Henry VI, Part 1 - Entire Play
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Henry VI, Part 1 - Entire PlaySynopsis:
With an underage boy now king of England, Henry VI, Part 1, depicts the collapse of England’s role in France, as English nobles fight each other instead of the French and as Joan la Pucelle (Joan of Arc) brings military strength to the French army. The English hero Lord Talbot attacks Orleans, but is defeated by Joan.
In England, Gloucester, Henry VI’s Protector, and Gloucester’s rival Winchester encourage their followers to attack each other in the streets. Richard Plantagenet (later the Duke of York) and Somerset are equally antagonistic, with their followers signaling their allegiance by wearing white or red roses.
Henry VI is crowned in Paris, and orders York and Somerset to fight the French instead of each other. As they squabble, French forces kill Talbot and his son. The English army captures and executes Joan. Suffolk arranges a marriage between Henry and Margaret, daughter of the king of Naples, in order to keep her near him and give him, through her, control of England.
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
0001 Hung be the heavens with black, yield day to night!
0002 Comets, importing change of times and states,
0003 Brandish your crystal tresses in the sky,
0004 And with them scourge the bad revolting stars
0005 5 That have consented unto Henry’s death:
0006 King Henry the Fifth, too famous to live long.
0007 England ne’er lost a king of so much worth.
GLOUCESTER
0008 England ne’er had a king until his time.
0009 Virtue he had, deserving to command;
0010 10 His brandished sword did blind men with his beams;
0011 His arms spread wider than a dragon’s wings;
0012 His sparkling eyes, replete with wrathful fire,
0013 More dazzled and drove back his enemies
0014 Than midday sun fierce bent against their faces.
0015 15 What should I say? His deeds exceed all speech.
0016 He ne’er lift up his hand but conquerèd.
EXETER
0017 We mourn in black; why mourn we not in blood?
0018 Henry is dead and never shall revive.
0019 Upon a wooden coffin we attend,
0020 20 And Death’s dishonorable victory
0022 Like captives bound to a triumphant car.
0023 What? Shall we curse the planets of mishap
0024 That plotted thus our glory’s overthrow?
0025 25 Or shall we think the subtle-witted French
0026 Conjurers and sorcerers, that, afraid of him,
0027 By magic verses have contrived his end?
WINCHESTER
0028 He was a king blest of the King of kings;
0029 Unto the French the dreadful Judgment Day
0030 30 So dreadful will not be as was his sight.
0031 The battles of the Lord of Hosts he fought;
0032 The Church’s prayers made him so prosperous.
GLOUCESTER
0033 The Church? Where is it? Had not churchmen prayed,
0034 His thread of life had not so soon decayed.
0035 35 None do you like but an effeminate prince
0036 Whom like a schoolboy you may overawe.
WINCHESTER
0037 Gloucester, whate’er we like, thou art Protector
0038 And lookest to command the Prince and realm.
0039 Thy wife is proud; she holdeth thee in awe
0040 40 More than God or religious churchmen may.
GLOUCESTER
0041 Name not religion, for thou lov’st the flesh,
0042 And ne’er throughout the year to church thou go’st,
0043 Except it be to pray against thy foes.
BEDFORD
0044 Cease, cease these jars, and rest your minds in peace!
0045 45 Let’s to the altar.—Heralds, wait on us.—
0046 Instead of gold, we’ll offer up our arms,
0047 Since arms avail not, now that Henry’s dead.
0048 Posterity, await for wretched years
0049 When at their mothers’ moistened eyes babes shall
0050 50 suck,
0052 And none but women left to wail the dead.
0053 Henry the Fifth, thy ghost I invocate:
0054 Prosper this realm, keep it from civil broils,
0055 55 Combat with adverse planets in the heavens.
0056 A far more glorious star thy soul will make
0057 Than Julius Caesar or bright—
Enter a Messenger.
MESSENGER
0058 My honorable lords, health to you all.
0059 Sad tidings bring I to you out of France,
0060 60 Of loss, of slaughter, and discomfiture:
0061 Guyen, Champaigne, Rheims, ⌜Roan,⌝ Orleance,
0062 Paris, Gisors, Poitiers, are all quite lost.
BEDFORD
0063 What say’st thou, man, before dead Henry’s corse?
0064 Speak softly, or the loss of those great towns
0065 65 Will make him burst his lead and rise from death.
GLOUCESTER
0066 Is Paris lost? Is Roan yielded up?
0067 If Henry were recalled to life again,
0068 These news would cause him once more yield the
0069 ghost.
EXETER
0070 70 How were they lost? What treachery was used?
MESSENGER
0071 No treachery, but want of men and money.
0072 Amongst the soldiers, this is mutterèd:
0073 That here you maintain several factions
0074 And, whilst a field should be dispatched and fought,
0075 75 You are disputing of your generals.
0076 One would have ling’ring wars with little cost;
0077 Another would fly swift, but wanteth wings;
0078 A third thinks, without expense at all,
0080 80 Awake, awake, English nobility!
0081 Let not sloth dim your honors new begot.
0082 Cropped are the flower-de-luces in your arms;
0083 Of England’s coat, one half is cut away.⌜He exits.⌝
EXETER
0084 Were our tears wanting to this funeral,
0085 85 These tidings would call forth her flowing tides.
BEDFORD
0086 Me they concern; regent I am of France.
0087 Give me my steelèd coat, I’ll fight for France.
0088 Away with these disgraceful wailing robes.
0089 Wounds will I lend the French instead of eyes
0090 90 To weep their intermissive miseries.
Enter to them another Messenger, ⌜with papers.⌝
SECOND MESSENGER
0091 Lords, view these letters, full of bad mischance.
0092 France is revolted from the English quite,
0093 Except some petty towns of no import.
0094 The Dauphin Charles is crownèd king in Rheims;
0095 95 The Bastard of Orleance with him is joined;
0096 Reignier, Duke of Anjou, doth take his part;
0097 The Duke of Alanson flieth to his side.He exits.
EXETER
0098 The Dauphin crownèd king? All fly to him?
0099 O, whither shall we fly from this reproach?
GLOUCESTER
0100 100 We will not fly but to our enemies’ throats.—
0101 Bedford, if thou be slack, I’ll fight it out.
BEDFORD
0102 Gloucester, why doubt’st thou of my forwardness?
0103 An army have I mustered in my thoughts,
0104 Wherewith already France is overrun.
Enter another Messenger.
0105 105 My gracious lords, to add to your laments,
0106 Wherewith you now bedew King Henry’s hearse,
0107 I must inform you of a dismal fight
0108 Betwixt the stout Lord Talbot and the French.
WINCHESTER
0109 What? Wherein Talbot overcame, is ’t so?
THIRD MESSENGER
0110 110 O no, wherein Lord Talbot was o’erthrown.
0111 The circumstance I’ll tell you more at large.
0112 The tenth of August last, this dreadful lord,
0113 Retiring from the siege of Orleance,
0114 Having full scarce six thousand in his troop,
0115 115 By three and twenty thousand of the French
0116 Was round encompassèd and set upon.
0117 No leisure had he to enrank his men.
0118 He wanted pikes to set before his archers,
0119 Instead whereof, sharp stakes plucked out of hedges
0120 120 They pitchèd in the ground confusedly
0121 To keep the horsemen off from breaking in.
0122 More than three hours the fight continuèd,
0123 Where valiant Talbot, above human thought,
0124 Enacted wonders with his sword and lance.
0125 125 Hundreds he sent to hell, and none durst stand him;
0126 Here, there, and everywhere, enraged, he slew.
0127 The French exclaimed the devil was in arms;
0128 All the whole army stood agazed on him.
0129 His soldiers, spying his undaunted spirit,
0130 130 “À Talbot! À Talbot!” cried out amain
0131 And rushed into the bowels of the battle.
0132 Here had the conquest fully been sealed up
0133 If Sir John Fastolf had not played the coward.
0134 He, being in the vaward, placed behind
0135 135 With purpose to relieve and follow them,
0136 Cowardly fled, not having struck one stroke.
0137 Hence grew the general wrack and massacre.
0139 A base Walloon, to win the Dauphin’s grace,
0140 140 Thrust Talbot with a spear into the back,
0141 Whom all France, with their chief assembled
0142 strength,
0143 Durst not presume to look once in the face.
BEDFORD
0144 Is Talbot slain then? I will slay myself
0145 145 For living idly here, in pomp and ease,
0146 Whilst such a worthy leader, wanting aid,
0147 Unto his dastard foemen is betrayed.
THIRD MESSENGER
0148 O, no, he lives, but is took prisoner,
0149 And Lord Scales with him, and Lord Hungerford;
0150 150 Most of the rest slaughtered or took likewise.
BEDFORD
0151 His ransom there is none but I shall pay.
0152 I’ll hale the Dauphin headlong from his throne;
0153 His crown shall be the ransom of my friend.
0154 Four of their lords I’ll change for one of ours.
0155 155 Farewell, my masters; to my task will I.
0156 Bonfires in France forthwith I am to make,
0157 To keep our great Saint George’s feast withal.
0158 Ten thousand soldiers with me I will take,
0159 Whose bloody deeds shall make all Europe quake.
THIRD MESSENGER
0160 160 So you had need; ’fore Orleance besieged,
0161 The English army is grown weak and faint;
0162 The Earl of Salisbury craveth supply
0163 And hardly keeps his men from mutiny,
0164 Since they so few watch such a multitude.
⌜He exits.⌝
EXETER
0165 165 Remember, lords, your oaths to Henry sworn:
0166 Either to quell the Dauphin utterly
0167 Or bring him in obedience to your yoke.
0168 I do remember it, and here take my leave
0169 To go about my preparation.Bedford exits.
GLOUCESTER
0170 170 I’ll to the Tower with all the haste I can
0171 To view th’ artillery and munition,
0172 And then I will proclaim young Henry king.
Gloucester exits.
EXETER
0173 To Eltham will I, where the young king is,
0174 Being ordained his special governor;
0175 175 And for his safety there I’ll best devise.He exits.
WINCHESTER, ⌜aside⌝
0176 Each hath his place and function to attend.
0177 I am left out; for me nothing remains.
0178 But long I will not be Jack-out-of-office.
0179 The King from Eltham I intend to ⌜steal,⌝
0180 180 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.⌝
Alanson, and Reignier, marching with Drum
and Soldiers.
CHARLES
0181 Mars his true moving, even as in the heavens
0182 So in the Earth, to this day is not known.
0183 Late did he shine upon the English side;
0184 Now we are victors; upon us he smiles.
0185 5 What towns of any moment but we have?
0186 At pleasure here we lie, near Orleance.
0187 Otherwhiles, the famished English, like pale ghosts,
0188 Faintly besiege us one hour in a month.
0189 They want their porridge and their fat bull beeves.
0190 10 Either they must be dieted like mules
0191 And have their provender tied to their mouths,
0192 Or piteous they will look, like drownèd mice.
REIGNIER
0193 Let’s raise the siege. Why live we idly here?
0194 Talbot is taken, whom we wont to fear.
0195 15 Remaineth none but mad-brained Salisbury,
0196 And he may well in fretting spend his gall;
0197 Nor men nor money hath he to make war.
CHARLES
0198 Sound, sound alarum! We will rush on them.
0199 Now for the honor of the forlorn French!
0200 20 Him I forgive my death that killeth me
0201 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
0202 Whoever saw the like? What men have I!
0203 Dogs, cowards, dastards! I would ne’er have fled
0204 But that they left me ’midst my enemies.
REIGNIER
0205 25 Salisbury is a desperate homicide.
0206 He fighteth as one weary of his life.
0207 The other lords, like lions wanting food,
0208 Do rush upon us as their hungry prey.
ALANSON
0209 Froissart, a countryman of ours, records
0210 30 England all Olivers and Rolands ⌜bred⌝
0211 During the time Edward the Third did reign.
0212 More truly now may this be verified,
0213 For none but Samsons and Goliases
0214 It sendeth forth to skirmish. One to ten!
0216 They had such courage and audacity?
CHARLES
0217 Let’s leave this town, for they are hare-brained slaves,
0218 And hunger will enforce them to be more eager.
0219 Of old I know them; rather with their teeth
0220 40 The walls they’ll tear down than forsake the siege.
REIGNIER
0221 I think by some odd gimmers or device
0222 Their arms are set, like clocks, still to strike on;
0223 Else ne’er could they hold out so as they do.
0224 By my consent, we’ll even let them alone.
ALANSON 0225 45Be it so.
Enter the Bastard of Orleance.
BASTARD
0226 Where’s the Prince Dauphin? I have news for him.
CHARLES
0227 Bastard of Orleance, thrice welcome to us.
BASTARD
0228 Methinks your looks are sad, your cheer appalled.
0229 Hath the late overthrow wrought this offence?
0230 50 Be not dismayed, for succor is at hand.
0231 A holy maid hither with me I bring,
0232 Which, by a vision sent to her from heaven,
0233 Ordainèd is to raise this tedious siege
0234 And drive the English forth the bounds of France.
0235 55 The spirit of deep prophecy she hath,
0236 Exceeding the nine Sibyls of old Rome.
0237 What’s past and what’s to come she can descry.
0238 Speak, shall I call her in? Believe my words,
0239 For they are certain and unfallible.
CHARLES
0240 60 Go call her in.⌜Bastard exits.⌝
0241 But first, to try her skill,
0242 Reignier, stand thou as Dauphin in my place;
0244 By this means shall we sound what skill she hath.
Enter ⌜Bastard, with⌝ Joan ⌜la⌝ Pucelle.
REIGNIER, ⌜as Charles⌝
0245 65 Fair maid, is ’t thou wilt do these wondrous feats?
PUCELLE
0246 Reignier, is ’t thou that thinkest to beguile me?
0247 Where is the Dauphin?—Come, come from behind.
0248 I know thee well, though never seen before.
0249 Be not amazed; there’s nothing hid from me.
0250 70 In private will I talk with thee apart.—
0251 Stand back, you lords, and give us leave a while.
REIGNIER
0252 She takes upon her bravely at first dash.
⌜Alanson, Reignier, and Bastard exit.⌝
PUCELLE
0253 Dauphin, I am by birth a shepherd’s daughter,
0254 My wit untrained in any kind of art.
0255 75 Heaven and Our Lady gracious hath it pleased
0256 To shine on my contemptible estate.
0257 Lo, whilst I waited on my tender lambs,
0258 And to sun’s parching heat displayed my cheeks,
0259 God’s Mother deignèd to appear to me,
0260 80 And in a vision full of majesty
0261 Willed me to leave my base vocation
0262 And free my country from calamity.
0263 Her aid she promised and assured success.
0264 In complete glory she revealed herself;
0265 85 And whereas I was black and swart before,
0266 With those clear rays which she infused on me
0267 That beauty am I blest with, which you may see.
0268 Ask me what question thou canst possible,
0269 And I will answer unpremeditated.
0270 90 My courage try by combat, if thou dar’st,
0271 And thou shalt find that I exceed my sex.
0273 If thou receive me for thy warlike mate.
CHARLES
0274 Thou hast astonished me with thy high terms.
0275 95 Only this proof I’ll of thy valor make:
0276 In single combat thou shalt buckle with me,
0277 And if thou vanquishest, thy words are true;
0278 Otherwise I renounce all confidence.
PUCELLE
0279 I am prepared. Here is my keen-edged sword,
0280 100 Decked with fine flower-de-luces on each side—
0281 ⌜Aside.⌝ The which at Touraine, in Saint Katherine’s
0282 churchyard,
0283 Out of a great deal of old iron I chose forth.
CHARLES
0284 Then come, a’ God’s name! I fear no woman.
PUCELLE
0285 105 And while I live, I’ll ne’er fly from a man.
Here they fight, and
Joan ⌜la⌝ Pucelle overcomes.
CHARLES
0286 Stay, stay thy hands! Thou art an Amazon,
0287 And fightest with the sword of Deborah.
PUCELLE
0288 Christ’s mother helps me; else I were too weak.
CHARLES
0289 Whoe’er helps thee, ’tis thou that must help me.
0290 110 Impatiently I burn with thy desire.
0291 My heart and hands thou hast at once subdued.
0292 Excellent Pucelle, if thy name be so,
0293 Let me thy servant and not sovereign be.
0294 ’Tis the French Dauphin sueth to thee thus.
PUCELLE
0295 115 I must not yield to any rights of love,
0296 For my profession’s sacred from above.
0298 Then will I think upon a recompense.
CHARLES
0299 Meantime look gracious on thy prostrate thrall.
⌜Enter Reignier and Alanson.⌝
REIGNIER, ⌜aside to Alanson⌝
0300 120 My lord, methinks, is very long in talk.
ALANSON, ⌜aside to Reignier⌝
0301 Doubtless he shrives this woman to her smock,
0302 Else ne’er could he so long protract his speech.
REIGNIER, ⌜aside to Alanson⌝
0303 Shall we disturb him, since he keeps no mean?
ALANSON, ⌜aside to Reignier⌝
0304 He may mean more than we poor men do know.
0305 125 These women are shrewd tempters with their
0306 tongues.
REIGNIER, ⌜to Charles⌝
0307 My lord, where are you? What devise you on?
0308 Shall we give o’er Orleance, or no?
PUCELLE
0309 Why, no, I say. Distrustful recreants,
0310 130 Fight till the last gasp. I’ll be your guard.
CHARLES
0311 What she says I’ll confirm: we’ll fight it out.
PUCELLE
0312 Assigned am I to be the English scourge.
0313 This night the siege assuredly I’ll raise.
0314 Expect Saint Martin’s summer, halcyons’ days,
0315 135 Since I have enterèd into these wars.
0316 Glory is like a circle in the water,
0317 Which never ceaseth to enlarge itself
0318 Till by broad spreading it disperse to naught.
0319 With Henry’s death, the English circle ends;
0320 140 Dispersèd are the glories it included.
0322 Which Caesar and his fortune bare at once.
CHARLES
0323 Was Mahomet inspirèd with a dove?
0324 Thou with an eagle art inspirèd then.
0325 145 Helen, the mother of great Constantine,
0326 Nor yet Saint Philip’s daughters were like thee.
0327 Bright star of Venus, fall’n down on the Earth,
0328 How may I reverently worship thee enough?
ALANSON
0329 Leave off delays, and let us raise the siege.
REIGNIER
0330 150 Woman, do what thou canst to save our honors.
