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Salisbury, cheer thy spirit with this comfort;
Thou shalt not die, whiles

Je beckons with his hand, and smiles on me;
As who should say, When I am dead and gone,
Remember to avenge me on the French.-
Plantagenet, I will; and like thee, Nero,
Play on the lute, beholding the towns burn:
Wretched shall France be only in my name.

[Thunder heard; afterwards an Alarum.
What stir is this? What tumult's in the heavens?
Whence cometh this alarum, and the noise?
Enter a Messenger.

Mes. My lord, my lord, the French have gather'd

head:

The Dauphin, with one Joan la Pucelie join'd,—
A holy prophetess, new risen up,-
Is come with a great power to raise the siege.
[SALISBURY groans.
Tal. Hear, hear, how dying Salisbury doth groan!
It irks his heart, he cannot be revenged.-
Frenchmen, I'll be a Salisbury to you:-
Pucelle or puzzel,' dolphin, or dogfish,
Your hearts I'll stamp out with my horse's heels,
And make a quagmire of your mingled brains.-
Convey me Salisbury into his tent,
And then we'll try what these dastard Frenchmen
dare. [Exeunt, bearing out the bodies.
SCENE V. The same. Before one of the Gates.
Alarum. Skirmishings. TALBOT pursueth the
Dauphin, 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:

thee;

thee.

Sheep run not half so timorous4 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
SCENE VI. The same. Enter, on the Walls,
his Forces, &c.
PUCELLE, CHArles, Reignier, ALENGON, 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 Astrea'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.6.
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.

-I'll have a bout with A statelier pyramis to her I'll rear,

Devil, or devil's dam, I'll conjure thee :
Blood will I draw on thee,2 thou art a witch,
And straightway give thy soul to him thou serv'st.
Puc. Come, come, 'tis only I that must disgrace
[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,
And 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 hungry, 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,3
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 lions' stead:

1 Puzzel means a dirty wench or a drab, 'from puzza, i. e. malus foetor,' says Minsheu.

2 The superstition of those times taught that he who could draw a witch's blood was free from her power. 3 Alluding to Hannibal's stratagem to escape, by fix'ng bundles of lighted twigs on the horns of oxen, recorded by Livy, lib. xxij. c. xvj.

4 Old copy treacherous. Corrected by Pope.

5 Wolves. Thus the second folio, the first omits that word, and the epithet bright prefixed to Astrea in the next line but one. Malone follows the reading of the first folio, and contends that by a licentious pronunciation a syllable was added, thus Engleish, Asterea.

B

Than Rhodope's, of 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,8
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.

ACT II.

SCENE I. The same. Enter to the Gates, a French
Sergeant, and Two Sentinels.

Serg. 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.9
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:

6 The Adonis horti were nothing but portable earthen
pots, with some lettuce or fennel growing in them.
7 The old copy reads:-

'Than Rhodophe's or Memphis ever was.' Rhodope, or Rhodopis, a celebrated_courtezan, whe was a slave in the same service with Esop, at Samos

8 'In what price the noble poems of Homer were holden by Alexander the Great, insomuch that everie night they were layd under his pillow, and by day were carried in the rich jewel coffer of Darius, lately before vanquished by him.' Puttenham's Arte of English Poesie. 1589.

9 The same as guard-room.

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Embrace we then this opportunity;

As fitting best to quittance their deceit,
Contriv'd by art, and baleful sorcery.

How, or which way: 'tis sure, they found some place

But weakly guarded, where the breach was made,

Bed. Coward of France ?-how much he wrongs And now there rests no other shift but this,

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!

To gather our soldiers, scatter'd and dispers'd, And lay new platforms2 to endamage them. Alarum. Enter an English Soldier, crying a Tal bot! a Talbot! They fly, leaving their Clothes behind.

Sold. I'll be so bold to take what they have left, Bur. Pray God, she prove not masculine ere long; For I have loaden me with many spoils, The cry of Talbot serves me for a sword; 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 naine,
Let us resolve to scale their flinty bulwarks.

Bed. Ascend, brave Talbot; we will follow thee.
Tal. 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, Alençon, REIGNIER,
half ready, and half unready.

Alen. How now, my lords? what all unready1 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.

Using no other weapon but his name.

[Exit.

SCENE II. Orleans. Within the Town. Enter
TALBOT, BEDFford, BurgunDY, a Captain, and

others.

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 sounded.

