For ere the glass that now begins to run

Finish the process of his sandy hour,

These eyes that see thee now well coloured

Shall see thee withered, 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. Exit

TALBOT

He fables not. I hear the enemy.

Out, some light horsemen, and peruse their wings.

⌈Exit one or more⌉

O negligent and heedless discipline,

How are we parked and bounded in a pale!—

A little herd of England’s timorous deer

Mazed 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 Saint George, Talbot and England’s right,

Prosper our colours in this dangerous fight! Exeunt

4.3 Enter a Messenger that meets the Duke of York. Enter Richard Duke of York with a trumpeter and many soldiers

RICHARD DUKE OF YORK

Are not the speedy scouts returned again

That dogged the mighty army of the Dauphin?

MESSENGER

They are returned, my lord, and give it out

That he is marched to Bordeaux with his power

To fight with Talbot. As he marched along,

By your espials were discovered

Two mightier troops than that the Dauphin led,

Which joined with him and made their march for

Bordeaux.

RICHARD DUKE OF 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 louted by a traitor villain

And cannot help the noble chevalier.

God comfort him in this necessity;

If he miscarry, farewell wars in France!

Enter another messenger, Sir William Lucy

LUCY

Thou princely leader of our English strength,

Never so needful on the earth of France,

Spur to the rescue of the noble Talbot,

Who now is girdled with a waste of iron

And hemmed about with grim destruction.

To Bordeaux, warlike Duke; to Bordeaux, York,

Else farewell Talbot, France, and England’s honour.

RICHARD DUKE OF 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 makes me weep,

That thus we die while remiss traitors sleep.

LUCY

O, send some succour to the distressed lord.

RICHARD DUKE OF 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, who 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.

RICHARD DUKE OF YORK

Alas, what joy shall noble Talbot have

To bid his young son welcome to his grave?

Away—vexation almost stops my breath

That sundered friends greet in the hour of death.

Lucy, farewell. No more my fortune can

But curse the cause I cannot aid the man.

Maine, Blois, Poitiers, and Tours are won away

’Long all of Somerset and his delay.

Exeunt all but Lucy

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⌉

4.4 Enter the Duke of Somerset with his army

SOMERSET (to a Captain)

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 over-daring Talbot

Hath sullied all his gloss of former honour

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.

⌈Enter Lucy⌉

CAPTAIN

Here is Sir William Lucy, who with me

Set from our o’ermatched forces forth for aid.

SOMERSET

How now, Sir William, whither were you sent?

LUCY

Whither, my lord? From bought and sold Lord Talbot,

Who, ringed 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

Drops bloody sweat from his war-wearied limbs

And, unadvantaged, ling’ring looks for rescue,

You his false hopes, the trust of England’s honour,