KING HENRY THE

FIFTH

} brothers to the King.

KING HENRY THE FIFTH.
DUKE OF GLOUCESTER,
DUKE OF BEDFORD,
DUKE OF EXETER, uncle to the King.
DUKE OF York, cousin to the King.
The EARL OF SALISBURY.
The EARL OF WESTMORELAND.
The EARL OF WARWICK.
The ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY.
The BISHOP OF ELY.
The EA of CAMBRIDGE, LORD SCROOP, and Sir

THOMAS GREY, Conspirators against the King.
Sir THOMAS ERPINGHAM; GOWER; FLUELLEN, 2 Welsh-

man; MACMORRIS, an Irishman; and Jamy, a

Scotchman :-Officers in King Henry's Army. Bates, COURT, and WILLIAMS, Soldiers in King

Henry's Army. Pistol, NYM, BARDOLPH, a Herald, and Boy. Charles The Sixth, King of France. LEWIS, the Dauphin. The DUKE OF BURGUNDY, the DUKE OF ORLEANS, and

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 swell-

ing 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 dared 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, ciphers to this great accompt, On your imaginary forces work : Suppose, within the girdle of these walls

a

Are now confined 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;
Turning the accomplishment of many years
Into an hour-glass ; for the which supply,
Admit me Chorus to this history ;
Who, prologue-like, your humble patience pray, -
Gently to hear, kindly to judge, our play.

SCENE 1.-London. An Ante-chamber in

the King's Palace.

Enter the ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY and BISHOP

OF ELY.

Canterbury.
Y lord, I'll tell you,—that self bill is urged,
Which, in the eleventh year of 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?