Henry vi part 1, p.15
Henry VI, Part 1,
p.15
Let this dissension first be tried by fight,
117
And then your Highness shall command a peace.
118
SOMERSET
The quarrel toucheth none but us alone;
119
Betwixt ourselves let us decide it then.
120
YORK,
There is my pledge; accept it, Somerset.
121
VERNON,
Nay, let it rest where it began at first.
122
BASSET,
Confirm it so, mine honorable lord.
123
GLOUCESTER
Confirm it so? Confounded be your strife,
124
And perish you with your audacious prate!
125
Presumptuous vassals, are you not ashamed
126
With this immodest clamorous outrage
127
To trouble and disturb the King and us?—
128
And you, my lords, methinks you do not well
129
To bear with their perverse objections,
130
Much less to take occasion from their mouths
131
To raise a mutiny betwixt yourselves.
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Let me persuade you take a better course.
133
EXETER
It grieves his Highness. Good my lords, be friends.
134
KING HENRY
Come hither, you that would be combatants:
135
Henceforth I charge you, as you love our favor,
136
Quite to forget this quarrel and the cause.—
137
And you, my lords, remember where we are:
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In France, amongst a fickle wavering nation.
139
If they perceive dissension in our looks,
140
And that within ourselves we disagree,
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How will their grudging stomachs be provoked
142
To willful disobedience and rebel!
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Besides, what infamy will there arise
144
When foreign princes shall be certified
145
That for a toy, a thing of no regard,
146
King Henry’s peers and chief nobility
147
Destroyed themselves and lost the realm of France!
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O, think upon the conquest of my father,
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My tender years, and let us not forgo
150
That for a trifle that was bought with blood.
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Let me be umpire in this doubtful strife.
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I see no reason if I wear this rose
153
That anyone should therefore be suspicious
154
I more incline to Somerset than York.
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Both are my kinsmen, and I love them both.
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As well they may upbraid me with my crown
157
Because, forsooth, the King of Scots is crowned.
158
But your discretions better can persuade
159
Than I am able to instruct or teach;
160
And therefore, as we hither came in peace,
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So let us still continue peace and love.
162
Cousin of York, we institute your Grace
163
To be our regent in these parts of France;—
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And good my Lord of Somerset, unite
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Your troops of horsemen with his bands of foot;
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And like true subjects, sons of your progenitors,
167
Go cheerfully together and digest
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Your angry choler on your enemies.
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Ourself, my lord protector, and the rest,
170
After some respite, will return to Callice;
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From thence to England, where I hope ere long
172
To be presented, by your victories,
173
With Charles, Alanson, and that traitorous rout.
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Flourish. All but York, Warwick, Exeter, Vernon exit.
WARWICK
My Lord of York, I promise you the King
175
Prettily, methought, did play the orator.
176
YORK
And so he did, but yet I like it not
177
In that he wears the badge of Somerset.
178
WARWICK
Tush, that was but his fancy; blame him not.
179
I dare presume, sweet prince, he thought no harm.
180
YORK
And if
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Other affairs must now be managèd.
182
Exeter remains.
EXETER
Well didst thou, Richard, to suppress thy voice,
183
For had the passions of thy heart burst out,
184
I fear we should have seen deciphered there
185
More rancorous spite, more furious raging broils,
186
Than yet can be imagined or supposed.
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But howsoe’er, no simple man that sees
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This jarring discord of nobility,
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This shouldering of each other in the court,
190
This factious bandying of their favorites,
191
But
192
’Tis much when scepters are in children’s hands,
193
But more when envy breeds unkind division:
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There comes the ruin; there begins confusion.
195
He exits.
Enter Talbot with
before Bordeaux.
TALBOT
Go to the gates of Bordeaux, trumpeter.
1
Summon their general unto the wall.
2
English John Talbot, captains,
3
Servant-in-arms to Harry, King of England,
4
And thus he would: open your city gates,
5
Be humble to us, call my sovereign yours,
6
And do him homage as obedient subjects,
7
And I’ll withdraw me and my bloody power.
8
But if you frown upon this proffered peace,
9
You tempt the fury of my three attendants,
10
Lean Famine, quartering Steel, and climbing Fire,
11
Who, in a moment, even with the earth
12
Shall lay your stately and air-braving towers,
13
If you forsake the offer of their love.
14
Thou ominous and fearful owl of death,
15
Our nation’s terror and their bloody scourge,
16
The period of thy tyranny approacheth.
