43. Iceland dog:-In a treatise by Abraham Fleming, Of English Dogges, 1576, occurs the following: "Iceland dogges, curled and rough all over, which, by reason of the length of their heare, make show neither of face nor of body. And yet thes curres, forsoothe, because they are so strange, are greatly set by, esteemed, taken up, and made of, many times instead of the spaniell gentle or comforter." Island cur is again used as a term of contempt in Epigrams served out in Fifty-two several Dishes:— "He wears a gown lac'd round, laid down with furre, Or, miser-like, a pouch where never man Could thrust his finger, but this island curre." Scene II. 1. these traitors:-Ulrici says: "The life of the just and gracious prince is threatened by the treacherous and murderous designs of a few ambitious and rapacious barons; the blackest ingratitude and faithlessness embitter his position as King and disappoint his fairest hopes. The representation of the conspiracy of the Earl of Cambridge, Grey and Scroop, which is interwoven as an episode, explains the significance of the whole. Accordingly Henry V., following his father's advice as well as his own judgement, has to endeavour to withdraw the attention of the people and the nobles from internal affairs of the state. Even though the war with France originated in reality from another and deeper reason, still Henry's own personal object was his chief motive in beginning the campaign so hurriedly and almost without preparation. And although the war at first had an outwardly glorious termination, owing to Henry's heroic strength, and the superior valour and ability of the English nation, still it was this very war which subsequently became a source of misery to England." 66 126, 127. O, how hast thou, etc.:- Shakespeare," says Johnson, uses this aggravation of the guilt of treachery with great judgement. One of the worst consequences of breach of trust is the diminution of that confidence which makes the happiness of life, and the dissemination of suspicion, which is the poison of society." 140-142. I will weep, etc.:-Lord Scroop has already been spoken of as having been the King's bedfellow. Holinshed gives the following account of him: "The said Lord Scroope was in such favour with the King, that he admitted him sometime to be his bedfellow, in whose fidelitie the King reposed such trust, that when anie privat or publike councell was in hand, this lord had much in the determination of it. For he represented so great gravities in his countenance, such modestie in behaviour, and so vertuous zeale to all godlinesse in his talke, that whatsoever he said was thought for the most part necessarie to be doone and followed." 66 155-157. For me intended:-" Diverse write," says Holinshed, that Richard Earle of Cambridge did not conspire with the Lord Scroope and Thomas Graie for the murthering of King Henrie, to please the French king withall, but onelie to the intent to exalt to the crowne his brother-in-law, Edmund Earle of Marche, as heir to Lionel Duke of Clarence; who being for diverse secrcet impediments not able to have issue, the Earle of Cambridge was sure that the crowne should come to him by his wife, and to his children of her begotten. And therefore (as was thought) he rather confessed himselfe for neede of monie to be corrupted by the French king, lest the Earle of Marche should have tasted of the same cuppe that he had drunken, and what should have come to his owne children he much doubted." 177-181. Get you therefore hence offences:-So in Holinshed: Revenge herein touching my person, though I seeke not; yet for safegard of you, my deere freends, and for due preservation of all sorts, I am by office to cause example to be showed. Get ye hence, therefore, ye poore miserable wretches, to the receiving of your just reward, wherein Gods majestie give ye grace of his mercie, and repentance of your heinous offenses." Scene IV. 26. so idly king'd:-The Dauphin, less original than Hotspur, but without a spark of his real heroism, misconstrues Henry. Shakespeare plays with visible pleasure upon the tennis-ball motive which he found in Holinshed. He makes the English envoys to the French camp deliver a special message of scorn to the Dauphin; and the Dauphin, in spite of history and his father's orders, figures in the French camp at Agincourt. But the Dauphin is only an extreme type of the fatuous intoxication which possesses the whole host, and is chiefly responsible for its overthrow. Agincourt is the duel of Shrewsbury, writ large; with the difference that there is here no counterpart to the pathos of the mourning for Hotspur. A few wild curses and cries of rage suffice to sum up the immeasurably greater tragedy of the French rout. ACT THIRD. Prologue. 