William Shakespeare
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Histories
- King Henry IV Part 1
- King Henry IV Part 2
- King Henry V
- King Henry VI Part 1
- King Henry VI Part 2
- King Henry VI Part 3
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- The Comedy of Errors
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- The Two Gentlemen of Verona
- The Winter's Tale
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- Twelfth Night
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Poetry
- A Lover's Complaint
- Sonnets 1 to 50
- Sonnets 50 to 100
- Sonnets 100 to 154
- The Passionate Pilgrim
- The Phoenix and the Turtle
- The Rape of Lucrece
- Venus and Adonis
King Henry VI, Part 1 (c. 1588)
Illustration from Cassel's History of England - Century Edition, c. 1902" style="width: 272px; height: 300px; float: right;" class="PopBoxImageSmall" title="Click to magnify/shrink" onclick="Pop(this,50,'/');"/>ACT ONE
SCENE 1. Westminster Abbey.
[Dead March. Enter the funeral of King Henry the Fifth, attended on by the Duke of Bedford, Regent of France; the Duke of Gloucester, Protector; the Duke of Exeter, the Earl of Warwick, the Bishop of Winchester, Heralds, &c.]
BEDFORD.
- Hung be the heavens with black, yield day to night!
- Comets, importing change of times and states,
- Brandish your crystal tresses in the sky,
- And with them scourge the bad revolting stars
- That have consented unto Henry's death!
- King Henry the Fifth, too famous to live long!
- England ne'er lost a king of so much worth.
GLOUCESTER.
- England ne'er had a king until his time.
- Virtue he had, deserving to command:
- His brandish'd sword did blind men with his beams:
- His arms spread wider than a dragon's wings;
- His sparkling eyes, replete with wrathful fire,
- More dazzled and drove back his enemies
- Than mid-day sun fierce bent against their faces.
- What should I say? his deeds exceed all speech:
- He ne'er lift up his hand but conquered.
EXETER.
- We mourn in black: why mourn we not in blood?
- Henry is dead and never shall revive:
- Upon a wooden coffin we attend,
- And death's dishonourable victory
- We with our stately presence glorify,
- Like captives bound to a triumphant car.
- What! shall we curse the planets of mishap
- That plotted thus our glory's overthrow?
- Or shall we think the subtle-witted French
- Conjurers and sorcerers, that afraid of him
- By magic verses have contriv'd his end?
WINCHESTER.
- He was a king bless'd of the King of kings;
- Unto the French the dreadful judgment-day
- So dreadful will not be as was his sight.
- The battles of the Lord of hosts he fought:
- The Church's prayers made him so prosperous.
GLOUCESTER.
- The church! where is it? Had not churchmen pray'd,
- His thread of life had not so soon decay'd:
- None do you like but an effeminate prince,
- Whom, like a school-boy, you may over-awe.
WINCHESTER.
- Gloucester, whate'er we like, thou art Protector,
- And lookest to command the Prince and realm.
- Thy wife is proud; she holdeth thee in awe,
- More than God or religious churchmen may.
GLOUCESTER.
- Name not religion, for thou lov'st the flesh,
- And ne'er throughout the year to church thou go'st,
- Except it be to pray against thy foes.
BEDFORD.
- Cease, cease these jars and rest your minds in peace:
- Let's to the altar: heralds, wait on us:
- Instead of gold, we'll offer up our arms;
- Since arms avail not, now that Henry's dead.
- Posterity, await for wretched years,
- When at their mothers' moist eyes babes shall suck,
- Our isle be made a marish of salt tears,
- And none but women left to wail the dead.
- Henry the Fifth, thy ghost I invocate:
- Prosper this realm, keep it from civil broils,
- Combat with adverse planets in the heavens!
- A far more glorious star thy soul will make
- Than Julius Caesar or bright—
[Enter a Messenger.]
MESSENGER.
- My honourable lords, health to you all!
