SCENE IV. "He'll make your Paris Louvre shake for it."

According to some writers, the ancient Palace of the Louvre was as old as the seventh century. The obscurity as to the origin of the name is, perhaps, a proof of its antiquity. Some say that it was called after a seigneur of Louvres; others, that the word signifies l'œuvre-the work par excellence. It was originally, no doubt, at once a

palace and a fortress. At the commencement of the sixteenth century the buildings were in a very ruinous state; and Francis I., in 1528, resolved to build a new palace on the site of the old; but this design was only partially carried into effect till the subsequent reign of Henry II., when what is now called the old Louvre was completed by Pierre Lescot, in 1548. (See Dictionnaire Historique D'Architecture. Par M. Quatremère De Quincy; article Lescot.)

The conspiracy of Cambridge, Scroop, and Grey, against Henry V., is minutely detailed in Holinshed. Shakspere has followed the statement of the Chronicler, that the prisoners confessed that they had received a great sum of money of the French king, to deliver Henry into the hands of his enemies, or to murder him. It appears, however, by the verdict of the jury (for the conspirators were not summarily executed, as described in the play and the Chronicle), that it was their intention to proclaim Edward Earl of March rightful heir to the crown in case Richard II. was actually dead. The following passage in Holinshed is the foundation of Henry's address to the prisoners in the second Scene: "If you have conspired the death and destruction of me, which am the head of the realm and governor of the people, without doubt I must of necessity think, that you likewise have compassed the confusion of all that here be with me. and also

the final destruction of your native country.... Wherefore, seeing that you have enterprised so great a mischief, to the intent that your fautours, being in the army, may abhor so detestable an offence by the punishment of you, haste you to receive the pain that for your demerits you have deserved, and that punishment that by the law for your offences is provided."

In the fourth Scene of this Act, the Constable only, amongst the French nobles, takes part in the dialogue; but the Duke of Burgundy is mentioned as being present. Shakspere did not find this in the Chronicles; and it is probable that the Duke of Burgundy was absent from France; as the States of Flanders proclaimed that the duke would render no assistance in the defence of France, unless the Dauphin redressed the injuries which he had heaped upon his wife, the daughter of the duke.

sea,

Breasting the lofty surge: O, do but think
You stand upon the rivage, and behold
A city on the inconstant billows dancing;
For so appears this fleet majestical,
Holding due course to Harfleur. Follow, follow!
Grapple your minds to sternage of this navy;

a The original text of the folio has Dover; clearly a mistake. (See Historical Illustration.)

b Rivage-the shore. This is the only instance in which our poet uses this very expressive word. Chaucer, Gower, Spenser, and Hall and Holinshed, have it frequently.

e Sternage. Malone thinks Shakspere wrote steerage. The meaning of the words is the same, but sternage is the more antique form. Holinshed uses stern as a verb in the sense of steer; and Chapman in his Homer has "the sternsman." The "sternage of this navy" is-the course of this navy.

And leave your England, as dead midnight still, Guarded with grandsires, babies, and old women, Either past, or not arrived to, pith and puis

sance :

For who is he, whose chin is but enrich'd
With one appearing hair, that will not follow
These cull'd and choice-drawn cavaliers to
France ?

Work, work, your thoughts, and therein see a siege :

Behold the ordnance on their carriages,
With fatal mouths gaping on girded Harfleur.
Suppose, the ambassador from the French comes
back;

Tells Harry, that the king doth offer him
Katharine his daughter; and with her, to dowry,
Some petty and unprofitable dukedoms.

a

The offer likes not: and the nimble gunner With linstock now the devilish cannon touches, [Alarum; and chambers (small cannon) go off. And down goes all before them. Still be kind, And eke out our performance with your mind.

[Exit.

a Linstock is the match-the lint (linen) in a stock (stick). b Devilish cannon. Shakspere found the epithet thus applied in Spenser:

"As when that devilish iron engine, wrought
In deepest hell, and fram'd by furies' skill,
With windy nitre and quick sulphur fraught,
And ramm'd with bullet round, ordain'd to kill,
Conceiveth fire," &c.

(Fairy Queen. Book i. canto vii. 13.)

