K. Hen. It may be, his enemy is a gentleman of great sort, quite from the answer of his degree. 8 Flu. Though he be as goot a gentleman as the tevil is, as Lucifer and Belzebub himself, it is necessary, look your grace, that he keep his vow and his oath: if he be perjured, see you now, his reputation is as arrant a villain, and a Jack-sauce,1 as ever his plack shoe trod upon Got's ground and his earth, in my conscience, la. K. Hen. Then keep thy vow, sirrah, when thou meet'st the fellow. Will. So I will, my liege, as I live. K. Hen. Who servest thou under? Flu. Gower is a goot captain; and is good knowledge and literature in the wars. K. Hen. Call him hither to me, soldier. Will. I will, my liege. [Exit. K. Hen. Here, Fluellen; wear thou this favour for me, and stick it in thy cap: When Alençon and myself were down together,2 I plucked this glove from his helm: if any man challenge this, he is a friend to Alençon and an enemy to our person; if thou encounter any such, apprehend him, an thou dost love me. Flu. Your grace does me as great honcurs, as can be desired in the hearts of his subjects: I would fain see the man, that has but two legs, that shall find himself aggriefed at this glove, that is all; but I would fain see it once; an please Got of his grace, that I might see it. K. Hen. Know'st thou Gower? Flu. He is my dear friend, an please you. 8 great sort,] High rank. So, in the ballad of Jane Shore: "Lords and ladies of great sort." Johnson. 9 quite from the answer of his degree.] A man of such station as is not bound to hazard his person to answer to a challenge from one of the soldier's low degree. Johnson. 1 ·Jack-sauce,] i. e. saucy Jack. Malone. 2 When Alencon and myself were down together,] This circumstance is not an invention of Shakspeare's. Henry was felled to the ground at the battle of Agincourt, by the Duke of Alencon, but recovered and slew two of the Duke's attendants. Afterwards Alencon was killed by the King's guard, contrary to Henry's intention, who wished to have saved him. Malone. K. Hen. Pray thee, go seek him, and bring him to my tent. Flu. I will fetch him. [Exit, K. Hen. My lord of Warwick,-and my brother Glos ter, Follow Fluellen closely at the heels: The glove, which I have given him for a favour, It is the soldier's; I, by bargain, should For I do know Fluellen valiant, And, touch'd with choler, hot as gunpowder, And quickly will return an injury: Follow, and see there be no harm between them.- SCENE VIII. Before King Henry's Pavilion. Enter GowER and WILLIAMS. Will. I warrant, it is to knight you, captain. [Exeunt. Flu. Got's will and his pleasure, captain, I peseech you now, come apace to the king: there is more goot toward you, peradventure, than is in your knowledge to dream of. Will. Sir, know you this glove? Flu. Know the glove? I know, the glove is a glove. [Strikes him. Flu. 'Sblud, an arrant traitor, as any 's in the univer sal 'orld, or in France, or in England. Gow. How now, sir? you villain! Will. Do you think I'll be forsworn? Flu. Stand away, captain Gower; I will give treason his payment into plows,3 I warrant you. 3 into plows,] Mr. Heath very plausibly reads-in two plows. Johnson. The quarto reads-I will give treason his due presently. We Will. I am no traitor. Flu. That's a lie in thy throat.-I charge you in his majesty's name, apprehend him; he's a friend of the duke Alençon's.. Enter WARWICK and GLOSTER. War. How now, how now! what's the matter? Flu. My lord of Warwick, here is (praised be Got for it!) a most contagious treason come to light, look you, as you shall desire in a summer's day. Here is his majesty. Enter King HENRY and EXETER. K. Hen. How now! what's the matter? Flu. My liege, here is a villain, and a traitor, that, look your grace, has struck the glove which your majesty is take out of the helmet of Alençon. Will. My liege, this was my glove; here is the fellow of it: and he, that I gave it to in change, promised to wear it in his cap; I promised to strike him, if he did: I met this man with my glove in his cap, and I have been as good as my word. Flu. Your majesty hear now, (saving your majesty's manhood) what an arrant, rascally, beggarly, lowsy knave it is: I hope, your majesty is pear me testimony, and witness, and avouchments, that this is the glove of Alençon, that your majesty is give me, in your conscience now. 4 K. Hen. Give me thy glove, soldier; Look, here is might therefore read-in due plows, i. e. in the beating that is so well his due. Fuller, in his Church History, p. 139, speaks of the task-masters of Israel, "on whose back the number of bricks wanting were only scored in blows." Steevens. The Scotch, both in speaking and in writing, frequently use into for in. However, if it should be thought necessary to amend the text, the readiest way would be to omit a syllable, and read -in plows. Ritson. 