And large proportion of his strong-knit limbs.
Alas! this is a child, a silly dwarf:

It cannot be, this weak and writhled shrimp
Should strike such terror to his enemies.

Tal. Madam, I have been bold to trouble you;
But, since your ladyship is not at leisure,

I'll sort some other time to visit you.

Count. What means he now?-Go ask him, whither

he goes.

Mess. Stay, my lord Talbot; for my lady craves To know the cause of your abrupt departure.

Tal. Marry, for that she's in a wrong belief, to certify her Talbot's here.

I

go

Re-enter Porter, with Keys.

Count. If thou be he, then art thou prisoner.
Tal. Prisoner! to whom?

Count.

To me, blood-thirsty lord;

And for that cause I train'd thee to my house.
Long time thy shadow hath been thrall 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 tyranny these many years,

Wasted our country, slain our citizens,
And sent our sons and husbands captivate.
Tal. Ha, ha, ha!

Count. Laughest thou, wretch? thy mirth shall turn

to moan.

Tal. I laugh to see your ladyship so fond,

To think that you have aught but Talbot's shadow,
Whereon to practise your severity.

Count. Why, art not thou the man?
Tal.

I am indeed.

Count. Then have I substance too.
Tal. No, no, I am but shadow of myself:
You are deceiv'd, my substance is not here;

For what you see, is but the smallest part
And least proportion of humanity.

I tell you, madam, were the whole frame here,
It is of such a spacious lofty pitch,

Your roof were not sufficient to contain it.

Count. This is a riddling merchant for the nonce";

He will be here, and yet he is not here:

How can these contrarieties agree ?

Tal. That will I show you presently.

He winds his Horn. Drums strike up; a Peal of OrdThe Gates being forced, enter Soldiers.

nance.

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 yoketh your rebellious necks,
Razeth your cities, and subverts your towns,
And in a moment makes them desolate.

Count. Victorious Talbot, pardon my abuse:
I find, thou art no less than fame hath bruited,
And more than may be gather'd by thy shape.
Let my presumption not provoke thy wrath;
For I am sorry, that with reverence

I did not entertain thee as thou art.

Tal. Be not dismay'd, fair lady; nor misconstrue The mind of Talbot, as you did mistake

The outward composition of his body.

What you have done hath not offended me:
No other satisfaction do I crave,

But only, with your patience, that we may

5 This is a riddling MERCHANT for the NONCE ;] "For the nonce" is for the occasion. See Vol. iv. p. 236. "Merchant

was often, of old, used as a term

of contempt: thus in "Jacob and Esau,” 1568, A. v. sc. 6,

"What, ye saucie merchant, are ye a prater now?"

The Morality of "The Conflict of Conscience," 1581, contains several instances of the same application of the term. See also " Romeo and Juliet," A. ii. sc. 4, where the nurse calls Mercutio "a saucy merchant.”

6 no less than fame hath BRUITED,] "Bruited" is noised, from the Fr. bruit. It is a word of constant occurrence in writers of the time.

Taste of your wine, and see what cates you have;
For soldiers' stomachs always serve them well.

Count. With all my heart; and think me honoured To feast so great a warrior in my house.

[Exeunt.

SCENE IV.

London. The Temple Garden.

Enter the Earls of SOMERSET, SUFFOLK, and WARWICK ; RICHARD PLANTAGENET, VERNON, and a Lawyer.

Plan. Great lords, and gentlemen, what means this silence?

Dare no man answer in a case of truth?

Suf. Within the Temple hall we were too loud:
The garden here is more convenient.

Plan. Then say at once, if I maintain'd the truth,
Or else was wrangling Somerset in the error??
Suf. 'Faith, I have been a truant in the law,
And never yet could frame my will to it;
And, therefore, frame the law unto my will.

Som. Judge you, my lord of Warwick, then, between

us.

War. Between two hawks, which flies the higher

pitch,

Between two dogs, which hath the deeper mouth,
Between two blades, which bears the better temper,
Between two horses, which doth bear him best,
Between two girls, which hath the merriest eye,
I have, perhaps, some shallow spirit of judgment;

7 Or else was wrangling Somerset in the error?] The meaning is, " Or, in other words, was not the wrangling Somerset in error?" Johnson would read the right for "in error ;" and Sir T. Hanmer, And was not, instead of “Or else was ;" both being in direct opposition to the plain meaning of Shakespeare, who intended to make Richard Plantagenet assert his own correctness in two different forms of speech. In the old copy, in the prefixes, Plantagenet is called York; although near the end of the scene (see p. 43) Warwick talks of the justice of creating Plantagenet Duke of York.

But in these nice sharp quillets of the law,
Good faith, I am no wiser than a daw.

Plan. Tut, tut! here is a mannerly forbearance: The truth appears so naked on my side,

That any purblind eye may find it out.

Som. And on my side it is so well apparell'd,

So clear, so shining, and so evident,

That it will glimmer through a blind man's eye.

Plan. Since you are tongue-tied, and so loath to speak,

In dumb significants proclaim your thoughts.

Let him, that is a true-born gentleman,

And stands upon the honour of his birth,

If he suppose that I have pleaded truth,

From off this brier pluck a white rose with me.
Som. Let him that is no coward, nor no flatterer,
But dare maintain the party of the truth,

Pluck a red rose from off this thorn with me.

War. I love no colours; and, without all colour Of base insinuating flattery,

I pluck this white rose with Plantagenet.

Suf. I pluck this red rose with young Somerset ; And say withal, I think he held the right.

Ver. Stay, lords, and gentlemen; and pluck no

more,

Till you conclude that he, upon whose side
The fewest roses are cropp'd from the tree,
Shall yield the other in the right opinion.

Som. Good master Vernon, it is well objected;
If I have fewest, I subscribe in silence.

Plan. And I.

Ver. Then, for the truth and plainness of the case, I pluck this pale and maiden blossom here, Giving my verdict on the white rose side.

Som. 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.

Ver. If I, my lord, for my opinion bleed,
Opinion shall be surgeon to my hurt,

And keep me on the side where still I am.
Som. Well, well, come on: who else?

Law. Unless my study and my books be false,
The argument you held, was wrong in you;
In sign whereof, I pluck a white rose too.

Plan. Now, Somerset, where is your argument?
Som. Here, in my scabbard; meditating that,
Shall die your white rose in a bloody red.

Plan. Mean time, your cheeks do counterfeit our

roses;

For pale they look with fear, as witnessing
The truth on our side.

Som.
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.

Plan. Hath not thy rose a canker, Somerset ?
Som. Hath not thy rose a thorn, Plantagenet?
Plan. Ay, sharp and piercing, to maintain his truth,
Whiles thy consuming canker eats his falsehood.
Som. Well, I'll find friends to wear my bleeding-roses,
That shall maintain what I have said is true,
Where false Plantagenet dare not be seen.

Plan. Now, by this maiden blossom in my hand,

I scorn thee and thy faction, peevish boy.

Suf. Turn not thy scorns this way, Plantagenet, Plan. Proud Poole, I will; and scorn both him and thee.

8 I scorn thee and thy FACTION,] The old copies have fashion, a word that may possibly be tortured into a meaning, as Warburton attempted; but which was in all probability a mere misprint for " faction," to which Theobald changed it. Warburton's notion was, that it referred to the fashion of wearing the red rose; but, as Mr. Barron Field observes to me, the same character, not long afterwards, employs the word "faction" in precisely the same sense,

"Will I for ever, and my faction, wear."

A copy of the fourth folio, lent to me by Mr. Holgate, which formerly belonged to Southern, the poet, has fashion corrected to "faction," in his hand-writing.