good father.

No king of England was ever more wise or brave or just than Henry the
Fifth; and even now he is remembered with affection. One of
Shakespeare's most splendid plays is written about him, and, when you
have once read that, you will always remember and love Henry the Fifth
as all Englishmen should do.

[Sidenote: A.D. 1413.]

At the very beginning of his reign the wars with France began again. The
king sent to France and claimed some lands that had belonged to Edward
the Third; and the young prince of France sent back the message--"There
is nothing in France that can be won with a dance or a song. You cannot
get dukedoms in France by playing and feasting, and the prince sends you
something that will suit you better than lands in France. He has sent
you a barrel of tennis balls, and bids you play with them and let
serious matters be." Then King Henry was very angry, and said--"We thank
him for his present.

When we have matched our rackets to these balls,
We will in France, by God's grace, play a set
Shall strike his father's crown into the hazard.

Before I was King of England I was wild and merry because I knew not how
great and solemn a state waited for me. I have played in my youth like a
common man because I was only Prince of Wales; but now that I am King of
England I will rise up with so full of glory that I will dazzle all the
eyes of France."

[Illustration]

Henry sailed over to France and besieged a town called Harfleur. He
spoke to the soldiers before they attacked the town.

"Break down the wall and go through," he said, "or close the wall up
with our English dead.

Bend every spirit
To his full height. On, on, you noblest English,
Whose blood is fetched from fathers of war proof.
Be copy now to men of grosser blood
And teach them how to war. And you, good yeomen,
Whose limbs were made in England, let us swear
That you are worth your breeding, which I doubt not;
Cry God for Harry, England and Saint George."

The Englishmen answered nobly to his appeal, and Harfleur was taken.

Then the English advanced to a place called Agincourt, a name fated to
be linked with splendid glory for ever in the hearts of all English
folk. The French had a very large army, and the English soldiers were
tired with their long march. Many of them were ill and many were hu