And there my rendezvous is quite cut off.
Old I do wax; and from my weary limbs
Honour is cudgell'd. Well, bawd will I turn,
And something lean to cutpurse of quick hand.
To England will I steal, and there I'll steal:
And patches will I get unto these cudgell'd scars,
And swear I got them in the Gallia wars. [Exit.
SCENE II.-Troyes in Champagne. An Apart
ment in the French King's Palace.

Gow. Go, go; you are a counterfeit cowardly knave. | Have lost, or do not learn, for want of time,
Will you mock at an ancient tradition,-begun upon The sciences that should become our country;
an honourable respect, and worn as a memorable But grow, like savages,-as soldiers will,
trophy of predeceased valour,-and dare not avouch That nothing do but meditate on blood,-
in your deeds any of your words? I have seen you To swearing, and stern looks, diffus'd attire,
glecking and galling at this gentleman twice or And every thing that seems unnatural.
thrice. You thought, because he could not speak Which to reduce into our former favour
English in the native garb, he could not therefore You are assembled; and my speech entreats
handle an English cudgel: you find it otherwise; That I may know the let, why gentle peace
and, henceforth, let a Welsh correction teach you a Should not expel these inconveniences,
good English condition. Fare ye well. (Exit. And bless us with her former qualities. [peace,
Pist. Doth fortunc play the huswife with me now? K. Hen. If, duke of Burgundy, you would the
News have I that my Nell is dead i' the spital Whose want gives growth to the imperfections
Of malady of France;
Which you have cited, you must buy that peace
With full accord to all our just demands;
Whose tenours and particular effects
You have, enschedul'd briefly, in your hands.
Bur. The king hath heard them; to the which, as
There is no answer made.
[yet,
K. Hen.
Well then, the peace,
Which you before so urg'd, lies in his answer.
Fr. King. I have but with a cursorary eye
O'er-glanc'd the articles: pleaseth your grace
To appoint some of your council presently
To sit with us once more, with better heed
To re-survey them, we will, suddenly,
Pass our accept and peremptory answer.
K. Hen. Brother, we shall.-Go, uncle Exeter,-
And brother Clarence,-and you, brother Gloster,-
Warwick,-and Huntington,-go with the king:
And take with you free power, to ratify,
Augment, or alter, as your wisdoms best
Shall see advantageable for our dignity,
Any thing in, or out of, our demands;
And we 'll consign thereto.-Will you, fair sister,
Go with the princes, or stay here with us?
Q. Isa. Our gracious brother, I will go with them;
Haply a woman's voice may do some good,
When articles too nicely urg'd be stood on.
K. Hen. Yet leave our cousin Katharine here with
She is our capital demand, compris'd
[us;
Within the fore rank of our articles.
Q. Isa. She hath good leave.

Enter at one door, King Henry, Bedford, Gloster,
Exeter, Warwick, Westmoreland, and other Lords;
at another the French King, Queen Isabel, the
Princess Katharine, Lords, Ladies, &c., the Duke
of Burgundy, and his Train.

K. Hen. Peace to this meeting, wherefore we are
Unto our brother France, and to our sister, [met!
Health and fair time of day :-joy and good wishes
To our most fair and princely cousin Katharine;
And (as a branch and member of this royalty,
By whom this great assembly is contriv'd,)
We do salute you, duke of Burgundy;-
And, princes French, and peers, health to you all!
Fr. King, Right joyous are we to behold your face,
Most worthy brother England; fairly met:-
So are you, princes English, every one.

Q. Isa. So happy be the issue, brother England,
Of this good day, and of this gracious meeting,
As we are now glad to behold your eyes;
Your eyes, which hitherto have borne in them
Against the French, that met them in their bent,
The fatal balls of murthering basilisks:
The venom of such looks, we fairly hope,
Have lost their quality; and that this day
Shall change all griefs and quarrels into love.
K. Hen. To cry amen to that, thus we appear.
Q. Isa. You English princes all, I do salute you.
Bur. My duty to you both, on equal love,
Great kings of France and England! That I have
labour'd

With all my wits, my pains, and strong endeavours,
To bring your most imperial majesties
Unto this bar and royal interview,

Your mightiness on both parts best can witness.
Since then my office hatli so far prevail'd
That face to face, and royal eye to eye,
You have congreeted; let it not disgrace me,
If I demand, before this royal view,
What rub, or what impediment, there is,
Why that the naked, poor, and mangled peace,
Dear nurse of arts, plenties, and joyful births,
Should not, in this best garden of the world,
Our fertile France, put up her lovely visage?
Alas! she hath from France too long been chas'd;
And all her husbandry doth lie on heaps,
Corrupting in its own fertility.

