Henry VI, Part I by William Shakespeare
Act 4 - Scene 2
Before Bourdeaux.
Lord Talbot/Earl of Shrewsbury : Go to the gates of Bourdeaux, trumpeter:
[p]Summon their general unto
the wall.
[p][Trumpet sounds. Enter General and others,
aloft]
[p]English John Talbot, captains, calls you forth,
[p]Servant
in arms to Harry King of England;
[p]And thus he would: Open your city
gates;
[p]Be humble to us; call my sovereign yours,
[p]And do him
homage as obedient subjects;
[p]And I'll withdraw me and my bloody
power:
[p]But, if you frown upon this proffer'd peace,
[p]You tempt
the fury of my three attendants,
[p]Lean famine, quartering steel, and
climbing fire;
[p]Who in a moment even with the earth
[p]Shall lay
your stately and air-braving towers,
[p]If you forsake the offer of
their love.
General : Thou ominous and fearful owl of death,
[p]Our nation's terror and
their bloody scourge!
[p]The period of thy tyranny approacheth.
[p]On
us thou canst not enter but by death;
[p]For, I protest, we are well
fortified
[p]And strong enough to issue out and fight:
[p]If thou
retire, the Dauphin, well appointed,
[p]Stands with the snares of war
to tangle thee:
[p]On either hand thee there are squadrons
pitch'd,
[p]To wall thee from the liberty of flight;
[p]And no way
canst thou turn thee for redress,
[p]But death doth front thee with
apparent spoil
[p]And pale destruction meets thee in the face.
[p]Ten
thousand French have ta'en the sacrament
[p]To rive their dangerous
artillery
[p]Upon no Christian soul but English Talbot.
[p]Lo, there
thou stand'st, a breathing valiant man,
[p]Of an invincible
unconquer'd spirit!
[p]This is the latest glory of thy praise
[p]That
I, thy enemy, due thee withal;
[p]For ere the glass, that now begins
to run,
[p]Finish the process of his sandy hour,
[p]These eyes, that
see thee now well coloured,
[p]Shall see thee wither'd, bloody, pale
and dead.
[p][Drum afar off]
[p]Hark! hark! the Dauphin's drum, a
warning bell,
[p]Sings heavy music to thy timorous soul;
[p]And mine
shall ring thy dire departure out.
Lord Talbot/Earl of Shrewsbury : He fables not; I hear the enemy:
[p]Out, some light horsemen, and
peruse their wings.
[p]O, negligent and heedless discipline!
[p]How
are we park'd and bounded in a pale,
[p]A little herd of England's
timorous deer,
[p]Mazed with a yelping kennel of French curs!
[p]If we
be English deer, be then in blood;
[p]Not rascal-like, to fall down
with a pinch,
[p]But rather, moody-mad and desperate stags,
[p]Turn on
the bloody hounds with heads of steel
[p]And make the cowards stand
aloof at bay:
[p]Sell every man his life as dear as mine,
[p]And they
shall find dear deer of us, my friends.
[p]God and Saint George,
Talbot and England's right,
[p]Prosper our colours in this dangerous
fight!
Previous: Act 4 - Scene 1
Next: Act 4 - Scene 3