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 paid my vow unto his soul ;
For every drop of blood was drawn from him,
There hath at least five Frenchmen died 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,3 we met not with the Dauphin's grace;
His new-come champion, virtuous Joan of Arc;
Nor any of his false confederates.

Bed. 'Tis thought, Lord Talbot, when the fight
began,

Rous'd on the sudden from their drowsy beds,
They did amongst the troops of armed men,

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Alen. Of all exploits, since first I follow'd arms, Leap o'er the walls for refuge in the field.
Never heard I of a warlike enterprise
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 PUCcelle.
Bust. 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 Alengon, this was your default;
That, being captain of the watch to-night,
Did look no better c 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 mysclt, 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?
Fuc. Question, my lords, no further of the case,

1 Unready is undressed.

2 Plans, schemes

Bur. Myself (as far as I could well discern,
For smoke, and dusky vapours of the night)
Am sure I scar'd the Dauphin, and his trull ;
When arm in arm they both came swiftly running,
Like to a pair of loving turtle-doves,
That could not live asunder day or night.
After that things are set in order here,
We'll follow them with all the power we have.
Enter a Messenger.

Mess. All hail, my lords! which of this princel
train

Call ye the warlike Talbot, for his acts

So much applauded through the realm of France?
Tal. Here is the Talbot; who would speak with

him?

Mess. The virtuous lady, countess of Auvergne,
With modesty admiring thy renown,

By me entreats, good lord, thou wouldst vouchsafe
To visit her poor castle where she lies ;4
That she may boast she hath beheld the man
Whose glory fills the world with loud report.

Bur. Is it even so? Nay, then, I see our wars
Will turn unto a peaceful comic sport,
When ladies crave to be encounter'd with.-
You may not, my lord, despise her gentle suit.
Tal. Ne'er trust me then; for, when a world ɗ

men

Could not prevail with all their oratory,
Yet hath a woman's kindness overrul'd:-
And therefore tell her, I return great thanks;
And in submission will attend on her.-
Will not your honours bear me company?

And I have heard it said,-Unbidden guests
Bed. No, truly; it is more than manners will:
Are often welcomest when they are gone.

3 Wonder.

4 i. e. where she dwells

Tul. 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.
SCENE III. Auvergne. Court of the Castle.
Enter the Countess and her Porter.
Count. Porter, remember what I gave in charge;
And, when you have done so, bring the keys to me.
Port. Madam, I will.
[Exit.
Count. The plot is laid: if all things fall out
right,

I shall as famous be by this exploit,
As Scythian Thomyris by Cyrus' death.
Great is the rumour of this dreadful knight,
And his achievements of no less account:

Fain would mine eyes be witness with mine ears,
To give their censure1 of these rare reports.
Enter Messenger and TALBOT.

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you:

Tal. Madam, I have been bold to trouble
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
I 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?

Count.
To me, blood-thirsty lord;
And for that cause I train'd thee to my house.
Long time thy shadow hath been thrall to me,
For in my gallery thy picture hangs ;

;

But now the substance shall endure the like
And I will chain these legs and arms of thine,
That hast by tyranny, these many years,
Wasted our country, slain our citizens,
And sent our sons and husbands captivate.4
Tal. Ha, ha, ha!

Count. Laughest thou, wretch? thy mirth shall

turn to moan.

Tal. I laugh to see your ladyship so fond,5
To think that you have aught but Talbot's shadow,
Whereon to practise your severity.

Count. Why, art not thou the man?
Tal.

I am indeed.

Count. Then have I substance too.
Tal. No, no, I am but shadow of myself:

1 i. e. judgment, opinion.

You are deceiv'd, my substance is not here;
For what you see, is but the smallest part
And least proportion of humanity:

I tell you, madam, were the whole frame here,
It is of such a spacious lofty pitch,
Your roof were not sufficient to contain it.

Count. This is a riddling merchant for the n‹nce;
He will be here, and yet he is not here:
How can these contrarieties agree?

Tal. That will I show you presently.

He winds a Horn. Drums heard; then a Peal of
Ordnance. The Gates being forced, enter Soldiers.
How say you, madam? are you now persuaded,
That Talbot is but shadow of himself?
These are his substance, sinews, arms, and strength,
With which he yoketh your rebellious necks;
Razeth your cities, and subverts your towns,
And in a moment makes them desolate.

