sure: Because he is protector of the realm; Which I, disdaining, scorn'd; and craved death, And would have armour here out of the Tower, Rather than I would be so pil'd esteem'd." To crown himself king, and suppress the prince. In fine, redeem'd I was as I desir'd. Glo. I will not answer thee with words, but blows. But, 0! thic treacherous Fastolfe wourds my heart! [Here they skirmish again. Whom with my bare lists I would execute, May. Nought rests for me, in this tumulluous If I now had liim brought into my power. strife, Sal. Yet tellist thou not, how thou wert enterBut to make open proclamation: tain'd. Come, Officer; as loud as e'er thou canst. Tal. With scofls, and scorns, and contumelious Of All manner of men, assembled here in arms in open market-placc produc'd they me, taunts. this day, againsi God's peace and the king's, we To be a public spectacle to all; charge and command you, in his highness' name, Here, said they, is the terror of the French, to repair to your several dwelling-places; and not to wear, handle, or use, any sword, roeapon, Then broke I from the officers that led me; The scarc-croiv that aftrights our children so. or dagger, henceforward, upon pain of death, And with my nails dirg'd stones out of the ground, Glo. Cardinal, I'll be no breaker of the law: To hurl at the beholders of my shame. But we shall meet, and break our minds at large. My grisly countenance made others fly ; Win. Gloster, we'll meet; to thy dear cost, be Nonc durst come near for fear of sudden death. In iron walls they deem’d me not secure ; May. I'll call for clubs,' if you will not away :- That they suppostel, I could rend bars of steel, That walk'd about me every minute-while; (Ereunt. Ready they were to shoot me to the heart, May. See the coast cleard, and then we will Sal. I grieve to hear what torments you endur'd, depart. But we will be reveng'd sufficiently. Good God! that nobles should such stomachs? bear! Now it is supper-time in Orleans : I myself fight not once in forty year. (Excient. Here, through this grate, I can count every one, SCENE IV.-France. Before Orleans. Enler Let us look in, the sight will much delight thee. And view the Frenchmen how they fortify ; on the walls, the Master-Gunner and his Son. Sir Thomas Gargrave, and sir William Glansdale, M. Gun. Sirrah, thou know'st how Orleans is Let me have your express opinions, besieg'd: Where is best place to make our battery next. And how the English have the suburbs won. Gar. I think, at the north gate ; for there stand Son. Father, I know; and oft have shot at them, lords. Howe'er, unfortunate, I miss'd my aim. Glan. And I, here, at the bulwark of the bridge. M. Gun. But now thou shalt not. Be thou rul'd Tal. For aught I see, this city must be famish'd, by me: Or with slight skirmishes enfeebled. Chief master-gunner am I of this town; [Shol from the town. Salisbury and Sir Something I must do, to procure me grace:: Thomas Gargrave fall. The prince's espials* have inform’d me, Sal. O Lord, have mercy on us, wretched sinners! How the English, in the suburbs close entrench’d, Gar. O Lord, have mercy on me, woful man! Wont, through a secret grate of iron bars Tal. What chance is this, that suddenly hath In yonder tower, to overpeer the city; cross'd us? And thence discover, how, with most advantage, Speak, Salisbury; at least, if thou canst speak; They may vex us, with shot, or with assault. How farist thou, mirror of all martial men! To intercept this inconvenience, One of thy eyes, and thy cheek's side struck off! A piece of ordnance 'gainst it I have plac'd; Accursed tower! accursed fatal hand, And fully even these three days have I watch'd, That hath contrived this woful tragedy ! If I could see them. Now, boy, do thou watch, In thirteen battles Salisbury o'ercame; For I can stay no longer. Henry the Fifth he first trained to the wars ; If thou spy'st any, run and bring me word; Whilst any trump did sound, or drum struck up, And thou shalt find me at the governor's. (Exit. His sword did ne'er leave striking in the field. Son. Father, I warrant you ; take you no care; Yet