0331 Drive them from Orleance and be immortalized.
CHARLES
0332 Presently we’ll try. Come, let’s away about it.
0333 No prophet will I trust if she prove false.
They exit.
GLOUCESTER
0334 I am come to survey the Tower this day.
0335 Since Henry’s death I fear there is conveyance.
0336 Where be these warders that they wait not here?—
0337 Open the gates! ’Tis Gloucester that calls.
⌜Servingmen knock at the gate.⌝
FIRST WARDER, ⌜within⌝
0338 5 Who’s there that knocks so imperiously?
FIRST SERVINGMAN
0339 It is the noble Duke of Gloucester.
SECOND WARDER, ⌜within⌝
0340 Whoe’er he be, you may not be let in.
0341 Villains, answer you so the Lord Protector?
FIRST WARDER, ⌜within⌝
0342 The Lord protect him, so we answer him.
0343 10 We do no otherwise than we are willed.
GLOUCESTER
0344 Who willed you? Or whose will stands but mine?
0345 There’s none Protector of the realm but I.—
0346 Break up the gates! I’ll be your warrantize.
0347 Shall I be flouted thus by dunghill grooms?
Gloucester’s men rush at the Tower gates, and
Woodville, the lieutenant, speaks within.
WOODVILLE
0348 15 What noise is this? What traitors have we here?
GLOUCESTER
0349 Lieutenant, is it you whose voice I hear?
0350 Open the gates. Here’s Gloucester that would enter.
WOODVILLE
0351 Have patience, noble duke, I may not open.
0352 The Cardinal of Winchester forbids.
0353 20 From him I have express commandment
0354 That thou nor none of thine shall be let in.
GLOUCESTER
0355 Fainthearted Woodville, prizest him ’fore me?
0356 Arrogant Winchester, that haughty prelate
0357 Whom Henry, our late sovereign, ne’er could brook?
0358 25 Thou art no friend to God or to the King.
0359 Open the gates, or I’ll shut thee out shortly.
SERVINGMEN
0360 Open the gates unto the Lord Protector,
0361 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
0362 How now, ambitious Humphrey, what means this?
0363 30 Peeled priest, dost thou command me to be shut out?
WINCHESTER
0364 I do, thou most usurping proditor—
0365 And not Protector—of the King or realm.
GLOUCESTER
0366 Stand back, thou manifest conspirator,
0367 Thou that contrived’st to murder our dead lord,
0368 35 Thou that giv’st whores indulgences to sin!
0369 I’ll canvass thee in thy broad cardinal’s hat
0370 If thou proceed in this thy insolence.
WINCHESTER
0371 Nay, stand thou back. I will not budge a foot.
0372 This be Damascus; be thou cursèd Cain
0373 40 To slay thy brother Abel, if thou wilt.
GLOUCESTER
0374 I will not slay thee, but I’ll drive thee back.
0375 Thy scarlet robes, as a child’s bearing-cloth,
0376 I’ll use to carry thee out of this place.
WINCHESTER
0377 Do what thou dar’st, I beard thee to thy face.
GLOUCESTER
0378 45 What, am I dared and bearded to my face?—
0379 Draw, men, for all this privilegèd place.
0380 Blue coats to tawny coats!⌜All draw their swords.⌝
0381 Priest, beware your beard.
0382 I mean to tug it and to cuff you soundly.
0383 50 Under my feet ⌜I’ll⌝ stamp thy cardinal’s hat;
0384 In spite of pope or dignities of Church,
0385 Here by the cheeks I’ll drag thee up and down.
WINCHESTER
0386 Gloucester, thou wilt answer this before the Pope.
GLOUCESTER
0387 Winchester goose, I cry “a rope, a rope!”—
0388 55 Now beat them hence; why do you let them stay?—
0390 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
0391 Fie, lords, that you, being supreme magistrates,
0392 Thus contumeliously should break the peace!
GLOUCESTER
0393 60 Peace, Mayor? Thou know’st little of my wrongs.
0394 Here’s Beaufort, that regards nor God nor king,
0395 Hath here distrained the Tower to his use.
WINCHESTER
0396 Here’s Gloucester, a foe to citizens,
0397 One that still motions war and never peace,
0398 65 O’ercharging your free purses with large fines;
0399 That seeks to overthrow religion
0400 Because he is Protector of the realm,
0401 And would have armor here out of the Tower
0402 To crown himself king and suppress the Prince.
GLOUCESTER
0403 70 I will not answer thee with words, but blows.
Here they skirmish again.
MAYOR
0404 Naught rests for me in this tumultuous strife
0405 But to make open proclamation.
0406 Come, officer, as loud as e’er thou canst, cry.
⌜He hands an Officer a paper.⌝
⌜OFFICER reads⌝ 0407 All manner of men, assembled here in
0408 75 arms this day against God’s peace and the King’s, we
0409 charge and command you, in his Highness’ name, to
0410 repair to your several dwelling places, and not to
0411 wear, handle, or use any sword, weapon, or dagger
0412 henceforward, upon pain of death.
0413 80 Cardinal, I’ll be no breaker of the law,
0414 But we shall meet and break our minds at large.
WINCHESTER
0415 Gloucester, we’ll meet to thy cost, be sure.
0416 Thy heartblood I will have for this day’s work.
MAYOR
0417 I’ll call for clubs if you will not away.
0418 85 (⌜Aside.⌝) This cardinal’s more haughty than the devil!
GLOUCESTER
0419 Mayor, farewell. Thou dost but what thou mayst.
WINCHESTER
0420 Abominable Gloucester, guard thy head,
0421 For I intend to have it ere long.
⌜Gloucester and Winchester⌝ exit
⌜at separate doors, with their Servingmen.⌝
MAYOR, ⌜to Officers⌝
0422 See the coast cleared, and then we will depart.
0423 90 (⌜Aside.⌝) Good God, these nobles should such
0424 stomachs bear!
0425 I myself fight not once in forty year.
They exit.
MASTER GUNNER
0426 Sirrah, thou know’st how Orleance is besieged
0427 And how the English have the suburbs won.
BOY
0428 Father, I know, and oft have shot at them;
0429 Howe’er, unfortunate, I missed my aim.
MASTER GUNNER
0430 5 But now thou shalt not. Be thou ruled by me.
0431 Chief master-gunner am I of this town;
0433 The Prince’s espials have informèd me
0434 How the English, in the suburbs close entrenched,
0435 10 Went through a secret grate of iron bars
0436 In yonder tower, to overpeer the city,
0437 And thence discover how with most advantage
0438 They may vex us with shot or with assault.
0439 To intercept this inconvenience,
0440 15 A piece of ordnance ’gainst it I have placed,
0441 And even these three days have I watched
0442 If I could see them. Now do thou watch,
0443 For I can stay no longer.
0444 If thou spy’st any, run and bring me word;
0445 20 And thou shalt find me at the Governor’s.He exits.
BOY
0446 Father, I warrant you, take you no care;
0447 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
0448 Talbot, my life, my joy, again returned!
0449 How wert thou handled, being prisoner?
0450 25 Or by what means gott’st thou to be released?
0451 Discourse, I prithee, on this turret’s top.
TALBOT
0452 The ⌜Duke⌝ of Bedford had a prisoner
0453 Called the brave Lord Ponton de Santrailles;
0454 For him was I exchanged and ransomèd.
0455 30 But with a baser man-of-arms by far
0456 Once in contempt they would have bartered me,
0457 Which I disdaining, scorned, and cravèd death
0458 Rather than I would be so ⌜vile-esteemed.⌝
0459 In fine, redeemed I was as I desired.
0460 35 But O, the treacherous Fastolf wounds my heart,
0462 If I now had him brought into my power.
SALISBURY
0463 Yet tell’st thou not how thou wert entertained.
TALBOT
0464 With scoffs and scorns and contumelious taunts.
0465 40 In open marketplace produced they me
0466 To be a public spectacle to all.
0467 “Here,” said they, “is the terror of the French,
0468 The scarecrow that affrights our children so.”
0469 Then broke I from the officers that led me,
0470 45 And with my nails digged stones out of the ground
0471 To hurl at the beholders of my shame.
0472 My grisly countenance made others fly;
0473 None durst come near for fear of sudden death.
0474 In iron walls they deemed me not secure:
0475 50 So great fear of my name ’mongst them were spread
0476 That they supposed I could rend bars of steel
0477 And spurn in pieces posts of adamant.
0478 Wherefore a guard of chosen shot I had
0479 That walked about me every minute-while;
0480 55 And if I did but stir out of my bed,
0481 Ready they were to shoot me to the heart.
Enter the Boy with a linstock.
⌜He crosses the main stage and exits.⌝
SALISBURY
0482 I grieve to hear what torments you endured,
0483 But we will be revenged sufficiently.
0484 Now it is supper time in Orleance.
0485 60 Here, through this grate, I count each one
0486 And view the Frenchmen how they fortify.
0487 Let us look in; the sight will much delight thee.
0488 Sir Thomas Gargrave and Sir William Glansdale,
0489 Let me have your express opinions
0490 65 Where is best place to make our batt’ry next?
0491 I think at the north gate, for there stands lords.
GLANSDALE
0492 And I, here, at the bulwark of the bridge.
TALBOT
0493 For aught I see, this city must be famished
0494 Or with light skirmishes enfeeblèd.
Here they ⌜shoot,⌝ and Salisbury
⌜and Gargrave fall⌝ down.
SALISBURY
0495 70 O Lord, have mercy on us, wretched sinners!
GARGRAVE
0496 O Lord, have mercy on me, woeful man!
TALBOT
0497 What chance is this that suddenly hath crossed us?—
0498 Speak, Salisbury—at least if thou canst, speak!
0499 How far’st thou, mirror of all martial men?
0500 75 One of thy eyes and thy cheek’s side struck off!—
0501 Accursèd tower, accursèd fatal hand
0502 That hath contrived this woeful tragedy!
0503 In thirteen battles Salisbury o’ercame;
0504 Henry the Fifth he first trained to the wars.
0505 80 Whilst any trump did sound or drum struck up,
0506 His sword did ne’er leave striking in the field.—
0507 Yet liv’st thou, Salisbury? Though thy speech doth fail,
0508 One eye thou hast to look to heaven for grace.
0509 The sun with one eye vieweth all the world.
0510 85 Heaven, be thou gracious to none alive
0511 If Salisbury wants mercy at thy hands!—
0512 Sir Thomas Gargrave, hast thou any life?
0513 Speak unto Talbot. Nay, look up to him.—
0514 Bear hence his body; I will help to bury it.
⌜Attendants exit with body of Gargrave.⌝
0515 90 Salisbury, cheer thy spirit with this comfort,
0516 Thou shalt not die whiles—
0518 As who should say “When I am dead and gone,
0519 Remember to avenge me on the French.”
0520 95 Plantagenet, I will; and, like thee, ⌜Nero,⌝
0521 Play on the lute, beholding the towns burn.
0522 Wretched shall France be only in my name.
Here an alarum, and it thunders and lightens.
0523 What stir is this? What tumult’s in the heavens?
0524 Whence cometh this alarum and the noise?
Enter a Messenger.
MESSENGER
0525 100 My lord, my lord, the French have gathered head.
0526 The Dauphin, with one Joan ⌜la⌝ Pucelle joined,
0527 A holy prophetess new risen up,
0528 Is come with a great power to raise the siege.
Here Salisbury lifteth himself up and groans.
TALBOT
0529 Hear, hear, how dying Salisbury doth groan;
0530 105 It irks his heart he cannot be revenged.
0531 Frenchmen, I’ll be a Salisbury to you.
0532 Pucelle or puzel, dauphin or dogfish,
0533 Your hearts I’ll stamp out with my horse’s heels
0534 And make a quagmire of your mingled brains.
0535 110 Convey ⌜we⌝ Salisbury into his tent,
0536 And then try what these dastard Frenchmen dare.
Alarum. They exit.
Dauphin and driveth him; then enter Joan ⌜la⌝ Pucelle,
driving Englishmen before her. ⌜They cross the stage
and exit.⌝ Then enter Talbot.
0537 Where is my strength, my valor, and my force?
0538 Our English troops retire; I cannot stay them.
0539 A woman clad in armor chaseth them.
Enter Pucelle, ⌜with Soldiers.⌝
0540 Here, here she comes!—I’ll have a bout with thee.
0541 5 Devil or devil’s dam, I’ll conjure thee.
0542 Blood will I draw on thee—thou art a witch—
0543 And straightway give thy soul to him thou serv’st.
PUCELLE
0544 Come, come; ’tis only I that must disgrace thee.
Here they fight.
TALBOT
0545 Heavens, can you suffer hell so to prevail?
0546 10 My breast I’ll burst with straining of my courage,
0547 And from my shoulders crack my arms asunder,
0548 But I will chastise this high-minded strumpet.
They fight again.
PUCELLE
0549 Talbot, farewell. Thy hour is not yet come.
0550 I must go victual Orleance forthwith.
A short alarum. Then ⌜she prepares to⌝
enter the town with Soldiers.
0551 15 O’ertake me if thou canst. I scorn thy strength.
0552 Go, go, cheer up thy ⌜hunger-starvèd⌝ men.
0553 Help Salisbury to make his testament.
0554 This day is ours, as many more shall be.
She exits ⌜with Soldiers.⌝
TALBOT
0555 My thoughts are whirlèd like a potter’s wheel.
0556 20 I know not where I am nor what I do.
0557 A witch by fear—not force, like Hannibal—
0558 Drives back our troops, and conquers as she lists.
0559 So bees with smoke and doves with noisome stench
0561 25 They called us, for our fierceness, English dogs;
0562 Now like to whelps we crying run away.
A short alarum. ⌜Enter English soldiers,
chased by French soldiers.⌝
0563 Hark, countrymen, either renew the fight,
0564 Or tear the lions out of England’s coat.
0565 Renounce your soil; give sheep in lions’ stead.
0566 30 Sheep run not half so treacherous from the wolf,
0567 Or horse or oxen from the leopard,
0568 As you fly from your oft-subduèd slaves.
Alarum. Here another skirmish.
0569 It will not be! Retire into your trenches.
0570 You all consented unto Salisbury’s death,
0571 35 For none would strike a stroke in his revenge.
0572 Pucelle is entered into Orleance
0573 In spite of us or aught that we could do.
⌜Soldiers exit.⌝
0574 O, would I were to die with Salisbury!
0575 The shame hereof will make me hide my head.
Talbot exits. Alarum. Retreat.
Dauphin, Reignier, Alanson, and Soldiers.
PUCELLE
0576 Advance our waving colors on the walls.
0577 Rescued is Orleance from the English.
0578 Thus Joan ⌜la⌝ Pucelle hath performed her word.
⌜She exits.⌝
CHARLES
0579 Divinest creature, Astraea’s daughter,
0580 5 How shall I honor thee for this success?
0582 That one day bloomed and fruitful were the next.
0583 France, triumph in thy glorious prophetess.
0584 Recovered is the town of Orleance.
0585 10 More blessèd hap did ne’er befall our state.
REIGNIER
0586 Why ring not bells aloud throughout the town?
0587 Dauphin, command the citizens make bonfires
0588 And feast and banquet in the open streets
0589 To celebrate the joy that God hath given us.
ALANSON
0590 15 All France will be replete with mirth and joy
0591 When they shall hear how we have played the men.
CHARLES
0592 ’Tis Joan, not we, by whom the day is won;
0593 For which I will divide my crown with her,
0594 And all the priests and friars in my realm
0595 20 Shall in procession sing her endless praise.
0596 A statelier pyramis to her I’ll rear
0597 Than Rhodophe’s ⌜of⌝ Memphis ever was.
0598 In memory of her, when she is dead,
0599 Her ashes, in an urn more precious
0600 25 Than the rich-jeweled coffer of Darius,
0601 Transported shall be at high festivals
0602 Before the kings and queens of France.
0603 No longer on Saint Dennis will we cry,
0604 But Joan ⌜la⌝ Pucelle shall be France’s saint.
0605 30 Come in, and let us banquet royally
0606 After this golden day of victory.
Flourish. They exit.
with two Sentinels.
SERGEANT
0607 Sirs, take your places and be vigilant.
0608 If any noise or soldier you perceive
0609 Near to the walls, by some apparent sign
0610 Let us have knowledge at the court of guard.
SENTINEL
0611 5 Sergeant, you shall.⌜Sergeant exits.⌝
0612 Thus are poor servitors,
0613 When others sleep upon their quiet beds,
0614 Constrained to watch in darkness, rain, and cold.
Enter Talbot, Bedford, and Burgundy, ⌜below,⌝
with scaling ladders.
TALBOT
0615 Lord Regent, and redoubted Burgundy,
0616 10 By whose approach the regions of Artois,
0617 Walloon, and Picardy are friends to us,
0618 This happy night the Frenchmen are secure,
0619 Having all day caroused and banqueted.
0620 Embrace we then this opportunity,
0621 15 As fitting best to quittance their deceit
0622 Contrived by art and baleful sorcery.
BEDFORD
0623 Coward of France, how much he wrongs his fame,
0624 Despairing of his own arm’s fortitude,
0625 To join with witches and the help of hell!
0626 20 Traitors have never other company.
0627 But what’s that Pucelle whom they term so pure?
TALBOT
0628 A maid, they say.
BEDFORD 0629 A maid? And be so martial?
BURGUNDY
0630 Pray God she prove not masculine ere long,
0631 25 If underneath the standard of the French
0632 She carry armor as she hath begun.
TALBOT
0633 Well, let them practice and converse with spirits.
0634 God is our fortress, in whose conquering name
0635 Let us resolve to scale their flinty bulwarks.
BEDFORD
0636 30 Ascend, brave Talbot. We will follow thee.
TALBOT
0637 Not all together. Better far, I guess,
0638 That we do make our entrance several ways,
0639 That if it chance the one of us do fail,
0640 The other yet may rise against their force.
BEDFORD
0641 35 Agreed. I’ll to yond corner.
BURGUNDY 0642 And I to this.
TALBOT
0643 And here will Talbot mount, or make his grave.
0644 Now, Salisbury, for thee and for the right
0645 Of English Henry, shall this night appear
0646 40 How much in duty I am bound to both.
⌜Scaling the walls, they⌝ cry
“Saint George! À Talbot!”
SENTINEL
0647 Arm, arm! The enemy doth make assault.
⌜The English, pursuing the Sentinels, exit aloft.⌝
The French leap o’er the walls in their shirts.
half ready, and half unready.
