diff --git "a/res/henryvi_part1.txt" "b/res/henryvi_part1.txt" new file mode 100644--- /dev/null +++ "b/res/henryvi_part1.txt" @@ -0,0 +1,4558 @@ +Henry VI, Part 1 +by William Shakespeare + + +Characters in the Play +====================== +The English +KING HENRY VI +Lord TALBOT, afterwards Earl of Shrewsbury +JOHN TALBOT, his son +Duke of GLOUCESTER, the king's uncle, and Lord Protector +Duke of BEDFORD, the king's uncle, and Regent of France +Duke of EXETER, the king's great-uncle +Cardinal, Bishop of WINCHESTER, the king's great-uncle +Duke of SOMERSET +Richard PLANTAGENET, later Duke of YORK, and Regent of France +Earl of WARWICK +Earl of SALISBURY +Earl of SUFFOLK, William de la Pole +Edmund MORTIMER, Earl of March +Sir William GLANSDALE +Sir Thomas GARGRAVE +Sir John FASTOLF +Sir William LUCY +WOODVILLE, Lieutenant of the Tower of London +VERNON, of the White Rose or York faction +BASSET, of the Red Rose or Lancaster faction +A LAWYER +JAILORS to Mortimer +A LEGATE +MAYOR of London +Heralds, Attendants, three Messengers, Servingmen in blue coats and in tawny coats, two Warders, Officers, Soldiers, Captains, Watch, Trumpeters, Drummer, Servant, two Ambassadors + +The French +CHARLES, Dauphin of France +Joan la PUCELLE, also Joan of Arc +REIGNIER, Duke of Anjou and Maine, King of Naples +MARGARET, his daughter +Duke of ALANSON +Bastard of ORLEANCE +Duke of BURGUNDY +GENERAL of the French forces at Bordeaux +COUNTESS of Auvergne +Her PORTER +MASTER GUNNER of Orleance +BOY, his son +SERGEANT of a Band +A SHEPHERD, Pucelle's father +Drummer, Soldiers, two Sentinels, Messenger, Soldiers, Governor of Paris, Herald, Scout, Fiends accompanying Pucelle + + +ACT 1 +===== + +Scene 1 +======= +[Dead March. Enter the funeral of King Henry the Fifth, +attended on by the Duke of Bedford, Regent of France; +the Duke of Gloucester, Protector; the Duke of Exeter; +the Earl of Warwick; the Bishop of Winchester; and +the Duke of Somerset, with Heralds and Attendants.] + + +BEDFORD +Hung be the heavens with black, yield day to night! +Comets, importing change of times and states, +Brandish your crystal tresses in the sky, +And with them scourge the bad revolting stars +That have consented unto Henry's death: +King Henry the Fifth, too famous to live long. +England ne'er lost a king of so much worth. + +GLOUCESTER +England ne'er had a king until his time. +Virtue he had, deserving to command; +His brandished sword did blind men with his beams; +His arms spread wider than a dragon's wings; +His sparkling eyes, replete with wrathful fire, +More dazzled and drove back his enemies +Than midday sun fierce bent against their faces. +What should I say? His deeds exceed all speech. +He ne'er lift up his hand but conquered. + +EXETER +We mourn in black; why mourn we not in blood? +Henry is dead and never shall revive. +Upon a wooden coffin we attend, +And Death's dishonorable victory +We with our stately presence glorify, +Like captives bound to a triumphant car. +What? Shall we curse the planets of mishap +That plotted thus our glory's overthrow? +Or shall we think the subtle-witted French +Conjurers and sorcerers, that, afraid of him, +By magic verses have contrived his end? + +WINCHESTER +He was a king blest of the King of kings; +Unto the French the dreadful Judgment Day +So dreadful will not be as was his sight. +The battles of the Lord of Hosts he fought; +The Church's prayers made him so prosperous. + +GLOUCESTER +The Church? Where is it? Had not churchmen prayed, +His thread of life had not so soon decayed. +None do you like but an effeminate prince +Whom like a schoolboy you may overawe. + +WINCHESTER +Gloucester, whate'er we like, thou art Protector +And lookest to command the Prince and realm. +Thy wife is proud; she holdeth thee in awe +More than God or religious churchmen may. + +GLOUCESTER +Name not religion, for thou lov'st the flesh, +And ne'er throughout the year to church thou go'st, +Except it be to pray against thy foes. + +BEDFORD +Cease, cease these jars, and rest your minds in peace! +Let's to the altar.--Heralds, wait on us.-- +Instead of gold, we'll offer up our arms, +Since arms avail not, now that Henry's dead. +Posterity, await for wretched years +When at their mothers' moistened eyes babes shall +suck, +Our isle be made a nourish of salt tears, +And none but women left to wail the dead. +Henry the Fifth, thy ghost I invocate: +Prosper this realm, keep it from civil broils, +Combat with adverse planets in the heavens. +A far more glorious star thy soul will make +Than Julius Caesar or bright-- + +[Enter a Messenger.] + + +MESSENGER +My honorable lords, health to you all. +Sad tidings bring I to you out of France, +Of loss, of slaughter, and discomfiture: +Guyen, Champaigne, Rheims, Roan, Orleance, +Paris, Gisors, Poitiers, are all quite lost. + +BEDFORD +What say'st thou, man, before dead Henry's corse? +Speak softly, or the loss of those great towns +Will make him burst his lead and rise from death. + +GLOUCESTER +Is Paris lost? Is Roan yielded up? +If Henry were recalled to life again, +These news would cause him once more yield the +ghost. + +EXETER +How were they lost? What treachery was used? + +MESSENGER +No treachery, but want of men and money. +Amongst the soldiers, this is muttered: +That here you maintain several factions +And, whilst a field should be dispatched and fought, +You are disputing of your generals. +One would have ling'ring wars with little cost; +Another would fly swift, but wanteth wings; +A third thinks, without expense at all, +By guileful fair words peace may be obtained. +Awake, awake, English nobility! +Let not sloth dim your honors new begot. +Cropped are the flower-de-luces in your arms; +Of England's coat, one half is cut away. [He exits.] + +EXETER +Were our tears wanting to this funeral, +These tidings would call forth her flowing tides. + +BEDFORD +Me they concern; regent I am of France. +Give me my steeled coat, I'll fight for France. +Away with these disgraceful wailing robes. +Wounds will I lend the French instead of eyes +To weep their intermissive miseries. + +[Enter to them another Messenger, with papers.] + + +SECOND MESSENGER +Lords, view these letters, full of bad mischance. +France is revolted from the English quite, +Except some petty towns of no import. +The Dauphin Charles is crowned king in Rheims; +The Bastard of Orleance with him is joined; +Reignier, Duke of Anjou, doth take his part; +The Duke of Alanson flieth to his side. [He exits.] + +EXETER +The Dauphin crowned king? All fly to him? +O, whither shall we fly from this reproach? + +GLOUCESTER +We will not fly but to our enemies' throats.-- +Bedford, if thou be slack, I'll fight it out. + +BEDFORD +Gloucester, why doubt'st thou of my forwardness? +An army have I mustered in my thoughts, +Wherewith already France is overrun. + +[Enter another Messenger.] + + +THIRD MESSENGER +My gracious lords, to add to your laments, +Wherewith you now bedew King Henry's hearse, +I must inform you of a dismal fight +Betwixt the stout Lord Talbot and the French. + +WINCHESTER +What? Wherein Talbot overcame, is 't so? + +THIRD MESSENGER +O no, wherein Lord Talbot was o'erthrown. +The circumstance I'll tell you more at large. +The tenth of August last, this dreadful lord, +Retiring from the siege of Orleance, +Having full scarce six thousand in his troop, +By three and twenty thousand of the French +Was round encompassed and set upon. +No leisure had he to enrank his men. +He wanted pikes to set before his archers, +Instead whereof, sharp stakes plucked out of hedges +They pitched in the ground confusedly +To keep the horsemen off from breaking in. +More than three hours the fight continued, +Where valiant Talbot, above human thought, +Enacted wonders with his sword and lance. +Hundreds he sent to hell, and none durst stand him; +Here, there, and everywhere, enraged, he slew. +The French exclaimed the devil was in arms; +All the whole army stood agazed on him. +His soldiers, spying his undaunted spirit, +"A Talbot! A Talbot!" cried out amain +And rushed into the bowels of the battle. +Here had the conquest fully been sealed up +If Sir John Fastolf had not played the coward. +He, being in the vaward, placed behind +With purpose to relieve and follow them, +Cowardly fled, not having struck one stroke. +Hence grew the general wrack and massacre. +Enclosed were they with their enemies. +A base Walloon, to win the Dauphin's grace, +Thrust Talbot with a spear into the back, +Whom all France, with their chief assembled +strength, +Durst not presume to look once in the face. + +BEDFORD +Is Talbot slain then? I will slay myself +For living idly here, in pomp and ease, +Whilst such a worthy leader, wanting aid, +Unto his dastard foemen is betrayed. + +THIRD MESSENGER +O, no, he lives, but is took prisoner, +And Lord Scales with him, and Lord Hungerford; +Most of the rest slaughtered or took likewise. + +BEDFORD +His ransom there is none but I shall pay. +I'll hale the Dauphin headlong from his throne; +His crown shall be the ransom of my friend. +Four of their lords I'll change for one of ours. +Farewell, my masters; to my task will I. +Bonfires in France forthwith I am to make, +To keep our great Saint George's feast withal. +Ten thousand soldiers with me I will take, +Whose bloody deeds shall make all Europe quake. + +THIRD MESSENGER +So you had need; 'fore Orleance besieged, +The English army is grown weak and faint; +The Earl of Salisbury craveth supply +And hardly keeps his men from mutiny, +Since they so few watch such a multitude. +[He exits.] + +EXETER +Remember, lords, your oaths to Henry sworn: +Either to quell the Dauphin utterly +Or bring him in obedience to your yoke. + +BEDFORD +I do remember it, and here take my leave +To go about my preparation. [Bedford exits.] + +GLOUCESTER +I'll to the Tower with all the haste I can +To view th' artillery and munition, +And then I will proclaim young Henry king. +[Gloucester exits.] + +EXETER +To Eltham will I, where the young king is, +Being ordained his special governor; +And for his safety there I'll best devise. [He exits.] + +WINCHESTER, [aside] +Each hath his place and function to attend. +I am left out; for me nothing remains. +But long I will not be Jack-out-of-office. +The King from Eltham I intend to steal, +And sit at chiefest stern of public weal. +[He exits at one door; at another door, +Warwick, Somerset, Attendants and +Heralds exit with the coffin.] + +Scene 2 +======= +[Sound a flourish. Enter Charles the Dauphin, +Alanson, and Reignier, marching with Drum +and Soldiers.] + + +CHARLES +Mars his true moving, even as in the heavens +So in the Earth, to this day is not known. +Late did he shine upon the English side; +Now we are victors; upon us he smiles. +What towns of any moment but we have? +At pleasure here we lie, near Orleance. +Otherwhiles, the famished English, like pale ghosts, +Faintly besiege us one hour in a month. + +ALANSON +They want their porridge and their fat bull beeves. +Either they must be dieted like mules +And have their provender tied to their mouths, +Or piteous they will look, like drowned mice. + +REIGNIER +Let's raise the siege. Why live we idly here? +Talbot is taken, whom we wont to fear. +Remaineth none but mad-brained Salisbury, +And he may well in fretting spend his gall; +Nor men nor money hath he to make war. + +CHARLES +Sound, sound alarum! We will rush on them. +Now for the honor of the forlorn French! +Him I forgive my death that killeth me +When he sees me go back one foot, or fly. +[They exit. Here alarum. They are beaten +back by the English, with great loss.] + +[Enter Charles, Alanson, and Reignier.] + + +CHARLES +Whoever saw the like? What men have I! +Dogs, cowards, dastards! I would ne'er have fled +But that they left me 'midst my enemies. + +REIGNIER +Salisbury is a desperate homicide. +He fighteth as one weary of his life. +The other lords, like lions wanting food, +Do rush upon us as their hungry prey. + +ALANSON +Froissart, a countryman of ours, records +England all Olivers and Rolands bred +During the time Edward the Third did reign. +More truly now may this be verified, +For none but Samsons and Goliases +It sendeth forth to skirmish. One to ten! +Lean rawboned rascals! Who would e'er suppose +They had such courage and audacity? + +CHARLES +Let's leave this town, for they are hare-brained slaves, +And hunger will enforce them to be more eager. +Of old I know them; rather with their teeth +The walls they'll tear down than forsake the siege. + +REIGNIER +I think by some odd gimmers or device +Their arms are set, like clocks, still to strike on; +Else ne'er could they hold out so as they do. +By my consent, we'll even let them alone. + +ALANSON Be it so. + +[Enter the Bastard of Orleance.] + + +BASTARD +Where's the Prince Dauphin? I have news for him. + +CHARLES +Bastard of Orleance, thrice welcome to us. + +BASTARD +Methinks your looks are sad, your cheer appalled. +Hath the late overthrow wrought this offence? +Be not dismayed, for succor is at hand. +A holy maid hither with me I bring, +Which, by a vision sent to her from heaven, +Ordained is to raise this tedious siege +And drive the English forth the bounds of France. +The spirit of deep prophecy she hath, +Exceeding the nine Sibyls of old Rome. +What's past and what's to come she can descry. +Speak, shall I call her in? Believe my words, +For they are certain and unfallible. + +CHARLES +Go call her in. [Bastard exits.] +But first, to try her skill, +Reignier, stand thou as Dauphin in my place; +Question her proudly; let thy looks be stern. +By this means shall we sound what skill she hath. + +[Enter Bastard, with Joan la Pucelle.] + + +REIGNIER, [as Charles] +Fair maid, is 't thou wilt do these wondrous feats? + +PUCELLE +Reignier, is 't thou that thinkest to beguile me? +Where is the Dauphin?--Come, come from behind. +I know thee well, though never seen before. +Be not amazed; there's nothing hid from me. +In private will I talk with thee apart.-- +Stand back, you lords, and give us leave a while. + +REIGNIER +She takes upon her bravely at first dash. +[Alanson, Reignier, and Bastard exit.] + +PUCELLE +Dauphin, I am by birth a shepherd's daughter, +My wit untrained in any kind of art. +Heaven and Our Lady gracious hath it pleased +To shine on my contemptible estate. +Lo, whilst I waited on my tender lambs, +And to sun's parching heat displayed my cheeks, +God's Mother deigned to appear to me, +And in a vision full of majesty +Willed me to leave my base vocation +And free my country from calamity. +Her aid she promised and assured success. +In complete glory she revealed herself; +And whereas I was black and swart before, +With those clear rays which she infused on me +That beauty am I blest with, which you may see. +Ask me what question thou canst possible, +And I will answer unpremeditated. +My courage try by combat, if thou dar'st, +And thou shalt find that I exceed my sex. +Resolve on this: thou shalt be fortunate +If thou receive me for thy warlike mate. + +CHARLES +Thou hast astonished me with thy high terms. +Only this proof I'll of thy valor make: +In single combat thou shalt buckle with me, +And if thou vanquishest, thy words are true; +Otherwise I renounce all confidence. + +PUCELLE +I am prepared. Here is my keen-edged sword, +Decked with fine flower-de-luces on each side-- +[Aside.] The which at Touraine, in Saint Katherine's +churchyard, +Out of a great deal of old iron I chose forth. + +CHARLES +Then come, a' God's name! I fear no woman. + +PUCELLE +And while I live, I'll ne'er fly from a man. +[Here they fight, and +Joan la Pucelle overcomes.] + +CHARLES +Stay, stay thy hands! Thou art an Amazon, +And fightest with the sword of Deborah. + +PUCELLE +Christ's mother helps me; else I were too weak. + +CHARLES +Whoe'er helps thee, 'tis thou that must help me. +Impatiently I burn with thy desire. +My heart and hands thou hast at once subdued. +Excellent Pucelle, if thy name be so, +Let me thy servant and not sovereign be. +'Tis the French Dauphin sueth to thee thus. + +PUCELLE +I must not yield to any rights of love, +For my profession's sacred from above. +When I have chased all thy foes from hence, +Then will I think upon a recompense. + +CHARLES +Meantime look gracious on thy prostrate thrall. + +[Enter Reignier and Alanson.] + + +REIGNIER, [aside to Alanson] +My lord, methinks, is very long in talk. + +ALANSON, [aside to Reignier] +Doubtless he shrives this woman to her smock, +Else ne'er could he so long protract his speech. + +REIGNIER, [aside to Alanson] +Shall we disturb him, since he keeps no mean? + +ALANSON, [aside to Reignier] +He may mean more than we poor men do know. +These women are shrewd tempters with their +tongues. + +REIGNIER, [to Charles] +My lord, where are you? What devise you on? +Shall we give o'er Orleance, or no? + +PUCELLE +Why, no, I say. Distrustful recreants, +Fight till the last gasp. I'll be your guard. + +CHARLES +What she says I'll confirm: we'll fight it out. + +PUCELLE +Assigned am I to be the English scourge. +This night the siege assuredly I'll raise. +Expect Saint Martin's summer, halcyons' days, +Since I have entered into these wars. +Glory is like a circle in the water, +Which never ceaseth to enlarge itself +Till by broad spreading it disperse to naught. +With Henry's death, the English circle ends; +Dispersed are the glories it included. +Now am I like that proud insulting ship +Which Caesar and his fortune bare at once. + +CHARLES +Was Mahomet inspired with a dove? +Thou with an eagle art inspired then. +Helen, the mother of great Constantine, +Nor yet Saint Philip's daughters were like thee. +Bright star of Venus, fall'n down on the Earth, +How may I reverently worship thee enough? + +ALANSON +Leave off delays, and let us raise the siege. + +REIGNIER +Woman, do what thou canst to save our honors. +Drive them from Orleance and be immortalized. + +CHARLES +Presently we'll try. Come, let's away about it. +No prophet will I trust if she prove false. +[They exit.] + +Scene 3 +======= +[Enter Gloucester with his Servingmen in blue coats.] + + +GLOUCESTER +I am come to survey the Tower this day. +Since Henry's death I fear there is conveyance. +Where be these warders that they wait not here?