I am glad of it: a knavish speech sleeps in a


My lord, you must tell us where the body is, and go


The body is with the king, but the king is not with


Of nothing: bring me to him. Hide fox, and all after.


I have sent to seek him, and to find the body.


How dangerous is it that this man goes loose!


Yet must not we put the strong law on him:


Who like not in their judgment, but their eyes;


And where tis so, the offenders scourge is weighd,


But never the offence. To bear all smooth and even,


Deliberate pause: diseases desperate grown


Where the dead body is bestowd, my lord,


Without, my lord; guarded, to know your pleasure.


Not where he eats, but where he is eaten: a certain


convocation of politic worms are een at him. Your


worm is your only emperor for diet: we fat all


creatures else to fat us, and we fat ourselves for


maggots: your fat king and your lean beggar is but


variable service, two dishes, but to one table:


A man may fish with the worm that hath eat of a


king, and cat of the fish that hath fed of that worm.


Nothing but to show you how a king may go a


In heaven; send hither to see: if your messenger


find him not there, seek him i the other place


yourself. But indeed, if you find him not within


this month, you shall nose him as you go up the


Hamlet, this deed, for thine especial safety,--


For that which thou hast done,--must send thee hence


With fiery quickness: therefore prepare thyself;


The bark is ready, and the wind at help,


The associates tend, and every thing is bent


I see a cherub that sees them. But, come; for


My mother: father and mother is man and wife; man


and wife is one flesh; and so, my mother. Come, for England!


Follow him at foot; tempt him with speed aboard;


Delay it not; Ill have him hence to-night:


That else leans on the affair: pray you, make haste.


And, England, if my love thou holdst at aught--


As my great power thereof may give thee sense,


Since yet thy cicatrice looks raw and red


After the Danish sword, and thy free awe


Pays homage to us--thou mayst not coldly set


Our sovereign process; which imports at full,


The present death of Hamlet. Do it, England;


For like the hectic in my blood he rages,


And thou must cure me: till I know tis done,


Howeer my haps, my joys were neer begun.


Enter FORTINBRAS, a Captain, and Soldiers, marching


Go, captain, from me greet the Danish king;


Tell him that, by his licence, Fortinbras


Craves the conveyance of a promised march


Over his kingdom. You know the rendezvous.


If that his majesty would aught with us,


Enter HAMLET, ROSENCRANTZ, GUILDENSTERN, and others


Goes it against the main of Poland, sir,


To pay five ducats, five, I would not farm it;


A ranker rate, should it be sold in fee.


Why, then the Polack never will defend it.


Two thousand souls and twenty thousand ducats


Will not debate the question of this straw:


This is the imposthume of much wealth and peace,


That inward breaks, and shows no cause without


Why the man dies. I humbly thank you, sir.


Ill be with you straight go a little before.


And spur my dull revenge! What is a man,


If his chief good and market of his time


Be but to sleep and feed? a beast, no more.


Sure, he that made us with such large discourse,


To fust in us unused. Now, whether it be


Bestial oblivion, or some craven scruple


A thought which, quarterd, hath but one part wisdom


And ever three parts coward, I do not know


Why yet I live to say This things to do;


Sith I have cause and will and strength and means


To dot. Examples gross as earth exhort me:


Witness this army of such mass and charge


To all that fortune, death and danger dare,


Even for an egg-shell. Rightly to be great


When honours at the stake. How stand I then,


That have a father killd, a mother staind,


And let all sleep? while, to my shame, I see


The imminent death of twenty thousand men,


Go to their graves like beds, fight for a plot


Whereon the numbers cannot try the cause,


To hide the slain? O, from this time forth,


My thoughts be bloody, or be nothing worth!


SCENE V. Elsinore. A room in the castle.


Enter QUEEN GERTRUDE, HORATIO, and a Gentleman


She speaks much of her father; says she hears


Theres tricks i the world; and hems, and beats her heart;


Spurns enviously at straws; speaks things in doubt,


That carry but half sense: her speech is nothing,


The hearers to collection; they aim at it,


And botch the words up fit to their own thoughts;


Which, as her winks, and nods, and gestures


Indeed would make one think there might be thought,


Though nothing sure, yet much unhappily.


Twere good she were spoken with; for she may strew


Dangerous conjectures in ill-breeding minds.


To my sick soul, as sins true nature is,


Each toy seems prologue to some great amiss:


It spills itself in fearing to be spilt.


Where is the beauteous majesty of Denmark?


Alas, sweet lady, what imports this song?


White his shroud as the mountain snow,--


Well, God ild you! They say the owl was a bakers


daughter. Lord, we know what we are, but know not


Pray you, lets have no words of this; but when they


Indeed, la, without an oath, Ill make an end ont:


I hope all will be well. We must be patient: but I


cannot choose but weep, to think they should lay him


i the cold ground. My brother shall know of it:


and so I thank you for your good counsel. Come, my


coach! Good night, ladies; good night, sweet ladies;


O, this is the poison of deep grief; it springs


All from her fathers death. O Gertrude, Gertrude,


When sorrows come, they come not single spies


But in battalions. First, her father slain:


Next, your son gone; and he most violent author


Of his own just remove: the people muddied,


Thick and unwholesome in their thoughts and whispers,


For good Polonius death; and we have done but greenly,


In hugger-mugger to inter him: poor Ophelia


Divided from herself and her fair judgment,


Without the which we are pictures, or mere beasts:


Last, and as much containing as all these,


Her brother is in secret come from France;


Feeds on his wonder, keeps himself in clouds,


With pestilent speeches of his fathers death;


Will nothing stick our person to arraign


In ear and ear. O my dear Gertrude, this,


Like to a murdering-piece, in many places


Where are my Switzers? Let them guard the door.


Eats not the flats with more impetuous haste


Oerbears your officers. The rabble call him lord;


And, as the world were now but to begin,


They cry Choose we: Laertes shall be king:


Caps, hands, and tongues, applaud it to the clouds:


How cheerfully on the false trail they cry!


O, this is counter, you false Danish dogs!


Where is this king? Sirs, stand you all without.


I thank you: keep the door. O thou vile king,


That drop of blood thats calm proclaims me bastard,


Cries cuckold to my father, brands the harlot


Even here, between the chaste unsmirched brow


Let him go, Gertrude; do not fear our person:


That treason can but peep to what it would,


Acts little of his will. Tell me, Laertes,


Why thou art thus incensed. Let him go, Gertrude.


How came he dead? Ill not be juggled with:


To hell, allegiance! vows, to the blackest devil!


Conscience and grace, to the profoundest pit!


I dare damnation. To this point I stand,


That both the worlds I give to negligence,


Let come what comes; only Ill be revenged


And for my means, Ill husband them so well,


Of your dear fathers death, ist writ in your revenge,


That, swoopstake, you will draw both friend and foe,


To his good friends thus wide Ill ope my arms;


And like the kind life-rendering pelican,


That I am guiltless of your fathers death,


It shall as level to your judgment pierce


[Within]                Let her come in.


O heat, dry up my brains! tears seven times salt,


Burn out the sense and virtue of mine eye!


By heaven, thy madness shall be paid by weight,


Till our scale turn the beam. O rose of May!


O heavens! ist possible, a young maids wits


Nature is fine in love, and where tis fine,


It sends some precious instance of itself


Hadst thou thy wits, and didst persuade revenge,


O, how the wheel becomes it! It is the false


steward, that stole his masters daughter.


Theres rosemary, thats for remembrance; pray,


love, remember: and there is pansies. thats for thoughts.


A document in madness, thoughts and remembrance fitted.


Theres fennel for you, and columbines: theres rue


for you; and heres some for me: we may call it


herb-grace o Sundays: O you must wear your rue with


a difference. Theres a daisy: I would give you


some violets, but they withered all when my father


Thought and affliction, passion, hell itself,


And of all Christian souls, I pray God. God be wi ye.


Laertes, I must commune with your grief,


Make choice of whom your wisest friends you will.


And they shall hear and judge twixt you and me:


They find us touchd, we will our kingdom give,


Our crown, our life, and all that we can ours,


Be you content to lend your patience to us,


And we shall jointly labour with your soul


His means of death, his obscure funeral--


No trophy, sword, nor hatchment oer his bones,


Cry to be heard, as twere from heaven to earth,


And where the offence is let the great axe fall.


Sailors, sir: they say they have letters for you.


I do not know from what part of the world


I should be greeted, if not from Lord Hamlet.


He shall, sir, ant please him. Theres a letter for


you, sir; it comes from the ambassador that was


bound for England; if your name be Horatio, as I am


[Reads]  Horatio, when thou shalt have overlooked


this, give these fellows some means to the king:


they have letters for him. Ere we were two days old


at sea, a pirate of very warlike appointment gave us


chase. Finding ourselves too slow of sail, we put on


a compelled valour, and in the grapple I boarded


them: on the instant they got clear of our ship; so


I alone became their prisoner. They have dealt with


me like thieves of mercy: but they knew what they


did; I am to do a good turn for them. Let the king


have the letters I have sent; and repair thou to me


with as much speed as thou wouldst fly death. I


have words to speak in thine ear will make thee


dumb; yet are they much too light for the bore of


the matter. These good fellows will bring thee


where I am. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern hold their


course for England: of them I have much to tell


Come, I will make you way for these your letters;


And dot the speedier, that you may direct me


Now must your conscience my acquaintance seal,


And you must put me in your heart for friend,


Sith you have heard, and with a knowing ear,


That he which hath your noble father slain


Why you proceeded not against these feats,


As by your safety, wisdom, all things else,


Which may to you, perhaps, seem much unsinewd,


But yet to me they are strong. The queen his mother


Lives almost by his looks; and for myself--


My virtue or my plague, be it either which--


Shes so conjunctive to my life and soul,


That, as the star moves not but in his sphere,


I could not but by her. The other motive,


Is the great love the general gender bear him;


Who, dipping all his faults in their affection,


Would, like the spring that turneth wood to stone,


Convert his gyves to graces; so that my arrows,


Too slightly timberd for so loud a wind,


Whose worth, if praises may go back again,


Stood challenger on mount of all the age


For her perfections: but my revenge will come.


Break not your sleeps for that: you must not think


That we are made of stuff so flat and dull


That we can let our beard be shook with danger


And think it pastime. You shortly shall hear more:


I loved your father, and we love ourself;


And that, I hope, will teach you to imagine--


This to your majesty; this to the queen.


