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 cost, be thou sure: Thy heart-blood I will have for this day's work. Mayor. I'll call for clubs, if you will not away: This cardinal is more haughty than the devil. Glo. Mayor, farewell: thou dost but what thou may'st. Win. Abominable Gloster! guard thy head; For I intend to have it, ere long. [Exeunt. Mayor. See the coast clear'd, and then we will depart. 10 In Tal. With scoffs, and scorns, and contumelious taunts. open market-place produc'd they me, To be a public spectacle to all; 5 Here, said they, is the terror of the French, GoodGod! that nobles should such stomachs bear! SCENE IV. Orleans in France. Enter the Master-Gunner of Orleans, and his Boy. And how the English have the suburbs won. M. Gun. But now thou shalt not. Be thou 25 Chief master-gunner am I of this town; But we will be reveng'd sufficiently. Here, through this grate, I can count every one, How the English, in the suburbs close intrench'd, 30 Where is best place to make our battery next. 2 Went, through a secret grate of iron bars In yonder tower, to over-peer the city; And thence discover, how, with most advantage, They may vex us, with shot, or with assault. To intercept this inconvenience, A piece of ordnance 'gainst it I have plac'd; ́ ́ And fully even these three days have I watch'd, If I could see them: Now, boy, 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. Boy. Father, I warrant you; take you no care; I'll never trouble you, if I may spy them. Enter the Lords Sulisbury and Talbot, with Sir W. Glansdale and Sir Tho.Gargrave, on the turrets. Sal. Talbot, my life, my joy, again return'd! How wert thou handled, being prisoner? Or by what means gott'st thou to be releas'd? Discourse, I pry'thee, on this turret's top. Tal. The duke of Bedford had a prisoner, Whom with my bare fists I would execute, Sal. Yet tell'st thou not, how thou wert entertain❜d. 35 140 45 Gar. Ithink, at the north gate: for there stand lords. Speak, Salisbury; at least, if thou canst speak; How far'st thou, mirror of all martial men? Oneof thy eyes, and thy cheek's side struck off!— Accursed tower! accursed fatal hand, That hath contriv'd this woeful tragedy! In thirteen battles Salisbury o'ercame; Henry the fifth he first train'd to the wars: 50 Whilst any trump did sound, or drum struck up, His sword did ne'er leave striking in the field.Yet liv'st thou, Salisbury? though thy speech doth fail, One eye thou hast to look to heaven for grace: 55 The sun with one eye vieweth all the world.→ Heaven, be thou gracious to none alive, If Salisbury wants mercy at thy hands!Bear hence his body, I will help to bury it.— Sir Thomas Gargrave, hast thou any life? 60 Speak unto Talbot; nay, look up to him. Salisbury, chear thy spirit with this comfort; Thou shalt not die, whiles He beckons with his hand, and smiles on me; 'Espials are spies. 2 Wont, i. e, were accustomed. So pill'd, means so pillaged, so stripp'd of honours. As As who should say, When I am dead and gone, [Here an alarum, and it thunders and lightens. 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. [Here Salisbury lifteth himself up, and groans. Tal. Hear, hear, how dying Salisbury doth groan! 10 Tal. My thoughts are whirled like a potter's I know not where I am, nor what I do: 5 Drives back our troops, and conquers as she lists: It will not be:-Retire into your trenches: You all consented unto Salisbury's death, 20 For none would strike a stroke in his revenge.— Pucelle is enter'd into Orleans, It irks his heart, he cannot be reveng'd.— Here an alarum again; and Talbot pursueth the 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. 30 35 Here,here she comes:-I'll have a boutwith thee; thee. 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. Pucel. Talbot, farewell; thy hour is not yet I must go victual Orleans forthwith. [come: [A short alarum. Then enters the town with soldiers. O'ertake me if thou canst; I scorn thy strength. 45 In spight of us, or aught that we could do. Enter on the walls, Pucelle, Dauphin, Reignier, More blessed hap did ne'er befall our state. the town? Dauphin, command the citizens make bonfires, When theyshall hear howwe have play'd themen. Shall, in procession, sing her endless praise. Mr. Tollet says, Pussel means a dirty wench or a drab, from puzza, i. e. malus fœtor, says Minshew. In a translation from Stephens's Apology for Herodotus, in 1607, p. 98, we read," Some filthy queans, especially our puzzles of Paris, use this other theft." 2 The superstition of those times taught, that he that could draw the witch's blood, was free from her power. 3 Rhodopè was a famous strumpet, who acquired great riches by her trade. The least but most finished of the Egyptian pyramids was built by her. She is said afterwards to have married Psammetichus, king of Egypt. Nn3 Her Her ashes, in an urn more precious No longer on Saint Denis will we cry, After this golden day of victory.[Flourish. Exeunt. SCENE I. ACT II. Enter a French Serjeant, with two Centinels. Of English Henry, shall this night appear 20 (When others sleep upon their quiet beds) Cent. [Within.] Arm, arm! the enemy doth make assault! The French leap over the walls in their shirts. Enter Alen. How now, my lords? what all unready'so? Bast. I think, this Talbot is a fiend of hell. Bed. Coward of France!--how much he wrongs 35 Despairing of his own arm's fortitude, Bur. Traitors have never other company.