joy,

Salisbury, cheer thy spirit with this comfort; Sheep run not half so timorous* from the wolf,
Thou shalt not die, whiles-

Or horse, or oxen, from the leopard,
He beckons with his hand, and smiles on me; As you fly from your oft-subdued siaves,
As who should say, When I am dead and gone,

(Alarum. Another Skirmish. Remember to avenge me on the French.

It will not be :-Retire into your trenches : Planta genet, I will; and like thee, Nero, You all consented unto Salisbury's death, Play on the lute, beholding the towns burn: For none would strike a stroke in his revenge.Wretched shall France be only in my name. Pucelle is entered into Orleans,

[Thunder heard ; afterwards an Alarum. In spite of us, or aught that we could do. What stir is this? What tumult's in the heavens? O, would I were to die with Salisbury! Whence cometh this alarum, and the noise ? The shame hereof will make me hide my head. Enter a Messenger.

(Alarum. Retreat. Exeunt Talbot and

his Forces, &c. Mes. My lord, my lord, the French have gather’d head:

SCENE VI. The same. Enter, on the Walls, The Dauphin, with one Joan la Pucelle join'd, - PucELLE, CHARLES, REIGNIER, ALENGON, and

Soldiers.
A holy prophetess, new risen up,
Is come with a great power to raise the siege.

Puc. Advance our waving colours on the walls;

(SALISBURY groans. Rescu'd is Orleans from the English wolves :: Tal. Hear, hear, how dying Salisbury doth groan! Thus Joan la Pucelle hath perform’d her word. It irks his heart, he cannot be revenged.

Char, Divinest creature, bright Astrea's daughter, Frenchmen, I'll be a Salisbury to you :

How shall I honour thee for this success? Pucelle or puzzel, dolphin or dogfish,

Thy promises are like Adonis' gardens, Your hearts I'll stamp out with my horse's heels, That one day bloom'd, and fruitful were the next. And make a quagmire of your mingled brains.- France, triumph in thy glorious prophetess ! Convey me Salisbury into his tent,

Recover'd is the town of Orleans : And then we'll try what these dastard Frenchmen More blessed hap did ne'er befall our state. dare. (Exeunt, bearing out the bodies. Reig. Why ring not out the bells throughout the

town? SCENE V. The same. Before one of the Gates. Alarum. Skirmishings. Talbot pursueth the

Dauphin, command the citizens make bonfires, Dauphin, and driveth him in : then enter JOAN LA To celebrate the joy that God hath given us.

And feast and banquet in the open streets, Pucelle, driving Englishmen before her. Then

Alen. All France will be replete with mirth and Enter TALBOT. Ta. Where is my strength, my valour, and my When they shall hear how we have play'd the men. force ?

Chur. "I'is Joan, not we, by whom the day is won;
Our English troops retire, I cannot stay them : For which, I will divide my crown with her:
А woman, clad in armour, chaseth them.

And all the priests and friars in my realm
Enter La PUCELLE.

Shall, in procession, sing her endless praise.
Here, here she comes : I'll have a bout with A statelier pyramis to her I'll rear,
thee;

Than Rhodope's, of Memphis, ever was :' Devil, or devil's dam, I'll conjure thee:

In memory of her, when she is dead, Blood will I draw on thee,” thou art a witch,

Her ashes, in an urn more precious And straightway give thy soul to him thou serv'st. Than the rich-jeweld coffer of Darius, Pue. Come, come, 'tis only I that must disgrace Transported shall be at liigh festivals thee.

[They light.

Before the kings and queens of France.
My breast I'll burst with straining of my courage,
Tal. Heavens, can you suffer hell so to prevail ? No longer on Saint Dennis will we cry,

But Joan la Pucelle shall be France's saint.
An from my shoulders crack my arms asunder,

Come in; and let us banquet royally, And I will chastise this high-minded strumpet.

After this golden day of victory. [Flourish. Exeunt. Puc. Talbot, farewell; thy hour is not yet come: I must go victual Orleans forthwith.

