running scene 6
Enter [the] Countess [of Auvergne and her Porter]
COUNTESS Porter, remember what I gave in charge1,
And when you have done so, bring the keys to me.
PORTER Madam, I will.
Exit
COUNTESS The plot is laid: if all things fall out right,
I shall as famous be by this exploit
As Scythian Tomyris by Cyrus' death6.
Great is the rumour of this dreadful knight,
And his achievements of no less account:
Fain9 would mine eyes be witness with mine ears,
To give their censure of these rare10 reports.
Enter Messenger and Talbot
MESSENGER Madam, according as your ladyship desired,
By message craved, so is Lord Talbot come.
COUNTESS And he is welcome. What, is this the man?
MESSENGER Madam, it is.
COUNTESS Is this the scourge of France?
Is this the Talbot, so much feared abroad16
That with his name the mothers still17 their babes?
I see report is fabulous18 and false:
I thought I should have seen some Hercules19,
A second Hector, for20 his grim aspect,
And large proportion of his strong-knit21 limbs.
Alas, this is a child, a silly22 dwarf:
It cannot be this weak and writhled23 shrimp
Should strike such terror to his enemies.
TALBOT Madam, I have been bold to trouble you:
But since your ladyship is not at leisure,
I'll sort27 some other time to visit you.
COUNTESS What means he now? Go ask him whither he goes.
MESSENGER Stay, my lord Talbot, for my lady craves
To know the cause of your abrupt departure.
TALBOT Marry, for that she's in a wrong belief31,
I go to certify her Talbot's here32.
Enter Porter with keys
COUNTESS If thou be he, then art thou prisoner.
TALBOT Prisoner? To whom?
COUNTESS To me, bloodthirsty lord;
And for that cause I trained36 thee to my house.
Long time thy shadow hath been thrall37 to me,
For in my gallery thy picture hangs:
But now the substance shall endure the like,
And I will chain these legs and arms of thine,
That hast by tyranny41 these many years
Wasted42 our country, slain our citizens,
And sent our sons and husbands captivate43.
TALBOT Ha, ha, ha!
COUNTESS Laughest thou, wretch? Thy mirth shall turn to moan.
TALBOT I laugh to see your ladyship so fond46
To think that you have aught47 but Talbot's shadow
Whereon to practise your severity.
COUNTESS Why, art not thou the man?
TALBOT I am indeed.
COUNTESS Then have I substance too.
TALBOT No, no, I am but shadow of myself:
You are deceived, my substance is not here;
For what you see is but the smallest part
And least proportion of humanity55:
I tell you, madam, were the whole frame56 here,
It is of such a spacious lofty pitch57,
Your roof were not sufficient to contain't.
COUNTESS This is a riddling merchant59 for the nonce:
He will be here, and yet he is not here:
How can these contrarieties61 agree?
TALBOT That will I show you presently62.
Winds his horn, drums strike up, a peal of ordnance. Enter Soldiers
How say you, madam? Are you now persuaded
That Talbot is but shadow of himself?
These are his substance, sinews, arms and strength,
With which he yoketh66 your rebellious necks,
Razeth your cities and subverts67 your towns
And in a moment makes them desolate.
COUNTESS Victorious Talbot, pardon my abuse69:
I find thou art no less than fame hath bruited70,
And more than may be gathered by thy shape.
Let my presumption not provoke thy wrath,
For I am sorry that with reverence
I did not entertain74 thee as thou art.
TALBOT Be not dismayed, fair lady, nor misconster75
The mind of Talbot, as you did mistake
The outward composition of his body.
What you have done hath not offended me:
Nor other satisfaction do I crave,
But only, with your patience80, that we may
Taste of your wine and see what cates81 you have,
For soldiers' stomachs82 always serve them well.
COUNTESS With all my heart, and think me honoured
To feast so great a warrior in my house.
Exeunt
[Act 2 Scene 4]
running scene 7
Enter Richard Plantagenet, Warwick, Somerset, Suffolk, A rose brier [Vernon, and a Lawyer] revealed
RICHARD PLANTAGENET Great lords and gentlemen, what means this silence?
Dare no man answer in a case of truth2?
SUFFOLK Within the Temple hall we were3 too loud:
The garden here is more convenient.
RICHARD PLANTAGENET Then say at once if I maintained the truth:
Or else was wrangling6 Somerset in th'error?
SUFFOLK Faith, I have been a truant7 in the law,
And never yet could frame8 my will to it,
And therefore frame the law unto my will.
SOMERSET Judge you, my lord of Warwick, then between us.
