Returns us, that his powers are yet not ready
To raise so great a siege. Therefore, dread
king, 47

We yield our town and lives to thy soft mercy.
Enter our gates; dispose of us and ours;
For we no longer are defensible.48

K. Hen. Open your gates.—Come, uncle Exeter,
Go you and enter Harfleur; there remain,
And fortify it strongly 'gainst the French:
Use mercy to them all. For us, dear uncle,-
The winter coming on, and sickness growing
Upon our soldiers, we will retire to Calais.
To-night in Harfleur will we be your guest;
To-morrow for the march are we addrest.50
[Flourish. The King, &c., enter the Town.

SCENE IV.-ROUEN. A Room in the Palace. Enter KATHARINE and ALICE.

Kath. Alice, tu as été en Angleterre, et tu parles bien le langage.1

Alice. Un peu, madame.52

Kath. Je te prie m'enseignez: il faut que j'apprenne à parler.53 Comment appellez-vous la main en Anglois?

Alice. La main? elle est appellée de hand. 54
Kath. De hand. Et les doigts? 55

Alice. Les doigts? ma foi, j'oublie les doigts; 56 mais je me souviendrai. Les doigts? je pense qu'ils sont appellés de fingres; ouy, de fingres.

Kath. La main, de hand; les doigts, de fingres.

Je pense que je suis le bon escolier; 57 j'ay gagné

| deux mots d'Anglois vistement. Comment appellezvous les ongles?

Alice. Les ongles? les appellons 58 de nails. Kath. De nails. Escoutez: dites-moi, si je parle bien; de hand, de fingres, et de nails.

Alice. C'est bien dit, madame; il est fort bon Anglois.60

Kath. Dites-moi en Anglois, le bras.61

Alice. De arm, madame.

Kath. Et le coude?

Alice. De elbow.

47. Dread king. The Folio prints 'great' for "dread" here, which is the Quarto word in this passage. We think it probable that in the present case the Folio printer's eye caught the word great" " that occurs before in this line, and repeated it by mistake; for, although Shakespeare and writers of his time did not object to the repetition of the same word in a passage where any analogy of illustration was involved (see Note 103, Act ii.), yet we think the line now under consideration is not a case in point.

48. Defensible. Here used for 'capable of defence.' See Note 54, Act ii., "Second Part Henry IV."

49. The winter coming on. Here is one of the dramatist's ingenious touches, thrown in by way of indicating long time. These mere four words serve to give the effect of lapsing months in the period of Henry's stay in France, turning a fiveact play into a romantic-historic chronicle-drama. 50. Addrest. 'Ready,' 'prepared.' The construction in this line is of a piece with that pointed out in Note 61, Act ii., "Second Part Henry IV." "To-morrow for the march are we addrest," in Shakespeare's mode of occasionally using the present tense of a verb when speaking of a future time, means, To-morrow you shall find that we are ready for the march,' or 'We are now prepared or disposed for to-morrow's inarch.' 51. Alice, tu as été, &c. 'Alice, thou hast been in England, and thou speak'st the language well.' The French sentences in

this play are printed with some approach to correctness in the Folio; but in the Quartos are ludicrously inaccurate. They will be rendered into very literal English here, for the benefit of the quite young readers who we hope may be among those who use this edition.

52. Un peu, madame. 'A little, madam.'

53. Je te prie m'enseignez; il faut, &c. Pray teach me ; I must learn to speak. How do you call the hand in English?' 54. La main? elle, &c. 'The hand? it is called,' &c. 55. Et les doigts? And the fingers?'

56. Les doigts? ma foi, j'oublie, &c. The fingers? faith, I forget the fingers; but I shall recollect. The fingers? I think they are called,' &c.

57. Je pense que je suis, &c. 'I think that I'm a very good scholar; I have gained two English words quickly. How do you call the nails?'

58. Les appellons. 'We call them.'

59. Escoutes; dites moi, si, &c. Listen; tell me if I speak well.'

60. C'est bien dit, madame: il est, &c. 'It is well said, madam it is very good English.'

61 Dites moi, &c. 'Tell me in English the arm. 62 Je m'en faitz, &c. 'I shall repeat all the words you have already taught me.'

