SCENE IV Orleans. Enter, on the walls, a Master Gunner and his Boy. M. Gun. Sirrah, thou know'st how Orleans is besieged, And how the English have the suburbs won. Boy. Father, I know; and oft have shot at them, Howe'er unfortunate I miss'd my aim. M. Gun. But now thou shalt not. Be thou ruled by me: Chief master-gunner am I of this town; How the English, in the suburbs close in trench'd, Wont through a secret grate of iron bars 10 In yonder tower to overpeer the city, And thence discover how with most advantage To intercept this inconvenience, A piece of ordnance 'gainst it I have placed; Now do thou watch, for I can stay no longer. 10. "wont”; the old copy reads went; the emendation is Mr. Tyrwhitt's. The English wont, that is, are accustomed, to overpeer the city. It is the third person plural of the old verb wont. The emendation is fully supported by the speech in the Chronicles on which his is formed.-H. N. Η. 20 And thou shalt find me at the governor's. [Exit. Boy. Father, I warrant you; take you no care; [Exit. Enter, on the turrets, the Lords Salisbury and Talbot, Sir William Glansdale, Sir Thomas Gargrave, and others. Sal. Talbot, my life, my joy, again return'd! 30 Tal. The Duke of Bedford had a prisoner In fine, redeem'd I was as I desired. 22. "on the turrets," Ff., "in an upper chamber of a tower” (Malone).-I. G. 27. "Duke"; Theobald's emendation of "Earle" of the Ff.-I. G. 29. Here again the poet transposes the order of events. The affair in the Tower at Orleans which ended in the death of Salisbury took place October 23, 1428. The capture of Talbot by the French was at the Battle of Patay, June 18, 1429; of Santrailles by the English, in 1431.-H. Ν. Η. 33. "so vile-esteem'd"; Pope, "so vilde esteem'd"; Ff., "so pil'd esteem'd"; Capell, "so pill'd esteem'd"; Mason, "so ill-esteemed," &c. -I. G. The old copy reads "pil'd esteem'd"-as vile was frequently spelled vild by Shakespeare and others there can hardly be a doubt that it was the word. Η. Ν. Η. But, O! the treacherous Fastolfe wounds my heart, Whom with my bare fists I would execute, If I now had him brought into my power. Sal. Yet tell'st thou not how thou wert entertain'd. Tal. With scoffs and scorns and contumelious taunts. In open market-place produced they me, 40 To hurl at the beholders of my shame: spread 50 That they supposed I could rend bars of steel, Ready they were to shoot me to the heart. 43. "This man [Talbot] was to the French people a very scourge and a daily terror, insomuch that as his person was fearful and terrible to his adversaries present, so his name and fame was spiteful and dreadful to the common people absent; insomuch that women in France, to feare their yong children, would crye the Talbot cometh" (Hall's Chronicle).-H. Ν. Η. 53. "shot" marksman, "shots."-C. Н. Н. Enter the Boy with a linstock. Sal. I grieve to hear what torments you endured, Let me have your express opinions Where is best place to make our battery next. Gar. I think, at the north gate; for there stand lords. Glan. And I, here, at the bulwark of the bridge. Tal. For aught I see, this city must be famish'd, Or with light skirmishes enfeebled. [Here they shoot. Salisbury and Gargrave fall. Sal. O Lord, have mercy on us, wretched sinners! 70 Gar. O Lord, have mercy on me, woful man! us? Speak, Salisbury: at least, if thou canst speak: up, 80 His sword did ne'er leave striking in the field. Yet livest thou, Salisbury? though thy speech doth fail, One eye thou hast, to look to heaven for grace: He beckons with his hand and smiles on me, 95. This looks as if the Poet thought Salisbury's name Plantagenet, while in fact it was Thomas Montacute. Holinshed gives the following account of him: "This earle was the man at that time, by whose wit, strength, and policie, the English name was much terrible to the French; which of himselfe might both appoint, command, and doo all things in manner at his pleasure; for suerlie he was both painefull, diligent, and ready to withstand all dangerous chances that were in hand, prompt in counsell, and of courage invincible; so that in no one man men put more trust, nor any singular person wan the harts so much of all men." The main event of this scene is thus related by the same writer: "In the tower that was taken at the bridge end, there was an high chamber, having a grate full of barres of iron, by the which a man might looke all the length of the bridge into the citie; at which grate manie of the cheefe capteins stood manie times, viewing the citie, and devising in what place it was best to give the assault. They within the citie well perceived this tooting hole, and laid a peece of ordinance directlie against the window. It so chanced, that the nine and fiftith daie after the siege was laid the earle of Salisburie, sir Thomas Gargrave, and William Glasdale, with diverse other went into the said tower, and so into the high chamber, and looked out at the grate, and within a short space |