O'erhang and jutty his confounded base,
Swill'd with the wild and wasteful ocean.
Now set the teeth, and stretch the nostril wide;
Hold hard the breath, and bend up every spirit
To his full height!-On, on, you nobless English,
Whose blood is fet from fathers of war-proof!
Fathers that, like so many Alexanders,
Have in these parts from morn till even fought,
And sheath'd their swords for lack of argument.

a O'erhang. In Reed's edition, and in Malone's, this is printed o'erhand, but without authority.

b Julty. The jutting land is a common epithet. Jef and jetty are derived from the same root.

c Confounded. To destroy was one of the senses in which to confound was formerly used.

d Nobless English. The original of 1623 prints Noblis English. In the second folio Noblish becomes noblest, which Steevens follows. Malone adopts noble. The nobless English is the English nobility-the barons "whose blood is fet from fathers of war-proof." Henry first addresses the nobless-then the yeomen. There is an analogous position of the adjective in this play. In Act V. Henry says,

"And princes French, and peers, health to you all." And the French king responds with "princes English." e Fet. Pope changed this into fetch'd, but Steevens properly restored it. The word is not only found in Chaucer and Spenser, but in our present translation of the Bible; although in many cases, some of which Dr. Grey has enumerated, it has been thrust out in some editions to make way for fetch'd. Our Anglo-Saxon language has thus been deteriorated. Fette is the participle of the Anglo-Saxon verb fel-ian, to fetch.

Boy.

Dishonour not your mothers; now attest That those whom you call'd fathers did beget you!

Be copy now to men of grosser blood,

And teach them how to war!-And you, good yeomen,

Whose limbs were made in England, shew us here

The mettle of your pasture; let us swear

That you are worth your breeding: which I doubt not;

For there is none of you so mean and base
That hath not noble lustre in your eyes.
I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips,
Straining upon the start. The game's afoot;
Follow your spirit: and, upon this charge,
Cry-God for Harry! England! and Saint
George!

[Exeunt. Alarum, and chambers go off.

SCENE II.-The same.

Forces pass over; then enter NYM, BARDOLPH, PISTOL, and Boy.

Bard. On, on, on, on, on! to the breach, to the breach!

Nym. 'Pray thee, corporal," stay; the knocks are too hot; and, for mine own part, I have not a case of lives: the humour of it is too hot, that is the very plain-song of it.

Pist. The plain-song is most just; for humours do abound;

Knocks go

and come; God's vassals drop and die;

And sword and shield,

In bloody field,

Doth win immortal fame.

Boy. 'Would I were in an alehouse in London! I would give all my fame for a pot of ale and safety.

Pist. And I:

As duly, but not as truly, As bird doth sing on bough.

Enter FLUELLEN.b

Flu. Up to the preach, you dogs! avaunt, you cullions. [Driving them forward.

Pist. Be merciful, great duke, to men of mould!

Abate thy rage, abate thy manly rage!
Abate thy rage, great duke! d

Good bawcock, bate thy rage! use lenity, sweet chuck!

Nym. These be good humours !-your honour wins bad humours.

[Exeunt NYM, PISTOL, and BARDOLPH, followed by FLuellen.

For

Boy. As young as I am, I have observed these three swashers. I am boy to them ali three but all they three, though they would serve me, could not be man to me; for, indeed, three such antics do not amount to a man. Bardolph, he is white-liver'd, and red-faced; by the means whereof 'a faces it out, but fights not. For Pistol,-he hath a killing tongue and a quiet sword; by the means whereof 'a breaks words, and keeps whole weapons. For Nym,he hath heard that men of few words are the best men; and therefore he scorns to say his prayers, lest 'a should be thought a coward: but his few bad words are match'd with as few good deeds; for 'a never broke any man's head but his own, and that was against a post, when he was drunk. They will steal any thing, and call it-purchase. Bardolph stole a lute-case; bore it twelve leagues, and sold it for three halfpence. Nym and Bardolph are sworn brothers in filching; and in Calais they stole a fireshovel: I knew, by that piece of service, the men would carry coals. They would have me as familiar with men's pockets, as their gloves or their handkerchers: which makes much

a Pistol's snatch of an old song is printed as prose in the folio. The passage does not occur in the quartos. Douce suggested that the words of the Boy were the close of the ditty, and we have followed his recommendation to print them as verse. If bough is read bigh we have rhyme. The Saxon verb bigan, to bend, would give us bigh, as bugan gives us bough-and we have still bight to express a bend, such as that of the elbow.

b Fluellen is Llewellyn.

c The scene is completely remodelled in the folio, and yet the modern editors here give us two lines of the quarto, entirely different.

d Great duke. In Pistol's fustian use of the word duke it is not necessary to show that the word was properly applied to a commander-dur.