-- +Open the gates! 'Tis Gloucester that calls. +[Servingmen knock at the gate.] + +FIRST WARDER, [within] +Who's there that knocks so imperiously? + +FIRST SERVINGMAN +It is the noble Duke of Gloucester. + +SECOND WARDER, [within] +Whoe'er he be, you may not be let in. + +FIRST SERVINGMAN +Villains, answer you so the Lord Protector? + +FIRST WARDER, [within] +The Lord protect him, so we answer him. +We do no otherwise than we are willed. + +GLOUCESTER +Who willed you? Or whose will stands but mine? +There's none Protector of the realm but I.-- +Break up the gates! I'll be your warrantize. +Shall I be flouted thus by dunghill grooms? +[Gloucester's men rush at the Tower gates, and +Woodville, the lieutenant, speaks within.] + +WOODVILLE +What noise is this? What traitors have we here? + +GLOUCESTER +Lieutenant, is it you whose voice I hear? +Open the gates. Here's Gloucester that would enter. + +WOODVILLE +Have patience, noble duke, I may not open. +The Cardinal of Winchester forbids. +From him I have express commandment +That thou nor none of thine shall be let in. + +GLOUCESTER +Fainthearted Woodville, prizest him 'fore me? +Arrogant Winchester, that haughty prelate +Whom Henry, our late sovereign, ne'er could brook? +Thou art no friend to God or to the King. +Open the gates, or I'll shut thee out shortly. + +SERVINGMEN +Open the gates unto the Lord Protector, +Or we'll burst them open if that you come not quickly. + +[Enter, to the Protector at the Tower gates, Winchester +in cardinal's robes and his men in tawny coats.] + + +WINCHESTER +How now, ambitious Humphrey, what means this? + +GLOUCESTER +Peeled priest, dost thou command me to be shut out? + +WINCHESTER +I do, thou most usurping proditor-- +And not Protector--of the King or realm. + +GLOUCESTER +Stand back, thou manifest conspirator, +Thou that contrived'st to murder our dead lord, +Thou that giv'st whores indulgences to sin! +I'll canvass thee in thy broad cardinal's hat +If thou proceed in this thy insolence. + +WINCHESTER +Nay, stand thou back. I will not budge a foot. +This be Damascus; be thou cursed Cain +To slay thy brother Abel, if thou wilt. + +GLOUCESTER +I will not slay thee, but I'll drive thee back. +Thy scarlet robes, as a child's bearing-cloth, +I'll use to carry thee out of this place. + +WINCHESTER +Do what thou dar'st, I beard thee to thy face. + +GLOUCESTER +What, am I dared and bearded to my face?-- +Draw, men, for all this privileged place. +Blue coats to tawny coats! [All draw their swords.] +Priest, beware your beard. +I mean to tug it and to cuff you soundly. +Under my feet I'll stamp thy cardinal's hat; +In spite of pope or dignities of Church, +Here by the cheeks I'll drag thee up and down. + +WINCHESTER +Gloucester, thou wilt answer this before the Pope. + +GLOUCESTER +Winchester goose, I cry "a rope, a rope!"-- +Now beat them hence; why do you let them stay?-- +Thee I'll chase hence, thou wolf in sheep's array.-- +Out, tawny coats, out, scarlet hypocrite! + +[Here Gloucester's men beat out the Cardinal's men, +and enter in the hurly-burly the Mayor of London +and his Officers.] + + +MAYOR +Fie, lords, that you, being supreme magistrates, +Thus contumeliously should break the peace! + +GLOUCESTER +Peace, Mayor? Thou know'st little of my wrongs. +Here's Beaufort, that regards nor God nor king, +Hath here distrained the Tower to his use. + +WINCHESTER +Here's Gloucester, a foe to citizens, +One that still motions war and never peace, +O'ercharging your free purses with large fines; +That seeks to overthrow religion +Because he is Protector of the realm, +And would have armor here out of the Tower +To crown himself king and suppress the Prince. + +GLOUCESTER +I will not answer thee with words, but blows. +[Here they skirmish again.] + +MAYOR +Naught rests for me in this tumultuous strife +But to make open proclamation. +Come, officer, as loud as e'er thou canst, cry. +[He hands an Officer a paper.] + +OFFICER [reads] All manner of men, assembled here in +arms this day against God's peace and the King's, we +charge and command you, in his Highness' name, to +repair to your several dwelling places, and not to +wear, handle, or use any sword, weapon, or dagger +henceforward, upon pain of death. + +GLOUCESTER +Cardinal, I'll be no breaker of the law, +But we shall meet and break our minds at large. + +WINCHESTER +Gloucester, we'll meet to thy cost, be sure. +Thy heartblood I will have for this day's work. + +MAYOR +I'll call for clubs if you will not away. +[(Aside.)] This cardinal's more haughty than the devil! + +GLOUCESTER +Mayor, farewell. Thou dost but what thou mayst. + +WINCHESTER +Abominable Gloucester, guard thy head, +For I intend to have it ere long. +[Gloucester and Winchester exit +at separate doors, with their Servingmen.] + +MAYOR, [to Officers] +See the coast cleared, and then we will depart. +[(Aside.)] Good God, these nobles should such +stomachs bear! +I myself fight not once in forty year. +[They exit.] + +Scene 4 +======= +[Enter the Master Gunner of Orleance and his Boy.] + + +MASTER GUNNER +Sirrah, thou know'st how Orleance is besieged +And how the English have the suburbs won. + +BOY +Father, I know, and oft have shot at them; +Howe'er, unfortunate, I missed my aim. + +MASTER GUNNER +But now thou shalt not. Be thou ruled by me. +Chief master-gunner am I of this town; +Something I must do to procure me grace. +The Prince's espials have informed me +How the English, in the suburbs close entrenched, +Went through a secret grate of iron bars +In yonder tower, to overpeer the city, +And thence discover how with most advantage +They may vex us with shot or with assault. +To intercept this inconvenience, +A piece of ordnance 'gainst it I have placed, +And even these three days have I watched +If I could see them. Now do thou watch, +For I can stay no longer. +If thou spy'st any, run and bring me word; +And thou shalt find me at the Governor's. [He exits.] + +BOY +Father, I warrant you, take you no care; +I'll never trouble you if I may spy them. [He exits.] + +[Enter Salisbury and Talbot on the turrets, +with Sir William Glansdale, Sir Thomas Gargrave, +Attendants and Others.] + + +SALISBURY +Talbot, my life, my joy, again returned! +How wert thou handled, being prisoner? +Or by what means gott'st thou to be released? +Discourse, I prithee, on this turret's top. + +TALBOT +The Duke of Bedford had a prisoner +Called the brave Lord Ponton de Santrailles; +For him was I exchanged and ransomed. +But with a baser man-of-arms by far +Once in contempt they would have bartered me, +Which I disdaining, scorned, and craved death +Rather than I would be so vile-esteemed. +In fine, redeemed I was as I desired. +But O, the treacherous Fastolf wounds my heart, +Whom with my bare fists I would execute +If I now had him brought into my power. + +SALISBURY +Yet tell'st thou not how thou wert entertained. + +TALBOT +With scoffs and scorns and contumelious taunts. +In open marketplace produced they me +To be a public spectacle to all. +"Here," said they, "is the terror of the French, +The scarecrow that affrights our children so." +Then broke I from the officers that led me, +And with my nails digged stones out of the ground +To hurl at the beholders of my shame. +My grisly countenance made others fly; +None durst come near for fear of sudden death. +In iron walls they deemed me not secure: +So great fear of my name 'mongst them were spread +That they supposed I could rend bars of steel +And spurn in pieces posts of adamant. +Wherefore a guard of chosen shot I had +That walked about me every minute-while; +And if I did but stir out of my bed, +Ready they were to shoot me to the heart. + +[Enter the Boy with a linstock. +He crosses the main stage and exits.] + + + +SALISBURY +I grieve to hear what torments you endured, +But we will be revenged sufficiently. +Now it is supper time in Orleance. +Here, through this grate, I count each one +And view the Frenchmen how they fortify. +Let us look in; the sight will much delight thee. +Sir Thomas Gargrave and Sir William Glansdale, +Let me have your express opinions +Where is best place to make our batt'ry next? + +GARGRAVE +I think at the north gate, for there stands lords. + +GLANSDALE +And I, here, at the bulwark of the bridge. + +TALBOT +For aught I see, this city must be famished +Or with light skirmishes enfeebled. +[Here they shoot, and Salisbury +and Gargrave fall down.] + +SALISBURY +O Lord, have mercy on us, wretched sinners! + +GARGRAVE +O Lord, have mercy on me, woeful man! + +TALBOT +What chance is this that suddenly hath crossed us?-- +Speak, Salisbury--at least if thou canst, speak! +How far'st thou, mirror of all martial men? +One of thy eyes and thy cheek's side struck off!-- +Accursed tower, accursed fatal hand +That hath contrived this woeful tragedy! +In thirteen battles Salisbury o'ercame; +Henry the Fifth he first trained to the wars. +Whilst any trump did sound or drum struck up, +His sword did ne'er leave striking in the field.-- +Yet liv'st thou, Salisbury? Though thy speech doth fail, +One eye thou hast to look to heaven for grace. +The sun with one eye vieweth all the world. +Heaven, be thou gracious to none alive +If Salisbury wants mercy at thy hands!-- +Sir Thomas Gargrave, hast thou any life? +Speak unto Talbot. Nay, look up to him.-- +Bear hence his body; I will help to bury it. +[Attendants exit with body of Gargrave.] +Salisbury, cheer thy spirit with this comfort, +Thou shalt not die whiles-- +He beckons with his hand and smiles on me +As who should say "When I am dead and gone, +Remember to avenge me on the French." +Plantagenet, I will; and, like thee, Nero, +Play on the lute, beholding the towns burn. +Wretched shall France be only in my name. +[Here an alarum, and it thunders and lightens.] +What stir is this? What tumult's in the heavens? +Whence cometh this alarum and the noise? + +[Enter a Messenger.] + + +MESSENGER +My lord, my lord, the French have gathered head. +The Dauphin, with one Joan la Pucelle joined, +A holy prophetess new risen up, +Is come with a great power to raise the siege. +[Here Salisbury lifteth himself up and groans.] + +TALBOT +Hear, hear, how dying Salisbury doth groan; +It irks his heart he cannot be revenged. +Frenchmen, I'll be a Salisbury to you. +Pucelle or puzel, dauphin or dogfish, +Your hearts I'll stamp out with my horse's heels +And make a quagmire of your mingled brains. +Convey we Salisbury into his tent, +And then try what these dastard Frenchmen dare. +[Alarum. They exit.] + +Scene 5 +======= +[Here an alarum again, and Talbot pursueth the +Dauphin and driveth him; then enter Joan la Pucelle, +driving Englishmen before her. They cross the stage +and exit. Then enter Talbot.] + + +TALBOT +Where is my strength, my valor, and my force? +Our English troops retire; I cannot stay them. +A woman clad in armor chaseth them. + +[Enter Pucelle, with Soldiers.] + +Here, here she comes!--I'll have a bout with thee. +Devil or devil's dam, I'll conjure thee. +Blood will I draw on thee--thou art a witch-- +And straightway give thy soul to him thou serv'st. + +PUCELLE +Come, come; 'tis only I that must disgrace thee. +[Here they fight.] + +TALBOT +Heavens, can you suffer hell so to prevail? +My breast I'll burst with straining of my courage, +And from my shoulders crack my arms asunder, +But I will chastise this high-minded strumpet. +[They fight again.] + +PUCELLE +Talbot, farewell. Thy hour is not yet come. +I must go victual Orleance forthwith. +[A short alarum. Then she prepares to +enter the town with Soldiers.] +O'ertake me if thou canst. I scorn thy strength. +Go, go, cheer up thy hunger-starved men. +Help Salisbury to make his testament. +This day is ours, as many more shall be. +[She exits with Soldiers.] + +TALBOT +My thoughts are whirled like a potter's wheel. +I know not where I am nor what I do. +A witch by fear--not force, like Hannibal-- +Drives back our troops, and conquers as she lists. +So bees with smoke and doves with noisome stench +Are from their hives and houses driven away. +They called us, for our fierceness, English dogs; +Now like to whelps we crying run away. + +[A short alarum. Enter English soldiers, +chased by French soldiers.] + +Hark, countrymen, either renew the fight, +Or tear the lions out of England's coat. +Renounce your soil; give sheep in lions' stead. +Sheep run not half so treacherous from the wolf, +Or horse or oxen from the leopard, +As you fly from your oft-subdued slaves. +[Alarum. Here another skirmish.] +It will not be! Retire into your trenches. +You all consented unto Salisbury's death, +For none would strike a stroke in his revenge. +Pucelle is entered into Orleance +In spite of us or aught that we could do. +[Soldiers exit.] +O, would I were to die with Salisbury! +The shame hereof will make me hide my head. +[Talbot exits. Alarum. Retreat.] + +Scene 6 +======= +[Flourish. Enter on the walls Pucelle, Charles the +Dauphin, Reignier, Alanson, and Soldiers.] + + +PUCELLE +Advance our waving colors on the walls. +Rescued is Orleance from the English. +Thus Joan la Pucelle hath performed her word. +[She exits.] + +CHARLES +Divinest creature, Astraea's daughter, +How shall I honor thee for this success? +Thy promises are like Adonis' garden +That one day bloomed and fruitful were the next. +France, triumph in thy glorious prophetess. +Recovered is the town of Orleance. +More blessed hap did ne'er befall our state. + +REIGNIER +Why ring not bells aloud throughout the town? +Dauphin, command the citizens make bonfires +And feast and banquet in the open streets +To celebrate the joy that God hath given us. + +ALANSON +All France will be replete with mirth and joy +When they shall hear how we have played the men. + +CHARLES +'Tis Joan, not we, by whom the day is won; +For which I will divide my crown with her, +And all the priests and friars in my realm +Shall in procession sing her endless praise. +A statelier pyramis to her I'll rear +Than Rhodophe's of Memphis ever was. +In memory of her, when she is dead, +Her ashes, in an urn more precious +Than the rich-jeweled coffer of Darius, +Transported shall be at high festivals +Before the kings and queens of France. +No longer on Saint Dennis will we cry, +But Joan la Pucelle shall be France's saint. +Come in, and let us banquet royally +After this golden day of victory. +[Flourish. They exit.] + + +ACT 2 +===== + +Scene 1 +======= +[Enter on the walls a French Sergeant of a Band, +with two Sentinels.] + + +SERGEANT +Sirs, take your places and be