33. the devilish cannon:—Of course Shakespeare was a reader of Spenser, and this passage yields a slight trace of his reading. Thus in The Faerie Queene, i. 7-13:— "... that divelish yron engin, wrought In deepest hell, and fram'd by Furies skill, Scene I, [Before Harfleur.] The main action of Henry V. consists in the invasion of France with thirty thousand men, twenty-four thousand of whom were foot-soldiers, and six thousand horse. The embarkation of these forces was made from Southampton, in fifteen hundred ships, on the 11th of August, 1415, and the whole were landed on the coast of France on the second day afterwards. The first exploit of this army was to lay siege to Harfleur, for, in those days of pikes and crossbows, prudent commanders never ventured to advance into an enemy's country with walled towns behind them. The place surrendered on the 22nd of September, after a siege of thirty-six days, when Henry, finding that his force had been reduced to less than half its former numbers by battle and disease, determined to fall back on Calais. For the execution of this movement, according to the English chroniclers, the army remaining to him could not have amounted to much more than eight thousand fighting men in all. "A place there is, where proudly rais'd there stands Scene II. 3. Pray thee, corporal:—It appears (II. i. 2) that Bardolph has been lifted up from a corporal into a lieutenant since our acquaintance with him in Henry IV., and that Nym has succeeded him in the former rank. It is not quite certain whether the Poet forgot the fact here, or whether Nym, being used to call him corporal, in his fright loses his new title. Scene III. [King Henry.] Knight says that "skilfully as he has managed it, and magnificent as the whole drama is as a great national song of triumph, there can be no doubt that Shakespeare felt that in this play he was dealing with a theme too narrow for his peculiar powers the subject being altogether one of lyric gran. deur. And yet, how exquisitely has Shakespeare thrown his dramatic power into this undramatic subject! The character of the King is one of the most finished portraits that has proceeded from his master hand. It was for him to embody in the person of Henry V. the principle of national heroism; it was for him to call forth the spirit of patriotic reminiscence." Scene IV. [Enter Katharine and Alice.] Touching this Scene various grounds have been taken, some pronouncing it ridiculous, others rejecting it as an interpolation, and others wondering that Katharine and Alice should be made to speak French, when the other French characters talk English. We cannot well see why anything better should be asked than Johnson's remarks on the subject: "The grimaces of the two Frenchwomen, and the odd accent with which they uttered the English, might divert an audience more refined than could be found in the Poet's time. There is in it not only the French language, but the French spirit. Alice compliments the princess upon the knowledge of four words, and tells her that she pronounces like the English themselves. The princess suspects no deficiency in her instructress, nor the instructress in herself. The extraordinary circumstance of introducing a character speaking French in an English drama was no novelty to our early stage." Scene V. 33. lavoltas . . corantos:-The lavolta was a dance of Italian origin, and seems to have been something like the modern waltz, only, perhaps, rather more so. It is thus described by Sir John Davies in his Orchestra:— "A lofty jumping, or a leaping round, Where arm in arm two dancers are entwin'd, And whirl themselves with strict embracements bound, An anapest is all their music's song, Whose first two feet are short, and third is long." The coranto comes in for a like share of his poetical touching: "What shall I name those current traverses, Close by the ground, with sliding passages, Scene VI. 3, 4. I assure you . . . bridge:-After Henry had passed the Somme, the French endeavoured to intercept him in his passage to Calais; and for that purpose attempted to break down the only bridge that there was over the small river of Ternois. But Henry had notice of their design, and sent a part of his troops before him, who, attacking and putting the French to flight, preserved the bridge till the whole English army arrived and passed over it. 42. For he hath stolen a pax:-Holinshed makes the following statement respecting the discipline kept up in this expedition : "The poore people of the countrie were not spoiled, nor anie thing taken of them without paiment, nor anie outrage or offense doone by the Englishmen, except one, which was, that a souldier tooke a pix out of a church, for which he was apprehended, and the King not once remooved till the box was restored, and the offendor strangled." Of course the Poet drew from this passage, changing pix to par, and assigning the theft to Bardolph. 147-174. Thou dost thy office, etc. :-The Poet here follows very |