KING HENRY the Fifth.
Duke of GLOSTER, brothers to the King.
Duke of EXETER, uncle to the King.
Duke of YORK, cousin to the King.
Earls of SALISBURY, WESTMORELAND, and WARWICK.
Archbishop of CANTERBURY.
Bishop of ELY.
Earl of CAMBRIDGE,
Lord SCROOP,
Sir THOMAS GREY,
conspirators against the King.
Sir THOMAS ERPINGHAM, GOWER, FLUELLEN, MACKMORRIS, JAMY, officers in King HENRY's army.
BATES, COURT, WILLIAMS, Ssoldiers in the same.
NYM, BARDOLPH, PISTOL, formerly servants to FALSTAFF, now soldiers in the same.
CHARLES the Sixth, King of FRANCE.
LEWIS, the Dauphin.
Dukes of BURGUNDY, ORLEANS, and BOURBON.
The Constable of FRANCE.
RAMBURES, and GRANDPREE, French Lords.
Governor of HARFLEUR. MONTJOY, a French Herald. Ambassadors to the King of ENGLAND.
ISABEL, Queen of FRANCE.
KATHARINE, daughter of CHARLES and ISABEL.
ALICE, a lady attending on the Princess KATHARINE.
QUICKLY, PISTOL's wife, an hostess.
Lords, Ladies, Officers, French and English Soldiers, Messengers, and Attendants.
The SCENE, at the beginning of the play, lies in ENGLAND; but afterwards, wholly in FRANCE
O, for a mufe of fire, that would ascend
The brightest heaven of invention!
A kingdom for a stage, princes to act,
And monarchs to behold the fwelling fcene!
Then should the warlike Harry, like himself,
Affume the port of Mars; and, at his heels,
Leash'd in like hounds, fhould famine, fword, and
fire,
Crouch for employment. But pardon, gentles all,
The flat unraifed fpirit, that hath dar'd,
On this unworthy fcaffold, to bring forth
So great an object: Can this cockpit hold
The vafty fields of France? or may we cram,
Within this wooden О, the very cafques,
That did affright the air at Agincourt?
O, pardon! fince a crooked figure may
Atteft, in little place, a million;
And let us, cyphers to this great accompt,
Ôn your imaginary forces work:
Suppofe, within the girdle of thefe walls
Are now confin'd two mighty monarchies,
Whofe high upreared and abutting fronts
The perilous, narrow ocean parts afunder.
Piece out our imperfections with your thoughts;
Into a thoufand parts divide one man,
And make imaginary puiffance:
Think, when we talk of horfes, that you fee them
Printing their proud hoofs i' the receiving earth:
For 'tis your thoughts that now muft deck our kings,
Carry them here and there; jumping o'er times;
Turning the accomplishment of many years
Into an hourglafs; For the which fupply,
Admit me chorus to this hiftory;
Who, prologue-like, your humble patience pray,
Gently to hear, kindly to judge, our play,
SCENE 1. London. An Antechamber in the King's Palace.
Enter the Archbishop of Canterbury, and Bishop of Ely.
My lord, I'll tell you,-that felf bill is urg'd, Which, in the eleventh year o' the laft king's reign Was like, and had indeed against us pafs'd, But that the fcambling and unquiet time Did push it out of further question.
Ely. But how, my lord, fhall we refift it now?
Cant. It must be thought on. If it pass against us,
We lofe the better half of our poffeffion:
For all the temporal lands, which men devout
By teftament have given to the church,
Would they strip from us; being valued thus,-
As much as would maintain, to the king's honour,
Full fifteen earls, and fifteen hundred knights;
Six thousand and two hundred good efquires;
And, to relief of lazars, and weak age,
Of indigent faint fouls, paft corporal toil,
A hundred almfhoufes, right well fupply'd;
And to the coffers of the king, befide,
A thousand pounds by the Thus runs the bill,
Ely. This would drink deep.
Cant.
'Twould drink the cup and all. Ely. But what prevention ?
Cant. The king is full of grace, and fair regard. Ely. And a true lover of the holy church.
Cent. The courfes of his youth promis'd it not,
The breath no fooner left his father's body,
But that his wildness, mortified in him,
Seem'd to die too: yea, at that very moment,
Confideration like an angel came,
And whipp'd the offending Adam out of him;
Leaving his body as a paradife,
To envelop and contain celeftial fpirits.
Never was fuch a sudden scholar made:
Never came reformation in a flood,
With fuch a heady current, fcouring faults;
Nor never Hydra-headed wilfulness
So foon did lofe his feat, and all at once,
As in this king.
We are bleffed in the change,
Cant. Hear him but reason in divinity, And, all-admiring, with an inward with You would defire, the king were made a prelate: Hear him debate of commonwealth affairs,
You would fay, it hath been all-in-all his ftudy:
Lift his difcourfe of war, and you fhall hear
A fearful battle render'd you in musick :
Turn him to any caufe of policy,
The Gordian knot of it he will unlcofe,
Familiar as his garter; that, when he speaks,
The air, a charter'd libertine, is ftill,
And the mute wonder lurketh in men's ears,
To fteal his fweet and honey'd fentences;
So that the art and practick part of life
Muft be the mistress to this theorick :
Which is a wonder, how his grace fhould glean it,
Since his addiction was to courses vain :
His companies unletter'd, rude, and shallow;
His hours fill'd up with riots, banquets, fports;
And never noted in him any study,
Any retirement, any fequeftration
From open haunts and popularity.
Ely. The ftrawberry grows underneath the nettle, And wholesome berries thrive, and ripen best, Neighbour'd by fruit of bafer quality;
And fo the prince obfcur'd his contemplation
Under the veil of wildnefs; which, no doubt,
Grew like the fummer grafs, fastest by night,
Unfeen, yet crefcive in his faculty.
Cant. It must be fo: for miracles are ceas'd;
And therefore we must needs admit the means,
How things are perfected.
Ely.
But, my good lord,
How now for mitigation of this bill
Urg'd by the commons? Doth his majesty
Incline to it, or no?
He feems indifferent;
Or, rather, fwaying more upon our part,
Than cherishing the exhibiters against us:
For I have made an offer to his majesty,-
Upon our fpiritual convocation;
And in regard of caufes now in hand,
Which I have open'd to his grace at large,
As touching France,-to give a greater fum
Than ever at one time the clergy yet
Did to his predeceffors part withal.
Ely. How did this offer feem receiv'd, my lord?
Cant. With good acceptance of his majesty;
Save, that there was not time enough to hear
(As, I perceiv'd, his grace would fain have done,) ́
The feverals, and unhidden paffages,
Of his true titles to fome certain dukedoms;
And, generally, to the crown and feat of France,
Deriv'd from Edward, his great grandfather.
Ely. What was the impediment that broke this
off?
Cant. The French ambaffador, upon that inftant, Crav'd audience: and the hour, I think, is come, To give him hearing: Is't four o'clock ?
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