Dau. My lord of Orleans, and my lord high ConAtable, you talk of horse and armour,

Orl. You are as well provided of both, as any Prince in the world.

Dau. What a long night is this! I will not change my horse with any that treads but on folur pafterns; ca, ha ! le Cheval volant, the Pegasus, chez les Narines de feu! he bounds from the earth, as if his entrails were hairs; when I bestride him, I foar, I am a Hawk; he trots the air, the earth sings when he touches it; the baseft horn of his hoof is more musical than the pipe of Hermes.

Orl. He's of the colour of the Nutmeg.

Dau. And of the heat of the ginger. It is a beast for Perseus; he is pure air and fire; and the dull elements of earth and water never appear in him,

but only in patient stilness while his rider mounts him; he is, indeed, a horse ; and all other beasts you may call jades.

Con. Indeed, my lord, it is a most absolute and excellent horse.

Dau. It is the prince of palfreys; his neigh is like thie bidding of a monarch, and his countenance enforces homage.

Orl.. No more, cousin.

Dau. Nay, the man hath no wit, that cannot, from the rising of the lark to the lodging of the lamb, vary deserved praise on my palfrey; it is a theme as fluent as the fea: turn the sands into eloquent tongues, and my house is argument for them all; 'tis a fubje&t for a Sovereign to reason on, and for a Sovereign's Sovereign to ride on; and for the world, familiar to us and unknown, to lay apart their particular functions and wonder at him. I once writ a fonnet in his praise, and began thus, Wonder of nature

Orl. I have heard a sonnet begin fo to one's mistress.

Dau. Then did they imitate, that which I compos'd to my courser, for my horse is my miltress.

Your

Orl. Your mistress bears well.

. Dau. Me, well;—which is the prescript praise, and perfection, of a good and particular mistress.

Con. Methought, yesterday your mistress shrewdly fhook your back.

Dau. So, perhaps, did yours..
Con. Mine was not bridled.

Dau. O, then, belike, she was old and gentle; and you rode, like a Kern of Ireland, your French hose off, in your

ftrait Troffers. con. You have good judgment in horsemanship.

Dau. Be warn’d by me then; they that ride fo and ride not warily, fall into foul bogs; I had rather have my horse to my mistress.

Con. I had as lieve have my miftress a jade.
Dau. I tell thee, Constable, my mistress wears her

own hair,

Con. I could make as true a boast as that, if I had a Sow to my

mistress. Dau. Le chien est retourné à son propre vomiffement, & la truie lavée au bourbier ; thou mak'st use of any thing. Con. Yet do I not use

my
horse for

my

mistress; or any such proverb, so little kin to the purpose.

Ram. My lord Constable, the armour, that I saw in your tent to night, are those stars, or suns upon it?

Con. Stars, my lord.
Dau. Some of them will fall 10-morrow, I hope.
Con. And yet my sky shall not want.

Dau. That may be, for you bear many superfluously; and 'twere more honour, some were away.

Cón. Ev'n as your horle bears your praises, who would trot as well, were some of your brags dismounted.

Dau. Would I were able to load him with his desert. Will it never be day? I will trot to-morrow a mile, and my way shall be paved with English faces. Con. I will not say so, for fear I should be fac'dout

of

of my way; but I would it were morning, for I would fain be about the ears of the English.

Rani. Who will go to hazard with me for twenty English prisoners ?

Con. You must first go yourself to hazard ere you
have them.
Dau. 'Tis mid-night, I'll go arm myself

. (Exit.
Orl. The Dauphin longs for morning.
Ram. He longs to eat the English.
Con. I think, he will eat all he kills.

Orl. By the white hand of my lady, he's a gallant
Prince.

Con. Swear by her foot, that she may tread out the oath.

Orl. He is simply the most active gentlemen of
France.

Con. Doing is activity, and he will still be doing.
Orl. He never did harm, that I heard of.

Con. Nor will do none to-morrow: he will keep that good name fill.

Ori. I know him to be valiant.
Con. I was told that, by one that knows him better

than you.

Orl. What's he?

Con. Marry, he told me so himself; and he said, he car'd not who knew it.

Orl. He needs not, it is no hidden virtue in him.

Con. By my faith, Sir, but it is; never any body saw it, but his lacquey ; 'tis a hooded valour, and when it appears, it will bate.

Orl. Ill-will never said well.

Con. I will cap that proverb with, There is flattery in friendship.

Ori. And I will take up that with, Give the Devil his due.

Con. Well plac'd; there stands your friend for the devil; have at the very eye of that proverb with, A pox on the devil!

Orl. You are the better at proverbs, by how much a fool's bolt is foon phot.

Con. You have shot over.
Orl. 'Tis not the first time you were over-shot.

S CE N E X.

Enter a Messenger.
Mil Mithidfifteen hundred paces of your tents.

Con. Who hath measur'd the ground?
Mef. The lord Grandpree.

Con. A valiant and most expert gentleman. Would it were day! Alas, poor Harry of England! he longs not for the dawning as we do.

Orl. What a wretched and peevish fellow is this King of England, 10 mope with his fåt-brain'd fol. lowers so far out of his knowledge?

Con. If the English had any apprehension, they would run away.

Orl. That they lack: for if their heads had any intellectual armour, they could never wear such heavy head pieces.

Ram. That Island of England breeds very valiant creatures; their mastiffs are of unmatchable courage.

Orl, Foolish curs, that run winking into the mouth of a Rusian Bear, and have their heads crush d like rotten apples. You may as well say, that's a valiant Flea, that dares eat his breakfast on the lip of a Lion.

Con. Juft, just; and the men do sympathize with the mastiffs in robuftious and rough coming on, leaving their wits with their wives; and then give them great meals of beef, and iron and steel, they will eat like wolves, and fight like devils.

Orl. Ay; but these English are shrewdly out of beef.

Con. Then shall we find to-morrow, they have only ftomachs to eat, and none to fight. Now is it time to arm; come, shall we about it?

Orl.

Orl. 'Tis two o'clock; but let me fee) by ten, We shall have cach a hundred Englishmen. [Exeunt.

N

A CT Iv..' SC Ε Ν Ε Ι.

AGINCOURT.

Enter CHORUS.
OW entertain conjecture of a time,

When creeping murmur, and the poring dark,
Fills the wide vefsel of the universe.
From camp to camp, through the foul womb of night,
The hum of either army stilly sounds;
That the fixt centinels almost receive
The secret whispers of each other's watch.
Fire answers fire; and through their paly flames
Each battle fees the other's umber'd face,
Steed threatens steed, in high and boastful neighs
Piercing the night's dull ear; and from the tents,
The armourers accomplishing the knights,
With busy hammers closing rivets up,
Give dreadful note of preparation.
The

country cocks do crow, the clocks do toll: And (the third hour of drowsy morning nam’d) Proud of their numbers and secure in soul, The confident and over-lufty French Do the low-rated English play at dice ; And chide the cripple tardy-gaited night, Who, like a foul and ugly witch, does limp So tediously away: The poor condemned English, Like facrifices, by their watchful fires Sit patienųly, and inly ruminate The morning's danger; and their gesture sad, * Invest in lank-lean cheeks and war-worn coats,

* Investing lank-lean chèeks, &c.) A Geflure investing Cheeks and Coats is Nonsense. We should read, Invest in lank loan cheeks, which is Sense, i. e. their fad Gesture was cloth’d, or fet off, in Lean-cheeks and worn Coats. The Image is strong and piduresque,

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