vigilant. +If any noise or soldier you perceive +Near to the walls, by some apparent sign +Let us have knowledge at the court of guard. + +SENTINEL +Sergeant, you shall. [Sergeant exits.] +Thus are poor servitors, +When others sleep upon their quiet beds, +Constrained to watch in darkness, rain, and cold. + +[Enter Talbot, Bedford, and Burgundy, below, +with scaling ladders.] + + +TALBOT +Lord Regent, and redoubted Burgundy, +By whose approach the regions of Artois, +Walloon, and Picardy are friends to us, +This happy night the Frenchmen are secure, +Having all day caroused and banqueted. +Embrace we then this opportunity, +As fitting best to quittance their deceit +Contrived by art and baleful sorcery. + +BEDFORD +Coward of France, how much he wrongs his fame, +Despairing of his own arm's fortitude, +To join with witches and the help of hell! + +BURGUNDY +Traitors have never other company. +But what's that Pucelle whom they term so pure? + +TALBOT +A maid, they say. + +BEDFORD A maid? And be so martial? + +BURGUNDY +Pray God she prove not masculine ere long, +If underneath the standard of the French +She carry armor as she hath begun. + +TALBOT +Well, let them practice and converse with spirits. +God is our fortress, in whose conquering name +Let us resolve to scale their flinty bulwarks. + +BEDFORD +Ascend, brave Talbot. We will follow thee. + +TALBOT +Not all together. Better far, I guess, +That we do make our entrance several ways, +That if it chance the one of us do fail, +The other yet may rise against their force. + +BEDFORD +Agreed. I'll to yond corner. + +BURGUNDY And I to this. + +TALBOT +And here will Talbot mount, or make his grave. +Now, Salisbury, for thee and for the right +Of English Henry, shall this night appear +How much in duty I am bound to both. +[Scaling the walls, they cry +"Saint George! A Talbot!"] + +SENTINEL +Arm, arm! The enemy doth make assault. +[The English, pursuing the Sentinels, exit aloft.] +[The French leap o'er the walls in their shirts.] + +[Enter several ways, Bastard, Alanson, Reignier, +half ready, and half unready.] + + +ALANSON +How now, my lords? What, all unready so? + +BASTARD +Unready? Ay, and glad we scaped so well. + +REIGNIER +'Twas time, I trow, to wake and leave our beds, +Hearing alarums at our chamber doors. + +ALANSON +Of all exploits since first I followed arms +Ne'er heard I of a warlike enterprise +More venturous or desperate than this. + +BASTARD +I think this Talbot be a fiend of hell. + +REIGNIER +If not of hell, the heavens sure favor him. + +ALANSON +Here cometh Charles. I marvel how he sped. + +[Enter Charles and Joan la Pucelle.] + + +BASTARD +Tut, holy Joan was his defensive guard. + +CHARLES +Is this thy cunning, thou deceitful dame? +Didst thou at first, to flatter us withal, +Make us partakers of a little gain +That now our loss might be ten times so much? + +PUCELLE +Wherefore is Charles impatient with his friend? +At all times will you have my power alike? +Sleeping or waking, must I still prevail, +Or will you blame and lay the fault on me?-- +Improvident soldiers, had your watch been good, +This sudden mischief never could have fall'n. + +CHARLES +Duke of Alanson, this was your default, +That, being captain of the watch tonight, +Did look no better to that weighty charge. + +ALANSON +Had all your quarters been as safely kept +As that whereof I had the government, +We had not been thus shamefully surprised. + +BASTARD +Mine was secure. + +REIGNIER And so was mine, my lord. + +CHARLES +And for myself, most part of all this night +Within her quarter and mine own precinct +I was employed in passing to and fro +About relieving of the sentinels. +Then how or which way should they first break in? + +PUCELLE +Question, my lords, no further of the case, +How or which way; 'tis sure they found some place +But weakly guarded, where the breach was made. +And now there rests no other shift but this: +To gather our soldiers, scattered and dispersed, +And lay new platforms to endamage them. + +[Alarum. Enter an English Soldier, crying, +"A Talbot, A Talbot!" The French fly, +leaving their clothes behind.] + + +SOLDIER +I'll be so bold to take what they have left. +The cry of "Talbot" serves me for a sword, +For I have loaden me with many spoils, +Using no other weapon but his name. +[He exits.] + +Scene 2 +======= +[Enter Talbot, Bedford, Burgundy, a Captain and Others.] + + +BEDFORD +The day begins to break and night is fled, +Whose pitchy mantle over-veiled the Earth. +Here sound retreat and cease our hot pursuit. +[Retreat sounded.] + +TALBOT +Bring forth the body of old Salisbury, +And here advance it in the marketplace, +The middle center of this cursed town. + +[Soldiers enter bearing the body of Salisbury, +Drums beating a dead march.] + +Now have I paid my vow unto his soul: +For every drop of blood was drawn from him +There hath at least five Frenchmen died tonight. +And, that hereafter ages may behold +What ruin happened in revenge of him, +Within their chiefest temple I'll erect +A tomb wherein his corpse shall be interred, +Upon the which, that everyone may read, +Shall be engraved the sack of Orleance, +The treacherous manner of his mournful death, +And what a terror he had been to France. +[Funeral exits.] +But, lords, in all our bloody massacre, +I muse we met not with the Dauphin's grace, +His new-come champion, virtuous Joan of Arc, +Nor any of his false confederates. + +BEDFORD +'Tis thought, Lord Talbot, when the fight began, +Roused on the sudden from their drowsy beds, +They did amongst the troops of armed men +Leap o'er the walls for refuge in the field. + +BURGUNDY +Myself, as far as I could well discern +For smoke and dusky vapors of the night, +Am sure I scared the Dauphin and his trull, +When arm-in-arm they both came swiftly running, +Like to a pair of loving turtledoves +That could not live asunder day or night. +After that things are set in order here, +We'll follow them with all the power we have. + +[Enter a Messenger.] + + +MESSENGER +All hail, my lords. Which of this princely train +Call you the warlike Talbot, for his acts +So much applauded through the realm of France? + +TALBOT +Here is the Talbot. Who would speak with him? + +MESSENGER +The virtuous lady, Countess of Auvergne, +With modesty admiring thy renown, +By me entreats, great lord, thou wouldst vouchsafe +To visit her poor castle where she lies, +That she may boast she hath beheld the man +Whose glory fills the world with loud report. + +BURGUNDY +Is it even so? Nay, then, I see our wars +Will turn unto a peaceful comic sport, +When ladies crave to be encountered with. +You may not, my lord, despise her gentle suit. + +TALBOT +Ne'er trust me, then; for when a world of men +Could not prevail with all their oratory, +Yet hath a woman's kindness overruled.-- +And therefore tell her I return great thanks, +And in submission will attend on her.-- +Will not your Honors bear me company? + +BEDFORD +No, truly, 'tis more than manners will; +And I have heard it said unbidden guests +Are often welcomest when they are gone. + +TALBOT +Well then, alone, since there's no remedy, +I mean to prove this lady's courtesy.-- +Come hither, captain. [Whispers.] +You perceive my mind? + +CAPTAIN +I do, my lord, and mean accordingly. +[They exit.] + +Scene 3 +======= +[Enter Countess of Auvergne, with Porter.] + + +COUNTESS +Porter, remember what I gave in charge, +And when you have done so, bring the keys to me. + +PORTER Madam, I will. [He exits.] + +COUNTESS +The plot is laid. If all things fall out right, +I shall as famous be by this exploit +As Scythian Tamyris by Cyrus' death. +Great is the rumor of this dreadful knight, +And his achievements of no less account. +Fain would mine eyes be witness with mine ears +To give their censure of these rare reports. + +[Enter Messenger and Talbot.] + + +MESSENGER +Madam, according as your Ladyship desired, +By message craved, so is Lord Talbot come. + +COUNTESS +And he is welcome. What, is this the man? + +MESSENGER +Madam, it is. + +COUNTESS Is this the scourge of France? +Is this the Talbot, so much feared abroad +That with his name the mothers still their babes? +I see report is fabulous and false. +I thought I should have seen some Hercules, +A second Hector, for his grim aspect +And large proportion of his strong-knit limbs. +Alas, this is a child, a silly dwarf! +It cannot be this weak and writhled shrimp +Should strike such terror to his enemies. + +TALBOT +Madam, I have been bold to trouble you. +But since your Ladyship is not at leisure, +I'll sort some other time to visit you. +[He begins to exit.] + +COUNTESS, [to Messenger] +What means he now? Go ask him whither he goes. + +MESSENGER +Stay, my Lord Talbot, for my lady craves +To know the cause of your abrupt departure. + +TALBOT +Marry, for that she's in a wrong belief, +I go to certify her Talbot's here. + +[Enter Porter with keys.] + + +COUNTESS, [to Talbot] +If thou be he, then art thou prisoner. + +TALBOT +Prisoner? To whom? + +COUNTESS To me, bloodthirsty lord. +And for that cause I trained thee to my house. +Long time thy shadow hath been thrall to me, +For in my gallery thy picture hangs. +But now the substance shall endure the like, +And I will chain these legs and arms of thine, +That hast by tyranny these many years +Wasted our country, slain our citizens, +And sent our sons and husbands captivate. + +TALBOT Ha, ha, ha! + +COUNTESS +Laughest thou, wretch? Thy mirth shall turn to moan. + +TALBOT +I laugh to see your Ladyship so fond +To think that you have aught but Talbot's shadow +Whereon to practice your severity. + +COUNTESS Why, art not thou the man? + +TALBOT I am, indeed. + +COUNTESS Then have I substance too. + +TALBOT +No, no, I am but shadow of myself. +You are deceived; my substance is not here, +For what you see is but the smallest part +And least proportion of humanity. +I tell you, madam, were the whole frame here, +It is of such a spacious lofty pitch +Your roof were not sufficient to contain 't. + +COUNTESS +This is a riddling merchant for the nonce: +He will be here and yet he is not here. +How can these contrarieties agree? + +TALBOT +That will I show you presently. +[Winds his horn. Drums strike up; +a peal of ordnance.] + +[Enter Soldiers.] + +How say you, madam? Are you now persuaded +That Talbot is but shadow of himself? +These are his substance, sinews, arms, and strength, +With which he yoketh your rebellious necks, +Razeth your cities, and subverts your towns, +And in a moment makes them desolate. + +COUNTESS +Victorious Talbot, pardon my abuse. +I find thou art no less than fame hath bruited, +And more than may be gathered by thy shape. +Let my presumption not provoke thy wrath, +For I am sorry that with reverence +I did not entertain thee as thou art. + +TALBOT +Be not dismayed, fair lady, nor misconster +The mind of Talbot as you did mistake +The outward composition of his body. +What you have done hath not offended me, +Nor other satisfaction do I crave +But only, with your patience, that we may +Taste of your wine and see what cates you have, +For soldiers' stomachs always serve them well. + +COUNTESS +With all my heart, and think me honored +To feast so great a warrior in my house. +[They exit.] + +Scene 4 +======= +[Enter Richard Plantagenet, Warwick, Somerset, +William de la Pole the Earl of Suffolk, +Vernon, a Lawyer, and Others.] + + +PLANTAGENET +Great lords and gentlemen, what means this silence? +Dare no man answer in a case of truth? + +SUFFOLK +Within the Temple Hall we were too loud; +The garden here is more convenient. + +PLANTAGENET +Then say at once if I maintained the truth, +Or else was wrangling Somerset in th' error? + +SUFFOLK +Faith, I have been a truant in the law +And never yet could frame my will to it, +And therefore frame the law unto my will. + +SOMERSET +Judge you, my Lord of Warwick, then, between us. + +WARWICK +Between two hawks, which flies the higher pitch, +Between two dogs, which hath the deeper mouth, +Between two blades, which bears the better temper, +Between two horses, which doth bear him best, +Between two girls, which hath the merriest eye, +I have perhaps some shallow spirit of judgment; +But in these nice sharp quillets of the law, +Good faith, I am no wiser than a daw. + +PLANTAGENET +Tut, tut, here is a mannerly forbearance! +The truth appears so naked on my side +That any purblind eye may find it out. + +SOMERSET +And on my side it is so well appareled, +So clear, so shining, and so evident, +That it will glimmer through a blind man's eye. + +PLANTAGENET +Since you are tongue-tied and so loath to speak, +In dumb significants proclaim your thoughts: +Let him that is a trueborn gentleman +And stands upon the honor of his birth, +If he suppose that I have pleaded truth, +From off this brier pluck a white rose with me. + +SOMERSET +Let him that is no coward nor no flatterer, +But dare maintain the party of the truth, +Pluck a red rose from off this thorn with me. + +WARWICK +I love no colors; and, without all color +Of base insinuating flattery, +I pluck this white rose with Plantagenet. + +SUFFOLK +I pluck this red rose with young Somerset, +And say withal I think he held the right. + +VERNON +Stay, lords and gentlemen, and pluck no more +Till you conclude that he upon whose side +The fewest roses are cropped from the tree +Shall yield the other in the right opinion. + +SOMERSET +Good Master Vernon, it is well objected: +If I have fewest, I subscribe in silence. + +PLANTAGENET And I. + +VERNON +Then for the truth and plainness of the case, +I pluck this pale and maiden blossom here, +Giving my verdict on the white rose side. + +SOMERSET +Prick not your finger as you pluck it off, +Lest, bleeding, you do paint the white rose red, +And fall on my side so against your will. + +VERNON +If I, my lord, for my opinion bleed, +Opinion shall be surgeon to my hurt +And keep me on the side where still I am. + +SOMERSET Well, well, come on, who else? + +LAWYER +Unless my study and my books be false, +The argument you held was wrong in law, +In sign whereof I pluck a white rose too. + +PLANTAGENET +Now, Somerset, where is your argument? + +SOMERSET +Here in my scabbard, meditating that +Shall dye your white rose in a bloody red. + +PLANTAGENET +Meantime your cheeks do counterfeit our roses, +For pale they look with fear, as witnessing +The truth on our side. + +SOMERSET No, Plantagenet. +'Tis not for fear, but anger that thy cheeks +Blush for pure shame to counterfeit our roses, +And yet thy tongue will not confess thy error. + +PLANTAGENET +Hath not thy rose a canker, Somerset? + +SOMERSET +Hath not thy rose a thorn, Plantagenet? + +PLANTAGENET +Ay, sharp and piercing, to maintain his truth, +Whiles thy consuming canker eats his falsehood. + +SOMERSET +Well, I'll find friends to wear my bleeding roses +That shall maintain what I have said is true, +Where false Plantagenet dare not be seen. + +PLANTAGENET +Now, by this maiden blossom in my hand, +I scorn thee and thy fashion, peevish boy. + +SUFFOLK +Turn not thy scorns this way, Plantagenet. + +PLANTAGENET +Proud Pole, I will, and scorn both him and thee. + +SUFFOLK +I'll turn my part thereof into thy throat. + +SOMERSET +Away, away, good William de la Pole! +We grace the yeoman by conversing with him. + +WARWICK +Now, by God's will, thou wrong'st him, Somerset. +His grandfather was Lionel, Duke of Clarence, +Third son to the third Edward, King of England. +Spring crestless yeomen from so deep a root? + +PLANTAGENET +He bears him on the place's privilege, +Or durst not for his craven heart say thus. + +SOMERSET +By Him that made me, I'll maintain my words +On any plot of ground in Christendom. +Was not thy father Richard, Earl of Cambridge, +For treason executed in our late king's days? +And, by his treason, stand'st not thou attainted, +Corrupted, and exempt from ancient gentry? +His trespass yet lives guilty in thy blood, +And, till thou be restored, thou art a yeoman. + +PLANTAGENET +My father was attached, not attainted, +Condemned to die for treason, but no traitor; +And that I'll prove on better men than Somerset, +Were growing time once ripened to my will. +For your partaker Pole and you yourself, +I'll note you in my book of memory +To scourge you for this apprehension. +Look to it well, and say you are well warned. + +SOMERSET +Ah, thou shalt find us ready for thee still, +And know us by these colors for thy foes, +For these my friends in spite of thee shall wear. + +PLANTAGENET +And, by my soul, this pale and angry rose, +As cognizance of my blood-drinking hate, +Will I forever, and my faction, wear +Until it wither with me to my grave +Or flourish to the height of my degree. + +SUFFOLK +Go forward, and be choked with thy ambition! +And so farewell, until I meet thee next. [He exits.] + +SOMERSET +Have with thee, Pole.