WARWICK Between two hawks, which flies the higher pitch11,
Between two dogs, which hath the deeper mouth12,
Between two blades, which bears the better temper13,
Between two horses, which doth bear him14 best,
Between two girls, which hath the merriest eye,
I have perhaps some shallow16 spirit of judgement:
But in these nice sharp quillets17 of the law,
Good faith, I am no wiser than a daw18.
RICHARD PLANTAGENET Tut, tut, here is a mannerly forbearance19:
The truth appears so naked20 on my side
That any purblind21 eye may find it out.
SOMERSET And on my side it is so well apparelled22,
So clear, so shining, and so evident
That it will glimmer through a blind24 man's eye.
RICHARD PLANTAGENET Since you are tongue-tied and so loath to speak,
In dumb significants26 proclaim your thoughts:
Let him that is a true-born gentleman
And stands28 upon the honour of his birth,
If he suppose that I have pleaded29 truth,
He plucks a white rose
From off this brier pluck a white rose30 with me.
SOMERSET Let him that is no coward nor no flatterer,
But dare maintain the party32 of the truth,
He plucks a red rose
Pluck a red rose33 from off this thorn with me.
WARWICK I love no colours, and without all colour34
Of base insinuating flattery
I pluck this white rose with Plantagenet.
SUFFOLK I pluck this red rose with young Somerset
And say withal38 I think he held the right.
VERNON Stay, lords and gentlemen, and pluck no more
Till you conclude that he upon whose side
The fewest roses are cropped from the tree
Shall yield42 the other in the right opinion.
SOMERSET Good Master Vernon, it is well objected43:
If I have fewest, I subscribe44 in silence.
RICHARD PLANTAGENET And I.
VERNON Then for the truth and plainness of the case.
I pluck this pale and maiden47 blossom here,
Giving my verdict on the white rose side.
&nb
sp; SOMERSET 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.
VERNON If I, my lord, for my opinion bleed,
Opinion53 shall be surgeon to my hurt
And keep me on the side where still54 I am.
SOMERSET Well, well, come on, who else?
LAWYER Unless my study and my books be false,
To Somerset
The argument you held was wrong in law:
In sign whereof I pluck a white rose too.
RICHARD PLANTAGENET Now, Somerset, where is your argument?
SOMERSET Here in my scabbard, meditating that60
Shall dye your white rose in a bloody red.
RICHARD PLANTAGENET Meantime your cheeks do counterfeit62 our roses:
For pale they look with fear, as witnessing
The truth on our side.
SOMERSET 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.
RICHARD PLANTAGENET Hath not thy rose a canker69, Somerset?
SOMERSET Hath not thy rose a thorn, Plantagenet?
RICHARD PLANTAGENET Ay, sharp and piercing, to maintain his71 truth,
Whiles thy consuming canker eats his falsehood.
SOMERSET Well, I'll find friends to wear my bleeding roses,
That shall maintain what I have said is true,
Where false75 Plantagenet dare not be seen.
RICHARD PLANTAGENET Now, by this maiden blossom in my hand,
I scorn thee and thy fashion, peevish77 boy.
SUFFOLK Turn not thy scorns this way, Plantagenet.
RICHARD PLANTAGENET Proud Pole79, I will, and scorn both him and thee.
SUFFOLK I'll turn my part thereof into thy throat80.
SOMERSET Away, away, good William de la Pole:
We grace the yeoman82 by conversing with him.
WARWICK Now, by God's will, thou wrong'st him, Somerset:
His grandfather84 was Lionel Duke of Clarence,
Third son to the third Edward King of England:
Spring crestless86 yeomen from so deep a root?
RICHARD PLANTAGENET He bears87 him on the place's privilege,
Or durst not for his craven88 heart say thus.
SOMERSET By him that made me, I'll maintain89 my words
On any plot of ground in Christendom.
Was not thy father, Richard Earl of Cambridge,
For treason executed in our late king's days?
And by his treason, stand'st not thou attainted93,
Corrupted, and exempt from ancient gentry?
His trespass yet lives guilty in thy blood,
And till thou be restored96, thou art a yeoman.
RICHARD PLANTAGENET My father was attached, not attainted97,
Condemned to die for treason, but no traitor;
And that I'll prove on better men than Somerset,
Were growing time once ripened to my will100.
For your partaker101 Pole and you yourself,
I'll note102 you in my book of memory,
To scourge you for this apprehension103:
Look to it104 well, and say you are well warned.
SOMERSET Ah, thou shalt find us ready for thee still,
And know us by these colours for thy foes,
For these my friends in spite107 of thee shall wear.
RICHARD PLANTAGENET And by my soul, this pale and angry rose,
As cognizance109 of my blood-drinking hate,
Will I for ever and my faction wear,
Until it wither with me to my grave,
Or flourish to the height of my degree112.
SUFFOLK Go forward and be choked with thy ambition:
And so farewell until I meet thee next.
