his timidity, he dying in prosperity and ease in England, whilst the great Talbot perished in the field, leaving in the popular mouth the sentiment which Fuller has preserved, "Henceforward we may say good night to the English in France."

The Bastard of Orleans, who appears in this act, gave the first serious blow to the power of the English in France at the battle of Montargis.

The scene in the Temple gardens is of purely dramatic creation. It is introduced, we think, with singular judgment, with reference to the purpose of connecting the First Part of Henry VI. with the Second and Third Parts. The scene of the death of Mortimer is introduced with the same object. Edmund Mortimer did not die in confinement, nor was he an old man at the time of his death; but the

accounts of the chroniclers are so confused, that the poet has not committed any violation of historical truth, such as it presented itself to him, in dramatising the following passage of Hall (the third year of Henry VI.):-"During which season Edmund Mortimer, the last Earl of March of that name (which long time had been restrained from his liberty, and finally waxed lame), deceased without issue, whose inheritance descended to Lord Richard Plantagenet, son and heir to Richard Earl of Cambridge, beheaded, as you have heard before, at the town of Southampton. Which Richard, within less than thirty years, as heir to this Earl Edmund, in open parliament claimed the crown and sceptre of this realm."

Win. Gloster, I do defy thee. Lords, vouchsafe

To give me hearing what I shall reply.
If I were covetous, ambitious, or perverse,
As he will have me, how am I so poor?
Or how haps it I seek not to advance

Or raise myself, but keep my wonted calling?
And for dissention, who preferreth peace
More than I do,-except I be provok'd?
No, my good lords, it is not that offends;
It is not that, that hath incens'd the duke:
It is, because no one should sway but he;
No one but he should be about the king;
And that engenders thunder in his breast,
And makes him roar these accusations forth.
But he shall know, I am as good—————--
Glo.

As good?

Thou bastard of my grandfather!— Win. Ay, lordly sir: For what are you, I pray,

a

But one imperious in another's throne?
Glo. Am I not protector, saucy priest? a
Win. And am I not a prelate of the church?
Glo. Yes, as an outlaw in a castle keeps,
And useth it to patronage his theft.
Win. Unreverent Gloster!
Glo.

Thou art reverent, Touching thy spiritual function, not thy life.

Win. Rome shall remedy this. War. Roam thither then. Som. My lord, it were your duty to forbear. War. Ay, see the bishop be not overborne. Som. Methinks, my lord should be religious, And know the office that belongs to such.

War. Methinks, his lordship should be humbler;

It fitteth not a prelate so to plead.

Som. Yes, when his holy state is touch'd so

near.

War. State holy, or unhallow'd, what of that? Is not his grace protector to the king?

Plan. Plantagenet, I see, must hold his tongue; Lest it be said, 'Speak, sirrah, when you should; Must your bold verdict enter talk with lords?' Else would I have a fling at Winchester. [Aside. K. Hen. Uncles of Gloster, and of Winchester, The special watchmen of our English weal, I would prevail, if prayers might prevail, To join your hearts in love and amity.

■ Steevens prints this line thus," for the sake of metre: "-"Am I not the protector, saucy priest?"

The opportunities in this play for Steevens's interference in this manner are remarkably few. We should not notice them, except to mention that we hold it of importance to exhibit this play as we have received it, except in cases of manifest error, which rarely occur. It is printed with singular correctness in the original folio.

Pity the city of London, pity us!
The bishop and the duke of Gloster's men,
Forbidden late to carry any weapon,
Have fill'd their pockets full of pebble-stones;
And banding themselves in contráry parts,
Do pelt so fast at one another's pate,
That many have their giddy brains knock'd out:
Our windows are broke down in every street,
And we, for fear, compell'd to shut our shops.

Enter, skirmishing, the Retainers of GLOSTER and WINCHESTER, with bloody pates.

K. Hen. We charge you, on allegiance to ourself,

To hold your slaught'ring hands, and keep the peace.

Pray, uncle Gloster, mitigate this strife.

