Ver. With him, my lord, for he hath done me wrong. Bas. And I with him; for he hath done me wrong. K. Hen. What is that wrong whereof you both complain? First let me know, and then I'll answer you. Bas. Crossing the sea, from England into France, Argu'd betwixt the duke of York and him; Ver. And that is my petition, noble lord; Yet know, my lord, I was provok'd by him; York. Will not this malice, Somerset, be left? Though ne'er so cunningly you smother it. K. Hen. Good lord! what madness rules in brain- When, for so slight and frivolous a cause, York. Let this dissension first be tried by fight, Exe. It grieves his highness;-Good my lords, be friends. K. Hen. Come hither, you that would be com- Henceforth, I charge you, as you love our favour, 1 To repugn is to resist. From the Latin repugno. 2 i. e. discovered. 2 The old copy reads 'And if I wish he did: an evidens typographical error. York says that he is not pleased that the king should prefer the red rose, the badge of Somerset, his enemy; Warwick desires him not to be offended at it, as he dares say the king meant no harm. To which York, yet unsatisfied, hastily reples, in a menacing tone, If I thought he did ;-but Let me be umpire in this doubtful strife. I see no reason, if I wear this rose, [Putting on a red Rose. That any one should therefore be suspicious I more incline to Somerset than York: Both are my kinsmen, and I love them both: As well may they upbraid me with my crown, Because, forsooth, the king of Scots is crown'd. But your discretions better can persuade, Than I am able to instruct or teach: And therefore, as we hither came in peace, So let us still continue peace and love.Cousin of York, we institute your grace To be our regent in these parts of France: And good my lord of Somerset, unite Your troops of horsemen with his bands of foot ;And, like true subjects, sons of your progenitors, Go cheerfully together, and digest Your angry choler on your enemies: Ourself, my lord protector, and the rest, After some respite, will return to Calais; From thence to England; where I hope ere long To be presented by your victories, With Charles, Alençon, and that traitorous rout. [Flourish. Exeunt K. HEN. GLO. SOM. WIN. SUF. and BASSET. War. My lord of York, I promise you, the king Prettily, methought, did play the orator. York. And so he did; but yet I like it not, In that he wears the badge of Somerset. War. Tush! that was but his fancy, blame him For, had the passions of thy heart burst out, This should'ring of each other in the court, 4 [Exit. SCENE II. France. Before Bordeaux. Enter TALBOT, with his Forces. Tal. Go to the gates of Bordeaux, trumpeter, Summon their general unto the wall, Trumpet sounds a Parley. Enter, on the Walls, the General of the French Forces, and others. English John Talbot, captains, calls you forth, Servant in arms to Harry king of England; And thus he would,-Open your city gates, Be humble to us; call my sovereign yours, And do him homage as obedient subjects, And I'll withdraw me and my bloody power: But, if you frown upon this proffer'd peace, You tempt the fury of my three attendants, Lean famine, quartering steel, and climbing fire; Who, in a moment, even with the earth Shall lay your stately and air-braving towers, If you forsake the offer of our love." Gen. Thou ominous and fearful owl of death, Our nation's terror, and their bloody scourge ! he instantly checks his threat with, let it rest. It is an example of a rhetorical figure not uncommon. 4 'Tis an alarming circumstance, a thing of great consequence, or much weight. 5 Envy, in old English writers, frequently means malice, enmity. 6 Unkind is unnatural. 7 The old editions read their love. Sir Thomas Hanmer altered it to our love; and I think, with Steevens, that the alteration should be adopted. The period of thy tyranny approacheth. On us thou canst not enter, but by death: For, I protest, we are well fortified, And strong enough to issue out and fight: Upon no Christian soul but English Talbot. [Exeunt General, &c. from the Walls. Prosper our colours in this dangerous fight! [Exeunt. Never so needful on the earth of France, Lucy. Thou princely leader of our English strength, Doth stop my cornets were in Talbot's place! Mad ire, and wrathful fury, make me weep. 1 'To rive their dangerous artillery' is merely a figurative way of expressing to discharge it. To rive is to burst; and burst is applied by Shakspeare more than once to thunder, or to a similar sound. 2 Due for endue, or giving due and merited praise. 