scot, 144
Who hath been still a giddy neighbour to us;
For you shall read that my great-grandfather
Never went with his forces into France
But that the Scot on his unfurnish'd kingdom
Came pouring, like the tide into a breach, 149
With ample and brim fulness of his force,
Galling the gleaned land with hot assays,
Girding with grievous siege castles and towns;
That England, being empty of defence, 153
Hath shook and trembled at the ill neighbourhood.
Cant. She hath been then more fear'd than harm'd, my liege;
For hear her but exampled by herself: 156
When all her chivalry hath been in France
And she a mourning widow of her nobles,
She hath herself not only well defended,
But taken and impounded as a stray 160
The King of Scots; whom she did send to France,
To fill King Edward's fame with prisoner kings,
And make your chronicle as rich with praise
As is the ooze and bottom of the sea 164
With sunken wrack and sumless treasuries.
West. But there's a saying very old and true;
'If that you will France win,
Then with Scotland first begin': 168
For once the eagle England being in prey,
To her unguarded nest the weasel Scot
Comes sneaking and so sucks her princely eggs,
Playing the mouse in absence of the cat, 172
To tear and havoc more than she can eat.
Exe. It follows then the cat must stay at home:
Yet that is but a crush'd necessity;
Since we have locks to safeguard necessaries 176
And pretty traps to catch the petty thieves.
While that the armed hand doth fight abroad,
The advised head defends itself at home:
For government, though high and low and lower, 180
Put into parts, doth keep in one consent,
Congreeing in a full and natural close,
Like music.
Cant.Therefore doth heaven divide
The state of man in divers functions, 184
Setting endeavour in continual motion;
To which is fixed, as an aim or butt,
Obedience: for so work the honey-bees,
Creatures that by a rule in nature teach 188
The act of order to a peopled kingdom.
They have a king and officers of sorts;
Where some, like magistrates, correct at home,
Others, like merchants, venture trade abroad, 192
Others, like, soldiers, armed in their stings,
Make boot upon the summer's velvet buds;
Which pillage they with merry march bring home
To the tent-royal of their emperor: 196
Who, busied in his majesty, surveys
The singing masons building roofs of gold,
The civil citizens kneading up the honey,
The poor mechanic porters crowding in 200
Their heavy burdens at his narrow gate,
The sad-ey'd justice, with his surly hum,
Delivering o'er to executors pale
The lazy yawning drone. I this infer, 204
That many things, having full reference
To one consent, may work contrariously;
As many arrows, loosed several ways,
Come to one mark; as many ways meet in one town; 208
As many fresh streams meet in one salt sea;
As many lines close in the dial's centre;
So may a thousand actions, once afoot,
End in one purpose, and be all well borne 212
Without defeat. Therefore to France, my liege.
Divide your happy England into four;
Whereof take you one quarter into France,
And you withal shall make all Gallia shake. 216
If we, with thrice such powers left at home,
Cannot defend our own doors from the dog,
Let us be worried and our nation lose
The name of hardiness and policy. 220
K. Hen. Call in the messengers sent from the Dauphin. [Exit an Attendant.]
Now are we well resolv'd; and by God's help,
And yours, the noble sinews of our power,
France being ours, we'll bend it to our awe 224
Or break it all to pieces: or there we'll sit,
Ruling in large and ample empery
O'er France and all her almost kingly dukedoms,
Or lay these bones in an unworthy urn, 228
Tombless, with no remembrance over them:
Either our history shall with full mouth
Speak freely of our acts, or else our grave,
Like Turkish mute, shall have a tongueless mouth, 232
Not worshipp'd with a waxen epitaph.
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.
First Amb. May 't please your majesty to give us leave 237
Freely to render what we have in charge;
Or shall we sparingly show you far off
The Dauphin's meaning and our embassy? 240
K. Hen. We are no tyrant, but a Christian king;
Unto whose grace our passion is as subject
As are our wretches fetter'd in our prisons:
Therefore with frank and with uncurbed plainness 244
Tell us the Dauphin's mind.
First 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. 248
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; 252
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 256
Hear no more of you. This the Dauphin speaks.
K. Hen. What treasure, uncle?
Exe. Tennis-balls, my liege.
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, 261
We will in France, by God's grace, play a set
Shall strike his father's crown into the hazard.