ALANSON
0648 How now, my lords? What, all unready so?
BASTARD
0649 Unready? Ay, and glad we scaped so well.
REIGNIER
0650 ’Twas time, I trow, to wake and leave our beds,
0651 45 Hearing alarums at our chamber doors.
ALANSON
0652 Of all exploits since first I followed arms
0653 Ne’er heard I of a warlike enterprise
0654 More venturous or desperate than this.
BASTARD
0655 I think this Talbot be a fiend of hell.
REIGNIER
0656 50 If not of hell, the heavens sure favor him.
ALANSON
0657 Here cometh Charles. I marvel how he sped.
Enter Charles and Joan ⌜la Pucelle.⌝
BASTARD
0658 Tut, holy Joan was his defensive guard.
CHARLES
0659 Is this thy cunning, thou deceitful dame?
0660 Didst thou at first, to flatter us withal,
0661 55 Make us partakers of a little gain
0662 That now our loss might be ten times so much?
PUCELLE
0663 Wherefore is Charles impatient with his friend?
0664 At all times will you have my power alike?
0665 Sleeping or waking, must I still prevail,
0666 60 Or will you blame and lay the fault on me?—
0667 Improvident soldiers, had your watch been good,
0668 This sudden mischief never could have fall’n.
0669 Duke of Alanson, this was your default,
0670 That, being captain of the watch tonight,
0671 65 Did look no better to that weighty charge.
ALANSON
0672 Had all your quarters been as safely kept
0673 As that whereof I had the government,
0674 We had not been thus shamefully surprised.
BASTARD
0675 Mine was secure.
REIGNIER 0676 70 And so was mine, my lord.
CHARLES
0677 And for myself, most part of all this night
0678 Within her quarter and mine own precinct
0679 I was employed in passing to and fro
0680 About relieving of the sentinels.
0681 75 Then how or which way should they first break in?
PUCELLE
0682 Question, my lords, no further of the case,
0683 How or which way; ’tis sure they found some place
0684 But weakly guarded, where the breach was made.
0685 And now there rests no other shift but this:
0686 80 To gather our soldiers, scattered and dispersed,
0687 And lay new platforms to endamage them.
Alarum. Enter ⌜an English⌝ Soldier, crying,
“À Talbot, À Talbot!” ⌜The French⌝ fly,
leaving their clothes behind.
SOLDIER
0688 I’ll be so bold to take what they have left.
0689 The cry of “Talbot” serves me for a sword,
0690 For I have loaden me with many spoils,
0691 85 Using no other weapon but his name.
He exits.
BEDFORD
0692 The day begins to break and night is fled,
0693 Whose pitchy mantle over-veiled the Earth.
0694 Here sound retreat and cease our hot pursuit.
Retreat ⌜sounded.⌝
TALBOT
0695 Bring forth the body of old Salisbury,
0696 5 And here advance it in the marketplace,
0697 The middle center of this cursèd town.
⌜Soldiers enter bearing the body of Salisbury,⌝
Drums beating a dead march.
0698 Now have I paid my vow unto his soul:
0699 For every drop of blood was drawn from him
0700 There hath at least five Frenchmen died tonight.
0701 10 And, that hereafter ages may behold
0702 What ruin happened in revenge of him,
0703 Within their chiefest temple I’ll erect
0704 A tomb wherein his corpse shall be interred,
0705 Upon the which, that everyone may read,
0706 15 Shall be engraved the sack of Orleance,
0707 The treacherous manner of his mournful death,
0708 And what a terror he had been to France.
⌜Funeral exits.⌝
0709 But, lords, in all our bloody massacre,
0710 I muse we met not with the Dauphin’s grace,
0711 20 His new-come champion, virtuous Joan of ⌜Arc,⌝
0712 Nor any of his false confederates.
BEDFORD
0713 ’Tis thought, Lord Talbot, when the fight began,
0714 Roused on the sudden from their drowsy beds,
0715 They did amongst the troops of armèd men
0716 25 Leap o’er the walls for refuge in the field.
0717 Myself, as far as I could well discern
0718 For smoke and dusky vapors of the night,
0719 Am sure I scared the Dauphin and his trull,
0720 When arm-in-arm they both came swiftly running,
0721 30 Like to a pair of loving turtledoves
0722 That could not live asunder day or night.
0723 After that things are set in order here,
0724 We’ll follow them with all the power we have.
Enter a Messenger.
MESSENGER
0725 All hail, my lords. Which of this princely train
0726 35 Call you the warlike Talbot, for his acts
0727 So much applauded through the realm of France?
TALBOT
0728 Here is the Talbot. Who would speak with him?
MESSENGER
0729 The virtuous lady, Countess of Auvergne,
0730 With modesty admiring thy renown,
0731 40 By me entreats, great lord, thou wouldst vouchsafe
0732 To visit her poor castle where she lies,
0733 That she may boast she hath beheld the man
0734 Whose glory fills the world with loud report.
BURGUNDY
0735 Is it even so? Nay, then, I see our wars
0736 45 Will turn unto a peaceful comic sport,
0737 When ladies crave to be encountered with.
0738 You may not, my lord, despise her gentle suit.
TALBOT
0739 Ne’er trust me, then; for when a world of men
0740 Could not prevail with all their oratory,
0741 50 Yet hath a woman’s kindness overruled.—
0742 And therefore tell her I return great thanks,
0743 And in submission will attend on her.—
0744 Will not your Honors bear me company?
0745 No, truly, ’tis more than manners will;
0746 55 And I have heard it said unbidden guests
0747 Are often welcomest when they are gone.
TALBOT
0748 Well then, alone, since there’s no remedy,
0749 I mean to prove this lady’s courtesy.—
0750 Come hither, captain.Whispers.
0751 60 You perceive my mind?
CAPTAIN
0752 I do, my lord, and mean accordingly.
They exit.
COUNTESS
0753 Porter, remember what I gave in charge,
0754 And when you have done so, bring the keys to me.
PORTER 0755 Madam, I will.He exits.
COUNTESS
0756 The plot is laid. If all things fall out right,
0757 5 I shall as famous be by this exploit
0758 As Scythian Tamyris by Cyrus’ death.
0759 Great is the rumor of this dreadful knight,
0760 And his achievements of no less account.
0761 Fain would mine eyes be witness with mine ears
0762 10 To give their censure of these rare reports.
Enter Messenger and Talbot.
MESSENGER
0763 Madam, according as your Ladyship desired,
0764 By message craved, so is Lord Talbot come.
COUNTESS
0765 And he is welcome. What, is this the man?
0766 Madam, it is.
COUNTESS 0767 15 Is this the scourge of France?
0768 Is this the Talbot, so much feared abroad
0769 That with his name the mothers still their babes?
0770 I see report is fabulous and false.
0771 I thought I should have seen some Hercules,
0772 20 A second Hector, for his grim aspect
0773 And large proportion of his strong-knit limbs.
0774 Alas, this is a child, a silly dwarf!
0775 It cannot be this weak and writhled shrimp
0776 Should strike such terror to his enemies.
TALBOT
0777 25 Madam, I have been bold to trouble you.
0778 But since your Ladyship is not at leisure,
0779 I’ll sort some other time to visit you.
⌜He begins to exit.⌝
COUNTESS, ⌜to Messenger⌝
0780 What means he now? Go ask him whither he goes.
MESSENGER
0781 Stay, my Lord Talbot, for my lady craves
0782 30 To know the cause of your abrupt departure.
TALBOT
0783 Marry, for that she’s in a wrong belief,
0784 I go to certify her Talbot’s here.
Enter Porter with keys.
COUNTESS, ⌜to Talbot⌝
0785 If thou be he, then art thou prisoner.
TALBOT
0786 Prisoner? To whom?
COUNTESS 0787 35 To me, bloodthirsty lord.
0788 And for that cause I trained thee to my house.
0789 Long time thy shadow hath been thrall to me,
0790 For in my gallery thy picture hangs.
0792 40 And I will chain these legs and arms of thine,
0793 That hast by tyranny these many years
0794 Wasted our country, slain our citizens,
0795 And sent our sons and husbands captivate.
TALBOT 0796 Ha, ha, ha!
COUNTESS
0797 45 Laughest thou, wretch? Thy mirth shall turn to moan.
TALBOT
0798 I laugh to see your Ladyship so fond
0799 To think that you have aught but Talbot’s shadow
0800 Whereon to practice your severity.
COUNTESS 0801 Why, art not thou the man?
TALBOT 0802 50I am, indeed.
COUNTESS 0803 Then have I substance too.
TALBOT
0804 No, no, I am but shadow of myself.
0805 You are deceived; my substance is not here,
0806 For what you see is but the smallest part
0807 55 And least proportion of humanity.
0808 I tell you, madam, were the whole frame here,
0809 It is of such a spacious lofty pitch
0810 Your roof were not sufficient to contain ’t.
COUNTESS
0811 This is a riddling merchant for the nonce:
0812 60 He will be here and yet he is not here.
0813 How can these contrarieties agree?
TALBOT
0814 That will I show you presently.
Winds his horn. Drums strike up;
a peal of ordnance.
Enter Soldiers.
0815 How say you, madam? Are you now persuaded
0816 That Talbot is but shadow of himself?
0818 With which he yoketh your rebellious necks,
0819 Razeth your cities, and subverts your towns,
0820 And in a moment makes them desolate.
COUNTESS
0821 Victorious Talbot, pardon my abuse.
0822 70 I find thou art no less than fame hath bruited,
0823 And more than may be gathered by thy shape.
0824 Let my presumption not provoke thy wrath,
0825 For I am sorry that with reverence
0826 I did not entertain thee as thou art.
TALBOT
0827 75 Be not dismayed, fair lady, nor misconster
0828 The mind of Talbot as you did mistake
0829 The outward composition of his body.
0830 What you have done hath not offended me,
0831 Nor other satisfaction do I crave
0832 80 But only, with your patience, that we may
0833 Taste of your wine and see what cates you have,
0834 For soldiers’ stomachs always serve them well.
COUNTESS
0835 With all my heart, and think me honorèd
0836 To feast so great a warrior in my house.
They exit.
⌜William de la⌝ Pole ⌜the Earl of Suffolk,
Vernon, a Lawyer,⌝ and Others.
PLANTAGENET
0837 Great lords and gentlemen, what means this silence?
0838 Dare no man answer in a case of truth?
0839 Within the Temple Hall we were too loud;
0840 The garden here is more convenient.
PLANTAGENET
0841 5 Then say at once if I maintained the truth,
0842 Or else was wrangling Somerset in th’ error?
SUFFOLK
0843 Faith, I have been a truant in the law
0844 And never yet could frame my will to it,
0845 And therefore frame the law unto my will.
SOMERSET
0846 10 Judge you, my Lord of Warwick, then, between us.
WARWICK
0847 Between two hawks, which flies the higher pitch,
0848 Between two dogs, which hath the deeper mouth,
0849 Between two blades, which bears the better temper,
0850 Between two horses, which doth bear him best,
0851 15 Between two girls, which hath the merriest eye,
0852 I have perhaps some shallow spirit of judgment;
0853 But in these nice sharp quillets of the law,
0854 Good faith, I am no wiser than a daw.
PLANTAGENET
0855 Tut, tut, here is a mannerly forbearance!
0856 20 The truth appears so naked on my side
0857 That any purblind eye may find it out.
SOMERSET
0858 And on my side it is so well appareled,
0859 So clear, so shining, and so evident,
0860 That it will glimmer through a blind man’s eye.
PLANTAGENET
0861 25 Since you are tongue-tied and so loath to speak,
0862 In dumb significants proclaim your thoughts:
0863 Let him that is a trueborn gentleman
0864 And stands upon the honor of his birth,
0865 If he suppose that I have pleaded truth,
0866 30 From off this brier pluck a white rose with me.
0867 Let him that is no coward nor no flatterer,
0868 But dare maintain the party of the truth,
0869 Pluck a red rose from off this thorn with me.
WARWICK
0870 I love no colors; and, without all color
0871 35 Of base insinuating flattery,
0872 I pluck this white rose with Plantagenet.
SUFFOLK
0873 I pluck this red rose with young Somerset,
0874 And say withal I think he held the right.
VERNON
0875 Stay, lords and gentlemen, and pluck no more
0876 40 Till you conclude that he upon whose side
0877 The fewest roses are croppèd from the tree
0878 Shall yield the other in the right opinion.
SOMERSET
0879 Good Master Vernon, it is well objected:
0880 If I have fewest, I subscribe in silence.
PLANTAGENET 0881 45And I.
VERNON
0882 Then for the truth and plainness of the case,
0883 I pluck this pale and maiden blossom here,
0884 Giving my verdict on the white rose side.
SOMERSET
0885 Prick not your finger as you pluck it off,
0886 50 Lest, bleeding, you do paint the white rose red,
0887 And fall on my side so against your will.
VERNON
0888 If I, my lord, for my opinion bleed,
0889 Opinion shall be surgeon to my hurt
0890 And keep me on the side where still I am.
SOMERSET 0891 55Well, well, come on, who else?
LAWYER
0892 Unless my study and my books be false,
0894 In sign whereof I pluck a white rose too.
PLANTAGENET
0895 Now, Somerset, where is your argument?
SOMERSET
0896 60 Here in my scabbard, meditating that
0897 Shall dye your white rose in a bloody red.
PLANTAGENET
0898 Meantime your cheeks do counterfeit our roses,
0899 For pale they look with fear, as witnessing
0900 The truth on our side.
SOMERSET 0901 65 No, Plantagenet.
0902 ’Tis not for fear, but anger that thy cheeks
0903 Blush for pure shame to counterfeit our roses,
0904 And yet thy tongue will not confess thy error.
PLANTAGENET
0905 Hath not thy rose a canker, Somerset?
SOMERSET
0906 70 Hath not thy rose a thorn, Plantagenet?
PLANTAGENET
0907 Ay, sharp and piercing, to maintain his truth,
0908 Whiles thy consuming canker eats his falsehood.
SOMERSET
0909 Well, I’ll find friends to wear my bleeding roses
0910 That shall maintain what I have said is true,
0911 75 Where false Plantagenet dare not be seen.
PLANTAGENET
0912 Now, by this maiden blossom in my hand,
0913 I scorn thee and thy fashion, peevish boy.
SUFFOLK
0914 Turn not thy scorns this way, Plantagenet.
PLANTAGENET
0915 Proud Pole, I will, and scorn both him and thee.
SUFFOLK
0916 80 I’ll turn my part thereof into thy throat.
0917 Away, away, good William de la Pole!
0918 We grace the yeoman by conversing with him.
WARWICK
0919 Now, by God’s will, thou wrong’st him, Somerset.
0920 His grandfather was Lionel, Duke of Clarence,
0921 85 Third son to the third Edward, King of England.
0922 Spring crestless yeomen from so deep a root?
PLANTAGENET
0923 He bears him on the place’s privilege,
0924 Or durst not for his craven heart say thus.
SOMERSET
0925 By Him that made me, I’ll maintain my words
0926 90 On any plot of ground in Christendom.
0927 Was not thy father Richard, Earl of Cambridge,
0928 For treason executed in our late king’s days?
0929 And, by his treason, stand’st not thou attainted,
0930 Corrupted, and exempt from ancient gentry?
0931 95 His trespass yet lives guilty in thy blood,
0932 And, till thou be restored, thou art a yeoman.
PLANTAGENET
0933 My father was attachèd, not attainted,
0934 Condemned to die for treason, but no traitor;
0935 And that I’ll prove on better men than Somerset,
0936 100 Were growing time once ripened to my will.
0937 For your partaker Pole and you yourself,
0938 I’ll note you in my book of memory
0939 To scourge you for this apprehension.
0940 Look to it well, and say you are well warned.
SOMERSET
0941 105 Ah, thou shalt find us ready for thee still,
0942 And know us by these colors for thy foes,
0943 For these my friends in spite of thee shall wear.
PLANTAGENET
0944 And, by my soul, this pale and angry rose,
0945 As cognizance of my blood-drinking hate,
0947 Until it wither with me to my grave
0948 Or flourish to the height of my degree.
SUFFOLK
0949 Go forward, and be choked with thy ambition!
0950 And so farewell, until I meet thee next.He exits.
SOMERSET
0951 115 Have with thee, Pole.—Farewell, ambitious Richard.
He exits.
PLANTAGENET
0952 How I am braved, and must perforce endure it!
WARWICK
0953 This blot that they object against your house
0954 Shall be whipped out in the next parliament,
0955 Called for the truce of Winchester and Gloucester;
0956 120 And if thou be not then created York,
0957 I will not live to be accounted Warwick.
0958 Meantime, in signal of my love to thee,
0959 Against proud Somerset and William Pole
0960 Will I upon thy party wear this rose.
0961 125 And here I prophesy: this brawl today,
0962 Grown to this faction in the Temple garden,
0963 Shall send, between the red rose and the white,
0964 A thousand souls to death and deadly night.
PLANTAGENET
0965 Good Master Vernon, I am bound to you,
0966 130 That you on my behalf would pluck a flower.
VERNON
0967 In your behalf still will I wear the same.
LAWYER
0968 And so will I.
PLANTAGENET 0969 Thanks, gentle ⌜sir.⌝
0970 Come, let us four to dinner. I dare say
0971 135 This quarrel will drink blood another day.
They exit.
and Jailers.
MORTIMER
0972 Kind keepers of my weak decaying age,
0973 Let dying Mortimer here rest himself.
0974 Even like a man new-halèd from the rack,
0975 So fare my limbs with long imprisonment;
0976 5 And these gray locks, the pursuivants of death,
0977 Nestor-like agèd in an age of care,
0978 Argue the end of Edmund Mortimer;
0979 These eyes, like lamps whose wasting oil is spent,
0980 Wax dim, as drawing to their exigent;
0981 10 Weak shoulders, overborne with burdening grief,
0982 And pithless arms, like to a withered vine
0983 That droops his sapless branches to the ground;
0984 Yet are these feet, whose strengthless stay is numb,
0985 Unable to support this lump of clay,
0986 15 Swift-wingèd with desire to get a grave,
0987 As witting I no other comfort have.
0988 But tell me, keeper, will my nephew come?
KEEPER
0989 Richard Plantagenet, my lord, will come.
0990 We sent unto the Temple, unto his chamber,
0991 20 And answer was returned that he will come.
