We here create you earl of Shrewsbury; [Exeunt all except VERNON and BASSET. Dar'st thou maintain the former words thou spak'st? BAS. Yes, sir; as well as you dare patronage The envious barking of your saucy tongue Against my lord, the duke of Somerset. VER. Sirrah, thy lord I honour as he is. that. BAS. Villain, thou know'st the law of arms is such, That whoso draws a sword, 'tis present death;" I may have liberty to venge this wrong; And, after, meet you sooner than you would. [Exeunt. a That whoso draws a sword, 'tis present death:] Meaning, possibly, that to draw a sword within the precincts of the Court was a capital offence. Writ to your grace from the duke of Burgundy. TAL. Shame to the duke of Burgundy and thee! I vow'd, base knight, when I did meet thee next, (Which I have done) because unworthily GLO. To say the truth, this fact was infamous, (*) Old text, Poictiers. TAL. When first this order was ordain'd, my Knights of the garter were of noble birth; K. HEN. Stain to thy countrymen! thou hear'st Be packing therefore, thou that wast a knight; GLO. What means his grace, that he hath [Viewing the superscription. No more but, plain and bluntly,-To the king? cause, Mov'd with compassion of my country's wreck, K. HEN. Be patient, lords, and give them leave Say, gentlemen, what makes you thus exclaim? And wherefore crave you combat? or with whom? VER. With him, my lord; for he hath done me [wrong. BAS. And I with him; for he hath done me K. HEN. What is that wrong whereof you both complain? wrong. First let me know, and then I'll answer you. BAS. Crossing the sea from England into France, And join'd with Charles, the rightful king of I crave the benefit of law of arms. France. O monstrous treachery! Can this be so,- K. HEN. What! doth my uncle Burgundy [foe. GLO. He doth, my lord; and is become your K. HEN. Is that the worst this letter doth contain? GLO. It is the worst, and all, my lord, he writes. And give him chastisement for this abuse:- I should have begg'd I might have been employ'd. VER. And that is my petition, noble lord: YORK. Will not this malice, Somerset, be left? Though ne'er so cunningly you smother it. K. HEN. Good Lord! what madness rules in When, for so slight and frivolous a cause, YORK. Let this dissension first be tried by fight, quoted by Mr. Dyce: "What misfortune, adversitie, or blame, Can all the planets to man or childe pretende, If God most glorious by his might us defende." e Prevented,-] Anticipated, by the king's speech. d Bewray'd-1 That is, Betrayed, betokened. SOM. The quarrel toucheth none but us alone; Betwixt ourselves let us decide it, then. [merset. YORK. There is my pledge; accept it, SoVER. Nay, let it rest where it began at first. BAS. Confirm it so, mine honourable lord. GLO. Confirm it so! Confounded be your strife! And perish ye, with your audacious prate! Presumptuous vassals! are you not asham'd, With this immodest clamorous outrage To trouble and disturb the king and us? And you, my lords,-methinks you do not well To bear with their perverse objections; Much less to take occasion from their mouths To raise a mutiny betwixt yourselves: Let me persuade you take a better course. EXE. It grieves his highness;-good my lords, be friends. [batants. K. HEN. Come hither, you that would be comHenceforth, I charge you, as you love our favour, Quite to forget this quarrel and the cause.— And you, my lords,-remember where we are; In France, amongst a fickle wavering nation : If they perceive dissension in our looks, And that within ourselves we disagree, How will their grudging stomachs be provok'd To wilful disobedience, and rebel ! Beside, what infamy will there arise, When foreign princes shall be certified, That for a toy, a thing of no regard, King Henry's peers and chief nobility, Destroy'd themselves, and lost the realm of France! think upon the conquest of my father; [Putting on a red rose. Your troops of horsemen with his bands of foot ;And, like true subjects, sons of your progenitors, Go cheerfully together, and digest Your angry choler on your enemies. Ourself, my lord protector, and the rest, a An if I wist he did!-] An if I thought he did, &c. The old text for wist, an emendation by Capell, reads wish. b But that it doth presage some ill event.] This is very awkardly expressed. We should perhaps read "But feels it doth presage," &c. After some respite, will return to Calais; With Charles, Alençon, and that traitorous rout. WAR. My lord of York, I promise you, the king Prettily, methought, did play the orator. YORK. And so he did; but yet I like it not, In that he wears the badge of Somerset. [not; WIN. Tush! that was but his fancy, blame him I dare presume, sweet prince, he thought no harm. YORK. An if I wist he did!—but let it rest, Other affairs must now be managed. [Exeunt YORK, WARWICK, and VERNON. EXE. Well didst thou, Richard, to suppress thy voice: For, had the passions of thy heart burst out, This should'ring of each other in the court, c [Exit. SCENE II.-France. Before Bourdeaux. Enter TALBOT, with his Forces. TAL. Go to the gates of Bourdeaux, trumpeter, Summon their general unto the wall. Trumpet sounds a parley. Enter, on the walls, the General of the French Forces, and others. English John Talbot, captains, calls* you forth, GEN. Thou ominous and fearful owl of death, Upon no Christian soul but English Talbot. b [Exeunt General, &c. from the walls. TAL. He fables not, I hear the enemy ;— Out, some light horsemen, and peruse their wings. O, negligent and heedless discipline! How are we park'd and bounded in a pale,— A little herd of England's timorous deer, Maz'd with a yelping kennel of French curs! If we be English deer, be, then, in blood; ↳ Not rascal-like, to fall down with a pinch, But rather moody-mad and desperate stags, Turn on the bloody hounds with heads of steel, And make the cowards stand aloof at bay: Sell every man his life as dear as mine, And they shall find dear deer of us, my friends.God and saint George, Talbot and England's right, Prosper our colours in this dangerous fight! [Exeunt. SCENE III.-Plains in Gascony. Enter YORK with Forces; to him a Messenger. YORK. Are not the speedy scouts return'd again, That dogg'd the mighty army of the Dauphin? a Dew thee withal;] So the old text; but the modern reading due, in the sense of paying a deserved tribute, is, perhaps, to be preferred. b Be, then, in blood;] See note (c). p. 71, Vol. I. e Not rascal-like,-] Rascal has been before explained to be a Never so needful on the earth of France, Spur to the rescue of the noble Talbot ; Who now is girdled with a waist of iron, honour. [heart YORK. O God! that Somerset-who in proud Doth stop my cornets-were in Talbot's place! So should we save a valiant gentleman, By forfeiting a traitor and a coward. Mad ire and wrathful fury makes me weep, That thus we die, while remiss traitors sleep. LUCY. O, send some succour to the distress'd lord! [word: YORK. He dies, we lose; I break my warlike We mourn, France smiles; we lose, they daily get; All 'long of this vile traitor Somerset. LUCY. Then God take mercy on brave Talbot's soul! And on his son young John; who two hours since [Exit. term of the chase for a deer, lean and altogether out of condition. d And I am lowted by a traitor villain,-] Malone interprets this: "I am treated with contempt like a lowt, or low country fellow." It means, more probably, I am left in the mire, landlurch'd, by a traitor, &c. |