63. Il est trop, &c. 'It is too difficult, madam, I think.' 64 Ouy. Sauf vostre honneur, &c. 'Yes. Save your honour, you really pronounce the words as correctly as the English natives themselves.'

65. Je ne doute point, &c. I doubt not but that I shall learn, by the grace of God, in a very short time.'

Alise. N'avez-vous pas déjà oublié ce que je vous ay enseigné?6

66

Kath. Non, je reciteray à vous promptement:67 de hand, de fingre, de mails,—

Alice. De nails, madame.

Kath. De nails, de arm, de ilbow.

Alice. Sauf votre bonneur, de elbow.

Kath. Ainsi dis-je; 68 de elbow, de nick, et de sin. Comment appellez-vous le pied?

Alice. De foot, madame.

Kath. De foot. Fe reciteray une autre fois ma leçon ensemble: 69 de hand, de fingre, de nails, de arm, de elbow, de nick, de sin, de foot.

Alice. Excellent, madame!

Kath. C'est assez pour une fois : 70 allons-nous à disner. [Exeunt

SCENE V.-ROUEN. Another Room in the

Palace.

Enter the French King, the Dauphin, Duke of BOURBON, the Constable of France, and others.

Fr. King. 'Tis certain he hath pass'd the river Somme.

Con. And if he be not fought withal, my lord, Let us not live in France; let us quit all, And give our vineyards to a barbarous people.

Dau. O Dieu vivant !71 shall a few sprays of us, The emptying of our fathers' luxury,

Our scions, put in wild and savage stock,
Spirt up so suddenly into the clouds,

And overlook their grafters?

Bour. Normans, but bastard Normans, Norman bastards!

68. Ainsi dis-je. 'So I say.'

69. Je reciteray une autre fois, &c. 'I will once more repeat my lesson all through.'

70. C'est assez, &c. That is enough for one lesson: let us go to dinner.'

71. O Dieu vivant! 'O living God!'

72. Mort de ma vie! 'Death of my life!'

73. Slobbery. 'Miry,' 'wet,' 'sloppy.' The word still exists in provincial use; for Miss Baker, in her "Glossary of Northamptonshire Words and Phrases," cites it in the expression'The streets are very slobbery to-day.'

74 Nook-shotten. Judging from the way in which Shakespeare uses the separate words "nook" and " shotten," we imagine this compound word to mean that which shoots out into nooks; an island with projecting angles and corners in its circumferential shape; an isle surrounded by jutting promontories and headlands. The compound word has been found, used by Randle Holme, in a passage from his "Accedence of Armory ""Querke, a nook-shotten pane" [of glass]; and if it were possible to ascertain the exact kind of pane of glass here meant, we should be able to guess more nearly at the intention of the poet in employing the epithet in this passage. It is probable that the

Mort de ma vie !72 if they march along
Unfought withal, but I will sell my dukedom,
To buy a slobbery 73 and a dirty farm
In that nook-shotten 74 isle of Albion.

Con. Dieu de batailles! 75 where have they this mettle?

Is not their climate foggy, raw, and dull;
On whom, as in despite, the sun looks pale,
Killing their fruit with frowns? Can sodden
water,

A drench for sur-rein'd jades, their barley broth
Decoct their cold blood to such valiant heat?
And shall our quick blood, spirited with winę,
Seem frosty? Oh, for honour of our land,
Let us not hang like roping icicles

Upon our houses' thatch, whiles a more frosty people

Sweat drops of gallant youth in our rich fields,— Poor we may call them in their native lords!

Dau. By faith and honour,

Our madams mock at us, and plainly say
Our mettle is bred out, and they will give
Themselves unto the best of English youth,
To new-store France with lusty warriors.

Bour. They bid us to the English dancingschools,

And teach lavoltas high and swift corantos;77
Saying our grace is only in our heels,
And that we are most lofty runaways.

