How say you, madam? are you now persuaded These are his substance, sinews, arms and 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, I did not entertain thee as thou art. Tal. Be not dismay'd, fair lady; nor misconstrue But only, with your patience, that we may 80 well. Count. With all my heart, and think me honored To feast so great a warrior in my house. [Exeunt. 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? Suf. 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? 1. This Richard Plantagenet was son to the earl of Cambridge who was overtaken in a plot against the life of Henry V, and executed at Southampton. That earl was a younger brother of Edward, duke of York, who fell at the battle of Agincourt, and had no child to succeed him. So that on his father's side Richard was grandson to Edmund of Langley, the fifth son of Edward III. His mother was Anne, sister of Edmund Mortimer, 'earl of March, and great-granddaughter to Lionel, duke of Clarence, who was the third son of Edward III. In 1425, the fourth year of Henry VI, Richard was restored to the rights and titles that had been forfeited by his father, and was made duke of York. After the death of Bedford, in 1435, he succeeded him as regent of France; was recalled two years later, and appointed again in 1441. Some three years after, being supplanted in that office by his rival, the duke of Somerset, he took the government of Ireland instead, from whence he began to stretch forth his hand to the crown.-H. N. H. 6. The earl of Somerset at this time was John Beaufort, grandson to John of Ghent by Catharine Swynford, and of course nephew to the duke of Exeter and the bishop of Winchester. He was afterwards advanced to the rank of duke, and died in 1432, leaving his title to his brother Edmund; his only surviving child being Margaret, who was married to the earl of Richmond, and thence became the mother of Henry VII. So that there were two dukes of Somerset Suf. Faith, I have been a truant in the law, And never yet could frame my will to it; tween us. 10 War. Between two hawks, which flies the higher pitch; Between two dogs, which hath the deeper mouth; Between two blades, which bears the better tem per: Between two horses, which doth bear him best; But in these nice sharp quillets of the law, Tut, tut, here is a mannerly forbearance: 20 in the time of this play, though the Poet does not distinguish them; or rather he prolongs the life of John several years beyond its actual date.-H. N. H. 6. "in the error"; Johnson (adopted by Capell), "; the right"; Hudson, "in error."-I. G. 11. The present earl of Warwick was Richard Beauchamp, surnamed the Good. He was esteemed the greatest of the captains formed in the great school of Henry V. After the death of Exeter, he was appointed governor of the young king in 1426. When York was first recalled from the regency of France, in 1437, Warwick succeeded him, with the title of Lieutenant-general and Governor of France, and died at Rouen in May, 1439. Shakespeare, however. keeps him alive till the end of the play, or at least does not distinguish nim from Henry, who succeeded him.-H. N. H. 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 speak, In dumb significants proclaim your thoughts: me. 30 Som. Let him that is no coward nor no flatterer, Love no colors, and without all color double Of base insinuating flattery I pluck this white rose with Plantagenet. use word ? reen forceme Suf. I pluck this red rose with young Somerset. And say withal I think he held the right. ideas Ver. Stay, lords and gentlemen, and pluck no more, Till conclude that he, upon whose side Plan. And I. 40 Ver. Then for the truth and plainness of the case, N. H and the other 550 affected by to the metaphy pink родий Lest bleeding you do paint the white rose 50 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 And keep me on the side where still I am. 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 60 Shall dye your white rose in a bloody red. Plan. Meantime your cheeks do counterfeit our roses; For pale they look with fear, as witnessing Som. No, Plantagenet, '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. Aye, sharp and piercing, to maintain his truth; 70 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, |