First let me know, and then I'll answer you. Bas. Crossing the sea from England into France,

This fellow here, with envious carping tongue,
Upbraided me about the rose I wear;
Saying the sanguine colour of the leaves
Did represent my master's blushing cheeks,
When stubbornly he did repugn* the truth,
About a certain question in the law,
Argu'd betwixt the duke of York and him;
With other vile and ignominious terms:
In confutation of which rude reproach,
And in defence of my lord's worthiness,
I crave the benefit of law of arms.

Ver. And that is my petition, noble lord:
For though he seem, with forged quaint con-
To set a gloss upon his bold intent, [ceit,
Yet know, my lord, I was provok'd by him;
And he first took exceptions at this badge,
Pronouncing-that the paleness of this flower
Bewray'dt the faintness of my master's heart.
York. Will not this malice, Somerset, be left?
Som. Your private grudge, my lord of York,
will out,
Though ne'er so cunningly you smother it.
K. Hen. Good lord! what madness rules in
brain-sick men ;

When, for so slight and frivolous a cause,
Such factious emulations shall arise !-
Good cousins both of York and Somerset,
Quiet yourselves, I pray, and be at peace.
York. Let this dissention first be tried by
fight,

And then your highness shall command a

That, for a toy, a thing of no regard,
King Henry's peers, and chief nobility,
Destroy'd themselves, and lost the realm of
France ?

O think upon the conquest of my father,
My tender years; and let us not forego
That for a trifle, that was bought with blood!
Let me be umpire in this doubtful strife.
I see no reason, if I wear this rose,
[Putting on a red Rose.
That any one should therefore be suspicious
I more incline to Somerset, than York:
Both are my kinsmen, and I love them both:
As well they may upbraid me with my crown,
Because, forsooth, the king of Scots is crown'd.
But your discretions better can persuade,
Than I am able to instruct or teach:
And therefore, as we hither came in peace,
So let us still continue peace and love.-
Cousin of York, we institute your grace
To be our regent in these parts of France :-
And good my lord of Somerset, unite
Your troops of horsemen with his bands of
foot ;-
[tors,
And, like true subjects, sons of your progeni-
Go cheerfully together, and digest
Your angry choler on your enemies.
Ourself, my lord protector, and the rest
After some respite, will return to Calais ;
From thence to England; where I hope ere
To be presented, by your victories, [long
With Charles, Alençon, and that traitorous

rout.

[Flourish. Exeunt King HENRY, GLO. SOM. WIN. SUF. and BASSET.

War. My lord of York, I promise you, the king

Prettily, methought, did play the orator. York. And so he did; but yet I like it not, In that he wears the badge of Somerset. War. Tush! that was but his fancy, blame him not; [harm. I dare presume, sweet prince, he thought no York. And, if I wist, he did,—But let it rest;

Other affairs must now be managed.

[Exeunt YORK, WARWICK, and VERNON. Exe. Well didst thou, Richard, to suppress thy voice:

For, had the passions of thy heart burst out, I fear we should have seen decipher'd there More rancorous spite, more furious raging Than yet can be imagin'd or suppos'd. [broils, But howsoe'er, no simple man that sees This jarring discord of nobility, This should'ring of each other in the court, This factious bandying of their favourites, But that it doth presage some ill event. 'Tis much,* when sceptres are in children's hands; [sion; But more, when envy breeds unkind diviThere comes the ruin, there begins confusion. [Exit. SCENE II.-France.-Before Bourdeaux. Enter TALBOT, with his Forces. Tal. Go to the gates of Bourdeaux, trumpeter,

Summon their general unto the wall. Trumpet sounds a Parley. Enter, on the Walls, the GENERAL of the French Forces, and others. English John Talbot, captains, calls you forth, Servant in arms to Harry king of England; And thus he would,-Open your city gates, *Tis strange, or wonderful

! Enmity.

+ Unnatural.

