885Flourish. 886Enter the French King, the Dauphin, the Dukes 887of Berry and Brittany[, and the Constable of France]. Thus comes the English with full power upon us,
2.4.2889And more than carefully it us concerns
2.4.3890To answer royally in our defenses.
2.4.4891Therefore the Dukes of Berry and of Brittany,
2.4.5892Of Brabant and of Orléans shall make forth,
2.4.6893And you, Prince Dauphin, with all swift dispatch
2.4.7894To line and new repair our towns of war
2.4.8895With men of courage and with means defendant,
2.4.9896For England his approaches makes as fierce
2.4.12899As fear may teach us, out of late examples
2.4.13900Left by the fatal and neglected English
Upon our fields. My most redoubted father,
2.4.15903It is most meet we arm us 'gainst the foe,
2.4.16904For peace itself should not so dull a kingdom,
2.4.17905Though war nor no known quarrel were in question,
2.4.18906But that defenses, musters, preparations
2.4.19907Should be maintained, assembled, and collected
2.4.21909Therefore I say 'tis meet we all go forth
2.4.22910To view the sick and feeble parts of France.
2.4.23911And let us do it with no show of fear,
2.4.24912No, with no more than if we heard that England
2.4.25913Were busied with a Whitsun morris dance.
2.4.26914For, my good liege, she is so idly kinged,
2.4.28916By a vain, giddy, shallow, humorous youth,
That fear attends her not. Oh, peace, Prince Dauphin.
2.4.30919You are too much mistaken in this king.
2.4.31920Question your grace the late ambassadors --
2.4.32921With what great state he heard their embassy,
2.4.33922How well supplied with noble counselors,
2.4.35924How terrible in constant resolution --
2.4.36925And you shall find his vanities forespent
2.4.37926Were but the outside of the Roman Brutus,
2.4.38927Covering discretion with a coat of folly,
2.4.39928As gardeners do with ordure hide those roots
2.4.40929That shall first spring and be most delicate.
Well, 'tis not so, my lord high constable.
2.4.42931But though we think it so, it is no matter.
2.4.43932In cases of defense, 'tis best to weigh
2.4.44933The enemy more mighty than he seems.
2.4.45934So the proportions of defense are filled,
2.4.46935Which of a weak and niggardly projection
2.4.47936Doth like a miser spoil his coat with scanting
A little cloth. Think we King Harry strong,
2.4.49939And princes, look you strongly arm to meet him.
2.4.50940The kindred of him hath been fleshed upon us,
2.4.51941And he is bred out of that bloody strain
2.4.52942That haunted us in our familiar paths:
2.4.53943Witness our too much memorable shame
2.4.54944When Crécy battle fatally was struck,
2.4.55945And all our princes captived by the hand
2.4.56946Of that black name, Edward, Black Prince of Wales,
2.4.57947Whiles that his mountain sire on mountain standing
2.4.58948Up in the air, crowned with the golden sun,
2.4.59949Saw his heroical seed and smiled to see him
2.4.60950Mangle the work of nature, and deface
2.4.61951The patterns that by God and by French fathers
2.4.62952Had twenty years been made. This is a stem
2.4.63953Of that victorious stock, and let us fear
2.4.64954The native mightiness and fate of him.
Ambassadors from Harry, King of England,
2.4.66957Do crave admittance to your majesty.
We'll give them present audience;
959go and bring them.
2.4.68960You see this chase is hotly followed, friends.
Turn head and stop pursuit, for coward dogs
2.4.70962Most spend their mouths when what they seem to threaten
2.4.71963Runs far before them. Good my sovereign,
2.4.72964Take up the English short, and let them know
2.4.73965Of what a monarchy you are the head.
2.4.74966Self-love, my liege, is not so vile a sin
As self-neglecting. From our brother of England?
From him, and thus he greets your majesty:
2.4.77971He wills you in the name of God almighty
2.4.78972That you divest yourself, and lay apart
2.4.79973The borrowed glories that by gift of heaven,
2.4.80974By law of nature and of nations longs
2.4.81975To him and to his heirs, namely the crown
2.4.82976And all wide-stretchèd honors that pertain
2.4.83977By custom and the ordinance of times
2.4.84978Unto the crown of France. That you may know
2.4.85979'Tis no sinister nor no awkward claim
2.4.86980Picked from the wormholes of long-vanished days,
2.4.87981Nor from the dust of old oblivion raked,
2.4.88982He sends you this most memorable line,
2.4.89983In every branch truly demonstrative,
2.4.91985And when you find him evenly derived
2.4.92986From his most famed of famous ancestors,
2.4.93987Edward the Third, he bids you then resign
2.4.94988Your crown and kingdom, indirectly held
2.4.95989From him, the native and true challenger.
Or else what follows?
Bloody constraint: for if you hide the crown
2.4.98992Even in your hearts, there will he rake for it.
2.4.99993Therefore in fierce tempest is he coming,
2.4.100994In thunder and in earthquake, like a Jove,
2.4.104998On the poor souls for whom this hungry war
2.4.1061000Turning the widows' tears, the orphans' cries,
2.4.1071001The dead men's blood, the privy maidens' groans
2.4.1091003That shall be swallowed in this controversy.
2.4.1101004This is his claim, his threat'ning, and my message,
For us, we will consider of this further.
Back to our brother of England. For the dauphin,
2.4.1161011I stand here for him. What to him from England?
Scorn and defiance, slight regard, contempt,
2.4.1201015Thus says my king: an if your father's highness
2.4.1221017Sweeten the bitter mock you sent his majesty,
2.4.1251020Shall chide your trespass and return your mock
Say if my father render fair return
2.4.130As matching to his youth and vanity,
He'll make your Paris Louvre shake for it,
2.4.1331028Were it the mistress court of mighty Europe.
2.4.1371032And these he masters now. Now he weighs time
2.4.1381033Even to the utmost grain. That you shall read
Tomorrow shall you know our mind at full.
Dispatch us with all speed, lest that our king
You shall be soon dispatched with fair conditions.
2.4.1451041A night is but small breath and little pause
Exeunt.