Her vine, the merry cheerer of the heart,
Unpruned dies: her hedges even-pleached,
Like prisoners wildly over-grown with hair,
Put forth disorder'd twigs: her fallow leas
The darnel, hemlock, and rank fumitory,
Doth root upon; while that the coulter rusts
That should deracinate such savagery:
The even mead, that erst brought sweetly forth
The freckled cowslip, burnet, and green clover,
Wanting the scythe, all uncorrected, rank,
Conceives by idleness; and nothing teenis
But hateful docks, rough thistles, kecksies, burs,
Losing both beauty and utility:

And as our vineyards, fallows, meads, and hedges,
Defective in their natures, grow to wildness;
Even so our houses, and ourselves, and children,

[Exeunt all but Henry, Katharine, and her
Gentlewoman.

K. Hen.
Fair Katharine, and most fair!
Will you vouchsafe to teach a soldier terms,
Such as will enter at a lady's ear,
And plead his love-suit to her gentle heart?
Kath. Your majesty shall mock at me; I cannot
speak your England.

K. Hen. O fair Katharine, if you will love me soundly with your French heart, I will be glad to hear you confess it brokenly with your English tongue. Do you like me, Kate!

Kath. Pardonnez moy, I cannot tell vat is-like me. K. Hen. An angel is like you, Kate; and you are like an angel. Langes? Kath. Que dit-il? que je suis semblable à les Alice. Ouy, vrayment, (sauf vostre grace) ainsi dit-il. [blush to affirm it.

K. Hen. I said so, dear Katharine; and I must not Kath. O bon Dieu! les langues des hommes sont pleines des tromperies.

K. Hen. What says she, fair one? that the tongues of men are full of deceits?

Alice. Ouy; dat de tongues of de mans is be full of deceits: dat is de princess.

K. Hen. The princess is the better Englishwoman. I' faith, Kate, my wooing is fit for thy understanding: I am glad thou canst speak no better English; for, if thou could'st, thou would'st find me such a plain king, that thou would'st think I had sold my farm to buy my crown. I know no ways to mince it in love, but directly to say-I love you: then, if you urge me further than to say-Do you in faith? I wear out my suit. Give me your answer: i' faith, do; and so clap hands and a bargain: How say you, lady?

Kath. Sauf vostre honneur, me understand well. K. Hen. Marry, if you would put me to verses, or to dance for your sake, Kate, why you undid me: for the one, I have neither words nor measure; and for the other, I have no strength in measure, yet a reasonable measure in strength. If I could win a lady at leap-frog, or by vaulting into my saddle

and thou shalt wear me, if thou wear me, better and
better; And therefore tell me, most fair Katharine,
will you have me? Put off your maiden blushes;
avouch the thoughts of your heart with the looks of
an empress; take me by the hand, and say-Harry
of England, I am thine: which word thou shalt
no sooner bless mine ear withal, but I will tell thee
aloud England is thine, Ireland is thine, France is
thine, and Henry Plantagenet is thine; who, though
I speak it before his face, if he be not fellow with
the best king, thou shalt find the best king of good
fellows. Come, your answer in broken music; for
thy voice is music, and thy English broken: there-
fore, queen of all, Katharine, break thy mind to me
in broken English, Wilt thou have me?
Kath. Dat is, as it shall please de roy mon père.
K. Hen. Nay, it will please him well, Kate; it shall
please him, Kate.