--Farewell, ambitious Richard. +[He exits.] + +PLANTAGENET +How I am braved, and must perforce endure it! + +WARWICK +This blot that they object against your house +Shall be whipped out in the next parliament, +Called for the truce of Winchester and Gloucester; +And if thou be not then created York, +I will not live to be accounted Warwick. +Meantime, in signal of my love to thee, +Against proud Somerset and William Pole +Will I upon thy party wear this rose. +And here I prophesy: this brawl today, +Grown to this faction in the Temple garden, +Shall send, between the red rose and the white, +A thousand souls to death and deadly night. + +PLANTAGENET +Good Master Vernon, I am bound to you, +That you on my behalf would pluck a flower. + +VERNON +In your behalf still will I wear the same. + +LAWYER +And so will I. + +PLANTAGENET Thanks, gentle sir. +Come, let us four to dinner. I dare say +This quarrel will drink blood another day. +[They exit.] + +Scene 5 +======= +[Enter Edmund Mortimer, brought in a chair, +and Jailers.] + + +MORTIMER +Kind keepers of my weak decaying age, +Let dying Mortimer here rest himself. +Even like a man new-haled from the rack, +So fare my limbs with long imprisonment; +And these gray locks, the pursuivants of death, +Nestor-like aged in an age of care, +Argue the end of Edmund Mortimer; +These eyes, like lamps whose wasting oil is spent, +Wax dim, as drawing to their exigent; +Weak shoulders, overborne with burdening grief, +And pithless arms, like to a withered vine +That droops his sapless branches to the ground; +Yet are these feet, whose strengthless stay is numb, +Unable to support this lump of clay, +Swift-winged with desire to get a grave, +As witting I no other comfort have. +But tell me, keeper, will my nephew come? + +KEEPER +Richard Plantagenet, my lord, will come. +We sent unto the Temple, unto his chamber, +And answer was returned that he will come. + +MORTIMER +Enough. My soul shall then be satisfied. +Poor gentleman, his wrong doth equal mine. +Since Henry Monmouth first began to reign, +Before whose glory I was great in arms, +This loathsome sequestration have I had; +And even since then hath Richard been obscured, +Deprived of honor and inheritance. +But now the arbitrator of despairs, +Just Death, kind umpire of men's miseries, +With sweet enlargement doth dismiss me hence. +I would his troubles likewise were expired, +That so he might recover what was lost. + +[Enter Richard Plantagenet.] + + +KEEPER +My lord, your loving nephew now is come. + +MORTIMER +Richard Plantagenet, my friend, is he come? + +PLANTAGENET +Ay, noble uncle, thus ignobly used, +Your nephew, late despised Richard, comes. + +MORTIMER, [to Jailer] +Direct mine arms I may embrace his neck +And in his bosom spend my latter gasp. +O, tell me when my lips do touch his cheeks, +That I may kindly give one fainting kiss. +[He embraces Richard.] +And now declare, sweet stem from York's great stock, +Why didst thou say of late thou wert despised? + +PLANTAGENET +First, lean thine aged back against mine arm, +And in that ease I'll tell thee my disease. +This day, in argument upon a case, +Some words there grew 'twixt Somerset and me, +Among which terms he used his lavish tongue +And did upbraid me with my father's death; +Which obloquy set bars before my tongue, +Else with the like I had requited him. +Therefore, good uncle, for my father's sake, +In honor of a true Plantagenet, +And for alliance' sake, declare the cause +My father, Earl of Cambridge, lost his head. + +MORTIMER +That cause, fair nephew, that imprisoned me +And hath detained me all my flow'ring youth +Within a loathsome dungeon, there to pine, +Was cursed instrument of his decease. + +PLANTAGENET +Discover more at large what cause that was, +For I am ignorant and cannot guess. + +MORTIMER +I will, if that my fading breath permit +And death approach not ere my tale be done. +Henry the Fourth, grandfather to this king, +Deposed his nephew Richard, Edward's son, +The first begotten and the lawful heir +Of Edward king, the third of that descent; +During whose reign the Percies of the north, +Finding his usurpation most unjust, +Endeavored my advancement to the throne. +The reason moved these warlike lords to this +Was, for that--young Richard thus removed, +Leaving no heir begotten of his body-- +I was the next by birth and parentage; +For by my mother I derived am +From Lionel, Duke of Clarence, third son +To King Edward the Third; whereas he +From John of Gaunt doth bring his pedigree, +Being but fourth of that heroic line. +But mark: as in this haughty great attempt +They labored to plant the rightful heir, +I lost my liberty and they their lives. +Long after this, when Henry the Fifth, +Succeeding his father Bolingbroke, did reign, +Thy father, Earl of Cambridge then, derived +From famous Edmund Langley, Duke of York, +Marrying my sister that thy mother was, +Again, in pity of my hard distress, +Levied an army, weening to redeem +And have installed me in the diadem. +But, as the rest, so fell that noble earl +And was beheaded. Thus the Mortimers, +In whom the title rested, were suppressed. + +PLANTAGENET +Of which, my lord, your Honor is the last. + +MORTIMER +True, and thou seest that I no issue have +And that my fainting words do warrant death. +Thou art my heir; the rest I wish thee gather. +But yet be wary in thy studious care. + +PLANTAGENET +Thy grave admonishments prevail with me. +But yet methinks my father's execution +Was nothing less than bloody tyranny. + +MORTIMER +With silence, nephew, be thou politic; +Strong-fixed is the house of Lancaster, +And, like a mountain, not to be removed. +But now thy uncle is removing hence, +As princes do their courts when they are cloyed +With long continuance in a settled place. + +PLANTAGENET +O uncle, would some part of my young years +Might but redeem the passage of your age. + +MORTIMER +Thou dost then wrong me, as that slaughterer doth +Which giveth many wounds when one will kill. +Mourn not, except thou sorrow for my good; +Only give order for my funeral. +And so farewell, and fair be all thy hopes, +And prosperous be thy life in peace and war. +[Dies.] + +PLANTAGENET +And peace, no war, befall thy parting soul. +In prison hast thou spent a pilgrimage, +And like a hermit overpassed thy days.-- +Well, I will lock his counsel in my breast, +And what I do imagine, let that rest.-- +Keepers, convey him hence, and I myself +Will see his burial better than his life. +[Jailers exit carrying Mortimer's body.] +Here dies the dusky torch of Mortimer, +Choked with ambition of the meaner sort. +And for those wrongs, those bitter injuries, +Which Somerset hath offered to my house, +I doubt not but with honor to redress. +And therefore haste I to the Parliament, +Either to be restored to my blood, +Or make mine ill th' advantage of my good. +[He exits.] + + +ACT 3 +===== + +Scene 1 +======= +[Flourish. Enter King Henry, Exeter, Gloucester, and +Winchester; Richard Plantagenet and Warwick, +with white roses; Somerset and Suffolk, with red +roses; and Others. Gloucester offers to put up a bill. +Winchester snatches it, tears it.] + + +WINCHESTER +Com'st thou with deep premeditated lines, +With written pamphlets studiously devised? +Humphrey of Gloucester, if thou canst accuse +Or aught intend'st to lay unto my charge, +Do it without invention, suddenly, +As I with sudden and extemporal speech +Purpose to answer what thou canst object. + +GLOUCESTER +Presumptuous priest, this place commands my +patience, +Or thou shouldst find thou hast dishonored me. +Think not, although in writing I preferred +The manner of thy vile outrageous crimes, +That therefore I have forged or am not able +Verbatim to rehearse the method of my pen. +No, prelate, such is thy audacious wickedness, +Thy lewd, pestiferous, and dissentious pranks, +As very infants prattle of thy pride. +Thou art a most pernicious usurer, +Froward by nature, enemy to peace, +Lascivious, wanton, more than well beseems +A man of thy profession and degree. +And for thy treachery, what's more manifest, +In that thou laid'st a trap to take my life +As well at London Bridge as at the Tower? +Besides, I fear me, if thy thoughts were sifted, +The King, thy sovereign, is not quite exempt +From envious malice of thy swelling heart. + +WINCHESTER +Gloucester, I do defy thee.--Lords, vouchsafe +To give me hearing what I shall reply. +If I were covetous, ambitious, or perverse, +As he will have me, how am I so poor? +Or how haps it I seek not to advance +Or raise myself, but keep my wonted calling? +And for dissension, who preferreth peace +More than I do, except I be provoked? +No, my good lords, it is not that offends; +It is not that that hath incensed the Duke. +It is because no one should sway but he, +No one but he should be about the King; +And that engenders thunder in his breast +And makes him roar these accusations forth. +But he shall know I am as good-- + +GLOUCESTER As good! +Thou bastard of my grandfather! + +WINCHESTER +Ay, lordly sir; for what are you, I pray, +But one imperious in another's throne? + +GLOUCESTER +Am I not Protector, saucy priest? + +WINCHESTER +And am not I a prelate of the Church? + +GLOUCESTER +Yes, as an outlaw in a castle keeps, +And useth it to patronage his theft. + +WINCHESTER +Unreverent Gloucester! + +GLOUCESTER Thou art reverend +Touching thy spiritual function, not thy life. + +WINCHESTER +Rome shall remedy this. + +GLOUCESTER Roam thither then. + +WARWICK, [to Winchester] +My lord, it were your duty to forbear. + +SOMERSET +Ay, so the Bishop be not overborne. +Methinks my lord should be religious, +And know the office that belongs to such. + +WARWICK +Methinks his Lordship should be humbler. +It fitteth not a prelate so to plead. + +SOMERSET +Yes, when his holy state is touched so near. + +WARWICK +State holy, or unhallowed, what of that? +Is not his Grace Protector to the King? + +PLANTAGENET, [aside] +Plantagenet, I see, must hold his tongue, +Lest it be said "Speak, sirrah, when you should; +Must your bold verdict enter talk with lords?" +Else would I have a fling at Winchester. + +KING HENRY +Uncles of Gloucester and of Winchester, +The special watchmen of our English weal, +I would prevail, if prayers might prevail, +To join your hearts in love and amity. +O, what a scandal is it to our crown +That two such noble peers as you should jar! +Believe me, lords, my tender years can tell +Civil dissension is a viperous worm +That gnaws the bowels of the commonwealth. + +[A noise within: "Down with the tawny coats!"] +What tumult 's this? + +WARWICK An uproar, I dare warrant, +Begun through malice of the Bishop's men. +[A noise again: "Stones! Stones!"] + +[Enter Mayor.] + + +MAYOR +O, my good lords, and virtuous Henry, +Pity the city of London, pity us! +The Bishop and the Duke of Gloucester's men, +Forbidden late to carry any weapon, +Have filled their pockets full of pebble stones +And, banding themselves in contrary parts, +Do pelt so fast at one another's pate +That many have their giddy brains knocked out; +Our windows are broke down in every street, +And we, for fear, compelled to shut our shops. + +[Enter Servingmen in skirmish with bloody pates.] + + +KING HENRY +We charge you, on allegiance to ourself, +To hold your slaught'ring hands and keep the peace.-- +Pray, Uncle Gloucester, mitigate this strife. + +FIRST SERVINGMAN Nay, if we be forbidden stones, we'll +fall to it with our teeth. + +SECOND SERVINGMAN +Do what you dare, we are as +resolute. [Skirmish again.] + +GLOUCESTER +You of my household, leave this peevish broil, +And set this unaccustomed fight aside. + +THIRD SERVINGMAN +My lord, we know your Grace to be a man +Just and upright, and, for your royal birth, +Inferior to none but to his Majesty; +And ere that we will suffer such a prince, +So kind a father of the commonweal, +To be disgraced by an inkhorn mate, +We and our wives and children all will fight +And have our bodies slaughtered by thy foes. + +FIRST SERVINGMAN +Ay, and the very parings of our nails +Shall pitch a field when we are dead. +[Begin again.] + +GLOUCESTER Stay, stay, I say! +And if you love me, as you say you do, +Let me persuade you to forbear awhile. + +KING HENRY +O, how this discord doth afflict my soul! +Can you, my Lord of Winchester, behold +My sighs and tears, and will not once relent? +Who should be pitiful if you be not? +Or who should study to prefer a peace +If holy churchmen take delight in broils? + +WARWICK +Yield, my Lord Protector--yield, Winchester-- +Except you mean with obstinate repulse +To slay your sovereign and destroy the realm. +You see what mischief, and what murder too, +Hath been enacted through your enmity. +Then be at peace, except you thirst for blood. + +WINCHESTER +He shall submit, or I will never yield. + +GLOUCESTER +Compassion on the King commands me stoop, +Or I would see his heart out ere the priest +Should ever get that privilege of me. + +WARWICK +Behold, my Lord of Winchester, the Duke +Hath banished moody discontented fury, +As by his smoothed brows it doth appear. +Why look you still so stern and tragical? + +GLOUCESTER +Here, Winchester, I offer thee my hand. +[Winchester refuses Gloucester's hand.] + +KING HENRY +Fie, Uncle Beaufort! I have heard you preach +That malice was a great and grievous sin; +And will not you maintain the thing you teach, +But prove a chief offender in the same? + +WARWICK +Sweet king! The Bishop hath a kindly gird.-- +For shame, my Lord of Winchester, relent; +What, shall a child instruct you what to do? + +WINCHESTER +Well, Duke of Gloucester, I will yield to thee; +Love for thy love and hand for hand I give. +[They take each other's hand.] + +GLOUCESTER, [aside] +Ay, but I fear me with a hollow heart.-- +See here, my friends and loving countrymen, +This token serveth for a flag of truce +Betwixt ourselves and all our followers, +So help me God, as I dissemble not. + +WINCHESTER, [aside] +So help me God, as I intend it not. + +KING HENRY +O, loving uncle--kind Duke of Gloucester-- +How joyful am I made by this contract. +[To the Servingmen.] Away, my masters, trouble us +no more, +But join in friendship as your lords have done. + +FIRST SERVINGMAN Content. I'll to the surgeon's. + +SECOND SERVINGMAN And so will I. + +THIRD SERVINGMAN And I will see what physic the tavern +affords. +[They exit with Mayor and Others.] + +WARWICK, [presenting a scroll] +Accept this scroll, most gracious sovereign, +Which in the right of Richard Plantagenet +We do exhibit to your Majesty. + +GLOUCESTER +Well urged, my Lord of Warwick.--For, sweet prince, +An if your Grace mark every circumstance, +You have great reason to do Richard right, +Especially for those occasions +At Eltham Place I told your Majesty. + +KING HENRY +And those occasions, uncle, were of force.