Oh Henry

I pray you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. Mine was wonderful: I saw plenty of family and friends.

During an evening at the Yale Club in NY, a night that ended for me at the Chamberland Apartment, I spoke with a friend about Henry V; we are both big fans of the Kenneth Branagh version.

Specifically we reflected on a scene towards the very end. After the Battle of Agincourt King Harry receives word of the losses both sides have suffered. The French lose over 10,000 while the English lose (besides a few men of note listed by name) but five and twenty men. King Harry orders that no man exult in the victory on pain of death; victory came because "God fought with us." He asks that a hymn for the dead be sung. One soldier starts the hymn, which gathers strength and turns into a wonderfully moving choral rendition.

Non nobis Domine, Domine
Non nobis Domine
Sed nomine, sed nomine
Tuo da gloria

Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us,
but unto thy Name give the praise

King Harry himself picks up the body of a young boy (killed by the French, who shamelessly attacked the baggage company) and walks him slowly and tenderly across the field as the hymn is sung. It's quite a moving moment, enough to bring any decent person to tears.

As Pistol says in Act 4, scene 1:

The king's a bawcock, and a heart of gold,
A lad of life, an imp of fame;
Of parents good, of fist most valiant.
I kiss his dirty shoe, and from heart-string
I love the lovely bully.

Oh, to have such a leader again! It's a shame inspiration and sacrifice have no place in modern theories of government, or modern theories generally speaking for that matter.

When there is enough historical perspective to write about our times we will sing songs of mourning and regret.