The Family Shakspeare

ACT I.

SCENE I. - London. An Ante-chamber in the His hours fill'd up with riots, banquets, sports;

King's Palace.

We lose the better half of our possession:
For all the temporal lands, which men devout
By testament have given to the church,
Would they strip from us; being valued thus,
As much as would maintain, to the king's honour,
Full fifteen earls, and fifteen hundred knights;
Six thousand and two hundred good esquires;
And, to relief of lazars, and weak age,
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.
The breath no sooner left his father's body,
But that his wildness, mortified in him,
Seem'd to die too: yea, at that very moment,
Consideration like an angel came,

And whipp'd the offending Adam out of him;
Leaving his body as a paradise,

To envelop and contain celestial spirits.
Never was such a sudden scholar made:
Never came reformation in a flood,

With such a heady current, scouring faults;
Nor never hydra-headed wilfulness

So soon did lose his seat, and all at once,
As in this king.

Ely. We are blessed in the change. Cant. Hear him but reason in divinity, And, all-admiring, with an inward wish You would desire, the king were made a prelate : Hear him debate of commonwealth affairs, You would say, it hath been all-in-all his study: List his discourse of war, and you shall hear A fearful battle render'd you in musick : Turn him to any cause of policy, The Gordian knot of it he will unloose, Familiar as his garter; that, when he speaks, The air, a charter'd libertine, is still, And the mute wonder lurketh in men's ears, To steal his sweet and honeyed sentences; So that the art and practick part of life Must be the mistress to this theorick: Which is a wonder, how his grace should glean it, Since his addiction was to courses vain : His companies unletter'd, rude, and shallow;

1 Listen to

And never noted in him any study,
Any retirement, any sequestration
From open haunts and popularity.

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
Under the veil of wildness; which, no doubt,
Grew like the summer grass, fastest by night,
Unseen, yet crescive in his faculty.

Cant. It must be so: for miracles are ceas'd;
And therefore we must needs admit the means,
How things are perfected.
But, my good lord,
How now for mitigation of this bill
Urg'd by the commons? Doth his majesty
Incline to it, or no?

Ely.

Cant.

He seems indifferent, Or, rather, swaying more upon our part, Than cherishing the exhibiters against us : For I have made an offer to his majesty, — Upon our spiritual convocation; And in regard of causes now in hand, Which I have open'd to his grace at large, As touching France, to give a greater sum Than ever at one time the clergy yet Did to his predecessors part withal.

Ely. How did this offer seem receiv'd, my lord?
Cant. With good acceptance of his majesty;
Save, that there was not time enough to hear
(As, I perceiv'd, his grace would fain have done,)
The severals, and unhidden passages,

Of his true titles to some certain dukedoms;
And, generally, the crown and seat of France,
Deriv'd from Edward, his great grandfather.

Ely. What was the impediment that broke this off?
Cant. The French ambassador, upon that instant,
Crav'd audience: and the hour, I think, is come,
To give him hearing: Is it four o'clock?
Ely.

It is.

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. [Exeunt.

SCENE II. A Room of State in the same. Enter KING HENRY, GLOSTER, BEDFORD, EXETER, WARWICK, WESTMORELAND, and Attendants. K. Hen. Where is my gracious lord of Canterbury?

Ere. Not here in presence.

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 re-

solv'd,

Before we hear him, of some things of weight, That task our thoughts, concerning us and France. Enter the ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY, and BISHOF OF ELY.

Cant. God, and his angels, guard your sacred throne, And make you long become it! 2 Increasing.

K. Hen.

My learned lord, we pray you to proceed; And justly and religiously unfold,

Sure, we thank you. Daughter to Charlemain, who was the son
To Lewis the emperor, and Lewis the son
Of Charles the great. Also king Lewis the tenth,
Who was sole heir to the usurper Capet,
Could not keep quiet in his conscience,
Wearing the crown of France, till satisfied
That fair queen Isabel, his grandmother,
Was lineal of the lady Ermengare,

Why the law Salique, that they have in France,
Or should, or should not, bar us in our claim.
And heaven forbid, my dear and faithful lord,
That you should fashion, wrest, or bow your reading,
Or nicely charge your understanding soul
With opening titles miscreate, whose right
Suits not in native colours with the truth;
For heaven doth know, how many, now in health,
Shall drop their blood in approbation

Daughter to Charles the foresaid duke of Lorain :
By the which marriage, the line of Charles the great
Was re-united to the crown of France.