- Sad tidings bring I to you out of France,
- Of loss, of slaughter, and discomfiture:
- Guienne, Champagne, Rheims, Orleans,
- Paris, Guysors, Poictiers, are all quite lost.
BEDFORD.
- What say'st thou, man, before dead Henry's corse?
- Speak softly; or the loss of those great towns
- Will make him burst his lead and rise from death.
GLOUCESTER.
- Is Paris lost? Is Rouen yielded up
- If Henry were recall'd to life again,
- These news would cause him once more yield the ghost.
EXETER.
- How were they lost? What treachery was us'd?
MESSENGER.
- No treachery; but want of men and money.
- Amongst the soldiers this is muttered,
- That here you maintain several factions,
- And whilst a field should be dispatch'd and fought,
- You are disputing of your generals:
- One would have lingering wars with little cost;
- Another would fly swift, but wanteth wings;
- A third thinks, without expense at all,
- By guileful fair words peace may be obtain'd.
- Awake, awake, English nobility!
- Let not sloth dim your honours new-begot:
- Cropp'd are the flower-de-luces in your arms;
- Of England's coat one half is cut away.
EXETER.
- Were our tears wanting to this funeral,
- These tidings would call forth their flowing tides.
BEDFORD.
- Me they concern; Regent I am of France.
- Give me my steeled coat. I'll fight for France.
- Away with these disgraceful wailing robes!
- Wounds will I lend the French instead of eyes,
- To weep their intermissive miseries.
[Enter to them another Messenger.]
MESSENGER.
- Lords, view these letters full of bad mischance.
- France is revolted from the English quite,
- Except some petty towns of no import:
- The Dauphin Charles is crowned king in Rheims;
- The Bastard of Orleans with him is join'd;
- Reignier, Duke of Anjou, doth take his part;
- The Duke of Alencon flieth to his side.
EXETER.
- The Dauphin crowned king! all fly to him!
- O, whither shall we fly from this reproach?
GLOUCESTER.
- We will not fly, but to our enemies' throats.
- Bedford, if thou be slack, I'll fight it out.
BEDFORD.
- Gloucester, why doubt'st thou of my forwardness?
- An army have I muster'd in my thoughts,
- Wherewith already France is overrun.
[Enter another Messenger.]
MESSENGER.
- My gracious lords, to add to your laments,
- Wherewith you now bedew King Henry's hearse,
- I must inform you of a dismal fight
- Betwixt the stout Lord Talbot and the French.
WINCHESTER.
- What! wherein Talbot overcame? is't so?
MESSENGER.
- O, no; wherein Lord Talbot was o'erthrown:
- The circumstance I'll tell you more at large.
- The tenth of August last this dreadful lord,
- Retiring from the siege of Orleans,
- Having full scarce six thousand in his troop,
- By three and twenty thousand of the French
- Was round encompassed and set upon.
- No leisure had he to enrank his men;
- He wanted pikes to set before his archers;
- Instead whereof sharp stakes pluck'd out of hedges
- They pitched in the ground confusedly,
- To keep the horsemen off from breaking in.
- More than three hours the fight continued;
- Where valiant Talbot above human thought
- Enacted wonders with his sword and lance:
- Hundreds he sent to hell, and none durst stand him;
- Here, there, and every where, enrag'd he slew:
- The French exclaim'd, the devil was in arms;
- All the whole army stood agaz'd on him.
- His soldiers spying his undaunted spirit
- A Talbot! a Talbot! cried out amain,
- And rush'd into the bowels of the battle.
- Here had the conquest fully been seal'd up,
- If Sir John Fastolfe had not play'd the coward.
- He, being in the vaward, plac'd behind
- With purpose to relieve and follow them,
- Cowardly fled, not having struck one stroke.
- Hence grew the general wreck and massacre;
- Enclosed were they with their enemies:
- A base Walloon, to win the Dauphin's grace,
- Thrust Talbot with a spear into the back;
- Whom all France with their chief assembled strength
- Durst not presume to look once in the face.
BEDFORD.