Sailors, my lord, they say; I saw them not:


They were given me by Claudio; he received them


High and mighty, You shall know I am set naked on


your kingdom. To-morrow shall I beg leave to see


your kingly eyes: when I shall, first asking your


pardon thereunto, recount the occasion of my sudden


and more strange return.                  HAMLET.


What should this mean? Are all the rest come back?


And in a postscript here, he says alone.


Im lost in it, my lord. But let him come;


That I shall live and tell him to his teeth,


As how should it be so? how otherwise?--


To thine own peace. If he be now returnd,


As checking at his voyage, and that he means


No more to undertake it, I will work him


Under the which he shall not choose but fall:


And for his death no wind of blame shall breathe,


But even his mother shall uncharge the practise


You have been talkd of since your travel much,


And that in Hamlets hearing, for a quality


Wherein, they say, you shine: your sum of parts


Did not together pluck such envy from him


As did that one, and that, in my regard,


Yet needful too; for youth no less becomes


The light and careless livery that it wears


Than settled age his sables and his weeds,


Importing health and graveness. Two months since,


Ive seen myself, and served against, the French,


And they can well on horseback: but this gallant


Had witchcraft int; he grew unto his seat;


And to such wondrous doing brought his horse,


As he had been incorpsed and demi-natured


With the brave beast: so far he toppd my thought,


That I, in forgery of shapes and tricks,


I know him well: he is the brooch indeed


That he cried out, twould be a sight indeed,


If one could match you: the scrimers of their nation,


He swore, had had neither motion, guard, nor eye,


If you opposed them. Sir, this report of his


That he could nothing do but wish and beg


Your sudden coming oer, to play with him.


Or are you like the painting of a sorrow,


Not that I think you did not love your father;


Time qualifies the spark and fire of it.


There lives within the very flame of love


A kind of wick or snuff that will abate it;


And nothing is at a like goodness still;


Dies in his own too much: that we would do


We should do when we would; for this would changes


As there are tongues, are hands, are accidents;


And then this should is like a spendthrift sigh,


That hurts by easing. But, to the quick o the ulcer:--


Hamlet comes back: what would you undertake,


To show yourself your fathers son in deed


No place, indeed, should murder sanctuarize;


Revenge should have no bounds. But, good Laertes,


Will you do this, keep close within your chamber.


Hamlet returnd shall know you are come home:


Well put on those shall praise your excellence


The Frenchman gave you, bring you in fine together


And wager on your heads: he, being remiss,


Most generous and free from all contriving,


Will not peruse the foils; so that, with ease,


Or with a little shuffling, you may choose


A sword unbated, and in a pass of practise


And, for that purpose, Ill anoint my sword.


Where it draws blood no cataplasm so rare,


Collected from all simples that have virtue


Under the moon, can save the thing from death


That is but scratchd withal: Ill touch my point


With this contagion, that, if I gall him slightly,


Weigh what convenience both of time and means


May fit us to our shape: if this should fail,


And that our drift look through our bad performance,


Twere better not assayd: therefore this project


Should have a back or second, that might hold,


If this should blast in proof. Soft! let me see:


Well make a solemn wager on your cunnings: I hat.


When in your motion you are hot and dry--


As make your bouts more violent to that end--


And that he calls for drink, Ill have prepared him


A chalice for the nonce, whereon but sipping,


If he by chance escape your venomd stuck,


So fast they follow; your sisters drownd, Laertes.


That shows his hoar leaves in the glassy stream;


There with fantastic garlands did she come


Of crow-flowers, nettles, daisies, and long purples


That liberal shepherds give a grosser name,


But our cold maids do dead mens fingers call them:


There, on the pendent boughs her coronet weeds


Clambering to hang, an envious sliver broke;


When down her weedy trophies and herself


Fell in the weeping brook. Her clothes spread wide;


And, mermaid-like, awhile they bore her up:


Which time she chanted snatches of old tunes;


Unto that element: but long it could not be


Till that her garments, heavy with their drink,


Pulld the poor wretch from her melodious lay


Too much of water hast thou, poor Ophelia,


And therefore I forbid my tears: but yet


It is our trick; nature her custom holds,


Let shame say what it will: when these are gone,


I have a speech of fire, that fain would blaze,


Now fear I this will give it start again;


Is she to be buried in Christian burial that


I tell thee she is: and therefore make her grave


straight: the crowner hath sat on her, and finds it


How can that be, unless she drowned herself in her


It must be se offendendo; it cannot be else. For


here lies the point:  if I drown myself wittingly,


it argues an act: and an act hath three branches: it


is, to act, to do, to perform: argal, she drowned


Give me leave. Here lies the water; good: here


stands the man; good; if the man go to this water,


and drown himself, it is, will he, nill he, he


goes,--mark you that; but if the water come to him


and drown him, he drowns not himself: argal, he


that is not guilty of his own death shortens not his own life.


Will you ha the truth ont? If this had not been


a gentlewoman, she should have been buried out o


Why, there thou sayst: and the more pity that


great folk should have countenance in this world to


drown or hang themselves, more than their even


Christian. Come, my spade. There is no ancient


gentleman but gardeners, ditchers, and grave-makers:


What, art a heathen? How dost thou understand the


Scripture? The Scripture says Adam digged:


could he dig without arms? Ill put another


question to thee: if thou answerest me not to the


What is he that builds stronger than either the


mason, the shipwright, or the carpenter?


The gallows-maker; for that frame outlives a


I like thy wit well, in good faith: the gallows


does well; but how does it well? it does well to


those that do in: now thou dost ill to say the


gallows is built stronger than the church: argal,


the gallows may do well to thee. Tot again, come.


Who builds stronger than a mason, a shipwright, or


Cudgel thy brains no more about it, for your dull


ass will not mend his pace with beating; and, when


grave-maker: the houses that he makes last till


doomsday. Go, get thee to Yaughan: fetch me a


To contract, O, the time, for, ah, my behove,


Has this fellow no feeling of his business, that he


Custom hath made it in him a property of easiness.


Tis een so: the hand of little employment hath


That skull had a tongue in it, and could sing once:


how the knave jowls it to the ground, as if it were


Cains jaw-bone, that did the first murder! It


might be the pate of a politician, which this ass


now oer-reaches; one that would circumvent God,


Or of a courtier; which could say Good morrow,


sweet lord! How dost thou, good lord? This might


be my lord such-a-one, that praised my lord


such-a-ones horse, when he meant to beg it; might it not?


Why, een so: and now my Lady Worms; chapless, and


knocked about the mazzard with a sextons spade:


heres fine revolution, an we had the trick to


seet. Did these bones cost no more the breeding,


but to play at loggats with em? mine ache to think ont.


Theres another: why may not that be the skull of a


lawyer? Where be his quiddities now, his quillets,


his cases, his tenures, and his tricks? why does he


suffer this rude knave now to knock him about the


sconce with a dirty shovel, and will not tell him of


his action of battery? Hum! This fellow might be


ins time a great buyer of land, with his statutes,


his recognizances, his fines, his double vouchers,


his recoveries: is this the fine of his fines, and


the recovery of his recoveries, to have his fine


pate full of fine dirt? will his vouchers vouch him


no more of his purchases, and double ones too, than


the length and breadth of a pair of indentures? The


very conveyances of his lands will hardly lie in


this box; and must the inheritor himself have no more, ha?


They are sheep and calves which seek out assurance


in that. I will speak to this fellow. Whose


I think it be thine, indeed; for thou liest int.


You lie out ont, sir, and therefore it is not


yours: for my part, I do not lie int, and yet it is mine.


Thou dost lie int, to be int and say it is thine:


tis for the dead, not for the quick; therefore thou liest.


Tis a quick lie, sir; twill away gain, from me to


One that was a woman, sir; but, rest her soul, shes dead.


How absolute the knave is! we must speak by the


card, or equivocation will undo us. By the Lord,


Horatio, these three years I have taken a note of


it; the age is grown so picked that the toe of the


peasant comes so near the heel of the courtier, he


gaffs his kibe. How long hast thou been a


Of all the days i the year, I came tot that day


that our last king Hamlet overcame Fortinbras.


Cannot you tell that? every fool can tell that: it


was the very day that young Hamlet was born; he that


Ay, marry, why was he sent into England?


Why, because he was mad: he shall recover his wits


there; or, if he do not, its no great matter there.


Twill, a not be seen in him there; there the men


Why, here in Denmark: I have been sexton here, man


How long will a man lie i the earth ere he rot?


I faith, if he be not rotten before he die--as we


have many pocky corses now-a-days, that will scarce


hold the laying in--he will last you some eight year


or nine year: a tanner will last you nine year.


Why, sir, his hide is so tanned with his trade, that


he will keep out water a great while; and your water


is a sore decayer of your whoreson dead body.


Heres a skull now; this skull has lain in the earth


A whoreson mad fellows it was: whose do you think it was?


A pestilence on him for a mad rogue! a poured a


flagon of Rhenish on my head once. This same skull,


sir, was Yoricks skull, the kings jester.


Alas, poor Yorick! I knew him, Horatio: a fellow


of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy: he hath


borne me on his back a thousand times; and now, how


abhorred in my imagination it is! my gorge rims at


it. Here hung those lips that I have kissed I know


not how oft. Where be your gibes now? your


gambols? your songs? your flashes of merriment,


that were wont to set the table on a roar? Not one


now, to mock your own grinning? quite chap-fallen?


Now get you to my ladys chamber, and tell her, let


her paint an inch thick, to this favour she must


come; make her laugh at that. Prithee, Horatio, tell


Dost thou think Alexander looked o this fashion i


To what base uses we may return, Horatio! Why may


not imagination trace the noble dust of Alexander,


Twere to consider too curiously, to consider so.


No, faith, not a jot; but to follow him thither with


modesty enough, and likelihood to lead it: as


thus: Alexander died, Alexander was buried,


Alexander returneth into dust; the dust is earth; of


earth we make loam; and why of that loam, whereto he


was converted, might they not stop a beer-barrel?


Imperious Caesar, dead and turnd to clay,


Might stop a hole to keep the wind away:


O, that that earth, which kept the world in awe,


Should patch a wall to expel the winter flaw!


But soft! but soft! aside: here comes the king.


Enter Priest,  and c. in procession; the Corpse of  OPHELIA, LAERTES and Mourners following; KING CLAUDIUS, QUEEN GERTRUDE, their trains,  and c


The queen, the courtiers: who is this they follow?


And with such maimed rites? This doth betoken


The corse they follow did with desperate hand


Fordo its own life: twas of some estate.


