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PROLOGUE.

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For a Mufe of fire, that would afcend
The brightest heaven of invention!

A kingdom for a ftage, Princes to act,
And Monarchs to behold the fwelling fcene!
Then fhould the warlike Harry, like himself,
Affume the port of Mars; and, at his heels,
(Leafht in, like hounds,) should famine, fword and fire
Crouch for employment. Pardon, gentles all,
The flat unraifed fpirit, that hath dar'd,
On this unworthy Scaffold, to bring forth
So great an object. Can this Cock-pit hold
The vafty field of France? or may we cram,
Within this wooden O, the very cafkes
That did affright the air, at Agincourt?
O, pardon; fince a crooked figure may
Atteft in little place a million;

And let us, cyphers to this great accompt,
On your imaginary forces work.
Suppofe within the girdle of thefe walls
Are now confin'd two mighty monarchies;
Whofe high up-rear'd, and abutting fronts
Perillous, the narrow ocean parts afunder.
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 fee them
Printing their proud hoofs i' th' receiving earth.
For 'tis your thoughts that now must deck our Kings,
Carry them here, and there; jumping o'er times;
Turning th' accomplishment of many years
Into an hour-glass: for the which fupply,
Admit me Chorus to this hiftory;

Who, prologue-like, your humble patience pray,
Gently to hear, kindly to judge, our Play.

The

*The LIFE of

King HENRY V.

ACT I. SCENE I.

An Antechamber in the English Court, at
Kenilworth.

Enter the Archbishop of Canterbury, and Bishop of Ely.
Archbishop of CANTERBURY.

MY lord, I'll tell you; that felf bill is urg'd,

Which, in th' eleventh year o' th' last King's
reign,

Was like, and had, indeed against us past,
But that the fcambling and unquiet time
Did push it out of further queftion.

Ely. But how, my lord, fhall we resist it now?
Cant. It must be thought on: if it pass against us,
We lofe the better half of our poffeffion:

For all the temporal lands, which men devout
By teflament have given to the Church,
Would they ftrip from us; being valu'd thus,
As much as would maintain, to the King's honour,
Full fifteen Earls and fifteen hundred Knights,

The life of Henry V.] This Play was writ (as appears from a Paffage in the Chorus to the fifth A&t) at the Time of the Earl of Effex's commanding the Forces in Ireland in the Reign of Queen Elizabeth, and not till after Henry the VIth had been played, as may be feen by the Conclufion of this Play.

Mr. Pope.

Six thousand and two hundred good Efquires:
And to relief of lazars, and weak age

Of indigent faint fouls, paft corporal toil,
A hundred alms-houses, right well fupply'd;
And to the coffers of the King, befide,

A thousand pounds by th' year. Thus runs the bill.
Ely. This would drink deep.

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Cant. 'Twould drink the

cup

Ely. But what prevention?

and all.

Cant. The King is full of grace and fair regard.
Ely. And a true lover of the holy Church.
Cant. The courfes of his youth promis'd it not;
The breath no fooner left his father's body,
But that his wildness, mortify'd in him,
Seem'd to die too; yea, at that very moment,
Confideration, like an angel, came,

And whipt th' offending Adam out of him;
Leaving his Body as a Paradife,

T'invelope and contain celeftial fpirits.

Never was fuch a fudden scholar made:
Never came reformation in a flood

With fuch a heady current, fcow'ring faults:
Nor ever Hydra-headed wilfulness

So foon did lose his feat, and all at once,
As in this King.

Ely. We're bleffed in the change.

Cant. Hear him but reason in divinity,
And, all-admiring, with an inward wifh

You would defire, the King were made a Prelate.
Hear him debate of common-wealth affairs,
You'd fay, it hath been all in all his study.
Lift his discourse of war, and you shall hear
A fearful battle render'd you in music.
Turn him to any cause of policy,
The Gordian knot of it he will unloose,
Familiar as his garter. When he speaks,
The air, a charter'd libertine, is ftill;
And the mute wonder lurketh in men's ears,

To

To fteal his fweet and honied fentences:
So that the Act, and practic part of life,
Muft be the miftrefs to this theorique.

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 fequeftration

From open haunts and popularity.

Ely. The Strawberry grows underneath the nettle, And wholesome berries thrive, and ripen beft, Neighbour'd by fruit of bafer quality:

And fo the Prince obfcur'd his contemplation
Under the veil of wildness; which, no doubt,
Grew like the fummer grafs, fafteft by night,
Unseen, yet crescive in his faculty.

Cant. It must be fo; 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?

Cant. He feems indifferent;

Or rather fwaying more upon our part,
Than cherishing th' exhibiters against us.
For I have made an offer to his Majefty,
Upon our fpiritual Convocation;
And in regard of caufes 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 predeceffors part withal.

Ely. How did this offer feem receiv'd, my lord?
Cant. 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

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