- Is Talbot slain? then I will slay myself,
- For living idly here in pomp and ease,
- Whilst such a worthy leader, wanting aid,
- Unto his dastard foemen is betray'd.
MESSENGER.
- O no, he lives; but is took prisoner,
- And Lord Scales with him, and Lord Hungerford:
- Most of the rest slaughter'd or took likewise.
BEDFORD.
- His ransom there is none but I shall pay:
- I'll hale the Dauphin headlong from his throne:
- His crown shall be the ransom of my friend;
- Four of their lords I'll change for one of ours.
- Farewell, my masters; to my task will I;
- Bonfires in France forthwith I am to make
- To keep our great Saint George's feast withal:
- Ten thousand soldiers with me I will take,
- Whose bloody deeds shall make an Europe quake.
MESSENGER.
- So you had need; for Orleans is besieg'd;
- The English army is grown weak and faint:
- The Earl of Salisbury craveth supply,
- And hardly keeps his men from mutiny,
- Since they, so few, watch such a multitude.
EXETER.
- Remember, lords, your oaths to Henry sworn,
- Either to quell the Dauphin utterly,
- Or bring him in obedience to your yoke.
BEDFORD.
- I do remember it, and here take my leave
- To go about my preparation.
[Exit.]
GLOUCESTER.
- I'll to the Tower with all the haste I can,
- To view the artillery and munition;
- And then I will proclaim young Henry king.
[Exit.]
EXETER.
- To Eltham will I, where the young King is,
- Being ordain'd his special governor;
- And for his safety there I'll best devise.
[Exit.]
WINCHESTER.
- Each hath his place and function to attend:
- I am left out; for me nothing remains.
- But long I will not be Jack out of office:
- The King from Eltham I intend to steal,
- And sit at chiefest stern of public weal.
[Exeunt.]
SCENE 2. France. Before New Orleans.
[Sound a Flourish. Enter Charles, Alencon, and Reignier, marching with Drum and Soldiers.]
CHARLES.
- Mars his true moving, even as in the heavens
- So in the earth, to this day is not known:
- Late did he shine upon the English side;
- Now we are victors; upon us he smiles.
- What towns of any moment but we have?
- At pleasure here we lie near Orleans;
- Otherwhiles the famish'd English, like pale ghosts,
- Faintly besiege us one hour in a month.
ALENCON.
- They want their porridge and their fat bull beeves
- Either they must be dieted like mules,
- And have their provender tied to their mouths,
- Or piteous they will look, like drowned mice.
REIGNIER.
- Let's raise the siege: why live we idly here?
- Talbot is taken, whom we wont to fear:
- Remaineth none but mad-brain'd Salisbury;
- And he may well in fretting spend his gall,
- Nor men nor money hath he to make war.
CHARLES.
- Sound, sound alarum! we will rush on them.
- Now for the honour of the forlorn French!
- Him I forgive my death that killeth me
- When he sees me go back one foot or flee.
[Exeunt.]
Here alarum; they are beaten back by the English, with
- great loss. Re-enter Charles, Alencon, and Reignier.
CHARLES.
- Who ever saw the like? what men have I!
- Dogs! cowards! dastards! I would ne'er have fled,
- But that they left me 'midst my enemies.
REIGNIER.
- Salisbury is a desperate homicide;
- He fighteth as one weary of his life.
- The other lords, like lions wanting food,
- Do rush upon us as their hungry prey.
ALENCON.
- Froissart, a countryman of ours, records,
- England all Olivers and Rowlands bred
- During the time Edward the Third did reign.
- More truly now may this be verified;
- For none but Samsons and Goliases
- It sendeth forth to skirmish. One to ten!
- Lean raw-bon'd rascals! who would e'er suppose
- They had such courage and audacity?
CHARLES.
- Let's leave this town; for they are hare-brain'd slaves,
- And hunger will enforce them to be more eager:
- Of old I know them; rather with their teeth
- The walls they'll tear down than forsake the siege.
REIGNIER.
- I think by some odd gimmors or device
- Their arms are set like clocks, still to strike on;
- Else ne'er could they hold out so as they do.
