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- William Shakespeare: Henry V, Act III, Scene VII
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Scene VIIThe French camp, near Agincourt:Enter the Constable of France, the Lord Rambures, Orleans, Dauphin, with othersConstableTut! I have the best armour of the world. Would it were day!OrleansYou have an excellent armour; but let my horse have his due.ConstableIt is the best horse of Europe.OrleansWill it never be morning?DauphinMy lord of Orleans, and my lord high constable, you talk of horse and armour?OrleansYou are as well provided of both as any prince in the world.DauphinWhat a long night is this! I will not change my horse with any that treads but on four pasterns. Ca, ha! he bounds from the earth, as if his entrails were hairs; le cheval volant, the Pegasus, chez les narines de feu! When I bestride him, I soar, I am a hawk: he trots the air; the earth sings when he touches it; the basest horn of his hoof is more musical than the pipe of Hermes.OrleansHe’s of the colour of the nutmeg.DauphinAnd of the heat of the ginger. It is a beast for Perseus: he is pure air and fire; and the dull elements of earth and water never appear in him, but only in Patient stillness while his rider mounts him: he is indeed a horse; and all other jades you may call beasts.ConstableIndeed, my lord, it is a most absolute and excellent horse.DauphinIt is the prince of palfreys; his neigh is like the bidding of a monarch and his countenance enforces homage.OrleansNo more, cousin.DauphinNay, the man hath no wit that cannot, from the rising of the lark to the lodging of the lamb, vary deserved praise on my palfrey: it is a theme as fluent as the sea: turn the sands into eloquent tongues, and my horse is argument for them all: ’tis a subject for a sovereign to reason on, and for a sovereign’s sovereign to ride on; and for the world, familiar to us and unknown to lay apart their particular functions and wonder at him. I once writ a sonnet in his praise and began thus: ‘Wonder of nature,’—OrleansI have heard a sonnet begin so to one’s mistress.DauphinThen did they imitate that which I composed to my courser, for my horse is my mistress.OrleansYour mistress bears well.DauphinMe well; which is the prescript praise and perfection of a good and particular mistress.ConstableNay, for methought yesterday your mistress shrewdly shook your back.DauphinSo perhaps did yours.ConstableMine was not bridled.DauphinO then belike she was old and gentle; and you rode, like a kern of Ireland, your French hose off, and in your straight strossers.ConstableYou have good judgment in horsemanship.DauphinBe warned by me, then: they that ride so and ride not warily, fall into foul bogs. I had rather have my horse to my mistress.ConstableI had as lief have my mistress a jade.DauphinI tell thee, constable, my mistress wears his own hair.ConstableI could make as true a boast as that, if I had a sow to my mistress.Dauphin’Le chien est retourne a son propre vomissement, et la truie lavee au bourbier;’ thou makest use of any thing.ConstableYet do I not use my horse for my mistress, or any such proverb so little kin to the purpose.RamburesMy lord constable, the armour that I saw in your tent to-night, are those stars or suns upon it?ConstableStars, my lord.DauphinSome of them will fall to-morrow, I hope.ConstableAnd yet my sky shall not want.DauphinThat may be, for you bear a many superfluously, and ’twere more honour some were away.ConstableEven as your horse bears your praises; who would trot as well, were some of your brags dismounted.DauphinWould I were able to load him with his desert! Will it never be day? I will trot to-morrow a mile, and my way shall be paved with English faces.ConstableI will not say so, for fear I should be faced out of my way: but I would it were morning; for I would fain be about the ears of the English.RamburesWho will go to hazard with me for twenty prisoners?ConstableYou must first go yourself to hazard, ere you have them.Dauphin’Tis midnight; I’ll go arm myself.ExitOrleansThe Dauphin longs for morning.RamburesHe longs to eat the English.ConstableI think he will eat all he kills.OrleansBy the white hand of my lady, he’s a gallant prince.ConstableSwear by her foot, that she may tread out the oath.OrleansHe is simply the most active gentleman of France.ConstableDoing is activity; and he will still be doing.OrleansHe never did harm, that I heard of.ConstableNor will do none to-morrow: he will keep that good name still.OrleansI know him to be valiant.ConstableI was told that by one that knows him better than you.OrleansWhat’s he?ConstableMarry, he told me so himself; and he said he cared not who knew itOrleansHe needs not; it is no hidden virtue in him.ConstableBy my faith, sir, but it is; never any body saw it but his lackey: ’tis a hooded valour; and when it appears, it will bate.OrleansIll will never said well.ConstableI will cap that proverb with ‘There is flattery in friendship.‘OrleansAnd I will take up that with ‘Give the devil his due.‘ConstableWell placed: there stands your friend for the devil: have at the very eye of that proverb with ‘A pox of the devil.‘OrleansYou are the better at proverbs, by how much ‘A fool’s bolt is soon shot.‘ConstableYou have shot over.Orleans’Tis not the first time you were overshot.Enter a MessengerMessengerMy lord high constable, the English lie within fifteen hundred paces of your tents.ConstableWho hath measured the ground?MessengerThe Lord Grandpre.ConstableA valiant and most expert gentleman. Would it were day! Alas, poor Harry of England! he longs not for the dawning as we do.OrleansWhat a wretched and peevish fellow is this king of England, to mope with his fat-brained followers so far out of his knowledge!ConstableIf the English had any apprehension, they would run away.OrleansThat they lack; for if their heads had any intellectual armour, they could never wear such heavy head-pieces.RamburesThat island of England breeds very valiant creatures; their mastiffs are of unmatchable courage.OrleansFoolish curs, that run winking into the mouth of a Russian bear and have their heads crushed like rotten apples! You may as well say, that’s a valiant flea that dare eat his breakfast on the lip of a lion.ConstableJust, just; and the men do sympathize with the mastiffs in robustious and rough coming on, leaving their wits with their wives: and then give them great meals of beef and iron and steel, they will eat like wolves and fight like devils.OrleansAy, but these English are shrewdly out of beef.ConstableThen shall we find to-morrow they have only stomachs to eat and none to fight. Now is it time to arm: come, shall we about it?OrleansIt is now two o’clock: but, let me see, by ten We shall have each a hundred Englishmen.Exeunt
William Shakespeare: Henry V, Act III
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William Shakespeare: Henry V, Act IV, Scene II
- William Shakespeare: Henry V, Act IV, Scene II
TrendingHere are the facts and trivia that people are buzzing about.
Did Birds Evolve from Dinosaurs?
The Twelve Dancing Princesses
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The Celtic Twilight: A Teller of Tales
TrendingHere are the facts and trivia that people are buzzing about.
Did Birds Evolve from Dinosaurs?
The Twelve Dancing Princesses
Current Events This Week: January 2023
African Americans by the Numbers
Andersen’s Fairy Tales: Contents
The Celtic Twilight: A Teller of Tales
- Did Birds Evolve from Dinosaurs?
- The Twelve Dancing Princesses
- Current Events This Week: January 2023
- African Americans by the Numbers
- Andersen’s Fairy Tales: Contents
- The Celtic Twilight: A Teller of Tales