MORTIMER
0992 Enough. My soul shall then be satisfied.
0993 Poor gentleman, his wrong doth equal mine.
0994 Since Henry Monmouth first began to reign,
0995 Before whose glory I was great in arms,
0996 25 This loathsome sequestration have I had;
0997 And even since then hath Richard been obscured,
0998 Deprived of honor and inheritance.
0999 But now the arbitrator of despairs,
1001 30 With sweet enlargement doth dismiss me hence.
1002 I would his troubles likewise were expired,
1003 That so he might recover what was lost.
Enter Richard ⌜Plantagenet.⌝
KEEPER
1004 My lord, your loving nephew now is come.
MORTIMER
1005 Richard Plantagenet, my friend, is he come?
PLANTAGENET
1006 35 Ay, noble uncle, thus ignobly used,
1007 Your nephew, late despisèd Richard, comes.
MORTIMER, ⌜to Jailer⌝
1008 Direct mine arms I may embrace his neck
1009 And in his bosom spend my latter gasp.
1010 O, tell me when my lips do touch his cheeks,
1011 40 That I may kindly give one fainting kiss.
⌜He embraces Richard.⌝
1012 And now declare, sweet stem from York’s great stock,
1013 Why didst thou say of late thou wert despised?
PLANTAGENET
1014 First, lean thine agèd back against mine arm,
1015 And in that ease I’ll tell thee my disease.
1016 45 This day, in argument upon a case,
1017 Some words there grew ’twixt Somerset and me,
1018 Among which terms he used his lavish tongue
1019 And did upbraid me with my father’s death;
1020 Which obloquy set bars before my tongue,
1021 50 Else with the like I had requited him.
1022 Therefore, good uncle, for my father’s sake,
1023 In honor of a true Plantagenet,
1024 And for alliance’ sake, declare the cause
1025 My father, Earl of Cambridge, lost his head.
1026 55 That cause, fair nephew, that imprisoned me
1027 And hath detained me all my flow’ring youth
1028 Within a loathsome dungeon, there to pine,
1029 Was cursèd instrument of his decease.
PLANTAGENET
1030 Discover more at large what cause that was,
1031 60 For I am ignorant and cannot guess.
MORTIMER
1032 I will, if that my fading breath permit
1033 And death approach not ere my tale be done.
1034 Henry the Fourth, grandfather to this king,
1035 Deposed his nephew Richard, Edward’s son,
1036 65 The first begotten and the lawful heir
1037 Of Edward king, the third of that descent;
1038 During whose reign the Percies of the north,
1039 Finding his usurpation most unjust,
1040 Endeavored my advancement to the throne.
1041 70 The reason moved these warlike lords to this
1042 Was, for that—young Richard thus removed,
1043 Leaving no heir begotten of his body—
1044 I was the next by birth and parentage;
1045 For by my mother I derivèd am
1046 75 From Lionel, Duke of Clarence, third son
1047 To King Edward the Third; whereas he
1048 From John of Gaunt doth bring his pedigree,
1049 Being but fourth of that heroic line.
1050 But mark: as in this haughty great attempt
1051 80 They laborèd to plant the rightful heir,
1052 I lost my liberty and they their lives.
1053 Long after this, when Henry the Fifth,
1054 Succeeding his father Bolingbroke, did reign,
1055 Thy father, Earl of Cambridge then, derived
1056 85 From famous Edmund Langley, Duke of York,
1057 Marrying my sister that thy mother was,
1059 Levied an army, weening to redeem
1060 And have installed me in the diadem.
1061 90 But, as the rest, so fell that noble earl
1062 And was beheaded. Thus the Mortimers,
1063 In whom the title rested, were suppressed.
PLANTAGENET
1064 Of which, my lord, your Honor is the last.
MORTIMER
1065 True, and thou seest that I no issue have
1066 95 And that my fainting words do warrant death.
1067 Thou art my heir; the rest I wish thee gather.
1068 But yet be wary in thy studious care.
PLANTAGENET
1069 Thy grave admonishments prevail with me.
1070 But yet methinks my father’s execution
1071 100 Was nothing less than bloody tyranny.
MORTIMER
1072 With silence, nephew, be thou politic;
1073 Strong-fixèd is the house of Lancaster,
1074 And, like a mountain, not to be removed.
1075 But now thy uncle is removing hence,
1076 105 As princes do their courts when they are cloyed
1077 With long continuance in a settled place.
PLANTAGENET
1078 O uncle, would some part of my young years
1079 Might but redeem the passage of your age.
MORTIMER
1080 Thou dost then wrong me, as that slaughterer doth
1081 110 Which giveth many wounds when one will kill.
1082 Mourn not, except thou sorrow for my good;
1083 Only give order for my funeral.
1084 And so farewell, and fair be all thy hopes,
1085 And prosperous be thy life in peace and war.
Dies.
1086 115 And peace, no war, befall thy parting soul.
1087 In prison hast thou spent a pilgrimage,
1088 And like a hermit overpassed thy days.—
1089 Well, I will lock his counsel in my breast,
1090 And what I do imagine, let that rest.—
1091 120 Keepers, convey him hence, and I myself
1092 Will see his burial better than his life.
⌜Jailers⌝ exit ⌜carrying Mortimer’s body.⌝
1093 Here dies the dusky torch of Mortimer,
1094 Choked with ambition of the meaner sort.
1095 And for those wrongs, those bitter injuries,
1096 125 Which Somerset hath offered to my house,
1097 I doubt not but with honor to redress.
1098 And therefore haste I to the Parliament,
1099 Either to be restorèd to my blood,
1100 Or make ⌜mine ill⌝ th’ advantage of my good.
He exits.
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
1101 Com’st thou with deep premeditated lines,
1102 With written pamphlets studiously devised?
1103 Humphrey of Gloucester, if thou canst accuse
1104 Or aught intend’st to lay unto my charge,
1105 5 Do it without invention, suddenly,
1106 As I with sudden and extemporal speech
1107 Purpose to answer what thou canst object.
GLOUCESTER
1108 Presumptuous priest, this place commands my
1109 patience,
1110 10 Or thou shouldst find thou hast dishonored me.
1111 Think not, although in writing I preferred
1112 The manner of thy vile outrageous crimes,
1113 That therefore I have forged or am not able
1114 Verbatim to rehearse the method of my pen.
1115 15 No, prelate, such is thy audacious wickedness,
1116 Thy lewd, pestiferous, and dissentious pranks,
1117 As very infants prattle of thy pride.
1118 Thou art a most pernicious usurer,
1119 Froward by nature, enemy to peace,
1120 20 Lascivious, wanton, more than well beseems
1122 And for thy treachery, what’s more manifest,
1123 In that thou laid’st a trap to take my life
1124 As well at London Bridge as at the Tower?
1125 25 Besides, I fear me, if thy thoughts were sifted,
1126 The King, thy sovereign, is not quite exempt
1127 From envious malice of thy swelling heart.
WINCHESTER
1128 Gloucester, I do defy thee.—Lords, vouchsafe
1129 To give me hearing what I shall reply.
1130 30 If I were covetous, ambitious, or perverse,
1131 As he will have me, how am I so poor?
1132 Or how haps it I seek not to advance
1133 Or raise myself, but keep my wonted calling?
1134 And for dissension, who preferreth peace
1135 35 More than I do, except I be provoked?
1136 No, my good lords, it is not that offends;
1137 It is not that that hath incensed the Duke.
1138 It is because no one should sway but he,
1139 No one but he should be about the King;
1140 40 And that engenders thunder in his breast
1141 And makes him roar these accusations forth.
1142 But he shall know I am as good—
GLOUCESTER 1143 As good!
1144 Thou bastard of my grandfather!
WINCHESTER
1145 45 Ay, lordly sir; for what are you, I pray,
1146 But one imperious in another’s throne?
GLOUCESTER
1147 Am I not Protector, saucy priest?
WINCHESTER
1148 And am not I a prelate of the Church?
GLOUCESTER
1149 Yes, as an outlaw in a castle keeps,
1150 50 And useth it to patronage his theft.
1151 Unreverent Gloucester!
GLOUCESTER 1152 Thou art reverend
1153 Touching thy spiritual function, not thy life.
WINCHESTER
1154 Rome shall remedy this.
⌜GLOUCESTER⌝ 1155 55 Roam thither then.
WARWICK, ⌜to Winchester⌝
1156 My lord, it were your duty to forbear.
SOMERSET
1157 Ay, ⌜so⌝ the Bishop be not overborne.
1158 Methinks my lord should be religious,
1159 And know the office that belongs to such.
WARWICK
1160 60 Methinks his Lordship should be humbler.
1161 It fitteth not a prelate so to plead.
SOMERSET
1162 Yes, when his holy state is touched so near.
WARWICK
1163 State holy, or unhallowed, what of that?
1164 Is not his Grace Protector to the King?
PLANTAGENET, ⌜aside⌝
1165 65 Plantagenet, I see, must hold his tongue,
1166 Lest it be said “Speak, sirrah, when you should;
1167 Must your bold verdict enter talk with lords?”
1168 Else would I have a fling at Winchester.
KING HENRY
1169 Uncles of Gloucester and of Winchester,
1170 70 The special watchmen of our English weal,
1171 I would prevail, if prayers might prevail,
1172 To join your hearts in love and amity.
1173 O, what a scandal is it to our crown
1174 That two such noble peers as you should jar!
1175 75 Believe me, lords, my tender years can tell
1176 Civil dissension is a viperous worm
1177 That gnaws the bowels of the commonwealth.
1178 What tumult ’s this?
WARWICK 1179 An uproar, I dare warrant,
1180 80 Begun through malice of the Bishop’s men.
A noise again: “Stones! Stones!”
Enter Mayor.
MAYOR
1181 O, my good lords, and virtuous Henry,
1182 Pity the city of London, pity us!
1183 The Bishop and the Duke of Gloucester’s men,
1184 Forbidden late to carry any weapon,
1185 85 Have filled their pockets full of pebble stones
1186 And, banding themselves in contrary parts,
1187 Do pelt so fast at one another’s pate
1188 That many have their giddy brains knocked out;
1189 Our windows are broke down in every street,
1190 90 And we, for fear, compelled to shut our shops.
Enter ⌜Servingmen⌝ in skirmish with bloody pates.
KING HENRY
1191 We charge you, on allegiance to ourself,
1192 To hold your slaught’ring hands and keep the peace.—
1193 Pray, Uncle Gloucester, mitigate this strife.
FIRST SERVINGMAN 1194 Nay, if we be forbidden stones, we’ll
1195 95 fall to it with our teeth.
SECOND SERVINGMAN
1196 Do what you dare, we are as
1197 resolute.Skirmish again.
GLOUCESTER
1198 You of my household, leave this peevish broil,
1199 And set this unaccustomed fight aside.
THIRD SERVINGMAN
1200 100 My lord, we know your Grace to be a man
1201 Just and upright, and, for your royal birth,
1203 And ere that we will suffer such a prince,
1204 So kind a father of the commonweal,
1205 105 To be disgracèd by an inkhorn mate,
1206 We and our wives and children all will fight
1207 And have our bodies slaughtered by thy foes.
FIRST SERVINGMAN
1208 Ay, and the very parings of our nails
1209 Shall pitch a field when we are dead.
Begin again.
GLOUCESTER 1210 110Stay, stay, I say!
1211 And if you love me, as you say you do,
1212 Let me persuade you to forbear awhile.
KING HENRY
1213 O, how this discord doth afflict my soul!
1214 Can you, my Lord of Winchester, behold
1215 115 My sighs and tears, and will not once relent?
1216 Who should be pitiful if you be not?
1217 Or who should study to prefer a peace
1218 If holy churchmen take delight in broils?
WARWICK
1219 Yield, my Lord Protector—yield, Winchester—
1220 120 Except you mean with obstinate repulse
1221 To slay your sovereign and destroy the realm.
1222 You see what mischief, and what murder too,
1223 Hath been enacted through your enmity.
1224 Then be at peace, except you thirst for blood.
WINCHESTER
1225 125 He shall submit, or I will never yield.
GLOUCESTER
1226 Compassion on the King commands me stoop,
1227 Or I would see his heart out ere the priest
1228 Should ever get that privilege of me.
WARWICK
1229 Behold, my Lord of Winchester, the Duke
1230 130 Hath banished moody discontented fury,
1232 Why look you still so stern and tragical?
GLOUCESTER
1233 Here, Winchester, I offer thee my hand.
⌜Winchester refuses Gloucester’s hand.⌝
KING HENRY
1234 Fie, Uncle Beaufort! I have heard you preach
1235 135 That malice was a great and grievous sin;
1236 And will not you maintain the thing you teach,
1237 But prove a chief offender in the same?
WARWICK
1238 Sweet king! The Bishop hath a kindly gird.—
1239 For shame, my Lord of Winchester, relent;
1240 140 What, shall a child instruct you what to do?
WINCHESTER
1241 Well, Duke of Gloucester, I will yield to thee;
1242 Love for thy love and hand for hand I give.
⌜They take each other’s hand.⌝
GLOUCESTER, ⌜aside⌝
1243 Ay, but I fear me with a hollow heart.—
1244 See here, my friends and loving countrymen,
1245 145 This token serveth for a flag of truce
1246 Betwixt ourselves and all our followers,
1247 So help me God, as I dissemble not.
WINCHESTER, ⌜aside⌝
1248 So help me God, as I intend it not.
KING HENRY
1249 O, loving uncle—kind Duke of Gloucester—
1250 150 How joyful am I made by this contract.
1251 ⌜To the Servingmen.⌝ Away, my masters, trouble us
1252 no more,
1253 But join in friendship as your lords have done.
FIRST SERVINGMAN 1254 Content. I’ll to the surgeon’s.
SECOND SERVINGMAN 1255 155And so will I.
1257 affords.
They exit ⌜with Mayor and Others.⌝
WARWICK, ⌜presenting a scroll⌝
1258 Accept this scroll, most gracious sovereign,
1259 Which in the right of Richard Plantagenet
1260 160 We do exhibit to your Majesty.
GLOUCESTER
1261 Well urged, my Lord of Warwick.—For, sweet prince,
1262 An if your Grace mark every circumstance,
1263 You have great reason to do Richard right,
1264 Especially for those occasions
1265 165 At Eltham Place I told your Majesty.
KING HENRY
1266 And those occasions, uncle, were of force.—
1267 Therefore, my loving lords, our pleasure is
1268 That Richard be restorèd to his blood.
WARWICK
1269 Let Richard be restorèd to his blood;
1270 170 So shall his father’s wrongs be recompensed.
WINCHESTER
1271 As will the rest, so willeth Winchester.
KING HENRY
1272 If Richard will be true, not that alone
1273 But all the whole inheritance I give
1274 That doth belong unto the house of York,
1275 175 From whence you spring by lineal descent.
PLANTAGENET
1276 Thy humble servant vows obedience
1277 And humble service till the point of death.
KING HENRY
1278 Stoop then, and set your knee against my foot;
⌜Plantagenet kneels.⌝
1279 And in reguerdon of that duty done
1280 180 I girt thee with the valiant sword of York.
1282 And rise created princely Duke of York.
YORK, ⌜formerly PLANTAGENET, standing⌝
1283 And so thrive Richard as thy foes may fall!
1284 And as my duty springs, so perish they
1285 185 That grudge one thought against your Majesty.
ALL
1286 Welcome, high prince, the mighty Duke of York.
SOMERSET, ⌜aside⌝
1287 Perish, base prince, ignoble Duke of York.
GLOUCESTER
1288 Now will it best avail your Majesty
1289 To cross the seas and to be crowned in France.
1290 190 The presence of a king engenders love
1291 Amongst his subjects and his loyal friends,
1292 As it disanimates his enemies.
KING HENRY
1293 When Gloucester says the word, King Henry goes,
1294 For friendly counsel cuts off many foes.
GLOUCESTER
1295 195 Your ships already are in readiness.
Sennet. Flourish. All but Exeter exit.
EXETER
1296 Ay, we may march in England or in France,
1297 Not seeing what is likely to ensue.
1298 This late dissension grown betwixt the peers
1299 Burns under feignèd ashes of forged love
1300 200 And will at last break out into a flame.
1301 As festered members rot but by degree
1302 Till bones and flesh and sinews fall away,
1303 So will this base and envious discord breed.
1304 And now I fear that fatal prophecy
1305 205 Which in the time of Henry named the Fifth
1306 Was in the mouth of every sucking babe:
1307 That Henry born at Monmouth should win all,
1309 Which is so plain that Exeter doth wish
1310 210 His days may finish ere that hapless time.
He exits.
upon their backs.
PUCELLE
1311 These are the city gates, the gates of Roan,
1312 Through which our policy must make a breach.
1313 Take heed. Be wary how you place your words;
1314 Talk like the vulgar sort of market men
1315 5 That come to gather money for their corn.
1316 If we have entrance, as I hope we shall,
1317 And that we find the slothful watch but weak,
1318 I’ll by a sign give notice to our friends,
1319 That Charles the Dauphin may encounter them.
SOLDIER
1320 10 Our sacks shall be a mean to sack the city,
1321 And we be lords and rulers over Roan;
1322 Therefore we’ll knock.
Knock.
WATCH, ⌜within⌝
1323 Qui là?
PUCELLE 1324 Paysans la pauvre gens de France:
1325 15 Poor market folks that come to sell their corn.
WATCH
1326 Enter, go in. The market bell is rung.
PUCELLE, ⌜aside⌝
1327 Now, Roan, I’ll shake thy bulwarks to the ground.
They exit.
and Soldiers.⌝
CHARLES
1328 Saint Dennis bless this happy stratagem
1329 And once again we’ll sleep secure in Roan.
BASTARD
1330 20 Here entered Pucelle and her practisants.
1331 Now she is there, how will she specify
1332 “Here is the best and safest passage in”?
REIGNIER
1333 By thrusting out a torch from yonder tower,
1334 Which, once discerned, shows that her meaning is:
1335 25 No way to that, for weakness, which she entered.
Enter Pucelle on the top, thrusting out a torch burning.
PUCELLE
1336 Behold, this is the happy wedding torch
1337 That joineth Roan unto her countrymen,
1338 But burning fatal to the Talbonites.
BASTARD
1339 See, noble Charles, the beacon of our friend;
1340 30 The burning torch, in yonder turret stands.
CHARLES
1341 Now shine it like a comet of revenge,
1342 A prophet to the fall of all our foes!
REIGNIER
1343 Defer no time; delays have dangerous ends.
1344 Enter and cry “The Dauphin!” presently,
1345 35 And then do execution on the watch.