As we have warrantise: her death was doubtful;


And, but that great command oersways the order,


She should in ground unsanctified have lodged


Till the last trumpet: for charitable prayers,


Shards, flints and pebbles should be thrown on her;


Yet here she is allowd her virgin crants,


Her maiden strewments and the bringing home


We should profane the service of the dead


May violets spring! I tell thee, churlish priest,


I hoped thou shouldst have been my Hamlets wife;


I thought thy bride-bed to have deckd, sweet maid,


Fall ten times treble on that cursed head,


Whose wicked deed thy most ingenious sense


Deprived thee of! Hold off the earth awhile,


Till I have caught her once more in mine arms:


Now pile your dust upon the quick and dead,


Till of this flat a mountain you have made,


To oertop old Pelion, or the skyish head


Bears such an emphasis? whose phrase of sorrow


Conjures the wandering stars, and makes them stand


I prithee, take thy fingers from my throat;


For, though I am not splenitive and rash,


Which let thy wiseness fear: hold off thy hand.


The Attendants part them, and they come out of the grave


Why I will fight with him upon this theme


I loved Ophelia: forty thousand brothers


Could not, with all their quantity of love,


Make up my sum. What wilt thou do for her?


Woot weep? woot fight? woot fast? woot tear thyself?


To outface me with leaping in her grave?


Be buried quick with her, and so will I:


And, if thou prate of mountains, let them throw


Millions of acres on us, till our ground,


Singeing his pate against the burning zone,


Make Ossa like a wart! Nay, an thoult mouth,


And thus awhile the fit will work on him;


When that her golden couplets are disclosed,


What is the reason that you use me thus?


The cat will mew and dog will have his day.


I pray you, good Horatio, wait upon him.


Strengthen your patience in our last nights speech;


Well put the matter to the present push.


Good Gertrude, set some watch over your son.


This grave shall have a living monument:


Till then, in patience our proceeding be.


So much for this, sir: now shall you see the other;


Sir, in my heart there was a kind of fighting,


That would not let me sleep: methought I lay


Worse than the mutines in the bilboes. Rashly,


And praised be rashness for it, let us know,


Our indiscretion sometimes serves us well,


When our deep plots do pall: and that should teach us


My sea-gown scarfd about me, in the dark


Groped I to find out them; had my desire.


Fingerd their packet, and in fine withdrew


Their grand commission; where I found, Horatio,--


Larded with many several sorts of reasons


Importing Denmarks health and Englands too,


With, ho! such bugs and goblins in my life,


That, on the supervise, no leisure bated,


No, not to stay the grinding of the axe,


Heres the commission: read it at more leisure.


But wilt thou hear me how I did proceed?


Being thus be-netted round with villanies,--


Ere I could make a prologue to my brains,


Devised a new commission, wrote it fair:


A baseness to write fair and labourd much


How to forget that learning, but, sir, now


It did me yeomans service: wilt thou know


As love between them like the palm might flourish,


As peace should stiff her wheaten garland wear


And many such-like Ases of great charge,


That, on the view and knowing of these contents,


Without debatement further, more or less,


He should the bearers put to sudden death,


Which was the model of that Danish seal;


Folded the writ up in form of the other,


Subscribed it, gavet the impression, placed it safely,


The changeling never known. Now, the next day


Was our sea-fight; and what to this was sequent


Why, man, they did make love to this employment;


They are not near my conscience; their defeat


Tis dangerous when the baser nature comes


Between the pass and fell incensed points


Does it not, thinkst thee, stand me now upon--


He that hath killd my king and whored my mother,


Poppd in between the election and my hopes,


Thrown out his angle for my proper life,


And with such cozenage--ist not perfect conscience,


To quit him with this arm? and ist not to be damnd,


It must be shortly known to him from England


What is the issue of the business there.


And a mans lifes no more than to say One.


The portraiture of his: Ill court his favours.


But, sure, the bravery of his grief did put me


Your lordship is right welcome back to Denmark.


I humbly thank you, sir. Dost know this water-fly?


Thy state is the more gracious; for tis a vice to


know him. He hath much land, and fertile: let a


beast be lord of beasts, and his crib shall stand at


the kings mess: tis a chough; but, as I say,


Sweet lord, if your lordship were at leisure, I


should impart a thing to you from his majesty.


I will receive it, sir, with all diligence of


spirit. Put your bonnet to his right use; tis for the head.


No, believe me, tis very cold; the wind is


It is indifferent cold, my lord, indeed.


But yet methinks it is very sultry and hot for my


Exceedingly, my lord; it is very sultry,--as


twere,--I cannot tell how. But, my lord, his


majesty bade me signify to you that he has laid a


great wager on your head: sir, this is the matter,--


Nay, good my lord; for mine ease, in good faith.


Sir, here is newly come to court Laertes; believe


me, an absolute gentleman, full of most excellent


differences, of very soft society and great showing:


indeed, to speak feelingly of him, he is the card or


calendar of gentry, for you shall find in him the


continent of what part a gentleman would see.


Sir, his definement suffers no perdition in you;


though, I know, to divide him inventorially would


dizzy the arithmetic of memory, and yet but yaw


neither, in respect of his quick sail. But, in the


verity of extolment, I take him to be a soul of


great article; and his infusion of such dearth and


rareness, as, to make true diction of him, his


semblable is his mirror; and who else would trace


Your lordship speaks most infallibly of him.


The concernancy, sir? why do we wrap the gentleman


Ist not possible to understand in another tongue?


What imports the nomination of this gentleman?


His purse is empty already; alls golden words are spent.


I would you did, sir; yet, in faith, if you did,


it would not much approve me. Well, sir?


You are not ignorant of what excellence Laertes is--


I dare not confess that, lest I should compare with


him in excellence; but, to know a man well, were to


I mean, sir, for his weapon; but in the imputation


laid on him by them, in his meed hes unfellowed.


The king, sir, hath wagered with him six Barbary


horses: against the which he has imponed, as I take


it, six French rapiers and poniards, with their


assigns, as girdle, hangers, and so: three of the


carriages, in faith, are very dear to fancy, very


responsive to the hilts, most delicate carriages,


I knew you must be edified by the margent ere you had done.


The phrase would be more german to the matter, if we


could carry cannon by our sides: I would it might


be hangers till then. But, on: six Barbary horses


against six French swords, their assigns, and three


liberal-conceited carriages; thats the French bet


against the Danish. Why is this imponed, as you call it?


The king, sir, hath laid, that in a dozen passes


between yourself and him, he shall not exceed you


three hits: he hath laid on twelve for nine; and it


would come to immediate trial, if your lordship


I mean, my lord, the opposition of your person in trial.


Sir, I will walk here in the hall: if it please his


majesty, tis the breathing time of day with me; let


the foils be brought, the gentleman willing, and the


king hold his purpose, I will win for him an I can;


if not, I will gain nothing but my shame and the odd hits.


To this effect, sir; after what flourish your nature will.


He does well to commend it himself; there are no


This lapwing runs away with the shell on his head.


He did comply with his dug, before he sucked it.


Thus has he--and many more of the same bevy that I


know the dressy age dotes on--only got the tune of


the time and outward habit of encounter; a kind of


yesty collection, which carries them through and


through the most fond and winnowed opinions; and do


but blow them to their trial, the bubbles are out.


My lord, his majesty commended him to you by young


Osric, who brings back to him that you attend him in


the hall: he sends to know if your pleasure hold to


play with Laertes, or that you will take longer time.


I am constant to my purpose; they follow the kings


pleasure: if his fitness speaks, mine is ready; now


or whensoever, provided I be so able as now.


The king and queen and all are coming down.


The queen desires you to use some gentle


entertainment to Laertes before you fall to play.


I do not think so: since he went into France, I


have been in continual practise: I shall win at the


odds. But thou wouldst not think how ill alls here


It is but foolery; but it is such a kind of


gain-giving, as would perhaps trouble a woman.


If your mind dislike any thing, obey it: I will


forestall their repair hither, and say you are not


Not a whit, we defy augury: theres a special


providence in the fall of a sparrow. If it be now,


tis not to come; if it be not to come, it will be


now; if it be not now, yet it will come: the


readiness is all: since no man has aught of what he


Enter KING CLAUDIUS, QUEEN GERTRUDE, LAERTES, Lords, OSRIC, and Attendants with foils,  and c


Come, Hamlet, come, and take this hand from me.


KING CLAUDIUS puts LAERTES hand into HAMLETs


Give me your pardon, sir: Ive done you wrong;


And you must needs have heard, how I am punishd


With sore distraction. What I have done,


That might your nature, honour and exception


Roughly awake, I here proclaim was madness.


Wast Hamlet wrongd Laertes? Never Hamlet:


And when hes not himself does wrong Laertes,


Then Hamlet does it not, Hamlet denies it.


Who does it, then? His madness: ift be so,


Hamlet is of the faction that is wrongd;


Free me so far in your most generous thoughts,


That I have shot mine arrow oer the house,


Whose motive, in this case, should stir me most


To my revenge: but in my terms of honour


I stand aloof; and will no reconcilement,


Till by some elder masters, of known honour,


To keep my name ungored. But till that time,


I do receive your offerd love like love,


And will this brothers wager frankly play.


Ill be your foil, Laertes: in mine ignorance


Your skill shall, like a star i the darkest night,


Give them the foils, young Osric. Cousin Hamlet,


Your grace hath laid the odds o the weaker side.


But since he is betterd, we have therefore odds.


This likes me well. These foils have all a length?


Set me the stoops of wine upon that table.


Or quit in answer of the third exchange,


Let all the battlements their ordnance fire:


The king shall drink to Hamlets better breath;


Richer than that which four successive kings


In Denmarks crown have worn. Give me the cups;


And let the kettle to the trumpet speak,


The cannons to the heavens, the heavens to earth,


Now the king dunks to Hamlet. Come, begin:


Stay; give me drink. Hamlet, this pearl is thine;


Trumpets sound, and cannon shot off within


Ill play this bout first; set it by awhile. Come.


Here, Hamlet, take my napkin, rub thy brows;


The queen carouses to thy fortune, Hamlet.


[Aside]  It is the poisond cup: it is too late.


[Aside]  And yet tis almost gainst my conscience.


Come, for the third, Laertes: you but dally;


I pray you, pass with your best violence;


LAERTES wounds HAMLET; then in scuffling, they change rapiers, and HAMLET wounds LAERTES


They bleed on both sides. How is it, my lord?


Why, as a woodcock to mine own springe, Osric;


I am justly killd with mine own treachery.