17
On us thou canst not enter but by death;
18
For I protest we are well fortified
19
And strong enough to issue out and fight.
20
If thou retire, the Dauphin, well appointed,
21
Stands with the snares of war to tangle thee.
22
On either hand thee, there are squadrons pitched
23
To wall thee from the liberty of flight;
24
And no way canst thou turn thee for redress
25
But Death doth front thee with apparent spoil,
26
And pale Destruction meets thee in the face.
27
Ten thousand French have ta’en the Sacrament
28
To rive their dangerous artillery
29
Upon no Christian soul but English Talbot.
30
Lo, there thou stand’st, a breathing valiant man
31
Of an invincible unconquered spirit.
32
This is the latest glory of thy praise
33
That I, thy enemy, due thee withal;
34
For ere the glass that now begins to run
35
Finish the process of his sandy hour,
36
These eyes, that see thee now well-colorèd,
37
Shall see thee withered, bloody, pale, and dead.
38
Drum afar off.
Hark, hark, the Dauphin’s drum, a warning bell,
39
Sings heavy music to thy timorous soul,
40
And mine shall ring thy dire departure out.
41
He exits,
TALBOT
He fables not; I hear the enemy.
42
Out, some light horsemen, and peruse their wings.
43
O, negligent and heedless discipline,
44
How are we parked and bounded in a pale,
45
A little herd of England’s timorous deer
46
Mazed with a yelping kennel of French curs.
47
If we be English deer, be then in blood,
48
Not rascal-like to fall down with a pinch,
49
But rather, moody-mad and desperate stags,
50
Turn on the bloody hounds with heads of steel
51
And make the cowards stand aloof at bay.
52
Sell every man his life as dear as mine
53
And they shall find dear deer of us, my friends.
54
God and Saint George, Talbot and England’s right,
55
Prosper our colors in this dangerous fight!
56
Enter a Messenger that meets York. Enter York
with Trumpet and many Soldiers.
YORK
Are not the speedy scouts returned again
1
That dogged the mighty army of the Dauphin?
2
MESSENGER
They are returned, my lord, and give it out
3
That he is marched to Bordeaux with his power
4
To fight with Talbot. As he marched along,
5
By your espials were discoverèd
6
Two mightier troops than that the Dauphin led,
7
Which joined with him and made their march for
8
Bordeaux.
9
YORK
A plague upon that villain Somerset
10
That thus delays my promisèd supply
11
Of horsemen that were levied for this siege!
12
Renownèd Talbot doth expect my aid,
13
And I am louted by a traitor villain
14
And cannot help the noble chevalier.
15
God comfort him in this necessity.
16
If he miscarry, farewell wars in France.
17
Enter
Thou princely leader of our English strength,
18
Never so needful on the earth of France,
19
Spur to the rescue of the noble Talbot,
20
Who now is girdled with a waist of iron
21
And hemmed about with grim destruction.
22
To Bordeaux, warlike duke! To Bordeaux, York!
23
Else farewell Talbot, France, and England’s honor.
24
YORK
O God, that Somerset, who in proud heart
25
Doth stop my cornets, were in Talbot’s place!
26
So should we save a valiant gentleman
27
By forfeiting a traitor and a coward.
28
Mad ire and wrathful fury makes me weep
29
That thus we die while remiss traitors sleep.
30
O, send some succor to the distressed lord!
31
YORK
He dies, we lose; I break my warlike word;
32
We mourn, France smiles; we lose, they daily get,
33
All long of this vile traitor Somerset.
34
Then God take mercy on brave Talbot’s soul,
35
And on his son, young John, who two hours since
36
I met in travel toward his warlike father.
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This seven years did not Talbot see his son,
38
And now they meet where both their lives are done.
39
YORK
Alas, what joy shall noble Talbot have
40
To bid his young son welcome to his grave?
41
Away! Vexation almost stops my breath,
42
That sundered friends greet in the hour of death.
43
Lucy, farewell. No more my fortune can
44
But curse the cause I cannot aid the man.
45
Maine, Blois, Poictiers, and Tours are won away,
46
Long all of Somerset and his delay.
47
Thus while the vulture of sedition
48
Feeds in the bosom of such great commanders,
49
Sleeping neglection doth betray to loss
50
The conquest of our scarce-cold conqueror,
51
That ever-living man of memory,
52
Henry the Fifth. Whiles they each other cross,
53
Lives, honors, lands, and all hurry to loss.
54
Enter Somerset with his army
from Talbot’s army.>
SOMERSET
It is too late; I cannot send them now.
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