So that, as clear as is the summer's sun,
King Pepin's title, and Hugh Capet's claim,
King Lewis his satisfaction, all appear
To hold in right and title of the female:
So do the kings of France unto this day;
Howbeit they would hold up this Salique law,

Of what your reverence shall incite us to:
Therefore take heed how you impawn our person,
How you awake the sleeping sword of war;
We charge you in the name of God, take heed:
For never two such kingdoms did contend,
Without much fall of blood; whose guiltless drops To bar your highness claiming from the female;
Are every one a woe, a sore complaint,

And rather choose to hide them in a net,

'Gainst him, whose wrongs give edge unto the swords Than amply to imbare their crooked titles

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.

Cant. Then hear me, gracious sovereign,

you peers,

Cant. The sin upon my head, dread sovereign!
For in the book of Numbers is it writ,
and When the son dies, let the inheritance-
Descend unto the daughter. Gracious lord,
Stand for your own; unwind your bloody flag;
Look back unto your mighty ancestors:
Go, my dread lord, to your great grandsire's tomb,
From whom you claim! invoke his warlike spirit,
And your great uncle's, Edward the black prince;
Who on the French ground play'd a tragedy,
Making defeat on the full power of France;
Whiles his most mighty father on a hill
Stood smiling, to behold his lion's whelp
Forage in blood of French nobility. 7
O noble English, that could entertain
With half their forces the full pride of France;
And let another half stand laughing by,
All out of work, and cold for action!

That owe your lives, your faith, and services,
To this imperial throne; There is no bar
To make against your highness' claim to France,
But this which they produce from Pharamond, -
In terram Salicam mulieres nè succedant,
No woman shall succeed in Salique land:
Which Salique land the French unjustly gloze3,
To be the realm of France, and Pharamond
The founder of this law and female bar.
Yet their own authors faithfully affirm,
That the land Salique lies in Germany,
Between the floods of Sala and of Elbe:
Where Charles the great, having subdued the Saxons,
There left behind and settled certain French;
Who, holding in disdain the German women,
For some dishonest manners of their life,
Establish'd there this law, -to wit, no female
Should be inheritrix in Salique land;
Which Salique, as I said, 'twixt Elbe and Sala,
Is at this day in Germany call'd — Meisen.
Thus doth it well appear, the Salique law
Was not devised for the realm of France:
Nor did the French possess the Salique land
Until four hundred one and twenty years
After defunction of king Pharamond,
Idly suppos'd the founder of this law:
Who died within the year of our redemption
Four hundred twenty-six ; and Charles the great
Subdued the Saxons, and did seat the French
Beyond the river Sala, in the year
Eight hundred five. Besides, their writers say,
King Pepin, which deposed Childerick,
Did, as heir-general, being descended

Of Blithild, which was daughter to king Clothair,
Make claim and title to the crown of France.
Hugh Capet also, that usurp'd the crown
Of Charles the duke of Lorain, sole heir male
Of the true line and stock of Charles the great,
To fine his title with some show of truth,
(Though, in pure truth, it was corrupt and naught,)
Convey'd himself 5 as heir to the lady Lingare,
4 Make showy or specious.

3 Explain.

5 Derived his title.

Ely. Awake remembrance of these valiant dead, And with your puissant arm renew their feats; You are their heir, you sit upon their throne; The blood and courage, that renowned them, Runs in your veins; and my thrice-puissant liege Is in the very May-morn of his youth, Ripe for exploits and mighty enterprizes.

Ere. Your brother kings and monarchs of the carth Do all expect that you should rouse yourself, As did the former lions of your blood.

West. They know your grace hath cause, and means, and might;

So hath your highness; never king of England Had nobles richer, and more loyal subjects; Whose hearts have left their bodies here in England, And lie pavilion'd in the fields of France.

Cant. O, let their bodies follow, my dear liege, With blood, and sword, and fire to win your right: In aid whereof, we of the spiritualty Will raise your highness such a mighty sum, As never did the clergy at one time Bring in to any of your ancestors.

K. Hen. We must not only arm to invade the
French;

But lay down our proportions to defend
Against the Scot, who will make road upon us
With all advantages.

Cant. They of those marches, gracious sovereign, Shall be a wall sufficient to defend

Our inland from the pilfering borderers.

