Whiles that his mountain fire,-on mountain ftanding,
Up in the air, crown'd with the golden fun,-
Saw his heroical feed, and fmil'd to fee him
Mangle the work of nature, and deface
The patterns that by God and by French fathers
Had twenty years been made. This is a ftem
Of that victorious stock; and let us fear
The native mightiness and fate of him.
Me. Ambaffadors from Henry King of England Do crave admittance to your majesty.
Fr. King. We'll give them prefent audience. Go, and
[Exeunt Meff. and certain Lords.
You fee, this chase is hotly follow'd, friends.
Dau. Turn head, and stop pursuit: for coward dogs Most spend their mouths, when what they seem to threaten, Runs far before them. Good my fovereign,
Take up the English short; and let them know
Of what a monarchy you are the head :
Self-love, my liege, is not fo vile a fin,
As felf-neglecting.
Re-enter Lords, with EXETER and Train.
From our brother England?
Exe. From him; and thus he greets your majesty.
He wills you, in the name of God Almighty,
That you divest yourself, and lay apart
The borrow'd glories, that, by gift of heaven,
By law of nature, and of nations, 'long
To him, and to his heirs; namely, the crown,
And all wide-ftretched honours that pertain,
By cuftom and the ordinance of times,
Unto the crown of France. That you may know,
'Tis no finifter, nor no aukward claim,
Pick'd from the worm-holes of long-vanish'd days,
Nor from the duft of old oblivion rak'd,
He fends you this most memorable line, [Gives a paper.
In every branch truly demonftrative;
Willing you, overlook this pedigree:
And, when you find him evenly deriv'd
From his moft fam'd of famous ancestors,
Edward the third, he bids
Your crown and kingdom, indirectly held
From him the native and true challenger.
Fr. King. Or elfe what follows?
Exe. Bloody constraint; for if you hide the crown
Even in your hearts, there will he rake for it:
And therefore in fierce tempeft is he coming,
In thunder, and in earthquake, like a Jove;
(That, if requiring fail, he will compel ;)
And bids you, in the bowels of the Lord,
Deliver up the crown ; and to take mercy
On the poor fouls, for whom this hungry war
Opens his vafty jaws : and on your head
Turns he the widows' tears, the orphans' cries,
The dead men's blood, the pining maidens' groans,
For husbands, fathers, and betrothed lovers,
That shall be swallow'd in this controversy.
This is his claim, his threat'ning, and my meffage;
Unless the Dauphin be in presence here,
To whom expressly I bring greeting too.
Fr. King. For us, we will confider of this further: To-morrow fhall you bear our full intent
Back to our brother of England.
I stand here for him; What to him from England ?
Exe. Scorn, and defiance; slight regard, contempt,
And any thing that may not misbecome
The mighty fender, doth he prize you at.
Thus fays my king: and, if your father's highness
Do not, in grant of all demands at large,
Sweeten the bitter mock you fent his majesty,
He'll call you to fo hot an answer for it,
That caves and womby vaultages of France
Shall chide your trespass, and return your mock
In fecond accent of his ordnance.
Dau. Say, if my father render fair reply,
It is against my will: for I defire
Nothing but odds with England; to that end,
As matching to his youth and vanity,
I did present him with those Paris balls.
Exe. He'll make your Paris Louvre fhake for it,
Were it the mistress court of mighty Europe:
And, be affur'd, you'll find a difference,
(As we, his fubjects, have in wonder found,)
Between the promise of his greener days,
And these he masters now; now he weighs time,
Even to the utmost grain; which you fhall read
In your own loffes, if he ftay in France.
Fr. King. To-morrow shall you know our mind at full. Exe. Defpatch us with all speed, left that our king Come here himself to question our delay;
For he is footed in this land already.
Fr. King. You shall be foon defpatch'd, with fair con
A night is but small breath, and little pause,
To answer matters of this confequence.
Cho. Thus with imagin'd wing our swift scene flies,
In motion of no lefs celerity
Than that of thought. Suppofe, that you have seen
The well-appointed king at Hampton pier
Embark his royalty; and his brave fleet
With filken streamers the young Phoebus fanning.
Play with your fancies; and in them behold,
Upon the hempen tackle, flipboys climbing:
Hear the fhrill whistle, which doth order give
To founds confus'd: behold the threaden fails,
Borne with the invisible and creeping wind,
Draw the huge bottoms through the furrow'd fea,
Breafting the lofty furge: O, do but think,
You ftand upon the rivage, and behold
A city on the inconftant billows dancing;
For fo appears this fleet majestical,
Holding due courfe to Harfleur. Follow, follow!
Grapple your minds to fternage of this navy;
And leave your England, as dead midnight, ftill,
Guarded with grandfires, babies, and old women,
Either past, or not arriv'd to, pith and puissance :
For who is he, whofe 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 fee a fiege:
Behold the ordnance on their carriages,
With fatal mouths gaping on girded Harfleur.
Suppofe, 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.
The offer likes not: and the nimble gunner
With linftock now the devilish cannon touches,
[Alarum, and chambers go off.
And down goes all before them. Still be kind,
And eke out our performance with your mind.
The fame. Before Harfleur.
Alarums. Enter King HENRY, EXETER, BEDFORD, GLOSTER, and Soldiers, with fcaling ladders.
K. Hen. Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;
Or close the wall up with our English dead!
In peace, there's nothing fo becomes a man,
As modeft ftillness, and humility:
But when the blaft of war blows in our ears,
Then imitate the action of the tiger;
Stiffen the finews, fummon up the blood,
Difguife fair nature with hard-favour'd rage:
Then lend the eye a terrible afpéct ;
Let it pry through the portage of the head,
Like the brass cannon; let the brow o'erwhelm it,
As fearfully, as doth a galled rock
O'erhang and jutty his confounded base,
Swill'd with the wild and wasteful ocean.
Now fet the teeth, and stretch the nostril wide;
Hold hard the breath, and bend up every spirit
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