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Pist. Captain, I thee beseech to do me favours: The Duke of Exeter doth love thee well.

Flu. Ay, I praise Heaven; and I have merited some love at his hands.

Pist. Bardolph, a soldier, firm and sound of heart, Of buxom valour, hath,-by cruel fate,

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And giddy fortune's furious fickle wheel,
That goddess blind,

That stands upon the rolling restless stone,

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Flu. By your patience, ancient Pistol. Fortune is painted plind, with a muffler before her eyes, to signify to you that fortune is plind; And she is painted also with a wheel, to signify to you, which is the moral of it, that she is turning, and inconstant, and variations, and mutabilities: and her foot, look you, is fixed upon a spherical stone, which rolls, and rolls, and rolls :-In good truth, the poet makes a most excellent description of fortune: fortune, look you, is an excellent moral.

Pist. Fortune is Bardolph's foe, and frowns on him; For he has stolen a pix, and hang'd must 'a be. (B)

A damned death!

Let gallows gape for dog; let man go free, [Crosses to L.H. But Exeter hath given the doom of death,

For pix of little price.

Therefore, go speak, the duke will hear thy voice;

And let not Bardolph's vital thread be cut

With edge of penny cord and vile reproach:

Speak, captain, for his life, and I will thee requite.

[Crosses to R.H.

Flu. Ancient Pistol, I do partly understand your meaning. Pist. Why, then, rejoice therefore.

Flu. Certainly, ancient, it is not a thing to rejoice at: for if, look you, he were my prother, I would desire the

Of buxom valour,] i.e., valour under good command, obedient to its superiors. The word is used by Spencer.

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upon the rolling restless stone,-] Fortune is described by several ancient authors in the same words.

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with a muffler before her eyes,] A muffler was a sort of veil, or wrapper, worn by ladies in Shakespeare's time, chiefly covering the chin and throat.

9 For he hath stolen a pix,] A pix, or little chest (from the Latin word pixis, a box), in which the consecrated host was used to be kept.

duke to use his goot pleasure, and put him to executions;

for disciplines ought to be used.

Pist. Fico for thy friendship!10

Flu. It is well.

Pist. The fig of Spain!"

[Exit PISTOL, R.H.

Flu. Very goot.

Gow. Why, this is an arrant counterfeit rascal; a cutpurse; I remember him now;

Flu. I'll assure you, 'a utter'd as prave 'ords at the pridge as you shall see in a summer's day.

Gow. Why, 'tis a gull, a fool, a rogue, that now and then goes to the wars, to grace himself, at his return into London, under the form of a soldier. You must learn to know such slanders of the age, or else you may be marvellously mistook.

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Flu. I tell you what, Captain Gower;-I do perceive, he is not the man that he would gladly make show to the 'orld he is if I find a hole in his coat, I will tell him my mind. [March heard.] Hark you, the king is coming; and I must speak with him from the pridge.12

Enter KING HENRY, BEDFORD, GLOSTER, WESTMORELAND, Lords, and Soldiers, L.H.U.E.

Flu. (R.) Heaven pless your majesty!

K. Hen. (c.) How now, Fluellen! cam'st thou from the bridge?

Flu. Ay, so please your majesty. The duke of Exeter has very gallantly maintained the pridge: the French has gone off, look you; and there is gallant and most prave passages: Marry, th'athversary was have possession of the pridge; but he is enforced to retire, and the duke of Exeter is master of the pridge; I can tell your majesty, the duke is a prave man.

10 Fico for thy friendship!] Fico is fig-it was a term of reproach.

11 The fig of Spain!] An expression of contempt or insult, which consisted in thrusting the thumb between two of the closed fingers, or into the mouth; whence Bite the thumb. The custom is generally regarded as being originally Spanish-NARES.

12---- such slanders of the age,] Cowardly braggarts were not uncommon characters with the old dramatic writers.

13 - I must speak with him from the pridge.] From for aboutconcerning the fight that had taken place there.

K. Hen. What men have you lost, Fluellen?

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Flu. The perdition of th'athversary hath been very great, very reasonable great: marry, for my part, I think the duke hath lost never a man, but one that is like to be executed for robbing a church, one Bardolph, if your majesty knows the man: his face is all bubukles, and whelks, and knobs, and flames of fire: and his lips plows at his nose, and it is like a coal of fire, sometimes plue, and sometimes red; his nose is executed, and his fire's out.16 K. Hen. We would have all such offenders so cut off. [Trumpet sounds without, R.

Enter MONTJOY and Attendants, R.H.

but

Mont. (kneels, and then rising, stands with cap in hand.) You know me by my habit."

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K. Hen. Well,then, I know thee: What shall I know of thee? Mont. My master's mind.