No, no, the drink, the drink,--O my dear Hamlet,--


It is here, Hamlet: Hamlet, thou art slain;


No medicine in the world can do thee good;


In thee there is not half an hour of life;


The treacherous instrument is in thy hand,


Never to rise again: thy mothers poisond:


I can no more: the king, the kings to blame.


O, yet defend me, friends; I am but hurt.


Here, thou incestuous, murderous, damned Dane,


Drink off this potion. Is thy union here?


Exchange forgiveness with me, noble Hamlet:


Mine and my fathers death come not upon thee,


Heaven make thee free of it! I follow thee.


I am dead, Horatio. Wretched queen, adieu!


You that look pale and tremble at this chance,


That are but mutes or audience to this act,


Had I but time--as this fell sergeant, death,


Is strict in his arrest--O, I could tell you--


Thou livest; report me and my cause aright


Give me the cup: let go; by heaven, Ill havet.


Things standing thus unknown, shall live behind me!


And in this harsh world draw thy breath in pain,


Young Fortinbras, with conquest come from Poland,


The potent poison quite oer-crows my spirit:


I cannot live to hear the news from England;


So tell him, with the occurrents, more and less,


Which have solicited. The rest is silence.


Now cracks a noble heart. Good night sweet prince:


And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest!


Enter FORTINBRAS, the English Ambassadors, and others


If aught of woe or wonder, cease your search.


This quarry cries on havoc. O proud death,


What feast is toward in thine eternal cell,


And our affairs from England come too late:


The ears are senseless that should give us hearing,


To tell him his commandment is fulfilld,


That Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead:


Had it the ability of life to thank you:


He never gave commandment for their death.


But since, so jump upon this bloody question,


You from the Polack wars, and you from England,


Are here arrived give order that these bodies


And let me speak to the yet unknowing world


How these things came about: so shall you hear


Of accidental judgments, casual slaughters,


Of deaths put on by cunning and forced cause,


Falln on the inventors reads: all this can I


For me, with sorrow I embrace my fortune:


I have some rights of memory in this kingdom,


Which now to claim my vantage doth invite me.


Of that I shall have also cause to speak,


And from his mouth whose voice will draw on more;


But let this same be presently performd,


Even while mens minds are wild; lest more mischance


Bear Hamlet, like a soldier, to the stage;


To have proved most royally: and, for his passage,


Take up the bodies: such a sight as this


Becomes the field, but here shows much amiss.


A dead march. Exeunt, bearing off the dead bodies; after which a peal of ordnance is shot off


And monarchs to behold the swelling scene!


Then should the warlike Harry, like himself,


Assume the port of Mars; and at his heels,


Leashd in like hounds, should famine, sword and fire


Crouch for employment. But pardon, and gentles all,


The flat unraised spirits that have dared


On this unworthy scaffold to bring forth


So great an object: can this cockpit hold


The vasty fields of France? or may we cram


And let us, ciphers to this great accompt,


Suppose within the girdle of these walls


The perilous narrow ocean parts asunder:


Piece out our imperfections with your thoughts;


Think when we talk of horses, that you see them


Printing their proud hoofs i the receiving earth;


For tis your thoughts that now must deck our kings,


Carry them here and there; jumping oer times,


Turning the accomplishment of many years


Into an hour-glass: for the which supply,


Who prologue-like your humble patience pray,


Gently to hear, kindly to judge, our play.


SCENE I. London. An ante-chamber in the KINGS palace.


Enter the ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY, and the BISHOP OF ELY


My lord, Ill tell you; that self bill is urged,


Which in the eleventh year of the last kings reign


Was like, and had indeed against us passd,


But how, my lord, shall we resist it now?


It must be thought on. If it pass against us,


We lose the better half of our possession:


For all the temporal lands which men devout


Would they strip from us; being valued thus:


As much as would maintain, to the kings honour,


Full fifteen earls and fifteen hundred knights,


Six thousand and two hundred good esquires;


Of indigent faint souls past corporal toil.


A hundred almshouses right well supplied;


A thousand pounds by the year: thus runs the bill.


The king is full of grace and fair regard.


The courses of his youth promised it not.


The breath no sooner left his fathers body,


But that his wildness, mortified in him,


Seemd to die too; yea, at that very moment


And whippd the offending Adam out of him,


To envelop and contain celestial spirits.


With such a heady currance, scouring faults


So soon did lose his seat and all at once


You would desire the king were made a prelate:


Hear him debate of commonwealth affairs,


You would say it hath been all in all his study:


List his discourse of war, and you shall hear


Familiar as his garter: that, when he speaks,


The air, a charterd libertine, is still,


And the mute wonder lurketh in mens ears,


To steal his sweet and honeyd sentences;


So that the art and practic part of life


Which is a wonder how his grace should glean it,


Since his addiction was to courses vain,


His companies unletterd, rude and shallow,


His hours filld up with riots, banquets, sports,


The strawberry grows underneath the nettle


And wholesome berries thrive and ripen best


And so the prince obscured his contemplation


Under the veil of wildness; which, no doubt,


Grew like the summer grass, fastest by night,


And therefore we must needs admit the means


Than cherishing the exhibiters against us;


For I have made an offer to his majesty,


Which I have opend to his grace at large,


As touching France, to give a greater sum


How did this offer seem received, my lord?


Save that there was not time enough to hear,


As I perceived his grace would fain have done,


Of his true titles to some certain dukedoms


And generally to the crown and seat of France


Derived from Edward, his great-grandfather.


What was the impediment that broke this off?


Craved audience; and the hour, I think, is come


Which I could with a ready guess declare,


Before the Frenchman speak a word of it.


Ill wait upon you, and I long to hear it.


SCENE II. The same. The Presence chamber.


Enter KING HENRY V, GLOUCESTER, BEDFORD, EXETER, WARWICK, WESTMORELAND, and Attendants


Where is my gracious Lord of Canterbury?


Shall we call in the ambassador, my liege?


Not yet, my cousin: we would be resolved,


Before we hear him, of some things of weight


That task our thoughts, concerning us and France.


Enter the ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY, and the BISHOP of ELY


God and his angels guard your sacred throne


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,


Or nicely charge your understanding soul


With opening titles miscreate, whose right


Suits not in native colours with the truth;


For God doth know how many now in health


Of what your reverence shall incite us to.


Therefore take heed how you impawn our person,


How you awake our sleeping sword of war:


We charge you, in the name of God, take heed;


Without much fall of blood; whose guiltless drops


Gainst him whose wrong gives edge unto the swords


That make such waste in brief mortality.


For we will hear, note and believe in heart


That what you speak is in your conscience washd


Then hear me, gracious sovereign, and you peers,


That owe yourselves, your lives and services


To this imperial throne. There is no bar


To make against your highness claim to France


But this, which they produce from Pharamond,


In terram Salicam mulieres ne succedant:


Which Salique land the French unjustly gloze


To be the realm of France, and Pharamond


Where Charles the Great, having subdued the Saxons,


There left behind and settled certain French;


Who, holding in disdain the German women


For some dishonest manners of their life,


Establishd then this law; to wit, no female


Which Salique, as I said, twixt Elbe and Sala,


Then doth it well appear that Salique law


Was not devised for the realm of France:


Nor did the French possess the Salique land


Who died within the year of our redemption


Four hundred twenty-six; and Charles the Great


Subdued the Saxons, and did seat the French


Eight hundred five. Besides, their writers say,


Of Blithild, which was daughter to King Clothair,


Make claim and title to the crown of France.


Of Charles the duke of Lorraine, sole heir male


Of the true line and stock of Charles the Great,


To find his title with some shows of truth,


Through, in pure truth, it was corrupt and naught,


Conveyd himself as heir to the Lady Lingare,


Of Charles the Great. Also King Lewis the Tenth,


Wearing the crown of France, till satisfied


That fair Queen Isabel, his grandmother,


Daughter to Charles the foresaid duke of Lorraine:


By the which marriage the line of Charles the Great


So that, as clear as is the summers sun.


King Pepins title and Hugh Capets claim,


To hold in right and title of the female:


So do the kings of France unto this day;


Howbeit they would hold up this Salique law


To bar your highness claiming from the female,


Than amply to imbar their crooked titles


May I with right and conscience make this claim?


Descend unto the daughter. Gracious lord,


Stand for your own; unwind your bloody flag;


Go, my dread lord, to your great-grandsires tomb,


From whom you claim; invoke his warlike spirit,


And your great-uncles, Edward the Black Prince,


Who on the French ground playd a tragedy,


Making defeat on the full power of France,


With half their forces the full Pride of France


And with your puissant arm renew their feats:


You are their heir; you sit upon their throne;


The blood and courage that renowned them


Runs in your veins; and my thrice-puissant liege


Ripe for exploits and mighty enterprises.


Your brother kings and monarchs of the earth


Do all expect that you should rouse yourself,


They know your grace hath cause and means and might;


So hath your highness; never king of England


Had nobles richer and more loyal subjects,


Whose hearts have left their bodies here in England


And lie paviliond in the fields of France.


O, let their bodies follow, my dear liege,


With blood and sword and fire to win your right;


Will raise your highness such a mighty sum


We must not only arm to invade the French,


Against the Scot, who will make road upon us


They of those marches, gracious sovereign,


Our inland from the pilfering borderers.


We do not mean the coursing snatchers only,


But fear the main intendment of the Scot,


Who hath been still a giddy neighbour to us;


For you shall read that my great-grandfather


But that the Scot on his unfurnishd kingdom


Came pouring, like the tide into a breach,


With ample and brim fulness of his force,


Galling the gleaned land with hot assays,


Girding with grievous siege castles and towns;


Hath shook and trembled at the ill neighbourhood.


She hath been then more feard than harmd, my liege;


When all her chivalry hath been in France


The King of Scots; whom she did send to France,


To fill King Edwards fame with prisoner kings


And make her chronicle as rich with praise


With sunken wreck and sunless treasuries.


For once the eagle England being in prey,


Comes sneaking and so sucks her princely eggs,


Playing the mouse in absence of the cat,


To tear and havoc more than she can eat.


It follows then the cat must stay at home:


Since we have locks to safeguard necessaries,


And pretty traps to catch the petty thieves.


While that the armed hand doth fight abroad,


The advised head defends itself at home;


For government, though high and low and lower,


Put into parts, doth keep in one consent,


Creatures that by a rule in nature teach


Where some, like magistrates, correct at home,


Others, like merchants, venture trade abroad,


Others, like soldiers, armed in their stings,


Which pillage they with merry march bring home


The singing masons building roofs of gold,


The civil citizens kneading up the honey,


The sad-eyed justice, with his surly hum,


Come to one mark; as many ways meet in one town;


As many fresh streams meet in one salt sea;


As many lines close in the dials centre;


End in one purpose, and be all well borne


Without defeat. Therefore to France, my liege.


