O, FOR a muse of fire, that would ascend A kingdom for a stage, princes to act, Leash'd in, like hounds, should famine, sword, and fire, And let us, cyphers to this great accompt, Suppose, within the girdle of these walls Think, when we talk of horses, that you see them For 'tis your thoughts that now must deck our kings, Who, prologue-like, your humble patience pray, [1] This goes upon the notion of the Peripatetic system, which_imagined several heavens one above another; the last and highest of which was one of fire. WARB.-It alludes likewise to the aspiring nature of fire, which, by its levity, at the separation of the chaos, took the highest seat of all the elements. JOHNS. [2] This image of the warlike Henry very much resembles Montfaucon's description of the Mars discovered at Bresse, who leads a lion and a lioness in couples, and crouching for employment. TOLLET. [3] Nothing shows more evidently the power of custom over language, than that the frequent use of calling a circle an O could so much hide the meanness of the metaphor from Shakspeare, that he has used it many times where he makes his most eager attempts at dignity of style. [4] The helmets. JOHNS. [5] Imaginary for imaginative, your powers of fancy. JOHNS. JOHNS. KING HENRY V. ACT I. SCENE I-London. An Ante-chamber in the King's Palace. Enter the Archbishop of CANTERBURY, and Bishop of ELY. Canterbury. My lord, I'll tell you, that self bill is urg'd, Which, in the eleventh year o' the last king' reign Did push it out of further question. Ely. But how, my lord, shall we resist it now? Would they strip from us; being valued thus,- Of indigent faint souls, past corporal toil, A hundred alms-houses, right well supplied; And to the coffers of the king beside, A thousand pounds by the year: Thus runs the bill. Cant. 'Twould drink the cup and all. Ely. But what prevention? Cant. The king is full of grace, and fair regard. Ely. And a true lover of the holy church. Cant. The courses of his youth promis'd it not. But that his wildness, mortified in him, And whipp'd the offending Adam out of him ; To envelop and contain celestial spirits.5 With such a heady current, scouring faults; So soon did lose his seat, and all at once, Ely. We are blessed in the change. Cant. Hear him but reason in divinity, You would desire, the king were made a prelate : The Gordian knot of it he will unloose, Which is a wonder, how his grace should glean it His companies unletter'd, rude, and shallow; Any retirement, any sequestration Ely. The strawberry grows underneath the nettle; And wholesome berries thrive and ripen best, Neighbour'd by fruit of baser quality: And so the prince obscur'd his contemplation JOH. [5] As paradise, when sin and Adam were driveu out by the angel, became the habitation of celestial spirits, so the king's heart, since consideration has driven out his follies, is now the receptacle of wisdom and of virtue. [6] Alluding to the method by which Hercules cleansed the famous stables, when he turned a river through them Hercules is still in our author's head when he mentions the Hydra JOHNS [7] This line is exquisitely beautiful. JOHNS. STEEV. STEEV. Cant. It must be so: for miracles are ceas'd; And therefore we must needs admit the means, How things are perfected. Ely. But, my good lord, How now for mitigation of this bill Urg'd by the commons? Doth his majesty Cant. He seems indifferent; Or, rather, swaying more upon our part, And in regard of causes now in hand, Did to his predecessors part withal. Ely. How did this offer seem receiv'd, my lord? Of his true titles to some certain dukedoms ; Ely. What was the impediment that broke this off Cant. Then go we in to know his embassy; Which I could, with a ready guess, declare, Before the Frenchman speak a word of it. Ely. I'll wait upon you; and I long to hear it. [Exe. SCENE II. The same. A room of state in the same. Enter King HENRY, GLOSTER, BEDFORD, EXETER, WARWICK, WESTMORELAND, and others. K. Hen. Where is my gracious lord of Canterbury? Exe. Not here in presence. [2] Increasing in its proper power. JOHNS. "Crescit occulto velut arbor ævo. "Fama Marcelli." STEEV. [3] This line I suspect of corruption, though it may be fairly enough ex. 31* VOL. IV. K. Hen. Send for him, good uncle. West. Shall we call in the ambassador, my liege K. Hen. Not yet, my cousin ; we would be resolv'd, Before we hear him, of some things of weight, That task our thoughts, concerning us and France. Enter the Archbishop of CANTERBURY, and Bishop of ELY. Cant. God, and his angels, guard your sacred throne, And make you long become it! K. Hen. Sure, we thank you. My learned lord, we pray you to proceed; And justly and religiously unfold, Why the law Salique, that they have in France, Or should, or should not, bar us in our claim. And God forbid, my dear and faithful lord, That you should fashion, wrest, or bow your reading, Of what your reverence shall incite us to : Therefore take heed how you impawn our person, 5 'Gainst him, whose wrongs give edge unto the swords That make such waste in brief mortality. Under this conjuration, speak, my lord: And we will hear, note, and believe in heart, That what you speak is in your conscience wash'd As pure as sin with baptism. Can. Then hear me,gracious sovereign, and you peers, That owe your lives, your faith, and services, To this imperial throne ;-There is no bar plained the passages of his titles of the lines of succession by which his claims descended Unhidden is open, clear. JOHNS. [4] Take heed, lest by nice and subtle sophistry you burthen your knowing soul, or knowingly burthen your soul, with the guilt of advancing a false title, or of maintaining, by specious fallacies, a claim which, if shown in its native and true colours, would appear to be false. JOHNS. [5] The allusion here is to the game of chess, and to the disposition of the pawns with respect to the King, at the commencement of this mimetic HENLEY. contest. [5] This whole speech is copied (in a manner verbatim) from Hall's Chron icle, Henry V. year the second, folio iv. xx, xxx, xl. &c. POPE: |