-- +Therefore, my loving lords, our pleasure is +That Richard be restored to his blood. + +WARWICK +Let Richard be restored to his blood; +So shall his father's wrongs be recompensed. + +WINCHESTER +As will the rest, so willeth Winchester. + +KING HENRY +If Richard will be true, not that alone +But all the whole inheritance I give +That doth belong unto the house of York, +From whence you spring by lineal descent. + +PLANTAGENET +Thy humble servant vows obedience +And humble service till the point of death. + +KING HENRY +Stoop then, and set your knee against my foot; +[Plantagenet kneels.] +And in reguerdon of that duty done +I girt thee with the valiant sword of York. +Rise, Richard, like a true Plantagenet, +And rise created princely Duke of York. + +YORK, [formerly PLANTAGENET, standing] +And so thrive Richard as thy foes may fall! +And as my duty springs, so perish they +That grudge one thought against your Majesty. + +ALL +Welcome, high prince, the mighty Duke of York. + +SOMERSET, [aside] +Perish, base prince, ignoble Duke of York. + +GLOUCESTER +Now will it best avail your Majesty +To cross the seas and to be crowned in France. +The presence of a king engenders love +Amongst his subjects and his loyal friends, +As it disanimates his enemies. + +KING HENRY +When Gloucester says the word, King Henry goes, +For friendly counsel cuts off many foes. + +GLOUCESTER +Your ships already are in readiness. +[Sennet. Flourish. All but Exeter exit.] + +EXETER +Ay, we may march in England or in France, +Not seeing what is likely to ensue. +This late dissension grown betwixt the peers +Burns under feigned ashes of forged love +And will at last break out into a flame. +As festered members rot but by degree +Till bones and flesh and sinews fall away, +So will this base and envious discord breed. +And now I fear that fatal prophecy +Which in the time of Henry named the Fifth +Was in the mouth of every sucking babe: +That Henry born at Monmouth should win all, +And Henry born at Windsor should lose all, +Which is so plain that Exeter doth wish +His days may finish ere that hapless time. +[He exits.] + +Scene 2 +======= +[Enter Pucelle disguised, with four Soldiers with sacks +upon their backs.] + + +PUCELLE +These are the city gates, the gates of Roan, +Through which our policy must make a breach. +Take heed. Be wary how you place your words; +Talk like the vulgar sort of market men +That come to gather money for their corn. +If we have entrance, as I hope we shall, +And that we find the slothful watch but weak, +I'll by a sign give notice to our friends, +That Charles the Dauphin may encounter them. + +SOLDIER +Our sacks shall be a mean to sack the city, +And we be lords and rulers over Roan; +Therefore we'll knock. +[Knock.] + +WATCH, [within] +Qui la? + +PUCELLE Paysans la pauvre gens de France: +Poor market folks that come to sell their corn. + +WATCH +Enter, go in. The market bell is rung. + +PUCELLE, [aside] +Now, Roan, I'll shake thy bulwarks to the ground. +[They exit.] + +[Enter Charles, Bastard, Alanson, Reignier, +and Soldiers.] + + +CHARLES +Saint Dennis bless this happy stratagem +And once again we'll sleep secure in Roan. + +BASTARD +Here entered Pucelle and her practisants. +Now she is there, how will she specify +"Here is the best and safest passage in"? + +REIGNIER +By thrusting out a torch from yonder tower, +Which, once discerned, shows that her meaning is: +No way to that, for weakness, which she entered. + +[Enter Pucelle on the top, thrusting out a torch burning.] + + +PUCELLE +Behold, this is the happy wedding torch +That joineth Roan unto her countrymen, +But burning fatal to the Talbonites. + +BASTARD +See, noble Charles, the beacon of our friend; +The burning torch, in yonder turret stands. + +CHARLES +Now shine it like a comet of revenge, +A prophet to the fall of all our foes! + +REIGNIER +Defer no time; delays have dangerous ends. +Enter and cry "The Dauphin!" presently, +And then do execution on the watch. +[Alarum. They exit.] + +[An Alarum. Enter Talbot in an excursion.] + + +TALBOT +France, thou shalt rue this treason with thy tears, +If Talbot but survive thy treachery. +Pucelle, that witch, that damned sorceress, +Hath wrought this hellish mischief unawares, +That hardly we escaped the pride of France. +[He exits.] + +[An alarum. Excursions. Bedford brought in sick in +a chair, carried by two Attendants. Enter Talbot +and Burgundy without; within, Pucelle with a sack +of grain, Charles, Bastard, Alanson, and Reignier +on the walls.] + + +PUCELLE, [to those below] +Good morrow, gallants. Want you corn for bread? +[She scatters grain on those below.] +I think the Duke of Burgundy will fast +Before he'll buy again at such a rate. +'Twas full of darnel. Do you like the taste? + +BURGUNDY +Scoff on, vile fiend and shameless courtesan! +I trust ere long to choke thee with thine own, +And make thee curse the harvest of that corn. + +CHARLES +Your Grace may starve, perhaps, before that time. + +BEDFORD +O, let no words, but deeds, revenge this treason. + +PUCELLE +What will you do, good graybeard? Break a lance +And run a-tilt at Death within a chair? + +TALBOT +Foul fiend of France and hag of all despite, +Encompassed with thy lustful paramours, +Becomes it thee to taunt his valiant age +And twit with cowardice a man half dead? +Damsel, I'll have a bout with you again, +Or else let Talbot perish with this shame. + +PUCELLE +Are you so hot, sir? Yet, Pucelle, hold thy peace, +If Talbot do but thunder, rain will follow. +[Those below whisper together in council.] +God speed the Parliament! Who shall be the Speaker? + +TALBOT +Dare you come forth and meet us in the field? + +PUCELLE +Belike your Lordship takes us then for fools, +To try if that our own be ours or no. + +TALBOT +I speak not to that railing Hecate, +But unto thee, Alanson, and the rest. +Will you, like soldiers, come and fight it out? + +ALANSON Seigneur, no. + +TALBOT +Seigneur, hang! Base muleteers of France, +Like peasant footboys do they keep the walls +And dare not take up arms like gentlemen. + +PUCELLE +Away, captains. Let's get us from the walls, +For Talbot means no goodness by his looks.-- +Goodbye, my lord. We came but to tell you +That we are here. [They exit from the walls.] + +TALBOT +And there will we be too, ere it be long, +Or else reproach be Talbot's greatest fame.-- +Vow, Burgundy, by honor of thy house, +Pricked on by public wrongs sustained in France, +Either to get the town again or die. +And I, as sure as English Henry lives, +And as his father here was conqueror, +As sure as in this late-betrayed town +Great Coeur-de-lion's heart was buried, +So sure I swear to get the town or die. + +BURGUNDY +My vows are equal partners with thy vows. + +TALBOT +But, ere we go, regard this dying prince, +The valiant Duke of Bedford.--Come, my lord, +We will bestow you in some better place, +Fitter for sickness and for crazy age. + +BEDFORD +Lord Talbot, do not so dishonor me. +Here will I sit, before the walls of Roan, +And will be partner of your weal or woe. + +BURGUNDY +Courageous Bedford, let us now persuade you-- + +BEDFORD +Not to be gone from hence, for once I read +That stout Pendragon, in his litter sick, +Came to the field and vanquished his foes. +Methinks I should revive the soldiers' hearts +Because I ever found them as myself. + +TALBOT +Undaunted spirit in a dying breast, +Then be it so. Heavens keep old Bedford safe!-- +And now no more ado, brave Burgundy, +But gather we our forces out of hand +And set upon our boasting enemy. +[He exits with Burgundy. +Bedford and Attendants remain.] + +[An alarum. Excursions. Enter Sir John Fastolf +and a Captain.] + + +CAPTAIN +Whither away, Sir John Fastolf, in such haste? + +FASTOLF +Whither away? To save myself by flight. +We are like to have the overthrow again. + +CAPTAIN +What, will you fly and leave Lord Talbot? + +FASTOLF Ay, +All the Talbots in the world, to save my life. +[He exits.] + +CAPTAIN +Cowardly knight, ill fortune follow thee. +[He exits.] + +[Retreat. Excursions. Pucelle, Alanson, and Charles +enter, pursued by English Soldiers, and fly.] + + +BEDFORD +Now, quiet soul, depart when heaven please, +For I have seen our enemies' overthrow. +What is the trust or strength of foolish man? +They that of late were daring with their scoffs +Are glad and fain by flight to save themselves. +[Bedford dies, and is carried +in by two in his chair.] + +[An alarum. Enter Talbot, Burgundy, and the rest.] + + +TALBOT +Lost and recovered in a day again! +This is a double honor, Burgundy. +Yet heavens have glory for this victory. + +BURGUNDY +Warlike and martial Talbot, Burgundy +Enshrines thee in his heart, and there erects +Thy noble deeds as valor's monuments. + +TALBOT +Thanks, gentle duke. But where is Pucelle now? +I think her old familiar is asleep. +Now where's the Bastard's braves and Charles his +gleeks? +What, all amort? Roan hangs her head for grief +That such a valiant company are fled. +Now will we take some order in the town, +Placing therein some expert officers, +And then depart to Paris to the King, +For there young Henry with his nobles lie. + +BURGUNDY +What wills Lord Talbot pleaseth Burgundy. + +TALBOT +But yet, before we go, let's not forget +The noble Duke of Bedford late-deceased, +But see his exequies fulfilled in Roan. +A braver soldier never couched lance, +A gentler heart did never sway in court. +But kings and mightiest potentates must die, +For that's the end of human misery. +[They exit.] + +Scene 3 +======= +[Enter Charles, Bastard, Alanson, Pucelle, and Soldiers.] + + +PUCELLE +Dismay not, princes, at this accident, +Nor grieve that Roan is so recovered. +Care is no cure, but rather corrosive +For things that are not to be remedied. +Let frantic Talbot triumph for a while, +And like a peacock sweep along his tail; +We'll pull his plumes and take away his train, +If dauphin and the rest will be but ruled. + +CHARLES +We have been guided by thee hitherto, +And of thy cunning had no diffidence. +One sudden foil shall never breed distrust. + +BASTARD, [to Pucelle] +Search out thy wit for secret policies, +And we will make thee famous through the world. + +ALANSON, [to Pucelle] +We'll set thy statue in some holy place +And have thee reverenced like a blessed saint. +Employ thee then, sweet virgin, for our good. + +PUCELLE +Then thus it must be; this doth Joan devise: +By fair persuasions mixed with sugared words +We will entice the Duke of Burgundy +To leave the Talbot and to follow us. + +CHARLES +Ay, marry, sweeting, if we could do that, +France were no place for Henry's warriors, +Nor should that nation boast it so with us, +But be extirped from our provinces. + +ALANSON +Forever should they be expulsed from France, +And not have title of an earldom here. + +PUCELLE +Your honors shall perceive how I will work +To bring this matter to the wished end. +[Drum sounds afar off.] +Hark! By the sound of drum you may perceive +Their powers are marching unto Paris-ward. +[Here sound an English march.] +There goes the Talbot with his colors spread, +And all the troops of English after him. +[French march.] +Now in the rearward comes the Duke and his. +Fortune in favor makes him lag behind. +Summon a parley; we will talk with him. +[Trumpets sound a parley.] + +CHARLES +A parley with the Duke of Burgundy! + +[Enter Burgundy.] + + +BURGUNDY +Who craves a parley with the Burgundy? + +PUCELLE +The princely Charles of France, thy countryman. + +BURGUNDY +What say'st thou, Charles?--for I am marching hence. + +CHARLES, [aside to Pucelle] +Speak, Pucelle, and enchant him with thy words. + +PUCELLE +Brave Burgundy, undoubted hope of France, +Stay; let thy humble handmaid speak to thee. + +BURGUNDY +Speak on, but be not over-tedious. + +PUCELLE +Look on thy country, look on fertile France, +And see the cities and the towns defaced +By wasting ruin of the cruel foe. +As looks the mother on her lowly babe +When death doth close his tender-dying eyes, +See, see the pining malady of France: +Behold the wounds, the most unnatural wounds, +Which thou thyself hast given her woeful breast. +O, turn thy edged sword another way; +Strike those that hurt, and hurt not those that help. +One drop of blood drawn from thy country's bosom +Should grieve thee more than streams of foreign gore. +Return thee therefore with a flood of tears, +And wash away thy country's stained spots. + +BURGUNDY, [aside] +Either she hath bewitched me with her words, +Or nature makes me suddenly relent. + +PUCELLE +Besides, all French and France exclaims on thee, +Doubting thy birth and lawful progeny. +Who join'st thou with but with a lordly nation +That will not trust thee but for profit's sake? +When Talbot hath set footing once in France +And fashioned thee that instrument of ill, +Who then but English Henry will be lord, +And thou be thrust out like a fugitive? +Call we to mind, and mark but this for proof: +Was not the Duke of Orleance thy foe? +And was he not in England prisoner? +But when they heard he was thine enemy, +They set him free, without his ransom paid, +In spite of Burgundy and all his friends. +See then, thou fight'st against thy countrymen, +And join'st with them will be thy slaughtermen. +Come, come, return; return, thou wandering lord. +Charles and the rest will take thee in their arms. + +BURGUNDY, [aside] +I am vanquished. These haughty words of hers +Have battered me like roaring cannon-shot, +And made me almost yield upon my knees.-- +Forgive me, country, and sweet countrymen; +And, lords, accept this hearty kind embrace. +[He embraces Charles, Bastard, and Alanson.] +My forces and my power of men are yours. +So, farewell, Talbot. I'll no longer trust thee. + +PUCELLE, [aside] +Done like a Frenchman: turn and turn again. + +CHARLES +Welcome, brave duke. Thy friendship makes us fresh. + +BASTARD +And doth beget new courage in our breasts. + +ALANSON +Pucelle hath bravely played her part in this +And doth deserve a coronet of gold. + +CHARLES +Now let us on, my lords, and join our powers, +And seek how we may prejudice the foe. +[They exit.] + +Scene 4 +======= +[Flourish. Enter the King, Gloucester, Winchester, +Exeter; York, Warwick, and Vernon, with white roses; +Somerset, Suffolk, and Basset, with red roses. +To them, with his Soldiers, Talbot.] + + +TALBOT +My gracious prince and honorable peers, +Hearing of your arrival in this realm, +I have awhile given truce unto my wars +To do my duty to my sovereign; +In sign whereof, this arm, that hath reclaimed +To your obedience fifty fortresses, +Twelve cities, and seven walled towns of strength, +Besides five hundred prisoners of esteem, +Lets fall his sword before your Highness' feet, +And with submissive loyalty of heart +Ascribes the glory of his conquest got +First to my God, and next unto your Grace. +[He kneels.] + +KING HENRY +Is this the Lord Talbot, Uncle Gloucester, +That hath so long been resident in France? + +GLOUCESTER +Yes, if it please your Majesty, my liege. + +KING HENRY +Welcome, brave captain and victorious lord. +When I was young--as yet I am not old-- +I do remember how my father said +A stouter champion never handled sword. +Long since we were resolved of your truth, +Your faithful service, and your toil in war; +Yet never have you tasted our reward +Or been reguerdoned with so much as thanks, +Because till now we never saw your face. +Therefore stand up; and for these good deserts +We here create you Earl of Shrewsbury; +And in our coronation take your place. [Talbot rises.] +[Sennet. Flourish. All except +Vernon and Basset exit.] + +VERNON +Now, sir, to you that were so hot at sea, +Disgracing of these colors that I wear +In honor of my noble Lord of York, +Dar'st thou maintain the former words thou spak'st? + +BASSET +Yes, sir, as well as you dare patronage +The envious barking of your saucy tongue +Against my lord the Duke of Somerset. + +VERNON +Sirrah, thy lord I honor as he is. + +BASSET +Why, what is he? As good a man as York. + +VERNON +Hark you, not so; in witness, take you that. +[Strikes him.] + +BASSET +Villain, thou knowest the law of arms is such +That whoso draws a sword 'tis present death, +Or else this blow should broach thy dearest blood. +But I'll unto his Majesty, and crave +I may have liberty to venge this wrong, +When thou shalt see I'll meet thee to thy cost. +[He exits.] + +VERNON +Well, miscreant, I'll be there as soon as you, +And after meet you sooner than you would. +[He exits.] + + +ACT 4 +===== + +Scene 1 +======= +[Flourish. Enter King, Gloucester, Winchester, Talbot, +Exeter; York and Warwick, with white roses; Suffolk +and Somerset, with red roses; Governor of Paris, +and Others.] + + +GLOUCESTER +Lord Bishop, set the crown upon his head. + +WINCHESTER, [crowning King Henry] +God save King Henry, of that name the Sixth! + +GLOUCESTER +Now, Governor of Paris, take your oath. +[Governor kneels.] +That you elect no other king but him; +Esteem none friends but such as are his friends, +And none your foes but such as shall pretend +Malicious practices against his state: +This shall you do, so help you righteous God. +[Governor rises.] + +[Enter Fastolf.] + + +FASTOLF +My gracious sovereign, as I rode from Callice +To haste unto your coronation, +A letter was delivered to my hands, +Writ to your Grace from th' Duke of Burgundy. +[He hands the King a paper.] + +TALBOT +Shame to the Duke of Burgundy and thee! +I vowed, base knight, when I did meet thee next, +To tear the Garter from thy craven's leg, +[tearing it off] +Which I have done, because unworthily +Thou wast installed in that high degree.