3

Be humble to us; call my sovereign yours,
And do him homage as obedient subjects,
And I'll withdraw me and my bloody power:
But, if you frown upon this proffer'd peace,
You tempt the fury of my three attendants,
Lean famine, quartering steel, and climbing
fire;

Who, in a moment, even with the earth
Shall lay your stately and air-braving towers,
If you forsake the offer of their love.

Gen. Thou ominous and fearful owl of death,
Our nation's terror, and their bloody scourge!
The period of thy tyranny approacheth.
On us thou canst not enter, but by death:
For, I protest, we are well fortified,
And strong enough to issue out and fight:
If thou retire, the Dauphin, well appointed,
Stands with the snares of war to tangle thee:
On either hand thee there are squadrons
pitch'd,

To wall thee from the liberty of flight;
And no way canst thou turn thee for redress,
But death doth front thee with apparent spoil,
And pale destruction meets thee in the face.
Ten thousand French have ta'en the sacra-
To rive their dangerous artillery [ment,
Upon no Christian soul but English Talbot.
Lo! there thou stand'st, a breathing valiant
Of an invincible unconquer'd spirit: [man,
This is the latest glory of thy praise,
That I, thy enemy, due thee withal;
For ere the glass, that now begins to run,
Finish the process of his sandy hour,
These eyes, that see thee now well coloured,
Shall see thee wither'd, bloody, pale, and dead.

[Drum afar off Hark! hark! the Dauphin's drum, a warning Sings heavy music to thy timorous soul; [bell,

And mine shall ring thy dire departure out.

[Exeunt GENERAL, &c. from the Walls. Tal. He fables not, I hear the enemy;Out, some light horsemen, and peruse their wings.

O, negligent and heedless discipline!
How are we park'd, and bounded in a pale ;
A little herd of England's timorous deer,
Maz'd with a yelping kennel of French curs!
If we be English deer, be then in blood :t
Not rascal-like,t to fall down with a pinch;
But rather moody-mad, and desperate stags,
Turn on the bloody hounds with heads of steel,
And make the cowards stand aloof at bay:
Sell every man his life as dear as mine,
And they shall find dear deer of us,

my

Eng

friends.

God, and Saint George! Talbot, and

land's right! Prosper onr colours in this dangerous fight! [Exeunt.

York. O God! that Somerset-who in proud heart

We mourn, France smiles; we lose, they daily
All 'long of this vile traitor Somerset. [get;
Lucy. Then, God take mercy on brave Tal-
bot's soul!
[since,
And on his son, young John; whom two hours
This seven years did not Talbot see his son ;
And now they meeet where both their lives are

I met in travel toward his warlike father!

done.t

York. Alas! what joy shall noble Talbot have,

To bid his young son welcome to his grave?
Away! vexation almost stops my breath,
That sunder'd friends greet in the hour of
death.-

York. He dies, we lose; I break my warlike word:

Lucy, farewell: no more my fortune can,

But curse the cause I cannot aid the man.— Maine, Blois, Poictiers, and Tours, are won away, [Exit.

'Long all of Somerset, and his delay.

Lucy. Thus, while the vulturet of sedition Feeds in the bosom of such great commanders, The conquest of our scarce-cold conqueror, Sleeping neglection doth betray to loss Henry the fifth-Whiles they each other cross, That ever-living man of memory,

Lives, honours, lands, and all, hurry to loss. [Exit.

SCENE IV-Other Plains of Gascony. Enter SOMERSET, with his Forces; an OFFICEB of TALBOT's with him.

Som. It is too late; I cannot send them now; This expedition was by York, and Talbot, Too rashly plotted; all our general force Might with a sally of the very town Be buckled with: the over-daring Talbot Hath sullied all his gloss of former honour, By this unheedful, desperate, wild adventure : York set him on to fight, and die in shame, That, Talbot dead, great York might bear the

name.

Offi. Here is Sir William Lucy, who with me Set from our o'er-match'd forces forth for aid.

Vanquished, baffled + Expended, consumed. Alluding to the tale of Prometheus.

-The English Camp, near Bourdeaux.

