THE LIFE OF KING HENRY THE FIFTH PROLOGUE. Enter Chorus. Chor. O for a Muse of fire, that would ascend The brightest heaven of invention, A kingdom for a stage, princes to act And monarchs to behold the swelling scene! fire Crouch for employment. But pardon, gentles all, 7. famine, sword and fire. This trio is probably suggested by a speech of Henry's, as reported by Holinshed, in which he replies to suppliant citizens, during his siege of Rouen (1419), 10 that Bellona, the goddess of battle, had three handmaidens blood, fire, and famine, all of which were at his choice to use (Hol. iii. 367, ed. Stone). Within this wooden O the very casques Suppose within the girdle of these walls And make imaginary puissance; Think, when we talk of horses, that you see them Carry them here and there; jumping o'er times, Who prologue-like your humble patience pray, 13. this wooden O; the narrow circular interior of the newly erected Globe Theatre on the Bankside, where the play was first performed. It was 'wooden,' being built of timber taken from the older 'theater' 20 30 on the opposite (city) side of the river. 13. the very (casques), the very same. 17. accompt, account. 25. puissance (three syllables). SCENE I. ACT I. London. An ante-chamber in the Enter the ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY, and the BISHOP OF ELY. Cant. My lord, I'll tell you; that self bill is urged, Which in the eleventh year of the last king's reign Was like, and had indeed against us pass'd, But that the scambling and unquiet time Did push it out of farther question. Ely. But how, my lord, shall we resist it now? against us, If it pass We lose the better half of our possession: And, to relief of lazars and weak age, Of indigent faint souls past corporal toil, ΙΟ Sc. 1. Canterbury. This was king's attention from his confis Henrie Chichele. Shakespeare follows the chronicles in attributing to him the chief share in the clerical plot for diverting the VOL. VII 17 cation bill. I. self, same. 4. scambling, turbulent. C A thousand pounds by the year: thus runs the bill. Ely. This would drink deep. 'Twould drink the cup and all. Ely. But what prevention? Cant. The king is full of grace and fair regard. And whipp'd the offending Adam out of him, To envelope and contain celestial spirits. With such a heady currance, scouring faults; So soon did lose his seat and all at once Ely. And all-admiring with an inward wish You would desire the king were made a prelate : 19. A thousand pounds by the 20 30 40 interest therefore at five per cent' (Wright). 28. Consideration, serious reflection. 34. currance, current. The air, a charter'd libertine, is still, And the mute wonder lurketh in men's ears, Which is a wonder how his grace should glean it, His companies unletter'd, rude and shallow, Ely. The strawberry grows underneath the And wholesome berries thrive and ripen best And so the prince obscured his contemplation Cant. It must be so; for miracles are ceased; Ely. 51. the art and practic part of life, etc. The practical life must with him have been the source of theoretical knowledge, instead of the field for its he application; must have learnt the principles of life by living. 52. theoric, theory. 55. companies, companions. 59. popularity, association with the public. 61, 62. wholesome berries, etc. It has been pointed out But, my good lord, · 50 бо that Montaigne expresses this idea more explicitly in a passage (iii. 9) which Shakespeare perhaps knew in the original. In Florio's translation (1603) it runs Roses and Violets are ever the sweeter and more odoriferous, that grow neere under Garlike and Onions, forasmuch as they suck and draw all the ill savours of the ground unto them.' 66. crescive in his faculty, increasing in virtue of its latent capacity. |