1 Serv. Nay, if we be forbidden stones, we 'll fall to it with our teeth.

2 Serv. Do what ye dare, we are as resolute. [Skirmish again.

Glo. You of my household, leave this peevish broil,

And set this unaccustom'd fight aside.

3 Serv. My lord, we know your grace to be a

K. Hen. O, how this discord doth afflict my ! soul!

Can you, my lord of Winchester, behold
My sighs and tears, and will not once relent?
Who should be pitiful, if you be not?
Or who should study to prefer a peace,
If holy churchmen take delight in broils?
War. Yield, my lord protector;-yield, Win-
chester ;-

Except you mean, with obstinate repulse,
To slay your sovereign, and destroy the realm.
You see what mischief, and what murder too,
Hath been enacted through your enmity;
Then be at peace, except ye thirst for blood.

Win. He shall submit, or I will never yield. Glo. Compassion on the king commands me stoop;

Or I would see his heart out ere the priest
Should ever get that privilege of me.

War. Behold, my lord of Winchester, the duke

Hath banish'd moody discontented fury,
As by his smoothed brows it doth appear :
Why look you still so stern and tragical?

Glo. Here, Winchester, I offer thee my hand. K. Hen. Fie, uncle Beaufort! I have heard you preach

That malice was a great and grievous sin :
And will not you maintain the thing you teach,
But prove a chief offender in the same?

War. Sweet king!—the bishop hath a kindly gird.

For shame, my lord of Winchester! relent;
What, shall a child instruct you what to do?

Win. Well, duke of Gloster, I will yield to thee;

Love for thy love, and hand for hand I give.

Glo. Ay; but, I fear me, with a hollow heart. See here, my friends, and loving countrymen; This token serveth for a flag of truce, Betwixt ourselves and all our followers: So help me God, as I dissemble not! Win. So help me God, as I intend it not!

[Aside.

K. Hen. O loving uncle, kind duke of Gloster, How joyful am I made by this contract! Away, my masters! trouble us no more; But join in friendship, as your lords have done. 1 Serv. Content; I'll to the surgeon's. 2 Serv. And so will I. 3 Serv. And I will see what physic the tavern affords. [Exeunt Servants, Mayor, &c.

A kindly gird-a reproof meant in kindness. Falstaff says,

Men of all sorts take a pride to gird at me."

War. Accept this scroll, most gracious sovereign;

Which in the right of Richard Plantagenet
We do exhibit to your majesty.

Glo. Well urg'd, my lord of Warwick ;-for, sweet prince,

An if your grace mark every circumstance,
You have great reason to do Richard right:
Especially, for those occasions

At Eltham-place I told your majesty.

K. Hen. And those occasions, uncle, were of force:

Therefore, my loving lords, our pleasure is
That Richard be restored to his blood.

War. Let Richard be restored to his blood; So shall his father's wrongs be recompens'd. Win. As will the rest, so willeth Winchester. K. Hen. If Richard will be true, not that alone,

But all the whole inheritance I give
That doth belong unto the house of York,
From whence you spring by lineal descent.

Plan. Thy humble servant vows obedience,
And humble service, till the point of death.
K. Hen. Stoop then, and set your knee against
my foot:

And, in reguerdona of that duty done,
I girt thee with the valiant sword of York:
Rise, Richard, like a true Plantagenet;
And rise created princely duke of York.
Plan. And so thrive Richard, as thy foes may
fall!

And as my duty springs, so perish they
That grudge one thought against your majesty!
All. Welcome, high prince, the mighty duke

of York!

Som. Perish, base prince, ignoble duke of York! [Aside.

Glo. Now will it best avail your majesty, To cross the seas, and to be crown'd in France: The presence of a king engenders love Amongst his subjects, and his loyal friends; As it disanimates his enemies.

K. Hen. When Gloster says the word, king Henry goes;

For friendly counsel cuts off many foes.

