Since I have entered into these wars.
Glory is like a circle in the water,
Which never ceaseth to enlarge itself,
Till, by broad spreading, it disperse to nought.
With Henry's death the English circle ends;
Dispersed are the glories it included.
Now am I like that proud insulting ship,
Which Cæsar and his fortune bare at once.
Char. Was Mahomet inspired with a dove?
Thou with an eagle art inspired then.
Helen, the mother of great Constantine,
Nor yet Saint Philip's daughters, were like thee.
Bright star of Venus, fall'n down on the earth,
How may I reverently worship thee enough?
Alen. Leave off delays, and let us raise the siege.
Reig. Woman, do what thou canst to save our hon-
Drive them from Orleans, and be immortaliz'd. [ours;
Char. Presently we 'll try :-Come, let 's away
about it:

No prophet will I trust, if she prove false. [Exeunt.
SCENE III.-London. Hill before the Tower.
Enter, at the gates, the Duke of Gloster, with his
Serving-men, in blue coats.

Glo. I am come to survey the Tower this day:
Since Henry's death, I fear there is conveyance.
Where be these warders, that they wait not here?
Open the gates; 't is Gloster that calls.

[Servants knock. I Ward. [Within.] Who's there that knocks so imperiously?

1 Serv. It is the noble duke of Gloster. [be let in.
2 Ward. [Within.] Whoe'er he be, you may not
1 Serv. Villains, answer you so the lord protector?
I Ward. [Within.] The lord protect him! so we
answer him:

We do no otherwise than we are willed.
Gio. Who willed you? or whose will stands but
There's none protector of the realm but I. [mine?
Break up the gates, I 'll be your warrantize :
Shall I be flouted thus by dunghill grooms?
Servants rush at the Tower gates. Enter to the
gates, Woodville, the Lieutenant.

Wood. [Within.] What noise is this? what traitors
have we here?

337

Under my feet I stamp thy cardinal's hat;
In spite of pope, or dignities of church,
Here by the cheeks I'll drag thee up and down.
Win. Gloster, thou 'lt answer this before the pope.
Glo. Winchester goose! I cry-a rope! a rope!
Now beat them hence: Why do you let them stay!-
Thee I'll chase hence, thou wolf in sheep's array.-
Out, tawny-coats!-out, scarlet hypocrite!
Here a great tumult. In the midst of it, enter the
Mayor of London, and Officers.
May. Fie, lords! that you, being supreme ma-
gistrates,

Thus contumeliously should break the peace!
Here's Beaufort, that regards nor God nor king,
Glo. Peace, mayor; thou know'st little of my wrongs.
Hath here distrain' the Tower to his use.
Win. Here's Gloster, too, a foe to citizens;
One that still motions war, and never peace,
That seeks to overthrow religion,
O'ercharging your free purses with large fines;
Because he is protector of the realm;
And would have armour here out of the Tower,
To crown himself king, and suppress the prince.
Glo. I will not answer thee with words, but blows.
[Here they skirmish again.
May. Nought rests for me, in this tumultuous strife,
But to make open proclamation:-
Come, officer, as loud as e'er thou canst, cry.
Off. All manner of men, assembled here in arms
this day, against God's peace and the king's, we
charge and command you, in his highness' name,
to repair to your several dwelling-places; and not
dagger, henceforward, upon pain of death.
to wear, handle, or use, any sword, weapon, or

Glo. Lieutenant, is it you whose voice I hear?
Open the gates; here 's Gloster that would enter.
Wood. Within.] Have patience, noble duke; II
may not open;

The cardinal of Winchester forbids:
From him I have express commandment,
That thou, nor none of thine, shall be let in.

Glo. Faint-hearted Woodville, prizest him 'fore me?
Arrogant Winchester, that haughty prelate,
Whom Henry, our late sovereign, ne'er could brook?
Thou art no friend to God, or to the king:
Open the gates, or I 'll shut thee out shortly.
i Serv. Open the gates unto the lord protector;
Or we 'll burst them open, if that you come not
quickly.

Enter Winchester, attended by a train of Servants
in tawny coats.

this?

Win. How now, ambitious Humphrey? what means
[shut out?
Glo. Peel'd priest, dost thou command me to be
Win. I do, thou most usurping proditor,
And not protector of the king or realm.
Glo. Stand back, thou manifest conspirator;
Thou that contriv'dst to murder our dead lord;
That thou giv'st whores indulgences to sin:
I'll canvass thee in thy broad cardinal's hat,
If thou proceed in this thy insolence.
Win. Nay, stand thou back, I will not budge a
This be Damascus, be thou cursed Cain,
To slay thy brother Abel, if thou wilt.
Glo. I will not slay thee, but I 'll drive thee back:
Thy scarlet robes, as a child's bearing cloth
I'll use, to carry thee out of this place.