TALBOT and JOHN his Son.

ng John Talbot! I did send for

e a stratagems of war;

name might be in thee reviv'd,
[thee,

age, and weak unable limbs,

by father to his drooping chair. W
gant and ill-boding stars!-
come unto a feast of death,
d avoided danger:
bar boy, mount on my swiftest
[horse;
thee how thou shalt escape

T

: come, dally not, be gone.
my name Talbot and am I your T
40, if you love my mother,

ost her honourable name,
bastard and a slave of me:

lay-He is not Talbot's blood,
ed, when noble Talbot stood.
revenge my death, if I be slain.
Be that flies so, will ne'er return

T

It

LOVEL

terly ruined by the treacherous rere death will be feasted milano f Encircled.

For maritable

Be

Keep off aloof with worthless emulation.
Let not your private discord keep away
The levied succours that should lend him aid,
While he, renown'd noble gentleman,
Yields up his life unto a world of odds:
Orleans the Bastard, Charles, and Burgundy,
Alençon, Reignier, compass him about,
And Talbot perisheth by your default.

Som. York set him on, York should have
sent him aid.

Lucy. And York as fast upon your grace
exclaims;

Swearing that you withhold his levied host,
Collected for this expedition.

Som. York lies; he might have sent and had
the horse:

I owe him little duty, and less love; [ing.
And take foul scorn, to fawn on him by send-
Lucy. The fraud of England, not the force
of France,

Hath now entrapp'd the noble-minded Talbot:
Never to England shall he bear his life;
But dies, betrayed to fortune by your strife.
Sam. Come, go; I will despatch the horse-
men straight:
Within six hours they will be at his aid.
Lucy. Too late comes rescue: he is ta'en, or

slain :

For fly he could not, if he would have fled; And fly would Talbot never, though he might. Som. If he be dead, brave Talbot then adieu! Lucy. His fame lives in the world, his shame in you. [Exeunt. SCENE V.-The English Camp, near Bourdeaux.

Enter TALBOT and JOHN his Son.

Tal. O young John Talbot! I did send for To tutor thee in stratagems of war; [thee, That Talbot's name might be in thee reviv'd, When sapless age, and weak unable limbs, Should bring thy father to his drooping chair. But, O malignant and ill-boding stars!Now thou art come unto a feast of death, A terrible and unavoided danger: [horse; Therefore, dear boy, mount on my swiftest And I'll direct thee how thou shalt escape By sudden flight: come, dally not, be gone. John. Is my name Talbot? and am I your son?

And shall I fly? O, if you love my mother,
Dishonour not her honourable name,
To make a bastard and a slave of me:
The world will say-He is not Talbot's blood,
That basely fled, when noble Talbot stood.

Tal. Fly, to revenge my death, if I be slain. John. He, that flies so, will ne'er return again.

1. e. From one utterly ruined by the treacherous practices of others. f Encircled. To field where death will be feasted with slaughter. For unavoidable.

Tal. If we both stay, we both are sure to die. John. Then let me stay; and, father, do you fly:

Your loss is great, so your regard* should be ;
My worth unknown, no loss is known in me.
Upon my death the French can little boast;
In yours they will, in you all hopes are lost.
Flight cannot stain the honour you have won;
But mine it will, that no exploit have done :
You fled for vantage every one will swear;
But, if I bow, they'll say-it was for fear.
There is no hope that ever I will stay,
If, the first hour, I shrink, and run away.
Here, on my knee, I beg mortality,
Rather than life preserv'd with infamy.
Tal. Shall all thy mother's hopes lie in one
tomb?

I gave thee life, and rescu'd thee from death. John. O twice my father! twice am I thy [done;

son:

The life, thou gav'st me first, was lost and
Till with thy warlike sword, despite of fate,
To my determin'dt time thou gav'st new date.

Tal. When from the Dauphin's crest thy sword struck fire,

It warm'd thy father's heart with proud desire
Of bold fac'd victory. Then leaden age,
Quicken'd with youthful spleen, and warlike
rage,

Beat down Alençon, Orleans, Burgundy,
And from the pride of Gallia rescu'd thee.
The ireful bastard Orleans-that drew blood
From thee, my boy; and had the maidenhood
Of thy first fight-I soon encountered;
+ Ended.

