avest sons lay
slain, mingled with scarcely one hundred Englishmen![*] Such a
marvellous disparity might well draw forth the pious acknowledgment of
King Henry,--

"O God, thy arm was here;--
And not to us, but to thy arm alone,
Ascribe we all.--When, without stratagem,
But in plain shock and even play of battle,
Was ever known so great and little loss
On one part and on the other?--Take it, God,
For it is only thine!"

[Footnote *: The English authorities vary in their statements
from seventeen to one hundred killed. The French historian,
Monstrelet, estimates the loss of his countrymen at ten thousand
men.]

Shakespeare in this, as in other of his dramatic histories, has closely
followed Holinshed; but the light of his genius irradiates the dry pages
of the chronicler. The play of Henry the Fifth is not only a poetical
record of the past, but it is, as it were, "a song of triumph," a lay of
the minstrel pouring forth a paean of victory. The gallant feats of our
forefathers are brought vividly before our eyes, inspiring sentiments
not to be excited by the mere perusal of books, reminding us of the
prowess of Englishmen in earlier days, and conveying an assurance of
what they will ever be in the hour of peril.

The descriptive poetry assigned to the "Chorus" between the acts is
retained as a peculiar feature, connecting and explaining the action as
it proceeds. This singular personage, so different from the Chorus of
antiquity, I have endeavoured to render instrumental to the general
effect of the play; the whole being planned with a view to realise, as
far as the appliances of a theatre can be exercised, the events of the
extraordinary campaign so decisively closed by the great conflict of
Agincourt, which ultimately placed two crowns on the brow of the
conqueror, and resulted in his marriage with Katharine, the daughter of
Charles the Sixth, King of France. Shakespeare does not in this
instance, as in _Pericles_ and the _Winter's Tale_, assign a distinct
individuality to the Chorus. For the figure of Time, under the semblance
of an aged man, which has been heretofore presented, will now be
substituted Clio, the muse of History. Thus, without violating
consistency, an opportunity is afforded to Mrs. Charles Kean, which the
play does not otherwise supply, of participating in this, the concluding
revival of her husband's management.

Between the fourth and fifth acts I have ventured