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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.

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Tal. Be not dismay'd, fair lady; nor misconstrue (60) 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 patience, that we may

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.

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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;

(60) misconstrue] Here the folio has the spelling "misconster,"inconsistently: see note 25 on The Merchant of Venice.

Or else was wrangling Somerset in th' error ?(61)
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: 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 loth 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

(61) Or else was wrangling Somerset in th' error?] We are told that here" Or else" is equivalent to "Or in other words.”—Qy. “in error"?

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. [to Som.] 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 dye your white rose in a bloody red.

Plan. Meantime 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.

(62)

Som. Well, I'll find friends to wear my bleeding rose,

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,

(62) rose,] The folio has "Roses."

I scorn thee and thy faction,(63) peevish boy.

Suf. Turn not thy scorns this way, Plantagenet.

Plan. Proud Pole, I will; and scorn both him and thee. Suf. I'll turn my part thereof into thy throat. Som. Away, away, good William de la Pole! We grace the yeoman by conversing with him.

War. Now, by God's will, thou wrong'st him, Somerset ; His grandfather was Lionel Duke of Clarence, Third son to the third Edward King of England: Spring crestless yeomen from so deep a root? Plan. He bears him on the place's privilege, Or durst not, for his craven heart, say thus.

Som. By him that made me, I'll maintain 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 attainted,
Corrupted, and exempt from ancient gentry?
His trespass yet lives guilty in thy blood;
And, till thou be restor'd, thou art a yeoman.

Plan. My father was attached, not attainted;
Condemn'd to die for treason, but no traitor;
And that I'll prove on better men than Somerset,
Were growing time once ripen'd to my will.
For your partaker Pole, and you yourself,
I'll note you in my book of memory,
To scourge you for this apprehension :

Look to it well, and say you are well warn'd.

Som. Ah, thou shalt find us ready for thee still;
And know us, by these colours, for thy foes,-
For these my friends, in spite of thee, shall wear.
Plan. And, by my soul, this pale and angry rose,

As cognizance of my blood-drinking hate,

Will I for ever, and my faction, wear,

(63) I scorn thee and thy faction,] The folio has "I scorne thee and thy fashion."-The correction of Theobald, "faction," is fully confirmed by subsequent speeches in this scene;

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

"Grown to this faction, in the Temple-garden," &c.

Until it wither with me to my grave,

Or flourish to the height of my degree.

Suf. Go forward, and be chok'd with thy ambition! And so, farewell, until I meet thee next.

[Exit.

Som. Have with thee, Pole.-Farewell, ambitious Rich

ard.

[Exit.

Plan. How I am brav'd, and must perforce endure it!
War. This blot, that they object against your house,

Shall be wip'd (64) out in the next parliament,

Call'd for the truce of Winchester and Gloster:
And if thou be not then created York,
I will not live to be accounted Warwick.
Meantime, in signal of my love to thee,
Against proud Somerset and William Pole,
Will I upon thy party wear this rose:
And here I prophesy,-this brawl to-day,
Grown to this faction, in the Temple-garden,
Shall send, between the red rose and the white,
A thousand souls to death and deadly night.
Plan. Good Master Vernon, I am bound to you,
That you on my behalf would pluck a flower.
Ver. In your behalf still will I wear the same.
Law. And so will I.

Plan. Thanks, gentle sir.(65)

Come, let us four to dinner: I dare say
This quarrel will drink blood another day.

[Exeunt.

SCENE V. A room in the Tower of London.

Enter MCRTIMER, brought-in in a chair by two Keepers.
Mor. Kind keepers of my weak decaying age,
Let dying Mortimer here rest himself.-
Even like a man new-halèd from the rack,

So fare my limbs with long imprisonment;

(64) wip'd] The folio has "whipt."-Corrected in the second folio. (65) Thanks, gentle sir.] Here the editor of the second folio added the "sir,”—" which yet," as Malone observes, "does not complete the metre."

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