O'ercharging your free purses with large fines; Because he is Protector of the realm; And would have armour here out of the Tower, But to make open proclamation: Come, officer; as loud as e'er thou canst. Off. [Reads.] All manner of men assembled here in arms this day against God's peace and the King's, we charge and command you, in his Highness' name, to repair to your several dwelling-places; and not to wear, handle, or use any sword, weapon, or dagger, henceforward, upon pain of death. Glo. Cardinal, I'll be no breaker of the law: But we shall meet, and break our minds at large. Win. Gloster, we'll meet; to thy dear cost, be sure : This Cardinal's more haughty than the Devil. Glo. Mayor, farewell: thou dost but what thou mayst. For I intend to have it off ere long. [Exeunt, severally, GLOS- May. See the coast clear'd, and then we will depart. — Good God, that nobles should such stomachs 14 bear! I myself fight not once in forty year. [Exeunt. 18 The old practice of calling out Clubs, clubs! to rouse and rally the London apprentices to a street-affray, is often alluded to by contemporary writers. It would seem that shop-keepers generally had clubs ready for such use. See vol. v. page 100, note 4. 14 Stomach here means pride or haughty resentment. See vol. i. page 170, note 6. Enter, on the walls, the Master-Gunner and his Son. M. Gun. Sirrah, thou know'st how Orleans is besieged, And how the English have the suburbs won. Son. 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 th' English, in the suburbs close entrench'd, In yonder tower, to overpeer the city; A piece of ordnance 'gainst it I have placed; Now do thou watch, for I can stay no longer. If thou spy'st any, run and bring me word; And thou shalt find me at the governor's. [Exit. Son. Father, I warrant you; take you no care; I'll never trouble you, if I may spy them. Enter, in an upper chamber of a tower, the Lords SALISBURY and TALBOT, Sir WILLIAM GLANSDALE, Sir THOMAS GARGRAVE, and others. Sal. Talbot, my life, my joy, again return'd! Tal. The Duke of Bedford had a prisoner Called the brave Lord Ponton de Santrailles; For him was I exchanged and ransoméd. But with a baser man-of-arms by far, Once, in contempt, they would have barter'd me: In fine, redeem'd I was as I desired. But, O, the treacherous Fastolfe wounds my heart! 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, To be a public spectacle to all: Here, said they, is the terror of the French, The scarecrow that affrights our children so.1 And with my nails digg'd stones out of the ground, To hurl at the beholders of my shame : My grisly countenance made others fly; None durst come near for fear of sudden death. In iron walls they deem'd me not secure ; So great fear of my name 'mongst them was spread, 1 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 woman in France, to feare their yong children, would crye the Talbot cometh. - HALL'S Chronicle. 2 Shot for shooters or marksmen. "He's a good shot" is still in use. Ready they were to shoot me to the heart. Sal. I grieve to hear what torments you endured; But we will be revenged sufficiently. Now it is supper-time in Orleans: Here, through this secret grate, I count each one, Let us look in; the sight will much delight thee. Where is best place to make our battery next. Gar. I think, at the north gate; for there stand lords. Tal. For aught I see, this city must be famish'd, [Shot from the town. SALISBURY and GARGRAVE fall. Sal. O Lord, have mercy on us, wretched sinners! Gar. O Lord, have mercy on me, woeful man! Tal. What chance is this that suddenly hath cross'd us?— Speak, Salisbury; at least, if thou canst speak: How farest thou, mirror of all martial men? One of thy eyes and thy cheek's side struck off!. Accursed tower! accursed fatal hand That hath contrived this woeful tragedy! In thirteen battles Salisbury o'ercame; Henry the Fifth he first train'd to the wars; Heaven, be thou gracious 3 to none alive, 3 Here, as often elsewhere in Shakespeare, the ending -ious was meant to be dissyllabic. The same of various other endings, such as -ion and -ience. So in this scene: "Let me have your express opinions." If Salisbury wants mercy at thy hands! He beckons with his hand, and smiles on me, Play on the lute, beholding the towns burn: [Thunder heard; afterwards an alarum. What stir is this? what tumult's in the heavens? Whence cometh this alarum and this noise? Enter a Messenger. Mess. My lord, my lord, the French have gather'd head: The Dauphin, with one Joan la Pucelle join'd, — A holy prophetess new risen up, " Is come with a great power to raise the siege. [SALISBURY lifts himself up and groans. Tal. Hear, hear how dying Salisbury doth groan! It irks his heart he cannot be revenged. — Pucelle or puzzel,6 dolphin or dogfish, 4 "As who should say" is the old phrase for "As if he would say," or, 'As much as to say." See vol. iii. page 118, note 22. 5 This looks as if Salisbury's name were supposed to be Plantagenet. It was, in fact, Thomas Montacute. 6 Puzzel means a dirty wench or a drab; "from puzza, that is, malus foetor," says Minsheu. So in Steevens's Apology for Herodotus, 1607: "Some filthy queans, especially our puzzels of Paris, use this theft." And in Stubbes's Anatomy of Abuses, 1595: "Nor yet any droye nor puzzel in the country but will carry a nosegay in her hand." It should be remembered that in the Poet's time dauphin was always written dolphin. |