- By my consent, we'll even let them alone.
ALENCON.
- Be it so.
[Enter the Bastard of Orleans.]
BASTARD.
- Where's the Prince Dauphin? I have news for him.
CHARLES.
- Bastard of Orleans, thrice welcome to us.
BASTARD.
- Methinks your looks are sad, your cheer appall'd:
- Hath the late overthrow wrought this offence?
- Be not dismay'd, for succour is at hand:
- A holy maid hither with me I bring,
- Which by a vision sent to her from heaven
- Ordained is to raise this tedious siege,
- And drive the English forth the bounds of France.
- The spirit of deep prophecy she hath,
- Exceeding the nine sibyls of old Rome:
- What's past and what's to come she can descry.
- Speak, shall I call her in? Believe my words,
- For they are certain and unfallible.
CHARLES.
- Go, call her in. [Exit Bastard.]
- But first, to try her skill,
- Reignier, stand thou as Dauphin in my place;
- Question her proudly; let thy looks be stern:
- By this means shall we sound what skill she hath.
[Re-enter the Bastard of Orleans, with Joan La Pucelle.]
REIGNIER.
- Fair maid, is 't thou wilt do these wondrous feats?
PUCELLE.
- Reignier is 't thou that thinkest to beguile me?
- Where is the Dauphin? Come, come from behind;
- I know thee well, though never seen before.
- Be not amazed, there's nothing hid from me.
- In private will I talk with thee apart.
- Stand back, you lords, and give us leave awhile.
REIGNIER.
- She takes upon her bravely at first dash.
PUCELLE.
- Dauphin, I am by birth a shepherd's daughter,
- My wit untrain'd in any kind of art.
- Heaven and our Lady gracious hath it pleased
- To shine on my contemptible estate:
- Lo, whilst I waited on my tender lambs
- And to sun's parching heat display'd my cheeks,
- God's mother deigned to appear to me,
- And in a vision full of majesty
- Will'd me to leave my base vocation,
- And free my country from calamity:
- Her aid she promised and assured success:
- In complete glory she reveal'd herself;
- And, whereas I was black and swart before,
- With those clear rays which she infused on me
- That beauty am I bless'd with which you may see.
- Ask me what question thou canst possible,
- And I will answer unpremeditated:
- My courage try by combat, if thou dar'st,
- And thou shalt find that I exceed my sex.
- Resolve on this, thou shalt be fortunate,
- If thou receive me for thy warlike mate.
CHARLES.
- Thou hast astonish'd me with thy high terms;
- Only this proof I 'll of thy valour make,
- In single combat thou shalt buckle with me,
- And if thou vanquishest, thy words are true;
- Otherwise I renounce all confidence.
PUCELLE.
- I am prepared: here is my keen-edg'd sword,
- Deck'd with five flower-de-luces on each side,
- The which at Touraine, in Saint Katharine's church-yard,
- Out of a great deal of old iron I chose forth.
CHARLES.
- Then come, o' God's name; I fear no woman.
PUCELLE.
- And while I live, I 'll ne'er fly from a man.
- Here they fight, and Joan La Pucelle overcomes.
CHARLES.
- Stay, stay thy hands; thou art an Amazon,
- And fightest with the sword of Deborah.
PUCELLE.
- Christ's Mother helps me, else I were too weak.
CHARLES.
- Whoe'er helps thee, 'tis thou that must help me:
- Impatiently I burn with thy desire;
- My heart and hands thou hast at once subdued.
- Excellent Pucelle, if thy name be so,
- Let me thy servant and not sovereign be:
- 'Tis the French Dauphin sueth to thee thus.
PUCELLE.
- I must not yield to any rites of love,
- For my profession's sacred from above:
- When I have chased all thy foes from hence,
- Then will I think upon a recompense.
CHARLES.
- Meantime look gracious on thy prostrate thrall.
REIGNIER.
- My lord, methinks, is very long in talk.
ALENCON.