-- +Pardon me, princely Henry and the rest. +This dastard, at the battle of Patay, +When but in all I was six thousand strong +And that the French were almost ten to one, +Before we met or that a stroke was given, +Like to a trusty squire did run away; +In which assault we lost twelve hundred men. +Myself and divers gentlemen besides +Were there surprised and taken prisoners. +Then judge, great lords, if I have done amiss, +Or whether that such cowards ought to wear +This ornament of knighthood--yea or no? + +GLOUCESTER +To say the truth, this fact was infamous +And ill beseeming any common man, +Much more a knight, a captain, and a leader. + +TALBOT +When first this Order was ordained, my lords, +Knights of the Garter were of noble birth, +Valiant and virtuous, full of haughty courage, +Such as were grown to credit by the wars; +Not fearing death nor shrinking for distress, +But always resolute in most extremes. +He then that is not furnished in this sort +Doth but usurp the sacred name of knight, +Profaning this most honorable Order, +And should, if I were worthy to be judge, +Be quite degraded, like a hedge-born swain +That doth presume to boast of gentle blood. + +KING HENRY, [to Fastolf] +Stain to thy countrymen, thou hear'st thy doom. +Be packing therefore, thou that wast a knight. +Henceforth we banish thee on pain of death. +[Fastolf exits.] +And now, my lord protector, view the letter +Sent from our uncle, Duke of Burgundy. +[He hands the paper to Gloucester.] + +GLOUCESTER +What means his Grace that he hath changed his style? +No more but, plain and bluntly, "To the King"! +Hath he forgot he is his sovereign? +Or doth this churlish superscription +Pretend some alteration in good will? +What's here? [(Reads.)] +I have upon especial cause, +Moved with compassion of my country's wrack, +Together with the pitiful complaints +Of such as your oppression feeds upon, +Forsaken your pernicious faction +And joined with Charles, the rightful king of France. +O monstrous treachery! Can this be so? +That in alliance, amity, and oaths +There should be found such false dissembling guile? + +KING HENRY +What? Doth my Uncle Burgundy revolt? + +GLOUCESTER +He doth, my lord, and is become your foe. + +KING HENRY +Is that the worst this letter doth contain? + +GLOUCESTER +It is the worst, and all, my lord, he writes. + +KING HENRY +Why, then, Lord Talbot there shall talk with him +And give him chastisement for this abuse.-- +How say you, my lord, are you not content? + +TALBOT +Content, my liege? Yes. But that I am prevented, +I should have begged I might have been employed. + +KING HENRY +Then gather strength and march unto him straight; +Let him perceive how ill we brook his treason +And what offense it is to flout his friends. + +TALBOT +I go, my lord, in heart desiring still +You may behold confusion of your foes. [He exits.] + +[Enter Vernon, with a white rose, and Basset, +with a red rose.] + + +VERNON +Grant me the combat, gracious sovereign. + +BASSET +And me, my lord, grant me the combat too. + +YORK, [indicating Vernon] +This is my servant; hear him, noble prince. + +SOMERSET, [indicating Basset] +And this is mine, sweet Henry; favor him. + +KING HENRY +Be patient, lords, and give them leave to speak.-- +Say, gentlemen, what makes you thus exclaim, +And wherefore crave you combat, or with whom? + +VERNON +With him, my lord, for he hath done me wrong. + +BASSET +And I with him, for he hath done me wrong. + +KING HENRY +What is that wrong whereof you both complain? +First let me know, and then I'll answer you. + +BASSET +Crossing the sea from England into France, +This fellow here with envious carping tongue +Upbraided me about the rose I wear, +Saying the sanguine color of the leaves +Did represent my master's blushing cheeks +When stubbornly he did repugn the truth +About a certain question in the law +Argued betwixt the Duke of York and him, +With other vile and ignominious terms. +In confutation of which rude reproach, +And in defense of my lord's worthiness, +I crave the benefit of law of arms. + +VERNON +And that is my petition, noble lord; +For though he seem with forged quaint conceit +To set a gloss upon his bold intent, +Yet know, my lord, I was provoked by him, +And he first took exceptions at this badge, +Pronouncing that the paleness of this flower +Bewrayed the faintness of my master's heart. + +YORK +Will not this malice, Somerset, be left? + +SOMERSET +Your private grudge, my Lord of York, will out, +Though ne'er so cunningly you smother it. + +KING HENRY +Good Lord, what madness rules in brainsick 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 dissension first be tried by fight, +And then your Highness shall command a peace. + +SOMERSET +The quarrel toucheth none but us alone; +Betwixt ourselves let us decide it then. + +YORK, [throwing down a gage] +There is my pledge; accept it, Somerset. + +VERNON, [to Somerset] +Nay, let it rest where it began at first. + +BASSET, [to Somerset] +Confirm it so, mine honorable lord. + +GLOUCESTER +Confirm it so? Confounded be your strife, +And perish you with your audacious prate! +Presumptuous vassals, are you not ashamed +With this immodest clamorous outrage +To trouble and disturb the King and us?-- +And you, my lords, methinks you do not well +To bear with their perverse objections, +Much less to take occasion from their mouths +To raise a mutiny betwixt yourselves. +Let me persuade you take a better course. + +EXETER +It grieves his Highness. Good my lords, be friends. + +KING HENRY +Come hither, you that would be combatants: +Henceforth I charge you, as you love our favor, +Quite to forget this quarrel and the cause.-- +And you, my lords, remember where we are: +In France, amongst a fickle wavering nation. +If they perceive dissension in our looks, +And that within ourselves we disagree, +How will their grudging stomachs be provoked +To willful disobedience and rebel! +Besides, what infamy will there arise +When foreign princes shall be certified +That for a toy, a thing of no regard, +King Henry's peers and chief nobility +Destroyed themselves and lost the realm of France! +O, think upon the conquest of my father, +My tender years, and let us not forgo +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 +That anyone should therefore be suspicious +I more incline to Somerset than York. +[He puts on a red rose.] +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 crowned. +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; +And like true subjects, sons of your progenitors, +Go cheerfully together and digest +Your angry choler on your enemies. +Ourself, my lord protector, and the rest, +After some respite, will return to Callice; +From thence to England, where I hope ere long +To be presented, by your victories, +With Charles, Alanson, and that traitorous rout. +[Flourish. All but York, Warwick, Exeter, Vernon exit.] + +WARWICK +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. + +WARWICK +Tush, that was but his fancy; blame him not. +I dare presume, sweet prince, he thought no harm. + +YORK +And if iwis he did--but let it rest. +Other affairs must now be managed. + +[York, Warwick and Vernon exit. +Exeter remains.] + +EXETER +Well didst thou, Richard, to suppress thy voice, +For had the passions of thy heart burst out, +I fear we should have seen deciphered there +More rancorous spite, more furious raging broils, +Than yet can be imagined or supposed. +But howsoe'er, no simple man that sees +This jarring discord of nobility, +This shouldering of each other in the court, +This factious bandying of their favorites, +But sees it doth presage some ill event. +'Tis much when scepters are in children's hands, +But more when envy breeds unkind division: +There comes the ruin; there begins confusion. +[He exits.] + +Scene 2 +======= +[Enter Talbot with Soldiers and Trump and Drum +before Bordeaux.] + + +TALBOT +Go to the gates of Bordeaux, trumpeter. +Summon their general unto the wall. + +[Trumpet sounds. Enter General and Others aloft.] + +English John Talbot, captains, calls you forth, +Servant-in-arms to Harry, King of England, +And thus he would: open your city gates, +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 proffered 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. + +GENERAL +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 pitched +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 Sacrament +To rive their dangerous artillery +Upon no Christian soul but English Talbot. +Lo, there thou stand'st, a breathing valiant man +Of an invincible unconquered spirit. +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-colored, +Shall see thee withered, bloody, pale, and dead. +[Drum afar off.] +Hark, hark, the Dauphin's drum, a warning bell, +Sings heavy music to thy timorous soul, +And mine shall ring thy dire departure out. +[He exits, aloft, with Others.] + +TALBOT +He fables not; I hear the enemy. +Out, some light horsemen, and peruse their wings. +[Some Soldiers exit.] +O, negligent and heedless discipline, +How are we parked and bounded in a pale, +A little herd of England's timorous deer +Mazed with a yelping kennel of French curs. +If we be English deer, be then in blood, +Not rascal-like 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 friends. +God and Saint George, Talbot and England's right, +Prosper our colors in this dangerous fight! +[He exits with Soldiers, Drum and Trumpet.] + +Scene 3 +======= +[Enter a Messenger that meets York. Enter York +with Trumpet and many Soldiers.] + + +YORK +Are not the speedy scouts returned again +That dogged the mighty army of the Dauphin? + +MESSENGER +They are returned, my lord, and give it out +That he is marched to Bordeaux with his power +To fight with Talbot. As he marched along, +By your espials were discovered +Two mightier troops than that the Dauphin led, +Which joined with him and made their march for +Bordeaux. [He exits.] + +YORK +A plague upon that villain Somerset +That thus delays my promised supply +Of horsemen that were levied for this siege! +Renowned Talbot doth expect my aid, +And I am louted by a traitor villain +And cannot help the noble chevalier. +God comfort him in this necessity. +If he miscarry, farewell wars in France. + +[Enter Sir William Lucy.] + + +LUCY +Thou princely leader of our English strength, +Never so needful on the earth of France, +Spur to the rescue of the noble Talbot, +Who now is girdled with a waist of iron +And hemmed about with grim destruction. +To Bordeaux, warlike duke! To Bordeaux, York! +Else farewell Talbot, France, and England's honor. + +YORK +O God, that Somerset, who in proud heart +Doth stop my cornets, were in Talbot's place! +So should we save a valiant gentleman +By forfeiting a traitor and a coward. +Mad ire and wrathful fury makes me weep +That thus we die while remiss traitors sleep. + +LUCY +O, send some succor to the distressed lord! + +YORK +He dies, we lose; I break my warlike word; +We mourn, France smiles; we lose, they daily get, +All long of this vile traitor Somerset. + +LUCY +Then God take mercy on brave Talbot's soul, +And on his son, young John, who two hours since +I met in travel toward his warlike father. +This seven years did not Talbot see his son, +And now they meet where both their lives are done. + +YORK +Alas, what joy shall noble Talbot have +To bid his young son welcome to his grave? +Away! Vexation almost stops my breath, +That sundered friends greet in the hour of death. +Lucy, farewell. No more my fortune can +But curse the cause I cannot aid the man. +Maine, Blois, Poictiers, and Tours are won away, +Long all of Somerset and his delay. +[York and his Soldiers exit.] + +LUCY +Thus while the vulture of sedition +Feeds in the bosom of such great commanders, +Sleeping neglection doth betray to loss +The conquest of our scarce-cold conqueror, +That ever-living man of memory, +Henry the Fifth. Whiles they each other cross, +Lives, honors, lands, and all hurry to loss. +[He exits.] + +Scene 4 +======= +[Enter Somerset with his army and a Captain +from Talbot's army.] + + +SOMERSET +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 overdaring Talbot +Hath sullied all his gloss of former honor +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. + +[Enter Sir William Lucy.] + + +CAPTAIN +Here is Sir William Lucy, who with me +Set from our o'er-matched forces forth for aid. + +SOMERSET +How now, Sir William, whither were you sent? + +LUCY +Whither, my lord? From bought and sold Lord Talbot, +Who, ringed about with bold adversity, +Cries out for noble York and Somerset +To beat assailing Death from his weak regions; +And whiles the honorable captain there +Drops bloody sweat from his war-wearied limbs +And, in advantage ling'ring, looks for rescue, +You, his false hopes, the trust of England's honor, +Keep off aloof with worthless emulation. +Let not your private discord keep away +The levied succors that should lend him aid, +While he, renowned noble gentleman, +Yield up his life unto a world of odds. +Orleance the Bastard, Charles, Burgundy, +Alanson, Reignier compass him about, +And Talbot perisheth by your default. + +SOMERSET +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. + +SOMERSET +York lies. He might have sent and had the horse. +I owe him little duty and less love, +And take foul scorn to fawn on him by sending. + +LUCY +The fraud of England, not the force of France, +Hath now entrapped the noble-minded Talbot. +Never to England shall he bear his life, +But dies betrayed to fortune by your strife. + +SOMERSET +Come, go. I will dispatch the horsemen 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. + +SOMERSET +If he be dead, brave Talbot, then adieu. + +LUCY +His fame lives in the world, his shame in you. +[They exit.] + +Scene 5 +======= +[Enter Talbot and John Talbot, his son.] + + +TALBOT +O young John Talbot, I did send for thee +To tutor thee in stratagems of war, +That Talbot's name might be in thee revived +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. +Therefore, dear boy, mount on my swiftest horse, +And I'll direct thee how thou shalt escape +By sudden flight. Come, dally not, be gone. + +JOHN TALBOT +Is my name Talbot? And am I your son? +And shall I fly? O, if you love my mother, +Dishonor not her honorable 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." + +TALBOT +Fly, to revenge my death if I be slain. + +JOHN TALBOT +He that flies so will ne'er return again. + +TALBOT +If we both stay, we both are sure to die. + +JOHN TALBOT +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 honor you have won, +But mine it will, that no exploit have done. +You fled for vantage, everyone 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. [He kneels.] +Here on my knee I beg mortality, +Rather than life preserved with infamy. + +TALBOT +Shall all thy mother's hopes lie in one tomb? + +JOHN TALBOT +Ay, rather than I'll shame my mother's womb. + +TALBOT +Upon my blessing I command thee go. + +JOHN TALBOT +To fight I will, but not to fly the foe. + +TALBOT +Part of thy father may be saved in thee. + +JOHN TALBOT +No part of him but will be shame in me. + +TALBOT +Thou never hadst renown, nor canst not lose it. + +JOHN TALBOT +Yes, your renowned name; shall flight abuse it? + +TALBOT +Thy father's charge shall clear thee from that stain. + +JOHN TALBOT +You cannot witness for me, being slain. +If death be so apparent, then both fly. + +TALBOT +And leave my followers here to fight and die? +My age was never tainted with such shame. + +JOHN TALBOT +And shall my youth be guilty of such blame? +[He rises.] +No more can I be severed from your side +Than can yourself yourself in twain divide. +Stay, go, do what you will; the like do I, +For live I will not, if my father die. + +TALBOT +Then here I take my leave of thee, fair son, +Born to eclipse thy life this afternoon. +Come, side by side, together live and die, +And soul with soul from France to heaven fly. +[They exit.] + +Scene 6 +======= +[Alarum. Excursions, wherein Talbot's son John +is hemmed about, and Talbot rescues him.] + + +TALBOT +Saint George, and victory! Fight, soldiers, fight! +The Regent hath with Talbot broke his word +And left us to the rage of France his sword. +Where is John Talbot?