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These eyes, that see thee now well coloured,
Shall see thee wither'd, bloody, pale, and dead.
[Drum afar off.
Hark! hark! the Dauphin's drum, a warning bell,
Sings heavy music to thy timorous soul;

And mine shall ring thy dire departure out.

[Exeunt General, &c., from the Walls.

Tal. He fables not; I hear the enemy:
Out, some light horsemen, and peruse their wings. –
O, negligent and heedless discipline!

How are we park'd, and bounded in a pale!
A little herd of England's timorous deer,
Maz'd with a yelping kennel of French curs!
If we be English deer, be then in blood;"
Not rascal-like, to fall down with a pinch;
But rather moody-mad, and desperate stags,
Turn on the bloody hounds with heads of steel,
And make the cowards stand aloof at bay:
Sell every man his life as dear as mine,
And they shall find dear deer of us, my friends.
God, and St. George, Talbot; and England's right,
Prosper our colours in this dangerous fight!

[Exeunt.

We The deer

4 In blood is a term of the forest; a deer was said to be in blood when in vigour or in good condition, and full of courage. have the same expression in Love's Labour's Lost: was, as you know, in blood."

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This use of rascal is well explained by a passage from Verstegan's Restitution of Decayed Intelligence, 1605: “As before I have showed how the ill names of beasts, in their most contemptible state, are in contempt applied to women; so is rascall, being the name for an ill-favoured, leane, and worthlesse deere, commonly applied unto such men as are held of no credit or worth." The figure is kept up by using heads of steel for lances, referring to the deer's horns.

H.

SCENE III. Plains in Gascony.

Enter YORK, with Forces; to him, a Messenger. York. Are not the speedy scouts return'd again, That dogg'd the mighty army of the Dauphin? Mess. They are return'd, my lord; and give it out, That he is march'd to Bordeaux with his power, To fight with Talbot. As he march'd along,

By your espials were discovered

Two mightier troops than that the Dauphin led; Which join'd with him, and made their march for Bordeaux.

York. A plague upon that villain Somerset,
That thus delays my promised supply

Of horsemen, that were levied for this siege!
Renowned Talbot doth expect my aid;
And I am lowted' by a traitor villain,
And cannot help the noble chevalier :
God comfort him in this necessity!
If he miscarry, farewell wars in France.

Enter Sir WILLIAM LUCY.

Lucy. Thou princely leader of our English strength,

This word has been variously explained by the commentators Richardson's explanation seems every way satisfactory, which is that the past participle of the verb to low is lowed, low'd, low, "and that again of this participle we have made another verb viz., to lowt, to do, or to bear one's self as the lowed person does." So that the proper meaning of the word plainly is, to humble, depress, cast down, or debase. In the text, however, it is used as an active verb, and so has rather the sense of treating one, or. in the passive form, of being treated, as a base or inferior person York seems to have in mind what Somerset has before said of nim, when he was simply Richard Plantagenet "We grace the yeoman by conversing with him."

H

Never so needful on the earth of France,
Spur to the rescue of the noble Talbot,
Who now is girdled with a waist of iron,
And hemm'd about with grim destruction.

To Bordeaux, warlike duke! to Bordeaux, York!
Else, farewell Talbot, France, and England's hon-

our.

York. O God! that Somerset who in proud

heart

Doth stop my cornets

were in Talbot's place!

So should we save a valiant gentleman,

By forfeiting a traitor and a coward.

Mad ire and wrathful fury make me weep,

That thus we die, while remiss traitors sleep. Lucy. O, send some succour to the distress'd lord!

York. He dies, we lose; I break my warlike word:

We mourn,

France smiles; we lose, they daily get; All 'long of this vile traitor Somerset.

Lucy. Then, God take mercy on brave Talbot's soul!

And on his son, young John, whom two hours since I met in travel toward his warlike father!

This seven years did not Talbot see his son,

And now they meet where both their lives are done.
York. Alas! what joys shall noble Talbot have,
To bid his young son welcome to his grave?
Away! vexation almost stops my breath,

That sunder'd friends greet in the hour of death. —
Lucy, farewell; no more my fortune can,
But curse the cause I cannot aid the man.

That is, all because of, by means or by reason of. was used by the gravest writers in the Poet's time. bas it

The phrase
Hooker

H.

Maine, Blois, Poictiers, and Tours, are won away, 'Long all of Somerset, and his delay.3

[Exit YORK, with his Forces

Lucy. Thus, while the vulture' of sedition
Feeds in the bosom of such great commanders,
Sleeping neglection doth betray to loss

The conquest of our scarce-cold conqueror,
That ever-living man of memory,

Henry the Fifth-Whiles they each other cross,
Lives, honours, lands, and all, hurry to loss. [Exit.

SCENE IV. Other Plains of Gascony.

Enter SOMERSET, with his Forces; an Officer of TALBOT'S with him.

Som. It is too late; I cannot send them now: This expedition was by York and Talbot Too rashly plotted; all our general force Might with a sally of the very town Be buckled with. The overdaring Talbot Hath sullied all his gloss of former honour,

It has been observed already, that on the death of Bedford in 1435, York succeeded him in the regency of France. In 1437 he was superseded by Warwick, who dying about two years after, York was reappointed. In this office Somerset took special pains to cross and thwart him. The effects of their enmity are strongly stated by Holinshed: " Although the duke of York was worthie, both for birth and courage, of this honor and preferment, yet so disdeined of the duke of Summerset, that by all means possible sought his hindrance, as one glad of his losse, and sorie of his well dooing by reason whereof, yer the duke of York could get his despatch, Paris and diverse other of the cheefest places in France were gotten by the French king. The duke of York, perceiving his evil will, openlie dissembled that which he inwardlie minded, either of them working things to the others displeasure till, through malice and division betweene them, at length by mortall warre they were, both consumed, with almost all their whole lines and offspring."

Alluding to the tale of Prometheus.

H.

By this unheedful, desperate, wild adventure.
York set him on to fight, and die in shame,
That, Talbot dead, great York might bear the name.
Off. Here is Sir William Lucy, who with me
Set from our o'ermatch'd forces forth for aid

Enter Sir WILLIAM LUCY.

Som. How now,

sent?

Sir William! whither were you

Lucy. Whither, my lord? from bought and sold lord Talbot;'

Who, ring'd about with bold adversity,
Cries out for noble York and Somerset,
To beat assailing death from his weak legions:
And whiles the honourable captain there

2

Drops bloody sweat from his war-wearied limbs,
And, in advantage lingering, looks for rescue,
You, his false hopes, the trust of England's honour,
Keep off aloof with worthless emulation."

Let not your private discord keep away

The levied succours that should lend him aid,

While he, renowned noble gentleman,

Yields up his life unto a world of odds:
Orleans the Bastard, Charles, and Burgundy,
Alençon, Reignier, compass him about,

And Talbot perisheth by your default

Som. York set him on, York should have sent him aid.

1 That is, from one utterly ruined by the treacherous practices of others. The expression seems to have been proverbial; intimating that foul play had been used.

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Thus in King Richard III. :

Dickon, thy master is bought and sold."
Fly, noble English, you are bought and sold."

And in King John:

Protracting his resistance by the advantage of a strong post. Emulation here signifies envious rivalry, not struggle for su perior excellence.

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