*Your care of your own safety

And, interchanging blows, I quickly shed
Some of his bastard blood; and, in disgrace,
Bespoke him thus: Contaminated, base,
And misbegotton blood I spill of thine,
Mean and right poor; for that pure blood ofmine
Which thou didst force from Talbot, my brave
boy :-
+-

Here, purposing the Bastard to destroy,
Came in strong rescue. Speak thy father's

care;

Art not thou weary, John? How dost thou fare?
Wilt thou yet leave the battle, boy, and fly,
Now thou art seal'd the son of chivalry
Fly, to revenge my death, when I am dead;
The help of one stands me in little stead.
O, too much folly is it, well I wot,
To hazard all our lives in one small boat.
If I to-day die not with Frenchmen's rage,
To-morrow I shall die with mickle age:
By me they nothing gain, an if I stay,
'Tis but the short'ning of my life one day:
In thee thy mother dies, our household's name,
My death's revenge, thy youth, and England's
fame:

me smart,

All these, and more, we hazard by thy stay;
All these are sav'd, if thou wilt fly away.
John. The sword of Orleans hath not made
[heart:
These words of yours draw life-blood from my
On that advantage, bought with such a shame,
(To save a paltry life, and slay bright fame,)
Before young Talbot from old Talbot fly,
The coward horse, that bears me, fall and die:
And like me to the peasant boys of France;
To be shame's scorn, and subject of mischance!
Surely, by all the glory you have won,
And if I fly, I am not Talbot's son:
Then talk no more of flight, it is no boot;
If son to Talbot, die at Talbot's foot.

Tal. Then follow thou thy desperate sire of
Crete,

Thou Icarus; thy life to me is sweet :
If thou wilt fight, fight by thy father's side;
And, commendable prov'd, let's die in pride.
[Exeunt.

SCENE VII-Another part of the same. Alarum: Excursions. Enter TALBOT, wounded, supported by a SERVANT.

Tal. Where is my other life?-mine own is gone;[John? O, where's young Talbot? where is valiant Triumphant death, smear'd with captivity!t Young Talbot's valour makes me smile at thee: When he perceiv'd me shrink, and on my knee, His bloody sword he brandish'd over me, And, like a hungry lion, did commence Rough deeds of rage, and stern impatience; But when my angry guardant stood alone, Tend'ring my ruin,‡ and assail'd of none, Dizzy-ey'd fury, and great rage of heart, Suddenly made him from my side to start Into the clust'ring battle of the French: And in that sea of blood my boy did drench His overmounting spirit; and there died My Icarus, my blossom, in his pride.

Char. Had York and Somerset brought rescue in,

We should have found a bloody day of this.
Bast. How the young Whelp of Talbot's,
raging-wood,t
[blood!
Did flesh his puny sword in Frenchmen's
Puc. Once I encounter'd him, and thus I
said,

Thou maiden youth, be vanquish'd by a maid:
He answer'd thus; Young Talbot was not born
But-with a proud, majestical high scorn,—
To be the pillage of a giglott wench:
So, rushing in the bowels of the French,
He left me proudly as unworthy fight.
Bur. Doubtless, he would have made a noble

knight:

See, where he lies inhersed in the arms.
Of the most bloody nurser of his harms.
Bast. Hew them to pieces, hack their bones
asunder;
[der.
Whose life was England's glory, Gallia's won-
Char. O, no; forbear: for that which we
have fled

During the life, let us not wrong it dead.
Enter Sir WILLIAM LUCY, attended; a French
Herald preceding.

Lucy. Herald,

Conduct me to the Dauphin's tent; to know
Who hath obtain'd the glory of the day.
Char. On what submissive message art thou
sent?

Lucy. Submission, Dauphin? 'tis a mere
French word;

We English warriors wot not what it means.
I come to know what prisoners thou hast ta'en,
And to survey the bodies of the dead.