--Pause, and take thy breath; +I gave thee life and rescued thee from death. + +JOHN TALBOT +O, twice my father, twice am I thy son! +The life thou gav'st me first was lost and done +Till with thy warlike sword, despite of fate, +To my determined time thou gav'st new date. + +TALBOT +When from the Dauphin's crest thy sword struck fire, +It warmed thy father's heart with proud desire +Of bold-faced victory. Then leaden age, +Quickened with youthful spleen and warlike rage, +Beat down Alanson, Orleance, Burgundy, +And from the pride of Gallia rescued thee. +The ireful Bastard Orleance, that drew blood +From thee, my boy, and had the maidenhood +Of thy first fight, I soon encountered, +And, interchanging blows, I quickly shed +Some of his bastard blood, and in disgrace +Bespoke him thus: "Contaminated, base, +And misbegotten blood I spill of thine, +Mean and right poor, for that pure blood of mine +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 thou not weary, John? How dost thou fare? +Wilt thou yet leave the battle, boy, and fly, +Now thou art sealed 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 today die not with Frenchmen's rage, +Tomorrow I shall die with mickle age. +By me they nothing gain, and, 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. +All these and more we hazard by thy stay; +All these are saved if thou wilt fly away. + +JOHN TALBOT +The sword of Orleance hath not made me smart; +These words of yours draw lifeblood from my heart. +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, +An 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. + +TALBOT +Then follow thou thy desp'rate sire of Crete, +Thou Icarus; thy life to me is sweet. +If thou wilt fight, fight by thy father's side, +And commendable proved, let's die in pride. +[They exit.] + +Scene 7 +======= +[Alarum. Excursions. Enter old Talbot +led by a Servant.] + + +TALBOT +Where is my other life? Mine own is gone. +O, where's young Talbot? Where is valiant John? +Triumphant Death, smeared with captivity, +Young Talbot's valor makes me smile at thee. +When he perceived me shrink and on my knee, +His bloody sword he brandished 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 assailed of none, +Dizzy-eyed 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 over-mounting spirit; and there died +My Icarus, my blossom, in his pride. + +[Enter Soldiers with John Talbot, borne.] + + +SERVINGMAN +O, my dear lord, lo where your son is borne! + +TALBOT +Thou antic Death, which laugh'st us here to scorn, +Anon from thy insulting tyranny, +Coupled in bonds of perpetuity, +Two Talbots, winged through the lither sky, +In thy despite shall scape mortality.-- +O, thou whose wounds become hard-favored Death, +Speak to thy father ere thou yield thy breath! +Brave Death by speaking, whither he will or no. +Imagine him a Frenchman and thy foe.-- +Poor boy, he smiles, methinks, as who should say +"Had Death been French, then Death had died +today."-- +Come, come, and lay him in his father's arms; +My spirit can no longer bear these harms. +Soldiers, adieu! I have what I would have, +Now my old arms are young John Talbot's grave. +[Dies.] +[Alarums. Soldiers exit.] + +[Enter Charles, Alanson, Burgundy, Bastard, +and Pucelle, with Forces.] + + +CHARLES +Had York and Somerset brought rescue in, +We should have found a bloody day of this. + +BASTARD +How the young whelp of Talbot's, raging wood, +Did flesh his puny sword in Frenchmen's blood! + +PUCELLE +Once I encountered him, and thus I said: +"Thou maiden youth, be vanquished by a maid." +But with a proud majestical high scorn +He answered thus: "Young Talbot was not born +To be the pillage of a giglot wench." +So, rushing in the bowels of the French, +He left me proudly, as unworthy fight. + +BURGUNDY +Doubtless he would have made a noble knight. +See where he lies inhearsed in the arms +Of the most bloody nurser of his harms. + +BASTARD +Hew them to pieces, hack their bones asunder, +Whose life was England's glory, Gallia's wonder. + +CHARLES +O, no, forbear! For that which we have fled +During the life, let us not wrong it dead. + +[Enter Lucy with Attendants and a French Herald.] + + +LUCY +Herald, conduct me to the Dauphin's tent, +To know who hath obtained the glory of the day. + +CHARLES +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. + +CHARLES +For prisoners askst thou? Hell our prison is. +But tell me whom thou seek'st. + +LUCY +But where's the great Alcides of the field, +Valiant Lord Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury, +Created for his rare success in arms +Great Earl of Washford, Waterford, and Valence, +Lord Talbot of Goodrich and Urchinfield, +Lord Strange of Blackmere, Lord Verdon of Alton, +Lord Cromwell of Wingfield, Lord Furnival of +Sheffield, +The thrice victorious Lord of Falconbridge, +Knight of the noble Order of Saint George, +Worthy Saint Michael, and the Golden Fleece, +Great Marshal to Henry the Sixth +Of all his wars within the realm of France? + +PUCELLE +Here's a silly stately style indeed. +The Turk, that two-and-fifty kingdoms hath, +Writes not so tedious a style as this. +Him that thou magnifi'st with all these titles +Stinking and flyblown lies here at our feet. + +LUCY +Is Talbot slain, the Frenchmen's only scourge, +Your kingdom's terror and black Nemesis? +O, were mine eyeballs into bullets turned +That I in rage might shoot them at your faces! +O, that I could but call these dead to life, +It were enough to fright the realm of France. +Were but his picture left amongst you here, +It would amaze the proudest of you all. +Give me their bodies, that I may bear them hence +And give them burial as beseems their worth. + +PUCELLE +I think this upstart is old Talbot's ghost, +He speaks with such a proud commanding spirit. +For God's sake, let him have him. To keep them here, +They would but stink and putrefy the air. + +CHARLES +Go, take their bodies hence. + +LUCY I'll bear them hence. +But from their ashes shall be reared +A phoenix that shall make all France afeard. + +CHARLES +So we be rid of them, do with him what thou wilt. +[Lucy, Servant, and Attendants exit, +bearing the bodies.] +And now to Paris in this conquering vein. +All will be ours, now bloody Talbot's slain. +[They exit.] + + +ACT 5 +===== + +Scene 1 +======= +[Sennet. Enter King, Gloucester, and Exeter, +with Attendants.] + + +KING HENRY, [to Gloucester] +Have you perused the letters from the Pope, +The Emperor, and the Earl of Armagnac? + +GLOUCESTER +I have, my lord, and their intent is this: +They humbly sue unto your Excellence +To have a godly peace concluded of +Between the realms of England and of France. + +KING HENRY +How doth your Grace affect their motion? + +GLOUCESTER +Well, my good lord, and as the only means +To stop effusion of our Christian blood +And stablish quietness on every side. + +KING HENRY +Ay, marry, uncle, for I always thought +It was both impious and unnatural +That such immanity and bloody strife +Should reign among professors of one faith. + +GLOUCESTER +Besides, 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. + +KING HENRY +Marriage, uncle? Alas, my years are young; +And fitter is my study and my books +Than wanton dalliance with a paramour. +Yet call th' Ambassadors and, as you please, +So let them have their answers every one. +[An Attendant exits.] +I shall be well content with any choice +Tends to God's glory and my country's weal. + +[Enter Winchester, dressed in cardinal's robes, +and the Ambassador of Armagnac, a Papal Legate, +and another Ambassador.] + + +EXETER, [aside] +What, is my Lord of Winchester installed +And called 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 coequal with the crown." + +KING HENRY +My Lords Ambassadors, your several suits +Have been considered and debated on; +Your purpose is both good and reasonable, +And therefore are we certainly resolved +To draw conditions of a friendly peace, +Which by my Lord of Winchester we mean +Shall be transported presently to France. + +GLOUCESTER, [to the Ambassador of Armagnac] +And for the proffer of my lord your master, +I have informed 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. + +KING HENRY, [handing a jewel to the Ambassador] +In argument and proof of which contract, +Bear her this jewel, pledge of my affection.-- +And so, my Lord Protector, see them guarded +And safely brought to Dover, where, inshipped, +Commit them to the fortune of the sea. +[All except Winchester and Legate exit.] + +WINCHESTER +Stay, my Lord Legate; you shall first receive +The sum of money which I promised +Should be delivered to his Holiness +For clothing me in these grave ornaments. + +LEGATE +I will attend upon your Lordship's leisure. [He exits.] + +WINCHESTER +Now Winchester will not submit, I trow, +Or be inferior to the proudest peer. +Humphrey of Gloucester, 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. +[He exits.] + +Scene 2 +======= +[Enter Charles, Burgundy, Alanson, Bastard, +Reignier, and Joan la Pucelle, with Soldiers.] + + +CHARLES +These news, my lords, may cheer our drooping spirits: +'Tis said the stout Parisians do revolt +And turn again unto the warlike French. + +ALANSON +Then march to Paris, royal Charles of France, +And keep not back your powers in dalliance. + +PUCELLE +Peace be amongst them if they turn to us; +Else ruin combat with their palaces! + +[Enter Scout.] + + +SCOUT +Success unto our valiant general, +And happiness to his accomplices. + +CHARLES +What tidings send our scouts? I prithee speak. + +SCOUT +The English army that divided was +Into two parties is now conjoined in one, +And means to give you battle presently. + +CHARLES +Somewhat too sudden, sirs, the warning is, +But we will presently provide for them. + +BURGUNDY +I trust the ghost of Talbot is not there. +Now he is gone, my lord, you need not fear. + +PUCELLE +Of all base passions, fear is most accursed. +Command the conquest, Charles, it shall be thine; +Let Henry fret and all the world repine. + +CHARLES +Then on, my lords, and France be fortunate! +[They exit.] + +Scene 3 +======= +[Alarum. Excursions. Enter Joan la Pucelle.] + + +PUCELLE +The Regent conquers and the Frenchmen fly. +Now help, you charming spells and periapts, +And you choice spirits that admonish me, +And give me signs of future accidents. [Thunder.] +You speedy helpers, that are substitutes +Under the lordly monarch of the north, +Appear, and aid me in this enterprise. + +[Enter Fiends.] + +This speed and quick appearance argues proof +Of your accustomed diligence to me. +Now, you familiar spirits that are culled +Out of the powerful regions under earth, +Help me this once, that France may get the field. +[They walk, and speak not.] +O, hold me not with silence overlong! +Where I was wont to feed you with my blood, +I'll lop a member off and give it you +In earnest of a further benefit, +So you do condescend to help me now. +[They hang their heads.] +No hope to have redress? My body shall +Pay recompense if you will grant my suit. +[They shake their heads.] +Cannot my body nor blood-sacrifice +Entreat you to your wonted furtherance? +Then take my soul--my body, soul, and all-- +Before that England give the French the foil. +[They depart.] +See, they forsake me. Now the time is come +That France must vail her lofty-plumed crest +And let her head fall into England's lap. +My ancient incantations are too weak, +And hell too strong for me to buckle with. +Now, France, thy glory droopeth to the dust. +[She exits.] + +[Excursions. Burgundy and York fight hand to hand. +Burgundy and the French fly as York and English +soldiers capture Joan la Pucelle.] + + +YORK +Damsel of France, I think I have you fast. +Unchain your spirits now with spelling charms, +And try if they can gain your liberty. +A goodly prize, fit for the devil's grace! +See how the ugly witch doth bend her brows +As if with Circe she would change my shape. + +PUCELLE +Changed to a worser shape thou canst not be. + +YORK +O, Charles the Dauphin is a proper man; +No shape but his can please your dainty eye. + +PUCELLE +A plaguing mischief light on Charles and thee, +And may you both be suddenly surprised +By bloody hands in sleeping on your beds! + +YORK +Fell banning hag! Enchantress, hold thy tongue. + +PUCELLE +I prithee give me leave to curse awhile. + +YORK +Curse, miscreant, when thou com'st to the stake. +[They exit.] + +[Alarum. Enter Suffolk with Margaret in his hand.] + + +SUFFOLK +Be what thou wilt, thou art my prisoner. +[Gazes on her.] +O fairest beauty, do not fear nor fly, +For I will touch thee but with reverent hands. +I kiss these fingers for eternal peace +And lay them gently on thy tender side. +Who art thou? Say, that I may honor thee. + +MARGARET +Margaret my name, and daughter to a king, +The King of Naples, whosoe'er thou art. + +SUFFOLK +An earl I am, and Suffolk am I called. +Be not offended, nature's miracle; +Thou art allotted to be ta'en by me. +So doth the swan her downy cygnets save, +Keeping them prisoner underneath her wings. +Yet if this servile usage once offend, +Go and be free again as Suffolk's friend. +[She is going.] +O, stay! [(Aside.)] I have no power to let her pass. +My hand would free her, but my heart says no. +As plays the sun upon the glassy streams, +Twinkling another counterfeited beam, +So seems this gorgeous beauty to mine eyes. +Fain would I woo her, yet I dare not speak. +I'll call for pen and ink and write my mind. +Fie, de la Pole, disable not thyself! +Hast not a tongue? Is she not here? +Wilt thou be daunted at a woman's sight? +Ay. Beauty's princely majesty is such +Confounds the tongue and makes the senses rough. + +MARGARET +Say, Earl of Suffolk, if thy name be so, +What ransom must I pay before I pass? +For I perceive I am thy prisoner. + +SUFFOLK, [aside] +How canst thou tell she will deny thy suit +Before thou make a trial of her love? + +MARGARET +Why speak'st thou not? What ransom must I pay? + +SUFFOLK, [aside] +She's beautiful, and therefore to be wooed; +She is a woman, therefore to be won. + +MARGARET +Wilt thou accept of ransom, yea or no? + +SUFFOLK, [aside] +Fond man, remember that thou hast a wife; +Then how can Margaret be thy paramour? + +MARGARET, [aside] +I were best to leave him, for he will not hear. + +SUFFOLK, [aside] +There all is marred; there lies a cooling card. + +MARGARET, [aside] +He talks at random; sure the man is mad. + +SUFFOLK, [aside] +And yet a dispensation may be had. + +MARGARET +And yet I would that you would answer me. + +SUFFOLK, [aside] +I'll win this Lady Margaret. For whom? +Why, for my king. Tush, that's a wooden thing! + +MARGARET, [aside] +He talks of wood. It is some carpenter. + +SUFFOLK, [aside] +Yet so my fancy may be satisfied, +And peace established between these realms. +But there remains a scruple in that, too; +For though her father be the King of Naples, +Duke of Anjou and Maine, yet is he poor, +And our nobility will scorn the match. + +MARGARET +Hear you, captain? Are you not at leisure? + +SUFFOLK, [aside] +It shall be so, disdain they ne'er so much. +Henry is youthful, and will quickly yield.