Fr. King. Where is Montjoy the herald? speed him hence:

Let him greet England with our sharp defiance.Up, princes! and, with spirit of honour edg'd More sharper than your swords, hie to the field: Charles De-la-bret,78 high constable of France;

"querke or nook-shotten pane was one of irregular form, made to suit the peculiar nooks and odd angles of Gothic windowframes; and it is not unlikely that the irregularity of shape in the island of Great Britain, thus figuratively fleered at, might furnish the scoff of the Dauphin: nevertheless, it has been suggested by other interpreters, that Shakespeare, by the word "nook-shotten here, meant flung in a corner,' cast into a nook, or on one side, as worthless.'

75. Dieu de batailles! 'God of battles!'

76. Sur-rein'd. 'Over-rein'd,' 'over-ridden.' The constable scornfully compares the beer and "barley broth" of the English to 'a drench,' or 'mash,' compounded of ground malt and hot water, sometimes given to over-worked horses; and contrasts this with French "wine."

was a

77. Lavoltas high and swift corantos. The "lavolta dance in which a man and woman were the dancers, turning rapidly round together, and executing several lofty springs, jumps, or leaps. That this was a main part of the dance is evidenced by the epithet "high," which Shakespeare, both times he mentions it, applies to the "lavolta," or "lavolt." The "coranto" was an animated dance, in which rapid movement was the chief feature: French, courant, running. See Note 47, Act i., "Twelfth Night."

78. De-la-bret. D'Albret;' but Shakespeare found the name in Holinshed given Delabreth, and thus adopted it, as it suits

the metre.

SCENE VI.-The English Camp in PICARDY. Enter, severally, GOWER and FLUELLEN. Gow. How now, Captain Fluellen! come you from the bridge PS2

Flu. I assure you, there is very excellent services committed at the pridge.

Gow. Is the Duke of Exeter safe?

Flu. The Duke of Exeter is as magnanimous

as Agamemnon; 83 and a man that I love and honour with my soul, and my heart, and my duty, and my life, and my living, and my uttermost power: he is not (Got be praised and plessed!) any hurt in the 'orld; but keeps the pridge most valiantly, with excellent discipline. There is an ensign 84 there at the pridge,—I think in my very conscience he is as valiant a man as Mark Antony; and he is a man of no estimation in the 'orld; but I did see him do as gallant service. Gow. What do you call him? Flu. He is called Ancient Pistol. Gov. I know him not.

79. Barons, lords, and knights. The Folio prints 'kings' for "knights" here. Theobald's correction.

80. Pennons. Small flags or streamers, on which the arms, device, and motto of a knight were painted.

81. And, for achievement, offer us his ransom, It has been proposed to change "for" to 'fore' here; but we think that in this passage "for" is used in its sense of instead of,' 'in the place of,' substituting one thing for another: and therefore the line means, 'And instead of achieving a victory over us, or letting us achieve one over him, he will offer to pay us ransom.' In this play, "achieve" and "achieved" (see sc. 3 of the present Act; sc. 3, Act iv.; and the concluding chorus of Act v.) are always used by Shakespeare to express military victory, obtaining by armed force; so that here "achievement" bears the sense above given to that word.

85. Buxom. This word originally meant 'bending,' 'pliant,' 'yielding,' 'obedient '-from the Saxon, buxan, to bend; and in this sense it is used by many ancient writers. But it came to mean fresh,' 'sprightly,' 'robust;' and here it is used by the speaker for 'stout, lusty,' 'vigorous,' while, perhaps, a sly implication of its original meaning was intended by the author. Milton uses it partly in its earlier sense, partly in its later sense, in the passages

and,

"Wing silently the buxom air imbalm'd With odours;"

"With quick fan

Winnows the buxom air;"

though he uses it entirely in its later sense in the passage"A daughter fair, So buxom, blithe, and debonair."

is painted plind,86 with a muffler 87 afore her eyes, to signify to you that Fortune is plind; and she is painted also with a wheel, to signify to you, which is the moral of it, that she is turning, and inconstant, and mutability, and variation: and her foot, look you, is fixed upon a spherical stone, which rolls, and rolls, and rolls :-in good truth, the poet makes a most excellent description of it: Fortune is an excellent moral.

