Act IV, Scene 3

The English camp.

[Enter GLOUCESTER, BEDFORD, EXETER, ERPINGHAM, with] [p]all his host: SALISBURY and WESTMORELAND]

• Duke of Gloucester. Where is the king?

• Duke of Bedford. The king himself is rode to view their battle.

• Earl of Westmoreland. Of fighting men they have full three score thousand.

• Duke of Exeter. There's five to one; besides, they all are fresh. 2235

• Earl of Salisbury. God's arm strike with us! 'tis a fearful odds.
  God be wi' you, princes all; I'll to my charge:
  If we no more meet till we meet in heaven,
  Then, joyfully, my noble Lord of Bedford,
  My dear Lord Gloucester, and my good Lord Exeter, 2240
  And my kind kinsman, warriors all, adieu!

• Duke of Bedford. Farewell, good Salisbury; and good luck go with thee!

• Duke of Exeter. Farewell, kind lord; fight valiantly to-day:
  And yet I do thee wrong to mind thee of it,
  For thou art framed of the firm truth of valour. 2245

[Exit SALISBURY]

• Duke of Bedford. He is full of valour as of kindness;
  Princely in both.

[Enter the KING]

• Earl of Westmoreland. O that we now had here 2250
  But one ten thousand of those men in England
  That do no work to-day!

• Henry V. What's he that wishes so?
  My cousin Westmoreland? No, my fair cousin:
  If we are mark'd to die, we are enow 2255
  To do our country loss; and if to live,
  The fewer men, the greater share of honour.
  God's will! I pray thee, wish not one man more.
  By Jove, I am not covetous for gold,
  Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost; 2260
  It yearns me not if men my garments wear;
  Such outward things dwell not in my desires:
  But if it be a sin to covet honour,
  I am the most offending soul alive.
  No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England: 2265
  God's peace! I would not lose so great an honour
  As one man more, methinks, would share from me
  For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more!
  Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host,
  That he which hath no stomach to this fight, 2270
  Let him depart; his passport shall be made
  And crowns for convoy put into his purse:
  We would not die in that man's company
  That fears his fellowship to die with us.
  This day is called the feast of Crispian: 2275
  He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,
  Will stand a tip-toe when the day is named,
  And rouse him at the name of Crispian.
  He that shall live this day, and see old age,
  Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours, 2280
  And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian:'
  Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars.
  And say 'These wounds I had on Crispin's day.'
  Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot,
  But he'll remember with advantages 2285
  What feats he did that day: then shall our names.
  Familiar in his mouth as household words
  Harry the king, Bedford and Exeter,
  Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester,
  Be in their flowing cups freshly remember'd. 2290
  This story shall the good man teach his son;
  And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,
  From this day to the ending of the world,
  But we in it shall be remember'd;
  We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; 2295
  For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
  Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
  This day shall gentle his condition:
  And gentlemen in England now a-bed
  Shall think themselves accursed they were not here, 2300
  And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
  That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

[Re-enter SALISBURY]

• Earl of Salisbury. My sovereign lord, bestow yourself with speed:
  The French are bravely in their battles set, 2305
  And will with all expedience charge on us.

• Henry V. All things are ready, if our minds be so.

• Earl of Westmoreland. Perish the man whose mind is backward now!

• Henry V. Thou dost not wish more help from England, coz?

• Earl of Westmoreland. God's will! my liege, would you and I alone, 2310
  Without more help, could fight this royal battle!

• Henry V. Why, now thou hast unwish'd five thousand men;
  Which likes me better than to wish us one.
  You know your places: God be with you all!

[Tucket. Enter MONTJOY]

• Montjoy. Once more I come to know of thee, King Harry,
  If for thy ransom thou wilt now compound,
  Before thy most assured overthrow:
  For certainly thou art so near the gulf,
  Thou needs must be englutted. Besides, in mercy, 2320
  The constable desires thee thou wilt mind
  Thy followers of repentance; that their souls
  May make a peaceful and a sweet retire
  From off these fields, where, wretches, their poor bodies
  Must lie and fester. 2325

• Henry V. Who hath sent thee now?

• Montjoy. The Constable of France.

• Henry V. I pray thee, bear my former answer back:
  Bid them achieve me and then sell my bones.
  Good God! why should they mock poor fellows thus? 2330
  The man that once did sell the lion's skin
  While the beast lived, was killed with hunting him.
  A many of our bodies shall no doubt
  Find native graves; upon the which, I trust,
  Shall witness live in brass of this day's work: 2335
  And those that leave their valiant bones in France,
  Dying like men, though buried in your dunghills,
  They shall be famed; for there the sun shall greet them,
  And draw their honours reeking up to heaven;
  Leaving their earthly parts to choke your clime, 2340
  The smell whereof shall breed a plague in France.
  Mark then abounding valour in our English,
  That being dead, like to the bullet's grazing,
  Break out into a second course of mischief,
  Killing in relapse of mortality. 2345
  Let me speak proudly: tell the constable
  We are but warriors for the working-day;
  Our gayness and our gilt are all besmirch'd
  With rainy marching in the painful field;
  There's not a piece of feather in our host— 2350
  Good argument, I hope, we will not fly—
  And time hath worn us into slovenry:
  But, by the mass, our hearts are in the trim;
  And my poor soldiers tell me, yet ere night
  They'll be in fresher robes, or they will pluck 2355
  The gay new coats o'er the French soldiers' heads
  And turn them out of service. If they do this,—
  As, if God please, they shall,—my ransom then
  Will soon be levied. Herald, save thou thy labour;
  Come thou no more for ransom, gentle herald: 2360
  They shall have none, I swear, but these my joints;
  Which if they have as I will leave 'em them,
  Shall yield them little, tell the constable.

• Montjoy. I shall, King Harry. And so fare thee well:
  Thou never shalt hear herald any more. 2365

[Exit]

• Henry V. I fear thou'lt once more come again for ransom.

[Enter YORK]

• Duke of York. My lord, most humbly on my knee I beg
  The leading of the vaward. 2370

• Henry V. Take it, brave York. Now, soldiers, march away:
  And how thou pleasest, God, dispose the day!

[Exeunt]