[foot;

Win. Do what thou dar'st; I beard thee to thy face. > Glo. What am I dar'd, and bearded to my face? Draw, men, for all this privileged place; [beard; Blue-coats to tawny-coats. Priest, beware your [Gloster and his men attack the Bishop. I mean to tug it, and to cuff you soundly;

Glo. Cardinal, I'll be no breaker of the law:
But we shall meet, and break our minds at large.
Win. Gloster, we'll meet; to thy dear cost, be sure:
Thy heart-blood I will have for this day's work.
May. I'll call for clubs, if you will not away;-
This cardinal is more haughty than the devil.
Glo. Mayor, farewell: thou dost but what thou
may'st.

Win. Abominable Gloster! guard thy head;
For I intend to have it, ere long.
[Exeunt.

May. See the coast clear'd, and then we will de-
part.-

Good God! that nobles should such stomachs bear!
myself fight not once in forty year. [Exeunt.

SCENE IV.-France. Before Orleans.
Enter, on the walls, the Master-Gunner, and his
Son.

M. Gun. Sirrah, thou know'st how Orleans is be-
And how the English have the suburbs won.
sieg'd,
Son. Father, I know; and oft have shot at them,
Howe'er, unfortunate, I miss'd my aim.

[me:

Chief master-gunner am I of this town;
M. Gun. But now thou shalt not. Be thou rul'd by
Something I must do to procure me grace.
The prince's espials have informed me,
How the English, in the suburbs close intrench'd,
In yonder tower, to overpeer the city;
Wont, through a secret grate of iron bars
And thence discover, how, with most advantage,
They may vex us, with shot, or with assault.
To intercept this inconvenience,

A piece of ordnance 'gainst it I have plac'd;
And fully even these three days have I watch'd
If I could see them. Now, boy, do thou watch,
For I can stay no longer.

[Exit.

If thou spy'st any, run and bring me word;
And thou shalt find me at the governor's.
Son. Father, I warrant you; take you no care;
I'll never trouble you if I may spy them.
Enter, in an upper chamber of a tower, the Lords
Salisbury and Talbot, Sir William Glansdale, Sir
Thomas Gargrave, and others.

Sal. Talbot, my life, my joy, again return'd!
How wert thou handled, being prisoner?
Or by what means gott'st thou to be releas'd?
Discourse, I prithee, on this turret's top.
Tal. The duke of Bedford had a prisoner,
O Called the brave lord Ponton de Santrailles,

But, O! the treacherous Fastolfe wounds my heart! And then we 'll try what these dastard Frenchmen Whom with my bare fists I would execute,

Puc. Wherefore is Charles impatient with his
At all times will you have my power alike? [friend?
Sleeping, or waking, must I still prevail,

Or will you blame and lay the fault on me?
Improvident soldiers! had your watch been good,
This sudden mischief never could have fall'n.
Char. Duke of Alençon, this was your default;
That, being captain of the watch to-night,
Did look no better to that weighty charge.
Alen. Had all your quarters been as safely kept
As that whereof I had the government,
Exe. We had not been thus shamefully surpris'd.
Bast. Mine was secure.

You may not, my lord, despise her gentle suit.

[men

That Talbot is but shadow of himself?

Tal. Ne'er trust me then; for, when a world of These are his substance, sinews, arms, and strength,
Could not prevail with all their oratory,
Yet hath a woman's kindness over-rul'd:
And therefore tell her, I return great thanks;
And in submission will attend on her.
Will not your honours bear me company?
Bed. No, truly; it is more than manners will:
And I have heard it said,-Unbidden guests
Are often welcomest when they are gone.
Tal. Well then, alone, (since there's no remedy,)
I mean to prove this lady's courtesy. [my mind.
Come hither, captain. [Whispers.-You perceive
Capt. I do, my lord; and mean accordingly. Exe.
SCENE III.-Auvergne. Court of the Castle.

Enter the Countess and her Porter.
Count, Porter, remember what I gave in charge;
And when you have done so, bring the keys to me.
Port. Madam, I will.
[Exit.
Count. The plot is laid: if all things fall out right,
I shall as famous be by this exploit
As Scythian Thomyris by Cyrus' death.
Great is the rumour of this dreadful knight,
And his achievements of no less account:
Fain would mine eyes be witness with mine ears,
To give their censure of these rare reports.
Enter Messenger and Talbot.

