King Henry the Sixth
Act IV.
Scene i. Paris. A hall of state.
- Enter King Henry Vi, Gloucester, Bishop Of Winchester, York, Suffolk, Somerset, Warwick, Talbot, Exeter, the Governor, of Paris, and others
- Gloucester: Lord bishop, set the crown upon his head.
- Bishop Of Winchester: God save King Henry, of that name the sixth!
- Gloucester: Now, governor of Paris, take your oath,
- That you elect no other king but him;
- Esteem none friends but such as are his friends,
- And none your foes but such as shall pretend
- Malicious practises against his state:
- This shall ye do, so help you righteous God!
- Enter Fastolfe
- Fastolfe: My gracious sovereign, as I rode from Calais,
- To haste unto your coronation,
- A letter was deliver'd to my hands,
- Writ to your grace from the Duke of Burgundy.
- Talbot: Shame to the Duke of Burgundy and thee!
- I vow'd, base knight, when I did meet thee next,
- To tear the garter from thy craven's leg,
- Plucking it off
- Which I have done, because unworthily
- Thou wast installed in that high degree.
- Pardon me, princely Henry, and the rest
- This dastard, at the battle of Patay,
- When but in all I was six thousand strong
- And that the French were almost ten to one,
- Before we met or that a stroke was given,
- Like to a trusty squire did run away:
- In which assault we lost twelve hundred men;
- Myself and divers gentlemen beside
- Were there surprised and taken prisoners.
- Then judge, great lords, if I have done amiss;
- Or whether that such cowards ought to wear
- This ornament of knighthood, yea or no.
- Gloucester: To say the truth, this fact was infamous
- And ill beseeming any common man,
- Much more a knight, a captain and a leader.
- Talbot: When first this order was ordain'd, my lords,
- Knights of the garter were of noble birth,
- Valiant and virtuous, full of haughty courage,
- Such as were grown to credit by the wars;
- Not fearing death, nor shrinking for distress,
- But always resolute in most extremes.
- He then that is not furnish'd in this sort
- Doth but usurp the sacred name of knight,
- Profaning this most honourable order,
- And should, if I were worthy to be judge,
- Be quite degraded, like a hedge-born swain
- That doth presume to boast of gentle blood.
- King Henry Vi: Stain to thy countrymen, thou hear'st thy doom!
- Be packing, therefore, thou that wast a knight:
- Henceforth we banish thee, on pain of death.
- Exit Fastolfe
- And now, my lord protector, view the letter
- Sent from our uncle Duke of Burgundy.
- Gloucester: What means his grace, that he hath changed his style?
- No more but, plain and bluntly, 'To the king!'
- Hath he forgot he is his sovereign?
- Or doth this churlish superscription
- Pretend some alteration in good will?
- What's here?
- Reads
- 'I have, upon especial cause,
- Moved with compassion of my country's wreck,
- Together with the pitiful complaints
- Of such as your oppression feeds upon,
- Forsaken your pernicious faction
- And join'd with Charles, the rightful King of France.'
- O monstrous treachery! can this be so,
- That in alliance, amity and oaths,
- There should be found such false dissembling guile?
- King Henry Vi: What! doth my uncle Burgundy revolt?
- Gloucester: He doth, my lord, and is become your foe.
- King Henry Vi: Is that the worst this letter doth contain?
- Gloucester: It is the worst, and all, my lord, he writes.
- King Henry Vi: Why, then, Lord Talbot there shall talk with him
- And give him chastisement for this abuse.
- How say you, my lord? are you not content?
- Talbot: Content, my liege! yes, but that I am prevented,
- I should have begg'd I might have been employ'd.
- King Henry Vi: Then gather strength and march unto him straight:
- Let him perceive how ill we brook his treason
- And what offence it is to flout his friends.
- Talbot: I go, my lord, in heart desiring still
- You may behold confusion of your foes.
- Exit
- Enter Vernon and Basset
- Vernon: Grant me the combat, gracious sovereign.
- Basset: And me, my lord, grant me the combat too.
- York: This is my servant: hear him, noble prince.
- Somerset: And this is mine: sweet Henry, favour him.
- King Henry Vi: Be patient, lords; and give them leave to speak.
- Say, gentlemen, what makes you thus exclaim?
- And wherefore crave you combat? or with whom?
- Vernon: With him, my lord; for he hath done me wrong.
- Basset: And I with him; for he hath done me wrong.
