Page:Henry V (1918) Yale.djvu/140

128  plain-song. A simple melody without variations.

 the mines is not. It is hardly necessary to point out the many irregularities in Captain Fluellen's use of singulars and plurals. He takes similar liberties with actives and passives and with the verbs 'to be' and 'to have.' In his speeches, as in those of the Scotch and Irish officers, dialect peculiarities are not explained unless they present unusual difficulties.

 Of my nation. Macmorris, who is of an excitable Celtic temperament, is quick to resent a fancied sneer at his country.

 scions. This word originally denoted small twigs cut from one tree and grafted upon another. The Dauphin is referring, of course, to the Norman extraction of the English.

 but. Grammatically the oath, 'Mort de ma vie,' governs this word. 'If these Englishmen march along uncontested, death take me if I do not sell my dukedom.'

 Montjoy. Not a name, but a title, borne by the chief heralds of France through many centuries. It is probable, however, that Shakespeare himself supposed that it was a name. Cf. III. vi. 150.

 English and Welch. The use of these words as synonyms for the names of Gower and Fluellen emphasizes Shakespeare's intention of representing national types in these captains.

 aunchient lieutenant. Fluellen, with characteristic redundancy, gives Pistol two different titles.

 pax. Perhaps this is a mistake for 'pyx,' the box containing the Host or consecrated wafer of the Mass. To steal a pyx would be a very serious sacrilege, and we know that on this expedition King Henry ordered a man hanged for such a theft. The pax, on the other hand, was a less sacred object—