ACT II. O'ertake me, if thou canst ; I scorn thy strength. SCENE I. The same. Enter to the Gates, a French Go, go, cheer up thy hungry, starved men;

Sergeant, and Two Sentinels. Help Salisbury io make his testament:

Serg. Sirs, take your places, and be vigilant: This day is ours, as many more shall be.

If any noise, or soldier, you perceive, [PUCELLE enters the Town, with Soldiers. Near to the walls, by some apparent sign, Tal. My thoughts are whirled like a polter's Let us have knowledge at the court of guard." wheel;

1 Sent. Sergeant, you shall. (Erit Sergeant.) I know not where I am, nor what I do:

Thus are poor servitors A witch, by fear, not force, like Hannibal," (When others sleep upon their quiet beds) Drives back our troops, and conquers as she lists: Constrain'd to watch in darkness, rain, and cold. So bees with smoke, and doves with poisome stench, Enter Talbot, Bedford, BURGUNDY, and Forces, Are from their hives, and houses, driven away. with Scaling Lulders; their Drums beating a dead They call'd us, for our fierceness, English dogs; March. Now, like to whelps, we crying run away,

[.A.short Alarum. By whose approach, the regions of Artois,

Tal. Lord Regent,-and redoubted Burgundy,– Hark, countrymen! either renew the fight, Or tear the lions out of England's coat;

Walloon, and Picardy, are friends to us,

This happy night the Frenchmen are secure, Renounce your soil, give sheep in lions' stead :

Having all day carous'd and banqueted: 1 Puzzel means a dirty irench or a drab, ‘from puz.

6 The Adonis horti were nothing but portable earthen 29, i. e. malus foctor,' says Minshell.

pots, with some lettuce or lemuel growing in them. ? The superstition of those times taught that he who 7 The old copy reads :could draw a witch's blond was tree from her power.

* Than Rhodophie's or Memphis ever was.' 3 Alluding to Hannibal's stratagem to escape, by fix. Rhodope, or Rhodopis, a celebrated_courtezan, who ing bundles of lighted twigs on the horns of oxen, re

was a slave in the same service with Æsop, at Samos. corded by Livy, lib. xxij. c. XV).

S'In what price the noble poems of Homer were + Old copy ireacherous. Corrected by Pope.

holden by Alexander the Great, insomuch that everie 5 Wolres. Thus the socond folio, the first omits that night they were layd under his pillow, and by day were word, and the epithet hrghi prefixed to Astrea in the carried in the rich jeucel cofer of Darius, lately before next line but one. Malone follows the reading of the vanguished by him.' Pullinham's Arte of English first folio, and contends that by a licentious pronuncia. Poesie, 1589. waa syllable was added, thus Engleish, Ablefea. 9 The same as guard-room.

B

Embrace we then this opportunity;

How, or which way: 'uis sure, they found somo As litling besi to quittance their deceit,

place Contriv'd by art, and baleful sorcery.

But weakly guarded, where the breach was inade, Ded. Coward of France ?--how much he wrongs And now there rests no other shift but this, his fame,

To gather our soldiers, scatter'd and dispers’d, Despairing of his own arm's fortitude,

And lay new platforms? to cndamage them. To join with witches, and the help of hell.

Alarum. Enter an English Soldier, crying a TalBur. Traitors have never other company.- bot! a Talbot! They fly, leaving their Clothes beBut what's that Pucelle, whom they term so pure ? hind.

Tal. A maid, they say.
Bed.
A maid! and be so martial !

Sold. I'll be so bold to take what they have left, Bur. Pray God, she prove not masculine ere long; For I have loaden me with many spoils,

The cry of Talbot serves me for a sword;
If underneath the standard of the French,
She carry armour as she hath begun.

Using no other weapon but his name. (Eril. Tul. Well, let them practise and converse with SCENE II. Orleans. Within the Town. Enter spirits :

Talbot, BEDFORD, BURGUNDY, a Captain, and God is our fortress; in whose conquering name,

others. Let us resolve to scale their flinty bulwarks.

