You are deceiv'd, my substance is not here; I tell you, madam, were the whole frame here, Your roof were not sufficient to contain it. Count. This is a riddling merchant for the nonce*; He will be here, and yet he is not here; How can these contrarieties agree? He winds a horn. Drums heard; then a peal of ord- These are his substance, sinews, arms, and strength, Count. Victorious Talbot! pardon my abuse : I did not entertain thee as thou art. Tal. Be not dismay'd, fair lady; nor misconstrue The mind of Talbot, as you did mistake The outward composition of his body. What you have done, hath not offended me: But only (with your patience,) that we may To feast so great a warrior in *For a purpose. my house. [Exeunt. + Announced loudly. 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 silence? Dare no man answer in a case of truth? Suff. Within the Temple hall we were too loud; The garden here is more convenient. Plan. Then say at once, if I maintain'd the truth; Or else was wrangling Somerset in the error? Suff. 'Faith, I have been a truant in the law; And never yet could frame my will to it; And, therefore, frame the law unto my will. Som. Judge you, my lord of Warwick, then be tween us. War. Between two hawks, which flies the higher pitch; ; Between two dogs, which hath the deeper mouth; Plan. Tut, tut, here is a mannerly forbearance : 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-ty'd, and so loath to speak, In dumb significants proclaim your thoughts: * i. e. Regulate his motions most adroitly. Let him, that is a true-born gentleman, 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. Suff. 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 more, Till you conclude-that he, upon whose side The fewest roses are cropp'd from the tree, hall 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, [To Som. 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. Plan. Mean time, your cheeks do counterfeit our roses; * Tints and deceits; a play on the word. Justly proposed. For pale they look with fear, as witnessing No, Plantagenet, Som. 'Tis 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 roses, That shall maintain what I have said is true, Plan. Now, by this maiden blossom in my hand, I scorn thee and thy fashion, peevish boy. Suff. Turn not thy scorns this way, Plantagenet. Plan. Proud Poole, I will; and scorn both him and thee. Suff. 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 him on the place's privileget, On any plot of ground in Christendom : * i. e. Those who have no right to arms. Excluded. His trespass yet lives guilty in thy blood; Plan. My father was attached, not attainted; Suff. Go forward, and be chok'd with thy ambi tion! 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 en dure it! War. This blot, that they object against your house, Shall be wip'd out in the next parliament, Call'd for the truce of Winchester and Gloster : *Confederate. |