Changes to the French King's Palace.
Enter the French King, the Dauphin, the Duke of Burgundy, and the Conftable.
Fr.King. Thus come the English with full power upon us, And more than carelessly it us concerns
To answer royally in our defences.
Therefore the Dukes of Berry and of Bretagne,
Of Brabant and of Orleans, fhall make forth,
And you, Prince Dauphin, with all swift dispatch;
To line and new repair our towns of war
With men of courage, and with means defendant:
For England his approaches makes as fierce
As waters to the fucking of a gulf.
It fits us then to be as provident
As fear may teach us out of late examples,
Left by the fatally neglected English
Upon our fields.
Dau. My moft redoubted father,
It is moft meet we arm us 'gainst the foe:
For peace it felf fhould not fo dull a kingdom,
(Tho' war, nor no known quarrel were in question)
But that defences, mufters, preparations,
Should be maintain'd, affembled and collected,
As were a war in expectation.
Therefore I fay 'tis meet we all go forth,
To view the fick and feeble parts of France:
And let us do it with no fhew of fear;
No, with no more than if we heard that England
Were bufied with a Whitfund' morris-dance:
For, my good Liege, the is fo idly king'd,
Her fcepter fo fantastically born,
By a vain, giddy, fhallow, humorous youth,
That fear attends her not.
Con. O peace, Prince Dauphin!
You are too much mistaken in this King:
Question your Grace the late ambafladors,
With what great ftate he heard their embafie,
How well fupply'd with noble counsellors,
How modeft in exception, and withal
How terrible in conftant refolution :
And you shall find his vanities fore-spent
Were but the out-fide of the Roman Brutus,
Covering difcretion with a coat of folly;
'As gardeners do with ordure hide those roots
That fhall firft fpring and be most delicate.
Dau. Well, 'tis not fo, my Lord high Conftable.
But though we think it fo, it is no matter:
In caufes of defence, 'tis beft to weigh
The enemy more mighty than he feems,
So the proportions of defence are fill'd;
Which of a weak and niggardly projection
Doth like a mifer, fpoil his coat with fcanting
A little cloth.
Fr. King. Think we King Harry strong;
And, Princes, look you ftrongly arm to meet him.
The kindred of him hath been flesh'd upon us;
And he is bred out of that bloody ftrain
That haunted us in our familiar paths:
Witness our too much memorable fhame,
When Crefy-battel fatally was ftruck,
And all our Princes captiv'd by the hand
Of that black name, Edward the Prince of Wales:
While that his mounting fire, on mountain ftanding,
Up in the air, crown'd with the golden fun,
Saw his heroick feed, and fmil'd to fee him
Mangle the work of nature, and deface
The patterns that by God and by French fathers
Had twenty years been made. This is a stem
Of that victorious stock; and let us fear
The native mightinefs and force of him.
Meff. Ambaffadors from Harry King of England Do crave admittance to your Majefty.
Fr. King. We'll give them prefent audience. Go, and bring them.
You fee this chafe is hotly follow'd, friends.
Dau. Turn head, and ftop purfuit; for coward dogs Moft fpend their mouths, when what they feem to threaten
Kuns far before them. Good my Sovereign,
Take up the English fhort, and let them know
Of what a monarchy you are the head:
Self-love, my Liege, is not fo vile a fin
As felf-neglecting.
SCENE V. Enter Exeter.
Fr. King. From our brother England?
Exe. From him; and thus he greets your Majefty:
He wills you in the name of God Almighty,
That you diveft your self, and lay apart
The borrow'd glories, that, by gift of heaven,
By law of nature and of nations, 'long
To him and to his heirs; namely the crown,
And all the wide-ftretch'd honours that pertain
By custom and the ordinance of times,
Unto the crown of France. That you may know
'Tis no finifter nor no awkward claim,
Pick'd from the worm-holes of long-vanish'd days,
Nor from the duft of old oblivion rak'd;
He fends you this most memorable line,
In every branch truly demonstrative,
Willing you over-look his pedigree ; [Gives the King a paper.