Bed. The day begins to break, and night is fled, Bedl. Ascend, brave Talbot; we will follow thec. Whose pitchy mantle over-veil'd the earth.

Tal. Not all together: better far, I guess, Here sound retreat, and cease our hot pursuit. That we do make our entrance several ways;

[Retreat sounded. That, if it chance the one of us do fail,

Tal. Bring forth the body of old Salisbury ; The other yet may rise against their forc

And here advance it in the market-place, Bed. Agrced ; I'll lo yon corner.

The middle centre of this cursed town. Bur.

And I to this. Now have I paid my vow unto his soul ; Tal. And here will Talbot mount, or make his For every drop of blood was drawn from him, grave.-

There hath at least five Frenchmen died to-night. Now, Salisbury! for thee, and for the right And, that hereafter ages may behold of English Henry, shall this night appear

What ruin happen'd in revenge of him, How much in duty I am bound to both.

Within their chiefest temple I'll erect (The English scale the Walls, crying St. George! A tomb, wherein his corpse shall be interr’d:

a Talbot! and all enter by the Town. Upon the which, that every one may read, Sent. [Within.) Arm, arm! the enemy doth make shall be engrav'd the sack of Orleans ; assault!

The treacherous manner of his mournful death,

And what a terror he had been to France. The French lcap over the Walls in their shirts. Enter, But, lords, in all our bloody massacre, several ways, BASTARD, Alençox, REIGNIER, I muse,' we met not with the Dauphin's grace; half ready, and half unreally.

His new-come champion, virtuous Joan of Arc; Alen. How now, my lords? what all unready' so ? Nor any of his false confederates. Bast. Unready ? ay, and glad we 'scap'd so well. Bed." Tis thought, Lord Talbot, when the fight Reig. 'Twas iime, I trow, to wake and leave our

began, beds,

Rous'd on the sudden from their drowsy beds, Hearing alarums at our chamber doors.

They did amongst the troops of armed men, Alen. Of all exploits, since first I follow'd arms, Leap o'er the walls for refuge in the field. Never heard I of a warlike enterprise

Bur. Myself (as far as I could well discern, More venturous, or desperate than this.

For smoke, and dusky vapours of the night) Bast. I think, this Talbot be a fend of hell. Am sure I scar’d the Dauphin, and his trull'; Reig. If not of hell, the heavens, sure, favour When arın in arm they both came swiftly running, him.

Like to a pair of loving turtle-doves, Alen. Here cometh Charles ; I marvel how he That could not live asunder day or night. sped.

After that things are set in order here,

We'll follow them with all the power we have. Enter CHARLES and LA PUCELLE.

Enter a Messenger. Bast. Tut! holy Joan was his defensive guard.

Mess. All hail, my lords! which of this princely Char. Is this thy cunning, thou deceitful dame ?

train Didst thou at first, to flatter us withal,

Call ye the warlike Talbot, for his acts Make us partakers of a little gain,

So much applauded through the realm of France ? That now our loss might be ten times so much?

Tal. Here is the Talbot ; who would speak with Puc. Wherefore is Charles impatient with his

him? friend?

Mess. The virtuous lady, countess of Auvergne, At all times will you have my power alike? With modesty admiring thy renown, Sleeping, or waking, must I still prevail,

By me entreats, good lord, thou wouldst vouchsafe Or will you blame and lay the fault on me?

To visit her poor castle where she lies ;* Improvident soldiers! had your watch been good, That she may boast she hath beheld the man This sudden mischief never could have fall'n.

Whose glory fills the world with loud report. Char. Duke of Alençon, this was your default;

Bur. Is it even so? Nay, then, I see our wars That, being captain of the watch to-night, Will turn unto a peaceful comic sport, Did look no better to that weighty charge.

When ladies crave to be encounter'd with. Alen. Had all your quarters been as safely kept, You may not, my lord, despise her gentle suit. As that whereof I had the government,

Tal. Ne'er trust me then; for, when a world of We had not been thus shamefully surpris'd. Best. Mine was secure.

