In earnest of a further benefit,

So you do condescend to help me now. [They hang their heads.
No hope to have redress ?-My body shall
Pay recompense, if you will grant my suit.

[They shake their heads.

Cannot my body nor blood-sacrifice
Entreat you to your wonted furtherance?
Then take my soul,-my body, soul, and all,

Before that England give the French the foil. [They depart.

See, they forsake me! Now the time is come,
That France must vail her lofty-plumèd crest,
And let her head fall into England's lap.
My ancient incantations are too weak,
And hell too strong for me to buckle with:
Now, France, thy glory droopeth to the dust.

[Exit.

Alarums. Enter French and English, fighting. LA PUCELLE and YORK fight hand to hand:(186) LA PUCELLE is taken. The French fly.

York. Damsel of France, I think I have you fast:
Unchain your spirits now with spelling charms,
And try if they can gain your liberty.-
A goodly prize, fit for the devil's grace!
See, how the ugly witch doth bend her brows,
As if, with Circe, she would change my shape!

Puc. Chang'd to a worser shape thou canst not be.
York. O, Charles the Dauphin is a proper man;
No shape but his can please your dainty eye.

Puc. A plaguing mischief light on Charles and thee! And may ye both be suddenly surpris'd

By bloody hands, in sleeping on your beds!

York. Fell banning hag, enchantress, hold thy tongue! Puc. I prithee, give me leave to curse awhile.

York. Curse, miscreant, when thou comest to the stake.

[Exeunt.

(136) La Pucelle and York fight hand to hand :] The folio has "Burgundie and Yorke fight hand to hand."

Alarums. Enter SUFFOLK, leading in MARGARET.

Suf. Be what thou wilt, thou art my prisoner.

O fairest beauty, do not fear nor fly!
For I will touch thee but with reverent hands,
And lay them gently on thy tender side.

I kiss these fingers for eternal peace.(137) [Kissing her hand.

Who art thou? say, that I may honour thee.

Mar. Margaret my name, and daughter to a king,

(137) And lay them gently on thy tender side.
I kiss these fingers for eternal peace.]

[Gazes on her.

The King of Naples,-whosoe'er thou art.

Suf. An earl I am, and Suffolk am I call'd.

Be not offended, nature's miracle,

Thou art allotted to be ta'en by me:

So doth the swan her downy cygnets save,
Keeping them prisoners underneath her wings.(138)
Yet, if this servile usage once offend,

Go, and be free again as Suffolk's friend.

[She turns away as going. O, stay![Aside] I have no power to let her pass; My hand would free her, but my heart says no. As plays the sun upon the glassy streams, Twinkling another counterfeited beam,(139)

let her pass;

says no.

streams, beam,]

In the folio these two lines are by mistake transposed. Capell first arranged them rightly.-1864. Mr. Staunton defends the old reading: he supposes that Suffolk kisses his own fingers,-" a symbol of peace," says Malone, "of which there is, I believe, no example."

66

(138) Keeping them prisoners underneath her wings.] The folio has prisoner underneath his wings."-The second folio corrects the latter of these errors.-The third folio gives the line rightly.

(139)

In the first line Mr. Collier's Ms. Corrector substitutes "go" for "pass;" and very probably such was the original author's reading, as also, in the third line, "stream" but is it not equally probable that here, as occasionally elsewhere, the rhymes were purposely done away with when the play underwent those alterations with which it is exhibited in the

So seems this gorgeous beauty to mine eyes.
Fain would I woo her, yet I dare not speak:
I'll call for pen and ink, and write my mind:—
Fie, de la Pole! disable not thyself;

Hast not a tongue? is she not here thy prisoner ?(140)
Wilt thou be daunted at a woman's sight?

Ay, beauty's princely majesty is such,

Confounds the tongue, and makes the senses crouch.(141)

Mar. Say, Earl of Suffolk,—if thy name be so,— What ransom must I pay before I pass?

For I perceive I am thy prisoner.

Suf. [aside] How canst thou tell she will deny thy suit Before thou make a trial of her love?

Mar. Why speak'st thou not? what ransom must I pay ? Suf. [aside] She's beautiful, and therefore to be woo'd; She is a woman, therefore to be won.

Mar. Wilt thou accept of ransom-yea or no?

Suf. [aside] Fond man, remember that thou hast a wife; Then how can Margaret be thy paramour?

folio? (Mr. Collier's Ms. Corrector is not always fortunate in restoring a rhyme: at p. 89, where the common lection is,

"For princes should be free.

Suf.
And so shall you,
If happy England's royal king be free.

