The Life of King Henry the Fifth - Уильям Шекспир

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his discourse of war, and you shall hear

         A fearful battle rend'red you in music.

         Turn him to any cause of policy,

         The Gordian knot of it he will unloose,

         Familiar as his garter; that, when he speaks,

         The air, a charter'd libertine, is still,

         And the mute wonder lurketh in men's ears

         To steal his sweet and honey'd sentences;

         So that the art and practic part of life

         Must be the mistress to this theoric;

         Which is a wonder how his Grace should glean it,

         Since his addiction was to courses vain,

         His companies unletter'd, rude, and shallow,

         His hours fill'd up with riots, banquets, sports;

         And never noted in him any study,

         Any retirement, any sequestration

         From open haunts and popularity.

       ELY. The strawberry grows underneath the nettle,

         And wholesome berries thrive and ripen best

         Neighbour'd by fruit of baser quality;

         And so the Prince obscur'd his contemplation

         Under the veil of wildness; which, no doubt,

         Grew like the summer grass, fastest by night,

         Unseen, yet crescive in his faculty.

       CANTERBURY. It must be so; for miracles are ceas'd;

         And therefore we must needs admit the means

         How things are perfected.

       ELY. But, my good lord,

         How now for mitigation of this bill

         Urg'd by the Commons? Doth his Majesty

         Incline to it, or no?

       CANTERBURY. He seems indifferent

         Or rather swaying more upon our part

         Than cherishing th' exhibiters against us;

         For I have made an offer to his Majesty-

         Upon our spiritual convocation

         And in regard of causes now in hand,

         Which I have open'd to his Grace at large,

         As touching France- to give a greater sum

         Than ever at one time the clergy yet

         Did to his predecessors part withal.

       ELY. How did this offer seem receiv'd, my lord?

       CANTERBURY. With good acceptance of his Majesty;

         Save that there was not time enough to hear,

         As I perceiv'd his Grace would fain have done,

         The severals and unhidden passages

         Of his true tides to some certain dukedoms,

         And generally to the crown and seat of France,

         Deriv'd from Edward, his great-grandfather.

       ELY. What was th' impediment that broke this off?

       CANTERBURY. The French ambassador upon that instant

         Crav'd audience; and the hour, I think, is come

         To give him hearing: is it four o'clock?

       ELY. It is.

       CANTERBURY. Then go we in, to know his embassy;

         Which I could with a ready guess declare,

         Before the Frenchman speak a word of it.

       ELY. I'll wait upon you, and I long to hear it. Exeunt

      SCENE II. London. The Presence Chamber in the KING'S palace

      Enter the KING, GLOUCESTER, BEDFORD, EXETER, WARWICK, WESTMORELAND, and attendants

        KING HENRY. Where is my gracious Lord of Canterbury?

        EXETER. Not here in presence.

        KING HENRY. Send for him, good uncle.

        WESTMORELAND. Shall we call in th' ambassador, my liege?

        KING HENRY. Not yet, my cousin; we would be resolv'd,

          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

        CANTERBURY. God and his angels guard your sacred throne,

          And make you long become it!

        KING HENRY. Sure, we thank you.

          My learned lord, we pray you to proceed,

          And justly and religiously unfold

          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,

          Shall drop their blood in approbation

          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;

          For never two such kingdoms did contend

          Without much fall of blood; whose guiltless drops

          Are every one a woe, a sore complaint,

          'Gainst him whose wrongs gives edge unto the swords

          That makes such waste in brief mortality.

          Under this conjuration speak, my lord;

          For we will hear, note, and believe in heart,

          That what you speak is in your conscience wash'd

          As pure as sin with baptism.

        CANTERBURY. 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'-

          'No woman shall succeed in Salique land';

          Which Salique land the French unjustly gloze

          To be the realm of France, and Pharamond

          The founder of this law and female bar.

          Yet their own authors

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