3 So Milton's Comus: York. He dies, we lose; I break my warlike word; We mourn, France smiles; we lose, they daily get; All 'long of this vile traitor Somerset. Lucy. Then, God take mercy on brave Talbot's soul! And on his son, young John; whom, two hours since, I met in travel toward his warlike father! [Exit. Lucy. Thus, while the vulture of sedition Feeds in the bosom of such great commanders, Sleeping neglection doth betray to loss The conquest of our scarce-cold conqueror, That ever-living man of memory, Henry the Fifth-Whiles they each other cross, Lives, honours, lands, and all, hurry to loss. [Exit. SCENE IV. Other Plains of Gascony. Enter SOMERSET, with his Forces; an Officer of TALBOT's with him. Som. It is too late; I cannot send them now: Be buckled with the over-daring Talbot Enter SIR WILLIAM LUCY. Som. How now, Sir William? whither were you Lucy. Whither, my lord? from bought and sold Who, ring'd about11 with bold adversity, or baffled. To be treated with contempt like a lot· or country fellow,' says Malone. But the meaning of the word here is evidently loitered, retarded: and the following quotation from Cotgrave will show that this was sometimes the sense of to lowt: Loricarder, to luske, lowt, or lubber it; to loyter about like a masterless man.' those sleeping stones 4 In blood is a term of the forest; a deer was said to That as a waist do girdle you about.' be in blood when in vigour or in good condition, and full King John. of courage, here put in opposition to rascal, which was si. e. expended, consumed. Malone says that the the term for the same animal when lean and out of con-word is still used in this sense in the western counties. dition. She fables not, I feel that I do fear." 5 Sples 7 9 Alluding to the tale of Prometheus. 10 i. e. from one utterly ruined by the treacherous 6 To lowt may signify to depress, to lower, to dis-practices of others. The expression seems to have honour,' says Johnson: but in his Dictionary he ex-been proverbial; intimating that foul play had been plains it to overpower. Steevens knows not what to used. make of it: to let down, to be subdued, or vanquished,| 11 Encircled, environed. And whiles the honourable captain there Som. York set him on, York should have sent him aid. Lucy. And York as fast upon your grace exclaims; Swearing that you withhold his levied host, Som. York lies; he might have sent and had the horse: I owe him little duty, and less love; Hath now entrapp'd the noble-minded Talbot: Within six hours they will be at his aid. Lucy. Too late comes rescue; he is ta'en, or slain; For fly he could not, if he would have fled; And fly would Talbot never, though he might. you. Som. If he be dead, brave Talbot, then adieu! Lucy. His fame lives in the world, his shame in [Exeunt. SCENE V. The English Camp, near Bordeaux. Enter TALBOT and JOHN his Son. Tal. O young John Talbot! I did send for thee, To tutor thee in stratagems of war; That Talbot's name might be in thee reviv'd, When sapless age, and weak unable limbs, Should bring thy father to his drooping chair. But,-O malignant and ill boding stars!Now thou art come unto a feast of death,3 A terrible and unavoided danger : Therefore, dear boy, mount on my swiftest horse; And I'll direct thee how thou shalt escape By sudden flight: come, dally not, begone. John. Is my name Talbot? and am I your son? And shall I fly? O, if you love my mother, Dishonour not her honourable name, To make a bastard, and a slave of me: The world will say-He is not Talbot's blood, That basely fled, when noble Talbot stood, Tal. Fly, to revenge my death, if I be slain. John. He, that flies so, will ne'er return again. Tal. If we both stay, we both are sure to die. John. Then let me stay; and, father, do you fly: Your loss is great, so your regard should be ; My worth unknown, no loss is known in me. Upon my death the French can little boast; In yours they will, in you all hopes are lost." Flight cannot stain the honour you have won; But mine it will, that no exploit have done : You fled for vantage every one will swear; But, if I bow, they'll say it was for fear." There is no hope that ever I will stay, If, the first hour, I shrink, and run away. Here, on my knee, I beg mortality, Rather than life preserv'd with infamy. John. Ay, rather than I'll shame my mother's womb. Tal. Upon my blessing I command thee go. John. Yes, your renowned name: Shall flight abuse it? Tal. Thy father's charge shall clear thee from that stain. John. You cannot witness for me, being slain, If death be so apparent, then both fly. Tal. Shall all thy mother's hopes lie in one tomb? 1 Protracting his resistance by the advantage of a strong post. 2 Emulation here signifies envious rivalry, not struggle for superior excellence. Tal. And leave my followers here, to fight, and die ? My age was never tainted with such shame. No more can I be sever'd from your side, 3 To a field where death will be feasted with slaughter. 