The Oxford Shakespeare: The Complete Works

by William Shakespeare

  PRINCE OF WALES

  Successfully, I thank the gracious heavens.

  Some of their strongest cities we have won—

  As Harfleur, Lô, Crotoy and Carentan—

  And others wasted, leaving at our heels

  A wide, apparent field and beaten path

  For solitariness to progress in.

  Yet those that would submit we kindly pardoned,

  For who in scorn refused our proffered peace

  Endured the penalty of sharp revenge.

  KING EDWARD

  Ah, France, why shouldst thou be this obstinate

  Against the kind embracement of thy friends?

  How gently had we thought to touch thy breast

  And set our foot upon thy tender mould,

  But that in froward and disdainful pride

  Thou, like a skittish and untamed colt,

  Dost start aside and strike us with thy heels.

  But tell me, Ned, in all thy warlike course

  Hast thou not seen the usurping King of France?

  PRINCE OF WALES

  Yes, my good lord, and not two hours ago,

  With full a hundred thousand fighting men

  Upon the one side with the river’s bank,

  And on the other, both his multitudes.

  I feared he would have cropped our smaller power,

  But happily, perceiving your approach,

  He hath withdrawn himself to Crécy plains,

  Where, as it seemeth by his good array,

  He means to bid us battle presently.

  KING EDWARD

  He shall be welcome. That’s the thing we crave.

  Enter Jean King of France, the Dauphin, the

  Duc de Lorraine, the King of Bohemia, young

  Prince Philippe and soldiers

  KING OF FRANCE

  Edward, know that Jean, the true King of France,

  Musing thou shouldst encroach upon his land

  And, in thy tyrannous proceeding, slay

  His faithful subjects and subvert his towns,

  Spits in thy face, and, in this manner following,

  Upbraids thee with thine arrogant intrusion.

  First, I condemn thee for a fugitive,

  A thievish pirate and a needy mate,

  One that hath either no abiding-place

  Or else, inhabiting some barren soil,

  Where neither herb or fruitful grain is had,

  Dost altogether live by pilfering.

  Next, insomuch thou hast infringed thy faith,

  Broke league and solemn covenant made with me,

  I hold thee for a false, pernicious wretch.

  And last of all, although I scorn to cope

  With one so much inferior to myself,

  Yet in respect thy thirst is all for gold,

  Thy labour rather to be feared than loved,

  To satisfy thy lust, in either part,

  Here am I come and with me have I brought

  Exceeding store of treasure, pearl and coin.

  Leave, therefore, now to persecute the weak,

  And armed ent‘ring conflict with the armed,

  Let it be seen, ’mongst other petty thefts,

  How thou canst win this pillage manfully.

  KING EDWARD

  If gall or wormwood have a pleasant taste,

  Then is thy salutation honey sweet.

  But as the one hath no such property,

  So is the other most satirical.

  Yet wot how I regard thy worthless taunts.

  If thou have uttered them to soil my fame,

  Or dim the reputation of my birth,

  Know that thy wolvish barking cannot hurt.

  If slyly to insinuate with the world,

  And with a strumpet’s artificial lime

  To paint thy vicious and deformed cause,

  Be well assured the counterfeit will fade,

  And in the end thy foul defects be seen.

  But if thou didst it to provoke me on,

  As who should say I were but timorous,

  Or, coldly negligent, did need a spur,

  Bethink thyself how slack I was at sea,

  How, since my landing, I have won no towns,

  Entered no further but upon the coast,

  And there have ever since securely slept.

  But if I have been otherwise employed,

  Imagine, Valois, whether I intend

  To skirmish, not for pillage, but for the crown

  Which thou dost wear and that I vow to have,

  Or one of us shall fall into his grave.

  PRINCE OF WALES

  Look not for cross invectives at our hands,

  Or railing execrations of despite.

  Let creeping serpents hid in hollow banks

  Sting with their tongues; we have remorseless swords,

  And they shall plead for us and our affairs.

  Yet thus much briefly, by my father’s leave,

  As all the immodest poison of thy throat

  Is scandalous and most notorious lies,

  And our pretended quarrel is truly just,

  So end the battle when we meet today:

  May either of us prosper and prevail

  Or, luckless cursed, receive eternal shame.

  KING EDWARD

  That needs no further question, and I know

  His conscience witnesseth it is my right.

  Therefore, Valois, say: wilt thou yet resign

  Before the sickle’s thrust into the corn,

  Or that enkindled fury turn to flame?

  KING OF FRANCE

  Edward, I know what right thou hast in France,

  And ere I basely will resign my crown

  This champaign field shall be a pool of blood,

  And all our prospect as a slaughterhouse.

  PRINCE OF WALES

  Ay, that approves thee, tyrant, what thou art.

  No father, king, or shepherd of thy realm,

  But one that tears her entrails with thy hands

  And, like a thirsty tiger, suck’st her blood.

  AUDLEY

  You peers of France, why do you follow him

  That is so prodigal to spend your lives?

