Henry V – Act 1 Scene 1

CANTERBURY

My lord, I'll tell you; that self bill is urged,

My lord, you know the same bill is proposed,

Which in the eleventh year of the last king's reign

Like in the eleventh year of our last king,

Was like, and had indeed against us passed,

Which, had it passed, would have been detrimental,

But that the scambling and unquiet time

Except the quarrelling and civil unrest

Did push it out of farther question.

Delayed its passing till it was forgotten.

ELY

But how, my lord, shall we resist it now?

But how can we prevent it happening now?

CANTERBURY

It must be thought on. If it pass against us,

We have to think about it. If it passes,

We lose the better half of our possession:

We will lose more than half of our possessions,

For all the temporal lands which men devout

For land bequeathed to us by pious men

By testament have given to the church

Within their wills, donated to the church,

Would they strip from us; being valued thus:

They’ll strip from us. And they will use the money

As much as would maintain, to the king's honour,

To fund – in honour of our regal king –

Full fifteen earls and fifteen hundred knights,

Some fifteen earls and fifteen hundred knights,

Six thousand and two hundred good esquires;

Six thousand and two hundred gentlemen;

And, to relief of lazars and weak age,

And help the lepers and those old and weak,

Of indigent faint souls past corporal toil.

And needy folk who can no longer work.

A hundred almshouses right well supplied;

A hundred houses for the poor, well stocked;

And to the coffers of the king beside,

On top of that, we’ll have to pay the king

A thousand pounds by the year: thus runs the bill.

A thousand pounds a year. That’s what the bill says.

ELY

This would drink deep.

They’ll drink our drink.

CANTERBURY

'Twould drink the cup and all.

And take the cup as well.

ELY

But what prevention?

How can we stop it?

CANTERBURY

The king is full of grace and fair regard.

The king is sympathetic and respectful.

ELY

And a true lover of the holy church.

And he’s a lover of the holy church.

CANTERBURY

The courses of his youth promised it not.

His conduct as a youth did not suggest it.

The breath no sooner left his father's body,

But once his father took his final breath,

But that his wildness, mortified in him,

His youthful folly, once ingrained in him,

Seemed to die too; yea, at that very moment

Appeared to die as well; yes, at that moment,

Consideration, like an angel, came

Reflection, like an angel sent from heaven,

And whipped the offending Adam out of him,

Consumed him, booting Adam out of Eden,

Leaving his body as a paradise,

To leave his body like a paradise

To envelop and contain celestial spirits.

Where holy spirits live in harmony.

Never was such a sudden scholar made;

No one’s become so studious so quickly;

Never came reformation in a flood,

A swollen river never has repaired,

With such a heady currance, scouring faults

With such a torrent, faults cut out like rocks,

Nor never Hydra-headed wilfulness

Nor has an ever-growing stubbornness

So soon did lose his seat and all at once

So quickly vanished, both of them together,

As in this king.

As in this king.

ELY

We are blessed in the change.

We’re lucky that he’s changed.

CANTERBURY

Hear him but reason in divinity,

When listening to him talk of religion,

And all-admiring with an inward wish

You would be so impressed that secretly

You would desire the king were made a prelate:

You’d want our king to be ordained a priest;

Hear him debate of commonwealth affairs,

When hearing him debate on politics,

You would say it hath been all in all his study:

You’d say that’s all he’s studied all his life;

List his discourse of war, and you shall hear

Hear his account of war and you will hear

A fearful battle rendered you in music:

A wretched battle lyrically described;

Turn him to any cause of policy,

Share issues that require diplomacy,

The Gordian knot of it he will unloose,

And he’ll untie a complicated knot

Familiar as his garter: that, when he speaks,

As easily as shoelaces; when he speaks

The air, a chartered libertine, is still,

The air, that freely blows untamed, holds still,

And the mute wonder lurketh in men's ears,

And men turn silent, awed in rapt attention,

To steal his sweet and honeyed sentences;

To savour his enchanting sentences;

So that the art and practic part of life

So that the way he carries out his life

Must be the mistress to this theoric:

Is based on theory, but not ruled by it.

Which is a wonder how his grace should glean it,

You have to wonder how the king has learned it,

Since his addiction was to courses vain,

Because he had a tendency to waste time,

His companies unlettered, rude and shallow,

And hang with rude, uneducated people,

His hours filled up with riots, banquets, sports,

Spending his time with fights, parties and gambling,

And never noted in him any study,

And no one saw him studying at all,

Any retirement, any sequestration

Nor spend his time in quiet contemplation,

From open haunts and popularity.

Withdrawn from open, busy public spaces.

ELY

The strawberry grows underneath the nettle

A strawberry bush grows underneath a nettle,

And wholesome berries thrive and ripen best

And healthy berries thrive and ripen best

Neighboured by fruit of baser quality:

When growing next to mediocre fruit.

And so the prince obscured his contemplation

And, similarly, the prince disguised his thoughts

Under the veil of wildness; which, no doubt,

Behind his wild behaviour, which I’m sure,

Grew like the summer grass, fastest by night,

Like summer grass, grew fastest overnight,

Unseen, yet crescive in his faculty.

Unseen, as his abilities expanded.

CANTERBURY

It must be so; for miracles are ceased;

For sure, for miracles no longer happen;

And therefore we must needs admit the means

And so we have to recognise the way

How things are perfected.

People improve themselves.

ELY

But, my good lord,

But, my dear lord,

How now for mitigation of this bill

How are we going to overturn this bill

Urged by the commons? Doth his majesty

That’s in the House of Commons? Will the king

Incline to it, or no?

Support it or reject it?

CANTERBURY

He seems indifferent,

He’s indifferent,

Or rather swaying more upon our part

Or maybe leaning slightly to our side

Than cherishing the exhibiters against us;

Than those who want to confiscate our wealth;

For I have made an offer to his majesty,

For I have made an offer to the king,

Upon our spiritual convocation

Of which our clergy formally approve,

And in regard of causes now in hand,

Relating to the current challenges,

Which I have opened to his grace at large,

Which I’ve explained in detail to the king,

As touching France, to give a greater sum

Concerning France, by giving far more money

Than ever at one time the clergy yet

Than any clergymen have ever offered

Did to his predecessors part withal.

To any of our previous kings before.

ELY

How did this offer seem received, my lord?

How did he take the offer then, my lord?

CANTERBURY

With good acceptance of his majesty;

The king received the offer gratefully;

Save that there was not time enough to hear,

Although the time we had was insufficient –

As I perceived his grace would fain have done,

As I believe the king desired more time –

The severals and unhidden passages

To understand the details of the claims

Of his true titles to some certain dukedoms

To all his rightful titles to some dukedoms,

And generally to the crown and seat of France

And, generally, the crown and throne of France

Derived from Edward, his great-grandfather.

Acquired from Edward, his great-grandfather.

ELY

What was the impediment that broke this off?

What caused this conversation to be halted?

CANTERBURY

The French ambassador upon that instant

The French ambassador arrived right then

Craved audience; and the hour, I think, is come

And asked to see the king; I think it’s time

To give him hearing: is it four o'clock?

To listen to him. Is it four o’clock?

ELY

It is.

It is.

CANTERBURY

Then go we in, to know his embassy;

Let’s go to hear what he has got to say;

Which I could with a ready guess declare,

Though I think I can hazard at a guess

Before the Frenchman speak a word of it.

Before the Frenchman’s said a word of it.

ELY

I'll wait upon you, and I long to hear it.

I will support you; I am keen to hear it.