- King Henry Vi: What is that wrong whereof you both complain?
- First let me know, and then I'll answer you.
- Basset: Crossing the sea from England into France,
- This fellow here, with envious carping tongue,
- Upbraided me about the rose I wear;
- Saying, the sanguine colour of the leaves
- Did represent my master's blushing cheeks,
- When stubbornly he did repugn the truth
- About a certain question in the law
- Argued betwixt the Duke of York and him;
- With other vile and ignominious terms:
- In confutation of which rude reproach
- And in defence of my lord's worthiness,
- I crave the benefit of law of arms.
- Vernon: And that is my petition, noble lord:
- For though he seem with forged quaint conceit
- To set a gloss upon his bold intent,
- Yet know, my lord, I was provoked by him;
- And he first took exceptions at this badge,
- Pronouncing that the paleness of this flower
- Bewray'd the faintness of my master's heart.
- York: Will not this malice, Somerset, be left?
- Somerset: Your private grudge, my Lord of York, will out,
- Though ne'er so cunningly you smother it.
- King Henry Vi: Good Lord, what madness rules in brainsick men,
- When for so slight and frivolous a cause
- Such factious emulations shall arise!
- Good cousins both, of York and Somerset,
- Quiet yourselves, I pray, and be at peace.
- York: Let this dissension first be tried by fight,
- And then your highness shall command a peace.
- Somerset: The quarrel toucheth none but us alone;
- Betwixt ourselves let us decide it then.
- York: There is my pledge; accept it, Somerset.
- Vernon: Nay, let it rest where it began at first.
- Basset: Confirm it so, mine honourable lord.
- Gloucester: Confirm it so! Confounded be your strife!
- And perish ye, with your audacious prate!
- Presumptuous vassals, are you not ashamed
- 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.
- Exeter: It grieves his highness: good my lords, be friends.
- King Henry Vi: Come hither, you that would be combatants:
- Henceforth 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 provoked
- 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!
- O, think upon the conquest of my father,
- My tender years, and let us not forego
- That for a trifle that was bought with blood
- 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 they may 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, Alencon and that traitorous rout.
- Flourish. Exeunt all but York, Warwick, Exeter and Vernon
- Warwick: 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.
- Warwick: Tush, that was but his fancy, blame him not;
- 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 all but Exeter
- Exeter: Well didst thou, Richard, to suppress thy voice;
- For, had the passions of thy heart burst out,
- I fear we should have seen decipher'd there
- More rancorous spite, more furious raging broils,
- Than yet can be imagined or supposed.
- But howsoe'er, no simple man that sees
- This jarring discord of nobility,
- This shouldering of each other in the court,
- This factious bandying of their favourites,
- But that it doth presage some ill event.
- 'Tis much when sceptres are in children's hands;
- But more when envy breeds unkind division;
- There comes the rain, there begins confusion.
- Exit
Scene ii. Before Bourdeaux.
- Enter Talbot, with trump and drum
- Talbot: Go to the gates of Bourdeaux, trumpeter:
- Summon their general unto the wall.
- Trumpet sounds. Enter General and others, aloft
- 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 their love.
- General: Thou ominous and fearful owl of death,
- Our nation's terror and their bloody scourge!
- 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:
- If thou retire, the Dauphin, well appointed,
- Stands with the snares of war to tangle thee:
- On either hand thee there are squadrons pitch'd,
- To wall thee from the liberty of flight;
- And no way canst thou turn thee for redress,
- But death doth front thee with apparent spoil
- And pale destruction meets thee in the face.
- Ten thousand French have ta'en the sacrament
- To rive their dangerous artillery
- Upon no Christian soul but English Talbot.
- Lo, there thou stand'st, a breathing valiant man,
- Of an invincible unconquer'd spirit!
- This is the latest glory of thy praise
- That I, thy enemy, due thee withal;
- For ere the glass, that now begins to run,
- Finish the process of his sandy hour,
- These eyes, that see thee now well coloured,
- Shall see thee wither'd, bloody, pale and dead.
- Drum afar off
- Hark! hark! the Dauphin's drum, a warning bell,
- Sings heavy music to thy timorous soul;
- And mine shall ring thy dire departure out.
- Exeunt General, & c
- Talbot: 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,
- Mazed 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 a Messenger that meets York. Enter York with trumpet and many Soldiers
- York: Are not the speedy scouts return'd again,
- That dogg'd the mighty army of the Dauphin?