Whereof take you one quarter into France,


And you withal shall make all Gallia shake.


If we, with thrice such powers left at home,


Cannot defend our own doors from the dog,


Call in the messengers sent from the Dauphin.


Now are we well resolved; and, by Gods help,


And yours, the noble sinews of our power,


France being ours, well bend it to our awe,


Or break it all to pieces: or there well sit,


Oer France and all her almost kingly dukedoms,


Tombless, with no remembrance over them:


Either our history shall with full mouth


Speak freely of our acts, or else our grave,


Like Turkish mute, shall have a tongueless mouth,


Now are we well prepared to know the pleasure


Your greeting is from him, not from the king.


Mayt please your majesty to give us leave


Freely to render what we have in charge;


Unto whose grace our passion is as subject


As are our wretches fetterd in our prisons:


Therefore with frank and with uncurbed plainness


Your highness, lately sending into France,


Did claim some certain dukedoms, in the right


Of your great predecessor, King Edward the Third.


In answer of which claim, the prince our master


Says that you savour too much of your youth,


And bids you be advised theres nought in France


He therefore sends you, meeter for your spirit,


This tun of treasure; and, in lieu of this,


Desires you let the dukedoms that you claim


Hear no more of you. This the Dauphin speaks.


We are glad the Dauphin is so pleasant with us;


His present and your pains we thank you for:


When we have marchd our rackets to these balls,


We will, in France, by Gods grace, play a set


Shall strike his fathers crown into the hazard.


Tell him he hath made a match with such a wrangler


That all the courts of France will be disturbd


With chaces. And we understand him well,


How he comes oer us with our wilder days,


We never valued this poor seat of England;


And therefore, living hence, did give ourself


To barbarous licence; as tis ever common


That men are merriest when they are from home.


But tell the Dauphin I will keep my state,


Be like a king and show my sail of greatness


When I do rouse me in my throne of France:


And plodded like a man for working-days,


But I will rise there with so full a glory


That I will dazzle all the eyes of France,


Yea, strike the Dauphin blind to look on us.


And tell the pleasant prince this mock of his


Hath turnd his balls to gun-stones; and his soul


Shall stand sore charged for the wasteful vengeance


That shall fly with them: for many a thousand widows


Shall this his mock mock out of their dear husbands;


Mock mothers from their sons, mock castles down;


That shall have cause to curse the Dauphins scorn.


But this lies all within the will of God,


My rightful hand in a well-hallowd cause.


So get you hence in peace; and tell the Dauphin


His jest will savour but of shallow wit,


When thousands weep more than did laugh at it.


Convey them with safe conduct. Fare you well.


That may give furtherance to our expedition;


For we have now no thought in us but France,


Save those to God, that run before our business.


Therefore let our proportions for these wars


Be soon collected and all things thought upon


More feathers to our wings; for, God before,


Well chide this Dauphin at his fathers door.


Therefore let every man now task his thought,


That this fair action may on foot be brought.


Now all the youth of England are on fire,


And silken dalliance in the wardrobe lies:


Now thrive the armourers, and honours thought


Reigns solely in the breast of every man:


They sell the pasture now to buy the horse,


Following the mirror of all Christian kings,


With winged heels, as English Mercuries.


And hides a sword from hilts unto the point


With crowns imperial, crowns and coronets,


The French, advised by good intelligence


Shake in their fear and with pale policy


O England! model to thy inward greatness,


What mightst thou do, that honour would thee do,


But see thy fault! France hath in thee found out


With treacherous crowns; and three corrupted men,


One, Richard Earl of Cambridge, and the second,


Henry Lord Scroop of Masham, and the third,


Sir Thomas Grey, knight, of Northumberland,


Have, for the gilt of France,--O guilt indeed!


Confirmd conspiracy with fearful France;


And by their hands this grace of kings must die,


If hell and treason hold their promises,


Ere he take ship for France, and in Southampton.


Linger your patience on; and well digest


The sum is paid; the traitors are agreed;


The king is set from London; and the scene


Is now transported, gentles, to Southampton;


There is the playhouse now, there must you sit:


And thence to France shall we convey you safe,


And bring you back, charming the narrow seas


To give you gentle pass; for, if we may,


Well not offend one stomach with our play.


But, till the king come forth, and not till then,


Enter Corporal NYM and Lieutenant BARDOLPH


What, are Ancient Pistol and you friends yet?


For my part, I care not: I say little; but when


time shall serve, there shall be smiles; but that


shall be as it may. I dare not fight; but I will


wink and hold out mine iron: it is a simple one; but


what though? it will toast cheese, and it will


endure cold as another mans sword will: and


I will bestow a breakfast to make you friends; and


well be all three sworn brothers to France: let it


Faith, I will live so long as I may, thats the


certain of it; and when I cannot live any longer, I


will do as I may: that is my rest, that is the


It is certain, corporal, that he is married to Nell


Quickly: and certainly she did you wrong; for you


I cannot tell: things must be as they may: men may


sleep, and they may have their throats about them at


that time; and some say knives have edges. It must


be as it may: though patience be a tired mare, yet


she will plod. There must be conclusions. Well, I


Here comes Ancient Pistol and his wife: good


corporal, be patient here. How now, mine host Pistol!


Base tike, callst thou me host? Now, by this hand,


I swear, I scorn the term; Nor shall my Nell keep lodgers.


No, by my troth, not long; for we cannot lodge and


board a dozen or fourteen gentlewomen that live


honestly by the prick of their needles, but it will


be thought we keep a bawdy house straight.


O well a day, Lady, if he be not drawn now! we


shall see wilful adultery and murder committed.


Good lieutenant! good corporal! offer nothing here.


Pish for thee, Iceland dog! thou prick-eard cur of Iceland!


Good Corporal Nym, show thy valour, and put up your sword.


Will you shog off? I would have you solus.


The solus in thy teeth, and in thy throat,


And in thy hateful lungs, yea, in thy maw, perdy,


And, which is worse, within thy nasty mouth!


I am not Barbason; you cannot conjure me. I have an


humour to knock you indifferently well. If you grow


foul with me, Pistol, I will scour you with my


rapier, as I may, in fair terms: if you would walk


off, I would prick your guts a little, in good


terms, as I may: and thats the humour of it.


O braggart vile and damned furious wight!


The grave doth gape, and doting death is near;


Hear me, hear me what I say: he that strikes the


first stroke, Ill run him up to the hilts, as I am a soldier.


An oath of mickle might; and fury shall abate.


Give me thy fist, thy fore-foot to me give:


I will cut thy throat, one time or other, in fair


O hound of Crete, thinkst thou my spouse to get?


Fetch forth the lazar kite of Cressids kind,


Doll Tearsheet she by name, and her espouse:


I have, and I will hold, the quondam Quickly


For the only she; and--pauca, theres enough. Go to.


Mine host Pistol, you must come to my master, and


you, hostess: he is very sick, and would to bed.


Good Bardolph, put thy face between his sheets, and


do the office of a warming-pan. Faith, hes very ill.


By my troth, hell yield the crow a pudding one of


these days. The king has killed his heart. Good


Come, shall I make you two friends? We must to


France together: why the devil should we keep


Let floods oerswell, and fiends for food howl on!


Youll pay me the eight shillings I won of you at betting?


That now I will have: thats the humour of it.


By this sword, he that makes the first thrust, Ill


Sword is an oath, and oaths must have their course.


Corporal Nym, an thou wilt be friends, be friends:


an thou wilt not, why, then, be enemies with me too.


I shall have my eight shillings I won of you at betting?


A noble shalt thou have, and present pay;


And liquor likewise will I give to thee,


And friendship shall combine, and brotherhood:


Ill live by Nym, and Nym shall live by me;


As ever you came of women, come in quickly to Sir


John. Ah, poor heart! he is so shaked of a burning


quotidian tertian, that it is most lamentable to


The king hath run bad humours on the knight; thats


The king is a good king: but it must be as it may;


Let us condole the knight; for, lambkins we will live.


SCENE II. Southampton. A council-chamber.


Fore God, his grace is bold, to trust these traitors.


How smooth and even they do bear themselves!


Crowned with faith and constant loyalty.


The king hath note of all that they intend,


By interception which they dream not of.


Nay, but the man that was his bedfellow,


Whom he hath dulld and cloyd with gracious favours,


That he should, for a foreign purse, so sell


His sovereigns life to death and treachery.


Trumpets sound. Enter KING HENRY V, SCROOP, CAMBRIDGE, GREY, and Attendants


Now sits the wind fair, and we will aboard.


My Lord of Cambridge, and my kind Lord of Masham,


And you, my gentle knight, give me your thoughts:


Think you not that the powers we bear with us


Will cut their passage through the force of France,


For which we have in head assembled them?


No doubt, my liege, if each man do his best.


I doubt not that; since we are well persuaded


That grows not in a fair consent with ours,


Nor leave not one behind that doth not wish


Never was monarch better feard and loved


Than is your majesty: theres not, I think, a subject


Under the sweet shade of your government.


True: those that were your fathers enemies


Have steepd their galls in honey and do serve you


We therefore have great cause of thankfulness;


And shall forget the office of our hand,


Sooner than quittance of desert and merit


So service shall with steeled sinews toil,


And labour shall refresh itself with hope,


That raild against our person: we consider


Let him be punishd, sovereign, lest example


Breed, by his sufferance, more of such a kind.


So may your highness, and yet punish too.


You show great mercy, if you give him life,


Are heavy orisons gainst this poor wretch!


If little faults, proceeding on distemper,


Shall not be winkd at, how shall we stretch our eye


When capital crimes, chewd, swallowd and digested,


Appear before us? Well yet enlarge that man,


Though Cambridge, Scroop and Grey, in their dear care


Would have him punished. And now to our French causes:


Your highness bade me ask for it to-day.


Then, Richard Earl of Cambridge, there is yours;


There yours, Lord Scroop of Masham; and, sir knight,


Grey of Northumberland, this same is yours:


Read them; and know, I know your worthiness.


My Lord of Westmoreland, and uncle Exeter,


We will aboard to night. Why, how now, gentlemen!


What see you in those papers that you lose


So much complexion? Look ye, how they change!


Their cheeks are paper. Why, what read you there


That hath so cowarded and chased your blood


And do submit me to your highness mercy.


