THE FIRST PART OF KING HENRY VI. ACT I. SCENE I-Westminster Abbey. Dead march. Corpse of King HENRY the Fifth discovered, lying in state; attended on by the Dukes of BEDFORD, GLOSTER, and EXETER; the Earl of WARWICK, the Bishop of Winchester, Heralds, &c. Bedford. HUNG be the heavens with black, yield day to night! Glo. England ne'er had a king, until his time. His brandish'd sword did blind men with his beams; Than mid-day sun, fierce bent against their faces. Exe. We mourn in black; Why mourn we not in blood? Henry is dead, and never shall revive : Upon a wooden coffin we attend ; And death's dishonourable victory [1] Crystal is an epithet repeatedly bestowed on comets by our ancient writers. "There is also a white comet with silver haires," says Pliny, as translated by P. Holland, 1601. STEEV. [2] Consented, or as it should be spelt, concented, means, have thrown theinselves into a malignant configurat on, to promote the death of Henry. Milton uses the word, and with the same meaning, in his Penserosa: "Whose power hath a true consent STEEV. Consent, in all the books of the age of Elizabeth, and long afterwards, is the spelling of the word concent. MAL. We with our stately presence glorify, Win. He was a king bless'd of the King of kings. Unto the French the dreadful judgment day So dreadful will not be, as was his sight. The battles of the Lord of hosts he fought : The church's prayers made him so prosperous. Glo. The church where is it? had not church-men pray'd, His thread of life had not so soon decay'd: Win. Gloster, whate'er we like, thou art protector; Bed. Cease, cease these jars, and rest your minds in peace! Let's to the altar :-Heralds, wait on us : Instead of gold, we'll offer up our arms; Since arms avail not, now that Henry's dead. Posterity, await for wretched years, When at their mothers' moist eyes babes shall suck ; [3] There was a notion prevalent a long time, that life might be taken away by metrical charms. As superstition grew weaker, these charms were imagined only to have power on irrational animals. In our author's time it was supposed that the Irish could kill rats by a song. JOHN S. [4] Mr. Pope reads Marish ; an old word for marsh or fen. I have been informed, that what we call at present a stew, in whch fish are preserved alive, was anciently called a nourish. Nourice, however, Fr. a nurse, was anciently spelt many different ways, among which nourish was one. STEE. [5] I can't guess the occasion of the hemisti ch and imperfect sense in this Enter a Messenger. Mes. My honourable lords, health to you all! Bed. What sayʼst thou,man,before dead Henry's corse? Speak softly; or the loss of those great towns Will make him burst his lead, and rise from death. Glo. Is Paris lost? Is Rouen yielded up? If Henry were recall'd to life again, These news would cause him once more yield the ghost. Exe. How were they lost? what treachery was us'd? Mes. No treachery; but want of men and money. Among the soldiers this is muttered, That here you maintain several factions ; And, whilst a field should be despatch'd and fought, One would have ling'ring wars, with little cost; Let not sloth dim your honours, new-begot: Exe. Were our tears wanting to this funeral, Bed. Me they concern; regent I am of France :-Give me my steeled coat, I'll fight for France.Away with these disgraceful wailing robes! Wounds I will lend the French, instead of eyes, To weep their intermissive miseries.7 Enter another Messenger. 2 Mes. Lords, view these letters, full of bad mischance, France is revolted from the English quite ; Except some petty towns of no import : place; 'tis not impossible it might have been filled up with-Francis Drake, though that were a terrible anachronism. But this is a mere slight conjec ture. POPE. [6] This verse might be complete by the insertion of Rouen among the places lost, as Gloster in his next speech infers that it had been mentioned with the rest. STEEV. [7] That is, their miseries, which have had only a short intermission from Henry the Fifth's death to my coming among them. WARB. The dauphin Charles is crowned king in Rheims ; Exe. The dauphin crowned king! all fly to him! O, whither shall we fly from this reproach? Glo. We will not fly, but to our enemies' throats :Bedford, if thou be slack, I'll fight it out. Bed. Gloster, why doubt'st thou of my forwardness? An army have I muster'd in my thoughts, Wherewith already France is over-run. Enter a third Messenger. 3 Mes. My gracious lords,- -to add to your laments, Wherewith you now bedew king Henry's hearse,I must inform you of a dismal fight, Betwixt the stout lord Talbot and the French. Win. What! wherein Talbot overcame? is't so? Having full scarce six thousand in his troop, Instead whereof, sharp stakes, pluck'd out of hedges, To keep the horsemen off from breaking in. Hundreds he sent to hell, and none durst stand him : If sir John Fastolfe had not play'd the coward;8 [8] Mr. Pope has taken notice, "That Falstaff is here introduced again, who was dead in Henry V." But it is the historical sir John Fastolfe (for so he is called in both our Chroniclers) that is here mentioned; who was a He being in the vaward, (plac'd behind, A base Walloon, to win the Dauphin's grace, Whom all France, with their chief assembled strength, Durst not presume to look once in the face. Bed. Is Talbot slain? then I will slay myself, For living idly here, in pomp and ease, 3 Mes. no, he lives; but is took prisoner, And lord Scales with him, and lord Hungerford ; Most of the rest slaughter'd, or took, likewise. Bed. His ransome there is none but I shall pay : I'll hale the Dauphin headlong from his throne, His crown shall be the ransome of my friend; Four of their lords I'll change for one of ours.Farewell, my masters; to my task will I ; Bonfires in France forthwith I am to make, To keep our great Saint George's feast withal: Ten thousand soldiers with me I will take, Whose bloody deeds shall make all Europe quake. 3 Mes. So you had need; for Orleans is beseig'd; The English army is grown weak and faint: The earl of Salisbury craveth supply, And hardly keeps his men from mutiny, Since they, so few, watch such a multitude. Exe. Remember, lords, your oaths to Henry sworn; Either to quell the Dauphin utterly, Or bring him in obedience to your yoke. Bed. I do remember it; and here take leave, To go about my preparation. [Exit. Glo. I'll to the Tower, with all the haste I can, To view the artillery and munition ; And then I will proclaim young Henry king. [Exit. Exe. To Eltham will I, where the young king is, Being ordain'd his special governor ; And for his safety there I'll best devise. [Exit. Win. Each hath his place and function to attend : lieutenant general, deputy regent to the duke of Bedford in Normandy, and a knight of the garter; and not the comic character afterwards introduced by our author. STEEV. 2* VOL. V. |