HENRY THE FIFTH

Act 3 Scene 1

(Alarum. Enter King Harry and the English army, with scaling ladders)
l1l	King Harry	 Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more,
l2l		Or close the wall up with our English dead.
l3l		In peace there’s nothing so becomes a man
l4l		As modest stillness and humility,
l5l		But when the blast of war blows in our ears,
l6l		Then imitate the action of the tiger.
l7l		Stiffen the sinews, conjure up the blood,
l8l		Disguise fair nature with hard-favoured rage.
l9l		Then lend the eye a terrible aspect,
l10l		Let it pry through the portage of the head
l11l		Like the brass cannon, let the brow o’erwhelm it
l12l		As fearfully as doth a gallèd rock
l13l		O’erhang and jutty his confounded base,
l14l		Swilled with the wild and wasteful ocean.
l15l		Now set the teeth and stretch the nostril wide,
l16l		Hold hard the breath, and bend up every spirit
l17l		To his full height. On, on, you noblest English,
l18l		Whose blood is fet from fathers of war-proof,
l19l		Fathers that like so many Alexanders
l20l		Have in these parts from morn till even fought,
l21l		And sheathed their swords for lack of argument.
l22l		Dishonour not your mothers# now attest
l23l		That those whom you called fathers did beget you.
l24l		Be copy now to men of grosser blood,
l25l		And teach them how to war. And you, good yeomen,
l26l		Whose limbs were made in England, show us here
l27l		The mettle of your pasture# let us swear
l28l		That you are worth your breeding—which I doubt not,
l29l		For there is none of you so mean and base
l30l		That hath not noble lustre in your eyes.
l31l		I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips,
l32l		Straining upon the start. The game’s afoot.
l33l		Follow your spirit, and upon this charge
l34l		Cry, “God for Harry! England and Saint George!”
		(Alarum, and chambers go off. Exeunt)