- Doubtless he shrives this woman to her smock;
- Else ne'er could he so long protract his speech.
REIGNIER.
- Shall we disturb him, since he keeps no mean?
ALENCON.
- He may mean more than we poor men do know:
- These women are shrewd tempters with their tongues.
REIGNIER.
- My lord, where are you? what devise you on?
- Shall we give over Orleans, or no?
PUCELLE.
- Why, no, I say; distrustful recreants!
- Fight till the last gasp; I will be your guard.
CHARLES.
- What she says I'll confirm: we'll fight it out:
PUCELLE.
- Assign'd am I to be the English scourge.
- This night the siege assuredly I 'll raise:
- Expect Saint Martin's summer, halcyon days,
- Since I have entered into these wars.
- Glory is like a circle in the water,
- Which never ceaseth to enlarge itself
- Till by broad spreading it disperse to nought.
- With Henry's death the English circle ends;
- Dispersed are the glories it included.
- Now am I like that proud insulting ship
- Which Caesar and his fortune bare at once.
CHARLES.
- Was Mahomet inspired with a dove?
- Thou with an eagle art inspired then.
- Helen, the mother of great Constantine,
- Nor yet Saint Philip's daughters, were like thee.
- Bright star of Venus, fall'n down on the earth,
- How may I reverently worship thee enough?
ALENCON.
- Leave off delays, and let us raise the siege.
REIGNIER.
- Woman, do what thou canst to save our honors;
- Drive them from Orleans and be immortalized.
CHARLES.
- Presently we 'll try: come, let's away about it:
- No prophet will I trust, if she prove false.
[Exeunt.]
SCENE 3. London. Before the Tower.
[Enter the Duke of Gloucester, with his Serving-men in blue coats.]
GLOUCESTER.
- I am come to survey the Tower this day:
- Since Henry's death, I fear, there is conveyance.
- Where be these warders that they wait not here?
- Open the gates; 'tis Gloucester that calls.
FIRST WARDER.
- [Within] Who's there that knocks so imperiously?
FIRST SERVING-MAN.
- It is the noble Duke of Gloucester.
SECOND WARDER.
- [Within] Whoe'er he be, you may not be let in.
FIRST SERVING-MAN.
- Villains, answer you so the lord protector?
FIRST WARDER.
- [Within] The Lord protect him! so we answer him:
- We do no otherwise than we are will'd.
GLOUCESTER.
- Who willed you? or whose will stands but mine?
- There's none protector of the realm but I.
- Break up the gates, I 'll be your warrantize:
- Shall I be flouted thus by dunghill grooms?
- Gloucester's men rush at the Tower Gates, and Woodvile the
- Lieutenant speaks within.
WOODVILE.
- What noise is this? what traitors have we here?
GLOUCESTER.
- Lieutenant, is it you whose voice I hear?
- Open the gates; here's Gloucester that would enter.
WOODVILE.
- Have patience, noble duke; I may not open;
- The Cardinal of Winchester forbids:
- From him I have express commandment
- That thou nor none of thine shall be let in.
GLOUCESTER.
- Faint-hearted Woodvile, prizest him 'fore me?
- Arrogant Winchester, that haughty prelate
- Whom Henry, our late sovereign, ne'er could brook?
- Thou art no friend to God or to the King.
- Open the gates, or I 'll shut thee out shortly.
SERVING-MEN.
- Open the gates unto the lord protector,
- Or we 'll burst them open, if that you come not quickly.
[Enter to the Protector at the Tower Gates Winchester and his men in tawny coats.]
WINCHESTER.
- How now, ambitious Humphry! what means this?
GLOUCESTER.
- Peel'd priest, dost thou command me to be shut out?
WINCHESTER.
- I do, thou most usurping proditor,
- And not protector, of the king or realm.
GLOUCESTER.
- Stand back, thou manifest conspirator,
- Thou that contrivedst to murder our dead lord;
- Thou that givest whores indulgences to sin:
- I 'll canvass thee in thy broad cardinal's hat,
- If thou proceed in this thy insolence.