Char. For prisoners ask'st thou ? hell our prison is.

But tell me whom thou seek'st.

Lucy. Where is the great Alcides of the field, Valiant lord Talbot, earl of Shrewsbury? Created, for his rare success in arms, [lence; Great earl of Washford, Waterford, and VaLord Talbot of Goodrig and Urchingfield, Lord Strange of Blackmere, lord Verdun of Alton, [Sheffield, The thrice victorious lord of Falconbridge; Lord Cromwell of Wingfield, lord Furnival of Knight of the noble order of St. George, Worthy saint Michael, and the golden fleece;

Flexible yielding. ↑ Raving mad. + Wantor.

motion?

Glo. Well, my good lord; and as the only

means

To stop effusion of our Christian blood,
And 'stablish quietness on every side.

K. Hen Ay, marry, uncle; for I always
thought,

It was both impious and unnatural,
That such immanityt and bloody strife
Should reign among professors of one faith.

Glo. Beside, my lord,-the sooner to effect,
And surer bind, this knot of amity,-
The earl of Armagnac-near knit to Charles,
A man of great authority in France,-
Proffers his only daughter to your grace
In marriage, with a large and sumptuous
dowry,

K. Hen. Marriage, uncle! alas! my years
are young;

And fitter is my study and my books,
Than wanton dalliance with a paramour.
Yet, call the ambassadors; and, as you
please,

So let them have their answers every one:
Barbarity, savageness.

Confound.

I shall be well content with any choice,
Tends to God's glory, and my country's weal.
Enter a LEGATE, and two AMBASSADORS, with
WINCHESTER, in a Cardinal's Habit.

Exe. What is my lord of Winchester install'd,

And call'd unto a cardinal's degree!
Then, I perceive, that will be verified,
Henry the fifth did sometime prophesy,-
If once he come to be a cardinal,
He'll make his cap co-equal with the crown.
K. Hen. My lords ambassadors, your seve-

ral suits

Have been consider'd and debated on.
Your purpose is both good and reasonable:
And, therefore, are we certainly resolv'd
To draw conditions of a friendly peace;
Which, by my lord of Winchester, we mean
Shall be transported presently to France.

Glo. And for the proffer of my lord your master,

I have inform'd his highness so at large,
As-liking of the lady's virtuous gifts,
Her beauty, and the value of her dower,-
He doth intend she shall be England's queen.

K. Hen. In argument and proof of which contract,

Bear her this jewel, [To the AMB.] pledge of my affection.

And so, my lord protector, see them guarded, And safely brought to Dover; where, inshipp'd,

Commit them to the fortune of the sea.

[Exeunt King HENRY and Train; GLOSTER, EXETER, and AMBASSADORS.

Win. Stay, my lord legate; you shall first receive

The sum of money, which I promised
Should be deliver'd to his holiness
For clothing me in these grave ornaments.
Leg. I will attend upon your lordship's lei-

sure.

Win. Now, Winchester will not submit, I Or be inferior to the proudest peer. [trow, Humphrey of Gloster, thou shalt well perceive,

That, neither in birth, or for authority,
The bishop will be overborne by thee:
I'll either make thee stoop, and bend thy knee,
Or sack this country with a mutiny. [Exeunt.
SCENE II.-France.-Plains in Anjou.
Enter CHARLRS, BURGUNDY, ALENÇON, LA

PUCELLE, and Forces marching.

Char. These news, my lords, may cheer our drooping spirits:

'Tis said, the stout Parisians do revolt, And turn again unto the warlike French. Alen. Then march to Paris, royal Charles of France,

And keep not back your powers in dalliance. Puc. Peace be amongst them, if they turn

to us;

Else, ruin combat with their palaces!

Enter a MESSENGER.

Mess. Success unto our valiant general, And happiness to his accomplices!

Char. What tidings send our scouts ? I pr'ythee, speak.

Mess. The English army, that divided was Into two parts, is now conjoin'd in one; And means to give you battle presently.