Could not prevail with all their oratory,
Reig.

And so was mine, my lord. Yet hath a woman's kindness overruld:-
Char. And for myself, most part of all this night, And therefore tell her, I return great thanks;
Within her quarter, and mine own precinct, And in submission will attend on her.-
I was employ'd in passing to and fro,

Will not your honours bear me company?
About relieving of the sentinels :

Bed. No, truly; it is more than manners will: Then how, or which way, should they first break in? And I have heard it said, -Unlidden guests Puc. Question, my lords, no further of the case, Are often welcomest when they are gone.

men

Tidl. Well then, alone, since there's no remedy, You are deceiv'd, my substance is not here; I mean to prove this lady's courtesy.

For what

you see, is but the smallest part Coare hither, captain. [IV hispers.)-You perceive And least proportion of humaniiy: my mind.

I tell you, madam, were the whole frame here, Capt. I do, my lord; and mean accordingly. It is of such a spacious lofty pitch,

[Ereunt. Your roof were not sufficient to contain it, SCENE II. Auvergne. Court of the Castle.

Count. This is a riddling merchant for the nonce; Enter the Countess and her Porter.

He will be here, and yet he is not here:

How can these contrarieties agree?
Count. Porter, remember what I gave in charge; Tal. That will I show you presently.
And, when you have done so, bring the keys to me.
Port. Madam, I will.

[Exit. He winds a Horn. Drums heard; then a Peal of Count. The plot is laid: if all things fall out Ordnance. The Gutes being forced, enter Soldiers. right,

How say you, madam ? are you now persuaded, I shall as famous be by this exploit,

That Talbot is but shadow of himecli? As Scythian Thomyris by Cyrus' death.

These are his substance, sincws, arms, and strength, Great is the rumour of this dreadful knight, With which he yoketh your rebellious necks; And his achievements of no less account:

Razeth your cities, and subverts your towns, Fain would mine eyes be witness with mine ears, And in a moment makes them desolate, To give their censure' of these rare reports. Count. Victorious Talbot! pardon my abuse : Enter Messenger and Talbot.

I find, thou art no less than fame hath bruited,' Mess. Madam,

And more than may be gather'd by thy shape. According as your ladyship desir'd,

Let my presumprion not provoke ihy wrath ;

For I am sorry, that with reverence By message crav'd, so is Lord Talbot come.

I did not enteriain thee as thou art. Count. And he is welcome. What! is this the

Tal. Be not dismay'd, fair lady ; nor misconstrue man? Mess. Madam, it is.

The mind of Talbot, as you did mistake Count, Is this the scourge of France ? What you have done, hath not offended me :

The outward composition of his body.
Is this the Talbot, so much fear'd abroad,

No other satisfaction do I crave,
That with his name the mothers still their babes ? 2
I see report is fabulous and false :

But only (with your patience) that we may

Taste of your wine, and see what cates you have; I thought I should have seen some Hercules, A second Hector, for his grim aspect,

For soldiers' stomachs always serve them well.

Count. With all my heart; and think me honoured And large proportion of his strong-knit limbs. Alas! this is a child, a silly dwart:

To feast so great a warrior in my house. (Exeunt. It cannot be, this weak and writhled shrimp

SCENE IV. London. The Temple Garden. Enter Should strike such terror to his enemies.

the Earls of SOMERSET, SUFFOLK, und WarTal. Madam, I have been bold to trouble you:

WICK; Richard PLANTAGENET, VERNOx, and But, since your ladyship is not at leisure,

another Lawyer." I'll sort some other time to visit you.

Plan. Great lords, and gentiemen, what means Count. What means he now ?-Go ask him,

this silence? whither he goes.

Dare no man answer in a case of truth? Mess. Stay, my Lord Talbot; for my lady craves Suff. Within the Temple hall we were too loud : To know the cause of your abrupt departure. The garden here is more convenient.

