Act 4, Scene 8

Before King Henry's pavilion.

[Enter Gower and Williams.]
Michael Williams
2491 I warrant it is to knight you, Captain.
[Enter Fluellen.]
Fluellen
2492 God's will and his pleasure, captain, I beseech you now,
2493 come apace to the King. There is more good toward you
2494 peradventure than is in your knowledge to dream of.
Michael Williams
2495 Sir, know you this glove?
Fluellen
2496 Know the glove! I know the glove is a glove.
Michael Williams
2497 I know this; and thus I challenge it.
[Strikes him.]
Fluellen
2498 'Sblood! an arrant traitor as any is in the universal
2499 world, or in France, or in England!
Gower
2500 How now, sir! you villain!
Michael Williams
2501 Do you think I'll be forsworn?
Fluellen
2502 Stand away, Captain Gower. I will give treason his
2503 payment into plows, I warrant you.
Michael Williams
2504 I am no traitor.
Fluellen
2505 That's a lie in thy throat. I charge you in his Majesty's
2506 name, apprehend him; he's a friend of the Duke Alencon's.
[Enter Warwick and Gloucester.]
Earl of Warwick
2507 How now, how now! what's the matter?
Fluellen
2508 My lord of Warwick, here is—praised be God for it!—a most
2509 contagious treason come to light, look you, as you shall
2510 desire in a summer's day. Here is his Majesty.
[Enter King Henry and Exeter.]
King Henry V
2511 How now! what's the matter?
Fluellen
2512 My liege, here is a villain and a traitor, that, look your Grace,
Fluellen
2513 has struck the glove which your Majesty is take out of the
2514 helmet of Alencon.
Michael Williams
2515 My liege, this was my glove; here is the fellow of it; and he
2516 that I gave it to in change promis'd to wear it in his cap. I
2517 promis'd to strike him, if he did. I met this man with my
2518 glove in his cap, and I have been as good as my word.
Fluellen
2519 Your Majesty hear now, saving your Majesty's manhood,
2520 what an arrant, rascally, beggarly, lousy knave it is. I hope
2521 your Majesty is pear me testimony and witness, and will
2522 avouchment, that this is the glove of Alencon that your
2523 Majesty is give me; in your conscience, now?
King Henry V
2524 Give me thy glove, soldier. Look, here is the fellow of it.
2525 'Twas I, indeed, thou promisedst to strike;
2526 And thou hast given me most bitter terms.
Fluellen
2527 An it please your Majesty, let his neck answer for it, if
2528 there is any martial law in the world.
King Henry V
2529 How canst thou make me satisfaction?
Michael Williams
2530 All offences, my lord, come from the heart. Never came
2531 any from mine that might offend your Majesty.
King Henry V
2532 It was ourself thou didst abuse.
Michael Williams
2533 Your Majesty came not like yourself. You appear'd to me
2534 but as a common man; witness the night, your garments, your
2535 lowliness; and what your Highness suffer'd under that shape, I
2536 beseech you take it for your own fault and not mine; for had you
2537 been as I took you for, I made no offence; therefore, I beseech
2538 your Highness, pardon me.
King Henry V
2539 Here, uncle Exeter, fill this glove with crowns,
2540 And give it to this fellow. Keep it, fellow;
2541 And wear it for an honour in thy cap
2542 Till I do challenge it. Give him his crowns;
2543 And, captain, you must needs be friends with him.
Fluellen
2544 By this day and this light, the fellow has mettle enough in his
2545 belly. Hold, there is twelve pence for you; and I pray you to
2546 serve God, and keep you out of prawls, and prabbles, and
2547 quarrels, and dissensions, and, I warrant you, it is the better
2548 for you.
Michael Williams
2549 I will none of your money.
Fluellen
2550 It is with a good will; I can tell you, it will serve you to mend
2551 your shoes. Come, wherefore should you be so pashful? Your
2552 shoes is not so good. 'Tis a good silling, I warrant you, or I
2553 will change it.
[Enter [an English]
Fluellen
2554 Herald.]
King Henry V
2555 Now, herald, are the dead numb'red?
Herald
2556 Here is the number of the slaught'red French.
King Henry V
2557 What prisoners of good sort are taken, uncle?
Duke of Exeter
2558 Charles Duke of Orleans, nephew to the King;
2559 John Duke of Bourbon, and Lord Bouciqualt:
2560 Of other lords and barons, knights and squires,
2561 Full fifteen hundred, besides common men.
King Henry V
2562 This note doth tell me of ten thousand French
2563 That in the field lie slain; of princes, in this number,
2564 And nobles bearing banners, there lie dead
2565 One hundred twenty-six; added to these,
2566 Of knights, esquires, and gallant gentlemen,
2567 Eight thousand and four hundred; of the which,
2568 Five hundred were but yesterday dubb'd knights;
2569 So that, in these ten thousand they have lost,
2570 There are but sixteen hundred mercenaries;
2571 The rest are princes, barons, lords, knights, squires,
2572 And gentlemen of blood and quality.
2573 The names of those their nobles that lie dead:
2574 Charles Delabreth, High Constable of France;
2575 Jacques of Chatillon, Admiral of France;
2576 The master of the cross-bows, Lord Rambures;
2577 Great Master of France, the brave Sir Guichard Dauphin,
2578 John Duke of Alencon, Anthony Duke of Brabant,
2579 The brother to the Duke of Burgundy,
2580 And Edward Duke of Bar; of lusty earls,
2581 Grandpre and Roussi, Fauconberg and Foix,
2582 Beaumont and Marle, Vaudemont and Lestrale.
2583 Here was a royal fellowship of death!
2584 Where is the number of our English dead?
[Herald shows him another paper.]
King Henry V
2585 Edward the Duke of York, the Earl of Suffolk,
2586 Sir Richard Ketly, Davy Gam, esquire;
2587 None else of name; and of all other men
2588 But five and twenty.—O God, thy arm was here;
2589 And not to us, but to thy arm alone,
2590 Ascribe we all! When, without stratagem,
2591 But in plain shock and even play of battle,
2592 Was ever known so great and little loss
2593 On one part and on the other? Take it, God,
2594 For it is none but thine!
Duke of Exeter
2595 'Tis wonderful!
King Henry V
2596 Come, go we in procession to the village;
2597 And be it death proclaimed through our host
2598 To boast of this or take that praise from God
2599 Which is His only.
Fluellen
2600 Is it not lawful, an please your Majesty, to tell how
2601 many is kill'd?
King Henry V
2602 Yes, Captain; but with this acknowledgment,
2603 That God fought for us.
Fluellen
2604 Yes, my conscience, He did us great good.
King Henry V
2605 Do we all holy rites.
2606 Let there be sung Non nobis and Te Deum,
2607 The dead with charity enclos'd in clay,
2608 And then to Calais; and to England then,
2609 Where ne'er from France arriv'd more happy men.
[Exeunt.]

