I vow'd, base knight, when I did meet thee next, [Plucking it off. Which I have done, because unworthily Were there surpris'd, and taken prisoners. Glo. To say the truth, his fact was infamous, Tal. When first this order was ordain'd, my lords, Be packing therefore, thou that wast a knight. [Exit FASTOLFE. And, now. my lord protector, view the letter Glo. What means his grace, that he hath chang'd his style? No more but, plain and bluntly,-" To the king!" 1 most in f. e. Or doth this churlish superscription Portend' some alteration in good will? What's here? [Reads.] "I have upon especial cause,— "Mov'd 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? There should be found such false dissembling guile? K. Hen. Is that the worst this letter doth contain? And give him chastisement for this abuse.- Tal. Content, my liege? Yes, but that I'm prevented, I should have begg'd I might have been employ'd. Let him perceive how ill we brook his treason; Tal. I go, my lord; in heart desiring still, Enter VERNON and BASSET. [Exit. Ver. Grant me the combat, gracious sovereign! Say, gentlemen, what makes you thus exclaim? wrong. Bas. And I with him; for he hath done me wrong. K. Hen. What is that wrong whereof you both complain ? 1 pretend in f. e. First let me know, and then I'll answer you. Bas. Crossing the sea from England into France, Saying, the sanguine colour of the leaves Ver. And that is my petition, royal lord: Yet know, my lord, I was provok'd by him, York. Will not this malice, Somerset, be left? K. Hen. Good Lord! what madness rules in brain sick men: When, for so slight and frivolous a cause, Such factious emulations still' arise.- York. Let this dissension first be tried by fight, York. There is my pledge; accept it, Somerset. Ver. Nay, let it rest where it began at first. Bas. Confirm it so, mine honourable lord. Glo. Confirm it so? Confounded be your strife, And perish ye, with your audacious prate! Presumptuous vassals! are you not asham'd, 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; 1 shall in f. e. Much less to take occasion from their mouths Let me persuade you take a better course. Exe. It grieves his highness: good my lords, be friends. K. Hen. 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 provok'd 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. I see no reason, if I wear this rose, [Putting on a red Rose. Your troops of horsemen with his bands of foot; Your angry choler on your enemies. Ourself, my lord protector, and the rest, From thence to England; where I hope ere long To be presented by your victories With Charles, Alençon, and that traitorous rout. [Flourish. Exeunt King HENRY, GLO., SOM., WIN., SUF., and BASSET. War. 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. War. Tush! that was but his fancy, blame him not; I dare presume, sweet prince, he thought no harm. York. And, if I wist, he did.—But let it rest; Other affairs must now be managed. [Exeunt YORK, WARWICK, and VERNON. Exe. 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, But howsoe'r, no simple man that sees This jarring discord of nobility, This shouldering of each other in the court, 'T is much, when sceptres are in children's hands, SCENE II.-France. Before Bourdeaux. Tal. Go to the gates of Bourdeaux, trumpeter: [Exit. Trumpet sounds a Parley. Enter, on the Walls, the English John Talbot, captains, calls you forth, |