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- HENRY THE FIFTH
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- Act 4 Scene 3
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- (Enter the Dukes of Gloucester, Clarence, and Exeter, the Earls of
- Salisbury and Warwick, and Sir Thomas Erpingham, with all the host)
- l1l Gloucester Where is the King?
- l2l [Clarence] The King himself is rode to view their battle.
- l3l [Warwick] Of fighting men they have full threescore thousand.
- l4l Exeter ThereÆs five to one. Besides, they all are fresh.
- l5l Salisbury GodÆs arm strike with us! ÆTis a fearful odds.
- l6l God bÆ wiÆ you, princes all. IÆll to my charge.
- l7l If we no more meet till we meet in heaven,
- l8l Then joyfully, my noble Lord of Clarence,
- l9l My dear Lord Gloucester, and my good Lord Exeter,
- l10l And (to Warwick) my kind kinsman, warriors all, adieu.
- l11l [Clarence] Farewell, good Salisbury, and good luck go with thee.
- l12l Exeter Farewell, kind lord. Fight valiantly todayù
- l13l And yet I do thee wrong to mind thee of it,
- l14l For thou art framed of the firm truth of valour.
- (Exit Salisbury)
- l15l [Clarence] He is as full of valour as of kindness,
- l16l Princely in both.
- (Enter King Harry, behind)
- [Warwick] O that we now had here
- l17l But one ten thousand of those men in England
- l18l That do no work today.
- King Harry WhatÆs he that wishes so?
- l19l My cousin Warwick? No, my fair cousin.
- l20l If we are marked to die, we are enough
- l21l To do our country loss; and if to live,
- l22l The fewer men, the greater share of honour.
- l23l GodÆs will, I pray thee wish not one man more.
- l24l By Jove, I am not covetous for gold,
- l25l Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost;
- l26l It ernes me not if men my garments wear;
- l27l Such outward things dwell not in my desires.
- l28l But if it be a sin to covet honour
- l29l I am the most offending soul alive.
- l30l No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England.
- l31l GodÆs peace, I would not lose so great an honour
- l32l As one man more methinks would share from me
- l33l For the best hope I have. O do not wish one more.
- l34l Rather proclaim it presently through my host
- l35l That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
- l36l Let him depart. His passport shall be made
- l37l And crowns for convoy put into his purse.
- l38l We would not die in that manÆs company
- l39l That fears his fellowship to die with us.
- l40l This day is called the Feast of Crispian.
- l41l He that outlives this day and comes safe home
- l42l Will stand a-tiptoe when this day is named
- l43l And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
- l44l He that shall see this day and live tÆ old age
- l45l Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours
- l46l And say, ôTomorrow is Saint Crispian.ö
- l47l Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars
- l48l And say, ôThese wounds I had on CrispinÆs day.ö
- l49l Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
- l50l But heÆll remember, with advantages,
- l51l What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,
- l52l Familiar in his mouth as household wordsù
- l53l Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter,
- l54l Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucesterù
- l55l Be in their flowing cups freshly remembered.
- l56l This story shall the good man teach his son,
- l57l And Crispin Crispian shall neÆer go by
- l58l From this day to the ending of the world
- l59l But we in it shall be rememberΦd,
- l60l We few, we happy few, we band of brothers.
- l61l For he today that sheds his blood with me
- l62l Shall be my brother; be he neÆer so vile,
- l63l This day shall gentle his condition.
- l64l And gentlemen in England now abed
- l65l Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
- l66l And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
- l67l That fought with us upon Saint CrispinÆs day.
- (Enter the Earl of Salisbury)
- l68l Salisbury My sovereign lord, bestow yourself with speed.
- l69l The French are bravely in their battles set
- l70l And will with all expedience charge on us.
- l71l King Harry All things are ready if our minds be so.
- l72l [Warwick] Perish the man whose mind is backward now.
- l73l King Harry Thou dost not wish more help from England, coz?
- l74l [Warwick] GodÆs will, my liege, would you and I alone,
- l75l Without more help, could fight this royal battle.
- l76l King Harry Why now thou hast unwished five thousand men,
- l77l Which likes me better than to wish us one.ù
- l78l You know your places. God be with you all.
- (Tucket. Enter Montjoy)
- l79l Montjoy Once more I come to know of thee, King Harry,
- l80l If for thy ransom thou wilt now compound
- l81l Before thy most assurΦd overthrow.
- l82l For certainly thou art so near the gulf
- l83l Thou needs must be englutted. Besides, in mercy
- l84l The Constable desires thee thou wilt mind
- l85l Thy followers of repentance, that their souls
- l86l May make a peaceful and a sweet retire
- l87l From off these fields where, wretches, their poor bodies
- l88l Must lie and fester.
- l89l King Harry Who hath sent thee now?
- l90l Montjoy The Constable of France.
- l91l King Harry I pray thee bear my former answer back.
- l92l Bid them achieve me, and then sell my bones.
- l93l Good God, why should they mock poor fellows thus?
- l94l The man that once did sell the lionÆs skin
- l95l While the beast lived, was killed with hunting him.
- l96l A many of our bodies shall no doubt
- l97l Find native graves, upon the which, I trust,
- l98l Shall witness live in brass of this dayÆs work.
- l99l And those that leave their valiant bones in France,
- l100l Dying like men, though buried in your dunghills
- l101l They shall be famed. For there the sun shall greet them
- l102l And draw their honours reeking up to heaven,
- l103l Leaving their earthly parts to choke your clime,
- l104l The smell whereof shall breed a plague in France.
- l105l Mark then abounding valour in our English,
- l106l That, being dead, like to the bullets grazing
- l107l Break out into a second course of mischief,
- l108l Killing in relapse of mortality.
- l109l Let me speak proudly. Tell the Constable
- l110l We are but warriors for the working day.
- l111l Our gayness and our gilt are all besmirched
- l112l With rainy marching in the painful field.
- l113l ThereÆs not a piece of feather in our hostù
- l114l Good argument, I hope, we will not flyù
- l115l And time hath worn us into slovenry.
- l116l But by the mass, our hearts are in the trim.
- l117l And my poor soldiers tell me, yet ere night
- l118l TheyÆll be in fresher robes, as they will pluck
- l119l The gay new coats oÆer your French soldiersÆ heads,
- l120l And turn them out of service. If they do thisù
- l121l As if God please, they shallùmy ransom then
- l122l Will soon be levied. Herald, save thou thy labour.
- l123l Come thou no more for ransom, gentle herald.
- l124l They shall have none, I swear, but these my jointsù
- l125l Which if they have as I will leave Æem them,
- l126l Shall yield them little. Tell the Constable.
- l127l Montjoy I shall, King Harry. And so fare thee well.
- l128l Thou never shalt hear herald any more.
- l129l King Harry I fear thou wilt once more come for a ransom.
- (Enter the Duke of York)
- l130l York My lord, most humbly on my knee I beg
- l131l The leading of the vanguard.
- l132l King Harry Take it, brave York.ùNow soldiers, march away,
- l133l And how thou pleasest, God, dispose the day.
- (Exeunt)
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