“ . . . We Few, We Happy Few . . .” Saint Crispin’s Day Speech. The Eve Of The Battle Of Agincourt, 1415. Laurence Olivier As King Henry V.

Laurence Olivier as King Henry V:

“Saint Crispin’s Day” Speech on the eve of

The Battle of Agincourt, 1415.

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The following Text is from Wikipedia - the free encyclopædia.

The Saint Crispin's Day speech is a part of William Shakespeare's history play Henry V, Act IV Scene iii(3) 18–67.

On the eve of the Battle of Agincourt, which fell on Saint Crispin's Day, King Henry V urges his men, who were vastly outnumbered by the French, to recall how the English had previously inflicted great defeats upon the French.

The speech has been famously portrayed by Laurence Olivier to raise British spirits during the Second World War, and by Kenneth Branagh in the 1989 film Henry V; it made famous the phrase "Band of Brothers".[1] The play was written around 1600, and several later writers have used parts of it in their own texts.

WESTMORLAND speaks.

“O, that we now had here

But one ten thousand of those men in England

That do no work to-day !

KING HENRY V speaks.

What’s he that wishes so ?

My cousin, Westmorland ?

No, my fair cousin;

If we are mark’d to die, we are enough

To do our country loss; and if to live,

The fewer men, the greater share of honour.

God’s will ! I pray thee, wish not one man more.

By Jove, I am not covetous for gold,

Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost;

It yearns me not if men my garments wear;

Such outward things dwell not in my desires.

But if it be a sin to covet honour,

I am the most offending soul alive.

No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England.

God’s peace ! I would not lose so great an honour

As one man more methinks would share from me

For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more !

Rather proclaim it, Westmorland, through my host,

That he which hath no stomach to this fight,

Let him depart; his passport shall be made,

And crowns for convoy put into his purse;

We would not die in that man’s company

That fears his fellowship to die with us.

This day is call’d The Feast of Crispian.

He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,

Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam’d,

And rouse him at the name of Crispian.

He that shall live this day, and see old age,

Will yearly on the Vigil feast his neighbours,

And say “To-morrow is Saint Crispian.”

Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,

And say “These wounds I had on Crispin’s day.”

Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,

But he'll remember, with advantages,

What feats he did that day. Then shall our names,

Familiar in his mouth as household words —

Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter,

Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester —

Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb’red.

This story shall the good man teach his son;

And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,

From this day to the ending of the world,

But we in it shall be rememberèd —

We few, we happy few,

we band of brothers;

For he to-day that sheds his blood with me

Shall be my brother; be he ne’er so vile,

This day shall gentle his condition;

And gentlemen in England now a-bed

Shall think themselves accurs’d they were not here,

And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks

That fought with us upon Saint Crispin’s day.