King Henry the Fifth Part 7

(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 a.s.sa.s.sinated 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 t.i.tle 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 king[1] at Hampton pier Embark his royalty;[2] and his brave fleet With silken streamers the young Phbus fanning: Play with your fancies; and in them behold Upon the hempen tackle s.h.i.+p-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 amba.s.sador 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 linstock[5] now the devilish cannon touches,

[_Alarums, and cannon shot off._

And down goes all before them. Still be kind, And eke out our performance with your mind.

[_Exit._

[Footnote IIIc.1: _The well-appointed king_] i.e., well furnished with all the necessaries of war.]

[Footnote IIIc.2: _Embark his royalty;_] The place where Henry's army was encamped, at Southampton, is now entirely covered with the sea, and called Westport.]

[Footnote IIIc.3: _----rivage,_] The _bank_ or sh.o.r.e.]

[Footnote IIIc.4: _----to +sternage+ of this navy;_] The stern being the hinder part of the s.h.i.+p, the meaning is, let your minds follow close after the navy. _Stern_, however, appears to have been anciently synonymous to _rudder_.]

Scene Changes to THE SIEGE OF HARFLEUR.

THE WALLS ARE MANNED BY THE FRENCH.

The English Are Repulsed from an Attack on the Breach.

_Alarums. Enter KING HENRY, EXETER, BEDFORD, GLOSTER, and Soldiers, R.H._

_K. Hen._ Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more; Or close the wall up with our English dead![6]

In peace there's nothing so becomes a man As modest stillness and humility: But when the blast of war blows in our ears, Then imitate the action of the tiger!

On, on, you n.o.ble English, Whose blood is fet[7] from fathers of war-proof!

And you, good yeomen, Whose limbs were made in England, show us here The mettle of your pasture; let us swear That you are worth your breeding: which I doubt not; For there is none of you so mean and base, That hath not n.o.ble l.u.s.tre in your eyes.

I see you stand like greyhounds in the slips,[8]

Straining upon the start. The game's afoot: Follow your spirit; and, upon this charge, Cry--G.o.d for Harry! England! and Saint George!

[_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._

_K. Hen._ How yet resolves the governour of the town?

This is the latest parle we will admit: Therefore, to our best mercy give yourselves; Or, like to men proud of destruction, Defy us to our worst: for, as I am a soldier (A name that, in my thoughts, becomes me best,) If I begin the battery once again, I will not leave the half-achieved Harfleur Till in her ashes she lie buried.

The gates of mercy shall be all shut up.

What say you? will you yield, and this avoid?

Or, guilty in defence, be thus destroy'd?

_Gov._ Our expectation hath this day an end: The Dauphin, whom of succour we entreated,[9]

Returns us--that his powers are not yet ready To raise so great a siege. Therefore, dread king, We yield our town and lives to thy soft mercy.

Enter our town; dispose of us and ours; For we no longer are defensible.

[_Soldiers shout._

[_The GOVERNOR and others come from the town, and kneeling, present to KING HENRY the keys of the city._

_K. Hen._ Come, uncle Exeter, R.

Go you and enter Harfleur; there remain, And fortify it strongly 'gainst the French: Use mercy to them all. For us, dear uncle,-- The winter coming on, and sickness growing Upon our soldiers,--we'll retire to Calais.

To-night in Harfleur[*] will we be your guest; To-morrow for the march are we addrest.[10]

[_March. English army enter the town through the breach._

[Footnote *: Extracts from the Account of the Siege of Harfleur, selected from the pages of the anonymous Chronicler who was an eyewitness of the event.

"Our King, who sought peace, not war, in order that he might further arm the cause in which he was engaged with the s.h.i.+eld of justice offered peace to the besieged, if they would open the gates to him, and restore, as was their duty, freely, without compulsion, that town, the n.o.ble hereditary portion of his Crown of England, and of his Dukedom of Normandy.

