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 Win-
chester, 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 SUF

FOLK.

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 Bourdeaux.
A French Serjeant. 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 seve

ral Attendants both on the English and French.

SCENE,-partly in England, and partly in France.

THE 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 WARWICK, the Bishop of Winchester, Heralds, &c.

Bedford.

HUNG be the heavens with black, yield day to night!
Comets, importing change of times and states,
Brandish your crystal' tresses in the sky;
And with them scourge the bad revolting stars,
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 mid-day sun, fierce bent against their faces.
What should I say? his deeds exceed all speech :
He ne'er lift up his hand, but conquered.

Exe. We mourn in black; Why inourn we not in blood?
Henry is dead, and never shall revive :
Upon a wooden coffin we attend ;
And death's dishonourable victory

[1] Crystal is an epithet repeatedly bestowed on comets by our ancient writers. "There is also a white comet with silver haires," says Pliny, as translated by P. Holland, 1601. STEEVENS.

[2] Consented, or as it should be spelt, concented, means, have thrown themselves into a malignant configuration, to promote the death of Henry. Milton uses the word, and with the same meaning, in his Penseroso :

"Whose power hath a true consent

"With planet, or with element. STEEVENS,

Consent, in all the books of the age of Elizabeth, and long afterwards, is the spelling of the word concent. MALONE. F. 2