T'al. Marry, for that she's in a wrong belief, Plan. Then say at once, if I maintain'd the truth; I go to certify her, Talbot's here.

Or, else, was wrangling Somerset in the error ?' Re-enter Porter, with Keys.

Suff. 'Faith, I have been a truant in the law;

And never yet could frame my will to it; Count. If thou be he, then art thou prisoner.

And, therefore, frame the law unto my will. Tal. Prisoner! to whom?

Som. Judge you, my lord of Warwick, then beCount.

To me, blood-thirsty lord; And for that cause I train’d thee to my house.

War. Between two hawks, which flies the higher Long time thy shadow hath been thrall 10 me,

pitch, For in my gallery thy picture hangs;

Between iwo dogs, which hath the deeper mouth, But now the substance shall endure the like;

Between two blades, which bears the better temper, And I will chain these legs and arms of thine,

Between two horses, which doth bear him best, That hast by tyranny, these many years,

Between two girls, which hath the merriest eye, Wasted our country, slain our citizens,

I have, perhaps, some shallow spirit of judgment : And sent our sons and husbands captivate.“ But in these nice sharp quillets of the law, Tal. Ha, ha, ha!

Good faith, I am no wiser than a daw. Count. Laughest thou, wretch ? thy mirth shall

Plan. Tut, tut, hero is a mannerly forbearance: turn to moan.

The truth appears so naked on my side, Tal. I laugh to see your ladyship so fond,

That any purblind eye may find it out. To think that you have aught but Talbot's shadow, Som. And on my side it is so well apparelld, Whereon to practise your severity.

So clear, so shining, and so evident, Count. Why, art not thou the man?

That it will glimmer through a blind man's eye. I am indeed.

Pían. Since you are tongue-ty'd, and so loath to Count. Then have I substance too.

speak, Tal. No, no, I am but shadow of myself: In dumb significants!? proclaim your thoughts : 1 i.e. judgment, opinion.

tinction to gentleman ; signifying that the person showed 2 Dryden has transplanted this idea into his Don Se by his behaviour he was a low tellow. bastian S.

7 Bruited is reportedl, loudly announced. Nor shall Sebastian's formidable pame

8 We should read a lawyer. This lawyer was proBe longer used, to lull the crying babe.' bably Roger Nevyle, who was afterwards hanged. See 3 Writhled for wrinkled.

W. Wyrcester, p. 479. 4 Thus in Solyman and Persida :

9 Johnson observes that there is apparently a want If not destroy'd and bound and captivate, of opposition between the two questions here,' but there

Il captivate, then forc d from holy faith. is no reason to suspect that the text is corrupt. 5 i. e. foolish, silly, weak.

10 i. e. regulate his motions most adroitly. We still 6. This is a ridaling werchant for the nonce. The say that a horse carries himsılf well. term merchant, which was, and even now is, frequently il Dumb significants, which Malone would have applied to the lowest kind of dealers, seems anciently to changed to significance, is nothing more than signs or have been used on these familiar occasions in contradis. I lohen.

tween us.

10

5

Tal.

Let him, that is a true-born gentleman,

War. Now, by God's will, thou wrong'st him, And stands upon the honour of his birth,

Somerset; If he suppose that I have pleaded truth,

His grandfather was Lionel, duke of Clarence ? From oil this brier pluck a white rose with me. Third son to the third Edward, king of England;

Som. Let him that is no coward, nor no flatterer, Spring crestless yeomen" from so deep a root ? But dare maintain the party of the truth,

Plan. He bears him on the place's privilege, Pluck a red rose from off this thorn with me. Or durst not, for his craven heart, say thus.

War. I love no colours ;' and, without all colour Som. By him that made me, I'll maintain my or base insinuating flattery,

words I pluck this white rose with Plantagenet.

On and plot of ground in Christendom: Suff. I pluck this red rose, with young Somerset; Was not thy father, Richard, carl of Cambridge, And say withal, I think he held the right.

