Henry V, Kean adaptation

Cho. Now all the youth of England are on fire,

And silken dalliance in the wardrobe lies:

Now thrive the armourers, and honour’s thought

Reigns solely in the breast of every man:

They sell the pasture now to buy the horse;

Following the mirror of all Christian kings,

With wingéd heels, as English Mercuries;

For now sits expectation in the air.

O England!—model to thy inward greatness,

Like little body with a mighty heart,—

What might’st thou do, that honour would thee do,

Were all thy children kind and natural!

But see thy fault! France hath in thee found out

A nest of hollow bosoms, which he fills1

With treacherous crowns; and three corrupted men,—

One, Richard earl of Cambridge;2 and the second,

Henry lord Scroop of Masham,3 and the third,

Sir Thomas Grey, knight, of Northumberland,—

Have, for the gilt of France4 (O guilt, indeed!),

Confirm’d conspiracy with fearful France;(AA)

And by their hands this grace of kings5 must die,

(If hell and treason hold their promises,)

Ere he take ship for France, and in Southampton.

The back scene opens and discovers a tableau, representing the three conspirators receiving the bribe from the emissaries of France.

ACT II.

Scene I.—COUNCIL CHAMBER IN SOUTHAMPTON CASTLE.

Distant Trumpets sound. Enter King Henry, Scroop, Cambridge, Grey, Lords and Attendants, U.E.L.H.

K. Hen. rising; all the Lords rise with the King. The mercy that was quick8 in us but late,

By your own counsel is suppress’d and kill’d:

You must not dare, for shame, to talk of mercy.

See you, my princes and my noble peers,

These English monsters! My lord of Cambridge here,—

You know how apt our love was to accord

To furnish him with all appertinents

Belonging to his honour; and this man

Hath, for a few light crowns, lightly conspir’d,

And sworn unto the practises of France,

To kill us here in Hampton: to the which

This knight, no less for bounty bound to us

Than Cambridge is,—hath likewise sworn.—But, O,

What shall I say to thee, lord Scroop? thou cruel,

Ingrateful, savage, and inhuman creature!

Thou that did’st bear the key of all my counsels,

That knew’st the very bottom of my soul,

That almost might’st have coin’d me into gold,

May it be possible, that foreign hire

Could out of thee extract one spark of evil

That might annoy my finger? ’Tis so strange,

That, though the truth of it stands off as gross9

As black from white,10 my eye will scarcely see it;

For this revolt of thine, methinks, is like

Another fall of man.—Their faults are open:

Arrest them to the answer of the law;—

Exeter goes to door U.E.L.H, and calls on the Guard.

And Heaven acquit them of their practises!

Exe. comes down, R.C. I arrest thee of high treason, by the name of Richard earl of Cambridge.

I arrest thee of high treason, by the name of Thomas Grey, knight, of Northumberland.

K. Hen. (C.) Heaven quit you in its mercy! Hear your sentence.

You have conspir’d against our royal person,

Join’d with an enemy proclaim’d, and from his coffers

Receiv’d the golden earnest of our death;

Wherein you would have sold your king to slaughter,

His princes and his peers to servitude,

His subjects to oppression and contempt,

And his whole kingdom into desolation.

Touching our person, seek we no revenge;(C)

But we our kingdom’s safety must so tender,12

Whose ruin you three sought, that to her laws

We do deliver you. Get you, therefore, hence,

Poor miserable wretches, to your death:

The taste whereof, Heaven of its mercy give you

Patience to endure, and true repentance

Of all your dear offences!13—Bear them hence.

Conspirators rise and exeunt guarded, with Exeter.

Now, Lords, for France; the enterprize whereof

Shall be to you, as us, like glorious.

We doubt not of a fair and lucky war,

Since Heaven so graciously hath brought to light

This dangerous treason, lurking in our way.

Then, forth, dear countrymen: let us deliver

Our puissance14 into the hand of Heaven,

Putting it straight in expedition.

Cheerly to sea; the signs of war advance:(D)

No king of England, if not king of France.

Scene II.—FRANCE. A ROOM IN THE FRENCH KING’S PALACE.

Enter the French King,15 attended; the Dauphin, the Duke of Burgundy, the Constable, and Others,(E) L.H.

English party exit, with Montjoy and others, L.H. French Lords group round the King.

END OF ACT SECOND.

HISTORICAL NOTES TO CHORUS—ACT SECOND.

(AA)

These corrupted men,——

One, Richard earl of Cambridge; and the second,

Henry lord Scroop of Masham; and the third,

Sir Thomas Grey knight of Northumberland,—

Have for the guilt of France (O, guilt, indeed!)

Confirm’d conspiracy with fearful France.