liv'st thou, Salisbury ? though thy specch doth I'll never trouble you, if I may spy them. fail, One eve thou hast to look to heaven for grace: Enter, in an upper chamber of a tower, the Lords The sun with one eve vieweth all the world. Salisbury and Talbot, Sir William Glansdale, Ileaven be thou gracious to none alive, If Salisbury want mercy at thy hands! Salisbury, cheer thy spirit with this comfort; As who should say, When I am dead and gone, But with a baser man of arms by far, Remember to avenge me on the French. Once, in contempt, they would have barter'd me: Plantaganet, I will; and Nero-like, (1) That is, for peace-officers armed with clubs (2) Pride. (3) Favour (4) Spien or staves. (5) So stripped of honours. Play on the lutę, be holding the towns burn : You all consented unto Salisbury's death, Wretched shall France be only in my name. For none would strike a stroke in his revenge. [Thunder heard: afterwards an alarum. Pucelle is enter'd into Orleans, What stir is this? what tumuli's in the beavers ? In spite of us, or aught that we could do. Whence cometh this alarum, and the noise ? 0, would I were to vie with Salisbury ! The shame hereof will make me hide my head. Enter a Messenger. (Harum. Retreat. Exeunt Talbot and his Mess. My lord, my lord, the French have gather'd forces, &c. head: The Dauphin, with one Joan la Pucelle join’d, - SCENE VI. The same. Enter, on the roalls, PuA holy prophetess new risen up, celle, Charles, Reignier, Alençon, and soldiers. Is come with a great power to raise the siege. Puc. Advance our waving colours on the walls; [Salisbury groans. Rescu'd is Orleans from the English wolves :Tal. Hear, hear, how dying Salisbury doth groan! Thus Joen la Pucelle hath perform’d her word. It irks his heart he cannot be reveng'd. Char. Divinest creature, bright Astræa's daughter, Frenchmen, I'll be a Salisbury to you; How shall I honour thee for this success? Pucelle or puzzel,' dolphin or dogtish, Thy promises are like Adonis' gardens, Your hearts I'll stamp out with my horse's heels, That one day bloom'd, and fruitful were the next.And make a quagmire of your mingled brains. France, triumph in thy glorious prophetess !Convey me Salisbury into his tent, Recover'd is the town of Orleans: And then we'll try what these dastard Frenchmen More blessed hap did ne'er befall our state. dare. [Exeunt, bearing out the bodies. Reig. Why ring not out the bells throughout the town? SCENE V.—The same. Before one of the gates. Dauphin, command the citizens make bonfires, Alarum. Skirmishings. Talbot pursueth the And feast and banquet in the open streets, Dauphin, and driveth him in : then enter Joan To celebrate the joy that God hath given us. la Pucelle, driving Englishmen before her. Then Alen. All France will be replete with mirth and enter Talbot. joy, Tal. Where is my strength, my valour, and my When they shall hear how we have played the men. force? Char. 'Tis Joan, not we, by whom the day is won; And all the priests and friars in my realm Shall, in procession, sing her endless praise.) A statelier pyramis to her I'll rear, In memory of her, when she is dead, [They fight. Before the kings and queens of France. Tal. Heavens, can you suffer hell so to prevail? No longer on Saint Dennis will we cry, My breast I'll burst with straining of my courage, But Joan la Pucelle shall be France's saint. Puc. Talbot, farewell; thy hour is not yet come: ACT II. SCENE 1. The same. Enter, to the gates, a [Pucelle enters the tovon, with soldiers. Tal. My thoughts are whirled like a potter's French Sergeant, and two Sentinels. wheel; Serg. Sirs, take your places, and be vigilant: I know not where I am, nor what I do: If any noise, or soldier, you perceive, A witch, by fear, not force, like Hannibal, Near to the walls, by some apparent sign, Drives back our troops, and conquers as she lists; Let us have knowledge at the court of guard. So bees with smoke, and doves with noisome stench, 1 Sent. Sergeant, you shall. [Exit Serg.] Thus Are from their hives, and houses, driven away. are poor servitors They called us, for our fierceness, English