  DAUPHIN

  Whom should they follow, aged impotent,

  But he that is their true-born sovereign?

  KING EDWARD

  Upbraid’st thou him because within his face

  Time hath engraved deep characters of age?

  Know that these grave scholars of experience,

  Like stiff-grown oaks, will stand immovable

  When whirlwind quickly turns up younger trees.

  EARL OF DERBY (to the King of France)

  Was ever any of thy father’s house

  King but thyself before this present time?

  (To the French generally) Edward’s great lineage by the

  mother’s side

  Five hundred years hath held the sceptre up.

  Judge then, conspirators, by this descent

  Which is the true-born sovereign—this, or that.

  PRINCE PHILIPPE (to the King of France)

  Father, range your battles. Prate no more.

  These English fain would spend the time in words

  That, night approaching, they might scape unfought.

  KING OF FRANCE

  Lords and my loving subjects, now’s the time

  That your intended force must bide the touch.

  Therefore, my friends, consider this in brief.

  He that you fight for is your natural king;

  He against whom you fight a foreigner.

  He that you fight for rules in clemency,

  And reigns you with a mild and gentle bit;

  He against whom you fight, if he prevail,

  Will straight enthrone himself in tyranny,

  Make slaves of you and with a heavy hand

  Curtail and curb your sweetest liberty.

  Then,
to protect your country and your King,

  Let but the haughty courage of your hearts

  Answer the number of your able hands,

  And we shall quickly chase these fugitives.

  For what’s this Edward but a belly-god,

  A tender and lascivious wantonness,

  That th‘other day was almost dead for love?

  And what, I pray you, is his goodly guard?

  Such as, but scant them of their chines of beef,

  And take away their downy feather beds,

  And presently they are as resty-stiff

  As ’twere a many overridden jades.

  Then, Frenchmen, scorn that such should be your lords,

  And rather bind ye them in captive bands.

  ALL THE FRENCH

  Vive le roil God save King Jean of Francel

  KING OF FRANCE

  Now, on this plain of Crécy, spread yourselves.

  And, Edward, when thou dar’st, begin the fight!

  Exit with the French

  KING EDWARD (calling after)

  We presently will meet thee, Jean of France!

  (To the English) And, English lords, let us resolve the day

  Either to clear us of that scandalous crime

  Or be entombed in our innocence.

  (To the Prince of Wales) And, Ned, because this battle is the first

  That ever yet thou fought’st in pitched field,

  As ancient custom is of martialists

  To dub thee with the type of chivalry,

  In solemn manner we will give thee arms.

  Come, therefore, heralds; orderly bring forth

  A strong attirement for the Prince my son.

  Enter four heralds bringing in a coat armour, a helmet, a lance and a shield

  Edward Plantagenet, in the name of God,

  As with this armour I impale thy breast

  So be thy noble, unrelenting heart

  Walled in with flint of matchless fortitude

  That never base affections enter there.

  ⌈The Prince of Wales is invested in armour⌉

  Fight and be valiant; conquer where thou com’st.

  (To Derby, Audley and Artois) Now follow, lords, and do him honour too.

  EARL OF DERBY

  Edward Plantagenet, Prince of Wales,

  As I do set this helmet on thy head

  Wherewith the chamber of thy brain is fenced,

  So may thy temples with Bellona’s hand

  Be still adorned with laurel victory.

  ⌈The helmet is placed on the Prince of Wales⌉

  Fight and be valiant; conquer where thou com’st.

  AUDLEY

  Edward Plantagenet, Prince of Wales,

  Receive this lance into thy manly hand.

  Use it in fashion of a brazen pen

  To draw forth bloody stratagems in France,

  And print thy valiant deeds in honour’s book.

  ⌈The lance is given to the Prince of Wales⌉

  Fight and be valiant; vanquish where thou com’st.

  COMTE D’ARTOIS

  Edward Plantagenet, Prince of Wales,

  Hold, take this target; wear it on thy arm.

  And may the view thereof, like Perseus’ shield,

  Astonish and transform thy gazing foes

  To senseless images of meagre death.

  ⌈The shield is given to the Prince of Wales⌉

  Fight and be valiant; conquer where thou com’st.

  KING EDWARD

  Now wants there naught but knighthood, which deferred

  We leave till thou hast won it in the field.

  PRINCE OF WALES

  My gracious father and ye forward peers,

  This honour you have done me animates

  And cheers my green, yet scarce-appearing, strength

  With comfortable, good-presaging signs,

  No otherwise than did old Jacob’s words

  Whenas he breathed his blessings on his sons.

  These hallowed gifts of yours, when I profane

  Or use them not to glory of my God

  To patronage the fatherless and poor,

  Or for the benefit of England’s peace,

  Be numb my joints, wax feeble both mine arms,

  Wither my heart that, like a sapless tree,

  I may remain the map of infamy.

  KING EDWARD

  Then thus our steeled battles shall be ranged.