The mercy that was quick in us but late,


By your own counsel is suppressd and killd:


You must not dare, for shame, to talk of mercy;


For your own reasons turn into your bosoms,


As dogs upon their masters, worrying you.


See you, my princes, and my noble peers,


These English monsters! My Lord of Cambridge here,


Hath, for a few light crowns, lightly conspired,


To kill us here in Hampton: to the which


This knight, no less for bounty bound to us


Than Cambridge is, hath likewise sworn. But, O,


What shall I say to thee, Lord Scroop? thou cruel,


Ingrateful, savage and inhuman creature!


Thou that didst bear the key of all my counsels,


That almost mightst have coind me into gold,


Wouldst thou have practised on me for thy use,


Could out of thee extract one spark of evil


That might annoy my finger? tis so strange,


That, though the truth of it stands off as gross


As black and white, my eye will scarcely see it.


As two yoke-devils sworn to eithers purpose,


But thou, gainst all proportion, didst bring in


Wonder to wait on treason and on murder:


That wrought upon thee so preposterously


Hath got the voice in hell for excellence:


All other devils that suggest by treasons


With patches, colours, and with forms being fetchd


But he that temperd thee bade thee stand up,


Gave thee no instance why thou shouldst do treason,


Unless to dub thee with the name of traitor.


If that same demon that hath gulld thee thus


Should with his lion gait walk the whole world,


The sweetness of affiance! Show men dutiful?


Why, so didst thou: seem they grave and learned?


Why, so didst thou: come they of noble family?


Why, so didst thou: seem they religious?


Why, so didst thou: or are they spare in diet,


Free from gross passion or of mirth or anger,


Constant in spirit, not swerving with the blood,


Garnishd and deckd in modest complement,


Not working with the eye without the ear,


And but in purged judgment trusting neither?


Such and so finely bolted didst thou seem:


And thus thy fall hath left a kind of blot,


To mark the full-fraught man and best indued


With some suspicion. I will weep for thee;


For this revolt of thine, methinks, is like


Another fall of man. Their faults are open:


I arrest thee of high treason, by the name of


And I repent my fault more than my death;


Which I beseech your highness to forgive,


For me, the gold of France did not seduce;


Which I in sufferance heartily will rejoice,


At the discovery of most dangerous treason


My fault, but not my body, pardon, sovereign.


God quit you in his mercy! Hear your sentence.


You have conspired against our royal person,


Joind with an enemy proclaimd and from his coffers


Received the golden earnest of our death;


Wherein you would have sold your king to slaughter,


But we our kingdoms safety must so tender,


Whose ruin you have sought, that to her laws


We do deliver you. Get you therefore hence,


The taste whereof, God of his mercy give


You patience to endure, and true repentance


Of all your dear offences! Bear them hence.


Exeunt CAMBRIDGE, SCROOP and GREY, guarded


Now, lords, for France; the enterprise whereof


Since God so graciously hath brought to light


This dangerous treason lurking in our way


To hinder our beginnings. We doubt not now


Then forth, dear countrymen: let us deliver


Cheerly to sea; the signs of war advance:


No king of England, if not king of France.


Enter PISTOL, Hostess, NYM, BARDOLPH, and Boy


Prithee, honey-sweet husband, let me bring thee to Staines.


Bardolph, be blithe: Nym, rouse thy vaunting veins:


Boy, bristle thy courage up; for Falstaff he is dead,


Would I were with him, wheresomeer he is, either in


Nay, sure, hes not in hell: hes in Arthurs


bosom, if ever man went to Arthurs bosom. A made


a finer end and went away an it had been any


christom child; a parted even just between twelve


and one, even at the turning o the tide: for after


I saw him fumble with the sheets and play with


flowers and smile upon his fingers ends, I knew


there was but one way; for his nose was as sharp as


a pen, and a babbled of green fields. How now,


cheer. So a cried out God, God, God! three or


four times. Now I, to comfort him, bid him a


should not think of God; I hoped there was no need


to trouble himself with any such thoughts yet. So


a bade me lay more clothes on his feet: I put my


hand into the bed and felt them, and they were as


cold as any stone; then I felt to his knees, and


they were as cold as any stone, and so upward and


upward, and all was as cold as any stone.


Yes, that a did; and said they were devils


A could never abide carnation; twas a colour he


A said once, the devil would have him about women.


A did in some sort, indeed, handle women; but then


he was rheumatic, and talked of the whore of Babylon.


Do you not remember, a saw a flea stick upon


Bardolphs nose, and a said it was a black soul


Well, the fuel is gone that maintained that fire:


thats all the riches I got in his service.


Shall we shog? the king will be gone from


Come, lets away. My love, give me thy lips.


Let senses rule; the word is Pitch and Pay:


For oaths are straws, mens faiths are wafer-cakes,


Go, clear thy c rystals. Yoke-fellows in arms,


Let us to France; like horse-leeches, my boys,


To suck, to suck, the very blood to suck!


And thats but unwholesome food they say.


I cannot kiss, that is the humour of it; but, adieu.


Let housewifery appear: keep close, I thee command.


Flourish. Enter the FRENCH KING, the DAUPHIN, the DUKES of BERRI and BRETAGNE, the Constable, and others


Thus comes the English with full power upon us;


Therefore the Dukes of Berri and of Bretagne,


Of Brabant and of Orleans, shall make forth,


And you, Prince Dauphin, with all swift dispatch,


With men of courage and with means defendant;


For England his approaches makes as fierce


As fear may teach us out of late examples


It is most meet we arm us gainst the foe;


For peace itself should not so dull a kingdom,


Though war nor no known quarrel were in question,


But that defences, musters, preparations,


Should be maintaind, assembled and collected,


Therefore, I say tis meet we all go forth


To view the sick and feeble parts of France:


No, with no more than if we heard that England


Were busied with a Whitsun morris-dance:


For, my good liege, she is so idly kingd,


By a vain, giddy, shallow, humorous youth,


Question your grace the late ambassadors,


With what great state he heard their embassy,


How well supplied with noble counsellors,


And you shall find his vanities forespent


Were but the outside of the Roman Brutus,


Covering discretion with a coat of folly;


As gardeners do with ordure hide those roots


That shall first spring and be most delicate.


Well, tis not so, my lord high constable;


But though we think it so, it is no matter:


So the proportions of defence are filld;


Doth, like a miser, spoil his coat with scanting


And, princes, look you strongly arm to meet him.


The kindred of him hath been fleshd upon us;


And he is bred out of that bloody strain


Of that black name, Edward, Black Prince of Wales;


Whiles that his mountain sire, on mountain standing,


Up in the air, crownd with the golden sun,


Saw his heroical seed, and smiled to see him,


The patterns that by God and by French fathers


Had twenty years been made. This is a stem


Of that victorious stock; and let us fear


Well give them present audience. Go, and bring them.


You see this chase is hotly followd, friends.


Turn head, and stop pursuit; for coward dogs


Most spend their mouths when what they seem to threaten


Runs far before them. Good my sovereign,


Take up the English short, and let them know


Self-love, my liege, is not so vile a sin


From him; and thus he greets your majesty.


He wills you, in the name of God Almighty,


The borrowd glories that by gift of heaven,


To him and to his heirs; namely, the crown


And all wide-stretched honours that pertain


Unto the crown of France. That you may know


Pickd from the worm-holes of long-vanishd days,


Nor from the dust of old oblivion raked,


From his most famed of famous ancestors,


Edward the Third, he bids you then resign


From him the native and true challenger.


Bloody constraint; for if you hide the crown


Even in your hearts, there will he rake for it:


Therefore in fierce tempest 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,


On the poor souls for whom this hungry war


Turning the widows tears, the orphans cries


The dead mens blood, the pining maidens groans,


For husbands, fathers and betrothed lovers,


That shall be swallowd in this controversy.


This is his claim, his threatening and my message;


For us, we will consider of this further:


To-morrow shall you bear our full intent


I stand here for him: what to him from England?


Scorn and defiance; slight regard, contempt,


The mighty sender, doth he prize you at.


Thus says my king; an if your fathers highness


Do not, in grant of all demands at large,


Sweeten the bitter mock you sent his majesty,


Hell call you to so hot an answer of it,


That caves and womby vaultages of France


Shall chide your trespass and return your mock


Nothing but odds with England: to that end,


Hell make your Paris Louvre shake for it,


Were it the mistress-court of mighty Europe:


And, be assured, youll find a difference,


As we his subjects have in wonder found,


And these he masters now: now he weighs time


Even to the utmost grain: that you shall read


In your own losses, if he stay in France.


To-morrow shall you know our mind at full.


Dispatch us with all speed, lest that our king


Come here himself to question our delay;


You shall be soon dispatchs with fair conditions:


A night is but small breath and little pause


Thus with imagined wing our swift scene flies


Than that of thought. Suppose that you have seen


With silken streamers the young Phoebus fanning:


Play with your fancies, and in them behold


Upon the hempen tackle ship-boys climbing;


Hear the shrill whistle which doth order give


To sounds confused; behold the threaden sails,


Borne with the invisible and creeping wind,


Draw the huge bottoms through the furrowd sea,


Breasting the lofty surge: O, do but think


A city on the inconstant billows dancing;


Holding due course to Harfleur. Follow, follow:


Grapple your minds to sternage of this navy,


And leave your England, as dead midnight still,


Guarded with grandsires, babies and old women,


Either past or not arrived to pith and puissance;


For who is he, whose chin is but enrichd


With one appearing hair, that will not follow


These culld and choice-drawn cavaliers to France?


Work, work your thoughts, and therein see a siege;


With fatal mouths gaping on girded Harfleur.


Suppose the ambassador from the French comes back;


Tells Harry that the king doth offer him


Katharine his daughter, and with her, to dowry,


The offer likes not: and the nimble gunner


With linstock now the devilish cannon touches,


And down goes all before them. Still be kind,


And eke out our performance with your mind.


Alarum. Enter KING HENRY, EXETER, BEDFORD, GLOUCESTER, and Soldiers, with scaling-ladders


Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;


Or close the wall up with our English dead.


In peace theres nothing so becomes a man


But when the blast of war blows in our ears,


Stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood,


Disguise fair nature with hard-favourd rage;


Like the brass cannon; let the brow oerwhelm it


Swilld with the wild and wasteful ocean.


Now set the teeth and stretch the nostril wide,


Hold hard the breath and bend up every spirit


To his full height. On, on, you noblest English.


Whose blood is fet from fathers of war-proof!


Have in these parts from morn till even fought


And sheathed their swords for lack of argument:


That those whom you calld fathers did beget you.