For treason executed in our late king's day? Ver. Stay, lords and gentlemen: and pruck no And, by his treason, stand’st not thou attainted, more,

Corrupted, and exemple from ancient gentry? Fill you conclude—that he, upon whose side His trespass yet lives guilty in thy blood; The fewest roses are cropp'd from the tree, And, till thou be restor’d, thou art a yeoman. Shall yield the other in the right opinion.

Pían. My father was attached, not attainted

i Som. Good master Vernon, it is well objected ;? Condemn'd to die for treason, but no traitor; If I have fewest, I subscribe in silence.

And that I'll prove on better inen than Somerset, Plan. And I.

(casc, Were growing time once ripen'd to my will. Ver. Then, for the truth and plainness of the For your partaker Poole, and you yourself, I pluck this pale, and maiden blossom here, I'll note you in my book of memory,'' Giving my verdict on the white rose side.

To scourge you for this apprehension :") Som. Prick not your finger as you pluck it off"; Look to it well; and say you are well warn'd. Lest, bleeding, you do paint the white rose red, Som. Ay, thou shalt find us ready for thee still : And fall on my side so against your will.

And know us, by these colours, for ily foes; Ver. If I, ny lord, for my opinion bleed, For these my friends, in spite of thee, shall wear. Opinion shall be surgeon to my hurt,

Plan. And, by my soul, ihis pale and angry rose, And keep me on the side where still I am.

As cognizancetz of my blood-drinking biale,
Som. Well, well, come on : Who else? Will I for ever, and my faction, wear;
Law. Unless my study and my books bo false,

Until it wither with me to my grave,
The argument you held, was wrong in you; Or flourish to the height of my degree.

[TO SOMERSET. Suff. Go forward, and be chok'd with thy ambition! In sign whereof, I pluck a white rose too.

And so farewell, until I meet thee next. [Erit. Plan. Now, Somerset, where is your argument ? Som. Have with thee, Poule.-Farewell, ambiSom. Here, in my scabbard ; meditating that,

tious Richard.

(Exil. Shall dye your white rose in a bloody red,

Pian. How I am brav'd, and must perforce enPlan. Mean time, your cheeks do counterfeit our

dure it!

(house, roses;

IVar. This blot, that they object against your For pale they look with fear, as witnessing Shall be wip'd out in the next parliament, The truth on our side.

Call'd for the truce of Winchester and Gloster:
Som.
No, Plantagenet,

And, if thou be not then created York,
'Tis not for fear; but anger,-that thy cheeks I will not live to be accounted Warwick.
Blush for pure shame, to counterfeit our roses;2 Mean time, in signal of my love to thee,
And yet thy tongue will not confess thy error. Against proud Somerset, and William Poole,

Plom. Háth not thy rose a canker, Somerset? Will I upon thy party wear this rose :
Som. Hath not thy rose a thorn, Plantagenet ? And here I prophesy,—This brawl to-day,
Plan. Ay, sharp and piercing, to maintain his Grown to this faction, in the Temple garden,
truth;

Shall send, between the red rose and the white,
Whiles thy consuming canker eats his falsehood. A thousand souls to death and deadly night.
Som. Well, I'll find friends to wear my bleeding Plan. Good master Vernon, I am bound to you,
roses,

That you on my behalf would pluck a fower. That shall maintain what I have said is true,

Ver. In your behalf still will I wear the same Where false Plantagenet dare not be seen.

Law. And so will I.
Plan. Now, by this maiden blossom in my hand, Plan. Thanks, gentle sir.
I scorn thee and thy faction,* peevish boy.

Come, let us four to dinner: I dare

say, Suff. Turn not thy scorns this way, Plantagenet. This quarrel will drink blood another day. (Exeunt. Plan. Proud Poole, I will; and scorn both him SCENE V. The same. A Room in the Tower. and thee,

Enter MORTIMER,'' brought in a Chair by two Suff. I'll turn my part thereof into thy throat.

Keepers. Som. Away, away, good William De-la-Poole! grace

Mor. Kind keepers of my weak decaying age, the yeoman, by conversing with him.