Mess. Madam,

According as your ladyship desir'd,
By message crav'd, so is lord Talbot come.
Count. And he is welcome. What! is this the man?
Mess. Madam, it is.
Count.
Is this the scourge of France?
Is this the Talbot, so much fear'd abroad,
That with his name the mothers still their babes?
I see report is fabulous and false:

I thought I should have seen some Hercules,
A second Hector, for his grim aspect,

And large proportion of his strong-knit limbs.
Alas! this is a child, a silly dwarf:

It cannot be this weak and writhled shrimp
Should strike such terror to his enemies.

Tal. Madam, I have been bold to trouble you:
But since your ladyship is not at leisure,
I'll sort some other time to visit you.
[he goes.
Count. What means he now?-Go ask him whither
Mess. Stay, my lord Talbot: for my lady craves
To know the cause of your abrupt departure.
Tal. Marry, for that she 's in a wrong belief,
I go to certify her Talbot's here.

Re-enter Porter, with keys.
Count. If thou be he, then art thou prisoner.
Tal. Prisoner! to whom?

Count.
To me, blood-thirsty lord;
And for that cause I train'd thee to my house.
Long time thy shadow hath been thrall to me,
For in my gallery thy picture hangs:
But now thy substance shall endure the like;
And I will chain these legs and arms of thine,
That hast by tyranny, these many years,
Wasted our country, slain our citizens,
And sent our sons and husbands captivate.
Tal. Ha, ha, ha!

[turn to moan.
Count. Laughest thou, wretch? thy mirth shall
Tal. I laugh to see your ladyship so fond,
To think that you have aught but Talbot's shadow,
Whereon to practise your severity.
Count. Why, art not thou the man?
Tal.
I am, indeed.
Count. Then have I substance too.
Tal. No, no, I am but shadow of myself:
You are deceiv'd, my substance is not here;
For what you see is but the smallest part
And least proportion of humanity:

I tell you, madam, were the whole frame here

It is of such a spacious lofty pitch,
Your roof were not sufficient to contain it.

With which he yoketh your rebellious necks;
Razeth your cities, and subverts your towns,
And in a moment makes them desolate.
Count. Victorious Talbot! pardon my abuse:
I find thou art no less than fame hath bruited,
And more than may be gather'd by thy shape.
Let my presumption not provoke thy wrath;
For I am sorry, that with reverence
I did not entertain thee as thou art.
Tal. Be not dismay'd, fair lady; nor misconster
The mind of Talbot, as you did mistake
The outward composition of his body.
What you have done hath not offended me:
Nor other satisfaction do I crave,
But only (with your patience) that we may
Taste of your wine, and see what cates you have;
For soldiers' stomachs always serve thein well.
Count. With all my heart; and think me honoured
To feast so great a warrior in my house. [Exeunt.
SCENE IV.-London. The Temple Garden.
Enter the Earls of Somerset, Suffolk, and Warwick;
Richard Plantagenet, Vernon, and another Lawyer.
Plan. Great lords, and gentlemen, what means this
Dare no man answer in a case of truth? [silence?
Suf. Within the Temple hall we were too loud;
The garden here is more convenient.
Plan. Then say at once, If I maintain the truth;
Or, else, was wrangling Somerset in the error?
And never yet could frame my will to it;
Suf. 'Faith, I have been a truant in the law;
And, therefore, frame the law unto my will.
Som. Judge you, my lord of Warwick, then be-
[pitch,

tween us.

War. Between two hawks, which flies the higher
Between two dogs, which hath the deeper mouth,
Between two blades, which bears the better temper,
Between two horses, which doth bear him best,
Between two girls, which hath the merriest eye,
I have, perhaps, some shallow spirit of judgment:
But in these nice sharp quillets of the law,
Good faith, I am no wiser than a daw.

