Fly, to revenge my death, when I am dead;
The help of one stands me in little stead.
O, too much folly is it, well I wot,

To hazard all our lives in one small boat.
If I to-day die not with Frenchmen's rage,
To-morrow I shall die with mickle age:
By me they nothing gain, and if I stay,
'Tis but the short'ning of my life one day :
In thee thy mother dies, our household's name,
My death's revenge, thy youth, and England's fame :
All these, and more, we hazard by thy stay ;
All these are sav'd, if thou wilt fly away.

John. The sword of Orleans hath not made me smart,
These words of your's draw life-blood from my heart;
On that advantage, bought with such a shame,
(To save a paltry life, and slay bright fame,)
Before young Talbot from old Talbot fly,

The coward horse, that bears me, fall and die!
And like me to the peasant boys of France,
To be shame's scorn, and subject of mischance!
Surely, by all the glory you have won,

An if I fly, I am not Talbot's son:

Then talk no more of flight, it is no boot;

If son to Talbot, die at Talbot's foot.

Tal. Then follow thou thy desperate sire of Crete, Thou Icarus; thy life to me is sweet.

If thou wilt fight, fight by thy father's side;

And, commendable prov'd, let's die in pride. [Exeunt.

SCENE VII.

Another part of the same. Alarum: Excursions. Enter TALBOT wounded, supported by a Servant.

Tal. Where is my other life?-mine own is gone ;O, where's young Talbot? where is valiant John ?— Triumphant death, smear'd with captivity !6 Young Talbot's valour makes me smile at thee: When he perceiv'd me shrink, and on my knee, His bloody sword he brandish'd over me, And, like a hungry lion, did commence Rough deeds of rage, and stern impatience; But when my angry guardant stood alone, Tend'ring my ruin, and assail'd of none,

[5] To like one to the peasants, is, to compare, to level by compari son That is, death stained aed dishonoured with captivity.

Watching mg with tenderness in my fall, JOHNS.

JOH NS.

Dizzy-ey'd fury, and great rage of heart,
Suddenly made him from my side to start
Into the clust'ring battle of the French:
And in that sea of blood my boy did drench
His over-mounting spirit; and there dy'd
My Icarus, my blossom, in his pride.

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,

8

Coupled in bonds of perpetuity,

Two Talbots, winged through the lither sky,9
In thy despite, shall 'scape mortality.-

O thou, whose wounds become hard-favour'd death,
Speak to thy father, ere thou yield thy breath:
Brave death by speaking, whether he will, or no :
Imagine him a Frenchman, and thy foe.-

Poor boy he smiles, methinks; as who should say-
Had death been French, then death had died to-day.
Come, come, and lay him in his father's arms:
My spirit can no longer bear these harms.
Soldiers, adieu ! I have what I would have,

Now my old arms are young John Talbot's grave. [Dies.
Alarums. Exeunt Soldiers and Servant, leaving the two bodies.
Enter CHARLES, ALENÇON, BURGUNDY, Bastard, LA PU-
CELLE, 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, I

Did flesh his puny sword in Frenchmen's blood!
Puc. Once I encounter'd him, and thus I said,
Thou maiden youth, be vanquish'd by a maid :
But, with a proud, majestical high scorn,
He answer'd thus; Young Talbot was not born
To be the pillage of a giglot wench :

2

[8] The fool, or antic of the play, made sport by mocking the graver personages JOHNS.

[9] Lither is flexible or yielding

In much the same sense Milton says:

"He with broad sails
"Winnow'd the buxom air."

STEEV.

That is, the obsequious air. JOHNS-In the old service of matrimony, the wife was enjoined to be buxom both at bed and board. Buxom, therefore, anciently signified obedient or yielding. [1] That is, raging mad. STEEV. [2] Giglot is a wanton, or strumpet,

JOHNS.

So, rushing in the bowels of the French,
He left me proudly, as unworthy fight.

Bur. Doubtless, he would have made a noble knight: See, where he lies inhersed in the arms

Of the most bloody nurser of his harms.

Bast. Hew them to pieces, hack their bones asunder; Whose life was England's glory, Gallia's wonder.

Char. O, no; forbear: for that which we have fled During the life, let us not wrong it dead.

Enter Sir WILLIAM LUCY, attended: a French Herald preceding.

Lucy. Herald,

Conduct me to the Dauphin's tent; to know

Who hath obtain'd the glory of the day.