dogs; (When others sleep upon their quiet beds), Now, like to whelps, we crying run away. Constrain'd to watch in darkness, rain, and cold. (A short alarum. Hark, countrymen! either renew the fight, Enter Talbot, Bedford, Burgundy, and forces, Or tear the lions out of England's coat; with scaling-ladders; their drums beating a Renounce your soil, give sheep in lions' stead : dead march. Sheep run not half so timorous from the wolf, Tal. Lord regent,-and redoubted Burgundy,Or horse, or oxen, from the leopard, By whose approach, the regions of Artois, As you fly from your oft-subdued slaves. Walloon, and Picardy, are friends to us, [Alarum. Another skirmish. This happy night the Frenchmen are secure, It will not be:-retire into your trenches : Having all day carous'd and banqueted: Embrace we then this opportunity; (1) Dirty wench. As fitting best to quittance their deceit, (2) The superstition of those times taught, that|Contrivà by art, and baleful sorcery. he who could draw a witch's blood was free from her power. (3) The same as guard-room. Bed. Coward of France !-how much he wrongs (I was employ'd in passing to and fro, his fame, About relieving of the sentinels : Despairing of his own arm's fortitude, Then how, or which way, should they first break in? To join with witches, and the help of hell. Puc. Question, my lords, no further of the case, Bur. Traitors have never other company.-- How, or which way; 'tis sure, they found some But what's that Pucelle, whom they term so pure ? place Tal. A maid, they say. But weakly guarded, where the breach was made. Bed. A maid ? and be so martial ? And now there rests no other shift but this, And lay new platforms? to endamage them. Alarum. Enter an English Soldier, crying, A Talbot! a Talbot ! They fly, leaving their spirits : clothes behind. God is our fortress; in whose conquering name, Let us resolve to scale their flinty bulwarks. Sold. I'll be so bold to take what they have left. Bed. Ascend, brave Talbot; we will follow thee. The cry of Talbot serves me for a sword; Tal. Not altogether: better far, I guess, For I have loaden me with many spoils, That we do make our entrance several ways; Using no other weapon but his name. [Exit. That, if it chance the one of us do fail, SCENE II.-Orleans. Within the town. Enter The other yet may rise against their force. Bed. Agreed ; I'll to yon corner. Talbot, Bedford, Burgundy, a Captain, and others. Bur. And I to this. Tal. And here will Talbot mount, or make his Bed. The day begins to break, and night is fled, grave. Whose pitchy mantle over-veil'd the earth. Now, Salisbury! for thee, and for the right Here sound retreat, and cease our hot pursuit. or English Henry, shall this night appear (Retreat sounded. How much in duty I am bound to both. Tal. Bring forth the body of old Salisbury; And here advance it in the market-place, [The English scale the walls, crying St. George! The middle centre of this cursed town. a Talbot ! and all enter by the toron. Now have I paid my vow unto his soul; Sent. (Within. ] Arm, arm! the enemy doth make For every drop of blood was drawn from him, assault! There hath at least five Frenchmen died to-night, The French leap over the walls in their shirts. What ruin happen'd in revenge of him, And, that hercaster ages may behold Enter, several ways, Bastard, Alençon, Reignier, Within their chiefest temple l'll erect half ready, and half unready. A tomb, wherein his corpse shall be interr'd: Aen. How now, my lords ! what, all unready' so? Upon the which, that every one may read, Bast. Unready ? ay, and glad we scap'd so well. Shall be engrav'd the sack of Orleans ; Reig. Twas time, I trow, to wake and leave our The treacherous manner of his mournful death, beds, And what a terror he had been to France. Hearing alarums at our chamber-doors. But, lords, in all our bloody massacre, Alen. Of all exploits, since first I follow'd arms, I muse,' we met not with the dauphin's grace; Ne'er heard I of a warlike enterprise His new-come champion, virtuous Joan of Arc; More venturous, or desperate, than this. Nor any of his false