Enter a Messenger that meets York. Enter York
with Trumpet and many Soldiers. 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, 5
By your espials were discoverèd
Two mightier troops than that the Dauphin led,
Which joined with him and made their march for
Bordeaux. He exits. YORK
A plague upon that villain Somerset 10
That thus delays my promisèd supply
Of horsemen that were levied for this siege!
Renownèd Talbot doth expect my aid,
And I am louted by a traitor villain
And cannot help the noble chevalier. 15
God comfort him in this necessity.
If he miscarry, farewell wars in France. | Talbot might get help, if York and Somerset could just agree. Messengers
keep trying to convince them to help Talbot, and each says he can't and
blames the other. |
Enter 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, 20
Who now is girdled with a waist of iron
And hemmed about with grim destruction.
To Bordeaux, warlike duke! To Bordeaux, York!
Else farewell Talbot, France, and England’s honor. YORK
O God, that Somerset, who in proud heart 25
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. 30 LUCY
O, send some succor to the distressed lord! 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, 35
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. YORK
Alas, what joy shall noble Talbot have 40
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. 45
Maine, Blois, Poictiers, and Tours are won away,
Long all of Somerset and his delay. York and his Soldiers exit. LUCY
Thus while the vulture of sedition
Feeds in the bosom of such great commanders,
Sleeping neglection doth betray to loss 50
The conquest of our scarce-cold conqueror,
That ever-living man of memory,
Henry the Fifth. Whiles they each other cross,
Lives, honors, lands, and all hurry to loss. He exits. | We find out that Talbot's son has come out to help his father, and they may die together if York and Somerset don't find a way to help. One of the messengers, Sir William Lucy, says the feud between Somerset and York is betraying the memory of Henry V, because it's causing the English to lose what he won. |