• Grey suggests that Shak spere derived the name of Nym from nim, an old English word signifying to filch. Thus in Hudibras,

"Blank-schemes, to discover nimmers."

The same expression occurs in Romeo and Juliet, Act I,

against my manhood, if I should take from another's pocket, to put into mine; for it is plain pocketing up of wrongs. I must leave them, and seek some better service: their villainy goes against my weak stomach, and therefore I must cast it up. [Exit Boy.

Re-enter FLUELLEN, GOWER following. Gow. Captain Fluellen, you must come presently to the mines; the duke of Gloster would speak with you.

Flu. To the mines! tell you the duke it is not so good to come to the mines: For, look you, the mines is not according to the disciplines of the war; the concavities of it is not sufficient; for, look you, th' athversary (you may discuss unto the duke, look you,) is digged himself four yards under the countermines; by Cheshu, I think 'a will plow up all, if there is not better directions.

a

Gow. The duke of Gloster, to whom the order of the siege is given, is altogether directed by an Irishman; a very valiant gentleman, i̇’faith.

Flu. It is captain Macmorris, is it not?
Gow. I think it be.

Flu. By Cheshu, he is an ass as in the 'orld: I will verify as much in his peard: he has no more directions in the true disciplines of the wars, look you, of the Roman disciplines, than is a puppy-dog.

Enter MACMORRIS and JAMY, at a distance.

Gow. Here 'a comes; and the Scots captain, captain Jamy, with him.

Flu. Captain Jamy is a marvellous falorous gentleman, that is certain; and of great expedition, and knowledge, in the ancient wars, upon my particular knowledge of his directions: by Cheshu, he will maintain his argument as well as any military man in the 'orld, in the disciplines of the pristine wars of the Romans.

Jamy. I say, gud-day, captain Fluellen. Flu. God-den to your worship, goot captain Jamy.

Gow. How now, captain Macmorris ? have you quit the mines? have the pioneers given o'er?

Mac. By Chrish la, tish ill done: the work

a Johnson says, "Fluellen means that the enemy had digged himself countermines four yards under the mines." But why not take Fluellen literally? why not countermines under countermines? and then the enemy "will plow up all."

b Macmorris and Jamy do not appear at all in the quartos.

ish give over, the trumpet sound the retreat. By my hand I swear, and my father's soul, the work ish ill done; it ish give over; I would have blowed up the town, so Chrish save me, la, in an hour. O, tish ill done, tish ill done; by my hand, tish ill done!

Flu. Captain Macmorris, I peseech you now, will you voutsafe me, look you, a few disputations with you, as partly touching or concerning the disciplines of the war, the Roman wars, in the way of argument, look you, and friendly communication; partly to satisfy my opinion, and partly for the satisfaction, look you, of my mind, as touching the direction of the military discipline; that is the point.

Jamy. It sall be very gud, gud feith, gud captains bath; and I sall quit you with gud leve, as I may pick occasion, that sall I, marry.

Mac. It is no time to discourse, so Chrish save me; the day is hot, and the weather, and the wars, and the king, and the dukes: it is no time to discourse. The town is beseeched, and the trumpet calls us to the breach; and we talk, and, by Chrish, do nothing: 'tis shame for us all: so God sa' me, 't is shame to stand still; it is shame, by my hand: and there is throats to be cut, and works to be done; and there ish nothing done, so Chrish sa' me, la.

Jamy. By the mess, ere these eyes of mine take themselves to slumber, aile do gude service, or aile ligge i'the grund for it; ay, or go to death; and aile pay it as valorously as I may, that sal I surely do, that is the breff and the long: Mary, I wad full fain heard some question 'tween you tway.

Flu. Captain Macmorris, I think, look you, under your correction, there is not many of your nation

Mac. Of my nation! What ish my nation? What ish my nation? Who talks of my nation, ish a villain, and a bastard, and a knave, and a rascal.b

Flu. Look take the matter otheryou you, if wise than is meant, captain Macmorris, peradventure I shall think you do not use me with

a Quit you-requite you-answer you."

b Upon the suggestion of a friend we have made a trans position here. The ordinary reading, as it appears in the folio is, line by line,

"Of my nation? What ish my nation? Ish a

villain, and a bastard, and a knave, and a rascal. What ish my nation? Who talks of my nation."

This is evidently one of the mistakes that often occur in printing. The second and third lines changed places, and the "Ish a" of the first line should have been at the end of what is printed as the third, whilst "What" of the second line should have gone at the end of the first.