K. Hen. Unfold it.

Mont. Thus says my king:-Say thou to Harry of England: Though we seemed dead, we did but sleep. Tell him, he shall repent his folly, see his weakness, and admire our sufferance.18 Bid him, therefore, consider of his ransom; which must proportion the losses we have borne, the subjects we have lost, the disgrace we have digested. For our losses, his exchequer is too poor; for the effusion of our blood, the muster of his kingdom too faint a number; and for our disgrace, his own person, kneeling at our feet, but a weak and worthless satisfaction. To this add-defiance: and tell him, for conclusion, he hath betrayed his followers, whose condemnation is pronounced. So far my king and master; so much my office.

K. Hen. What is thy name? I know thy quality.
Mont. Montjoy.

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like them.

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bubukles,] A corrupt word for carbuncles, or something

and whelks,] i. e., stripes, marks, discolorations.

his fire's out.] This is the last time that any sport can be made with the red face of Bardolph.

17 by my habit,] That is, by his herald's coat. The person of a herald being inviolable, was distinguished in those times of formality by a peculiar dress, which is likewise yet worn on particular occasions.

18 admire our sufferance.] i.e., our patience, moderation.

K. Hen. Thou dost thy office fairly. Turn thee back,
And tell thy king,—I do not seek him now;
But could be willing to march on to Calais
Without impeachment :19 for, to say the sooth
(Though 'tis no wisdom to confess so much
Unto an enemy of craft and vantage),
My people are with sickness much enfeebled;
My numbers lessen'd; and those few I have,
Almost no better than so many French;

Who, when they were in health, I tell thee, herald,
I thought, upon one pair of English legs,

Did march three Frenchmen.-Forgive me, Heaven,
That I do brag thus !—this your air of France
Hath blown that vice in me; I must repent.
Go, therefore, tell thy master here I am;
My ransom is this frail and worthless trunk ;
My army, but a weak and sickly guard :

Yet, Heaven before,20 tell him we will come on,

Though France himself,21 and such another neighbour,
Stand in our way. There's for thy labour, Montjoy.
Go, bid thy master well advise himself:

If we may pass, we will; if we be hinder'd,
We shall your tawny ground with your red blood
Discolour: (c) and so, Montjoy, fare you well.
The sum of all our answer is but this:
We would not seek a battle, as we are;
Nor, as we are, we say, we will not shun it :
So tell your master.

Mont. I shall deliver so.

Thanks to your highness. [Exit MONTJOY with Attendants, R.H,

Glo. I hope they will not come upon us now.

K. Hen. We are in Heaven's hand, brother, not in theirs.

March to the bridge; it now draws toward night:

Beyond the river we'll encamp ourselves;

And on to-morrow bid them march away.

March.

[Exeunt, R.H.

19 Without impeachment :] i.e., hindrance. Empechement, French. 20 Yet, Heaven before,] In the acting edition, the name of God is changed to Heaven. This was an expression in Shakespeare's time for God being my guide.

21 Though France himself,] i.e., though the King of France himself,

END OF ACT THIRD.

D

HISTORICAL NOTES TO ACT THIRD.

(4) Come you from the bridge?] After Henry had passed the Somme, Titus Livius asserts, that the King having been informed of a river which must be crossed, over which was a bridge, and that his progress depended in a great degree upon securing possession of it, despatched some part of his forces to defend it from any attack, or from being destroyed. They found many of the enemy ready to receive them, to whom they gave battle, and after a severe conflict, they captured the bridge, and kept it.

(B) Fortune is Bardolph's foe, and frowns on him ;

For he hath stol'n a pix, and hanged must 'a be.] It will be seen by the following extract from the anonymous Chronicler how minutely Shakespeare has adhered to history-"There was brought to the King in that plain a certain English robber, who, contrary to the laws of God and the Royal Proclamation, had stolen from a church a pix of copper gilt, found in his sleeve, which he hap pened to mistake for gold, in which the Lord's body was kept; and in the next village where he passed the night, by decree of the King, he was put to death on the gallows." Titus Livius relates that Henry commanded his army to halt until the sacrilege was expiated. He first caused the pix to be restored to the Church, and the offender was then led, bound as a thief, through the army, and afterwards hung upon a tree, that every man might behold him.

(c) Go, bid thy master well advise himself: If we may pass, we will; if we be hinder'd, We shall your tawny ground with your red blood

Discolour:] My desire is, that none of you be so unadvised, as to be the occasion that I in my defence shall colour and makę red your tawny ground with the effusion of Christian blood. When he (Henry) had thus answered the Herald, he gave him a great reward, and licensed him to depart.-Holinshed.

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