PERSONS REPRESENTED.

KING HENRY THE SIXTH.

DUKE of GLOSTER, Uncle to the King, and Protector.

DUKE of BEDFORD, Uncle to the King, and Regent of France. THOMAS BEAUFORT, Duke of Exeter, great Uncle to the King. HENRY BEAUFORT, great Uncle to the King, Bishop of Winchester, and afterwards Cardinal.

JOHN BEAUFORT, Earl of Somerset; afterwards Duke. RICHARD PLANTAGENET, eldest Son of Richard, late Earl of Cambridge; afterwards Duke of York.

EARL of WARWICK. EARL of SALISBURY. EARL of SUFFOLK. LORD TALBOT, afterwards Earl of Shrewsbury.

JOHN TALBOT, his Son.

EDMUND MORTIMER, Earl of March.

Mortimer's Keeper, and a Lawyer.

SIR JOHN FASTOLFE. SIR WILLIAM LUCY.

SIR WILLIAM GLANSDALE.

SIR THOMAS GARGRAVE.

Mayor of London. WOODVILLE, Lieutenant of the Tower.

VERNON, of the White Rose, or York Faction.

BASSET, of the Red Rose, or Lancaster Faction.

CHARLES, Dauphin, and afterwards King of France.
REIGNIER, Duke of Anjou, and titular King of Naples.
DUKE of BURGUNDY. DUKE of ALENÇON.
Governor of Paris. Bastard of Orleans.
Master-Gunner of Orleans, and his Son.
General of the French Forces in Bordeaux.
A French Sergeant. A Porter.

An old Shepherd, Father to Joan la Pucelle.

MARGARET, Daughter to Reignier: afterwards married to King Henry.

COUNTESS of AUVERGNE.

JOAN LA PUCELLE, commonly called Joan of Arc.

Fiends appearing to La Pucelle, Lords, Warders of the Tower, Heralds, Officers, Soldiers, Messengers, and several Attendants both on the English and French.

SCENE-partly in England, and partly in France.

FIRST PART OF

KING HENRY VI.

ACT I.

SCENE I. Westminster Abbey.

Dead March. Corpse of King Henry the Fifth discovered, lying in state; attended on by the DUKES of BEDFORD, Gloster, and EXETER; the EARL of WARWICK1, the BISHOP of WINCHESTER, Heralds, &c.

Bedford.

HUNG be the heavens with black2, yield day to night!
Comets, importing change of times and states,
Brandish your crystal3 tresses in the sky,
And with them scourge the bad revolting stars,

1 Richard Beauchamp, earl of Warwick, who is a character in King Henry V. The earl of Warwick, who appears in a subsequent part of this drama, is Richard Nevill, son to the earl of Salisbury, who came to the title in right of his wife, Anne, sister of Henry Beauchamp, duke of Warwick. Richard, the father of this Henry, was appointed governor to the king on the demise of Thomas Beaufort, duke of Exeter, and died in 1439. There is no reason to think the author meant to confound the two characters.

2 Alluding to the ancient practice of hanging the stage with black when a tragedy was to be acted. See Malone's Account of the English Stage.

3 Crystal is an epithet repeatedly bestowed on comets by our ancient writers. Thus in a Sonnet by Lord Sterline, 1604 :'When as those chrystal comets whiles appear.'

That have consented unto Henry's death!
Henry the Fifth, too famous to live long!
England ne'er lost a king of so much worth.

Glo. England ne'er had a king, until his time. Virtue he had, deserving to command:

His brandish'd sword did blind men with his beams;
His arms spread wider than a dragon's wings;
His sparkling eyes, replete with wrathful fire,
More dazzled and drove back his enemies,

Than midday sun fierce bent against their faces.
What should I say? his deeds exceed all speech:
He ne'er lift up his hand, but conquer'd.

Exe. We mourn in black; Why mourn we not in blood?

