If son to Talbot, die at Talbot's foot.

Tal. 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 prov'd, let's die in pride.

[Exeunt.

Alarum: excursions.

Enter TALBOT wounded, supported
by a Servant.

Tal. Where is my other life?-mine own is gone ;-
O, where's young Talbot? where is valiant John?-
Triumphant death, smear'd(64) 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,
Tendering my ruin, and assail'd of none,
Dizzy-ey'd 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 overmounting spirit; and there died

My Icarus, my blossom, in his pride.

Serv. O my dear lord, lo, where your son is borne !

Enter Soldiers, bearing the body of JOHN TALBOT.

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 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.

Alarums.

[Dies.

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, 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 giglot 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 inhersèd 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(65)

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.

But tell me whom thou seek'st.

Lucy. But where's(66) 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,(67)

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 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.

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; (68) 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 (69)

A phoenix that shall make all France afeard.

Char. So we be rid of them, do with 'em (70) what thou

wilt.

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

[Exeunt.

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 motion? 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 kin (7) 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,

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, now Cardinal BEAUFORT, and habited accordingly.

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 inform'd 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 contract, 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, Gloster, Exeter, and Ambassadors.

Car. Stay, my lord legate: you shall first receive The sum of money which I promisèd

Should be deliver'd to his holiness

For clothing me in these grave ornaments.

Leg. I will attend upon your lordship's leisure.

[Exit.

Car. Now Winchester will not submit, I trow,

Or be inferior to the proudest peer.

Humphrey of Gloster, thou shalt well perceive
That, neither in birth or for authority,

The bishop will be overborne by thee:

I'll either make thee stoop and bend thy knee,
Or sack this country with a mutiny.

[Exit.