Pist. Fortune is Bardolph's foe, and frowns on him;

For he hath stoln a pax,8 and hangèd must 'a be.
A cursed death!

Let gallows gape for dog; let man go free,
And let not hemp his wind-pipe suffocate:
But Exeter hath given the doom of death,

For pax of little price.

voice;

And let not Bardolph's vital thread be cut

With edge of penny cord and vile reproach;

what terms the enemy stood on; and this they con 91 perfectly in the phrase of war, which they trick up with new-tuned oaths: and what a beard of the

86. Painted plind. Here Fluellen means by the first "plind" in this sentence 'blinded;' by the second "plind," 'morally blind.'

87. A muffler. A fold of linen, sometimes worn by women in Shakespeare's time to conceal part of the face. See Note 9, Act iv., "Merry Wives."

83. A par. A small plate, sometimes made of precious metal, bearing a sacred image upon it, and presented to the congregation during the celebration of the mass, for them to bestow upon it the kiss of peace.' Latin, pax, peace.

89 Figo for thy friendship! Lest Fluellen should think that by this expression he means merely the slighting phrase commented upon in Note 41, Act i., "Merry Wives," or even the contemptuous expression accompanied by an insulting gesture explained in Note 61, Act v., "Second Part Henry IV.," Pistol follows up his words by the explanatory exclamation, "The fig of Spain!" showing that he means a more deadly intimation; for there was a custom ascribed to Spaniards and Italians (and alluded to in many of our old dramas), of giving poisoned figs to persons who were objects of revenge.

go. Asconce. A fortification, round in form, something like a human head; for which it became a facetious appellation. See Note 21, Act ii., "Comedy of Errors." 91. Con. Study, learn carefully. See Note 93, Act i., "Twelfth Night."

92. New-tuned. This epithet has been changed to newturned' and 'new-coined,' but we think it perfectly expresses 'sounding oaths, set to a new tune or fashion.' From long before Ancient Pistol's time, down to so late a date as Bob Acres' "genteel new method of swearing," it has been the mode to deal

do among foaming bottles and ale-washed wits, is wonderful to be thought on. But you must learn to know such slanders of the age, or else you may be marvellously mistook.

Flu. I tell you what, Captain Gower;-I do perceive he is not the man that he would gladly make show to the 'orld he is: if I find a hole in his

coat, I will tell him my mind. [Drum heard.] Hark you, the king is coming; and I must speak with him from the pridge. 95

in the latest style of swearing, while adhering more or less to 'my little major's" axiom, that "the oath should be an echo to the sens::" and we think it is to certain military-toned swearings, swearings with a martial twang in them and of the last approved bounce and clatter, that Gower's expression, "newtuned oaths," has reference.

93. A beard of the general's cut. That it was the mode in Shakespeare's time for each profession to have its distinctive peculiarity of " cut" for the beard, we have already pointed out (see Note 87, Act ii., "As You Like It"); and it is to be discovered from passages in other writers beside Shakespeare, that the soldier's beard had its professionally appropriate "cut. What was called 'the spade beard 'and 'the stiletto beard' were among these warrior beards. Down to the present day, in Italy, there is a whim among dashing militarists to twist their lip and chin fringes into three stiff spikes, in order to look like their soldierly king, Victor Emmanuel.

"

This

94. A horrid suit of the camp. A worn-out uniform, retaining a formidable look of soldiership in its faded remnants. adoption of "outward hideousness was a practice in Shakespeare's time among a certain set of swaggering pretenders. See Note 17, Act v, "Much Ado."

"From" is here

95. I must speak with him from the pridge. used with the same elliptical force as in the passages pointed out in Notes 22, Act ii., "Tempest, " and 12, Act v., "Twelfth Night;" meaning coming from.' The phraseology is, like all Fluellen's, purposely involved, to represent his nationally impetuous diction and manner; and he means, 'I must speak with the king, and tell him what I, coming from the bridge, know took place there.'

VOL. II.

125