confederates. Bast. I think, this Talbot be a fiend of hell. Bed. ''Tis thought, lord Talbot, when the fight Reig. If not of hell, the heavens, sure, favour him. began, Alen. Here cometh Charles ; 1 marvel, how he Rous’d on the sudden from their drowsy beds, sped. They did, amongst the troops of armed men, Leap o'er the walls for refuge in the field. Bur. Myself (as far as I could well discern, Bast. Tut! holy Joan was his defensive guard. For smoke, and dusky vapours of the night,) Char. Is this thy cunning, thou deceitful dame? Am sure, I scar'd the dauphin and his trull; Didst thou at first, to flatter us withal, When arm in arm they both came swiftly running, Make us partakers of a little gain, Like to a pair of loving turtle-doves, We'll follow them with all the power we have, At all times will you have my power alike? Enter a Messenger. Mess. All hail, my lords! which of this princely Improvident soldiers ! had your watch been good, train This sudden mischief never could have fall'n. Call ye the warlike Talbot, for his acts Char. Duke of Alençon, this was your default; So much applauded through the realm of France ? That, being captain of the watch to-night, Tal. Here is the Talbot; who would speak with Did look no better to that weighty charge. him? Alen. Had all your quarters been as safely kept, Mess. The virtuous lady, countess of Auvergne, As that whereof I had the government, With modesty admiring thy renown, We had not been thus shamefully surpris'd. By me entreats, good lord, thou would'st vouchsafe Bast. Mine was secure. To visit her poor castle where she lies ;* Reig. And so was mine, my lord. That she may boast, she hath beheld the man Char. And, for myself, most part of all this night, Whose glory fills the world with loud report. Within her quarter, and 'mine own precinct, Bur. Is it even so ? Nay, then, I see, our wars (1) Undressed (2) Plans, schemes. (3) Wonder. (4) i. e. Where she dwells. 3 a Will turn unto a peaceful comic sport, And sent our sons and husbands captivate. When ladie, crave to be encounter'd with.- Tal. Ha, ha, ha! You may not, my lord, despise her gentle suit. Count. Laughest thou, wretch? thy mirth shal Tal. Ne'er trust me then; for, when a world of turn to moan. men Tal. I laugh to see your ladyship so fond," Could not prevail with all their oratory, To think that you have aught but Talbot's shadow, Yet hath a woman's kindness over-rul'd : Whereon to practise your severity. Tal. I am indeed. Will not your honours bear me company? Count. Then have I substance too. For what you scé, is but the smallest part I tell you, madam, were the whole frame here, Your roof" were not sufficient to contain it. Cap. I do, my lord; and mean accordingly. Count. This is a riddling merchant for the (Exeunt. nonce ;* He will be here, and yet he is not here: SCENE III.-Awergne. Court of the castle. How can these contrarieties agree? Enter the Countess and her Porter. Tal. That will I show you presently. Count. Porter, remember what I gave in charge ; He winds a horn. Drums heard; then a peal of And, when you have done so, bring the keys to me. ordnance. The gates being forced, enter soldiers. Port. Madam, I will. (Eril. Count. The plot is laid: if all things fall out right, That Talbot is but shadow of himself? How say you, madam? are you now persuaded, I shall as famous be by this exploit, As Scythian Thomyris by Cyrus' death. These are his substance, sinews, arms, and strength, Great is the rumour of this dreadful knight, With which he yoketh your rebellious necks; And his achievements of no less account; Razeth your cities, and subverts your towns, Fain would mine eyes be witness with mine ears, And in a moment makes them desolate. To give their censure' of these rare reports. Count. Victorious Talbot ! pardon my abuse : I find, thou art no less than fame hath bruited ;s And more than may be gather'd by thy shape. Let my presumption not provoke thy wrath; According as your ladyship desir'd, For I am sorry, that with reverence By message cray'd, so is lord Talbot come. I did not entertain thee as thou art. Count. And