About the end of July, Henry’s ambitious designs received a momentary check from the discovery of a treasonable conspiracy against his person and government, by Richard, Earl of Cambridge, brother of the Duke of York; Henry, Lord Scroop of Masham, the Lord Treasurer; and Sir Thomas Grey, of Heton, knight. The king’s command for the investigation of the affair, was dated on the 21st of that month, and a writ was issued to the Sheriff of Southampton, to assemble a jury for their trial; and which on Friday, the 2nd of August, found that on the 20th of July, Richard, Earl of Cambridge, and Thomas Grey, of Heton, in the County of Northumberland, knight, had falsely and traitorously conspired to collect a body of armed men, to conduct Edmund, Earl of March,* to the frontiers of Wales, and to proclaim him the rightful heir to the crown, in case Richard II. was actually dead; but they had solicited Thomas Frumpyngton, who personated King Richard, Henry Percy, and many others from Scotland to invade the realm, that they had intended to destroy the King, the Duke of Clarence, the Duke of Bedford, the Duke of Gloucester, with other lords and great men; and that Henry, Lord Scroop, of Masham, consented to the said treasonable purposes, and concealed the knowledge of them from the king. On the same day the accused were reported by Sir John Popham, Constable of the Castle of Southampton, to whose custody they had been committed, to have confessed the justice of the charges brought against them, and that they threw themselves on the king’s mercy; but Scroop endeavoured to extenuate his conduct, by asserting that his intentions were innocent, and that he appeared only to acquiesce in their designs to be enabled to defeat them. The Earl and Lord Scroop having claimed the privilege of being tried by the peers, were remanded to prison, but sentence of death in the usual manner was pronounced against Grey, and he was immediately executed; though, in consequence of Henry having dispensed with his being drawn and hung, he was allowed to walk from the Watergate to the Northgate of the town of Southampton, where he was beheaded. A commission was soon afterwards issued, addressed to the Duke of Clarence, for the trial of the Earl of Cambridge and Lord Scroop: this court unanimously declared the prisoners guilty, and sentence of death having been denounced against them, they paid the forfeit of their lives on Monday, the 5th of August. In consideration of the earl being of the blood royal, he was merely beheaded; but to mark the perfidy and ingratitude of Scroop, who had enjoyed the king’s utmost confidence and friendship, and had even shared his bed, he commanded that he should be drawn to the place of execution, and that his head should be affixed on one of the gates of the city of York. —Nicolas’s History of the Battle of Agincourt.

HISTORICAL NOTES TO ACT SECOND.

(A) ——the man that was his bedfellow,] So, Holinshed: “The said Lord Scroop was in such favour with the king, that he admitted him sometimes to be his bedfellow.” The familiar appellation, of bedfellow, which appears strange to us, was common among the ancient nobility. There is a letter from the sixth Earl of Northumberland (still preserved in the collection of the present duke), addressed “To his beloved cousin, Thomas Arundel,” &c., which begins “Bedfellow, after my most hasté recommendation.” —Steevens.

This unseemly custom continued common till the middle of the last century, if not later. Cromwell obtained much of his intelligence, during the civil wars, from the mean men with whom he slept. —Malone.

After the battle of Dreux, 1562, the Prince of Condé slept in the same bed with the Duke of Guise; an anecdote frequently cited, to show the magnanimity of the latter, who slept soundly, though so near his greatest enemy, then his prisoner. —Nares.

(B) For me,—the gold of France did not seduce;] Holinshed observes, “that Richard, Earl of Cambridge, did not conspire with the Lord Scroop and Thomas Grey, for the murdering of King Henry to please the French king, but only to the intent to exalt to the crown his brother-in-law Edmund, Earl of March, as heir to Lionel, Duke of Clarence; after the death of which Earl of March, for divers secret impediments not able to have issue, the Earl of Cambridge was sure that the crown should come to him by his wife, and to his children of her begotten; and therefore (as was thought), he rather confessed himself for need of money to be corrupted by the French king, than he would declare his inward mind, &c., which if it were espied, he saw plainly that the Earl of March should have tasted of the same cup that he had drunk, and what should have come to his own children he merely doubted, &c.”

A million of gold is stated to have been given by France to the conspirators.

Historians have, however, generally expressed their utter inability to explain upon what grounds the conspirators built their expectation of success; and unless they had been promised powerful assistance from France, the design seems to have been one of the most absurd and hopeless upon record. The confession of the Earl of Cambridge, and his supplication for mercy in his own hand writing, is in the British Museum.

“Revenge herein touching my person, though I seek not; yet for the safeguard of my dear friends, and for due preservation of all sorts, I am by office to cause example to be showed: Get ye hence, therefore, you poor miserable wretches, to the receiving of your just reward, wherein God’s majesty give you grace of his mercy, and repentance of your heinous offences.”

