REFERENCES DESCRIPTIVE OF THE

PLATES.

HENRY THE SIXTH.

PART I.

ALMOST the only incidents in this commencement of the long and disastrous reign of HENRY THE SIXTH Occur in the various battles which took place between the English and the French. They have been condensed and varied as much as possible; and an attempt has been made to excite an interest by historical and antiquarian accuracy as near as the poet will allow. In this part, HENRY, the dauphin, REIGNIER, MARGARET, the bastard of Orleans, BURGUNDY, and TALBOT, are from the only existing portraits. And to connect this play with the last, the funeral procession of HENRY THE FIFTH, as it has been authentically described, is introduced as the first illustration, in lieu of the body lying in state in Westminster Abbey.

I.

The funeral of HENRY THE FIFTH.-The Queen and her infant son in the foreground.

"BED. 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;
They have consented unto Henry's death!
Henry the Fifth, too famous to live long;

England ne'er lost a king of so much worth."

ACT I. S. 1.

II.

JOAN OF ARC entering Orleans, having defeated the English, who were laying siege to it.

"TAL. Where is my strength, my valour, and my force? Our English troops retire, I cannot stay them;

A woman, clad in armour, chaseth them!

Here, here she comes;-I'll have a bout with thee;

Devil, or devil's dam, I'll conjure thee;

Blood will I draw on thee; thou art a witch,

And straightway give thy soul to him thou serv'st.

LA PUC. Come, come, 'tis only I that must disgrace thee TAL. Heavens! can you suffer hell so to prevail? LA PUC. Talbot, farewell; thy hour is not yet come ; I must go victual Orleans forthwith."

(LA PUCELLE enters the town with soldiers.)

PART I.

III.

Orleans retaken by the English by escalade. The French leap over the walls in their shirts.

(Enter, several ways, BASTARD, ALENCON, and REIGNIER, half ready and half unready.)

"REIGN. 'Twas time, I trow, to wake and leave our beds Hearing alarums at our chamber doors.

BAS. I think this Talbot be a fiend of hell."

(Enter the DAUPHIN and LA PUCELLE.) (Enter an English soldier, crying, "a Talbot! a Talbot!" they fly, leaving their clothes behind.)

ACT II. S. 1.