  (To the Prince of Wales) The leading of the vanguard, Ned, is thine,

  To dignify whose lusty spirit the more

  We temper it with Audley’s gravity,

  That courage and experience, joined in one,

  Your manège may be second unto none.

  (To all) For the main battles I will guide myself,

  And Derby in the rearward march behind,

  That orderly disposed and set in ’ray

  Let us to horse, and God grant us the day!

  Exeunt

  Sc. 7 Alarum. Enter and exit a many Frenchmen flying. Chasing after them, enter and exit Edward Prince of Wales running. Then enter Jean King of France and the Due de Lorraine

  KING OF FRANCE

  O Lorraine, say: what mean our men to fly?

  Our number is far greater than our foes.

  DUC DE LORRAINE

  The garrison of Genoese, my lord,

  That came from Paris, weary with their march,

  Grudging to be so suddenly employed,

  No sooner in the forefront took their place,

  But straight retiring, so dismayed the rest

  As likewise they betook themselves to flight,

  In which, for haste to make a safe escape,

  More in the clustering throng are pressed to death

  Than by the enemy a thousandfold.

  KING OF FRANCE

  O, hapless fortune! Let us yet assay

  If we can counsel some of them to stay.

  Exeunt

  Sc. 8 Enter King Edward and Lord Audley

  KING EDWARD

  Lord Audley, whiles our son is in the chase,

  Withdraw our powers unto this little hill,

  And here a season let us breathe ourselves.

  AUDLEY I will, my lord. Exit

  Sound retreat within

  KING EDWARD

  Just-dooming heaven, whose secret providence

  To our gross judgement is inscrutable,

  How are we bound to praise thy wondrous works

  That hast, this day, given way unto the right,

  And made the wicked stumble at themselves?

  Enter the Comte d’Artois

  COMTE D’ARTOIS

  Rescue, King Edward! Rescue for thy son!

  KING EDWARD

  Rescue, Artois? What, is he prisoner,

  Or fell by violence beside his horse?

  COMTE D’ARTOIS

  Neither, my lord, but narrowly beset

  With turning Frenchmen, whom he did pursue,

  As ’tis impossible that he should scape

  Except your highness presently descend.

  KING EDWARD

  Tut, let him fight. We gave him arms today,

  And he is labouring for a knighthood, man!

  Enter the Earl of Derby

  EARL OF DERBY

  The Prince, my lord, the Prince! O, succour him!

  He’s close encompassed with a world of odds.

  KING EDWARD

  Then will he win a world of honour too

  If he by valour can redeem him thence.

  If not, what remedy? We have more sons

  Than one to comfort our declining age.

  Enter Lord Audley

  AUDLEY

  Renowned Edward, give me leave, I pray,

  To lead my soldiers where I may relieve

  Your grace’s son, in danger to be slain.

  The snares of French, like emmets on a bank,

  Muster about him whilst he, lion-like,
r />   Entangled in the net of their assaults,

  Franticly rends and bites the woven toil.

  But all in vain. He cannot free himself.

  KING EDWARD

  Audley, content. I will not have a man,

  On pain of death, sent forth to succour him.

  This is the day ordained by destiny

  To season his green courage with those grievous

  thoughts

  That, if he breaketh out, Nestor’s years on earth

  Will make him savour still of this exploit.

  EARL OF DERBY

  Ah, but he shall not live to see those days!

  KING EDWARD

  Why, then, his epitaph is lasting praise.

  AUDLEY

  Yet, good my lord, ’tis too much wilfulness

  To let his blood be spilt, that may be saved.

  KING EDWARD

  Exclaim no more, for none of you can tell

  Whether a borrowed aid will serve or no.

  Perhaps he is already slain or ta’en.

  And dare a falcon when she’s in her flight,

  And ever after she’ll be haggard-like.

  Let Edward be delivered by our hands

  And, still in danger, he’ll expect the like.

  But if himself himself redeem from thence,

  He will have vanquished, cheerful, death and fear,

  And ever after dread their force no more

  Than if they were but babes or captive slaves.

  AUDLEY

  O cruel father! Farewell Edward, then.

  EARL OF DERBY

  Farewell, sweet Prince, the hope of chivalry.

  COMTE D’ARTOIS

  O, would my life might ransom him from death!

  Trumpets sound retreat within

  KING EDWARD But soft—methinks I hear

  The dismal charge of trumpets’ loud retreat.

  All are not slain, I hope, that went with him.

  Some will return with tidings, good or bad.

  Enter Edward Prince of Wales in triumph, bearing in his hand his shivered lance. The body of the King of Bohemia is borne before, wrapped in the colours of Bohemia. The English run and embrace the Prince

  AUDLEY

  O, joyful sight! Victorious Edward lives!

  EARL OF DERBY

  Welcome, brave Prince.

  KINC EDWARD

  Welcome, Plantagenet.

  The Prince kneels and kisses his father’s hand

  PRINCE OF WALES

  First, having done my duty as beseemed,