Count. Victorious Talbot! pardon my abuse:
I find, thou art no less than fame hath bruited,"
And more than may be gather'd by thy shape.
Let my presumption not provoke thy wrath;
For I am sorry, that with reverence

I did not entertain thee as thou art.

Tal. Be not dismay'd, fair lady; nor misconstrue
The mind of Talbot, as you did mistake
The outward composition of his body.
What you have done, hath not offended me:
No other satisfaction do I crave,

But only (with your patience) that we may
Taste of your wine, and see what cates you have,
For soldiers' stomachs always serve them well.

Count. With all my heart: and think me honoured To feast so great a warrior in my house. [Exeunt. SCENE IV. London. The Temple Garden. Enter the Earls of SOMERSET, SUFFOLK, and WarWICK; RICHARd PlantagenET, VERNON, and another Lawyer.3

Plan. Great lords, and gentlemen, what means

this silence?

Dare no man answer in a case of truth?

Suff. Within the Temple hall we were too loud:
The garden here is more convenient.

Plan. Then say at once, if I maintain'd the truth;
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;
And, therefore, frame the law unto my will.

Som. Judge you, my lord of Warwick, then be

tween us.

War. Between two hawks, which flies the higher
pitch,

Between two dogs, which hath the deeper mouth,
Between two blades, which bears the better temper
Between two horses, which doth bear him best,1o
Between two girls, which hath the merriest eye,
I have, perhaps, some shallow spirit of judgment▾
But in these nice sharp quillets of the law,
Good faith, I am no wiser than a daw.

Plan. Tut, tut, here is a mannerly forbearance
The truth appears so naked on my side,
That any purblind eye may find it out.

Som. And on my side it is so well apparell'd,
So clear, so shining, and so evident,
That it will glimmer through a blind man's eye.
Plan. Since you are tongue-ty'd, and so loath tɩ
speak,
In dumb significants11 proclaim your thoughts:

tinction to gentleman; signifying that the person showed

2 Dryden has transplanted this idea into his Don Se- | by his behaviour he was a low fellow. bastian :-

'Nor shall Sebastian's formidable name

Be longer used, to lull the crying babe.'

3 Writhled for wrinkled.

+ Thus in Solyman and Persida :

'If not destroy'd and bound and captivate,
If captivate, then forc'd from holy faith.'

3 i e. foolish, silly, weak.

7 Bruited is reported, loudly announced.

8 We should read a lawyer. This lawyer was pro bably Roger Nevyle, who was afterwards hanged. See W. Wyrcester, p. 478.

9 Johnson observes that 'there is apparently a want of opposition between the two questions here,' but there is no reason to suspect that the text is corrupt.

10 i. e. regulate his motions most adroitly. We stil. say that a horse carries himself well.

6 This is a riddling merchant for the nonce. The term merchant, which was, and even now is, frequently applied to the lowest kind of dealers, seems anciently to have been used on these familiar occasions in contradis- I token.

11 Dumb significants, which Malone would have changed to significance, is nothing more than signs oi

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Till you conclude that he, upon whose side
The fewest roses are cropp'd from the tree,
Shall yield the other in the right opinion.
Som. Good master Vernon, it is well objected;2
If I have fewest, I subscribe in silence.
Plan. And I.

Ver. Then, for the truth and plainness
I pluck this pale, and maiden blossom here,
Giving my verdict on the white rose side.

[case, of the

Som. Prick not your finger as you pluck it off; Lest, bleeding, you do paint the white rose red, And fall on my side so against your will.

Ver. If I, my lord, for my opinion bleed,
Opinion shall be surgeon to my hurt,
And keep me on the side where still I am.

Som. Well, weil, come on: Who else?
Lau. Unless my study and my books be false,
The argument you held, was wrong in you;
[TO SOMERSET.
In sign whereof, I pluck a white rose too.
Plan. Now, Somerset, where is your argument?
Som. Here, in my scabbard; meditating that,
Shall dye your white rose in a bloody red.

Plan. Mean time, your cheeks do counterfeit our

roses;

For pale they look with fear, as witnessing
The truth on our side.

Som.
No, Plantagenet,
'Tis not for fear; but anger,-that thy cheeks
Blush for pure shame, to counterfeit our roses ;3
And yet thy tongue will not confess thy error.