Mar. Why, what concerns his freedom unto me?"

he makes Suffolk say, "If happy England's royal king be true,"-without any regard to what immediately follows.)

(140) is she not here thy prisoner?] The words "thy prisoner" were added in the second folio; nor does this addition appear to me so objectionable as it does to Mr. W. N. Lettsom: see his note apud Walker's Crit. Exam., &c., vol. iii. p. 152.

(141) Ay, beauty's princely majesty is such,

Confounds the tongue, and makes the senses crouch.] The folio has " and makes the senses rough."-I adopt Hanmer's reading, which at least affords a meaning, and suits the context. (Compare a modern poet;

"how
every sense
Bows to your beauties," &c.

Mr. Collier's Ms. Corrector substitutes " touch," which is bad enough; while Mr. (Shakespeare Vindicated, &c., p. 145) gives touch," which is little, if at all, better.

""

-

Byron's Island, c. ii.)—

and mocks the sense of Singer's Ms. Corrector

and wakes the sense's.

Mar. I were best to leave him,(142) for he will not hear. Suf. [aside] There all is marr'd; there lies a cooling-card. Mar. He talks at random; (43) sure, the man is mad. Suf. [aside] And yet a dispensation may be had. Mar. And yet I would that you would answer me. Suf. [aside] I'll win this Lady Margaret. For whom? Why, for my king: tush, that's a wooden thing!

Mar. He talks of wood: it is some carpenter.

Suf. [aside] Yet so my fancy may be satisfied,
And peace established between these realms.
But there remains a scruple in that too;
For though her father be the King of Naples,
Duke of Anjou and Maine, yet is he poor,
And our nobility will scorn the match.

Mar. Hear ye, captain,—are you not at leisure ?

Suf. [aside] It shall be so, disdain they ne'er so much : Henry is youthful, and will quickly yield.—

Madam, I have a secret to reveal.

Mar. [aside] What though I be enthrall'd? he seems a knight,

And will not any way dishonour me.

Suf. Lady, vouchsafe to listen what I say.

Mar. [aside] Perhaps I shall be rescu'd by the French; And then I need not crave his courtesy.

Suf. Sweet madam, give me hearing in a cause

Mar. [aside] Tush, women have been captivate ere now. Suf. I prithee, lady,(144) wherefore talk you so? Mar. I cry you mercy, 'tis but quid for quo. Suf. Say, gentle princess, would you not suppose Your bondage happy, to be made a queen ?

(142) I were best to leave him,] Here Capell was the first to omit "to:" but see Walker's Crit. Exam., &c., vol. ii. p. 205.

(143) at random;] Here the folio has "at randon" (a not unusual form with early writers); but in The Two Gent. of Verona, act ii. sc. I, it has "I writ at randome."

(144) I prithee, lady,] The folio has merely "Lady,"-there being, as Walker observes, "a gap, apparently, at the beginning of the line" (Crit. Exum., &c., vol. iii. p. 152).-Capell printed "Nay, hear me, lady."Mr. Collier's Ms. Corrector reads "Lady, pray tell me."-Mr. W. N. Lettsom proposes "Lady, sweet lady" (but Suffolk calls her "sweet" in his preceding speech).

Mar. To be a queen in bondage is more vile Than is a slave in base servility;

For princes should be free.

Suf.
If happy England's royal king be free.

And so shall you,

Mar. Why, what concerns his freedom unto me?
Suf. I'll undertake to make thee Henry's queen;
To put a golden sceptre in thy hand,
And set a precious crown upon thy head,
If thou wilt condescend to—(145)

Mar.

What?

Suf.

His love.

Mar. I am unworthy to be Henry's wife.
Suf. No, gentle madam; I unworthy am
To woo so fair dame to be his wife,
And have no portion in the choice myself.
How say you, madam,-are ye so content?

Mar. An if my father please, I am content.
Suf. Then call our captains and our colours forth !—
[Troops come forward.

And, madam, at your father's castle-walls
We'll crave a parley, to confer with him.

A parley sounded. Enter REIGNIER on the walls.
See, Reignier, see, thy daughter prisoner!
Reig. To whom?

Suf.

Reig.

To me.

Suffolk, what remedy?

I am a soldier, and unapt to weep

Or to exclaim on fortune's fickleness.

Suf. Yes, there is remedy enough, my lord:
Consent and, for thy honour, give consent-
Thy daughter shall be wedded to my king;
Whom I with pain have woo'd and won thereto;
And this her easy-held imprisonment
Hath gain'd thy daughter princely liberty.

(145) condescend to-] The folio has "condiscend to be my-." "I have little doubt that the words 'be my' are an interpolation." ŠTEEVENS.