SCENE III. The English camp. The Life of King Henry the Fifth  Shakespeare homepage  |  Henry V  | Act 4, Scene 3 

 Previous scene  |  Next scene  SCENE III. The English camp. 

 Enter GLOUCESTER, BEDFORD, EXETER, ERPINGHAM, with all his host: SALISBURY and WESTMORELAND  GLOUCESTER  Where is the king? 

 BEDFORD  The king himself is rode to view their battle. 

 WESTMORELAND  Of fighting men they have full three score thousand. 

 EXETER  There's five to one; besides, they all are fresh. 

 SALISBURY  God's arm strike with us! 'tis a fearful odds. 

 God be wi' you, princes all; I'll to my charge: 

 If we no more meet till we meet in heaven, 

 Then, joyfully, my noble Lord of Bedford, 

 My dear Lord Gloucester, and my good Lord Exeter, 

 And my kind kinsman, warriors all, adieu! 

 BEDFORD  Farewell, good Salisbury; and good luck go with thee! 

 EXETER  Farewell, kind lord; fight valiantly to-day: 

 And yet I do thee wrong to mind thee of it, 

 For thou art framed of the firm truth of valour. 



 Exit SALISBURY  BEDFORD  He is full of valour as of kindness; 

 Princely in both. 



 Enter the KING  WESTMORELAND  O that we now had here 

 But one ten thousand of those men in England 

 That do no work to-day! 

 KING HENRY V  What's he that wishes so? 

 My cousin Westmoreland? No, my fair cousin: 

 If we are mark'd to die, we are enow 

 To do our country loss; and if to live, 

 The fewer men, the greater share of honour. 

 God's will! I pray thee, wish not one man more. 

 By Jove, I am not covetous for gold, 

 Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost; 

 It yearns me not if men my garments wear; 

 Such outward things dwell not in my desires: 

 But if it be a sin to covet honour, 

 I am the most offending soul alive. 

 No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England: 

 God's peace! I would not lose so great an honour 

 As one man more, methinks, would share from me 

 For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more! 

 Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host, 

 That he which hath no stomach to this fight, 

 Let him depart; his passport shall be made 

 And crowns for convoy put into his purse: 

 We would not die in that man's company 

 That fears his fellowship to die with us. 

 This day is called the feast of Crispian: 

 He that outlives this day, and comes safe home, 

 Will stand a tip-toe when the day is named, 

 And rouse him at the name of Crispian. 

 He that shall live this day, and see old age, 

 Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours, 

 And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian:' 

 Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars. 

 And say 'These wounds I had on Crispin's day.' 

 Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot, 

 But he'll remember with advantages 

 What feats he did that day: then shall our names. 

 Familiar in his mouth as household words 

 Harry the king, Bedford and Exeter, 

 Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester, 

 Be in their flowing cups freshly remember'd. 

 This story shall the good man teach his son; 

 And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by, 

 From this day to the ending of the world, 

 But we in it shall be remember'd; 

 We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; 

 For he to-day that sheds his blood with me 

 Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile, 

 This day shall gentle his condition: 

 And gentlemen in England now a-bed 

 Shall think themselves accursed they were not here, 

 And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks 

 That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day. 



 Re-enter SALISBURY  SALISBURY  My sovereign lord, bestow yourself with speed: 

 The French are bravely in their battles set, 

 And will with all expedience charge on us. 

 KING HENRY V  All things are ready, if our minds be so. 

 WESTMORELAND  Perish the man whose mind is backward now! 

 KING HENRY V  Thou dost not wish more help from England, coz? 

 WESTMORELAND  God's will! my liege, would you and I alone, 

 Without more help, could fight this royal battle! 

 KING HENRY V  Why, now thou hast unwish'd five thousand men; 

 Which likes me better than to wish us one. 

 You know your places: God be with you all! 



 Tucket. Enter MONTJOY  MONTJOY  Once more I come to know of thee, King Harry, 

 If for thy ransom thou wilt now compound, 

 Before thy most assured overthrow: 

 For certainly thou art so near the gulf, 

 Thou needs must be englutted. Besides, in mercy, 

 The constable desires thee thou wilt mind 

 Thy followers of repentance; that their souls 

 May make a peaceful and a sweet retire 

 From off these fields, where, wretches, their poor bodies 

 Must lie and fester. 

 KING HENRY V  Who hath sent thee now? 

 MONTJOY  The Constable of France. 

 KING HENRY V  I pray thee, bear my former answer back: 

 Bid them achieve me and then sell my bones. 

 Good God! why should they mock poor fellows thus? 

 The man that once did sell the lion's skin 

 While the beast lived, was killed with hunting him. 

 A many of our bodies shall no doubt 

 Find native graves; upon the which, I trust, 

 Shall witness live in brass of this day's work: 

 And those that leave their valiant bones in France, 

 Dying like men, though buried in your dunghills, 

 They shall be famed; for there the sun shall greet them, 

 And draw their honours reeking up to heaven; 

 Leaving their earthly parts to choke your clime, 

 The smell whereof shall breed a plague in France. 

 Mark then abounding valour in our English, 

 That being dead, like to the bullet's grazing, 

 Break out into a second course of mischief, 

 Killing in relapse of mortality. 

 Let me speak proudly: tell the constable 

 We are but warriors for the working-day; 

 Our gayness and our gilt are all besmirch'd 

 With rainy marching in the painful field; 

 There's not a piece of feather in our host-- 

 Good argument, I hope, we will not fly-- 

 And time hath worn us into slovenry: 

 But, by the mass, our hearts are in the trim; 

 And my poor soldiers tell me, yet ere night 

 They'll be in fresher robes, or they will pluck 

 The gay new coats o'er the French soldiers' heads 

 And turn them out of service. If they do this,-- 

 As, if God please, they shall,--my ransom then 

 Will soon be levied. Herald, save thou thy labour; 

 Come thou no more for ransom, gentle herald: 

 They shall have none, I swear, but these my joints; 

 Which if they have as I will leave 'em them, 

 Shall yield them little, tell the constable. 

 MONTJOY  I shall, King Harry. And so fare thee well: 

 Thou never shalt hear herald any more. 



 Exit  KING HENRY V  I fear thou'lt once more come again for ransom. 



 Enter YORK  YORK  My lord, most humbly on my knee I beg 

 The leading of the vaward. 

 KING HENRY V  Take it, brave York. Now, soldiers, march away: 

 And how thou pleasest, God, dispose the day! 



 Exeunt  Shakespeare homepage  |  Henry V  | Act 4, Scene 3 

 Previous scene  |  Next scene 