Plan. Tut, tut, here is a mannerly forbearance:
The truth appears so naked on my side,
That any purblind eye may find it out.
Som. And on my side it is so well apparell'd,
So clear, so shining, and so evident,

That it will glimmer through a blind man's eye.
Plan. Since you are tongue-tied, and so loath to
In dumb significants proclaim your thoughts: [speak,
Let him that is a true-born gentleman,
And stands upon the honour of his birth,
If he suppose that I have pleaded truth,
From off this brier pluck a white rose with me.
Som. Let him that is no coward, nor no flatterer,
But dare maintain the party of the truth,
Pluck a red rose from off this thorn with me.
War. I love no colours; and, without all colour
Of base insinuating flattery,

I pluck this white rose, with Plantagenet.
Suf. I pluck this red rose, with young Somerset ;
And say withal, I think he held the right.
Ver. Stay, lords and gentlemen; and pluck no
Till you conclude-that he upon whose side [more,
The fewest roses are cropp'd from the tree,
Shall yield the other in the right opinion.
Som. Good master Vernon, it is well objected;
If I have fewest I subscribe in silence.
Plan. And I.

Ver. Then, for the truth and plainness of the case,
I pluck this pale and maiden blossom here,
Giving my verdict on the white rose side.
Som. Prick not your finger as you pluck it off;
Lest, bleeding, you do paint the white rose red,
And fall on my side so against your will.
Ver. If I, my lord, for my opinion bleed,
Opinion shall be surgeon to my hurt,

Count. This is a riddling merchant for the nonce; And keep me on the side where still I am.

He will be here, and yet he is not here:
How can these contrarieties agree?
Tal. That will I show you presently.
[He winds a horn. Drums heard; then a Peal of
Ordnance. The gates being forced, enter Soldiers.
How say you, madam? are you now persuaded

Som. Well, well, come on; Who else?
Law. Unless my study and my books be false,
The argument you held was wrong in you;
[To Somerset.

In sign whereof, I pluck a white rose too.
Plan. Now, Somerset, where is your argument?

Som. Here, in my scabbard; meditating that
Shall die your white rose in a bloody red. [roses;
Plan. Meantime, your cheeks do counterfeit our
For pale they look with fear, as witnessing
The truth on our side. Som. No, Plantagenet,
'T is not for fear, but anger,-that thy cheeks
Blush for pure shame, to counterfeit our roses;
And yet thy tongue will not confess thy error.
Plan. Hath not thy rose a canker, Somerset?
Som. Hath not thy rose a thorn, Plantagenet?
Plan. Ay, sharp and piercing, to maintain his truth;
Whiles thy consuming canker eats his falsehood.
Som. Well, I'll find friends to wear my bleeding
That shall maintain what I have said is true, [roses,
Where false Plantagenet dare not be seen.
Plan. Now, by this maiden blossom in my hand,
I scorn thee and thy fashion, peevish boy.
Suf. Turn not thy scorns this way, Plantagenet.
Plan. Proud Poole, I will; and scorn both him and
thee.

Suf. I'll turn my part thereof into thy throat.
Som. Away, away, good William De-la-Poole !
We grace the yeoman, by conversing with him.
War. Now, by God's will, thou wrong'st him,
Somerset ;

His grandfather was Lionel duke of Clarence,
Third son to the third Edward king of England;
Spring crestless yeomen from so deep a root?
Plan. He bears them on the place's privilege,
Or durst not, for his craven heart, say thus.
Som. By him that made me, I'll maintain my words
On any plot of ground in Christendom:
Was not thy father, Richard, earl of Cambridge,
For treason executed in our late king's days?
And, by his treason, stand'st not thou attainted,
Corrupted, and exempt from ancient gentry?
His trespass yet lives guilty in thy blood;
And, till thou be restor'd, thou art a yeoman.
Plan. My father was attached, not attainted;
Condemn'd to die for treason, but no traitor;
And that I'll prove on better men than Somerset,
Were growing time once ripen'd to my will.
For your partaker Poole, and you yourself,
I'll note you in my book of memory,
To scourge you for this apprehension:
Look to it well; and say you are well warn'd.
Som. Ay, thou shalt find us ready for thee still:
And know us, by these colours, for thy foes;
For these my friends, in spite of thee, shall wear.
Plan. And, by my soul, this pale and angry rose,
As cognizance of my blood-drinking hate,
Will I for ever, and my faction, wear;
Until it wither with me to my grave,
Or flourish to the height of my degree.
Suf. Go forward, and be chok'd with thy ambition!
And so farewell, until I meet thee next. [Exit.
Som. Have with thee, Poole.-Farewell, ambitious
Richard.
[Exit.
Plan. How I am brav'd, and must perforce endure
[house,
War. This blot, that they object against your
Shall be wip'd out in the next parliament,
Call'd for the truce of Winchester and Gloster:
And, if thou be not then created York,
I will not live to be accounted Warwick.
Meantime, in signal of my love to thee,
Against proud Somerset and William Poole,
Will I upon thy party wear this rose:
And here I prophesy,-This brawl to-day,
Grown to this faction, in the Temple garden,
Shall send, between the red rose and the white,
A thousand souls to death and deadly night.
Plan. Good master Vernon, I am bound to you,
That you on my behalf would pluck a flower.
Ver. In your behalf still will I wear the same.
Law. And so will I. Plan. Thanks, gentle sir.
Come, let us four to dinner: I dare say
This quarrel will drink blood another day.

it!