Alarum. ⌜They exit.⌝
An Alarum. ⌜Enter⌝ Talbot in an excursion.
TALBOT
1346 France, thou shalt rue this treason with thy tears,
1347 If Talbot but survive thy treachery.
1349 Hath wrought this hellish mischief unawares,
1350 40 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⌝
1351 Good morrow, gallants. Want you corn for bread?
⌜She scatters grain on those below.⌝
1352 I think the Duke of Burgundy will fast
1353 Before he’ll buy again at such a rate.
1354 ’Twas full of darnel. Do you like the taste?
BURGUNDY
1355 45 Scoff on, vile fiend and shameless courtesan!
1356 I trust ere long to choke thee with thine own,
1357 And make thee curse the harvest of that corn.
CHARLES
1358 Your Grace may starve, perhaps, before that time.
BEDFORD
1359 O, let no words, but deeds, revenge this treason.
PUCELLE
1360 50 What will you do, good graybeard? Break a lance
1361 And run a-tilt at Death within a chair?
TALBOT
1362 Foul fiend of France and hag of all despite,
1363 Encompassed with thy lustful paramours,
1364 Becomes it thee to taunt his valiant age
1365 55 And twit with cowardice a man half dead?
1366 Damsel, I’ll have a bout with you again,
1367 Or else let Talbot perish with this shame.
1368 Are you so hot, sir? Yet, Pucelle, hold thy peace,
1369 If Talbot do but thunder, rain will follow.
⌜Those below⌝ whisper together in council.
1370 60 God speed the Parliament! Who shall be the Speaker?
TALBOT
1371 Dare you come forth and meet us in the field?
PUCELLE
1372 Belike your Lordship takes us then for fools,
1373 To try if that our own be ours or no.
TALBOT
1374 I speak not to that railing Hecate,
1375 65 But unto thee, Alanson, and the rest.
1376 Will you, like soldiers, come and fight it out?
ALANSON 1377 Seigneur, no.
TALBOT
1378 Seigneur, hang! Base muleteers of France,
1379 Like peasant footboys do they keep the walls
1380 70 And dare not take up arms like gentlemen.
PUCELLE
1381 Away, captains. Let’s get us from the walls,
1382 For Talbot means no goodness by his looks.—
1383 Goodbye, my lord. We came but to tell you
1384 That we are here.They exit from the walls.
TALBOT
1385 75 And there will we be too, ere it be long,
1386 Or else reproach be Talbot’s greatest fame.—
1387 Vow, Burgundy, by honor of thy house,
1388 Pricked on by public wrongs sustained in France,
1389 Either to get the town again or die.
1390 80 And I, as sure as English Henry lives,
1391 And as his father here was conqueror,
1392 As sure as in this late-betrayèd town
1393 Great Coeur-de-lion’s heart was burièd,
1394 So sure I swear to get the town or die.
1395 85 My vows are equal partners with thy vows.
TALBOT
1396 But, ere we go, regard this dying prince,
1397 The valiant Duke of Bedford.—Come, my lord,
1398 We will bestow you in some better place,
1399 Fitter for sickness and for crazy age.
BEDFORD
1400 90 Lord Talbot, do not so dishonor me.
1401 Here will I sit, before the walls of Roan,
1402 And will be partner of your weal or woe.
BURGUNDY
1403 Courageous Bedford, let us now persuade you—
BEDFORD
1404 Not to be gone from hence, for once I read
1405 95 That stout Pendragon, in his litter sick,
1406 Came to the field and vanquishèd his foes.
1407 Methinks I should revive the soldiers’ hearts
1408 Because I ever found them as myself.
TALBOT
1409 Undaunted spirit in a dying breast,
1410 100 Then be it so. Heavens keep old Bedford safe!—
1411 And now no more ado, brave Burgundy,
1412 But gather we our forces out of hand
1413 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
1414 Whither away, Sir John Fastolf, in such haste?
FASTOLF
1415 105 Whither away? To save myself by flight.
1416 We are like to have the overthrow again.
1417 What, will you fly and leave Lord Talbot?
FASTOLF 1418 Ay,
1419 All the Talbots in the world, to save my life.
He exits.
CAPTAIN
1420 110 Cowardly knight, ill fortune follow thee.
He exits.
Retreat. Excursions. Pucelle, Alanson, and Charles
⌜enter, pursued by English Soldiers, and⌝ fly.
BEDFORD
1421 Now, quiet soul, depart when heaven please,
1422 For I have seen our enemies’ overthrow.
1423 What is the trust or strength of foolish man?
1424 They that of late were daring with their scoffs
1425 115 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
1426 Lost and recovered in a day again!
1427 This is a double honor, Burgundy.
1428 Yet heavens have glory for this victory.
BURGUNDY
1429 Warlike and martial Talbot, Burgundy
1430 120 Enshrines thee in his heart, and there erects
1431 Thy noble deeds as valor’s monuments.
TALBOT
1432 Thanks, gentle duke. But where is Pucelle now?
1433 I think her old familiar is asleep.
1434 Now where’s the Bastard’s braves and Charles his
1435 125 gleeks?
1436 What, all amort? Roan hangs her head for grief
1438 Now will we take some order in the town,
1439 Placing therein some expert officers,
1440 130 And then depart to Paris to the King,
1441 For there young Henry with his nobles lie.
BURGUNDY
1442 What wills Lord Talbot pleaseth Burgundy.
TALBOT
1443 But yet, before we go, let’s not forget
1444 The noble Duke of Bedford late-deceased,
1445 135 But see his exequies fulfilled in Roan.
1446 A braver soldier never couchèd lance,
1447 A gentler heart did never sway in court.
1448 But kings and mightiest potentates must die,
1449 For that’s the end of human misery.
They exit.
PUCELLE
1450 Dismay not, princes, at this accident,
1451 Nor grieve that Roan is so recoverèd.
1452 Care is no cure, but rather corrosive
1453 For things that are not to be remedied.
1454 5 Let frantic Talbot triumph for a while,
1455 And like a peacock sweep along his tail;
1456 We’ll pull his plumes and take away his train,
1457 If dauphin and the rest will be but ruled.
CHARLES
1458 We have been guided by thee hitherto,
1459 10 And of thy cunning had no diffidence.
1460 One sudden foil shall never breed distrust.
1461 Search out thy wit for secret policies,
1462 And we will make thee famous through the world.
ALANSON, ⌜to Pucelle⌝
1463 We’ll set thy statue in some holy place
1464 15 And have thee reverenced like a blessèd saint.
1465 Employ thee then, sweet virgin, for our good.
PUCELLE
1466 Then thus it must be; this doth Joan devise:
1467 By fair persuasions mixed with sugared words
1468 We will entice the Duke of Burgundy
1469 20 To leave the Talbot and to follow us.
CHARLES
1470 Ay, marry, sweeting, if we could do that,
1471 France were no place for Henry’s warriors,
1472 Nor should that nation boast it so with us,
1473 But be extirpèd from our provinces.
ALANSON
1474 25 Forever should they be expulsed from France,
1475 And not have title of an earldom here.
PUCELLE
1476 Your honors shall perceive how I will work
1477 To bring this matter to the wishèd end.
Drum sounds afar off.
1478 Hark! By the sound of drum you may perceive
1479 30 Their powers are marching unto Paris-ward.
Here sound an English march.
1480 There goes the Talbot with his colors spread,
1481 And all the troops of English after him.
French march.
1482 Now in the rearward comes the Duke and his.
1483 Fortune in favor makes him lag behind.
1484 35 Summon a parley; we will talk with him.
Trumpets sound a parley.
1485 A parley with the Duke of Burgundy!
⌜Enter Burgundy.⌝
BURGUNDY
1486 Who craves a parley with the Burgundy?
PUCELLE
1487 The princely Charles of France, thy countryman.
BURGUNDY
1488 What say’st thou, Charles?—for I am marching hence.
CHARLES, ⌜aside to Pucelle⌝
1489 40 Speak, Pucelle, and enchant him with thy words.
PUCELLE
1490 Brave Burgundy, undoubted hope of France,
1491 Stay; let thy humble handmaid speak to thee.
BURGUNDY
1492 Speak on, but be not over-tedious.
PUCELLE
1493 Look on thy country, look on fertile France,
1494 45 And see the cities and the towns defaced
1495 By wasting ruin of the cruel foe.
1496 As looks the mother on her lowly babe
1497 When death doth close his tender-dying eyes,
1498 See, see the pining malady of France:
1499 50 Behold the wounds, the most unnatural wounds,
1500 Which thou thyself hast given her woeful breast.
1501 O, turn thy edgèd sword another way;
1502 Strike those that hurt, and hurt not those that help.
1503 One drop of blood drawn from thy country’s bosom
1504 55 Should grieve thee more than streams of foreign gore.
1505 Return thee therefore with a flood of tears,
1506 And wash away thy country’s stainèd spots.
BURGUNDY, ⌜aside⌝
1507 Either she hath bewitched me with her words,
1508 Or nature makes me suddenly relent.
1509 60 Besides, all French and France exclaims on thee,
1510 Doubting thy birth and lawful progeny.
1511 Who join’st thou with but with a lordly nation
1512 That will not trust thee but for profit’s sake?
1513 When Talbot hath set footing once in France
1514 65 And fashioned thee that instrument of ill,
1515 Who then but English Henry will be lord,
1516 And thou be thrust out like a fugitive?
1517 Call we to mind, and mark but this for proof:
1518 Was not the Duke of Orleance thy foe?
1519 70 And was he not in England prisoner?
1520 But when they heard he was thine enemy,
1521 They set him free, without his ransom paid,
1522 In spite of Burgundy and all his friends.
1523 See then, thou fight’st against thy countrymen,
1524 75 And join’st with them will be thy slaughtermen.
1525 Come, come, return; return, thou wandering lord.
1526 Charles and the rest will take thee in their arms.
BURGUNDY, ⌜aside⌝
1527 I am vanquishèd. These haughty words of hers
1528 Have battered me like roaring cannon-shot,
1529 80 And made me almost yield upon my knees.—
1530 Forgive me, country, and sweet countrymen;
1531 And, lords, accept this hearty kind embrace.
⌜He embraces Charles, Bastard, and Alanson.⌝
1532 My forces and my power of men are yours.
1533 So, farewell, Talbot. I’ll no longer trust thee.
PUCELLE, ⌜aside⌝
1534 85 Done like a Frenchman: turn and turn again.
CHARLES
1535 Welcome, brave duke. Thy friendship makes us fresh.
BASTARD
1536 And doth beget new courage in our breasts.
1537 Pucelle hath bravely played her part in this
1538 And doth deserve a coronet of gold.
CHARLES
1539 90 Now let us on, my lords, and join our powers,
1540 And seek how we may prejudice the foe.
They exit.
Exeter; York, Warwick, ⌜and Vernon, with white roses;⌝
Somerset, Suffolk, ⌜and Basset, with red roses.⌝
To them, with his Soldiers, Talbot.
TALBOT
1541 My gracious prince and honorable peers,
1542 Hearing of your arrival in this realm,
1543 I have awhile given truce unto my wars
1544 To do my duty to my sovereign;
1545 5 In sign whereof, this arm, that hath reclaimed
1546 To your obedience fifty fortresses,
1547 Twelve cities, and seven walled towns of strength,
1548 Besides five hundred prisoners of esteem,
1549 Lets fall his sword before your Highness’ feet,
1550 10 And with submissive loyalty of heart
1551 Ascribes the glory of his conquest got
1552 First to my God, and next unto your Grace.
⌜He kneels.⌝
KING HENRY
1553 Is this the Lord Talbot, Uncle Gloucester,
1554 That hath so long been resident in France?
GLOUCESTER
1555 15 Yes, if it please your Majesty, my liege.
1556 Welcome, brave captain and victorious lord.
1557 When I was young—as yet I am not old—
1558 I do remember how my father said
1559 A stouter champion never handled sword.
1560 20 Long since we were resolvèd of your truth,
1561 Your faithful service, and your toil in war;
1562 Yet never have you tasted our reward
1563 Or been reguerdoned with so much as thanks,
1564 Because till now we never saw your face.
1565 25 Therefore stand up; and for these good deserts
1566 We here create you Earl of Shrewsbury;
1567 And in our coronation take your place.⌜Talbot rises.⌝
Sennet. Flourish. All except
Vernon and Basset exit.
VERNON
1568 Now, sir, to you that were so hot at sea,
1569 Disgracing of these colors that I wear
1570 30 In honor of my noble Lord of York,
1571 Dar’st thou maintain the former words thou spak’st?
BASSET
1572 Yes, sir, as well as you dare patronage
1573 The envious barking of your saucy tongue
1574 Against my lord the Duke of Somerset.
VERNON
1575 35 Sirrah, thy lord I honor as he is.
BASSET
1576 Why, what is he? As good a man as York.
VERNON
1577 Hark you, not so; in witness, take you that.
Strikes him.
BASSET
1578 Villain, thou knowest the law of arms is such
1579 That whoso draws a sword ’tis present death,
1580 40 Or else this blow should broach thy dearest blood.
1582 I may have liberty to venge this wrong,
1583 When thou shalt see I’ll meet thee to thy cost.
⌜He exits.⌝
VERNON
1584 Well, miscreant, I’ll be there as soon as you,
1585 45 And after meet you sooner than you would.
He exits.
Exeter; York ⌜and⌝ Warwick, ⌜with white roses;⌝ Suffolk
⌜and⌝ Somerset, ⌜with red roses;⌝ Governor ⌜of Paris,
and Others.⌝
GLOUCESTER
1586 Lord Bishop, set the crown upon his head.
WINCHESTER, ⌜crowning King Henry⌝
1587 God save King Henry, of that name the Sixth!
GLOUCESTER
1588 Now, Governor of Paris, take your oath.
⌜Governor kneels.⌝
1589 That you elect no other king but him;
1590 5 Esteem none friends but such as are his friends,
1591 And none your foes but such as shall pretend
1592 Malicious practices against his state:
1593 This shall you do, so help you righteous God.
⌜Governor rises.⌝
Enter Fastolf.
FASTOLF
1594 My gracious sovereign, as I rode from Callice
1595 10 To haste unto your coronation,
1596 A letter was delivered to my hands,
1597 Writ to your Grace from th’ Duke of Burgundy.
⌜He hands the King a paper.⌝
TALBOT
1598 Shame to the Duke of Burgundy and thee!
1600 15 To tear the Garter from thy craven’s leg,
(⌜tearing it off⌝)
1601 Which I have done, because unworthily
1602 Thou wast installèd in that high degree.—
1603 Pardon me, princely Henry and the rest.
1604 This dastard, at the battle of ⌜Patay,⌝
1605 20 When but in all I was six thousand strong
1606 And that the French were almost ten to one,
1607 Before we met or that a stroke was given,
1608 Like to a trusty squire did run away;
1609 In which assault we lost twelve hundred men.
1610 25 Myself and divers gentlemen besides
1611 Were there surprised and taken prisoners.
1612 Then judge, great lords, if I have done amiss,
1613 Or whether that such cowards ought to wear
1614 This ornament of knighthood—yea or no?
GLOUCESTER
1615 30 To say the truth, this fact was infamous
1616 And ill beseeming any common man,
1617 Much more a knight, a captain, and a leader.
TALBOT
1618 When first this Order was ordained, my lords,
1619 Knights of the Garter were of noble birth,
1620 35 Valiant and virtuous, full of haughty courage,
1621 Such as were grown to credit by the wars;
1622 Not fearing death nor shrinking for distress,
1623 But always resolute in most extremes.
1624 He then that is not furnished in this sort
1625 40 Doth but usurp the sacred name of knight,
1626 Profaning this most honorable Order,
1627 And should, if I were worthy to be judge,
1628 Be quite degraded, like a hedge-born swain
1629 That doth presume to boast of gentle blood.
KING HENRY, ⌜to Fastolf⌝
1630 45 Stain to thy countrymen, thou hear’st thy doom.
1632 Henceforth we banish thee on pain of death.
⌜Fastolf exits.⌝
1633 And now, ⌜my⌝ lord protector, view the letter
1634 Sent from our uncle, Duke of Burgundy.
⌜He hands the paper to Gloucester.⌝
GLOUCESTER
1635 50 What means his Grace that he hath changed his style?
1636 No more but, plain and bluntly, “To the King”!
1637 Hath he forgot he is his sovereign?
1638 Or doth this churlish superscription
1639 Pretend some alteration in good will?
1640 55 What’s here? (⌜Reads.⌝)
1641 I have upon especial cause,
1642 Moved with compassion of my country’s wrack,
1643 Together with the pitiful complaints
1644 Of such as your oppression feeds upon,
1645 60 Forsaken your pernicious faction
1646 And joined with Charles, the rightful king of France.
1647 O monstrous treachery! Can this be so?
1648 That in alliance, amity, and oaths
1649 There should be found such false dissembling guile?
KING HENRY
1650 65 What? Doth my Uncle Burgundy revolt?
GLOUCESTER
1651 He doth, my lord, and is become your foe.
KING HENRY
1652 Is that the worst this letter doth contain?
GLOUCESTER
1653 It is the worst, and all, my lord, he writes.
KING HENRY
1654 Why, then, Lord Talbot there shall talk with him
1655 70 And give him chastisement for this abuse.—
1656 How say you, my lord, are you not content?
1657 Content, my liege? Yes. But that I am prevented,
1658 I should have begged I might have been employed.
KING HENRY
1659 Then gather strength and march unto him straight;
1660 75 Let him perceive how ill we brook his treason
1661 And what offense it is to flout his friends.
TALBOT
1662 I go, my lord, in heart desiring still
1663 You may behold confusion of your foes.⌜He exits.⌝
Enter Vernon, ⌜with a white rose,⌝ and Basset,
⌜with a red rose.⌝
VERNON
1664 Grant me the combat, gracious sovereign.
BASSET
1665 80 And me, my lord, grant me the combat too.
YORK, ⌜indicating Vernon⌝
1666 This is my servant; hear him, noble prince.
SOMERSET, ⌜indicating Basset⌝
1667 And this is mine, sweet Henry; favor him.
KING HENRY
1668 Be patient, lords, and give them leave to speak.—
1669 Say, gentlemen, what makes you thus exclaim,
1670 85 And wherefore crave you combat, or with whom?
