First let me know, and then I'll answer you. 4 Bas. Crossing the sea from England into France, Ver. And that is my petition, noble lord: Yet know, my lord, I was provok'd by him; York. Will not this malice, Somerset, be left? out, Though ne'er so cunningly you smother it. K. Hen. Good Lord! what madness rules in brainsick men; When, for so slight and frivolous a cause, York. Let this dissention first be tried by fight, And then your highness shall command a peace. Som. The quarrel toucheth none but us alone; Betwixt ourselves let us decide it then. York. There is my pledge; accept it, Somerset. did repugn the truth,] To repugn is to resist. 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; Much less, to take occasion from their mouths To raise a mutiny betwixt yourselves; 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, Destroy'd themselves, and lost the realm of France? That for a trifle, that was bought with blood! I see no reason, if I wear this rose, [Putting on a red Rose. That any one should therefore be suspicious I more incline to Somerset, than York: Both are my kinsmen, and I love them both : 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 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, Than yet can be imagin'd or suppos'd. But howsoe'er, no simple man that sees This jarring discord of nobility, This should'ring of each other in the court, 'Tis much,' when scepters are in children's hands; But more, when envy breeds unkind division;" There comes the ruin, there begins confusion. SCENE II. France. Before Bourdeaux. Enter TALBOT, with his forces. [Exit. Tal. Go to the gates of Bourdeaux, trumpeter, Summon their general unto the wall. Trumpet sounds a Parley. Enter, on the Walls, the English John Talbot, captains, calls you forth, Gen. Thou ominous and fearful owl of death, 'Tis much,] In our author's time this phrase meant-Tis strange, or wonderful. 6 when envy breeds unkind division;] Envy in old English writers frequently means enmity. Unkind is unnatural. On us thou canst not enter, but by death: And strong enough to issue out and fight: And no way canst thou turn thee for redress, Upon no Christian soul but English Talbot. These eyes, that see thee now well coloured, [Drum afar off. [Exeunt General, &c. from the Walls. How are we park'd, and bounded in a pale; 7 To rive their dangerous artillery -] To rive their artillery means only to fire their artillery. To rive is to burst; and a cannon, when fired, has so much the appearance of bursting, that, in the language of poetry, it may be well said to burst. We say, a cloud bursts, when it thunders. 8 due thee withal;] To due is to endue, to deck, to grace. |