Reading mode

Word definitions on hover

Notes

TLN 2494archaic vocab
“peradventure than is in your knowledge”
'Peradventure' means 'perhaps' or 'it may be.' Fluellen is telling Williams that the king's summons may bring him better fortune than he can yet imagine.
TLN 2498archaic vocab
“'Sblood! an arrant traitor as any is in the universal”
'Sblood' is a contracted oath — 'by God's blood' — one of the common Elizabethan profanities invoking Christ's wounds or body. Fluellen uses it in genuine fury when Williams strikes him over the glove.
TLN 2502archaic vocab
“give treason his payment into plows, I warrant you”
Fluellen means to give treason its full payment — to the hilt, thoroughly. 'Into plows' is Fluellen's garbled version of 'to the plows,' a phrase meaning 'utterly' or 'straight through'; the exact idiom is muddled by his Welsh English, and editors have proposed various emendations. The sense is simply: he will punish this treachery completely.
TLN 2532historical topical
“It was ourself thou didst abuse”
Henry reveals that he himself was the 'common man' Williams argued with the night before Agincourt, walking in disguise among the troops as 'Harry le Roy.' The word 'ourself' is the royal plural — a king speaking as the embodiment of the state — making the revelation more than personal: Williams unknowingly quarreled with the office of the crown itself.
historical The king's two bodies
TLN 2544wordplay
“the fellow has mettle enough in his belly”
'Mettle' means spirit, courage, or character — but it sounds exactly like 'metal,' and Fluellen may be punning: Williams has both the brave spirit and the literal coin (the 'twelve pence' Fluellen is about to offer him) in his belly. The primary sense is that Williams has shown real guts by standing his ground.
TLN 2546archaic vocab
“prawls, and prabbles, and quarrels, and dissensions”
'Brawls' and 'brabbles' (petty quarrels) are the words Fluellen means; his Welsh accent converts 'b' to 'p' throughout the play, giving 'prawls' and 'prabbles.' A 'brabble' is a noisy public squabble. The quadruple list is comic overkill — Fluellen's lecture to Williams about keeping the peace grows to four near-synonyms.
TLN 2551archaic vocab
“wherefore should you be so pashful”
Fluellen means 'bashful' — shy, reluctant to accept the money. His Welsh pronunciation turns the initial 'b' to 'p' throughout the play (see also 'prawls,' 'prabbles' in the same speech). 'Wherefore' means 'why.'
TLN 2562historical topical
“This note doth tell me of ten thousand French”
The casualty count Henry reads from the herald's paper is drawn from the chronicles of Agincourt (25 October 1415). Modern estimates put French dead at around 6,000-10,000; English dead at fewer than 100. Shakespeare preserves the lopsided proportion — a tiny English force destroying the flower of French chivalry — which contemporaries read as proof of divine favor.
historical The Battle of Agincourt (1415)
TLN 2585historical topical
“Edward the Duke of York, the Earl of Suffolk, Sir Richard Ketly, Davy Gam, esquire; None else of name”
The English dead of note are four: the Duke of York (cousin to the king, who begged to lead the vanguard); the Earl of Suffolk; Sir Richard Ketly; and Davy Gam, a Welsh knight knighted on the battlefield moments before he died. 'None else of name' means no one else of noble rank — the rest of the twenty-five are unnamed common soldiers.
historical The Battle of Agincourt (1415)
TLN 2588biblical allusion
“O God, thy arm was here; And not to us, but to thy arm alone, Ascribe we all”
Henry's attribution of the victory entirely to God echoes the Old Testament tradition of holy war in which God's 'arm' or 'hand' (not human strategy) wins the battle. The phrase 'God's arm' appears throughout the Psalms and prophetic books for divine military power on Israel's behalf. Henry refuses any human credit and makes it a capital offense to boast of the victory.
TLN 2606cultural context
“Non nobis and Te Deum”
'Non nobis' ('Not unto us') is the opening of Psalm 115, a psalm of thanksgiving that denies human pride and credits God alone: 'Non nobis, Domine, sed nomini tuo da gloriam' — 'Not to us, Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory.' The 'Te Deum' is a great ancient Christian hymn of praise beginning 'We praise thee, O God.' Together they were the liturgical formula for giving thanks after military victory. Henry orders both sung before the army marches to Calais.