Char. On what submissive message art thou sent ? Lucy. Submission, Dauphin? 'tis a meer French word; We English warriors wot not what it means.

I come to know what prisoners thou hast ta'en,

And to survey the bodies of the dead.

Char. For prisoners ask'st thou ? hell our prison is. But tell me whom thou seek'st.

Lucy. Where is the great Alcides of the field, Valiant lord Talbot, earl of Shrewsbury?

Created, for his rare success in arms,

Great earl of Washford, Waterford, and Valence ;

Lord Talbot of Goodrig and Urchingfield,

Lord Strange of Blackmere, lord Verdun of Alton,

Lord Cromwell of Wingfield, lord Furnival of Sheffield,
The thrice victorious lord of Falconbridge;
Knight of the noble order of Saint George,
Worthy Saint Michael, and the Golden Fleece;
Great mareshall to Henry the Sixth,

Of all his wars within the realm of France ?
Puc. Here is a silly stately style indeed!
The Turk, that two and fifty kingdoms hath,
Writes not so tedious a style as this.-

Him, that thou magnify'st with all these titles,
Stinking, and fly-blown, lies here at our feet.

Lucy. Is Talbot slain; the Frenchmen's only scourge, Your kingdom's terror and black Nemesis?

Q, were mine eye-balls into bullets turn'd,

That I, in rage, might shoot them at your faces !·
O, that I could but call these dead to life!
It were enough to fright the realm of France:
Were but his picture left among you here,

It would amaze the proudest of you all.

Give me their bodies; that I may bear them hence,
And give them burial as beseems their worth.

Puc. I think, this upstart is old Talbot's ghost,
He speaks with such a proud commanding spirit.
For God's sake, let him have 'em : to keep them here,
They would but stink, and putrify the air.

Char. Go, take their bodies hence.

Lucy. I bear

Them hence: but from their ashes shall be rear'd

A phoenix, that shall make all France afeard.

Cha. So we be rid of them,do with them what thou wilt.

-And now to Paris, in this conquering vein ;

All will be ours, now bloody Talbot's slain.

ACT V.

[Exeunt.

SCENE I.-London. A Room in the Palace.
King HENRY, GLOSTER, and EXETER.

Enter

K. Hen. Have you perus'd the letters from the 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 3 and bloody strife

Should reign among professors of one faith.

Glo. Beside, my lord,-the sooner to effect,

And surer bind, this knot of amity,

The earl of Armagmac-near knit to Charles,
A man of great authority in France,-

Proffers his only daughter to your grace

In marriage, with a large and sumptuous dowry.

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

And fitter is my study and my books,

(3) Immanity that is, barbarity, savageness.

STEEV.

Than wanton dalliance with a paramour.
Yet call the ambassadors; and, as you please,
So let them have their answers every one :
I shall be well content with any choice,
Tends to God's glory, and my country's weal.

Enter a Legate, and two Ambassadors, with WINCHESTER, in a Cardinal's Habit.

Exe. What is my lord of Winchester install'd,
And call'd unto a cardinal's degree !4

Then, I perceive, that will be verified,
Henry the fifth did sometime prophecy,-

If once he come to be a cardinal,

He'll make his cap co-equal with the crown.

K. Hen. My lords ambassadors, your several suits
Have been consider'd and debated on.

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

Glo. And for the proffer of my lord your master,-
I have inform'd his highness so at large,
As-liking of the lady's virtuous gifts,

Her beauty, and the value of her dower,-
He doth intend she shall be England's queen.

K. Hen. In argument and proof of which contract, Bear her this jewel, [To the Ambassadors.] pledge of my affection.

And so, my lord protector, see them guarded,
And safely brought to Dover; where, inshipp'd,
Commit them to the fortune of the sea.

[Exeunt King HENRY and Train; GLOSTER, EXETER, and Ambassadors. Win. Stay, my lord legate; you shall first receive The sum of money, which I promised

Should be deliver'd to his holiness

For clothing me in these grave ornaments.

Leg. I will attend upon your lordship's leisure.
Win. Now, Winchester will not submit, I trow,

Or be inferior to the proudest peer.

[4] It should seem from the stage direction prefixed to this scene, and from the conversation between the Legate and Winchester, that the author ineant it to be understood that the bishop had obtained his cardinal's hat only just before his present entry. The inaccuracy, therefore, was in mak ing Gloster address him by that title in the beginning of the play. He in fact obtained it in the fifth year of Henry's reign. MAL.

7

VOL. V.