- 'Bed. A maid! and be so martial! Bur.PrayGod,she provenot masculineerelong; Tul. Well, let them practise and converse with Enter Charles, and Pucelle. Bast. Tut! holy Joan was his defensive guard. That now our loss might be ten times so much? At all times will you have my power alike ? Or will you blame and lay the fault on me?Improvident soldiers! had your watch been good, 45 This sudden mischief never could have fall'n. God is our fortress; in whose conquering name, Bur. And I to this. [grave. Tul. And here will Talbot mount, or make his Now, Salisbury! for thee, and for the right Char. Duke of Alençon, this was your default; Reign. And so was mine, my lord. Char. And, for myself,most part of all this night, Then how, or which way, should they first break in? • When Alexander the Great took the city of Gaza, the metropolis of Syria, amidst the spoils and wealth of Darius treasured up there, he found an exceeding rich and beautiful little chest or casket, and asked those about him what they thought fittest to be laid up in it. When they had severally delivered their opinions, he told them, he esteemed nothing so worthy to be preserved in it as Homer's Iliad. 2 Unready was the current word in those times for undress'd. Pucel. Pucel. Question,my lords, no further of the case, How, or which way: 'tis sure they found some part But weakly guarded, where the breach was made. SCENE II. The same. [Exit. Enter Talbot, Bedford, Burgundy, &c. Bed. The day begins to break, and night is fled, Whose pitchy mantle over-veil'd the earth. Here sound retreat, and cease our hot pursuit. [Retreat. Tal. Bring forth the body of old Salisbury; And here advance it in the market-place, The middle centre of this cursed town. Now have I pay'd my vow unto his soul;— For every drop of blood was drawn from him, There hath at least five Frenchmen dy'd to-night, And, that hereafter ages may behold What ruin happen'd in revenge of him, Within their chiefest temple I'll erect A tomb, wherein his corpse shall be interr'd: Upon the which, that every one may read, Shall be engrav'd the sack of Orleans; The treacherous manner of his mournful death, And what a terror he had been to France. But, lords, in all our bloody massacre, I muse, we met not with the Dauphin's grace; His new come champion, virtuous Joan of Arc; Nor any of his false confederates. [began, 10 Whose glory fills the world with loud report. Could not prevail with all their oratory, Bed. No, truly; that is more than manners will': And I have heard it said,-Unbidden guests 15Are often welcomest when they are gone. 20 251 Tal. Well then, alone, since there's no remedy, I mean to prove this lady's courtesy. Come hither,captain. [Whispers]-You perceive my mind. Capt. I do, my lord; and mean accordingly. [Exeunt. Count. The plot is laid: ifall things fall out right, 30I shall as famous be by this exploit, Bed. 'Tis thought, lord Talbot, when the fight 40 Bur. Myself (as far as I could well discern, Enter Messenger, and Talbot. Mess, Madam,accordingas yourladyshipdesir'd, Count. [as musing] Is this the scourge of France? 45 I thought, I should have seen some Hercules, It cannot be, this weak and wrizled shrimp 50 Should strike such terror to his enemies. Mess. All hail, my lords! Which of this princely with him? Mess. The virtuous lady, countess of Auvergne, By me entreats, great lord, thouwouldst vouchsafe 60 That she may boast, she hath beheld the man Tul. Madam, I have been bold to trouble you: But, since your ladyship is not at leisure, I'll sort some other time to visit you. Count. What means he now?-Go ask him, whither he goes? Mess. Stay, my lord Talbot; for my lady craves To know the cause of your abrupt departure. Tal. Marry, for that she's in a wrong belief, I go to certify her, Talbot's here. Re-enter Porter with keys. Count. If thou be he, then art thou prisoner. Tal. Prisoner! to whom? This alludes to a popular tradition, that the French women, to affray their children, would tell them, that the TALBOT cometh. See also the end of Scene iii. Act II. Nn 4 Count. Count. To me, blood-thirsty lord; But now the substance shall endure the like: Dare no man answer in a case of truth? Suf. Within the Temple-hall we were too loud; The garden here is more convenient. [truth; Plant. Then say at once, if I maintain'd the 5 Or, else, was wrangling Somerset in the error? Suf. 'Faith, I have been a truant in the law; I never yet could frame my will to it; And, therefore, frame the law unto my will. Som. Judge you, my lord of Warwick, then between us. [er pitch, [turn to moan.10 Count. Why, art not thou the man? Count. Then have I substance too. Tal. No, no, I am but shadow of myself: I tell you, madam, were the whole frame here; Your roof were not sufficient to contain it. War. Between two hawks, which flies the high- Som. And on my side it is so well apparell'd, That it will glimmer through a blind man's eye. Count. This is a riddling merchantforthenonce; 25 Plant. Since you are tongue-ty'd, and so loth He will be here, and yet he is not here: How say you, madam? are you now persuaded, Count. Victorious Talbot! pardon my abuse: I did not entertain thee as thou art. Tal. Be not dismay'd,fair lady; nor misconstrue to speak, In dumb significants proclaim your thoughts: 35 40 I pluck this white rose, with Plantagenet. no more, Till you conclude that he, upon whose side 50 London. The Temple Garden. this silence? Plant. And I. Ver. Then for the truth and plainness of the case, Som. Prick not your finger as you pluck it off; Ver. If I, my lord, for my opinion bleed, 1i. e. so foolish. The term merchant, which was, and now is, frequently applied to the lowest sort of dealers, seems anciently to have been used on familiar occasions in contradistinction to gentleman; signifying, that the person shewed by his behaviour he was a low fellow. The word chap, i. e. chapman, a word of the same import with merchant, in its less respectable sense, is still in common use, particularly in Staffordshire, and the adjoining counties, as a common denomination for any person of whom they mean to speak with freedom or disrespect. 3 The rose (as the fables say) was the symbol of silence, and consecrated by Cupid to Harpocrates, to conceal the lewd pranks of his mother. Colours is here used ambiguously for tints and deceits. 5 i. e. it is justly proposed. The |