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refers to some authentic historical record. The reinterment of the body of Richard II. is mentioned by Holinshed.

The wish expressed in the third scene of the fourth act for more men from England is improperly ascribed by Shakespeare to West. moreland, who was certainly at that time at his post as Warden of the Scottish Marshes. Contemporaries say that it was uttered by Sir Walter Hungerford.

Shakespeare again follows Holinshed in relating the appointment of the Duke of York to the command of the van: He appointed a van-ard, of the which he made Captain, Edward, Duke of York, who of an haughty courage had desired that office.'

The inhuman command of Henry to kill the prisoners is thus related: 'But when the outcry of the lackeys and boys which ran away for fear of the Frenchmen thus spoiling the camp, came to the king's ears, he, doubting lest his enemies should gather together again, and begin a new field, and mistrusting further that the prisoners would be an aid to his enemies, or the very enemies to their takers indeed, if they were suffered to live, contrary to his accustomed gentleness, commanded by sound of trumpet, that every man (upon pain of death) should incontinently kill his prisoner.'

In the enumeration of French slain and taken prisoners, Holinshed is closely followed: 'There were slain in all the French part to the number of ten thousand men, whereof were princes and noblemen bearing banners one hundred and twenty-and-six; to those of knights, esquires, and gentlemen, so many as made up the number of eight thousand and four hundred (of the which five hundred were dubbed knights the night before the battle), so as of the meaner sort not past sixteen hundred. Of Englishmen there died at this battle, Edward Duke of York, the Earl of Suffolk, Sir Richard Kelly, and Davie Gamme, esquire, and of all other not above five-and-twenty persons, as some do report.'

The fourth act closes with the king humbly attributing the victory to God alone :

'O God, Thy arm was here, And not to us, but to Thy arm alone Ascribe we all.'

The courtship scenes in the fifth act are entirely imaginary. The chorus of the fifth act conveys the victorious king home in triumph, all according to Holinshed:

'The Mayor of London, and the aldermen, appear in orient grand scarlet, and four hundred councilmen clad in beautiful murry, well mounted and trimly horsed, with rich collars and great chains, met the king on Blackheath, rejoicing at his return; and the clergy of London, with rich crosses, sumptuous copes, and massive censers, received him at St. Thomas of Walerings with solemn procession.

'The king, like a great and sober personage, and as one remembering from whom all victories are sent, seemed little to regard such

vain pomp and shows as were in triumphant sort devised for his welcoming home from so prosperous a journey. he would

wholly have the praise and thanks altogether given to God.'

There is in this play much rapidity of action; the events recorded passing over several years. It opens at the commencement of the reign of King Henry V., 1413, and closes with the marriage of Henry and Katharine of France, which took place in 1420, immediately after the Treaty of Troyes.

DRAMATIS PERSONÆ

KING HENRY V.
DUKE OF GLOSTER,

DUKE OF BEDFORD,

brothers to the King.

DUKE OF EXETER, uncle to the King.
DUKE OF YORK, cousin to the King.
EARL OF SALISBURY.

EARL OF WESTMORELAND.

EARL OF WARWICK.

ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY.

BISHOP OF ELY.

EARL OF CAMBRIDGE,

LORD SCROOP,

SIR THOMAS GREY,

conspirators against the King.

SIR THOMAS ERPINGHAM, GOWER, FLUELLEN, MACMORRIS, Jamy, officers in King Henry's army.

BATES, COURT, WILLIAMS, NYM, BARDOLPH, PISTOL, soldiers in King Henry's army-the three last formerly servants to Falstaff. Boy, servant to Nym, Bardolph, and Pistol.

A HERALD. CHORUS.

CHARLES VI., King of France.

LEWIS, the Dauphin.

DUKE OF BURGUNDY.

DUKE OF ORLEANS.

DUKE OF BOURBON.

THE CONSTABLE OF FRANCE.

RAMBURES,

GRANDPRÉ,

French lords.

GOVERNOR OF HARFLEUR.

MONTJOY, a French herald.

AMBASSADORS TO THE KING OF ENGLAND.

ISABEL, Queen of France.

KATHARINE, daughter of Charles and Isabel.

ALICE, a lady attending on the Princess Katharine.

QUICKLY, hostess of the Boar's Head Tavern, wife to Pistol.

LORDS, LADIES, OFFICERS, SOLDIERS, CITIZENS, MESSENGERS, AND ATTENDANTS.

SCENE: In England and in France.

KING HENRY V.

Enter CHORUS. 1

20 for a muse of fire, that would ascend
The brightest heaven of invention !

A kingdom for a stage, princes to act,
And monarchs to behold the swelling scene!
Then should the warlike Harry, like himself,
Assume the port of Mars; 3 and, at his heels,
Lash'd in like hounds, should famine, sword, and fire,
Crouch for employment. But, pardon, gentles all,
The flat unraised spirit, that hath dared
On this unworldly scaffold to bring forth
So great an object: Can this cockpit hold
The vasty fields of France? or may we cram
5 Within this wooden Othe very casques

That did affright the air at Agincourt?

1 Enter Chorus.-The old stage direction is Enter Prologue. The direction in the corrected folio, 1632, is altered to Enter Chorus, as Prologue.

20 for a muse of fire.-This alludes to the aspiring nature of fire, which, by its levity, at the separation of the chaos, took the highest seat of the elements.

3 And, at his heels, etc.-For the same thought compare:

'Shall in these confines, with a monarch's voice,

Cry "Havoc!" and let slip the dogs of war.'-Julius Cæsar. Vasty fields.-Y is frequently appended to a noun to form an adjective. Large, enormously great. Compare:

'I can call spirits from the vasty deep.'-1 Henry IV.

5 Within this wooden 0.-An allusion to the Globe Theatre, on the bankside, which was circular within. Probably the theatre where this drama was first acted.

The very casques.-The mere helmets.

O, pardon since a crooked figure may
1 Attest, in little place, a million;
And let us, ciphers to this great accompt,
On your 2 imaginary forces work:
Suppose, within the girdle of these walls
Are now confin'd two mighty monarchies,
Whose high upreared and abutting fronts
The perilous, narrow ocean parts asunder.
Piece out our imperfections with your thoughts;
Into a thousand parts divide one man,
And make imaginary puissance :

Think, when we talk of horses, that you see them
Printing their proud hoofs i' the receiving earth:
For 't is your thoughts that now must deck our kings,
Carry them here and there; jumping o'er times;
Turning the accomplishment of many years

5

Into an hour-glass; For the which supply,
Admit me chorus to this history;

Who, prologue-like, your humble patience pray,
Gently to hear, kindly to judge, our play.

1 In little place. -The article is frequently omitted with adjectives. Compare:

In humblest manner.'-Tempest.

2 Imaginary forces.-Imaginative, or your powers of fancy.

3 And make imaginary puissance.-The anonymous play of 'The Famous History of Thomas Stukely,' 1605, has a similar chorus: 'Your gentle favour we must needs entreat For rude presenting such a royal fight. Which more imagination must supply

Than all our utmost strength can reach unto.'

Jumping o'er times.-Passing as by a leap. Compare: 'Here, upon the bank and shelve of time,

We'd jump the life to come.'-Macbeth.

5 Accomplishment.-Full completion. French, accomplissement.

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