(D) Cheerly to sea; the signs of war advance:] “The king went from his castle of Porchester in a small vessel to the sea, and embarking on board his ship, called The Trinity, between the ports of Southampton and Portsmouth, he immediately ordered that the sail should be set, to signify his readiness to depart.” “There were about fifteen hundred vessels, including about a hundred which were left behind. After having passed the Isle of Wight, swans were seen swimming in the midst of the fleet, which, in the opinion of all, were said to be happy auspices of the undertaking. On the next day, the king entered the mouth of the Seine, and cast anchor before a place called Kidecaus, about three miles from Harfleur, where he proposed landing.” —Nicolas’s History of Agincourt.

The departure of Henry’s army on this occasion, and the separation between those who composed it and their relatives and friends, is thus described by Drayton, who was born in 1563, and died in 1631:—

There might a man have seen in every street,

The father bidding farewell to his son;

Small children kneeling at their father’s feet:

The wife with her dear husband ne’er had done:

Brother, his brother, with adieu to greet:

One friend to take leave of another, run;

The maiden with her best belov’d to part,

Gave him her hand who took away her heart.

The nobler youth the common rank above,

On their curveting coursers mounted fair:

One wore his mistress’ garter, one her glove;

And he a lock of his dear lady’s hair:

And he her colours, whom he did most love;

There was not one but did some favour wear:

And each one took it, on his happy speed,

To make it famous by some knightly deed.

(E) Enter the French King, the Dauphin, the Duke of Burgundy, the Constable, and others.] Charles VI., surnamed the Well Beloved, was King of France during the most disastrous period of its history. He ascended the throne in 1380, when only thirteen years of age. In 1385 he married Isabella of Bavaria, who was equally remarkable for her beauty and her depravity. The unfortunate king was subject to fits of insanity, which lasted for several months at a time. On the 21st October, 1422, seven years after the battle of Agincourt, Charles VI. ended his unhappy life at the age of 55, having reigned 42 years. Lewis the Dauphin was the eldest son of Charles VI. He was born 22nd January, 1396, and died before his father, December 18th, 1415, in his twentieth year. History says, “Shortly after the battle of Agincourt, either for melancholy that he had for the loss, or by some sudden disease, Lewis, Dovphin of Viennois, heir apparent to the French king, departed this life without issue.”

John, Duke of Burgundy, surnamed the Fearless, succeeded to the dukedom in 1403. He caused the Duke of Orleans to be assassinated in the streets of Paris, and was himself murdered August 28, 1419, on the bridge of Montereau, at an interview with the Dauphin, afterwards Charles VII. John was succeeded by his only son, who bore the title of Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy.

The Constable, Charles D’Albret, commanded the French army at the Battle of Agincourt, and was slain on the field.

Enter Chorus.

Chor. Thus with imagin’d wing our swift scene flies,

In motion of no less celerity

Than that of thought. Suppose that you have seen

The well-appointed king1 at Hampton pier

Embark his royalty;2 and his brave fleet

With silken streamers the young Phœbus fanning:

Play with your fancies; and in them behold

Upon the hempen tackle ship-boys climbing;

Hear the shrill whistle, which doth order give

To sounds confus’d; behold the threaden sails,

Borne with the invisible and creeping wind,

Draw the huge bottoms through the furrow’d sea,

Breasting the lofty surge: O, do but think

You stand upon the rivage,3 and behold

A city on the inconstant billows dancing;

For so appears this fleet majestical,

Holding due course to Harfleur. Follow, follow!

Grapple your minds to sternage of this navy;4

And leave your England, as dead midnight still,

Guarded with grandsires, babies, and old women,

Either past, or not arriv’d to, pith and puissance;

For who is he, whose chin is but enrich’d

With one appearing hair, that will not follow

These cull’d and choice-drawn cavaliers to France?

Work, work your thoughts, and therein see a siege;

Behold the ordnance on their carriages,

With fatal mouths gaping on girded Harfleur.

Suppose the ambassador from the French comes back;

Tells Harry—that the king doth offer him

Katharine his daughter; and with her, to dowry,

Some petty and unprofitable dukedoms.

The offer likes not: and the nimble gunner

With linstock5 now the devilish cannon touches,

SCENE CHANGES TO

THE SIEGE OF HARFLEUR.

THE WALLS ARE MANNED BY THE FRENCH.

THE ENGLISH ARE REPULSED FROM AN
ATTACK ON THE BREACH.

The English charge upon the breach, headed by the King. Alarums. The Governor of the Town appears on the walls with a flag of truce.

The Governor and others come from the town, and kneeling, present to King Henry the keys of the city.

ACT III.

Scene I.—FRANCE. ROOM IN THE FRENCH KING’S PALACE.

Enter the French King, the Dauphin, Duke of Bourbon, the Constable of France, and others, L.H.

END OF ACT SECOND.

SCENE CHANGES TO

THE SIEGE OF HARFLEUR.

THE WALLS ARE MANNED BY THE FRENCH.

THE ENGLISH ARE REPULSED FROM AN ATTACK ON THE BREACH.

THE ENGLISH ARE REPULSED FROM AN
ATTACK ON THE BREACH.