Glo. Your ships already are in readiness.
[Sennet. Flourish. Exeunt all but EXETER,
Exe. Ay, we may march in England, or in
France,

Not seeing what is likely to ensue :
This late dissention, grown betwixt the peers,
Burns under feigned ashes of forg'd love,

Reguerdon-recompence.

And will at last break out into a flame :
As fester'd members rot but by degree,
Till bones, and flesh, and sinews, fall away,
So will this base and envious discord breed.
And now I fear that fatal prophecy,
Which, in the time of Henry nam'd the fifth,
Was in the mouth of every sucking babe,-
That Henry, born at Monmouth, should win all;
And Henry, born at Windsor, should lose all:
Which is so plain, that Exeter doth wish
His days may finish ere that hapless time. [Exit.

SCENE II.-France. Before Rouen.

Enter LA PUCELLE disguised, and Soldiers dressed
like Countrymen, with sacks upon their backs.
Puc. These are the city gates, the gates of
Rouen,

Through which our policy must make a breach:
Take heed, be wary how you place your words;
Talk like the vulgar sort of market-men
That come to gather money for their corn.
If we have entrance, (as, I hope, we shall,)
And that we find the slothful watch but weak,
I'll by a sign give notice to our friends,
That Charles the Dauphin may encounter them.
1 Sold. Our sacks shall be a mean to sack the
city,

And we be lords and rulers over Rouen;
Therefore we 'll knock.

[Knocks.

Guard. [Within.] Qui est là? Puc. Paisans, pauvres gens de France: Poor market-folks, that come to sell their corn. Guard. Enter, go in ; the market-bell is rung. [Opens the gates. Puc. Now, Rouen, I'll shake thy bulwarks to the ground.

[PUCELLE, &c., enter the city. Enter CHARLES, BASTARD of ORLEANS, ALENÇON, and Forces.

Char. Saint Dennis bless this happy stratagem!

And once again we 'll sleep secure in Rouen. Bast. Here enter'd Pucelle, and her practisants;

Now she is there, how will she specify
Where is the best and safest passage in?

Alen. By thrusting out a torch from yonder tower;

Which, once discern'd, shows that her meaning is,

No way to that, for weakness, which she enter'd.

Enter LA PUCELLE on a battlement: holding out a torch burning.

Puc. Behold, this is the happy wedding torch, That joineth Rouen unto her countrymen; But burning fatal to the Talbotites.

Bast. See, noble Charles! the beacon of our

friend,

The burning torch in yonder turret stands. Char. Now shine it like a comet of revenge, A prophet to the fall of all our foes!

Alen. Defer no time: Delays have dangerous ends;

Enter, and cry- The Dauphin!'-presently, And then do execution on the watch.

[They enter.

Alarums. Enter TALBOT, and certain English. Tal. France, thou shalt rue this treason with thy tears,

If Talbot but survive thy treachery.
Pucelle, that witch, that damned sorceress,
Hath wrought this hellish mischief unawares,
That hardly we escap'd the pride of France.
[Exeunt to the town.

Alarum: Excursions. Enter, from the town,
BEDFORD, brought in sick, in a chair, with
TALBOT, BURGUNDY, and the English Forces.
Then, enter on the walls, LA PUCELLE,
CHARLES, BASTARD, ALENÇON, and others.
Puc. Good morrow, gallants! want ye corn
for bread?

I think the duke of Burgundy will fast, Before he 'll buy again at such a rate: 'T was full of darnel: Do you like the taste? Bur. Scoff on, vile fiend, and shameless courtesan!

I trust, ere long, to choke thee with thine

own,

And make thee curse the harvest of that

corn.

Char. Your grace may starve, perhaps, before that time.

Bed. O, let no words, but deeds, revenge this

treason!

Puc. What will you do, good grey-beard? break a lance,

And run a tilt at death within a chair?

Tal. Foul fiend of France, and hag of all despite,

Encompass'd with thy lustful paramours,
Becomes it thee to taunt his valiant age,
And twit with cowardice a man half dead?
Damsel, I'll have a bout with you again,
Or else let Talbot perish with this shame.