And teach them how to war. And you, good yeoman,


Whose limbs were made in England, show us here


The mettle of your pasture; let us swear


That you are worth your breeding; which I doubt not;


For there is none of you so mean and base,


That hath not noble lustre in your eyes.


I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips,


Straining upon the start. The games afoot:


Follow your spirit, and upon this charge


Cry God for Harry, England, and Saint George!


On, on, on, on, on! to the breach, to the breach!


Pray thee, corporal, stay: the knocks are too hot;


and, for mine own part, I have not a case of lives:


the humour of it is too hot, that is the very


The plain-song is most just: for humours do abound:


Knocks go and come; Gods vassals drop and die;


Would I were in an alehouse in London! I would give


all my fame for a pot of ale and safety.


Up to the breach, you dogs! avaunt, you cullions!


Be merciful, great duke, to men of mould.


Good bawcock, bate thy rage; use lenity, sweet chuck!


These be good humours! your honour wins bad humours.


As young as I am, I have observed these three


swashers. I am boy to them all three: but all they


three, though they would serve me, could not be man


to me; for indeed three such antics do not amount to


a man. For Bardolph, he is white-livered and


red-faced; by the means whereof a faces it out, but


fights not. For Pistol, he hath a killing tongue


and a quiet sword; by the means whereof a breaks


words, and keeps whole weapons. For Nym, he hath


heard that men of few words are the best men; and


therefore he scorns to say his prayers, lest a


should be thought a coward: but his few bad words


are matched with as few good deeds; for a never


broke any mans head but his own, and that was


against a post when he was drunk. They will steal


any thing, and call it purchase. Bardolph stole a


lute-case, bore it twelve leagues, and sold it for


three half pence. Nym and Bardolph are sworn


brothers in filching, and in Calais they stole a


fire-shovel: I knew by that piece of service the


men would carry coals. They would have me as


familiar with mens pockets as their gloves or their


handkerchers: which makes much against my manhood,


if I should take from anothers pocket to put into


mine; for it is plain pocketing up of wrongs. I


must leave them, and seek some better service:


their villany goes against my weak stomach, and


Captain Fluellen, you must come presently to the


mines; the Duke of Gloucester would speak with you.


To the mines! tell you the duke, it is not so good


to come to the mines; for, look you, the mines is


not according to the disciplines of the war: the


concavities of it is not sufficient; for, look you,


the athversary, you may discuss unto the duke, look


you, is digt himself four yard under the


countermines: by Cheshu, I think a will plough up


The Duke of Gloucester, to whom the order of the


siege is given, is altogether directed by an


Irishman, a very valiant gentleman, i faith.


By Cheshu, he is an ass, as in the world: I will


verify as much in his beard: be has no more


directions in the true disciplines of the wars, look


you, of the Roman disciplines, than is a puppy-dog.


Here a comes; and the Scots captain, Captain Jamy, with him.


Captain Jamy is a marvellous falourous gentleman,


that is certain; and of great expedition and


knowledge in th aunchient wars, upon my particular


knowledge of his directions: by Cheshu, he will


maintain his argument as well as any military man in


the world, in the disciplines of the pristine wars


God-den to your worship, good Captain James.


How now, Captain Macmorris! have you quit the


By Chrish, la! tish ill done: the work ish give


over, the trompet sound the retreat. By my hand, I


swear, and my fathers soul, the work ish ill done;


it ish give over: I would have blowed up the town, so


Chrish save me, la! in an hour: O, tish ill done,


tish ill done; by my hand, tish ill done!


Captain Macmorris, I beseech you now, will you


voutsafe me, look you, a few disputations with you,


as partly touching or concerning the disciplines of


the war, the Roman wars, in the way of argument,


look you, and friendly communication; partly to


satisfy my opinion, and partly for the satisfaction,


look you, of my mind, as touching the direction of


the military discipline; that is the point.


It sall be vary gud, gud feith, gud captains bath:


and I sall quit you with gud leve, as I may pick


It is no time to discourse, so Chrish save me: the


day is hot, and the weather, and the wars, and the


king, and the dukes: it is no time to discourse. The


town is beseeched, and the trumpet call us to the


breach; and we talk, and, be Chrish, do nothing:


tis shame for us all: so God sa me, tis shame to


stand still; it is shame, by my hand: and there is


throats to be cut, and works to be done; and there


By the mess, ere theise eyes of mine take themselves


to slomber, ayll de gud service, or ayll lig i


the grund for it; ay, or go to death; and ayll pay


t as valourously as I may, that sall I suerly do,


that is the breff and the long. Marry, I wad full


Captain Macmorris, I think, look you, under your


correction, there is not many of your nation--


Of my nation! What ish my nation? Ish a villain,


and a bastard, and a knave, and a rascal. What ish


Look you, if you take the matter otherwise than is


meant, Captain Macmorris, peradventure I shall think


you do not use me with that affability as in


discretion you ought to use me, look you: being as


good a man as yourself, both in the disciplines of


war, and in the derivation of my birth, and in


I do not know you so good a man as myself: so


Chrish save me, I will cut off your head.


Gentlemen both, you will mistake each other.


Captain Macmorris, when there is more better


opportunity to be required, look you, I will be so


bold as to tell you I know the disciplines of war;


The Governor and some Citizens on the walls; the English forces below. Enter KING HENRY and his train


How yet resolves the governor of the town?


Therefore to our best mercy give yourselves;


Defy us to our worst: for, as I am a soldier,


A name that in my thoughts becomes me best,


I will not leave the half-achieved Harfleur


The gates of mercy shall be all shut up,


And the fleshd soldier, rough and hard of heart,


With conscience wide as hell, mowing like grass


Your fresh-fair virgins and your flowering infants.


Arrayd in flames like to the prince of fiends,


Do, with his smirchd complexion, all fell feats


What ist to me, when you yourselves are cause,


What rein can hold licentious wickedness


When down the hill he holds his fierce career?


We may as bootless spend our vain command


Upon the enraged soldiers in their spoil


To come ashore. Therefore, you men of Harfleur,


Take pity of your town and of your people,


Whiles yet my soldiers are in my command;


Whiles yet the cool and temperate wind of grace


Oerblows the filthy and contagious clouds


The blind and bloody soldier with foul hand


Defile the locks of your shrill-shrieking daughters;


Your fathers taken by the silver beards,


And their most reverend heads dashd to the walls,


Whiles the mad mothers with their howls confused


Do break the clouds, as did the wives of Jewry


What say you? will you yield, and this avoid,


Or, guilty in defence, be thus destroyd?


The Dauphin, whom of succors we entreated,


Returns us that his powers are yet not ready


To raise so great a siege. Therefore, great king,


We yield our town and lives to thy soft mercy.


Enter our gates; dispose of us and ours;


Go you and enter Harfleur; there remain,


And fortify it strongly gainst the French:


Use mercy to them all. For us, dear uncle,


The winter coming on and sickness growing


Upon our soldiers, we will retire to Calais.


To-night in Harfleur we will be your guest;


Flourish. The King and his train enter the town


Alice, tu as ete en Angleterre, et tu parles bien le langage.


Je te prie, menseignez: il faut que japprenne a


parler. Comment appelez-vous la main en Anglois?


Les doigts? ma foi, joublie les doigts; mais je me


souviendrai. Les doigts? je pense quils sont


La main, de hand; les doigts, de fingres. Je pense


que je suis le bon ecolier; jai gagne deux mots


dAnglois vitement. Comment appelez-vous les ongles?


De nails. Ecoutez; dites-moi, si je parle bien: de


Cest bien dit, madame; il est fort bon Anglois.


De elbow. Je men fais la repetition de tous les


mots que vous mavez appris des a present.


Il est trop difficile, madame, comme je pense.


Excusez-moi, Alice; ecoutez: de hand, de fingres,


O Seigneur Dieu, je men oublie! de elbow. Comment


De sin. Le col, de nick; de menton, de sin.


Oui. Sauf votre honneur, en verite, vous prononcez


les mots aussi droit que les natifs dAngleterre.


Je ne doute point dapprendre, par la grace de Dieu,


Navez vous pas deja oublie ce que je vous ai enseigne?


Non, je reciterai a vous promptement: de hand, de


Ainsi dis-je; de elbow, de nick, et de sin. Comment


De foot et de coun! O Seigneur Dieu! ce sont mots


de son mauvais, corruptible, gros, et impudique, et


non pour les dames dhonneur duser: je ne voudrais


prononcer ces mots devant les seigneurs de France


pour tout le monde. Foh! le foot et le coun!


Neanmoins, je reciterai une autre fois ma lecon


ensemble: de hand, de fingres, de nails, de arm, de


elbow, de nick, de sin, de foot, de coun.


Cest assez pour une fois: allons-nous a diner.


Enter the KING OF FRANCE, the DAUPHIN, the DUKE oF BOURBON, the Constable Of France, and others


Tis certain he hath passd the river Somme.


And if he be not fought withal, my lord,


Let us not live in France; let us quit all


And give our vineyards to a barbarous people.


O Dieu vivant! shall a few sprays of us,


Our scions, put in wild and savage stock,


Normans, but bastard Normans, Norman bastards!


Unfought withal, but I will sell my dukedom,


Dieu de batailles! where have they this mettle?


Is not their climate foggy, raw and dull,


On whom, as in despite, the sun looks pale,


Killing their fruit with frowns? Can sodden water,


A drench for sur-reind jades, their barley-broth,


Decoct their cold blood to such valiant heat?


And shall our quick blood, spirited with wine,


Upon our houses thatch, whiles a more frosty people


Sweat drops of gallant youth in our rich fields!


Poor we may call them in their native lords.


Our mettle is bred out and they will give


Their bodies to the lust of English youth


To new-store France with bastard warriors.


They bid us to the English dancing-schools,


And teach lavoltas high and swift corantos;


Where is Montjoy the herald? speed him hence:


Let him greet England with our sharp defiance.


Up, princes! and, with spirit of honour edged


More sharper than your swords, hie to the field:


Charles Delabreth, high constable of France;


You Dukes of Orleans, Bourbon, and of Berri,


Beaumont, Grandpre, Roussi, and Fauconberg,


Foix, Lestrale, Bouciqualt, and Charolois;


High dukes, great princes, barons, lords and knights,


For your great seats now quit you of great shames.


Bar Harry England, that sweeps through our land


With pennons painted in the blood of Harfleur:


Rush on his host, as doth the melted snow


The Alps doth spit and void his rheum upon:


Go down upon him, you have power enough,


His soldiers sick and famishd in their march,


For I am sure, when he shall see our army,


Hell drop his heart into the sink of fear


And for achievement offer us his ransom.