VERNON
1671 With him, my lord, for he hath done me wrong.
BASSET
1672 And I with him, for he hath done me wrong.
KING HENRY
1673 What is that wrong whereof you both complain?
1674 First let me know, and then I’ll answer you.
BASSET
1675 90 Crossing the sea from England into France,
1676 This fellow here with envious carping tongue
1677 Upbraided me about the rose I wear,
1679 Did represent my master’s blushing cheeks
1680 95 When stubbornly he did repugn the truth
1681 About a certain question in the law
1682 Argued betwixt the Duke of York and him,
1683 With other vile and ignominious terms.
1684 In confutation of which rude reproach,
1685 100 And in defense of my lord’s worthiness,
1686 I crave the benefit of law of arms.
VERNON
1687 And that is my petition, noble lord;
1688 For though he seem with forgèd quaint conceit
1689 To set a gloss upon his bold intent,
1690 105 Yet know, my lord, I was provoked by him,
1691 And he first took exceptions at this badge,
1692 Pronouncing that the paleness of this flower
1693 Bewrayed the faintness of my master’s heart.
YORK
1694 Will not this malice, Somerset, be left?
SOMERSET
1695 110 Your private grudge, my Lord of York, will out,
1696 Though ne’er so cunningly you smother it.
KING HENRY
1697 Good Lord, what madness rules in brainsick men
1698 When for so slight and frivolous a cause
1699 Such factious emulations shall arise!
1700 115 Good cousins both, of York and Somerset,
1701 Quiet yourselves, I pray, and be at peace.
YORK
1702 Let this dissension first be tried by fight,
1703 And then your Highness shall command a peace.
SOMERSET
1704 The quarrel toucheth none but us alone;
1705 120 Betwixt ourselves let us decide it then.
YORK, ⌜throwing down a gage⌝
1706 There is my pledge; accept it, Somerset.
1707 Nay, let it rest where it began at first.
BASSET, ⌜to Somerset⌝
1708 Confirm it so, mine honorable lord.
GLOUCESTER
1709 Confirm it so? Confounded be your strife,
1710 125 And perish you with your audacious prate!
1711 Presumptuous vassals, are you not ashamed
1712 With this immodest clamorous outrage
1713 To trouble and disturb the King and us?—
1714 And you, my lords, methinks you do not well
1715 130 To bear with their perverse objections,
1716 Much less to take occasion from their mouths
1717 To raise a mutiny betwixt yourselves.
1718 Let me persuade you take a better course.
EXETER
1719 It grieves his Highness. Good my lords, be friends.
KING HENRY
1720 135 Come hither, you that would be combatants:
1721 Henceforth I charge you, as you love our favor,
1722 Quite to forget this quarrel and the cause.—
1723 And you, my lords, remember where we are:
1724 In France, amongst a fickle wavering nation.
1725 140 If they perceive dissension in our looks,
1726 And that within ourselves we disagree,
1727 How will their grudging stomachs be provoked
1728 To willful disobedience and rebel!
1729 Besides, what infamy will there arise
1730 145 When foreign princes shall be certified
1731 That for a toy, a thing of no regard,
1732 King Henry’s peers and chief nobility
1733 Destroyed themselves and lost the realm of France!
1734 O, think upon the conquest of my father,
1735 150 My tender years, and let us not forgo
1736 That for a trifle that was bought with blood.
1737 Let me be umpire in this doubtful strife.
1739 That anyone should therefore be suspicious
1740 155 I more incline to Somerset than York.
⌜He puts on a red rose.⌝
1741 Both are my kinsmen, and I love them both.
1742 As well they may upbraid me with my crown
1743 Because, forsooth, the King of Scots is crowned.
1744 But your discretions better can persuade
1745 160 Than I am able to instruct or teach;
1746 And therefore, as we hither came in peace,
1747 So let us still continue peace and love.
1748 Cousin of York, we institute your Grace
1749 To be our regent in these parts of France;—
1750 165 And good my Lord of Somerset, unite
1751 Your troops of horsemen with his bands of foot;
1752 And like true subjects, sons of your progenitors,
1753 Go cheerfully together and digest
1754 Your angry choler on your enemies.
1755 170 Ourself, my lord protector, and the rest,
1756 After some respite, will return to Callice;
1757 From thence to England, where I hope ere long
1758 To be presented, by your victories,
1759 With Charles, Alanson, and that traitorous rout.
Flourish. All but York, Warwick, Exeter, Vernon exit.
WARWICK
1760 175 My Lord of York, I promise you the King
1761 Prettily, methought, did play the orator.
YORK
1762 And so he did, but yet I like it not
1763 In that he wears the badge of Somerset.
WARWICK
1764 Tush, that was but his fancy; blame him not.
1765 180 I dare presume, sweet prince, he thought no harm.
YORK
1766 And if ⌜iwis⌝ he did—but let it rest.
1767 Other affairs must now be managèd.
Exeter remains.
EXETER
1768 Well didst thou, Richard, to suppress thy voice,
1769 For had the passions of thy heart burst out,
1770 185 I fear we should have seen deciphered there
1771 More rancorous spite, more furious raging broils,
1772 Than yet can be imagined or supposed.
1773 But howsoe’er, no simple man that sees
1774 This jarring discord of nobility,
1775 190 This shouldering of each other in the court,
1776 This factious bandying of their favorites,
1777 But ⌜sees⌝ it doth presage some ill event.
1778 ’Tis much when scepters are in children’s hands,
1779 But more when envy breeds unkind division:
1780 195 There comes the ruin; there begins confusion.
He exits.
before Bordeaux.
TALBOT
1781 Go to the gates of Bordeaux, trumpeter.
1782 Summon their general unto the wall.
⌜Trumpet⌝ sounds. Enter General ⌜and Others⌝ aloft.
1783 English John Talbot, captains, ⌜calls⌝ you forth,
1784 Servant-in-arms to Harry, King of England,
1785 5 And thus he would: open your city gates,
1786 Be humble to us, call my sovereign yours,
1787 And do him homage as obedient subjects,
1788 And I’ll withdraw me and my bloody power.
1789 But if you frown upon this proffered peace,
1790 10 You tempt the fury of my three attendants,
1792 Who, in a moment, even with the earth
1793 Shall lay your stately and air-braving towers,
1794 If you forsake the offer of their love.
⌜GENERAL⌝
1795 15 Thou ominous and fearful owl of death,
1796 Our nation’s terror and their bloody scourge,
1797 The period of thy tyranny approacheth.
1798 On us thou canst not enter but by death;
1799 For I protest we are well fortified
1800 20 And strong enough to issue out and fight.
1801 If thou retire, the Dauphin, well appointed,
1802 Stands with the snares of war to tangle thee.
1803 On either hand thee, there are squadrons pitched
1804 To wall thee from the liberty of flight;
1805 25 And no way canst thou turn thee for redress
1806 But Death doth front thee with apparent spoil,
1807 And pale Destruction meets thee in the face.
1808 Ten thousand French have ta’en the Sacrament
1809 To rive their dangerous artillery
1810 30 Upon no Christian soul but English Talbot.
1811 Lo, there thou stand’st, a breathing valiant man
1812 Of an invincible unconquered spirit.
1813 This is the latest glory of thy praise
1814 That I, thy enemy, due thee withal;
1815 35 For ere the glass that now begins to run
1816 Finish the process of his sandy hour,
1817 These eyes, that see thee now well-colorèd,
1818 Shall see thee withered, bloody, pale, and dead.
Drum afar off.
1819 Hark, hark, the Dauphin’s drum, a warning bell,
1820 40 Sings heavy music to thy timorous soul,
1821 And mine shall ring thy dire departure out.
He exits, ⌜aloft, with Others.⌝
1822 He fables not; I hear the enemy.
1823 Out, some light horsemen, and peruse their wings.
⌜Some Soldiers exit.⌝
1824 O, negligent and heedless discipline,
1825 45 How are we parked and bounded in a pale,
1826 A little herd of England’s timorous deer
1827 Mazed with a yelping kennel of French curs.
1828 If we be English deer, be then in blood,
1829 Not rascal-like to fall down with a pinch,
1830 50 But rather, moody-mad and desperate stags,
1831 Turn on the bloody hounds with heads of steel
1832 And make the cowards stand aloof at bay.
1833 Sell every man his life as dear as mine
1834 And they shall find dear deer of us, my friends.
1835 55 God and Saint George, Talbot and England’s right,
1836 Prosper our colors in this dangerous fight!
⌜He exits with Soldiers, Drum and Trumpet.⌝
with Trumpet and many Soldiers.
YORK
1837 Are not the speedy scouts returned again
1838 That dogged the mighty army of the Dauphin?
MESSENGER
1839 They are returned, my lord, and give it out
1840 That he is marched to Bordeaux with his power
1841 5 To fight with Talbot. As he marched along,
1842 By your espials were discoverèd
1843 Two mightier troops than that the Dauphin led,
1844 Which joined with him and made their march for
1845 Bordeaux.⌜He exits.⌝
1846 10 A plague upon that villain Somerset
1847 That thus delays my promisèd supply
1848 Of horsemen that were levied for this siege!
1849 Renownèd Talbot doth expect my aid,
1850 And I am louted by a traitor villain
1851 15 And cannot help the noble chevalier.
1852 God comfort him in this necessity.
1853 If he miscarry, farewell wars in France.
Enter ⌜Sir William Lucy.⌝
⌜LUCY⌝
1854 Thou princely leader of our English strength,
1855 Never so needful on the earth of France,
1856 20 Spur to the rescue of the noble Talbot,
1857 Who now is girdled with a waist of iron
1858 And hemmed about with grim destruction.
1859 To Bordeaux, warlike duke! To Bordeaux, York!
1860 Else farewell Talbot, France, and England’s honor.
YORK
1861 25 O God, that Somerset, who in proud heart
1862 Doth stop my cornets, were in Talbot’s place!
1863 So should we save a valiant gentleman
1864 By forfeiting a traitor and a coward.
1865 Mad ire and wrathful fury makes me weep
1866 30 That thus we die while remiss traitors sleep.
⌜LUCY⌝
1867 O, send some succor to the distressed lord!
YORK
1868 He dies, we lose; I break my warlike word;
1869 We mourn, France smiles; we lose, they daily get,
1870 All long of this vile traitor Somerset.
⌜LUCY⌝
1871 35 Then God take mercy on brave Talbot’s soul,
1872 And on his son, young John, who two hours since
1873 I met in travel toward his warlike father.
1875 And now they meet where both their lives are done.
YORK
1876 40 Alas, what joy shall noble Talbot have
1877 To bid his young son welcome to his grave?
1878 Away! Vexation almost stops my breath,
1879 That sundered friends greet in the hour of death.
1880 Lucy, farewell. No more my fortune can
1881 45 But curse the cause I cannot aid the man.
1882 Maine, Blois, Poictiers, and Tours are won away,
1883 Long all of Somerset and his delay.
⌜York and his Soldiers⌝ exit.
⌜LUCY⌝
1884 Thus while the vulture of sedition
1885 Feeds in the bosom of such great commanders,
1886 50 Sleeping neglection doth betray to loss
1887 The conquest of our scarce-cold conqueror,
1888 That ever-living man of memory,
1889 Henry the Fifth. Whiles they each other cross,
1890 Lives, honors, lands, and all hurry to loss.
⌜He exits.⌝
from Talbot’s army.⌝
SOMERSET
1891 It is too late; I cannot send them now.
1892 This expedition was by York and Talbot
1893 Too rashly plotted. All our general force
1894 Might with a sally of the very town
1895 5 Be buckled with. The overdaring Talbot
1896 Hath sullied all his gloss of former honor
1897 By this unheedful, desperate, wild adventure.
1899 That, Talbot dead, great York might bear the name.
⌜Enter Sir William Lucy.⌝
CAPTAIN
1900 10 Here is Sir William Lucy, who with me
1901 Set from our o’er-matched forces forth for aid.
SOMERSET
1902 How now, Sir William, whither were you sent?
LUCY
1903 Whither, my lord? From bought and sold Lord Talbot,
1904 Who, ringed about with bold adversity,
1905 15 Cries out for noble York and Somerset
1906 To beat assailing Death from his weak regions;
1907 And whiles the honorable captain there
1908 Drops bloody sweat from his war-wearied limbs
1909 And, in advantage ling’ring, looks for rescue,
1910 20 You, his false hopes, the trust of England’s honor,
1911 Keep off aloof with worthless emulation.
1912 Let not your private discord keep away
1913 The levied succors that should lend him aid,
1914 While he, renownèd noble gentleman,
1915 25 Yield up his life unto a world of odds.
1916 Orleance the Bastard, Charles, Burgundy,
1917 Alanson, Reignier compass him about,
1918 And Talbot perisheth by your default.
SOMERSET
1919 York set him on; York should have sent him aid.
LUCY
1920 30 And York as fast upon your Grace exclaims,
1921 Swearing that you withhold his levied host
1922 Collected for this expedition.
SOMERSET
1923 York lies. He might have sent and had the horse.
1924 I owe him little duty and less love,
1925 35 And take foul scorn to fawn on him by sending.
1926 The fraud of England, not the force of France,
1927 Hath now entrapped the noble-minded Talbot.
1928 Never to England shall he bear his life,
1929 But dies betrayed to fortune by your strife.
SOMERSET
1930 40 Come, go. I will dispatch the horsemen straight.
1931 Within six hours they will be at his aid.
LUCY
1932 Too late comes rescue; he is ta’en or slain,
1933 For fly he could not if he would have fled;
1934 And fly would Talbot never, though he might.
SOMERSET
1935 45 If he be dead, brave Talbot, then adieu.
LUCY
1936 His fame lives in the world, his shame in you.
They exit.
TALBOT
1937 O young John Talbot, I did send for thee
1938 To tutor thee in stratagems of war,
1939 That Talbot’s name might be in thee revived
1940 When sapless age and weak unable limbs
1941 5 Should bring thy father to his drooping chair.
1942 But—O, malignant and ill-boding stars!—
1943 Now thou art come unto a feast of Death,
1944 A terrible and unavoided danger.
1945 Therefore, dear boy, mount on my swiftest horse,
1946 10 And I’ll direct thee how thou shalt escape
1947 By sudden flight. Come, dally not, be gone.
1948 Is my name Talbot? And am I your son?
1949 And shall I fly? O, if you love my mother,
1950 Dishonor not her honorable name
1951 15 To make a bastard and a slave of me!
1952 The world will say “He is not Talbot’s blood,
1953 That basely fled when noble Talbot stood.”
TALBOT
1954 Fly, to revenge my death if I be slain.
JOHN TALBOT
1955 He that flies so will ne’er return again.
TALBOT
1956 20 If we both stay, we both are sure to die.
JOHN TALBOT
1957 Then let me stay and, father, do you fly.
1958 Your loss is great; so your regard should be.
1959 My worth unknown, no loss is known in me.
1960 Upon my death, the French can little boast;
1961 25 In yours they will; in you all hopes are lost.
1962 Flight cannot stain the honor you have won,
1963 But mine it will, that no exploit have done.
1964 You fled for vantage, everyone will swear;
1965 But if I bow, they’ll say it was for fear.
1966 30 There is no hope that ever I will stay
1967 If the first hour I shrink and run away.⌜He kneels.⌝
1968 Here on my knee I beg mortality,
1969 Rather than life preserved with infamy.
TALBOT
1970 Shall all thy mother’s hopes lie in one tomb?
JOHN TALBOT
1971 35 Ay, rather than I’ll shame my mother’s womb.
TALBOT
1972 Upon my blessing I command thee go.
JOHN TALBOT
1973 To fight I will, but not to fly the foe.
1974 Part of thy father may be saved in thee.
JOHN TALBOT
1975 No part of him but will be shame in me.
TALBOT
1976 40 Thou never hadst renown, nor canst not lose it.
JOHN TALBOT
1977 Yes, your renownèd name; shall flight abuse it?
TALBOT
1978 Thy father’s charge shall clear thee from that stain.
JOHN TALBOT
1979 You cannot witness for me, being slain.
1980 If death be so apparent, then both fly.
TALBOT
1981 45 And leave my followers here to fight and die?
1982 My age was never tainted with such shame.
JOHN TALBOT
1983 And shall my youth be guilty of such blame?
⌜He rises.⌝
1984 No more can I be severed from your side
1985 Than can yourself yourself in twain divide.
1986 50 Stay, go, do what you will; the like do I,
1987 For live I will not, if my father die.
TALBOT
1988 Then here I take my leave of thee, fair son,
1989 Born to eclipse thy life this afternoon.
1990 Come, side by side, together live and die,
1991 55 And soul with soul from France to heaven fly.
⌜They⌝ exit.
is hemmed about, and Talbot rescues him.
TALBOT
1992 Saint George, and victory! Fight, soldiers, fight!
1993 The Regent hath with Talbot broke his word
1994 And left us to the rage of France his sword.
1995 Where is John Talbot?—Pause, and take thy breath;
1996 5 I gave thee life and rescued thee from death.
JOHN TALBOT
1997 O, twice my father, twice am I thy son!
1998 The life thou gav’st me first was lost and done
1999 Till with thy warlike sword, despite of fate,
2000 To my determined time thou gav’st new date.
TALBOT
2001 10 When from the Dauphin’s crest thy sword struck fire,
2002 It warmed thy father’s heart with proud desire
2003 Of bold-faced victory. Then leaden age,
2004 Quickened with youthful spleen and warlike rage,
2005 Beat down Alanson, Orleance, Burgundy,
2006 15 And from the pride of Gallia rescued thee.
2007 The ireful Bastard Orleance, that drew blood
2008 From thee, my boy, and had the maidenhood
2009 Of thy first fight, I soon encounterèd,
2010 And, interchanging blows, I quickly shed
2011 20 Some of his bastard blood, and in disgrace
2012 Bespoke him thus: “Contaminated, base,
2013 And misbegotten blood I spill of thine,
2014 Mean and right poor, for that pure blood of mine
2015 Which thou didst force from Talbot, my brave boy.”
2016 25 Here, purposing the Bastard to destroy,
2017 Came in strong rescue. Speak, thy father’s care:
2018 Art thou not weary, John? How dost thou fare?
2020 Now thou art sealed the son of chivalry?
2021 30 Fly, to revenge my death when I am dead;
2022 The help of one stands me in little stead.
2023 O, too much folly is it, well I wot,
2024 To hazard all our lives in one small boat.
2025 If I today die not with Frenchmen’s rage,
2026 35 Tomorrow I shall die with mickle age.