WINCHESTER.
- Nay, stand thou back; I will not budge a foot:
- This be Damascus, be thou cursed Cain,
- To slay thy brother Abel, if thou wilt.
- GLOUCESTER.
- I will not slay thee, but I 'll drive thee back:
- Thy scarlet robes as a child's bearing-cloth
- I 'll use to carry thee out of this place.
WINCHESTER.
- Do what thou darest; I beard thee to thy face.
GLOUCESTER.
- What! am I dared and bearded to my face?
- Draw, men, for all this privileged place;
- Blue coats to tawny coats. Priest, beware your beard;
- I mean to tug it and to cuff you soundly:
- Under my feet I stamp thy cardinal's hat:
- In spite of pope or dignities of church,
- Here by the cheeks I 'll drag thee up and down.
WINCHESTER.
- Gloucester, thou wilt answer this before the
- pope.
GLOUCESTER.
- Winchester goose, I cry, a rope! a rope!
Now beat them hence; why do you let them stay?
- Thee I 'll chase hence, thou wolf in sheep's array.
- Out, tawny coats! out, scarlet hypocrite!
- Here Gloucester's men beat out the Cardinal's
- men, and enter in the hurly-burly the Mayor of
- London and his Officers.
MAYOR.
- Fie, lords! that you, being supreme magistrates,
- Thus contumeliously should break the peace!
GLOUCESTER.
- Peace, mayor! thou know'st little of my wrongs:
- Here's Beaufort, that regards nor God nor king,
- Hath here distrain'd the Tower to his use.
WINCHESTER.
- Here's Gloucester, a foe to citizens,
- One that still motions war and never peace,
- O'ercharging your free purses with large fines,
- That seeks to overthrow religion,
- Because he is protector of the realm,
- And would have armour here out of the Tower,
- To crown himself king and suppress the prince.
GLOUCESTER.
- I will not answer thee with words, but blows.
- Here they skirmish again.
MAYOR.
- Nought rests for me in this tumultuous strife
- But to make open proclamation:
- Come, officer; as loud as e'er thou canst:
- Cry.
OFFICER.
- 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.
GLOUCESTER.
- Cardinal, I 'll be no breaker of the law;
- But we shall meet, and break our minds at large.
WINCHESTER.
- Gloucester, we will meet; to thy cost, be 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's more haughty than the devil.
GLOUCESTER.
- Mayor, farewell: thou dost but what thou mayst.
WINCHESTER.
- Abominable Gloucester, guard thy head;
- For I intend to have it ere long.
[Exeunt, severally, Gloucester and Winchester with their Serving-men.]
MAYOR.
- See the coast clear'd, and then we will depart.
- Good God, these nobles should such stomachs bear!
- I myself fight not once in forty year.
[Exeunt.]
[Enter, on the walls, a Master Gunner and his Boy.]
MASTER GUNNER.
- Sirrah, thou know'st how Orleans is besieged,
- And how the English have the suburbs won.
BOY.
- Father, I know; and oft have shot at them,
- Howe'er unfortunate I miss'd my aim.
MASTER GUNNER.
- But now thou shalt not. Be thou ruled by me:
- Chief master-gunner am I of this town;
- Something I must do to procure me grace.
- The prince's espials have informed me
- How the English, in the suburbs close intrench'd,
- Wont through a secret grate of iron bars
- In yonder tower to overpeer 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 placed;
- And even these three days have I watch'd,
- If I could see them.
- 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.]
BOY.
- Father, I warrant you; take you no care;
- I'll never trouble you, if I may spy them.
[Exit.]
[Enter, on the turrets, the Lords Salisbury and Talbot, Sir William Glansdale, Sir Thomas Gargrave, and others.]
SALISBURY.
- Talbot, my life, my joy, again return'd!
- How wert thou handled being prisoner?
- Or by what means got'st thou to be releas'd?
- Discourse, I prithee, on this turret's top.
TALBOT.