he is welcome. What! is this the Ta. Be not dismay’d, fair lady ; nor misconstrue man? The mind of Talbot, as you did mistake Mess. Madam, it is. The outward composition of his body. Count. Is this the scourge of France ? What you have done, hath not offended me : Is this the Talbot, so much fear'd abroad, No other satisfaction do I crave, That with his name the mothers still their babes ? But only (with your patience,) that we may I see, report is fabulous and false ; Taste of your wine, and see what cates you have; I thought, I should have seen some Hercules, For soldiers' stomachs always serve them well. A second 'Hector, for his grim aspect, Count. With all my heart: and think me honoured And large proportion of his strong-knit limbs. To feast so great a warrior in my house. (Ereunt. Alas! this is a child, a silly dwarf: It cannot be, this weak and writhled? shrimp, SCENE IV.-London. The Temple Garden. Should strike such terror to his enemies. Enter the Earls of Somerset, Suffolk, and Tal. Madam, I have been bold to trouble you: Warwick; Richard' Plantagenet, Vernon, and But since your ladyship is not at leisure, another Lawyer. I'll sort some other time to visit you. Plan. Great lords, and gentlemen, what means Count. What means he now?-Go Ask him this silence ? whither he goes ? Dare no man answer in a case of truth? Mess. Stay, my lord Talbot: for my lady craves Suff. Within the Temple hall we were too loud; To know the cause of your abrupt departure. The garden here is more convenient. Tal. Marry, for that she's in a wrong belief, Plan. Then say at once, if I maintain'd the truth; I go to certify her, Talbot's here. Or else was wrangling Somerset in the error ? Suff. 'Faith, I have been a truant in the law; And never yet could frame my will to it; Som. Judge you, iny lord of Warwick, then Count. To me, blood-thirsty lord; between us. And for that cause I traind thee to my house. War. Between two hawks, which flies the higher Long time thy shadow hath been thrall to me, pitch; For in my gallery thy picture hangs : Between two dogs, which hath the deeper mouth; But now the substance shall erdure the like; Between two blades, which bears the better temper; And I will chain these legs and arms of thine, Between two horses, which doth bear him best;a That hast by tyranny, these many years, Between two girls, which hath the merriest eru; Wasted our country, slain our citizens, I have, perhaps, some shallow spirit of judginent; (1) For opinion. (2) Wrinkled. (5) Announced loudly. (3) Foolisn. (4) For a purpose. (6) he. Regulate his motions most adroitly. But in these nice sharp quillets of the law, Suff. I'll turn my part thereof into thy throat. Good faith, I am no wiser than a daw. Som. Away, away, good William De-la-Poole ? Plan. Tut, tut, here is a mannerly forbearance: We grace the yeomun, by conversing with him. The truth appears so naked on my side, Wur. Now, by God's will, thou wrong'st him, That any purblind eye may find it out.' Somerset; Som. And on my side it is so well apparell’d, His grandfather was Lionel, duke of Clarence, So clear, so shining, and so evident, Third son to the third Edward king of England; That it will glimmer through a blind man's eye. Spring crestless yeomen' from so deep a root? Plan. Since you are tongue-ty'd, and so loath to Plan. He bears him on the place's privilege, speak, Or durst not, for his craven heart, say thus. In dumb significants proclaim your thoughts: Som. By him that made me, I'll maintain my Let him that is a true-born gentleman, words And stands upon the honour of his birth, On any plot of ground in Christendom: If he suppose that I have pleaded truth, Was not thy father, Richard, earl of Cambridge, From off this brier pluck a white rose with me. For treason executed in our late king's days ? Som. Let him that is no coward, nor no flatterer, And, by his treason, stand'st not thou attainted, But date maintain the party of the truth, Corrupted, and exempt from ancient genry ? Pluck a red rose from off this thorn with me. His trespass yet lives guilty in thy blood; War. I love no