Therefore, lord constable, haste on Montjoy.


To know what willing ransom he will give.


Prince Dauphin, you shall stay with us in Rouen.


Be patient, for you shall remain with us.


Now forth, lord constable and princes all,


And quickly bring us word of Englands fall.


How now, Captain Fluellen! come you from the bridge?


I assure you, there is very excellent services


The Duke of Exeter is as magnanimous as Agamemnon;


and a man that I love and honour with my soul, and my


heart, and my duty, and my life, and my living, and


my uttermost power: he is not-God be praised and


blessed!--any hurt in the world; but keeps the


bridge most valiantly, with excellent discipline.


There is an aunchient lieutenant there at the


pridge, I think in my very conscience he is as


valiant a man as Mark Antony; and he is a man of no


estimation in the world; but did see him do as


Captain, I thee beseech to do me favours:


Ay, I praise God; and I have merited some love at


Bardolph, a soldier, firm and sound of heart,


And of buxom valour, hath, by cruel fate,


And giddy Fortunes furious fickle wheel,


That stands upon the rolling restless stone--


By your patience, Aunchient Pistol. Fortune is


painted blind, with a muffler afore her eyes, to


signify to you that Fortune is blind; 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 mutability, and variation: 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 it:


Fortune is Bardolphs foe, and frowns on him;


For he hath stolen a pax, and hanged must a be:


Let gallows gape for dog; let man go free


And let not hemp his wind-pipe suffocate:


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


And let not Bardolphs vital thread be cut


With edge of penny cord and vile reproach:


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


Aunchient Pistol, I do partly understand your meaning.


Certainly, aunchient, it is not a thing to rejoice


at: for if, look you, he were my brother, I would


desire the duke to use his good pleasure, and put


him to execution; for discipline ought to be used.


Die and be damnd! and figo for thy friendship!


Why, this is an arrant counterfeit rascal; I


Ill assure you, a uttered as brave words at the


bridge as you shall see in a summers day. But it


is very well; what he has spoke to me, that is well,


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. And such


fellows are perfect in the great commanders names:


and they will learn you by rote where services were


done; at such and such a sconce, at such a breach,


at such a convoy; who came off bravely, who was


shot, who disgraced, what terms the enemy stood on;


and this they con perfectly in the phrase of war,


which they trick up with new-tuned oaths: and what


a beard of the generals cut and a horrid suit of


the camp will do among foaming bottles and


ale-washed wits, is wonderful to be thought on. But


you must learn to know such slanders of the age, or


I tell you what, Captain Gower; I do perceive he is


not the man that he would gladly make show to the


world he is: if I find a hole in his coat, I will


Hark you, the king is coming, and I must speak with


Drum and colours. Enter KING HENRY, GLOUCESTER, and Soldiers


How now, Fluellen! camest thou from the bridge?


Ay, so please your majesty. The Duke of Exeter has


very gallantly maintained the pridge: the French is


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


The perdition of th athversary hath been very


great, 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 know the man: his face is


all bubukles, and whelks, and knobs, and flames o


fire: and his lips blows at his nose, and it is like


a coal of fire, sometimes plue and sometimes red;


but his nose is executed and his fires out.


We would have all such offenders so cut off: and we


give express charge, that in our marches through the


country, there be nothing compelled from the


villages, nothing taken but paid for, none of the


French upbraided or abused in disdainful language;


for when lenity and cruelty play for a kingdom, the


Well then I know thee: what shall I know of thee?


Thus says my king: Say thou to Harry of England:


Though we seemed dead, we did but sleep: advantage


is a better soldier than rashness. Tell him we


could have rebuked him at Harfleur, but that we


thought not good to bruise an injury till it were


full ripe: now we speak upon our cue, and our voice


is imperial: England shall repent his folly, see


his weakness, and admire our sufferance. 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; which in


weight to re-answer, his pettiness would bow under.


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


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: for, to say the sooth,


My people are with sickness much enfeebled,


My numbers lessened, and those few I have


Who when they were in health, I tell thee, herald,


Did march three Frenchmen. Yet, forgive me, God,


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,


Yet, God before, tell him we will come on,


Though France himself and such another neighbour


Stand in our way. Theres for thy labour, Montjoy.


If we may pass, we will; if we be hinderd,


We shall your tawny ground with your red blood


Discolour: and so Montjoy, fare you well.


Nor, as we are, we say we will not shun it:


I shall deliver so. Thanks to your highness.


We are in Gods hand, brother, not in theirs.


March to the bridge; it now draws toward night:


SCENE VII. The French camp, near Agincourt:


Enter the Constable of France, the LORD RAMBURES, ORLEANS, DAUPHIN, with others


Tut! I have the best armour of the world. Would it were day!


You have an excellent armour; but let my horse have his due.


My lord of Orleans, and my lord high constable, you


You are as well provided of both as any prince in the world.


What a long night is this! I will not change my


horse with any that treads but on four pasterns.


Ca, ha! he bounds from the earth, as if his


entrails were hairs; le cheval volant, the Pegasus,


chez les narines de feu! When I bestride him, I


soar, I am a hawk: he trots the air; the earth


sings when he touches it; the basest horn of his


hoof is more musical than the pipe of Hermes.


And of the heat of the ginger. It is a beast for


Perseus: he is pure air and fire; and the dull


elements of earth and water never appear in him, but


only in Patient stillness while his rider mounts


him: he is indeed a horse; and all other jades you


Indeed, my lord, it is a most absolute and excellent horse.


It is the prince of palfreys; his neigh is like the


bidding of a monarch and his countenance enforces homage.


Nay, the man hath no wit that cannot, from the


rising of the lark to the lodging of the lamb, vary


deserved praise on my palfrey: it is a theme as


fluent as the sea: turn the sands into eloquent


tongues, and my horse is argument for them all:


tis a subject for a sovereign to reason on, and for


a sovereigns sovereign to ride on; and for the


world, familiar to us and unknown to lay apart


their particular functions and wonder at him. I


once writ a sonnet in his praise and began thus:


I have heard a sonnet begin so to ones mistress.


Then did they imitate that which I composed to my


Me well; which is the prescript praise and


perfection of a good and particular mistress.


Nay, for methought yesterday your mistress shrewdly


O then belike she was old and gentle; and you rode,


like a kern of Ireland, your French hose off, and in


Be warned by me, then: they that ride so and ride


not warily, fall into foul bogs. I had rather have


I tell thee, constable, my mistress wears his own hair.


I could make as true a boast as that, if I had a sow


Le chien est retourne a son propre vomissement, et


la truie lavee au bourbier; thou makest use of any thing.


Yet do I not use my horse for my mistress, or any


such proverb so little kin to the purpose.


My lord constable, the armour that I saw in your tent


to-night, are those stars or suns upon it?


Some of them will fall to-morrow, I hope.


That may be, for you bear a many superfluously, and


Even as your horse bears your praises; who would


trot as well, were some of your brags dismounted.


Would I were able to load him with his desert! Will


it never be day? I will trot to-morrow a mile, and


my way shall be paved with English faces.


I will not say so, for fear I should be faced out of


my way: but I would it were morning; for I would


Who will go to hazard with me for twenty prisoners?


You must first go yourself to hazard, ere you have them.


By the white hand of my lady, hes a gallant prince.


Swear by her foot, that she may tread out the oath.


He is simply the most active gentleman of France.


Doing is activity; and he will still be doing.


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


I was told that  by one that knows him better than


Marry, he told me so himself; and he said he cared


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


By my faith, sir, but it is; never any body saw it


but his lackey: tis a hooded valour; and when it


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


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


Well placed: there stands your friend for the


devil: have at the very eye of that proverb with A


You are the better at proverbs, by how much A


Tis not the first time you were overshot.


My lord high constable, the English lie within


A valiant and most expert gentleman. Would it were


day! Alas, poor Harry of England! he longs not for


What a wretched and peevish fellow is this king of


England, to mope with his fat-brained followers so


If the English had any apprehension, they would run away.


That they lack; for if their heads had any


intellectual armour, they could never wear such heavy


That island of England breeds very valiant


creatures; their mastiffs are of unmatchable courage.


Foolish curs, that run winking into the mouth of a


Russian bear and have their heads crushed like


rotten apples! You may as well say, thats a


valiant flea that dare eat his breakfast on the lip of a lion.


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


Ay, but these English are shrewdly out of beef.


Then shall we find to-morrow they have only stomachs


to eat and none to fight. Now is it time to arm:


It is now two oclock: but, let me see, by ten


We shall have each a hundred Englishmen.


When creeping murmur and the poring dark


From camp to camp through the foul womb of night


The secret whispers of each others watch:


Fire answers fire, and through their paly flames


Each battle sees the others umberd face;


Steed threatens steed, in high and boastful neighs


Piercing the nights dull ear, and from the tents


The armourers, accomplishing the knights,


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,


And chide the cripple tardy-gaited night


Who, like a foul and ugly witch, doth limp


So tediously away. The poor condemned English,


Like sacrifices, by their watchful fires


The mornings danger, and their gesture sad


Investing lank-lean; cheeks and war-worn coats


So many horrid ghosts. O now, who will behold


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.


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:


Thawing cold fear, that mean and gentle all,


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,


Minding true things by what their mockeries be.


Enter KING HENRY, BEDFORD, and GLOUCESTER


Gloucester, tis true that we are in great danger;


The greater therefore should our courage be.


Good morrow, brother Bedford. God Almighty!


There is some soul of goodness in things evil,


For our bad neighbour makes us early stirrers,


Which is both healthful and good husbandry:


Besides, they are our outward consciences,


That we should dress us fairly for our end.


A good soft pillow for that good white head


Were better than a churlish turf of France.


Not so, my liege: this lodging likes me better,


Tis good for men to love their present pains


And when the mind is quickend, out of doubt,


The organs, though defunct and dead before,


Break up their drowsy grave and newly move,


Lend me thy cloak, Sir Thomas. Brothers both,


Go with my brothers to my lords of England:


The Lord in heaven bless thee, noble Harry!


God-a-mercy, old heart! thou speakst cheerfully.


The kings a bawcock, and a heart of gold,


I kiss his dirty shoe, and from heart-string


I love the lovely bully. What is thy name?


Le Roy! a Cornish name: art thou of Cornish crew?


Tell him, Ill knock his leek about his pate


Do not you wear your dagger in your cap that day,


So! in the name of Jesu Christ, speak lower. It is


the greatest admiration of the universal world, when


the true and aunchient prerogatifes and laws of the