K. Hen. We do not mean the coursing snatchers
only,

But fear the main intendment 9 of the Scot,
Who hath been still a giddy neighbour to us;
For you shall read, tha! my great grandfather
Never went with his forces into France,
But that the Scot on his unfurnish'd kingdom
Came pouring, like the tide into a breach,
With ample and brim fulness of his force;
Galling the gleaned land with hot essays;
Girding with grievous siege, castles and towns;
That England, being empty of defence,

Hath shook, and trembled at the ill neighbourhood.
Cant. She hath been then more fear'd than harm'd,
my liege:

For hear her but exampled by herself, —
When all her chivalry hath been in France,
And she a mourning widow of her nobles,
She hath herself not only well defended,
But taken, and impounded as a stray,

The king of Scots, whom she did send to France, —
To fill king Edward's fame with prisoner kings;
And make your chronicle as rich with praise,
As is the ooze and bottom of the sea
With sunken wreck, and sumless treasuries.
West. But there's a saying, very old and true,

If that you will France win,
Then with Scotland first begin:
For once the eagle England being in prey,
To her unguarded nest the weasel Scot
Comes sneaking, and so sucks her princely eggs;
Playing the mouse, in absence of the cat,
To spoil and havock more than she can eat.

Ere. It follows then, the cat must stay at home:
Yet that is but a sad necessity;

Since we have locks to safeguard necessaries,
And pretty traps to catch the petty thieves,
While that the armed hand doth fight abroad,
The advised head defends itself at home :

For government, though high, and low, and lower,
Put into parts, doth keep in one concent;
Congruing in a full and natural close,
Like musick.

Cant.

Delivering o'er to éxecutors 4 pale
The lazy yawning drone. I this infer,
That many things, having full reference
To one concent, may work contrariously;
As many arrows, loosed several ways,
Fly to one mark;

As many several ways meet in one town;
As many fresh streams run in one self sea;
As many lines close in the dial's center;
So may a thousand actions, once afoot,
End in one purpose, and be all well borne
Without defeat. Therefore to France, my liege.
Divide your happy England into four;
Whereof take you one quarter into France,
And you withal shall make all Gallia shake.
If we, with thrice that power left at home,
Cannot defend our own door from the dog,
Let us be worried; and our nation lose
The name of hardiness, and policy.

K. Hen. Call in the messengers, sent from the
dauphin.

[Exit an Attendant. The KING ascends his Throne.
Now are we well resolv'd: and, - by God's help,
And yours, the noble sinews of our power,
France being ours, we'll bend it to our awe,
Or break it all to pieces: Or there we'll sit,
Ruling in large and ample empery 5,

O'er France, and all her almost kingly dukedoms;
Or lay these bones in an unworthy urn,
Tombless, with no remembrance over them:
Either our history shall, with full mouth,
Speak freely of our acts; or else our grave,
Like Turkish mute, shall have a tongueless mouth,
Not worshipp'd with a waxen epitaph.

Enter Ambassadors of France.

Now are we well prepar'd to know the pleasure
Of our fair cousin dauphin; for we hear,
Your greeting is from him, not from the king.
Amb. May it please your majesty, to give us leave
Freely to render what we have in charge;
Or shall we sparingly show you far off
The dauphin's meaning, and our embassy?

K. Hen. We are no tyrant, but a Christian king;
Under whose grace our passion is a subject,
As are our wretches fetter'd in our prisons:
Therefore, with frank and with uncurbed plainness,

True: therefore doth heaven divide Tell us the dauphin's mind.

The state of man in divers functions,
Setting endeavour in continual motion;
To which is fixed, as an aim or butt,
Obedience: for so work the honey bees;
Creatures, that, by a rule in nature, teach
The act of order to a peopled kingdom.
They have a king, and officers of sorts 3:
Where some, like magistrates, correct at home;
Others, like merchants, venture trade abroad;
Others, like soldiers, armed in their stings,
Make boot upon the summer's velvet buds ;
Which pillage they with merry march bring home
To the tent-royal of their emperor :
Who, busied in his majesty, surveys
The singing masons building roofs of gold;
The civil citizens kneading up the honey;
The poor mechanick porters crowding in
Their heavy burdens at his narrow gate;
The sail-ey'd justice, with his surly hum,

The borders of England and Scotland.

9 General disposition.

2 Agreeing.

Amb.
Thus, then, in few.
Your highness, lately sending into France,
Did claim some certain dukedoms, in the right
Of your great predecessor, king Edward the third.
In answer of which claim, the prince our master
Says, that you savour too much of your youth;
And bids you be advis'd, there's nought in France,
That can be with a nimble galliard won;
You cannot revel into dukedoms there:
He therefore sends you, meeter for your spirit,
This tun of treasure; and, in lieu of this,
Desires you, let the dukedoms, that you claim,
Hear no more of you. This the dauphin speaks.
K. Hen. What treasure, uncle?

Ere.

Tennis-balls, my liege. K. Hen. We are glad, the dauphin is so pleasant with us;

His present, and your pains, we thank you for
When we have match'd our rackets to these balls,
We will, in France, by God's grace, play a set,

1 Frightened.

3 Different degrees.

4 Executioners.

"Dominion.