Let dying Mortimer here rest himself.1 Colours is here used ambiguously for tints and have derived some such' privilege from the knights deceits.

templars, or knights hospitallers, both religious orders, 2 Well objected is properly proposed, propery thrown is former inhabitants. It is true, blows may have been in our way

prohibited by the regulations of the society : the author 3 It is not for fear that my cheeks look pale, but for perhaps did not much consider the mater, but repreanger : anger produced by this circumstance-namely. sents it as suited his purpose. that thy cheeks blush, &c.

8 Exempt fur erchidei. 4 Theobald altered fashion, which is the reading of 9 Partuker, in ancient language, signifies one who the old copy, lo faction. Warburton contends that by takes part with another ; an accomplice, a confeilerale. fushion is meant the badge of the red rose, which

"A partaker, or coparcioner; particeps, consors, con'Somerset said that he and his friends would be distin- socius.'- Baret. guished by.'

10 So in Hamlet : 5 The poet mistakes. Plantagenet's paternal grand

- the table of my memory.' father was Edmund of Langley, duke of York. His Again :maternal grandfather was Roger Mortimer, earl of

We

Even hike a man new haled from the rack,

And death approach nof ere my tale be done.
So fare my limbs with long imprisonment : Henry the Fourti, grandfather to this king,
And these gray locks, the pursuivants of death,' Depos'd his nephew? Richard; Edward's son,
Nestor-like aged, in an age care,

The first-begotten, and the lawful heir
Argue the end of Edmund Mortimer.

Of Edward king, ihe third of that descent :
These eges-like lamps whose wasting oil is During whose reign, tho Percies of the north,
spent,

Finding his usurpation most unjust,
War dim, as drawing to their exigent:

Endeavour'd my advancement to the throne :
Weak shoulders, overborne with burd'ning grief, The reason mov'd these warlike lords to this,
And pithless' arms, like to a wither'd vine Was—for that (young King Richard thus remov'd,

That droops his sapless branches to the ground:- Leaving no heir begotten of his body)
Yet are these feet-whose strengthless stay is numb, I was the next by birth and parentage;
Unable to support this lump of clay, -

For by my mother I derived am
Swifi-winged with desire to get a grave,

From Lionel duke of Clarence, the third son
As witting I no other comfort have:

To King Edward the Third, whereas he,
But tell me, keeper, will my nophew come? From John of Gaunt doth bring his pedigree,

I Keep. Richard Plantagenet, my lord, will come: Being but fourth of that heroic line.
We sent unto the Temple, to his chamber; But mark; as, in this haughty great attempt,
And answer was return'd that he will come. Thoy laboured to plant the rightful heir,

Mor. Enough ; my soul shall then be satisfied.- I lost my liberty, and they their lives.
Poor gentleman!' his wrong doth equal mine. Long after this, when Henry the Filih,-
Since Henry Monmonth first begin to reign Succeeding his father Bolingbroke; -- lid reign,
(Before whose glory I was great in arms,) Thy father, earl of Cambridge,--then deriv'd
This loathsome sequestration have I had; From famous Edmund Langley, duke of York,--
Aud even since then hath Richard been obscur’d, Marrying my sister, that thy mother was,
Deprived of homur and inheritance :

Again, in piiy of my hard distress,
But now, the arbitrator of despairs,

Levied an army;, weening to redeem,
Just death, kind umpire* of men's miseries, And have installd me in the diadem :
With sweet enlargement doth dismiss me hrnce ; But, as the rest, so fell that noble earl,
I would, his troubles likewise were expir'd, And was beheaded. Thus the Mortimers,
That so he might recover what was lost.

In whom the title rested, were suppressid.
Enter Richard PLANTAGENET.

Plan. Of which, my lord, your honour is the last.
I Keep. My lord, your loving nephew now is

Mor. True; and thiou seest, that I no issue have; come.

