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 casquest, That did affright the air at Agincourt? O, pardon! since a crooked figure may Attest, in little place, a million; And let us, ciphers 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 Printing their proud hoofs i' the receiving earth: For 'tis your thoughts that now must deck our kings, Carry them here and there; jumping o'er times; An allusion to the circular form of the theatre. ↑ Helmets. Turning the accomplishments of many years Who, prologue-like, your humble patience pray, KING HENRY V. ACT I. SCENE I. London. An ante-chamber in the King's palace. Enter the Archbishop of Canterbury, and Bishop My of Ely. Canterbury. Y lord, I'll tell you,-that self bill is urg'd, Which, in the eleventh year o' the last king's reign Was like, and had indeed against us pass'd, But that the scambling and unquiet time Did push it out of further question*. Ely. But how, my lord, shall we resist it now? Cant. It must be thought on. If it pass against us, We lose the better half of our possession: For all the temporal lands, which men devout By testament have given to the church, Would they strip from us; being valued thus,As much as would maintain, to the king's honour, Full fifteen earls, and fifteen hundred knights; Six thousand and two hundred good esquires; • Debate. And, to relief of lazars, and weak age, Of indigent faint souls, past corporal toil, A thousand pounds by the year: Thus runs the bill. Cant. 'Twould drink the cup and all. Ely. But what prevention? Cant. The king is full of grace, and fair regard. And whipp'd the offending Adam out of him; To envelop and contain celestial spirits. With such a heady current, scouring faults; So soon did lose his seat, and all at once, Ely. We are blessed in the change. Cant. Hear him but reason in divinity, And, all-admiring, with an inward wish You would desire, the king were made a prelate: The Gordian knot of it he will unloose, • Listen to. So that the art and practick part of life Must be the mistress to this theorick* : Which is a wonder, how his grace should glean it, His companiest unletter'd, rude, and shallow; 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 Cant. It must be so: for miracles are ceas'd; Ely. But, my good lord, How now for mitigation of this bill Urg'd by the commons? Doth his majesty Cant. And in regard of causes now in hand, As touching France,-to give a greater sum Ely. How did this offer seem receiv'd, my lord? • Theory. + Companions. Increasing. |