Corpus Christi Eve, i. e. on the Wednesday after Trinity Sunday, which answered, in 1415, to the 29th of May. He plainly speaks of an imminent war, to be waged against a foreign country, in which there were castles to be won by adventurers (l. 97). This is an evident allusion to the coming cam|paign in France, and it is worthy of note that the expedition set sail from Southampton (cf. l. 20) in the month of August. Henry had declared for war some time before. Fabian gives June 18 as the date when Henry rode through London to go to Southampton, and Walsingham gives June 24 as the date when he was expected to arrive there. The "subsidie" mentioned in l. 36 is the very large grant which Henry had obtained (Nov. 19, 1414) of no less than two tenths and two fifteenths; for though no war was then declared, it was doubtless well understood that it was to come. The suggestion in ll. 95 and 96, that all prisoners should be for the benefit of their captors, is exactly parallel to the arrangement that "all prisoners were to belong to their captors," to which Lingard draws special attention, with a reference to Rymer, ix. 223—239, as having been made on this very occasion. The knowledge that the king was coming to Southampton would naturally suggest a poem of the present form to a poet resident there; and its brevity may have been intended to give it a better chance of attention. All who remember the story of Henry and Chief Justice Gascoigne will see the ap|plication of l. 53, and those following; whilst l. 75 well expresses the favour in which the young king was held. Neither are the exhortations (ll. 122—124) to a display of personal prowess out of place; for it was now twelve years since the battle of Shrewsbury (July 21, 1403), and there was little to shew that Henry would again display such bravery as he then exhibited. Further points I leave to the reader's consideration, with the remark that, when read in the light thus thrown upon it, the poem is not without interest, and very fairly expresses the public opinion of the time.]
[Douce MS. 95; leaf 4.]
