Tut, I have the best armor of the world. 1627Would it were day.

You have an excellent armor, but let my 1629horse have his due.

It is the best horse of Europe.

Will it never be morning?

My lord of Orléans, and my lord high 1633constable, you talk of horse and armor?

You are as well provided of both as any 1635prince in the world.

What a long night is this! I will not change 1637my horse with any that treads but on four pasterns. 1638Ch'ha! He bounds from the earth as if his entrails were 1639hairs: le cheval volant, the Pegasus, qui a les narines de 1640feu! When I bestride him, I soar; I am a hawk. He trots 1641the air. The earth sings when he touches it. The basest horn 1642of his hoof is more musical than the pipe of 1643Hermes.

He's of the color of the nutmeg.

And of the heat of the ginger. It is a beast 1646for Perseus. He is pure air and fire, and the dull 1647elements of earth and water never appear in him but 1648only in patient stillness while his rider mounts him. He 1649is indeed a horse, and all other jades you may call 1650beasts.

Indeed, my lord, it is a most absolute and 1652excellent horse.

It is the prince of palfreys. His neigh is like 1654the bidding of a monarch, and his countenance enforces 1655homage.

No more, cousin.

Nay, the man hath no wit that cannot from 1658the rising of the lark to the lodging of the lamb 1659vary deserved praise on my palfrey; it is a theme as 1660fluent as the sea. Turn the sands into eloquent tongues 1661and my horse is argument for them all. 'Tis a subject 1662for a sovereign to reason on, and for a sovereign's 1663sovereign to ride on, and for the world, familiar to us 1664and unknown, to lay apart their particular functions 1665and wonder at him. I once writ a sonnet in his praise, 1666and began thus: "Wonder of nature --"

I have heard a sonnet begin so to one's 1668mistress.

Then did they imitate that which I composed 1670to my courser, for my horse is my mistress.

Your mistress bears well.

Me well, which is the prescript praise and 1673perfection of a good and particular mistress.

Nay, for methought yesterday your mistress 1675shrewdly shook your back.

So perhaps did yours.

Mine was not bridled.

Oh, then belike she was old and gentle, and you 1679rode like a kern of Ireland, your French hose off, and in 1680your strait strossers.

You have good judgment in 1682horsemanship.

Be warned by me then: they that ride so and 1684ride not warily fall into foul bogs. I had rather have 1685my horse to my mistress.

I had as lief have my mistress a jade.

I tell thee, constable, my mistress wears his 1688own hair.

I could make as true a boast as that if I had a 1690sow to my mistress.

"Le chien est retourné à son propre vomissement, et 1692la truie lavée au bourbier." Thou makest use of anything.

Yet do I not use my horse for my mistress, 1694or any such proverb so little kin to the purpose.

My lord constable, the armor that I saw in 1696your tent tonight: are those stars or suns upon it?

Stars, my lord.

Some of them will fall tomorrow, I hope.

And yet my sky shall not want.

That may be, for you bear a many 1701superfluously, and 'twere more honor some were away.

Ev'n as your horse bears your praises, who 1703would trot as well were some of your brags 1704dismounted.

Would I were able to load him with his 1706desert. Will it never be day? I will trot tomorrow a mile, 1707and my way shall be paved with English faces.

I will not say so for fear I should be faced out 1709of my way, but I would it were morning, for I would 1710fain be about the ears of the English.

Who will go to hazard with me for twenty 1712prisoners?

You must first go yourself to hazard ere you 1714have them.

'Tis midnight; I'll go arm myself.

The dauphin longs for morning.

He longs to eat the English.

I think he will eat all he kills.

By the white hand of my lady, he's a 1720gallant prince.

Swear by her foot, that she may tread out the 1722oath.

He is simply the most active gentleman of 1724France.

Doing is activity, and he will still be doing.

He never did harm that I heard of.

Nor will do none tomorrow; he will keep 1728that good name still.

I know him to be valiant.

I was told that by one that knows him better 1731than you.

What's he?

Marry, he told me so himself, and he said he 1734cared not who knew it.

He needs not; it is no hidden virtue in 1736him.

By my faith, sir, but it is. Never anybody saw 1738it but his lackey. 'Tis a hooded valor, and when it 1739appears, it will bate.

Ill will never said well.

I will cap that proverb with "There is flattery 1742in friendship."

And I will take up that with "Give the devil 1744his due."

Well placed. There stands your friend for the 1746devil. Have at the very eye of that proverb with "A 1747pox of the devil."

You are the better at proverbs by how much 1749"a fool's bolt is soon shot."

You have shot over.

'Tis not the first time you were overshot.

My lord high constable, the English lie within 1754fifteen hundred paces of your tents.

Who hath measured the ground?

The lord Grandpré.

A valiant and most expert gentleman. Would 1758it were day! Alas, poor Harry of England. He longs 1759not for the dawning as we do.

What a wretched and peevish fellow is this 1761king of England, to mope with his fat-brained followers 1762so far out of his knowledge!

If the English had any apprehension, they 1764would run away.

That they lack, for if their heads had any 1766intellectual armor, they could never wear such heavy 1767headpieces.

That island of England breeds very valiant 1769creatures. Their mastiffs are of unmatchable 1770courage.

Foolish curs, that run winking into 1772the mouth of a Russian bear and have their heads crushed 1773like rotten apples. You may as well say that's a valiant 1774flea that dare eat his breakfast on the lip of a 1775lion.

Just, just. And the men do sympathize with 1777the mastiffs in robustious and rough coming on, 1778leaving their wits with their wives. And then give 1779them great meals of beef, and iron and steel; they 1780will eat like wolves and fight like devils.

Ay, but these English are shrewdly out of 1782beef.

Then shall we find tomorrow they have only 1784stomachs to eat, and none to fight. Now is it time to 1785arm. Come, shall we about it?

It is now two o'clock, but let me see: by ten

3.7.751787We shall have each a hundred Englishmen.