And when you find him evenly deriv'd
From his moft fam'd of famous ancestors,
Edward the Third; he bids you then refign
Your crown and kingdom, indirectly held
From him the native and true challenger.
Fr. King. Or elfe what follows?
Exe. Bloody conftraint; for if you hide the crown
Ev'n in your hearts, there will he rake for it.
And therefore in fierce tempeft is he coming,
In thunder and in earthquake like a Jove:
That if requiring fail, he may compell.
He bids you in the bowels of the Lord,
Deliver up the crown, and to take mercy
On the poor fouls for whom this hungry war
Opens his vafty jaws; upon your head
Turning the widows tears, the orphans cries,
The dead mens blood, the pining maidens groans,
For hulbands, fathers, and betrothed lovers,
That fhall be fwallow'd in this controverfie.
This is his claim, his threatning, and my message;
Unless the Dauphin be in presence here,
To whom exprefly I bring greeting too.
Fr. King. For us, we will confider of this further:
To-morrow shall you bear our full intent
Back to our brother England.
I ftand here for him; what to him from England?
Exe. Scorn and defiance, flight regard, contempt,
And any thing that may not mif-become
The mighty fender, doth he prize you at.
Thus fays my King; and if your father's Highness
Do not in grant of all demands at large,
Sweeten the bitter mock you fent his Majefty;
He'll call you to fo hot an answer for it,
That caves and womby vaultages of France
Shall chide your trefpafs, and return your mock
In fecond accent to his ordinance.
Dau. Say, if my father render fair reply,
It is against my will; for I defire
Nothing but odds with England; to that end,
As matching to his youth and vanity,
I did present him with thofe Paris balls.
Exe. He'll make your Paris Louvre shake for it,
Were it the mistress-court of mighty Europe:
And be affur'd you'll find a difference,
As we his fubjects have in wonder found,
Between the promise of his greener days
And thefe he masters now; now he weighs time
Even to the utmoft grain, which you shall read
In your own loffes, if he stay in France.
Fr. King. To-morrow you fhall know our mind at full.
[Flourish. Exe. Dispatch us with all speed, left that our King Come here himfelf to question our delay;
For he is footed in this land already.
Fr. King. You fhall be foon dispatch'd with fair condi
A night is but fmall breath, and little pause,
To anfwers matters of this confequence.
Cho. Thus with imagin'd wing our swift scene flies,
In motion of no less celerity
Than that of thought. Suppofe that you have seen
The well-appointed King at Hampton Peer
Embark his royalty; and his brave fleet
With filken ftreamers the young Phœbus fanning.
Play with your fancies; and in them behold
Upon the hempen tackle fhip-boys climbing,
Hear the fhrill whistle which doth order give
To founds confus'd; behold the threaden fails,
Born with th' invifible and creeping wind,
Draw the huge bottoms thro' the furrow'd fea,
Breafting the lofty furge. O, do but think
You ftand upon the rivage, and behold
A city on th' inconftant billows dancing;
For fo appears this fleet majestical,
Holding due courfe to Harfleur. Follow, follow.
Grapple your minds to fternage of this navy,
And leave your England, as dead midnight still,
Guarded with grandfires, babies and old women,
Or paft or not arriv'd to pith and puiffance:
For who is he whofe chin is but enrich'd
With one appearing hair, that will not follow
Thefe cull'd and choice-drawn cavaliers to France?
Work, work your thoughts, and therein see a fiege:
Behold the ordnance on their carriages
With fatal mouths gaping on girded Harfleur.
Suppose th' ambaffador from France come back
Tells Harry, that the King doth offer him
Catharine his daughter, and with her to dowry
Some petty and unprofitable Dukedoms:
The offer likes not; and the nimble gunner
With lynftock now the devilish cannon touches,
And down goes all before him. Still be kind,
And eke out our performance with your mind.
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