Henry is dead, and never shall revive;
Upon a wooden coffin we attend;
And death's dishonourable victory
We with our stately presence glorify,
Like captives bound to a triumphant car.
What? shall we curse the planets of mishap,
That plotted thus our glory's overthrow?
Or shall we think the subtle-witted French
Conjurers and sorcerers, that, afraid of him,
By magick verses 5 have contriv'd his end?
Win. He was a king bless'd of the King of kings.
Unto the French the dreadful judgment day
So dreadful will not be, as was his sight.
The battles of the Lord of Hosts he fought:
The church's prayers
made him so prosperous.

4 Consented here means conspired together to promote the death of Henry by their malignant influence on human events. Our ancestors had but one word to express consent, and concent, which meant accord and agreement, whether of persons or things.

5 There was a notion long prevalent that life might be taken away by metrical charms. The Irishmen addict themselves, &c.; yea, they will not sticke to affirme that they can rime man or beast to death.'-Reginald Scot's Discovery of Witchcraft, 1584.

Glo. The church! where is it? Had not church

men pray'd,

His thread of life had not so soon decay'd:
None do you like but an effeminate prince,
Whom, like a schoolboy, you may overawe.

Win. Gloster, whate'er we like, thou art protector;

And lookest to command the prince, and realm.
Thy wife is proud; she holdeth thee in awe,
More than God, or religious churchmen, may.

Glo. Name not religion, for thou lov'st the flesh; And ne'er throughout the year to church thou go'st, Except it be to pray against thy foes.

Bed. Cease, cease these jars, and rest your minds in peace!

Let's to the altar:-Heralds, wait on us:-
Instead of gold, we'll offer up our arms;
Since arms avail not, now that Henry's dead.-

Posterity, await for wretched years,

When at their mother's moist eyes babes shall suck;

Our isle be made a nourish of salt tears,

And none but women left to wail the dead.-
Henry the Fifth! thy ghost I invocate;
Prosper this realm, keep it from civil broils!
Combat with adverse planets in the heavens!
A far more glorious star thy soul will make,
Than Julius Cæsar, or bright-

7

6 Nurse was anciently spelt nouryce and noryshe; and, by Lydgate, even nourish:

·

'Athenes whan it was in its floures

Was called nourish of philosophers wise.'

7 Pope conjectured that this blank had been supplied by the name of Francis Drake, which, though a glaring anachronism, might have been a popular, though not judicious, mode of attracting plaudits in the theatre. Part of the arms of Drake was two blazing stars. Malone says that the blank arose from the transcriber or compositor not being able to make out the name.

Enter a Messenger.

you

all!

Mess. My honourable lords, health to Sad tidings bring I to you out of France, Of loss, of slaughter, and discomfiture: Guienne, Champaigne, Rheims, Orleans, Paris, Guysors, Poictiers, are all quite lost. Bed. What say'st thou, man, before dead Henry's corse?

Speak softly; or the loss of those great towns Will make him burst his lead, and rise from death. Glo. Is Paris lost? is Roüen yielded up?

If Henry were recall'd to life again,

These news would cause him once more yield the ghost.

Exe. How were they lost? what treachery was us'd? Mess. No treachery; but want of men and

Among the soldiers this is mutter'd,

That here you maintain several factions;

money.

And, whilst a field should be despatch'd and fought,
You are disputing of your generals.

One would have ling'ring wars, with little cost;
Another would fly swift, but wanteth wings;
A third man thinks, without expense at all,
By guileful fair words peace may be obtain❜d.
Awake, awake, English nobility!

Let not sloth dim your honours, new begot:
Cropp'd are the flower-de-luces in your arms;
Of England's coat one half is cut away.

Exe. Were our tears wanting to this funeral, These tidings would call forth her flowing tides. Bed. Me they concern; regent I am of France :

8 Capel proposed to complete this defective verse by the insertion of Rouen among the places lost, as Gloster infers that it had been mentioned with the rest.

9 i. e. England's flowing tides.