6 An ancient dance

Shall strike his father's crown into the hazard 7:
Tell him, he hath made a match with such a wrangler,
That all the courts of France will be disturb'd
With chaces. And we understand him well,
How he comes o'er us with our wilder days,
Not measuring what use we made of them.
We never valu'd this poor seat9 of England;
And therefore, living hence', did give ourself
To barbarous license; As 'tis ever common,
That men are merriest when they are from home.
But tell the dauphin, I will keep my state;
Be like a king, and show my sail of greatness,
When I do rouse me in my throne of France:
For that I have laid by my majesty,
And plodded like a man for working-days;
But I will rise there with so full a glory,
That I will dazzle all the eyes of France,
Yea, strike the dauphin blind to look on us.
And tell the pleasant prince, this mock of his
Hath turn'd his balls to gun-stones; and his soul
Shall stand sore charged for the wasteful vengeance
That shall fly with them: for many a thousand widows
Shall this his mock mock out of their dear husbands;
Mock mothers from their sons, mock castles down;
And some are yet ungotten, and unborn,
That shall have cause to curse the dauphin's scorn.

Ere. This was a merry message. K. Hen. We hope to make the sender blush at it. [Descends from his Throne. Therefore, my lords, omit no happy hour, That may give furtherance to our expedition : For we have now no thought in us but France; Save those to heaven, that run before our business. Therefore, let our proportions for these wars Be soon collected: and all things thought upon, That may with reasonable swiftness, add More feathers to our wings; for, God before, We'll chide this dauphin at his father's door. Therefore, let every man now task his thought, That this fair action may on foot be brought.

[Exeunt.

Enter CHORUS.

ACT II.

Is now transported, gentles, to Southampton: fire,There is the playhouse now, there must you sit: And thence to France shall we convey you safe, And bring you back, charming the narrow seas To give you gentle pass; for, if we may, We'll not offend one stomach with our play. But, till the king come forth, and not till then, Unto Southampton do we shift our scene.

Chor. Now all the youth of England are on
And silken dalliance in the wardrobe lies;
Now thrive the armourers, and honour's thought
Reigns solely in the breast of every man :
They sell the pasture now, to buy the horse;
Following the mirror of all Christian kings,
With winged heels, as English Mercuries.
For now sits Expectation in the air;
And hides a sword, from hilts unto the point,
With crowns imperial, crowns, and coronets,
Promis'd to Harry, and his followers.
The French advis'd by good intelligence
Of this most dreadful preparation,

Shake in their fear; and with pale policy
Seek to divert the English purposes.

O England! - model to thy inward greatness,
Like little body with a mighty heart,
What might'st thou do, that honour would thee do,
Were all thy children kind and natural!

But see thy fault! France hath in thee found out
A nest of hollow bosoms, which he fills
With treacherous crowns: and three corrupted men,-
One, Richard earl of Cambridge; and the second,
Henry lord Scroop of Masham; and the third,
Sir Thomas Grey knight of Northumberland,
Have, for the gilt of France, (O guilt, indeed!)
Confirm'd conspiracy with fearful France;
And by their hands this grace of kings must die,
(If hell and treason hold their promises,)
Ere he take ship for France, and in Southampton.
Linger your patience on; and well digest
The abuse of distance, while we force a play.
The sum is paid; the traitors are agreed;
The king is set from London; and the scene

7 A place in the tennis court, into which the ball is sometimes struck. A term at tennis, 9 The throne. Withdrawing from the court. 2 Gold.

SCENE I. — London.

[Exit.

Before Quickly's House in Eastcheap.

Enter NYM and BARDOLPH.

Bard. Well met, corporal Nym.

Nym. Good morrow, lieutenant Bardolph. Bard. What, are ancient Pistol and you friends yet? Nym. For my part, I care not; I say little: but when time shall serve, there shall be smiles; - but that shall be as it may. I dare not fight; but I will wink, and hold out mine iron: It is a simple one; but what though? it will toast cheese; and it will endure cold as another man's sword will: and there's the humour of it.

Bard. I will bestow a breakfast, to make you friends; and we'll be all three sworn brothers to France; let it be so, good corporal Nym.

Nym. 'Faith, I will live so long as I may, that's the certain of it; and when I cannot live any longer, I will do as I may that is my rest, that is the rendezvous of it.

Bard. It is certain, corporal, that he is married to Nell Quickly and, certainly she did you wrong; for you were troth-plight to her.

Nym. I cannot tell; things must be as they may : men may sleep, and they may have their throats about them at that time; and some say, knives have

3 Determination.

Enter PISTOL and Mrs. QUICKLY.