Exit
SOMERSET Have with thee115, Pole.-- Farewell, ambitious Richard.
Exit
RICHARD PLANTAGENET How I am braved and must perforce116 endure it!
WARWICK This blot that they object117 against your house
Shall be wiped out in the next parliament,
Called for the truce of119 Winchester and Gloucester:
And if thou be not then created York,
I will not live to be accounted Warwick.
Meantime, in signal122 of my love to thee,
Against proud Somerset and William Pole,
Will I upon thy party124 wear this rose.
And here I prophesy: this brawl today,
Grown to this faction126 in the Temple garden,
Shall send, between the red rose and the white,
A thousand souls to death and deadly night.
RICHARD PLANTAGENET Good Master Vernon, I am bound to you,
That you on my behalf would pluck a flower.
VERNON In your behalf still131 will I wear the same.
LAWYER And so will I.
RICHARD PLANTAGENET Thanks, gentles133.
Come, let us four to dinner: I dare say
This quarrel will drink blood another day.
Exeunt
[Act 2 Scene 5]
running scene 8
Enter Mortimer, brought in a chair, and Jailers
MORTIMER Kind keepers1 of my weak decaying age,
Let dying Mortimer here rest himself.
Even like a man new haled from the rack3,
So fare my limbs with long imprisonment:
And these grey locks, the pursuivants5 of death,
Nestor-like aged in an age of care6,
Argue the end of Edmund Mortimer.
These eyes, like lamps whose wasting oil is spent,
Wax dim, as drawing to their exigent9:
Weak shoulders, overborne10 with burdening grief,
And pithless11 arms, like to a withered vine,
That droops his sapless branches to the ground.
Yet are these feet, whose strengthless stay is numb13,
Unable to support this lump of clay,
Swift-winged with desire to get a grave,
As witting16 I no other comfort have.
But tell me, keeper, will my nephew come?
FIRST JAILER Richard Plantagenet, my lord, will come:
We sent unto the Temple, unto his chamber,
And answer was returned that he will come.
MORTIMER Enough: my soul shall then be satisfied.
Poor gentleman, his wrong22 doth equal mine.
Since Henry Monmouth23 first began to reign,
Before whose glory I was great in arms,
This loathsome sequestration25 have I had:
And even26 since then hath Richard been obscured,
Deprived of honour and inheritance.
But now, the arbitrator28 of despairs,
Just death, kind umpire29 of men's miseries,
With sweet enlargement30 doth dismiss me hence:
I would his31 troubles likewise were expired,
That so he might recover what was lost.
Enter Richard [Plantagenet]
FIRST JAILER My lord, your loving nephew now is come.
MORTIMER Richard Plantagenet, my friend, is he come?
RICHARD PLANTAGENET Ay, noble uncle, thus ignobly used35,
Your nephew, late36 despised Richard, comes.
MORTIMER Direct mine arms I may embrace his neck,
And in his bosom spend my latter38 gasp.
O tell me when my lips do touch his cheeks,
He embraces Richard
That I may kindly40 give one fainting kiss.
And now declare, sweet stem from York's great stock41,
Why didst thou say of late thou wert despised?
RICHARD PLANTAGENET First, lean thine aged back against mine arm,
And in that ease I'll tell thee my disease44.
This day in argument upon a case,
Some words there grew 'twixt Somerset and me:
Among which terms he used his lavish47 tongue
And did upbraid me with my father's death:
Which obloquy set bars before my tongue49,
Else with the like I had requited50 him.
Therefore, good uncle, for my father's sake,
In honour of a true Plantagenet,
And for alliance' sake, declare53 the cause
My father, Earl of Cambridge, lost his head.
MORTIMER That cause, fair nephew, that imprisoned me
And hath detained me all my flowering youth
Within a loathsome dungeon, there to pine,
Was cursed instrument of his decease.
RICHARD PLANTAGENET Discover more at large59 what cause that was,
60 For I am ignorant and cannot guess.
MORTIMER I will, if that my fading breath permit
And death approach not ere my tale be done.
Henry the Fourth, grandfather to this king,
Deposed his nephew Richard, Edward's son64,
The first begotten and the lawful heir
Of Edward king, the third of that descent,
During whose reign the Percies67 of the north,
Finding his usurpation most unjust,
Endeavoured my advancement to the throne.
The reason moved70 these warlike lords to this
Was for that -- young King Richard thus removed,
Leaving no heir begotten of his body --
I was the next by birth and parentage:
For by my mother I derived74 am
From Lionel Duke of Clarence, the third son
To King Edward the Third; whereas the king
From John of Gaunt77 doth bring his pedigree,
Being but fourth of that heroic line.
But mark: as in this haughty79 great attempt
They80 laboured to plant the rightful heir,