2027 By me they nothing gain, and, if I stay,
2028 ’Tis but the short’ning of my life one day.
2029 In thee thy mother dies, our household’s name,
2030 My death’s revenge, thy youth, and England’s fame.
2031 40 All these and more we hazard by thy stay;
2032 All these are saved if thou wilt fly away.
JOHN TALBOT
2033 The sword of Orleance hath not made me smart;
2034 These words of yours draw lifeblood from my heart.
2035 On that advantage, bought with such a shame,
2036 45 To save a paltry life and slay bright fame,
2037 Before young Talbot from old Talbot fly,
2038 The coward horse that bears me fall and die!
2039 And like me to the peasant boys of France,
2040 To be shame’s scorn and subject of mischance!
2041 50 Surely, by all the glory you have won,
2042 An if I fly, I am not Talbot’s son.
2043 Then talk no more of flight, it is no boot;
2044 If son to Talbot, die at Talbot’s foot.
TALBOT
2045 Then follow thou thy desp’rate sire of Crete,
2046 55 Thou Icarus; thy life to me is sweet.
2047 If thou wilt fight, fight by thy father’s side,
2048 And commendable proved, let’s die in pride.
⌜They⌝ exit.
led ⌜by a Servant.⌝
TALBOT
2049 Where is my other life? Mine own is gone.
2050 O, where’s young Talbot? Where is valiant John?
2051 Triumphant Death, smeared with captivity,
2052 Young Talbot’s valor makes me smile at thee.
2053 5 When he perceived me shrink and on my knee,
2054 His bloody sword he brandished over me,
2055 And like a hungry lion did commence
2056 Rough deeds of rage and stern impatience;
2057 But when my angry guardant stood alone,
2058 10 Tend’ring my ruin and assailed of none,
2059 Dizzy-eyed fury and great rage of heart
2060 Suddenly made him from my side to start
2061 Into the clust’ring battle of the French;
2062 And in that sea of blood, my boy did drench
2063 15 His over-mounting spirit; and there died
2064 My Icarus, my blossom, in his pride.
Enter ⌜Soldiers⌝ with John Talbot, borne.
SERVINGMAN
2065 O, my dear lord, lo where your son is borne!
TALBOT
2066 Thou antic Death, which laugh’st us here to scorn,
2067 Anon from thy insulting tyranny,
2068 20 Coupled in bonds of perpetuity,
2069 Two Talbots, wingèd through the lither sky,
2070 In thy despite shall scape mortality.—
2071 O, thou whose wounds become hard-favored Death,
2072 Speak to thy father ere thou yield thy breath!
2073 25 Brave Death by speaking, whither he will or no.
2074 Imagine him a Frenchman and thy foe.—
2076 “Had Death been French, then Death had died
2077 today.”—
2078 30 Come, come, and lay him in his father’s arms;
2079 My spirit can no longer bear these harms.
2080 Soldiers, adieu! I have what I would have,
2081 Now my old arms are young John Talbot’s grave.
Dies.
⌜Alarums. Soldiers exit.⌝
Enter Charles, Alanson, Burgundy, Bastard,
and Pucelle, ⌜with Forces.⌝
CHARLES
2082 Had York and Somerset brought rescue in,
2083 35 We should have found a bloody day of this.
BASTARD
2084 How the young whelp of Talbot’s, raging wood,
2085 Did flesh his puny sword in Frenchmen’s blood!
PUCELLE
2086 Once I encountered him, and thus I said:
2087 “Thou maiden youth, be vanquished by a maid.”
2088 40 But with a proud majestical high scorn
2089 He answered thus: “Young Talbot was not born
2090 To be the pillage of a giglot wench.”
2091 So, rushing in the bowels of the French,
2092 He left me proudly, as unworthy fight.
BURGUNDY
2093 45 Doubtless he would have made a noble knight.
2094 See where he lies inhearsèd in the arms
2095 Of the most bloody nurser of his harms.
BASTARD
2096 Hew them to pieces, hack their bones asunder,
2097 Whose life was England’s glory, Gallia’s wonder.
CHARLES
2098 50 O, no, forbear! For that which we have fled
2099 During the life, let us not wrong it dead.
LUCY
2100 Herald, conduct me to the Dauphin’s tent,
2101 To know who hath obtained the glory of the day.
CHARLES
2102 On what submissive message art thou sent?
LUCY
2103 55 Submission, dauphin? ’Tis a mere French word.
2104 We English warriors wot not what it means.
2105 I come to know what prisoners thou hast ta’en,
2106 And to survey the bodies of the dead.
CHARLES
2107 For prisoners askst thou? Hell our prison is.
2108 60 But tell me whom thou seek’st.
LUCY
2109 But where’s the great Alcides of the field,
2110 Valiant Lord Talbot, Earl of Shrewsbury,
2111 Created for his rare success in arms
2112 Great Earl of Washford, Waterford, and Valence,
2113 65 Lord Talbot of Goodrich and Urchinfield,
2114 Lord Strange of Blackmere, Lord Verdon of Alton,
2115 Lord Cromwell of Wingfield, Lord Furnival of
2116 Sheffield,
2117 The thrice victorious Lord of Falconbridge,
2118 70 Knight of the noble Order of Saint George,
2119 Worthy Saint Michael, and the Golden Fleece,
2120 Great Marshal to Henry the Sixth
2121 Of all his wars within the realm of France?
PUCELLE
2122 Here’s a silly stately style indeed.
2123 75 The Turk, that two-and-fifty kingdoms hath,
2124 Writes not so tedious a style as this.
2125 Him that thou magnifi’st with all these titles
2126 Stinking and flyblown lies here at our feet.
2127 Is Talbot slain, the Frenchmen’s only scourge,
2128 80 Your kingdom’s terror and black Nemesis?
2129 O, were mine eyeballs into bullets turned
2130 That I in rage might shoot them at your faces!
2131 O, that I could but call these dead to life,
2132 It were enough to fright the realm of France.
2133 85 Were but his picture left amongst you here,
2134 It would amaze the proudest of you all.
2135 Give me their bodies, that I may bear them hence
2136 And give them burial as beseems their worth.
PUCELLE
2137 I think this upstart is old Talbot’s ghost,
2138 90 He speaks with such a proud commanding spirit.
2139 For God’s sake, let him have him. To keep them here,
2140 They would but stink and putrefy the air.
CHARLES
2141 Go, take their bodies hence.
LUCY 2142 I’ll bear them hence.
2143 95 But from their ashes shall be reared
2144 A phoenix that shall make all France afeard.
CHARLES
2145 So we be rid of them, do with him what thou wilt.
⌜Lucy, Servant, and Attendants exit,
bearing the bodies.⌝
2146 And now to Paris in this conquering vein.
2147 All will be ours, now bloody Talbot’s slain.
⌜They⌝ exit.
⌜with Attendants.⌝
KING HENRY, ⌜to Gloucester⌝
2148 Have you perused the letters from the Pope,
2149 The Emperor, and the Earl of Armagnac?
GLOUCESTER
2150 I have, my lord, and their intent is this:
2151 They humbly sue unto your Excellence
2152 5 To have a godly peace concluded of
2153 Between the realms of England and of France.
KING HENRY
2154 How doth your Grace affect their motion?
GLOUCESTER
2155 Well, my good lord, and as the only means
2156 To stop effusion of our Christian blood
2157 10 And stablish quietness on every side.
KING HENRY
2158 Ay, marry, uncle, for I always thought
2159 It was both impious and unnatural
2160 That such immanity and bloody strife
2161 Should reign among professors of one faith.
GLOUCESTER
2162 15 Besides, my lord, the sooner to effect
2163 And surer bind this knot of amity,
2164 The Earl of Armagnac, near knit to Charles,
2165 A man of great authority in France,
2166 Proffers his only daughter to your Grace
2167 20 In marriage, with a large and sumptuous dowry.
2168 Marriage, uncle? Alas, my years are young;
2169 And fitter is my study and my books
2170 Than wanton dalliance with a paramour.
2171 Yet call th’ Ambassadors and, as you please,
2172 25 So let them have their answers every one.
⌜An Attendant exits.⌝
2173 I shall be well content with any choice
2174 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⌝
2175 What, is my Lord of Winchester installed
2176 And called unto a cardinal’s degree?
2177 30 Then I perceive that will be verified
2178 Henry the Fifth did sometime prophesy:
2179 “If once he come to be a cardinal,
2180 He’ll make his cap coequal with the crown.”
KING HENRY
2181 My Lords Ambassadors, your several suits
2182 35 Have been considered and debated on;
2183 Your purpose is both good and reasonable,
2184 And therefore are we certainly resolved
2185 To draw conditions of a friendly peace,
2186 Which by my Lord of Winchester we mean
2187 40 Shall be transported presently to France.
GLOUCESTER, ⌜to the Ambassador of Armagnac⌝
2188 And for the proffer of my lord your master,
2189 I have informed his Highness so at large
2190 As, liking of the lady’s virtuous gifts,
2191 Her beauty, and the value of her dower,
2192 45 He doth intend she shall be England’s queen.
2193 In argument and proof of which contract,
2194 Bear her this jewel, pledge of my affection.—
2195 And so, my Lord Protector, see them guarded
2196 And safely brought to Dover, ⌜where, inshipped,⌝
2197 50 Commit them to the fortune of the sea.
⌜All except Winchester and Legate⌝ exit.
WINCHESTER
2198 Stay, my Lord Legate; you shall first receive
2199 The sum of money which I promisèd
2200 Should be delivered to his Holiness
2201 For clothing me in these grave ornaments.
LEGATE
2202 55 I will attend upon your Lordship’s leisure.⌜He exits.⌝
WINCHESTER
2203 Now Winchester will not submit, I trow,
2204 Or be inferior to the proudest peer.
2205 Humphrey of Gloucester, thou shalt well perceive
2206 That neither in birth or for authority
2207 60 The Bishop will be overborne by thee.
2208 I’ll either make thee stoop and bend thy knee,
2209 Or sack this country with a mutiny.
He exits.
Reignier, and Joan ⌜la Pucelle, with Soldiers.⌝
CHARLES
2210 These news, my lords, may cheer our drooping spirits:
2211 ’Tis said the stout Parisians do revolt
2212 And turn again unto the warlike French.
ALANSON
2213 Then march to Paris, royal Charles of France,
2214 5 And keep not back your powers in dalliance.
2215 Peace be amongst them if they turn to us;
2216 Else ruin combat with their palaces!
Enter Scout.
SCOUT
2217 Success unto our valiant general,
2218 And happiness to his accomplices.
CHARLES
2219 10 What tidings send our scouts? I prithee speak.
SCOUT
2220 The English army that divided was
2221 Into two parties is now conjoined in one,
2222 And means to give you battle presently.
CHARLES
2223 Somewhat too sudden, sirs, the warning is,
2224 15 But we will presently provide for them.
BURGUNDY
2225 I trust the ghost of Talbot is not there.
2226 Now he is gone, my lord, you need not fear.
PUCELLE
2227 Of all base passions, fear is most accursed.
2228 Command the conquest, Charles, it shall be thine;
2229 20 Let Henry fret and all the world repine.
CHARLES
2230 Then on, my lords, and France be fortunate!
They exit.
PUCELLE
2231 The Regent conquers and the Frenchmen fly.
2232 Now help, you charming spells and periapts,
2233 And you choice spirits that admonish me,
2235 5 You speedy helpers, that are substitutes
2236 Under the lordly monarch of the north,
2237 Appear, and aid me in this enterprise.
Enter Fiends.
2238 This ⌜speed⌝ and quick appearance argues proof
2239 Of your accustomed diligence to me.
2240 10 Now, you familiar spirits that are culled
2241 Out of the powerful regions under earth,
2242 Help me this once, that France may get the field.
They walk, and speak not.
2243 O, hold me not with silence overlong!
2244 Where I was wont to feed you with my blood,
2245 15 I’ll lop a member off and give it you
2246 In earnest of a further benefit,
2247 So you do condescend to help me now.
They hang their heads.
2248 No hope to have redress? My body shall
2249 Pay recompense if you will grant my suit.
They shake their heads.
2250 20 Cannot my body nor blood-sacrifice
2251 Entreat you to your wonted furtherance?
2252 Then take my soul—my body, soul, and all—
2253 Before that England give the French the foil.
They depart.
2254 See, they forsake me. Now the time is come
2255 25 That France must vail her lofty-plumèd crest
2256 And let her head fall into England’s lap.
2257 My ancient incantations are too weak,
2258 And hell too strong for me to buckle with.
2259 Now, France, thy glory droopeth to the dust.
⌜She exits.⌝
⌜Burgundy and the⌝ French fly ⌜as York and English
soldiers capture Joan la Pucelle.⌝
YORK
2260 30 Damsel of France, I think I have you fast.
2261 Unchain your spirits now with spelling charms,
2262 And try if they can gain your liberty.
2263 A goodly prize, fit for the devil’s grace!
2264 See how the ugly witch doth bend her brows
2265 35 As if with Circe she would change my shape.
PUCELLE
2266 Changed to a worser shape thou canst not be.
YORK
2267 O, Charles the Dauphin is a proper man;
2268 No shape but his can please your dainty eye.
PUCELLE
2269 A plaguing mischief light on Charles and thee,
2270 40 And may you both be suddenly surprised
2271 By bloody hands in sleeping on your beds!
YORK
2272 Fell banning hag! Enchantress, hold thy tongue.
PUCELLE
2273 I prithee give me leave to curse awhile.
YORK
2274 Curse, miscreant, when thou com’st to the stake.
They exit.
Alarum. Enter Suffolk with Margaret in his hand.
SUFFOLK
2275 45 Be what thou wilt, thou art my prisoner.
Gazes on her.
2276 O fairest beauty, do not fear nor fly,
2277 For I will touch thee but with reverent hands.
2278 I kiss these fingers for eternal peace
2280 50 Who art thou? Say, that I may honor thee.
MARGARET
2281 Margaret my name, and daughter to a king,
2282 The King of Naples, whosoe’er thou art.
SUFFOLK
2283 An earl I am, and Suffolk am I called.
2284 Be not offended, nature’s miracle;
2285 55 Thou art allotted to be ta’en by me.
2286 So doth the swan her downy cygnets save,
2287 Keeping them prisoner underneath ⌜her⌝ wings.
2288 Yet if this servile usage once offend,
2289 Go and be free again as Suffolk’s friend.
She is going.
2290 60 O, stay! (⌜Aside.⌝) I have no power to let her pass.
2291 My hand would free her, but my heart says no.
2292 As plays the sun upon the glassy streams,
2293 Twinkling another counterfeited beam,
2294 So seems this gorgeous beauty to mine eyes.
2295 65 Fain would I woo her, yet I dare not speak.
2296 I’ll call for pen and ink and write my mind.
2297 Fie, de la Pole, disable not thyself!
2298 Hast not a tongue? Is she not here?
2299 Wilt thou be daunted at a woman’s sight?
2300 70 Ay. Beauty’s princely majesty is such
2301 Confounds the tongue and makes the senses rough.
MARGARET
2302 Say, Earl of Suffolk, if thy name be so,
2303 What ransom must I pay before I pass?
2304 For I perceive I am thy prisoner.
SUFFOLK, ⌜aside⌝
2305 75 How canst thou tell she will deny thy suit
2306 Before thou make a trial of her love?
MARGARET
2307 Why speak’st thou not? What ransom must I pay?
2308 She’s beautiful, and therefore to be wooed;
2309 She is a woman, therefore to be won.
MARGARET
2310 80 Wilt thou accept of ransom, yea or no?
SUFFOLK, ⌜aside⌝
2311 Fond man, remember that thou hast a wife;
2312 Then how can Margaret be thy paramour?
MARGARET, ⌜aside⌝
2313 I were best to leave him, for he will not hear.
SUFFOLK, ⌜aside⌝
2314 There all is marred; there lies a cooling card.
MARGARET, ⌜aside⌝
2315 85 He talks at random; sure the man is mad.
SUFFOLK, ⌜aside⌝
2316 And yet a dispensation may be had.
MARGARET
2317 And yet I would that you would answer me.
SUFFOLK, ⌜aside⌝
2318 I’ll win this Lady Margaret. For whom?
2319 Why, for my king. Tush, that’s a wooden thing!
MARGARET, ⌜aside⌝
2320 90 He talks of wood. It is some carpenter.
SUFFOLK, ⌜aside⌝
2321 Yet so my fancy may be satisfied,
2322 And peace establishèd between these realms.
2323 But there remains a scruple in that, too;
2324 For though her father be the King of Naples,
2325 95 Duke of Anjou and Maine, yet is he poor,
2326 And our nobility will scorn the match.
MARGARET
2327 Hear you, captain? Are you not at leisure?
SUFFOLK, ⌜aside⌝
2328 It shall be so, disdain they ne’er so much.
2329 Henry is youthful, and will quickly yield.—
2330 100 Madam, I have a secret to reveal.
2331 What though I be enthralled, he seems a knight,
2332 And will not any way dishonor me.
SUFFOLK
2333 Lady, vouchsafe to listen what I say.
MARGARET, ⌜aside⌝
2334 Perhaps I shall be rescued by the French,
2335 105 And then I need not crave his courtesy.
SUFFOLK
2336 Sweet madam, give me hearing in a cause.
MARGARET, ⌜aside⌝
2337 Tush, women have been captivate ere now.
SUFFOLK
2338 Lady, wherefore talk you so?
MARGARET
2339 I cry you mercy, ’tis but quid for quo.
SUFFOLK
2340 110 Say, gentle princess, would you not suppose
2341 Your bondage happy, to be made a queen?
MARGARET
2342 To be a queen in bondage is more vile
2343 Than is a slave in base servility,
2344 For princes should be free.
SUFFOLK 2345 115 And so shall you,
2346 If happy England’s royal king be free.
MARGARET
2347 Why, what concerns his freedom unto me?
SUFFOLK
2348 I’ll undertake to make thee Henry’s queen,
2349 To put a golden scepter in thy hand
2350 120 And set a precious crown upon thy head,
2351 If thou wilt condescend to be my—
MARGARET 2352 What?
SUFFOLK 2353 His love.
2354 I am unworthy to be Henry’s wife.
SUFFOLK
2355 125 No, gentle madam, I unworthy am
2356 To woo so fair a dame to be his wife,
2357 And have no portion in the choice myself.
2358 How say you, madam? Are you so content?
MARGARET
2359 An if my father please, I am content.
SUFFOLK
2360 130 Then call our captains and our colors forth!