4 Unavoided for unavoidable. Tal. Then here I take my leave of thee, fair son, Born to eclipse thy life this afternoon. Come, side by side together live and die; And soul with soul from France to heaven fly. [Exeunt. 5For what reason this scene is written in rhyme (says Dr. Johnson) I cannot guess. If Shakspeare had not in other plays mingled his rhymes and blank verses SCENE VI. A Field of Battle. Alarum: Excursions, wherein TALBOT's Son is hemmed about, and TALBOT rescues him. Tal, Saint George and victory! fight, soldiers, fight: The regent hath with Talbot broke his word, John. O twice my father! twice am I thy son: Tal. When from the Dauphin's crest thy sword struck fire, It warm'd thy father's heart with proud desire To hazard all our lives in one small boat. in the same manner, I should have suspected that this dialogue had been part of some other poem, which was never finished, and that being loath to throw his labour away, he inserted it here.' Mr. Boswell remarks that it was a practice common to all Shakspeare's contemporaries. 6 Your care of your own safety. 7 Determined here must signify prescribed, limited, appointed; and not ended, as Steevens and Malone concur in explaining it. John could not be meant to say that his time of life was actually ended. My death's revenge, thy youth, and England's fame: | Alarums. Exeunt Soldiers and Servant, leaving John. The sword of Orleans hath not made me Then talk no more of flight, it is no boot ;3 Tal. Then follow thou thy desperate sire of Thou Icarus; thy life to me is sweet: If thou wilt fight, fight by thy father's side; [Exeunt. SCENE VII. Another Part of the same. Alarum: Excursions. Enter TALBOT wounded, supported by a Servant. Tal. Where is my other life?-mine own is O, where's young Talbot?-where is valiant John?- Enter Soldiers, bearing the Body of JOHN TALBOT. Serv. O my dear lord! lo, where your son is borne ! Tal. Thou antic death, which laugh'st us here to scorn," Anon, from thy insulting tyranny, Two Talbots, winged through the lither sky, O thou, whose wounds become hard-favour'd death, Poor boy! he smiles, methinks; as who should say- 1 Prior has borrowed this thought in his Henry and Emma: Are there not poisons, racks, and flames, and swords, That Emma thus must die by Henry's words? i. e. compare me, reduce me to a level by comparison. 3 See note on King Richard II. Act i. Sc. 1. 5 Triumphant death, though thy presence is made more terrible, on account of the stain of dying in captivity, yet young Talbot's valour makes me smile at thee. 6 Watching me with tenderness in my fall.' That rounds the mortal temples of a king the two Bodies. Enter CHARLES, ALENÇON, BURGUNDY, Bastard, LA PUCELLE, and Forces. Char. Had York and Somerset brought rescue in, We should have found a bloody day of this. Bast. How the young whelp of Talbot's, ragingwood," Did flesh his puny sword in Frenchmen's blood! Bur. Doubtless, he would have made a noble knight: See, where he lies inhersed in the arms Bas. Hew them to pieces, hack their bones asunder; Whose life was England's glory, Gallia's wonder. Enter SIR WILLIAM LUCY, attended, a French son is. But tell me whom thou seek'st? Lucy. Where is the great Alcides of the field, The thrice victorious lord of Falconbridge; Puc. Here is a silly stately style indeed! Lucy. Is Talbot slain; the Frenchman's only scourge, Your kingdom's terror and black Nemesis? 9 Wood signified furious as well as mad: raging. wood is certainly here furiously raging. 10 A giglot is a wanton wench. A minx, gigle (or giglet,) flirt, callet, or gixie,' says Cotgrave. il We have a similar expression in the First Part of Jeronimo, 1605 : Meet, Don Andrea! yes, in the battle's bowels.' 