And that my fainting words do warrant death :
Mor. Richard Plantagenet, my friend? Is he Thou art my heir; the rest, I wish thee gather :10
come?

But yet be wary in thy studious care.
Plan. Ay, noble uncle, thus ignobly usd,

Plun. Thy grave admonislıments prevail with me:
Your nephew, late-despised Richard, comes.

But yet, methinks, my father's execution
Mor. Direct mine arms, I may embrace his neck, Was nothing less than bloody tyranny.
And in his bosom spend my
latter

Mor. With silenco, nephew, be thou politic;

gasp :
0, tell me, when my lips do touch his cheeks,

Strong-fixed is the house of Lancaster,
That I may kindly give one fainting kiss.- And, like a mountain, not to be remov'd."
And now declare, sweet stem from York's great As princes do their courts, when they are cloy’d

But now thy uncle is removing hence;
stock,
Why didst thou say-of late thou wert despis'd ?

With long continuance in a settled place.
Plun. First, lean thine aged back against mine

Plan. O, uncle, 'would, some part of my young arm;

years And, in that case, I'll tell thee my disease.

Might but redeem the passage of your age!12 This day, in argument upon a case,

Mor. Thou dost then wrong me; as the slaughtSome words there grew 'twixt Somerset and me :

rer doth, Among which terms he used his lavish tongue,

Which giveth many wounds, when one will kill. And did upbraid me with my father's death;

Mourn not, except thou sorrow for my good;
Which obloquy set bars before my tongue,

Only, give order for my funeral;
Else with the like I had requited him:

And so farewell: and fair be all thy hopes !
Therefore, good uncle,-for my father's sake,

And prosperous be thy life, in peace and war!
In honour of a true Plantagenet,

(Dies. And for alliance' sake,-declare the cause

Plan. And peace, no war, befall thy parting soul!
My father, earl of Cambridge, lost his head.

In prison hast thou spent a pilgrimage,
Mor. That cause, fair nephew, that imprison'd me, And like a hermit overpass’d thy days.-
And hath detain'd'me, all my How'ring youth,

Well, I will lock his counsel in my breast;
Within a loathsome dungeon, there to pine,

And what I do imagine, let that rest.--
Was cursed instrument of his decease.

Keepers, convey him hence; and I myself
Plan. Discover more at large what cause that was; Will see his burial better than his life.--
For I am ignorant, and cannot guess.

(Ereunt Keepers, bearing out MORTIMER. Mor. I will; if that my fading breath permit,

Here dies the dusky iorch of Mortimer,

Chok'd with ambition of the meaner sort :13Edmund Mortimer, who was trusted and employed by Henry V. throughout his reign, died of the plague in his at Southampton, the night before Henry sailed from own castle at Trim, in Ireland, in 1424-5; being then that town för France, on the information of this very only thirty-two years old.

earl of March. i The heralds that, fore-ruming death, proclaim its 10 i. e. I acknowledge thee to be my heir; the conseapproach.

quences which may be collected from thence I recom2 Exigent is here used for end.

mend it thee to draw. 3 Pich is used figuratively for strength.

11 Thus Milton, Paradise Lost, book iv. ;4 That is, he who terminates or concludes misery.

· Like Teneriffe or Atlas unremov'd.' 5 Lately despised.

12 The same thought occurs in the celebrated dialogue 6 Discase for uneasiness, trouble, or grief. It is between Horace and Lydia. There is some reseinused in this sense by other ancient writers.

blance to it in the following lines, supposed to be ad. 7 Nephere has sometimes the power of the Latin ne dressed by a married lady, who died very young, to her pos, signifying grandchild, and is used with great laxity husband. Malone thinks that the inscription is in the among our ancient English writers. It is here used in church of Trent:stead of consin.

'Immatura peri; sed iu diuturnior annos 8 Haughty is high, lofty.

Vive meos, conjux optime, vive quos.' 9 i e. thinking. This is another falsification of his

13 i. e. oppressed by those whose right to the crown tory. Cambridge levied no army; but was apprehended I was not so good as his own.