Con. Nor will do none to-morrow: he will keep that good name still.

Orl. I know him to be valiant.

Con. I was told that by one that knows him better than you.

Orl. What's he?

Con. Marry, he told me so himself; and he said he cared not who knew it.

Orl. He needs not; it is no hidden virtue in him.

Con. By my faith, sir, but it is; never any body saw it but his lacquey: 'tis a hooded valour; and when it appears, it will bate.8

Orl. Ill-will never said well.

Con. I will cap that proverb with-There is flattery in friendship.

Orl. And I will take up that with Give the Devil his due.

Con. Well placed: there stands your friend for the Devil : have at the very eye of that proverb, with—A pox of the Devil.

Orl. You are the better at proverbs, by how much- -A fool's bolt9 is soon shot.

Con. You have shot over.

Orl. 'Tis not the first time you were overshot.10

Enter a Messenger.

8 This pun depends upon the equivocal use of bate. When a hawk is unhooded, her first action is to bate, that is, beat her wings, or flutter. The Constable would insinuate that the Dauphin's courage, when he prepares for encounter, will bate, that is, soon diminish or evaporate. Hooded is blindfolded.

9 A bolt was a short, thick, blunt arrow, for shooting near objects, and so requiring little or no skill. See Much Ado, page 25, note 6.

10 Overshot, here, probably means disgraced or put to shame; though one of its meanings is intoxicated.

Mess. My Lord High-Constable, the English lie within fifteen hundred paces of your tents.

Con. Who hath measured the ground?

Mess. The Lord Grandpré.

Con. A valiant and most expert gentleman.-Would it were day! Alas, poor Harry of England! he longs not for the dawning, as we do.

Orl. What a wretched and peevish 11 fellow is this King of England, to mope with his fat-brain'd followers so far out of his knowledge!

Con. If the English had any apprehension,12 they would

run away.

Orl. That they lack; for if their heads had any intellectual armour, they could never wear such heavy head-pieces.

Ram. That island of England breeds very valiant creatures; their mastiffs are of unmatchable courage.

Orl. Foolish curs, that run winking into the mouth of a Russian bear, and have their heads crush'd like rotten apples! You may as well say, that's a valiant flea that dare eat his breakfast on the lip of a lion.

Con. Just, 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.

Orl. Ay, but these English are shrewdly out of beef.

11 Peevish was often used in the sense of mad or foolish. So in The Comedy of Errors, iv. 1: "How now! a madman? why, thou peevish sheep, what ship of Epidamnum stays for me?". To mope is to move or act languidly or drowsily, or as in a half-conscious state. — - The Poet uses fatbrain'd and fat-witted for dull or stupid.

12 Apprehension for mental quickness, intelligence, or aptness to perceive; as to apprehend is, properly, to grasp, seize, or lay hold of.

Con. Then 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?

Orl. It is now two o'clock: but, let me see,—by ten We shall have each a hundred Englishmen.

[Exeunt.

ACT IV.

Enter Chorus.

Chor. Now entertain conjecture of a time

When creeping murmur and the poring1 dark
Fills the wide vessel of the Universe.

From camp to camp, through the foul womb of night,
The hum of either army stilly sounds,

That the fix'd sentinels 2 almost receive

The secret whispers of each other's watch:
Fire answers fire; and through their paly flames
Each battle sees the other's umber'd3 face:
Steed threatens steed, in high and boastful neighs
Piercing the night's dull ear; and from the tents,

1 To pore is to look intently, heedfully, or with strained vision; and poring is here, no doubt, an instance of what is called transferred epithet: the darkness in which we look as aforesaid, or grope.

2 That is, the sentinels stationed, or remaining at their posts. - That has the force of so that; a very frequent usage.

3 It has been said that the distant visages of the soldiers would appear of an umber colour when beheld through the light of midnight fires. I suspect that nothing more is meant than shadow'd face. The epithet paly flames is against the other interpretation. Umbre for shadow is common in our elder writers.

The armourers, accomplishing the knights,
With busy hammers closing rivets up,4
Give dreadful note of preparation :

The country cocks do crow, the clocks do toll,
And the third hour of drowsy morning name.
Proud of their numbers, and secure in soul,
The confident and over-lusty French
Do the low-rated English play at dice ;5
And chide the cripple tardy-gaited night,
Who, like a foul and ugly witch, doth limp
So tediously away. The poor condemnèd English,
Like sacrifices, by their watchful fires

Sit patiently, and inly ruminate

The morning's danger; and their gesture sad
Investing lank-lean cheeks, and war-worn coats,
Presenteth them unto the gazing Moon

So many horrid ghosts. O, now, who will behold
The royal captain of this ruin'd band

4 This does not solely refer to the riveting the plate armour before it was put on, but also to a part when it was on. The top of the cuirass had a little projecting bit of iron that passed through a hole in the bottom of the casque. When both were put on, the armourer presented himself, with his riveting hammer, to close the rivet up.

5 The Poet took this from Holinshed: "The Frenchmen in the meane while, as though they had beene sure of victorie, made great triumph; for the capteins had determined how to divide the spoile, and the soldiers the night before had plaid the Englishmen at dice."

6 The metaphor of a gesture investing cheeks seems rather harsh and strained. But gesture, in the sense of the Latin original, may very well be used of a look, or any form of expression addressed to the eye. And to speak of a look as overspreading or covering the face, is legitimate enough. We have a like figure in Much Ado, iv. 1: "I am so attired in wonder." Also, in Sidney's Astrophel : “ Anger invests the face with a lovely grace." -Perhaps it should be added that and connects coats to gesture, not to cheeks: "and their war-worn coats." See Critical Notes.

Walking from watch to watch, from tent to tent,
Let him cry, Praise and glory on his head!
For forth he goes and visits all his host;
Bids them good morrow with a modest smile,
And calls them brothers, friends, and countrymen.
Upon his royal face there is no note

How dread an army hath enrounded him ;
Nor doth he dedicate one jot of colour
Unto the weary and all-watchèd night;
But freshly looks, and over-bears attaint
With cheerful semblance and sweet majesty ;
That every wretch, pining and pale before,
Beholding him, plucks comfort from his looks:
A largess universal, like the Sun,

His liberal eye doth give to every one,
Thawing cold fear; that mean and gentle all
Behold, as may unworthiness define,
A little touch of Harry in the night.8
And so our scene must to the battle fly;
Where-O for pity!—we shall much disgrace
With four or five most vile and ragged foils,
Right ill-disposed in brawl ridiculous,
The name of Agincourt. Yet, sit and see;
Minding true things by what their mockeries be.

[Exit.

7 Attaint, or taint, was often used for attainture or attainder, in the sense of impeachment or accusation. The meaning is, that the King by his brave and cheerful look overcomes all disposition on the part of the soldiers to blame or reproach him for the plight they are in.

8 The meaning, as I take it, is, "so that, to describe the thing inadequately, men of all ranks in the army get a little glimpse or taste of Harry in the night." See Critical Notes.

9 Minding, here, is the same as calling to mind.

3