[Exe.

SCENE V.-The same. A Room in the Tower.
Enter Mortimer, brought in a chair by two
Keepers.

Mor. Kind keepers of my weak decaying age,
Let dying Mortimer here rest himself.
Even like a man new haled from the rack,
So fare my limbs with long imprisonment:

And these gray locks, the pursuivants of death,
Nestor-like aged, in an age of care,
Argue the end of Edmund Mortimer.
These eyes, like lamps whose wasting oil is spent,
Wax dim, as drawing to their exigent:
Weak shoulders, overborne with burd'ning grief;
And pithless arms, like to a wither'd vine'
That droops his sapless branches to the ground:
Yet are these feet, whose strengthless stay is numb,
Unable to support this lump of clay,
Swift-winged with desire to get a grave,
As witting I no other comfort have.
But tell me, keeper, will my nephew come?
1 Keep. Richard Plantagenet, my lord, will come :
We sent unto the Temple, to his chamber;
And answer was return'd, that he will come.
Mor. Enough; my soul shall then be satisfied.
Poor gentleman! his wrong doth equal mine.
Since Henry Monmouth first began to reign,
(Before whose glory I was great in arms,)
This loathsome sequestration have I had;
And even since then hath Richard been obscur'd,
Depriv'd of honour and inheritance:
But now, the arbitrator of despairs,
Just death, kind umpire of men's miseries,
With sweet enlargement doth dismiss me hence;
I would hls troubles likewise were expir'd,
That so he night recover what was lost.

Enter Richard Plantagenet.

1 Keep. My lord, your loving nephew now is come.
Mor. Richard Plantagenet, my friend? Is he
Plan. Ay, noble uncle, thus ignobly us'd, [come?
Your nephew, late-despised Richard, comes.
Mor. Direct mine arms, I may embrace his neck,
And in his bosom spend my latter gasp:
O, tell me, when my lips do touch his cheeks,
That I may kindly give one fainting kiss. [stock,
And now declare, sweet stem from York's great
Why didst thou say-of late thou wert despis'd?
Plan. First, lean thine aged back against mine
And, in that ease, I'll tell thee my disease.
This day, in argument upon a case,
Some words there grew 'twixt Somerset and me:
Among which terms, he us'd his lavish tongue,
And did upbraid me with my father's death;
Which obloquy set bars before my tongue,
Else with the like I had requited him:
Therefore, good uncle,-for my father's sake,
In honour of a true Plantagenet,

[arm;

And for alliance' sake,-declare the cause
My father, earl of Cambridge, lost his head.
Mor. That cause, fair nephew, that imprison'd me,
And hath detain'd me, all my flow'ring youth,
Within a loathsome dungeon, there to pine,
Was cursed instrument of his decease."
Plan. Discover more at large what cause that was;
For I am ignorant, and cannot guess.
Mor. I will; if that my fading breath permit,
And death approach not ere my tale be done.
Henry the fourth, grandfather to this king,
Depos'd his nephew Richard,-Edward's son,
The first-begotten, and the lawful heir
Of Edward king the third of that descent:
During whose reign, the Percies of the north,
Finding his usurpation most unjust,
Endeavour'd my advancement to the throne:
The reason mov'd these warlike lords to this,
Was-for that (young king Richard thus remov'd,
Leaving no heir begotten of his body)

I was the next by birth and parentage,
For by my mother I derived am

From Lionel duke of Clarence, the third son
To king Edward the third, whereas he
From John of Gaunt doth bring his pedigree,
Being but fourth of that heroic line."
But mark; as, in this haughty great attempt,
They laboured to plant the rightful heir,
I lost my liberty, and they their lives.
Long after this, when Henry the fifth,
Succeeding his father Bolingbroke, did reign,
Thy father, earl of Cambridge, then deriv'a
From famous Edmund Langley, duke of York,
Marrying my sister, that thy mother was,
Again, in pity of my hard distress,
Levied an army; weening to redeem,