Bard. Here comes ancient Pistol, and his wife : good corporal, be patient here. mine host Pistol?

How now,

-host?

Pist. Base tike 4, call'st thou me—1
Now, by this hand, I swear, I scorn the term ;
Nor shall my Nell keep lodgers.

Quick. No, by my troth, not long: [NYм draws
his sword.] O well-a-day, Lady, if he be not drawn
now! O Lord! here's corporal Nym's-
s-now shall |
we have wilful murder committed. Good lieute-
nant Bardolph, - good corporal, offer nothing here.
Nym. Pish!

Pist. Pish for thee, Iceland dog! thou cur of Iceland!

Quick. Good corporal Nym, show the valour of a man, and put up thy sword.

Nym. Will you shog off? I would have you solus. [Sheathing his sword. Pist. Solus, egregious dog? O viper vile! The solus in thy most marvellous face; The solus in thy teeth, and in thy throat, And in thy hateful lungs, yea, in thy maw, perdy. 5 Nym. I am not Barbason; you cannot conjure me. I have an humour to knock you indifferently well If you grow foul with me, Pistol, I will scour you with my rapier, as I may, in fair terms: and that's the humour of it.

Pist. O braggard vile, and desp'rate furious
wight!

The grave
doth gape, and doting death is near;
Therefore exhale.?
[PISTOL and NYм draw.
Bard. Hear me, hear me what I say: - he that
strikes the first stroke, I'll run him up to the hilts,
as I am a soldier.
[Draws.

Pist. An oath of mickle might; and fury shall
abate.

Give me thy fist, thy fore-foot to me give;
Thy spirits are most tall.

Nym. I will cut thy throat, one time or other, in fair terms; that is the humour of it.

Pist. Coupe le gorge, that's the word?- I thee
defy again.

O hound of Crete, think'st thou my spouse to get?
I have, and I will hold, the quondam 9 Quickly
For the only she; and - Pauca, there's enough.

433 of it. Nym. That now I will have; that's the humour

Pist. As manhood shall compound; Push home. Bard. By this sword, he that makes the first thrust, I'll kill him; by this sword, I will.

Pist. Sword is an oath, and oaths must have their course.

Bard. Corporal Nym, an thou wilt be friends, be friends an thou wilt not, why then be enemies with me too. Pr'ythee, put up.

Nym. I shall have my eight shillings, I won of you at betting?

Pist. A noble shalt thou have, and present pay;
And liquor likewise will I give to thee,
And friendship shall combine, and brotherhood:
I'll live by Nym, and Nym shall live by me;
Is not this just? -
Unto the camp, and profits will accrue.
for I shall sutler be
Give me thy hand.

Nym. I shall have my noble?
Pist. In cash most justly paid.
Nym. Well, then, that's the humour of it.

Re-enter Mrs. QUICKLY.

Quick. As you ever came of women, come in quickly to sir John: Ah, poor heart! he is so shaked of a burning quotidian tertian, that it is most lamentable to behold. Sweet men, come to him. Nym. The king hath run bad humours on the knight, that's the even of it.

Pist. Nym, thou hast spoke the right;
His heart is fracted and corroborate.

Nym. The king is a good king: but it must be as
it may; he passes some humours, and careers.
Pist. Let us condole the knight; for, lambkins,
we will live.
[Exeunt.
SCENE II.- Southampton. A Council-Chamber.
Enter EXETER, Bedford, and WESTMORELAND.
Bed. By heaven, his grace is bold, to trust these
traitors.

Ere. They shall be apprehended by and by.
West. How smooth and even they do bear them-
selves!

As if allegiance in their bosoms sat,
Crowned with faith, and constant loyalty.

Bed. The king hath note of all that they intend,
By interception which they dream not of.

Exe. Nay, but the man that was his bedfellow, Whom he hath cloy'd and grac'd with princely fa

vours,

His sovereign's life to death and treachery!
That he should, for a foreign purse, so sell
Trumpet sounds. Enter KING HENRY, SCROOP,
CAMBRIDGE, GREY, Lords and Attendants.

K. Hen. Now sits the wind fair, and we will
aboard.

My lord of Cambridge, and my kind lord of
And you, my gentle knight,
Masham,
Think you not, that the powers we bear with us,
give me your
Will cut their passage through the force of France;
Doing the execution, and the act,

thoughts:

For which we have in head assembled them? Scroop. No doubt, my liege, if each man do his best. 2 A coin, value six shillings and eight-per.cc.

6 Name of a dæmon.
8 Blood-hound. 9 Formerly.

3 Forge

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