KING HENRY V. ACT I. SCENE 1-London. An Ante-chamber in the King's Palace. Enter the Archbishop of CANTERBURY, and Bishop of ELY. Canterbury. My lord, I'll tell you, that self bill is urg'd, Which, in the eleventh year o' the last king' reign 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 : For all the temporal lands, which men devout Would they strip from us; being valued thus,- Of indigent faint souls, past corporal toil, A hundred alms-houses, 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. '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. Cant. The courses of his youth promis'd it not. And whipp'd the offending Adam out of him; To envelop and contain celestial spirits.5 With such a heady current, scouring faults; So soon did lose his seat, and all at once, Ety. We are blessed in the change. Cant. Hear him but reason in divinity, You would desire, the king were made a prelatè : The Gordian knot of it he will unloose, Which is a wonder, how his grace should glean it, Any retirement, any sequestration Ely. The strawberry grows underneath the nettle; And wholesome berries thrive and ripen best, Neighbour'd by fruit of baser quality: And so the prince obscur'd his contemplation JOH. [5] As paradise, when sin and Adam were driveu out by the angel, became the habitation of celestial spirits, so the king's heart, since consideration has driven out his follies, is now the rec ptacle of wisdom and of virtue. [6] Alluding to the method by which Hercules cleansed the famous stables, when he turned a river through them Hercules is still in our author's head when he mentions the Hydra. JOHNS [7] This line is exquisitely beautiful. JOHNS. STEEV. 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, How now for mitigation of this bill Urg'd by the commons? Doth his majesty Cant. He seems indifferent; Or, rather, swaying more upon our part, And in regard of causes now in hand, Did to his predecessors part withal. Ely. How did this offer seem receiv'd, my lord? Of his true titles to some certain dukedoms; Ely. What was the impediment that broke this off? Cant. Then go we in to know his embassy; Which I could, with a ready guess, declare, Before the Frenchman speak a word of it. Ely. I'll wait upon you; and I long to hear it. [Exe. SCENE II. The same. A room of state in the same. Enter King HENRY, GLOSTER, BEDFORD, EXETER, WARWICK, WESTMORELAND, and others. K. Hen. Where is my gracious lord of Canterbury ? Exe. Not here in presence. [2] Increasing in its proper power. JOHNS. "Crescit occulto velut arbor ævo. "Fama Marcelli." STEEV. [3] This line I suspect of corruption, though it may be fairly enough ex 31* VOL. IV. 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, Before we hear him, of some things of weight, That task our thoughts, concerning us and France. K. Hen. Sure, we thank you. My learned lord, we pray you to proceed; And justly and religiously unfold, Why the law Salique, that they have in France, Or should, or should not, bar us in our claim. And God forbid, my dear and faithful lord, That you should fashion, wrest, or bow your reading, Of what your reverence shall incite us to: Therefore take heed how you impawn our person, 5 'Gainst him, whose wrongs give edge unto the swords That make such waste in brief mortality. Under this conjuration, speak, my lord: And we will hear, note, and believe in heart, That what you speak is in your conscience wash'd As pure as sin with baptism. Can. Then hear me,gracious sovereign, and you peers, That owe your lives, your faith, and services, To this imperial throne ;-There is no bar plained the passages of his titles of the lines of succession by which his claims descended. Unhidden is open, clear. JOHNS. [4] Take heed, lest by nice and subtle sophistry you burthen your knowing soul, or knowingly burthen your soul, with the guilt of advancing a false title, or of maintaining, by specious fallacies, a claim which, if shown in its na tive and true colours, would appear to be false. JOHNS. [5] The allusion here is to the game of chess, and to the disposition of the pawns with respect to the King, at the commencement of this mimetic HENLEY. contest. [6] This whole speech is copied (in a manner verbatim) from Hall's Chrom icle, Henry V. year the second, foliò iv. xx. xxx. xl. &c. POPE. To make against your highness' claim to France, Where Charles the great, having subdued the Saxons, Which Salique, as I said, 'twixt Elbe and Sala, Four hundred twenty-six; and Charles the great Eight hundred five. Besides, their writers say, Of Blithild, which was daughter to king Clothair, [7] Gloze-Expound, explain, and sometimes comment upon. REED. [8] This is the reading of the quarto of 1680; that of the folio is-To find his title.I believe that find is right; the jury finds for the plaintiff, or finds for the defendant; to find his title, is, to determine in favour of his title with some show of truth. STEEV. [9] Derived his title. MAL. |