No Fear Shakespeare
Henry V
Get this No Fear to go!
Act 3, Scene 7, Page 2
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CONSTABLE
Indeed, my lord, it is a most absolute and excellent horse.
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CONSTABLE
Indeed, my lord, he is a perfectly wonderful horse.
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DAUPHIN
It is the prince of palfreys. His neigh is like the bidding of
a monarch, and his countenance enforces homage.
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DAUPHIN
He is the prince of horses. His neigh is like a monarch’s command. His face demands respect.
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ORLÉANS
No more, cousin.
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ORLÉANS
Enough, cousin.
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DAUPHIN
Nay, the man hath no wit that cannot, from the rising of the
lark to the lodging of the lamb, vary deserved praise on my
palfrey. It is a theme as fluent as the sea. Turn the sands into
eloquent tongues, and my horse is argument for them all.
'Tis a subject for a sovereign to reason on, and for a
sovereign’s sovereign to ride on, and for the world, familiar
to us and unknown, to lay apart their particular functions
and wonder at him. I once writ a sonnet in his praise and
began thus: “Wonder of nature—”
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DAUPHIN
No, the man who cannot extol the virtues of my horse from dawn to dusk is not particularly clever. It’s a subject as worthy of endless discussion as the changing sea. If each grain of sand had a tongue to eulogize, my horse would be a topic for them all. He is a subject for a king to contemplate, and for a king’s king to ride on, and for the world at large—both friend and stranger—to stop whatever they are doing and marvel at. I once wrote a sonnet in his praise which began, “Wonder of nature—”
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ORLÉANS
I have heard a sonnet begin so to one’s mistress.
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ORLÉANS
I have heard a sonnet to one’s mistress that began like that.
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DAUPHIN
Then did they imitate that which I composed to my
courser, for my horse is my mistress.
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DAUPHIN
Then the writer imitated the one I composed to my steed, for my horse is my mistress.
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ORLÉANS
Your mistress bears well.
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ORLÉANS
Your mistress is a good mount.
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DAUPHIN
Me well—which is the prescript praise and perfection of a
good and particular mistress.
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DAUPHIN
A good mount for me—and that’s the highest praise and very definition of a good mistress, that she belong to one alone.
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CONSTABLE
Nay, for methought yesterday your mistress shrewdly
shook your back.
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CONSTABLE
Yes, but yesterday I could have sworn your mistress gave you a bumpy ride.
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DAUPHIN
So perhaps did yours.
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DAUPHIN
So, perhaps, did yours.
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