- Messenger: They are return'd, my lord, and give it out
- That he is march'd to Bourdeaux with his power,
- To fight with Talbot: as he march'd along,
- By your espials were discovered
- Two mightier troops than that the Dauphin led,
- Which join'd with him and made their march for Bourdeaux.
- York: A plague upon that villain Somerset,
- That thus delays my promised supply
- Of horsemen, that were levied for this siege!
- Renowned Talbot doth expect my aid,
- And I am lowted by a traitor villain
- And cannot help the noble chevalier:
- God comfort him in this necessity!
- If he miscarry, farewell wars in France.
- Enter Sir William Lucy
- Lucy: Thou princely leader of our English strength,
- 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
- And hemm'd about with grim destruction:
- To Bourdeaux, warlike duke! to Bourdeaux, York!
- Else, farewell Talbot, France, and England's honour.
- York: O God, that Somerset, who in proud heart
- 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 succor to the distress'd lord!
- 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, who two hours since
- I met in travel toward his warlike father!
- This seven years did not Talbot see his son;
- And now they meet where both their lives are done.
- York: Alas, what joy shall noble Talbot have
- To bid his young son welcome to his grave?
- Away! vexation almost stops my breath,
- That sunder'd friends greet in the hour of death.
- Lucy, farewell; no more my fortune can,
- But curse the cause I cannot aid the man.
- Maine, Blois, Poictiers, and Tours, are won away,
- 'Long all of Somerset and his delay.
- Exit, with his soldiers
- 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 in Gascony.
- Enter Somerset, with his army; a Captain of Talbot's with him
- Somerset: It is too late; I cannot send them now:
- This expedition was by York and Talbot
- Too rashly plotted: all our general force
- Might with a sally of the very town
- Be buckled with: the over-daring Talbot
- Hath sullied all his gloss of former honour
- By this unheedful, desperate, wild adventure:
- York set him on to fight and die in shame,
- That, Talbot dead, great York might bear the name.
- Captain: Here is Sir William Lucy, who with me
- Set from our o'ermatch'd forces forth for aid.
- Enter Sir William Lucy
- Somerset: How now, Sir William! whither were you sent?
- Lucy: Whither, my lord? from bought and sold Lord Talbot;
- Who, ring'd about with bold adversity,
- Cries out for noble York and Somerset,
- To beat assailing death from his weak legions:
- And whiles the honourable captain there
- Drops bloody sweat from his war-wearied limbs,
- And, in advantage lingering, looks for rescue,
- You, his false hopes, the trust of England's honour,
- Keep off aloof with worthless emulation.
- Let not your private discord keep away
- The levied succors that should lend him aid,
- While he, renowned noble gentleman,
- Yields up his life unto a world of odds:
- Orleans the Bastard, Charles, Burgundy,
- Alencon, Reignier, compass him about,
- And Talbot perisheth by your default.
- Somerset: 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,
- Collected for this expedition.
- Somerset: York lies; he might have sent and had the horse;
- I owe him little duty, and less love;
- And take foul scorn to fawn on him by sending.
- Lucy: The fraud of England, not the force of France,
- Hath now entrapp'd the noble-minded Talbot:
- Never to England shall he bear his life;
- But dies, betray'd to fortune by your strife.
- Somerset: Come, go; I will dispatch the horsemen straight:
- 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.
- Somerset: If he be dead, brave Talbot, then adieu!
- Lucy: His fame lives in the world, his shame in you.
- Exeunt
Scene v. The English camp near Bourdeaux.
- Enter Talbot and John his son
- Talbot: O young John Talbot! I did send for thee
- To tutor thee in stratagems of war,
- That Talbot's name might be in thee revived
- 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,
- 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, be gone.
- John Talbot: 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.
- Talbot: Fly, to revenge my death, if I be slain.
- John Talbot: He that flies so will ne'er return again.
- Talbot: If we both stay, we both are sure to die.
- John Talbot: 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, everyone 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 preserved with infamy.
- Talbot: Shall all thy mother's hopes lie in one tomb?
- John Talbot: Ay, rather than I'll shame my mother's womb.
- Talbot: Upon my blessing, I command thee go.
- John Talbot: To fight I will, but not to fly the foe.
- Talbot: Part of thy father may be saved in thee.
- John Talbot: No part of him but will be shame in me.
- Talbot: Thou never hadst renown, nor canst not lose it.
- John Talbot: Yes, your renowned name: shall flight abuse it?
