[BITList] 25 October

[John Feltham]

25th October 595 years ago, in a muddy field in France, England won a great and unexpected victory, Agincourt. 

5,000 Englishmen beat 25,000 Frenchmen.

My fellow Englishmen I hope that this sends a shiver of pride down your spine that snaps it upright, forcing your chin up and your chest out.

I never forget, it is my brother's birthday!



    And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian.' 
    Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars, 
    And say 'These wounds I had on Crispian'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 remembered- 
    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.

St. Crispen's Day Speech
Shakespeare's HENRY V - C.1599



ooroo


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