12 Lucy's message implied that he knew who had obtained the victory: therefore Hanmer reads : Herald, conduct me to the Dauphin's tent.' 13 Wexford, in Ireland, was anciently called Weysford. In Crompton's Mansion of Magnanimitie, 1599, it is written as here, Washford. This long list of titles is from the epitaph formerly existant on Lord Talbot's tomb at Rouen. It is to be found in the work above cited, with one other, Lord Lovetoft of Worsop,' which would not easily fall into the verse. It concludes as here, and adds, who died in the battle of Burdeaux, 1453.' It would amaze the proudest of you all. Puc. I think, this upstart old Talbot's ghost, He speaks with such a proud commauding spirit. For God's sake, let him have 'em: to keep them here, They would but stink, and putrefy the air. I'll bear them hence: thou wilt. pope, The emperor, and the earl of Armagnac ? Glo. I have, my lord; and their intent is this,They humbly sue unto your excellence, To have a godly peace concluded of, Between the realms of England and of France. K. Hen. How doth your grace affect their motion? Glo. Well, my good lord; and as the only means To stop effusion of our Christian blood, And 'stablish quietness on every side. K. Hen. Ay, marry, uncle; for I always thought, It was both impious and unnatural, That such immanity and bloody strife Should reign among professors of one faith. Glo. Beside, my lord-the sooner to effect, The earl of Armagnac-near knit to Charies, In marriage, with a large and sumptuous dowry. K. Ilen. Marriage, uncle! alas! my years are young;4 And fitter is my study and my books, CHESTER, in a Cardinal's Habit. Ere. What! is my lord of Winchester install'd, And call'd unto a cardinal's degree! Then, I perceive, that will be verified, Henry the Fifth did sometime prophesy,— If once he come to be a cardinal, He'll make his cap co-equal with the crown. As-liking of the lady's virtuous gifts, K. Hen. In argument and proof of which contract, Bear her this jewel, [To the Amb.] pledge of my affection. And so, my lord protector, see them guarded, [Exeunt KING HENRY and Train; GLOSTER, For clothing me in these grave ornaments Leg. I will attend upon your lordship's leisure. Win. Now, Winchester will not submit, I trow, Or be inferior to the proudest peer. Humphrey of Gloster, thou shalt well perceive. That, neither in birth, or for authority, The bishop will be overborne by thee: Or sack this country with a mutiny. I'll either make thee stoop, and bend thy knee, [Exeunt. SCENE II. France. Plains in Anjou. Exter CHARLES, BURGUNDY, ALENÇON, LA PUCELLE, and Forces, marching. Char. These news, my lords, may cheer our drooping spirits: 'Tis said, the stout Parisians do revolt, And turn again unto the warlike French. Alen. Then march to Paris, royal Charles of And keep not back your powers in dalliance. Enter a Messenger. Mess. Success unto our valiant general, And happiness to his accomplices! Char. What tidings send our scouts? I pr'ythee Mess. The English army, that divided was Char. Somewhat foo sudden, sirs, the warning is; But we will presently provide for them. Bur. I trust the ghost of Talbot is not there; Now he is gone, my lord, you need not fear. Puc. Of all base passions, fear is most accurs'd: Command the conquest, Charles, it shall be thine; Let Henry fret, and all the world repine. nate! Char. Then on, my lords; And France be fortu[Exeunt. SCENE III. The same. Before Angiers. Ala rums: Excursions. Enter LA PUCELLE. Puc. The regent conquers, and the Frenchmen fly. K. Hen. My lords ambassadors, your several suits Now help, ye charming spells, and periapts ;" Have been consider'd and debated on. I have inform'd his highness so at large, your 1 To amaze is to dismay, to throw into consternation. A citie amazed or astonied with feare. Urbs lymphata horroribus.' Baret. 2 A word is wanting to complete the metre, which Hanmer thus supplied : But from their ashes, Dauphin, shall be rear'd.' 3 Immanity (immanitas, Lat.) outrageousness, crueity, excess. Blount. A belluine kind of immanity never raged so amongst men.' Howell's Letters, iii. 15. 4 The king was, however, twenty-four years old. 5 The poet has here forgot himself. In the first act Gloster says: And ye choice spirits that admonish me, This speedy quick appearance argues proof advancement. It appears that he would imply that 6 Periapts were certain written charms worn about the person as preservatives from disease and danger. Of these the first chapter of St. John's Gospel was deemed the most efficacious. See Scot's Discovery of Witchcraft, 1584, p. 213, &c. 7 The monarch of the north was Zimimar, one of the four principa! devils invoked by witches. The north I'll canvas thee in thy broad cardinal's hat.' was supposed to be the particular habitation of bail And it is strange that Exeter should not know of his spirits. Milton assembles the rebel angels in the north. |