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

you

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 four pafterns; ca, ha! le Cheval volant, the Pegafus, chez les Narines de feu! he bounds from the earth, as if his entrails were hairs; when I beftride him, I foar, I am a Hawk; he trots the air, the earth fings when he touches it; the bafeft 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 beaft for Perfeus; he is pure air and fire; and the dull elements of earth and water never appear in him, but only in patient ftilnefs while his rider mounts him; he is, indeed, a horse; and all other beafts you may call jades.

Con. Indeed, my lord, it is a moft abfolute and excellent horfe.

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

Orl.. No more, coufin.

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

Orl. I have heard a fonnet begin fo to one's mistress. Dau. Then did they imitate, that which I compos'd to my courfer, for my horfe is my miftrefs.

Your

Orl. Your miftrefs bears well.

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

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

Dau. So, perhaps, did yours..

Con. Mine was not bridled.

Dau. O, then, belike, fhe was old and gentle; and you rode, like a Kern of Ireland, your French hofe off, in your ftrait Troffers.

Con. You have good judgment in horsemanship.

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

Con. I had as lieve have my mistress a jade.

Dau. I tell thee, Conftable, 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 eft retourné à fon propre vomiffement, & la truie lavée au bourbier; thou mak'ft ufe of any thing. Con. Yet do I not use my horfe for my mistress; or any fuch proverb, fo little kin to the purpose.

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

Dau. Some of them will fall to-morrow, I hope. Con. And yet my fky fhall not want.

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

Con. Ev'n as your horfe bears your praises, who would trot as well, were fome of your brags dif mounted.

Dau. Would I were able to load him with his defert. Will it never be day? I will trot to-morrow a mile, and my way fhall be paved with English faces. Con. I will not fay fo, for fear I fhould be fac'd out

of

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

Ram. Who will go to hazard with me for twenty English prifoners?

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 fimply the most active gentlemen of France.

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

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

Orl. 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 fo himfelf; and he faid, 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 faw it, but his lacquey; 'tis a hooded valour, and when it appears, it will bate.

Orl. Ill-will never faid well.

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

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

Con. Well plac'd; there ftands 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 fhot.

Con. You have shot over.

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

SCENE X.

Enter a Messenger.

Mel M within fifteen hundred paces of your tents.

Y Lord high Conftable, the English lie

Con. Who hath measur'd the ground?
Meff. 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, to mope with his fat-brain'd fol lowers fo far out of his knowledge?

Con. If the English had any apprehenfion, 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 Ifland of England breeds very valiant creatures; their mastiffs are of unmatchable courage.

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

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

Orl. Ay; but these English are fhrewdly out of beef. Con. Then fhall we find to-morrow, they have only ftomachs to eat, and none to fight. Now is it time to arm; come, fhall we about it?

Orl.

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

ACT IV. SCENE I.

AGINCOURT.

Enter CHORUS.

OW entertain conjecture of a time,

NOW
When creeping murmur, and the poring dark,

Fills the wide veffel of the universe.

From camp to camp, through the foul womb of night,
The hum of either army ftilly founds;
That the fixt centinels almost receive
The fecret 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 fteed, in high and boastful neighs
Piercing the night's dull ear; and from the tents,
The armourers accomplishing the knights,
With bufy hammers clofing rivets up,
Give dreadful note of preparation.

The country cocks do crow, the clocks do toll:
And (the third hour of drowfy morning nam'd)
Proud of their numbers and fecure in foul, 1
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 tedioufly away. The poor condemned English.
Like facrifices, by their watchful fires

Sit patiently, and inly ruminate

The morning's danger; and their gefture fad,

* Invest in lank lean cheeks and war-worn coats,

* Investing lank-lean chèeks, &c.] A Gesture investing Cheeks and Coats is Nonsense. We should read, Invest in lank lean cheeks, which is Senfe, i. e. their fad Gesture was cloth'd, or fet off, in Lean-cheeks and worn Coats. The Image is ftrong and pi&uresque.

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