Page:Henry VI Part 1 (1918) Yale.djvu/77

King Henry the Sixth, IV. i  Glo. [Viewing superscription.] What means his

Grace, that he hath chang'd his style?

No more, but plain and bluntly, 'To the King!'

Hath he forgot he is his sovereign?

Or doth this churlish superscription

Pretend some alteration in good will?

What's here? 'I have, upon especial cause,

Mov'd with compassion of my country's wrack,

Together with the pitiful complaints

Of such as your oppression feeds upon,

Forsaken your pernicious faction,

And join'd with Charles, the rightful King of France.'

O, monstrous treachery! Can this be so,

That in alliance, amity, and oaths,

There should be found such false dissembling guile?

King. What! doth my uncle Burgundy revolt?

Glo. He doth, my lord, and is become your foe.

King. Is that the worst this letter doth contain?

Glo. It is the worst, and all, my lord, he writes.

King. Why then, Lord Talbot there shall talk with him,

And give him chastisement for this abuse.

How say you, my lord? are you not content?

Tal. Content, my liege! Yes: but that I am prevented,

I should have begg'd I might have been employ'd.

King. Then gather strength, and march unto him straight:

Let him perceive how ill we brook his treason,

And what offence it is to flout his friends.

Tal. I go, my lord; in heart desiring still

 50 style: mode of address

54 Pretend: portend

71 prevented: anticipated 