Plan. Hath not thy rose a canker, Somerset ? Som. Hath not thy rose a thorn, Plantagenet? Plan. Ay, sharp and piercing, to maintain his truth;

Whiles thy consuming canker eats his falsehood. Som. Well, I'll find friends to wear my bleeding roses,

That shall maintain what I have said is true,
Where false Plantagenet dare not be seen.
Plan. Now, by this maiden blossom in my hand,
I scorn thee and thy faction,4 peevish boy.
Suff. Turn not thy scorns this way, Plantagenet.
Plan. Proud Poole, I will; and scorn both him

and thee.

Suff. I'll turn my part thereof into thy throat. Som. Away, away, good William De-la-Poole ! We grace the yeoman, by conversing with him.

1 Colours is here used ambiguously for tints and deceits.

2 Well objected is properly proposed, properly thrown in our way

3 It is not for fear that my cheeks look pale, but for anger anger producea by this circumstance-namely, that thy cheeks blush, &c.

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On and plot of ground in Christendom:
Was not thy father, Richard, earl of Cambridge,
For treason executed in our late king's day?
And, by his treason, stand'st not thou attainted,
Corrupted, and exempt from ancient gentry?
His trespass yet lives guilty in thy blood;
And, till thou be restor❜d, thou art a yeoman.

Plan. My father was attached, not attainted;
Condemn'd to die for treason, but no traitor;
And that I'll prove on better inen than Somerset,
Were growing time once ripen'd to my will.
For your partaker Poole, and you yourself,
I'll note you in my book of memory,10

To scourge you for this apprehension:11
Look to it well; and say you are well warn'd.

Som. Ay, thou shalt find us ready for thee still :
And know us, by these colours, for thy foes ;
For these my friends, in spite of thee, shall wear.
Plan. And, by my soul, this pale and angry rose,
As cognizance12 of my blood-drinking hate,
Will I for ever, and my faction, wear;
Until it wither with me to my grave,
Or flourish to the height of my degree.

Suff. Go forward, and be chok'd with thy ambition And so farewell, until I meet thee next.

[Exit.

Som. Have with thee, Poole.-Farewell, ambitious Richard.

[Exit.

Plan. How I am brav'd, and must perforce endure it!

[house,

War. This blot, that they object against your Shall be wip'd out in the next parliament, Call'd for the truce of Winchester and Gloster: And, if thou be not then created York, I will not live to be accounted Warwick. Mean time, in signal of my love to thee, Against proud Somerset, and William Poole, Will I upon thy party wear this rose: And here I prophesy,-This brawl to-day, Grown to this faction, in the Temple garden, Shall send, between the red rose and the white, A thousand souls to death and deadly night. Plan. Good master Vernon, I am bound to you, That you on my behalf would pluck a flower. Ver. In your behalf still will I wear the same Law. And so will 1.

Plan. Thanks, gentle sir.

Come, let us four to dinner: I dare say,
This quarrel will drink blood another day. [Exeunt.
SCENE V. The same. A Room in the Tower.
Enter MORTIMER,13 brought in a Chair by two
Keepers.

Mor. Kind keepers of my weak decaying age, Let dying Mortimer here rest himself.

have derived some such privilege from the knights templars, or knights hospitallers, both religious orders, its former inhabitants. It is true, blows may have been prohibited by the regulations of the society: the author perhaps did not much consider the matter, but represents it as suited his purpose.

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8 Exempt for excluded.

9 Partaker, in ancient language, signifies one who takes part with another; an accomplice, a confederate. A partaker, or coparcioner; particeps, consors, con

4 Theobald altered fashion, which is the reading of the old copy, to faction. Warburton contends that by fashion is meant the badge of the red rose, which Somerset said that he and his friends would be distin- | socius.”—Baret. guished by.'

5 The poet mistakes. Plantagenet's paternal grandfather was Edmund of Langley, duke of York. His maternal grandfather was Roger Mortimer, earl of March, who was the son of Philippa, the daughter of Lionel, duke of Clarence. The duke therefore was his maternal great great grandfather.

6 i. e. those who have no right to arms.

7 It does not appear that the temple had any privilege of sanctuary at this time, being then, as now, the resi dence of law students The author might imagine it to

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10 So in Hamlet :Again :-

the table of my memory.'

shall live

Within the book and volume of my brain.” 11 Theobald changed this to reprehension: and Warburton explains it by opinion. It rather means conception, or a conceit taken that matters are different from what the truth warrants.

12 A cognizance is a badge.

13 This is at variance with the strict truth of history

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