⌜A Soldier exits.⌝
2361 And, madam, at your father’s castle walls
2362 We’ll crave a parley to confer with him.
⌜Enter Captains and Trumpets.⌝ Sound ⌜a parley.⌝
Enter Reignier on the walls.
2363 See, Reignier, see thy daughter prisoner!
REIGNIER
2364 To whom?
SUFFOLK 2365 135 To me.
REIGNIER 2366 Suffolk, what remedy?
2367 I am a soldier and unapt to weep
2368 Or to exclaim on Fortune’s fickleness.
SUFFOLK
2369 Yes, there is remedy enough, my lord:
2370 140 Consent, and, for thy Honor give consent,
2371 Thy daughter shall be wedded to my king,
2372 Whom I with pain have wooed and won thereto;
2373 And this her easy-held imprisonment
2374 Hath gained thy daughter princely liberty.
REIGNIER
2375 145 Speaks Suffolk as he thinks?
SUFFOLK 2376 Fair Margaret knows
2377 That Suffolk doth not flatter, face, or feign.
2378 Upon thy princely warrant, I descend
2379 To give thee answer of thy just demand.
⌜He exits from the walls.⌝
SUFFOLK
2380 150 And here I will expect thy coming.
Trumpets sound. Enter Reignier, ⌜below.⌝
REIGNIER
2381 Welcome, brave earl, into our territories.
2382 Command in Anjou what your Honor pleases.
SUFFOLK
2383 Thanks, Reignier, happy for so sweet a child,
2384 Fit to be made companion with a king.
2385 155 What answer makes your Grace unto my suit?
REIGNIER
2386 Since thou dost deign to woo her little worth
2387 To be the princely bride of such a lord,
2388 Upon condition I may quietly
2389 Enjoy mine own, the country Maine and Anjou,
2390 160 Free from oppression or the stroke of war,
2391 My daughter shall be Henry’s, if he please.
SUFFOLK
2392 That is her ransom; I deliver her,
2393 And those two counties I will undertake
2394 Your Grace shall well and quietly enjoy.
REIGNIER
2395 165 And I, again in Henry’s royal name
2396 As deputy unto that gracious king,
2397 Give thee her hand for sign of plighted faith.
SUFFOLK
2398 Reignier of France, I give thee kingly thanks
2399 Because this is in traffic of a king.
2400 170 ⌜Aside.⌝ And yet methinks I could be well content
2401 To be mine own attorney in this case.—
2403 And make this marriage to be solemnized.
2404 So farewell, Reignier; set this diamond safe
2405 175 In golden palaces, as it becomes.
REIGNIER, ⌜embracing Suffolk⌝
2406 I do embrace thee, as I would embrace
2407 The Christian prince King Henry, were he here.
MARGARET, ⌜to Suffolk⌝
2408 Farewell, my lord; good wishes, praise, and prayers
2409 Shall Suffolk ever have of Margaret.
She is going, ⌜as Reignier exits.⌝
SUFFOLK
2410 180 Farewell, sweet madam. But, hark you, Margaret,
2411 No princely commendations to my king?
MARGARET
2412 Such commendations as becomes a maid,
2413 A virgin, and his servant, say to him.
SUFFOLK
2414 Words sweetly placed and ⌜modestly⌝ directed.
2415 185 But, madam, I must trouble you again:
2416 No loving token to his Majesty?
MARGARET
2417 Yes, my good lord: a pure unspotted heart,
2418 Never yet taint with love, I send the King.
SUFFOLK 2419 And this withal.Kiss her.
MARGARET
2420 190 That for thyself. I will not so presume
2421 To send such peevish tokens to a king.⌜She exits.⌝
SUFFOLK
2422 O, wert thou for myself! But, Suffolk, stay.
2423 Thou mayst not wander in that labyrinth.
2424 There Minotaurs and ugly treasons lurk.
2425 195 Solicit Henry with her wondrous praise;
2426 Bethink thee on her virtues that surmount
2428 Repeat their semblance often on the seas,
2429 That, when thou com’st to kneel at Henry’s feet,
2430 200 Thou mayst bereave him of his wits with wonder.
He exits.
⌜and⌝ Pucelle, ⌜guarded.⌝
YORK
2431 Bring forth that sorceress condemned to burn.
SHEPHERD
2432 Ah, Joan, this kills thy father’s heart outright.
2433 Have I sought every country far and near,
2434 And, now it is my chance to find thee out,
2435 5 Must I behold thy timeless cruel death?
2436 Ah, Joan, sweet daughter Joan, I’ll die with thee.
PUCELLE
2437 Decrepit miser, base ignoble wretch!
2438 I am descended of a gentler blood.
2439 Thou art no father nor no friend of mine.
SHEPHERD
2440 10 Out, out!—My lords, an please you, ’tis not so!
2441 I did beget her, all the parish knows;
2442 Her mother liveth yet, can testify
2443 She was the first fruit of my bach’lorship.
WARWICK
2444 Graceless, wilt thou deny thy parentage?
YORK
2445 15 This argues what her kind of life hath been,
2446 Wicked and vile; and so her death concludes.
SHEPHERD
2447 Fie, Joan, that thou wilt be so obstacle!
2449 And for thy sake have I shed many a tear.
2450 20 Deny me not, I prithee, gentle Joan.
PUCELLE
2451 Peasant, avaunt!—You have suborned this man
2452 Of purpose to obscure my noble birth.
SHEPHERD
2453 ’Tis true, I gave a noble to the priest
2454 The morn that I was wedded to her mother.—
2455 25 Kneel down and take my blessing, good my girl.
2456 Wilt thou not stoop? Now cursèd be the time
2457 Of thy nativity! I would the milk
2458 Thy mother gave thee when thou ⌜suck’dst⌝ her
2459 breast
2460 30 Had been a little ratsbane for thy sake!
2461 Or else, when thou didst keep my lambs afield,
2462 I wish some ravenous wolf had eaten thee!
2463 Dost thou deny thy father, cursèd drab?
2464 O burn her, burn her! Hanging is too good.He exits.
YORK
2465 35 Take her away, for she hath lived too long
2466 To fill the world with vicious qualities.
PUCELLE
2467 First, let me tell you whom you have condemned:
2468 Not ⌜one⌝ begotten of a shepherd swain,
2469 But issued from the progeny of kings,
2470 40 Virtuous and holy, chosen from above
2471 By inspiration of celestial grace
2472 To work exceeding miracles on earth.
2473 I never had to do with wicked spirits.
2474 But you, that are polluted with your lusts,
2475 45 Stained with the guiltless blood of innocents,
2476 Corrupt and tainted with a thousand vices,
2477 Because you want the grace that others have,
2478 You judge it straight a thing impossible
2480 50 No, misconceivèd! Joan of ⌜Arc⌝ hath been
2481 A virgin from her tender infancy,
2482 Chaste and immaculate in very thought,
2483 Whose maiden blood, thus rigorously effused,
2484 Will cry for vengeance at the gates of heaven.
YORK
2485 55 Ay, ay.—Away with her to execution.
WARWICK
2486 And hark you, sirs: because she is a maid,
2487 Spare for no faggots; let there be enow.
2488 Place barrels of pitch upon the fatal stake
2489 That so her torture may be shortenèd.
PUCELLE
2490 60 Will nothing turn your unrelenting hearts?
2491 Then, Joan, discover thine infirmity,
2492 That warranteth by law to be thy privilege:
2493 I am with child, you bloody homicides.
2494 Murder not then the fruit within my womb,
2495 65 Although you hale me to a violent death.
YORK
2496 Now heaven forfend, the holy maid with child?
WARWICK, ⌜to Pucelle⌝
2497 The greatest miracle that e’er you wrought!
2498 Is all your strict preciseness come to this?
YORK
2499 She and the Dauphin have been juggling.
2500 70 I did imagine what would be her refuge.
WARWICK
2501 Well, go to, we’ll have no bastards live,
2502 Especially since Charles must father it.
PUCELLE
2503 You are deceived; my child is none of his.
2504 It was Alanson that enjoyed my love.
2505 75 Alanson, that notorious Machiavel?
2506 It dies an if it had a thousand lives!
PUCELLE
2507 O, give me leave! I have deluded you.
2508 ’Twas neither Charles nor yet the Duke I named,
2509 But Reignier, King of Naples, that prevailed.
WARWICK
2510 80 A married man? That’s most intolerable.
YORK
2511 Why, here’s a girl! I think she knows not well—
2512 There were so many—whom she may accuse.
WARWICK
2513 It’s sign she hath been liberal and free.
YORK
2514 And yet, forsooth, she is a virgin pure!—
2515 85 Strumpet, thy words condemn thy brat and thee.
2516 Use no entreaty, for it is in vain.
PUCELLE
2517 Then lead me hence, with whom I leave my curse:
2518 May never glorious sun reflex his beams
2519 Upon the country where you make abode,
2520 90 But darkness and the gloomy shade of death
2521 Environ you, till mischief and despair
2522 Drive you to break your necks or hang yourselves.
She exits, ⌜led by Guards.⌝
YORK
2523 Break thou in pieces, and consume to ashes,
2524 Thou foul accursèd minister of hell!
Enter ⌜Winchester, as⌝ Cardinal.
WINCHESTER
2525 95 Lord Regent, I do greet your Excellence
2526 With letters of commission from the King.
2527 For know, my lords, the states of Christendom,
2529 Have earnestly implored a general peace
2530 100 Betwixt our nation and the aspiring French;
2531 And here at hand the Dauphin and his train
2532 Approacheth to confer about some matter.
YORK
2533 Is all our travail turned to this effect?
2534 After the slaughter of so many peers,
2535 105 So many captains, gentlemen, and soldiers
2536 That in this quarrel have been overthrown
2537 And sold their bodies for their country’s benefit,
2538 Shall we at last conclude effeminate peace?
2539 Have we not lost most part of all the towns—
2540 110 By treason, falsehood, and by treachery—
2541 Our great progenitors had conquerèd?
2542 O, Warwick, Warwick, I foresee with grief
2543 The utter loss of all the realm of France!
WARWICK
2544 Be patient, York; if we conclude a peace
2545 115 It shall be with such strict and severe covenants
2546 As little shall the Frenchmen gain thereby.
Enter Charles, Alanson, Bastard,
Reignier, ⌜with Attendants.⌝
CHARLES
2547 Since, lords of England, it is thus agreed
2548 That peaceful truce shall be proclaimed in France,
2549 We come to be informèd by yourselves
2550 120 What the conditions of that league must be.
YORK
2551 Speak, Winchester, for boiling choler chokes
2552 The hollow passage of my poisoned voice
2553 By sight of these our baleful enemies.
WINCHESTER
2554 Charles and the rest, it is enacted thus:
2556 Of mere compassion and of lenity,
2557 To ease your country of distressful war
2558 And suffer you to breathe in fruitful peace,
2559 You shall become true liegemen to his crown.
2560 130 And, Charles, upon condition thou wilt swear
2561 To pay him tribute and submit thyself,
2562 Thou shalt be placed as viceroy under him,
2563 And still enjoy thy regal dignity.
ALANSON
2564 Must he be then as shadow of himself—
2565 135 Adorn his temples with a coronet,
2566 And yet, in substance and authority,
2567 Retain but privilege of a private man?
2568 This proffer is absurd and reasonless.
CHARLES
2569 ’Tis known already that I am possessed
2570 140 With more than half the Gallian territories,
2571 And therein reverenced for their lawful king.
2572 Shall I, for lucre of the rest unvanquished,
2573 Detract so much from that prerogative
2574 As to be called but viceroy of the whole?
2575 145 No, lord ambassador, I’ll rather keep
2576 That which I have than, coveting for more,
2577 Be cast from possibility of all.
YORK
2578 Insulting Charles, hast thou by secret means
2579 Used intercession to obtain a league
2580 150 And, now the matter grows to compromise,
2581 Stand’st thou aloof upon comparison?
2582 Either accept the title thou usurp’st,
2583 Of benefit proceeding from our king
2584 And not of any challenge of desert,
2585 155 Or we will plague thee with incessant wars.
REIGNIER, ⌜aside to Charles⌝
2586 My lord, you do not well in obstinacy
2588 If once it be neglected, ten to one
2589 We shall not find like opportunity.
ALANSON, ⌜aside to Charles⌝
2590 160 To say the truth, it is your policy
2591 To save your subjects from such massacre
2592 And ruthless slaughters as are daily seen
2593 By our proceeding in hostility;
2594 And therefore take this compact of a truce
2595 165 Although you break it when your pleasure serves.
WARWICK
2596 How say’st thou, Charles? Shall our condition stand?
CHARLES
2597 It shall—only reserved you claim no interest
2598 In any of our towns of garrison.
YORK
2599 Then swear allegiance to his Majesty,
2600 170 As thou art knight, never to disobey
2601 Nor be rebellious to the crown of England,
2602 Thou nor thy nobles, to the crown of England.
⌜Charles, Alanson, Bastard, and Reignier
swear allegiance to Henry.⌝
2603 So, now dismiss your army when you please;
2604 Hang up your ensigns, let your drums be still,
2605 175 For here we entertain a solemn peace.
They exit.
Gloucester, and Exeter, ⌜with Attendants.⌝
KING HENRY
2606 Your wondrous rare description, noble earl,
2607 Of beauteous Margaret hath astonished me.
2609 Do breed love’s settled passions in my heart,
2610 5 And like as rigor of tempestuous gusts
2611 Provokes the mightiest hulk against the tide,
2612 So am I driven by breath of her renown
2613 Either to suffer shipwrack, or arrive
2614 Where I may have fruition of her love.
SUFFOLK
2615 10 Tush, my good lord, this superficial tale
2616 Is but a preface of her worthy praise.
2617 The chief perfections of that lovely dame,
2618 Had I sufficient skill to utter them,
2619 Would make a volume of enticing lines
2620 15 Able to ravish any dull conceit;
2621 And, which is more, she is not so divine,
2622 So full replete with choice of all delights,
2623 But with as humble lowliness of mind
2624 She is content to be at your command—
2625 20 Command, I mean, of virtuous chaste intents—
2626 To love and honor Henry as her lord.
KING HENRY
2627 And otherwise will Henry ne’er presume.—
2628 Therefore, my Lord Protector, give consent
2629 That Margaret may be England’s royal queen.
GLOUCESTER
2630 25 So should I give consent to flatter sin.
2631 You know, my lord, your Highness is betrothed
2632 Unto another lady of esteem.
2633 How shall we then dispense with that contract
2634 And not deface your honor with reproach?
SUFFOLK
2635 30 As doth a ruler with unlawful oaths;
2636 Or one that, at a triumph having vowed
2637 To try his strength, forsaketh yet the lists
2638 By reason of his adversary’s odds.
2640 35 And therefore may be broke without offense.
GLOUCESTER
2641 Why, what, I pray, is Margaret more than that?
2642 Her father is no better than an earl,
2643 Although in glorious titles he excel.
SUFFOLK
2644 Yes, my lord, her father is a king,
2645 40 The King of Naples and Jerusalem,
2646 And of such great authority in France
2647 As his alliance will confirm our peace,
2648 And keep the Frenchmen in allegiance.
GLOUCESTER
2649 And so the Earl of Armagnac may do,
2650 45 Because he is near kinsman unto Charles.
EXETER
2651 Besides, his wealth doth warrant a liberal dower,
2652 Where Reignier sooner will receive than give.
SUFFOLK
2653 A dower, my lords? Disgrace not so your king
2654 That he should be so abject, base, and poor,
2655 50 To choose for wealth and not for perfect love.
2656 Henry is able to enrich his queen,
2657 And not to seek a queen to make him rich;
2658 So worthless peasants bargain for their wives,
2659 As market men for oxen, sheep, or horse.
2660 55 Marriage is a matter of more worth
2661 Than to be dealt in by attorneyship.
2662 Not whom we will, but whom his Grace affects,
2663 Must be companion of his nuptial bed.
2664 And therefore, lords, since he affects her most,
2665 60 Most of all these reasons bindeth us
2666 In our opinions she should be preferred.
2667 For what is wedlock forcèd but a hell,
2668 An age of discord and continual strife?
2670 65 And is a pattern of celestial peace.
2671 Whom should we match with Henry, being a king,
2672 But Margaret, that is daughter to a king?
2673 Her peerless feature, joinèd with her birth,
2674 Approves her fit for none but for a king.
2675 70 Her valiant courage and undaunted spirit,
2676 More than in women commonly is seen,
2677 Will answer our hope in issue of a king.
2678 For Henry, son unto a conqueror,
2679 Is likely to beget more conquerors,
2680 75 If with a lady of so high resolve
2681 As is fair Margaret he be linked in love.
2682 Then yield, my lords, and here conclude with me
2683 That Margaret shall be queen, and none but she.
KING HENRY
2684 Whether it be through force of your report,
2685 80 My noble Lord of Suffolk, or for that
2686 My tender youth was never yet attaint
2687 With any passion of inflaming love,
2688 I cannot tell; but this I am assured:
2689 I feel such sharp dissension in my breast,
2690 85 Such fierce alarums both of hope and fear,
2691 As I am sick with working of my thoughts.
2692 Take therefore shipping; post, my lord, to France;
2693 Agree to any covenants, and procure
2694 That Lady Margaret do vouchsafe to come
2695 90 To cross the seas to England and be crowned
2696 King Henry’s faithful and anointed queen.
2697 For your expenses and sufficient charge,
2698 Among the people gather up a tenth.
2699 Be gone, I say, for till you do return,
2700 95 I rest perplexèd with a thousand cares.—
2701 And you, good uncle, banish all offense.
2702 If you do censure me by what you were,
2704 This sudden execution of my will.
2705 100 And so conduct me where, from company,
2706 I may revolve and ruminate my grief.
He exits ⌜with Attendants.⌝
GLOUCESTER
2707 Ay, grief, I fear me, both at first and last.
Gloucester exits ⌜with Exeter.⌝
SUFFOLK
2708 Thus Suffolk hath prevailed, and thus he goes
2709 As did the youthful Paris once to Greece,
2710 105 With hope to find the like event in love,
2711 But prosper better than the Trojan did.
2712 Margaret shall now be queen, and rule the King,
2713 But I will rule both her, the King, and realm.
He exits.