-- +Madam, I have a secret to reveal. + +MARGARET, [aside] +What though I be enthralled, he seems a knight, +And will not any way dishonor me. + +SUFFOLK +Lady, vouchsafe to listen what I say. + +MARGARET, [aside] +Perhaps I shall be rescued by the French, +And then I need not crave his courtesy. + +SUFFOLK +Sweet madam, give me hearing in a cause. + +MARGARET, [aside] +Tush, women have been captivate ere now. + +SUFFOLK +Lady, wherefore talk you so? + +MARGARET +I cry you mercy, 'tis but quid for quo. + +SUFFOLK +Say, gentle princess, would you not suppose +Your bondage happy, to be made a queen? + +MARGARET +To be a queen in bondage is more vile +Than is a slave in base servility, +For princes should be free. + +SUFFOLK And so shall you, +If happy England's royal king be free. + +MARGARET +Why, what concerns his freedom unto me? + +SUFFOLK +I'll undertake to make thee Henry's queen, +To put a golden scepter in thy hand +And set a precious crown upon thy head, +If thou wilt condescend to be my-- + +MARGARET What? + +SUFFOLK His love. + +MARGARET +I am unworthy to be Henry's wife. + +SUFFOLK +No, gentle madam, I unworthy am +To woo so fair a dame to be his wife, +And have no portion in the choice myself. +How say you, madam? Are you so content? + +MARGARET +An if my father please, I am content. + +SUFFOLK +Then call our captains and our colors forth! +[A Soldier exits.] +And, madam, at your father's castle walls +We'll crave a parley to confer with him. + +[Enter Captains and Trumpets. Sound a parley.] +[Enter Reignier on the walls.] + +See, Reignier, see thy daughter prisoner! + +REIGNIER +To whom? + +SUFFOLK To me. + +REIGNIER Suffolk, what remedy? +I am a soldier and unapt to weep +Or to exclaim on Fortune's fickleness. + +SUFFOLK +Yes, there is remedy enough, my lord: +Consent, and, for thy Honor give consent, +Thy daughter shall be wedded to my king, +Whom I with pain have wooed and won thereto; +And this her easy-held imprisonment +Hath gained thy daughter princely liberty. + +REIGNIER +Speaks Suffolk as he thinks? + +SUFFOLK Fair Margaret knows +That Suffolk doth not flatter, face, or feign. + +REIGNIER +Upon thy princely warrant, I descend +To give thee answer of thy just demand. +[He exits from the walls.] + +SUFFOLK +And here I will expect thy coming. + +[Trumpets sound. Enter Reignier, below.] + + +REIGNIER +Welcome, brave earl, into our territories. +Command in Anjou what your Honor pleases. + +SUFFOLK +Thanks, Reignier, happy for so sweet a child, +Fit to be made companion with a king. +What answer makes your Grace unto my suit? + +REIGNIER +Since thou dost deign to woo her little worth +To be the princely bride of such a lord, +Upon condition I may quietly +Enjoy mine own, the country Maine and Anjou, +Free from oppression or the stroke of war, +My daughter shall be Henry's, if he please. + +SUFFOLK +That is her ransom; I deliver her, +And those two counties I will undertake +Your Grace shall well and quietly enjoy. + +REIGNIER +And I, again in Henry's royal name +As deputy unto that gracious king, +Give thee her hand for sign of plighted faith. + +SUFFOLK +Reignier of France, I give thee kingly thanks +Because this is in traffic of a king. +[Aside.] And yet methinks I could be well content +To be mine own attorney in this case.-- +I'll over then to England with this news, +And make this marriage to be solemnized. +So farewell, Reignier; set this diamond safe +In golden palaces, as it becomes. + +REIGNIER, [embracing Suffolk] +I do embrace thee, as I would embrace +The Christian prince King Henry, were he here. + +MARGARET, [to Suffolk] +Farewell, my lord; good wishes, praise, and prayers +Shall Suffolk ever have of Margaret. +[She is going, as Reignier exits.] + +SUFFOLK +Farewell, sweet madam. But, hark you, Margaret, +No princely commendations to my king? + +MARGARET +Such commendations as becomes a maid, +A virgin, and his servant, say to him. + +SUFFOLK +Words sweetly placed and modestly directed. +But, madam, I must trouble you again: +No loving token to his Majesty? + +MARGARET +Yes, my good lord: a pure unspotted heart, +Never yet taint with love, I send the King. + +SUFFOLK And this withal. [Kiss her.] + +MARGARET +That for thyself. I will not so presume +To send such peevish tokens to a king. [She exits.] + +SUFFOLK +O, wert thou for myself! But, Suffolk, stay. +Thou mayst not wander in that labyrinth. +There Minotaurs and ugly treasons lurk. +Solicit Henry with her wondrous praise; +Bethink thee on her virtues that surmount +And natural graces that extinguish art; +Repeat their semblance often on the seas, +That, when thou com'st to kneel at Henry's feet, +Thou mayst bereave him of his wits with wonder. +[He exits.] + +Scene 4 +======= +[Enter York, Warwick, Shepherd, +and Pucelle, guarded.] + + +YORK +Bring forth that sorceress condemned to burn. + +SHEPHERD +Ah, Joan, this kills thy father's heart outright. +Have I sought every country far and near, +And, now it is my chance to find thee out, +Must I behold thy timeless cruel death? +Ah, Joan, sweet daughter Joan, I'll die with thee. + +PUCELLE +Decrepit miser, base ignoble wretch! +I am descended of a gentler blood. +Thou art no father nor no friend of mine. + +SHEPHERD +Out, out!--My lords, an please you, 'tis not so! +I did beget her, all the parish knows; +Her mother liveth yet, can testify +She was the first fruit of my bach'lorship. + +WARWICK +Graceless, wilt thou deny thy parentage? + +YORK +This argues what her kind of life hath been, +Wicked and vile; and so her death concludes. + +SHEPHERD +Fie, Joan, that thou wilt be so obstacle! +God knows thou art a collop of my flesh, +And for thy sake have I shed many a tear. +Deny me not, I prithee, gentle Joan. + +PUCELLE +Peasant, avaunt!--You have suborned this man +Of purpose to obscure my noble birth. + +SHEPHERD +'Tis true, I gave a noble to the priest +The morn that I was wedded to her mother.-- +Kneel down and take my blessing, good my girl. +Wilt thou not stoop? Now cursed be the time +Of thy nativity! I would the milk +Thy mother gave thee when thou suck'dst her +breast +Had been a little ratsbane for thy sake! +Or else, when thou didst keep my lambs afield, +I wish some ravenous wolf had eaten thee! +Dost thou deny thy father, cursed drab? +O burn her, burn her! Hanging is too good. [He exits.] + +YORK +Take her away, for she hath lived too long +To fill the world with vicious qualities. + +PUCELLE +First, let me tell you whom you have condemned: +Not one begotten of a shepherd swain, +But issued from the progeny of kings, +Virtuous and holy, chosen from above +By inspiration of celestial grace +To work exceeding miracles on earth. +I never had to do with wicked spirits. +But you, that are polluted with your lusts, +Stained with the guiltless blood of innocents, +Corrupt and tainted with a thousand vices, +Because you want the grace that others have, +You judge it straight a thing impossible +To compass wonders but by help of devils. +No, misconceived! Joan of Arc hath been +A virgin from her tender infancy, +Chaste and immaculate in very thought, +Whose maiden blood, thus rigorously effused, +Will cry for vengeance at the gates of heaven. + +YORK +Ay, ay.--Away with her to execution. + +WARWICK +And hark you, sirs: because she is a maid, +Spare for no faggots; let there be enow. +Place barrels of pitch upon the fatal stake +That so her torture may be shortened. + +PUCELLE +Will nothing turn your unrelenting hearts? +Then, Joan, discover thine infirmity, +That warranteth by law to be thy privilege: +I am with child, you bloody homicides. +Murder not then the fruit within my womb, +Although you hale me to a violent death. + +YORK +Now heaven forfend, the holy maid with child? + +WARWICK, [to Pucelle] +The greatest miracle that e'er you wrought! +Is all your strict preciseness come to this? + +YORK +She and the Dauphin have been juggling. +I did imagine what would be her refuge. + +WARWICK +Well, go to, we'll have no bastards live, +Especially since Charles must father it. + +PUCELLE +You are deceived; my child is none of his. +It was Alanson that enjoyed my love. + +YORK +Alanson, that notorious Machiavel? +It dies an if it had a thousand lives! + +PUCELLE +O, give me leave! I have deluded you. +'Twas neither Charles nor yet the Duke I named, +But Reignier, King of Naples, that prevailed. + +WARWICK +A married man? That's most intolerable. + +YORK +Why, here's a girl! I think she knows not well-- +There were so many--whom she may accuse. + +WARWICK +It's sign she hath been liberal and free. + +YORK +And yet, forsooth, she is a virgin pure!-- +Strumpet, thy words condemn thy brat and thee. +Use no entreaty, for it is in vain. + +PUCELLE +Then lead me hence, with whom I leave my curse: +May never glorious sun reflex his beams +Upon the country where you make abode, +But darkness and the gloomy shade of death +Environ you, till mischief and despair +Drive you to break your necks or hang yourselves. +[She exits, led by Guards.] + +YORK +Break thou in pieces, and consume to ashes, +Thou foul accursed minister of hell! + +[Enter Winchester, as Cardinal.] + + +WINCHESTER +Lord Regent, I do greet your Excellence +With letters of commission from the King. +For know, my lords, the states of Christendom, +Moved with remorse of these outrageous broils, +Have earnestly implored a general peace +Betwixt our nation and the aspiring French; +And here at hand the Dauphin and his train +Approacheth to confer about some matter. + +YORK +Is all our travail turned to this effect? +After the slaughter of so many peers, +So many captains, gentlemen, and soldiers +That in this quarrel have been overthrown +And sold their bodies for their country's benefit, +Shall we at last conclude effeminate peace? +Have we not lost most part of all the towns-- +By treason, falsehood, and by treachery-- +Our great progenitors had conquered? +O, Warwick, Warwick, I foresee with grief +The utter loss of all the realm of France! + +WARWICK +Be patient, York; if we conclude a peace +It shall be with such strict and severe covenants +As little shall the Frenchmen gain thereby. + +[Enter Charles, Alanson, Bastard, +Reignier, with Attendants.] + + +CHARLES +Since, lords of England, it is thus agreed +That peaceful truce shall be proclaimed in France, +We come to be informed by yourselves +What the conditions of that league must be. + +YORK +Speak, Winchester, for boiling choler chokes +The hollow passage of my poisoned voice +By sight of these our baleful enemies. + +WINCHESTER +Charles and the rest, it is enacted thus: +That, in regard King Henry gives consent, +Of mere compassion and of lenity, +To ease your country of distressful war +And suffer you to breathe in fruitful peace, +You shall become true liegemen to his crown. +And, Charles, upon condition thou wilt swear +To pay him tribute and submit thyself, +Thou shalt be placed as viceroy under him, +And still enjoy thy regal dignity. + +ALANSON +Must he be then as shadow of himself-- +Adorn his temples with a coronet, +And yet, in substance and authority, +Retain but privilege of a private man? +This proffer is absurd and reasonless. + +CHARLES +'Tis known already that I am possessed +With more than half the Gallian territories, +And therein reverenced for their lawful king. +Shall I, for lucre of the rest unvanquished, +Detract so much from that prerogative +As to be called but viceroy of the whole? +No, lord ambassador, I'll rather keep +That which I have than, coveting for more, +Be cast from possibility of all. + +YORK +Insulting Charles, hast thou by secret means +Used intercession to obtain a league +And, now the matter grows to compromise, +Stand'st thou aloof upon comparison? +Either accept the title thou usurp'st, +Of benefit proceeding from our king +And not of any challenge of desert, +Or we will plague thee with incessant wars. + +REIGNIER, [aside to Charles] +My lord, you do not well in obstinacy +To cavil in the course of this contract. +If once it be neglected, ten to one +We shall not find like opportunity. + +ALANSON, [aside to Charles] +To say the truth, it is your policy +To save your subjects from such massacre +And ruthless slaughters as are daily seen +By our proceeding in hostility; +And therefore take this compact of a truce +Although you break it when your pleasure serves. + +WARWICK +How say'st thou, Charles? Shall our condition stand? + +CHARLES +It shall--only reserved you claim no interest +In any of our towns of garrison. + +YORK +Then swear allegiance to his Majesty, +As thou art knight, never to disobey +Nor be rebellious to the crown of England, +Thou nor thy nobles, to the crown of England. +[Charles, Alanson, Bastard, and Reignier +swear allegiance to Henry.] +So, now dismiss your army when you please; +Hang up your ensigns, let your drums be still, +For here we entertain a solemn peace. +[They exit.] + +Scene 5 +======= +[Enter Suffolk in conference with the King, +Gloucester, and Exeter, with Attendants.] + + +KING HENRY +Your wondrous rare description, noble earl, +Of beauteous Margaret hath astonished me. +Her virtues graced with external gifts +Do breed love's settled passions in my heart, +And like as rigor of tempestuous gusts +Provokes the mightiest hulk against the tide, +So am I driven by breath of her renown +Either to suffer shipwrack, or arrive +Where I may have fruition of her love. + +SUFFOLK +Tush, my good lord, this superficial tale +Is but a preface of her worthy praise. +The chief perfections of that lovely dame, +Had I sufficient skill to utter them, +Would make a volume of enticing lines +Able to ravish any dull conceit; +And, which is more, she is not so divine, +So full replete with choice of all delights, +But with as humble lowliness of mind +She is content to be at your command-- +Command, I mean, of virtuous chaste intents-- +To love and honor Henry as her lord. + +KING HENRY +And otherwise will Henry ne'er presume.-- +Therefore, my Lord Protector, give consent +That Margaret may be England's royal queen. + +GLOUCESTER +So should I give consent to flatter sin. +You know, my lord, your Highness is betrothed +Unto another lady of esteem. +How shall we then dispense with that contract +And not deface your honor with reproach? + +SUFFOLK +As doth a ruler with unlawful oaths; +Or one that, at a triumph having vowed +To try his strength, forsaketh yet the lists +By reason of his adversary's odds. +A poor earl's daughter is unequal odds, +And therefore may be broke without offense. + +GLOUCESTER +Why, what, I pray, is Margaret more than that? +Her father is no better than an earl, +Although in glorious titles he excel. + +SUFFOLK +Yes, my lord, her father is a king, +The King of Naples and Jerusalem, +And of such great authority in France +As his alliance will confirm our peace, +And keep the Frenchmen in allegiance. + +GLOUCESTER +And so the Earl of Armagnac may do, +Because he is near kinsman unto Charles. + +EXETER +Besides, his wealth doth warrant a liberal dower, +Where Reignier sooner will receive than give. + +SUFFOLK +A dower, my lords? Disgrace not so your king +That he should be so abject, base, and poor, +To choose for wealth and not for perfect love. +Henry is able to enrich his queen, +And not to seek a queen to make him rich; +So worthless peasants bargain for their wives, +As market men for oxen, sheep, or horse. +Marriage is a matter of more worth +Than to be dealt in by attorneyship. +Not whom we will, but whom his Grace affects, +Must be companion of his nuptial bed. +And therefore, lords, since he affects her most, +Most of all these reasons bindeth us +In our opinions she should be preferred. +For what is wedlock forced but a hell, +An age of discord and continual strife? +Whereas the contrary bringeth bliss +And is a pattern of celestial peace. +Whom should we match with Henry, being a king, +But Margaret, that is daughter to a king? +Her peerless feature, joined with her birth, +Approves her fit for none but for a king. +Her valiant courage and undaunted spirit, +More than in women commonly is seen, +Will answer our hope in issue of a king. +For Henry, son unto a conqueror, +Is likely to beget more conquerors, +If with a lady of so high resolve +As is fair Margaret he be linked in love. +Then yield, my lords, and here conclude with me +That Margaret shall be queen, and none but she. + +KING HENRY +Whether it be through force of your report, +My noble Lord of Suffolk, or for that +My tender youth was never yet attaint +With any passion of inflaming love, +I cannot tell; but this I am assured: +I feel such sharp dissension in my breast, +Such fierce alarums both of hope and fear, +As I am sick with working of my thoughts. +Take therefore shipping; post, my lord, to France; +Agree to any covenants, and procure +That Lady Margaret do vouchsafe to come +To cross the seas to England and be crowned +King Henry's faithful and anointed queen. +For your expenses and sufficient charge, +Among the people gather up a tenth. +Be gone, I say, for till you do return, +I rest perplexed with a thousand cares.-- +And you, good uncle, banish all offense. +If you do censure me by what you were, +Not what you are, I know it will excuse +This sudden execution of my will. +And so conduct me where, from company, +I may revolve and ruminate my grief. +[He exits with Attendants.] + +GLOUCESTER +Ay, grief, I fear me, both at first and last. +[Gloucester exits with Exeter.] + +SUFFOLK +Thus Suffolk hath prevailed, and thus he goes +As did the youthful Paris once to Greece, +With hope to find the like event in love, +But prosper better than the Trojan did. +Margaret shall now be queen, and rule the King, +But I will rule both her, the King, and realm. +[He exits.] \ No newline at end of file