Bard. Hear me, hear me what I say: he that strikes the first stroke, I'll run him up to the hilts, as I am a soldier.

1

King Henry the Fifth.

BY

WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE.

ACCURATELY PRINTED

FROM THE TEXT OF

MR. STEEVENS'S LAST EDITION.

King Henry the Fifth.

Duke of Glo'ster, }

Duke of Bedford,

brothers to the King.

Duke of Exeter, uncle to the King.

Duke of York, cousin to the King.

Earls of Salisbury, Westmoreland, and Warwick.

Archbishop of Canteri ury.

Bishop of Ely.

Earl of Cambridge,

Lord Scroop,

Sir Thomas Grey.

}

conspirators against the King.

Sir Thomas Erpingham, Gower, Fluellen, Mackmorris,

Jamy, officers in king Henry's army.

Bates, Court, Williams, soldiers in the same.

Nym, Bardolph, Pistol, formerly servants to Falstaff,

now soldiers in the same.

Boy, servant to them. A Herald. Chorus.

Charles the Sixth, king of France.

Lewis, the Dauphin.

Dukes of Burgundy, Orleans, and Bourbon.
The Constable of France.

Rambures, and Grandpree, French Lords.
Governor of Harfleur. Montjoy, a French Herald.
Ambassadors to the king of England.

Isabel, queen of France.

Katharine, daughter of Charles and Isabel.
Alice, a lady attending on the princess Katharine.
Quickly, Pistol's wife, an hostess.

Lords, Ladies, Officers, French and English Soldiers,
Messengers, and Aitendants.

The SCENE, at the beginning of the play, lies in England; but afterwards, wholly in France.

Enter Chorus.

O, for a muse of fire, that would ascend The brightest heaven of invention! A kingdom for a stage, princes to act, And monarchs to behold the swelling scene! Then should the warlike Harry, like himself, Assume the port of Mars; and, at his heels, Leash'd in like hounds, should famine, sword, and

fire,

Crouch for employment. But pardon, gentles all,
The flat unraised spirit, that hath dar'd,
On this unworthy scaffold, to bring forth
So great an object: Can this cockpit hold
The vasty fields of France? or may we cram,
Within this wooden O, the very casques,
That did affright the air at Agincourt?
O, pardon! since a crooked figure may
Attest, in little place, a million;
And let us, cyphers to this great accompt,
On your imaginary forces work:
Suppose, within the girdle of these walls
Are now confin'd two mighty monarchies,
Whose high upreared and abutting fronts
The perilous, narrow ocean parts asunder.
Piece out our imperfections with your thoughts;
Into a thousand parts divide one man,
And make imaginary puissance:

Think, when we talk of horses, that you see them

B