SCENE V-The same. Before one of the gates. larums. Skirmishings. Talbot pursueth the Dau phin, and driveth him in: then enter Joan La Pucelle, driving Englishmen before her. Then enter Talbot.

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.

Enter La Pucelle.

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. Puc. Come, come, 'tis only I that must disgrace thee.

[They fight.

Tal. Heavens, can you suffer hell so to prevail?
My breast I'll burst with straining of my courage,
And from my shoulders crack my arms asunder,
But I will chastise this high-minded strumpet.
Puc. Talbot, farewell; thy hour is not yet come :
I must go victual Orleans forthwith.

O'ertake me,
if thou canst; I scorn thy strength.
Go, go, cheer up thy hunger-starved men;
Help Salisbury to make his testament:
This day is ours, as many more shall be.

[Pucelle enters the Town, with Soldiers. Tal. My thoughts are whirled like a potter's wheel ; I know not where I am, nor what I do :

A witch, by fear, not force, like Hannibal,

Drives back our troops, and conquers as she lists:
So bees with smoke, and doves with noisome stench,
Are from their hives, and houses, driven away,
They call'd us, for our fierceness, English dogs;
Now, like to whelps, we crying run away.

[A short alarum.

Hark, countrymen! either renew the fight,
Or tear the lions out of England's coat;
Renounce your soil, give sheep in lion's stead:
Sheep run not half so timorous from the wolf,
Or horse, or oxen, from the leopard,

As you fly from your oft-subdued slaves.

[Alarum. Another skirmish.

It will not be :-Retire into your trenches:
You all consented unto Salisbury's death,
For none would strike a stroke in his revenge.-
Pucelle is entered into Orleans,

In spite of us, or aught that we could do.
O, would I were to die with Salisbury!

The shame hereof will make me hide my head.

[Alarum. Retreat. Exeunt Talbot and his

Forces, &c.

SCENE VI.-The same. Enter on the walls, Pu-
celle, Charles, Reignier, Alencon, and Soldiers.
Puc. Advance our waving colours on the walls:
Rescu'd is Orleans from the English wolves:-
Thus Joan la Pucelle hath perform'd her word.
Char. Divinest creature, bright Astræa's daughter.
How shall I honour thee for this success?

Thy promises are like Adonis' gardens,

That one day bloom'd, and fruitful were the next.France, triumph in thy glorious prophetess !Recover'd is the town of Orleans:

More blessed hap did ne'er befall our state.

Reig. Why ring not out the bells throughout the town?

Dauphin, command the citizens make bonfires,
And feast and banquet in the open streets,

To celebrate the joy that God hath given us.

Alen. All France will be replete with mirth and joy, When they shall hear how we have play'd the men. Char. 'Tis Joan, not we, by whom the day is won

For which, I will divide my crown with her:
And all the priests and friars in my realm.
Shall, in procession, sing her endless praise.
A statelier pyramis to her I'll rear,
Than Rhodope's, or Memphis,' ever was:
In memory of her, when she is dead,
Her ashes, in an urn more precious
Than the rich-jewel'd coffer of Darius,
Transported shall be at high festivals
Before the kings and queens of France.
No longer on Saint Dennis will we cry,
But Joan la Pucelle shall be France's saint.
Come in; and let us banquet royally,

After this golden day of victory. [Flourish. Exeunt.

SCENE 1.-The same. Enter to the gates, a French
Sergeant, and two Sentinels.
Sergeant.

SIRS, take your places, and be vigilant :

If any noise, or soldier, you perceive,
Near to the walls, by some apparent sign,

Let us have knowledge at the court of guard.

1 Sent. Sergeant, you shall. [Exit Sergeant.] Thus are poor servitors

(When others sleep upon their quiet beds.)

Constrain❜d to watch in darkness, rain, and cold.

Enter Talbot, Bedford, Burgundy, and Forces, with
scaling ladders; their drums beating a dead march.
Tal. Lord regent,-and redoubted Burgundy,-
By whose approach, the regions of Artois,
Walloon, and Picardy, are friends to us,―
This happy night the Frenchmen are secure,
Having all day carous'd and banqueted:

Embrace we then this opportunity;
As fitting best to quittance their deceit,
Contriv'd by art, and baleful sorcery.

Bed. Coward of France! how much he wrongs his
fame,

Despairing of his own arm's fortitude,

To join with witches, and the help of hell.

Bur. Traitors have never other company.

But what's that Pucelle, whom they term so pure? Tal. A maid, they say.

Bed.

A maid! and be so martial! Bur. Pray God, she prove not masculine ere long; If underneath the standard of the French,

She carry armour, as she hath begun.

Tal. Well, let them practise and converse with spirits:

God is our fortress; in whose conquering name,
Let us resolve to scale their flinty bulwarks.

Bed. Ascend, brave Talbot; we will follow thee.
Tul. Not all together: better far, I guess,
That we do make our entrance several ways;
That, if it chance the one of us do fail,
The other yet may rise against their force.
Bed. Agreed; I'll to yon corner.

Bur.

And I to this.

Tal. And here will Talbot mount, or make his grave. -Now, Salisbury! for thee, and for the right

Of English Henry, shall this night appear

How much in duty I am bound to both.

[The English scale the walls, crying St. George! a Talbot! and all enter by the town. Sent. [Within.] Arm, arm! the enemy doth make assault !

The French leap over the walls in their shirts. Enter, several ways, Bastard, Alencon, Reignier, half rea dy, and half unready.

Alen. How now, my lords? what, all unready so?
Bast. Unready? ay, and glad we 'scap'd so well.
Reig. 'Twas time, I trow, to wake and leave our
beds,

Hearing alarums at our chamber doors.

Alen. Of all exploits, sinee first I follow'd arms, Ne'er heard I of a warlike enterprize

More venturous, or desperate than this.

Bast. I think, this Talbot be a fiend of hell.
Reig. If not of hell, the heavens, sure, favour him.
Alen. Here cometh Charles; I marvel, how he sped.
Enter Charles and La Pucelle.

Bast. Tut! holy Joan was his defensive guard.
Char. Is this thy cunning, thou deceitful dame?
Didst thou at first, to flatter us withal,

Make us partakers of a little gain,

That now our loss might be ten times so much?

Puc. Wherefore is Charles impatient with his friend? At all times will you have my power alike? Sleeping, or waking, must I still prevail, Or will you blame and lay the fault on me?Improvident soldiers! had your watch been good, This sudden mischief never could have fall'n. Char, Duke of Alencon, this was your default; That, being captain of the watch to-night, Did look no better to that weighty charge.

Alen. Had all your quarters been as safely kept,
As that whereof I had the government,

We had not been thus shamefully surpris'd.
Bast. Mine was secure.

Reig.

And so was mine, my lord.

Char. And, for myself, most part of all this night, Within her quarter, and mine own precinct,

I was employ'd in passing to and fro,

About relieving of the sentinels:

Then how, or which way, should they first break in?

Puc. Question, my lords, no further of the case,