- Talbot: Thy father's charge shall clear thee from that stain.
- John Talbot: You cannot witness for me, being slain.
- If death be so apparent, then both fly.
- Talbot: And leave my followers here to fight and die?
- My age was never tainted with such shame.
- John Talbot: And shall my youth be guilty of such blame?
- No more can I be sever'd from your side,
- Than can yourself yourself in twain divide:
- Stay, go, do what you will, the like do I;
- For live I will not, if my father die.
- Talbot: 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
Scene vi. A field of battle.
- Alarum: excursions, wherein John Talbot is hemmed about, and Talbot rescues him
- Talbot: Saint George and victory! fight, soldiers, fight.
- The regent hath with Talbot broke his word
- And left us to the rage of France his sword.
- Where is John Talbot? Pause, and take thy breath;
- I gave thee life and rescued thee from death.
- John Talbot: O, twice my father, twice am I thy son!
- The life thou gavest me first was lost and done,
- Till with thy warlike sword, despite of late,
- To my determined time thou gavest new date.
- Talbot: When from the Dauphin's crest thy sword struck fire,
- It warm'd thy father's heart with proud desire
- Of bold-faced victory. Then leaden age,
- Quicken'd with youthful spleen and warlike rage,
- Beat down Alencon, Orleans, Burgundy,
- And from the pride of Gallia rescued thee.
- The ireful bastard Orleans, that drew blood
- From thee, my boy, and had the maidenhood
- Of thy first fight, I soon encountered,
- And interchanging blows I quickly shed
- Some of his bastard blood; and in disgrace
- Bespoke him thus; 'Contaminated, base
- And misbegotten blood I spill of thine,
- Mean and right poor, for that pure blood of mine
- Which thou didst force from Talbot, my brave boy:'
- Here, purposing the Bastard to destroy,
- Came in strong rescue. Speak, thy father's care,
- Art thou not weary, John? how dost thou fare?
- Wilt thou yet leave the battle, boy, and fly,
- Now thou art seal'd the son of chivalry?
- 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 an if I stay;
- 'Tis but the shortening 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 saved if thou wilt fly away.
- John Talbot: The sword of Orleans hath not made me smart;
- These words of yours 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 fail 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.
- Talbot: 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 proved, let's die in pride.
- Exeunt
Scene vii. Another part of the field.
- Alarum: excursions. Enter Talbot led by a Servant
- Talbot: Where is my other life? mine own is gone;
- 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 perceived 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,
- Tendering my ruin and assail'd of none,
- Dizzy-eyed fury and great rage of heart
- Suddenly made him from my side to start
- Into the clustering battle of the French;
- And in that sea of blood my boy did drench
- His over-mounting spirit, and there died,
- My Icarus, my blossom, in his pride.
- Servant: O, my dear lord, lo, where your son is borne!
- Enter Soldiers, with the body of John Talbot
- Talbot: 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 lither 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
- Enter Charles, Alencon, Burgundy, Bastard Of Orleans, Joan La Pucelle, and forces
- Charles: Had York and Somerset brought rescue in,
- We should have found a bloody day of this.
- Bastard Of Orleans: How the young whelp of Talbot's, raging-wood,
- Did flesh his puny sword in Frenchmen's blood!
- Joan La Pucelle: 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:'
- So, rushing in the bowels of the French,
- He left me proudly, as unworthy fight.
- Burgundy
- Doubtless he would have made a noble knight;
- See, where he lies inhearsed in the arms
- Of the most bloody nurser of his harms!
- Bastard Of Orleans: Hew them to pieces, hack their bones asunder
- Whose life was England's glory, Gallia's wonder.
- Charles: O, no, forbear! for that which we have fled
- During the life, let us not wrong it dead.
- Enter Sir William Lucy, attended; Herald of the French preceding
- Lucy: Herald, conduct me to the Dauphin's tent,
- To know who hath obtained the glory of the day.
- Charles: 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.
- Charles: For prisoners ask'st thou? hell our prison is.
- But tell me whom thou seek'st.
- Lucy: But where's 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 marshal to Henry the Sixth
- Of all his wars within the realm of France?
- Joan La Pucelle: 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 eyeballs 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 amongst 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.
- Joan La Pucelle: 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.
- Charles: Go, take their bodies hence.
- Lucy: I'll bear them hence; but from their ashes shall be rear'd
- A phoenix that shall make all France afeard.
- Charles: 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.
- Exeunt
- --oOo-- -