- The Duke of Bedford had a prisoner
- Call'd the brave Lord Ponton de Santrailles;
- For him was I exchanged and ransomed.
- But with a baser man of arms by far
- Once in contempt they would have barter'd me:
- Which I disdaining scorn'd, and craved death
- Rather than I would be so vile-esteem'd.
- In fine, redeem'd I was as I desired.
- But, O! the treacherous Fastolfe wounds my heart,
- Whom with my bare fists I would execute,
- If I now had him brought into my power.
SALISBURY.
- Yet tell'st thou not how thou wert entertain'd.
TALBOT.
- 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.
- Then broke I from the officers that led me,
- 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
- That they supposed I could rend bars of steel,
- And spurn in pieces posts of adamant:
- Wherefore a guard of chosen shot I had,
- That walk'd about me every minute while;
- And if I did but stir out of my bed,
- Ready they were to shoot me to the heart.
[Enter the Boy with a linstock.]
SALISBURY.
- I grieve to hear what torments you endured,
- But we will be revenged sufficiently.
- Now it is supper-time in Orleans:
- Here, through this grate, I count each one,
- And view the Frenchmen how they fortify:
- Let us look in; the sight will much delight thee.
- Sir Thomas Gargrave and Sir William Glansdale,
- Let me have your express opinions
- Where is best place to make our battery next.
GARGRAVE.
- I think, at the north gate; for there stand lords.
GLANSDALE.
- And I, here, at the bulwark of the bridge.
TALBOT.
- For aught I see, this city must be famish'd,
- Or with light skirmishes enfeebled.
[Here they shoot. Salisbury and Gargrave fall.]
SALISBURY.
- O Lord, have mercy on us, wretched sinners!
GARGRAVE.
- O Lord, have mercy on me, woful man!
TALBOT.
- 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 woful tragedy!
- In thirteen battles Salisbury o'ercame;
- Henry the Fifth he first train'd to the wars;
- 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:
- 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?
- Speak unto Talbot; nay, look up to him.
- Salisbury, cheer thy spirit with this comfort,
- Thou shalt not die whiles—
- He 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 thy name.
[Here an alarum, and it thunders and lightens. ]
- What stir is this? what tumult's in the heavens?
- Whence cometh this alarum and the noise?
[Enter a Messenger.]
MESSENGER.
- 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.]
TALBOT.
- 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.
[Alarum. Exeunt.]
[Here an alarum again: and Talbot pursueth the Dauphin, and driveth him: then enter Joan La Pucelle, driving Englishmen before her, and exit after them: then re-enter Talbot.]
TALBOT.
- Where is my strength, my valor, and my force?
- Our English troops retire, I cannot stay them:
- A woman clad in armour chaseth them.
[Re-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 servest.
PUCELLE.
- Come, come, 'tis only I that must disgrace thee.
[Here they fight.]
TALBOT.
- 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.
[They fight again.]
PUCELLE.
- Talbot, farewell; thy hour is not yet come:
- I must go victual Orleans forthwith.
[A short alarum: then enter the town with soldiers.]
- 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.
[Exit.]
TALBOT.
- 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 lions' stead:
- Sheep run not half so treacherous from the wolf,
- Or horse or oxen from the leopard,
- As you fly from your oft-subdued slaves.
[Alarum. Here 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 ent'red 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.
[Exit Talbot. Alarum; retreat; flourish.]
[Enter, on the walls, La Pucelle, Charles, Reignier, Alencon, and Soldiers.]
PUCELLE.
- Advance our waving colours on the walls;
- Rescued is Orleans from the English:
- Thus Joan la Pucelle hath perform'd her word.
CHARLES.
- Divinest creature, Astraea'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.
REIGNIER.
- Why ring not out the bells aloud 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.
ALENCON.
- All France will be replete with mirth and joy,
- When they shall hear how we have play'd the men.
- CHARLES.
- '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 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,
- Transported shall be at high festivals
- Before the kings and queens of France.
- No longer on Saint Denis 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.]