Tell him he hath made a match with such a wrangler 264
That all the courts of France will be disturb'd
With chaces. And we understand him well,
How he comes o'er us with our wilder days,
Not measuring what use we made of them. 268
We never valu'd this poor seat of England;
And therefore, living hence, did give ourself
To barbarous licence; as 'tis ever common
That men are merriest when they are from home. 272
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 majesty 276
And plodded like a man for working-days,
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. 280
And tell the pleasant prince this mock of his
Hath turn'd his balls to gun-stones; and his soul
Shall stand sore-charged for the wasteful vengeance
That shall fly with them: for many a thousand widows 284
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. 288
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 292
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. 296
Convey them with safe conduct. Fare you well.
Exe. This was a merry message.
K. Hen. We hope to make the sender blush at it.
Therefore, my lords, omit no happy hour 300
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 304
Be soon collected, and all things thought upon
That may with reasonable swiftness add
More feathers to our wings; for, God before, 307
We'll chide this Dauphin at his father's door.
Therefore let every man now task his thought,
That this fair action may on foot be brought.
Footnotes to Act I
Scene One
Scene One S. d. Bishops; cf. n.
1 self: same
3 like: likely (to pass)
4 scambling: turbulent
5 question: consideration
15 lazars: beggars (especially lepers)
26 mortified: subdued
28 Consideration: reflection
34 heady currance: headlong current
35 Hydra-headed: many-headed; cf. n.
36 his: its
43 List: listen to
45 cause of policy: political question
46 Gordian knot; cf. n.
47 that: so that
48 charter'd: privileged
51 art; cf. n.
practic: practical
52 theoric: theory
55 companies: companions
57 never noted: there was never noted
58 sequestration: withdrawal
59 popularity: low company
63 contemplation: thoughtful nature
66 crescive in his faculty: increasing by its own power
73 upon our part: to our side
74 exhibiters: i.e., those who presented the bill in Parliament
76 Upon: upon the authority of
81 withal: with
86 severals: details
passages: lines of succession
89 Edward; cf. n.
95 embassy: message
Scene Two
4 cousin: title of courtesy used by the sovereign in addressing a nobleman
4, 5 resolv'd . . . of: satisfied about
6 task: trouble
8 become: grace
11 law Salique: Salic law; cf. n.
12 Or: either
14 wrest: pervert
15 nicely: sophistically
charge: burden
16 opening: disclosing
miscreate: dishonestly invented
19 approbation: proof
21 impawn: pledge
28 mortality: human life
37 Pharamond: legendary Frankish king
40 gloze: interpret
45 floods: rivers
46 Charles the Great: Charlemagne
49 dishonest: unchaste
57 Cf. n.
58 defunction: death
65 King Pepin; cf. n.
69 Hugh Capet; cf. n.
72 find: provide
74 Convey'd himself: passed himself off
75 Charlemain: i.e., Charles the Bald
77 Lewis the Tenth; cf. n.
82 lineal: direct descendant
88 King Lewis his: King Lewis'
93 them: themselves
94 Cf. n.
98 Numbers; cf. Numb. 27. 8.
106-114 Cf. n.
114 for: for want of
116 puissant: powerful
120 May-morn of his youth; cf. n.
126 So hath your highness; cf. n.
132 spiritualty: clergy
137 lay . . . proportions: estimate the requisite number of troops
138 road: inroad
140 marches: borders
143 coursing snatchers: marauding pilferers
144 intendment: intention
145 still: always
giddy: unstable
148 unfurnish'd: undefended
151 assays: attacks
155 fear'd: frightened
160 impounded: imprisoned; cf. n.
165 wrack: wreckage
169 in prey: in search of prey
175 crush'd: forced
181 parts: used in the musical sense
consent: harmony
182 Congreeing: agreeing
close: cadence
190 sorts: different ranks
194 Make boot upon: plunder
199 civil: civilian
202 sad-ey'd: sober-looking
203 executors: executioners
216 withal: therewith
220 policy: political wisdom
226 empery: empire
231 freely: generously
233 worshipp'd: honored
waxen: perishable
245 in few: briefly
251 be advis'd: consider
252 galliard: a lively dance
254 meeter: more fitting
255 tun: a cask
in lieu of: in return for
259 pleasant: facetious
263 hazard: part of a tennis-court
266 chaces; cf. n.
267 comes o'er: taunts
269 seat: throne
270 living hence; cf. n.
282 gun-stones: cannon balls (originally made of stone)
287 ungotten: not begotten
304 proportions: levies
307 God before: with God's help