4 Give me thy glove,] It must be-Give me my glove; for of the soldier's glove the King had not the fellow. Johnson. "Give me my glove," cannot be right, for the King had not yet acknowledged the glove to be his. M. Mason. The text is certainly right. By "thy glove," the King means -the glove that thou hast now in thy cap; i. e. Henry's glove which he had given to Williams, (see Act IV, sc. i,) and of which he had retained the fellow. the fellow of it. 'Twas I, indeed, thou promised'st to strike; and thou hast given me most bitter terms. Flu. An please your majesty, let his neck answer for it, if there is any martial law in the 'orld. K. Hen. How canst thou make me satisfaction? Will. All offences, my liege, come from the heart: never came any from mine, that might offend your majesty. K. Hen. It was ourself thou didst abuse. Will. Your majesty came not like yourself: you appeared to me but as a common man; witness the night, your garments, your lowliness; and what your highness suffered under that shape, I beseech you, take it for your own fault, and not mine: for had you been as I took you for, I made no offence; therefore, I beseech your highness, pardon me. K. Hen. Here, uncle Exeter, fill this glove with crowns, And give it to this fellow. Keep it, fellow; And wear it for an honour in thy cap, Till I do challenge it.-Give him the crowns:- Flu. By this day and this light, the fellow has mettle enough in his pelly:-Hold, there is twelve pence for you, and I pray you to serve Got, and keep you out of prawls, and prabbles, and quarrels, and dissensions, and, I warrant you, it is the petter for you. Will. I will none of your money. Flu. It is with a goot will; I can tell you, it will serve you to mend your shoes: Come, wherefore, should you be so pashful? your shoes is not so goot: 'tis ling, I warrant you, or I will change it. Enter an English Herald. goot sil K. Hen. Now, herald; are the dead number'd?" So, in Romeo and Juliet, Act I, sc. iii, the Nurse says to Juliet: "were I not thine only nurse, "I'd say, thou had'st suck'd wisdom from thy teat." i. e. the nurse's teat. Malone. 5 jour shoes is not so goot:] In the most minute particulars we find Shakspeare as observant as in matters of the highest moment. Shoes are, above any other article of dress, an object of attention to the common soldier, and most liable to be worn out. Malone. Her. Here is the number of the slaughter'd French. [Delivers a paper. K. Hen. What prisoners of good sort are taken, uncle? Exe. Charles duke of Orleans, nephew to the king; John duke of Bourbon, and lord Bouciqualt: Of other lords, and barons, knights, and 'squires, K. Hen. This note doth tell me of ten thousand French, The names of those their nobles that lie dead,- 8 6 Now, herald; are the dead number'd?] I have little doubt that this defective line was originally written as follows: Now, herald, are the dead on both sides number'd? Steevens. 7 Charles duke of Orleans, &c.] This list is copied from Hall. It is taken from Holinshed. Malone. Pope. 8 Five hundred were but yesterday dubb'd knights:]. In ancient times, the distribution of this honour appears to have been customary, on the eve of a battle. So, in Lawrence Minot's 6th Poem on the Successes of King Edward III, p. 28: "Knightes war thar wele two score, 99 Steevens. 9 sixteen hundred mercenaries;] Mercenaries are in this place common soldiers, or hired soldiers. The gentlemen served at their own charge in consequence of their tenures. Johnson. I doubt the accuracy of Dr. Johnson's assertion, that "the gentlemen served at their own charge in consequence of their tenures;" as, I take it, this practice, which was always confined to those holding by knights' service, and to the term of forty days, had fallen into complete disuse long before Henry the Fifth's time; and personal service would not, at that period, have excused the subsidies which were paid in lieu of it. Even the nobility were, for the most part, retained by contract to serve, with the numbers, for the time, and at the wages, specified in the indenture. Ritson. |