O, where's young Talbot? where is valiant John?-
Triumphant death, smear'd with captivity !!
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, 2 and assail'd of none,
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 overmounting spirit; and there died
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,
Coupled in bonds of perpetuity,
Two Talbots, winged through the lither3 sky,
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.

(1) Death stained and dishonoured with captivity. (2) Watching me with tenderness in my fall." (3) Flexible, yielding.

Alarums. Exeunt Soldiers and Servant, leaving 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, raging.
wood,1

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 giglot2 wench :
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 mere 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.

(1) Raving mad.

(2) Wanton.

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 Urchinfield,
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 mareshal 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 magnifiest 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?
O, 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 amazel 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 putrefy the air.

Char. Go, take their bodies hence.

Lucy.

I'll bear them hence :

But from their ashes shall be rear'd
A phœnix that shall make all France afeard.

Char. So we be rid of them, do with 'em what

thou wilt.

And now to Paris, in this conquering vein;
All will be ours, now bloody Talbot's slain. [Exe.

ACT V.

SCENE I.-London. A room in the palace. Enter King Henry, Gloster, and Exeter.

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 mo

tion?

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, And surer bind, this knot of amity,The earl of Armagnac-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,
Than wanton dalliance with a paramour.
Yet, call the ambassadors; and, as you please,

(1) Barbarity, savageness.

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? 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.

K. Hen. My lords ambassadors, your several suits Have been consider'd and debated on. Your purpose is both good and reasonable : And, therefore, are we 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 informed 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 con

tract,

Bear her this jewel, [To the Amb.] 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.