"But as they, despising and setting at nought this offer, strove to keep possession of, and to defend the town against him, our King summoned to fight, as it were, against his will, called upon G.o.d to witness his just cause * * * he (King Henry) gave himself no rest by day or night, until having fitted and fixed his engines and guns under the walls, he had planted them within shot of the enemy, against the front of the town, and against the walls, gates, and towers, of the same * * * so that taking aim at the place to be battered, the guns from beneath blew forth stones by the force of ignited powers, * * * and in the mean time our King, with his guns and engines, so battered the said bulwark, and the walls and towers on every side, that within a few days, by the impetuosity and fury of the stones, the same bulwark was in a great part broken down; and the walls and towers from which the enemy had sent forth their weapons, the bastions falling in ruins, were rendered defenceless; and very fine edifices, even in the middle of the city, either lay altogether in ruins, or threatened an inevitable fall; or at least were so shaken as to be exceedingly damaged. * * * And although our guns had disarmed the bulwark, walls, and towers during the day, the besieged by night, with logs, f.a.ggots, and tubs on vessels full of earth, mud, and sand or stones, piled up within the shattered walls, and with other barricadoes, refortified the streets. * * * The King had caused towers and wooden bulwarks to the height of the walls, and ladders and other instruments, besides those which he had brought with him for the a.s.sault." --We are then told that the enemy contrived to set these engines on fire 'by means of powders, and combustibles prepared on the walls.'

The History then states that "a fire broke out where the strength of the French was greater, and the French themselves were overcome with resisting, and in endeavouring to extinguish the fire, until at length by force of arms, darts, and flames, their strength was destroyed. Leaving the place therefore to our party, they fled and retreated beneath the walls for protection; most carefully blocking up the entrance with timber, stones, earth, and mud, lest our people should rush in upon them through the same pa.s.sage."

"On the following day a conference was held with the Lord de Gaucort, who acted as Captain, and with the more powerful leaders, whether it was the determination of the inhabitants to surrender the town without suffering further rigour of death or war. * * *

On that night they entered into a treaty with the King, that if the French King, or the Dauphin, his first-born, being informed, should not raise the seige, and deliver them by force of arms within the first hour after morn on the Sunday following, they would surrender to him the town, and themselves, and their property."

"And neither at the aforesaid hour on the following Sunday, nor within the time, the French King, the Dauphin, nor any one else, coming forward to raise the siege. * * * The aforesaid Lord de Gaucort came from the town into the king's presence, accompanied by those persons who before had sworn to keep the articles, and surrendering to him the keys of the Corporation, submitted themselves, together with the citizens, to his grace. * * * Then the banners of St. George and the King were fixed upon the gates of the town, and the King advanced his ill.u.s.trious uncle, the Lord Thomas Beaufort, Earl of Dorset (afterwards Duke of Exeter) to be keeper and captain of the town, having delivered to him the keys."

Thus, after a vigorous siege of about thirty-six days, one of the most important towns of Normandy fell into the hands of the invaders. The Chronicler in the text informs us, that the dysentery had carried off infinitely more of the English army than were slain in the siege; that about five thousand men were then so dreadfully debilitated by that disease, that they were unable to proceed, and were therefore sent to England; that three hundred men-at-arms and nine hundred archers were left to garrison Harfleur; that great numbers had cowardly deserted the King, and returned home by stealth; and that after all these deductions, not more than nine hundred lances and five thousand archers remained fit for service.

Hume, in his History of England, relates that "King Henry landed near Harfleur, at the head of an army of 6,000 men-at-arms, and 24,000 foot, mostly archers. He immediately began the siege of that place, which was valiantly defended by d'Estouleville, and under him by de Guitri, de Gaucourt, and others of the French n.o.bility; but as the garrison was weak, and the fortifications in bad repair, the governor was at last obliged to capitulate, and he promised to surrender the place if he received no succour before the 18th of September. The day came, and there was no appearance of a French army to relieve him. Henry, taking possession of the town, placed a garrison in it, and expelled all the French inhabitants, with an intention of peopling it anew with English.

The fatigues of this siege, and the unusual heat of the season, had so wasted the English army, that Henry could enter on no farther enterprise, and was obliged to think of returning to England. He had dismissed his transports, which could not anchor in an open road upon the enemy's coasts, and he lay under a necessity of marching by land to Calais before he could reach a place of safety. A numerous French army of 14,000 men at-arms, and 40,000 foot, was by this time a.s.sembled in Normandy, under the constable d'Albret, a force which, if prudently conducted, was sufficient either to trample down the English in the open field, or to hara.s.s and reduce to nothing their small army before they could finish so long and difficult a march. Henry, therefore, cautiously offered to sacrifice his conquest of Harfleur for a safe pa.s.sage to Calais; but his proposal being rejected, he determined to make his way by valour and conduct through all the opposition of the enemy."]

[Footnote IIIc.5: _----linstock_] The staff to which the match is fixed when ordnance is fired.]

[Footnote IIIc.6: _Or close the wall up with our English dead!_]

i.e. re-enter the breach you have made, or fill it up with your own dead bodies.]