colours ;' and, without all colour And, till thou be restor'd thou art a yeoman. Plan. My father was attached, not attainted; I pluck this white rose, with Plantagenet. Condemn’d to die for treason, but no traitor ; Suff. I pluck this red rose, with young Somerset; And that I'll prove on better men than Somerset, And say withal, I think he held the right. Were growing time once ripen'd to my will. Ver. Stay, lords and gentlemen : and pluck no For your partakere Poole, and you yourself more, I'll note you in my book of memory, Till you conclude-that he, upon whose side To scourge you for this apprehension :' The fewest roses are cropp'd from the tree, Look to it well; and say you are well warn'd. Shall yield the other in the right opinion. Som. Ay, thou shalt find us ready for thee still : Som. Good master Vernon, it is well objected;? And know us, by these colours, for thy foes ; If I have fewest, I subscribe in silence. For these my friends, in spite of thee, shall wear. Plan. And I. Plan. And, by my soul, this pale and angry rose, Ver. Then, for the truth and plainness of the case, As cognizance of my blood-drinking hate, I pluck this pale and maiden blossom here, Will I for ever, and my faction, wear; Giving my verdict on the white rose side. Until it wilher with me to my grave, Som. Prick not your finger as you pluck it off; Or flourish to the height of my degree. Lest, bleeding, you do paint the white rose red, Suff. Go forward, and be chok'd with thy am And fall on my side so against your will. bition ! Ver. Ifl, my lord, for my opinion bleed, And so farewell, until I meet thee next. (Exit. Opinion shall be surgeon to my hurt, Som. Have with thec, Poole.-Farewell, ambiAnd keep me on the side where still I am. tious Richard. (Exit. Som. Well, well, come on: Who else? Plan. How I am brav'd, and must perforce enLau. Unless my study and my books be false, dure it ! The argument you held, was wrong in you; War. This blot, that they object against your [To Somerset house, In sign whereof, I pluck a white rose too. Shall be wip'd out in the next parliament, Plan. Now, Somerset, where is your argument? Call'd for the truce of Winchester and Gloster: Som. Here, in my scabbard; meditating that, And, if thou be not then created York, Shall die your white rose in a bloody red. I will not live to be accountcd Warwick. Plan. Mean time, your cheeks do counterfeit Mean time, in signal of my love to thee, our roses; Against proud Somerset, and Williain Poole, And here I prophesv, --This brawl to-day, No, Plantagenet, Grown to this faction in the Temple garden, Tis not for fear ; but anger,--that thy cheeks, Shall send, between the red rose and the white, Blush for pure shame, to counterfeit our roses; A thousand souls to death and deadly night. And yet thy tongue will not confess thy error. Plan. Good master Vernon, I am bound to you, Plan. Hath not thy rose a canker, Somerset ? That you on my behalf would pluck a flower. Son. Hath not thy rose a thorn, Plantagenet ? Ver. In your behalf still will I wear the same. Plan. Ay, sharp and piercing, to maintain his Law. And so will I. truth; Plan. Thanks, gentle sir. Whiles thy consuming canker eats his falsehood. Come, let us four to dinner: I darc say, Som. Well, I'll find friends to wear my bleeding This quarrel will drink blood another day. (E.re. roses, That shall maintain what I have said is true, SCENE V.-The same. A room in the Tower. Where false Plantagenet dare not be seen. Enter Mortimer, brought in a chair by troo Plan. Now by this maiden blossom in my hand, Keepers. I scorn thee and thy fashion, peerish boy. Mor. Kind keepers of my weak decaying age, Suff. Turn not thy scorns this way, Plantagenet. Let dving Mortimer here rest himself. Plan. Proud Poole, I will ; and scorn both him Even like a man new haled from the rack, and thee. So fare my limbs with long imprisonment: (1) Tints and deceits : a play on the word. (4) The Temple, being a religious house, was a (2) Justly proposed. sanctuary. (3) i, e. Those who have no right to arms. (5) Excluded. (6) Confederate, (7) Opinion VOL. II. P |