with my armour on my back, under the correction of which honour I dare not swear thou lovest me; yet bragging be it spoken, I should quickly leap into a my blood begins to flatter me that thou dost, notwife Or, if I might buffet for my love, or bound withstanding the poor and untempering effect of my my horse for her favours, I could lay on like a visage. Now beshrew my father's ambition! he was butcher, and sit like a jack-an-apes, never off: but, thinking of civil wars when he got me; therefore before God, Kate, I cannot look greenly, nor gasp was I created with a stubborn outside, with an asout my eloquence, nor I have no cunning in pro- pect of iron, that when I come to woo ladies I fright testation; only downright oaths, which I never use them. But, in faith, Kate, the elder I wax the bettill urged, nor never break for urging. If thou ter I shall appear: my comfort is that old age, that canst love a fellow of this temper, Kate, whose face ill-layer up of beauty, can do no more spoil upon is not worth sunburning, that never looks in his my face: thou hast me, if thou hast me, at the worst; glass for love of any thing he sees there, let thine eye be thy cook. I speak to thee plain soldier: If thou canst love me for this, take me: if not, to say to thee that I shall die, is true: but-for thy love, by the lord, no; yet I love thee too. And while thou livest, dear Kate, take a fellow of plain and uncoined constancy; for he perforce must do thee right, because he hath not the gift to woo in other places: for these fellows of infinite tongue, that can rhyme themselves into ladies' favours, they do always reason themselves out again. What! a speaker is but a prater; a rhymne is but a ballad. A good leg will fall; a straight back will stoop; a black beard will turn white; a curled pate will grow bald; a fair face will wither; a full eye will wax hollow; but a good heart, Kate, is the sun and the moon; or, rather, the sun, and not the moon; for it shines bright, and never changes, but keeps his course truly. If thou would have such a one, take me: And take me, take a soldier; take a soldier, take a king: And what sayest thou then to my love? speak, my fair, and fairly, I pray thee. [France? Kath. Is it possible dat I sould love de enemy of K. Hen. No; it is not possible you should love the enemy of France, Kate: but, in loving me, you should love the friend of France; for I love France so well that I will not part with a village of it; I will have it all mine: and, Kate, when France is mine, and I am yours, then yours is France, and you are mine.

Kath. I cannot tell vat is dat.

K. Hen. No, Kate? I will tell thee in French; which, I am sure, will hang upon my tongue like a new-married wife about her husband's neck, hardly to be shook off. Quand j'ay la possession de France, et quand vous avez la possession de moy, (let me see, what then? Saint Dennis be my speed!) -donc vostre est France, et vous estes mienne. It is as easy for me, Kate, to conquer the kingdom as to speak so much more French: I shall never move thee in French, unless it be to laugh at me.

Kath. Sauf vostre honneur, le François que vous parlez est meilleur que l'Anglois lequel je parle. K. Hen. No, 'faith, is 't not, Kate: but thy speaking of my tongue, and I thine, most truly falsely, must needs be granted to be much at one. But, Kate, dost thou understand thus much English?

Canst thou love me?

Kath. Den it sall also content me. [you my queen. K. Hen. Upon that I kiss your hand, and I call Kath. Laissez, mon seigneur, laissez, laissez : ma foy, je ne veux point que vous abbaissez vostre grandeur, en baisant la main d'une vostre indigne serviteure; excusez moy, je vous supplie, mon tres puissant seigneur. K. Hen. Then I will kiss your lips, Kate. Kate. Les dames et demoiselles pour estre baisées devant leur nopces, il n'est pas de coûtume de France.

K. Hen. Madam my interpreter, what says she?
Alice. Dat it is not be de fashion pour les ladies of
France,-I cannot tell what is, baiser, en English.
K. Hen. To kiss.

Alice. Your majesty entendre bettre que moy.
K. Hen. It is not a fashion for the maids in France
to kiss before they are married, would she say?
Alice. Ouy, vrayment.

K. Hen. O Kate, nice customs curt'sy to great kings. Dear Kate, you and I cannot be confined within the weak list of a country's fashion; we are the makers of manners, Kate; and the liberty that follows our places stops the mouths of all findfaults; as I will do yours, for upholding the nice fashion of your country in denying me a kiss: therefore, patiently, and yielding. [Kissing her.] You have witchcraft in your lips, Kate: there is more eloquence in a sugar touch of them, than in Kath. I cannot tell. the tongues of the French council: and they should K. Hen, Can any of your neighbours tell, Kate? sooner persuade Harry of England than a general I'll ask them. Come, I know, thou lovest me: and petitior. of monarchs. Here comes your father. at night when you come into your closet, you'll question this gentlewoman about me; and I know, Ente, the French King and Queen, Burgundy, Kate, you will, to her, dispraise those parts in Redford, Gloster, Exeter, Westmoreland, and me that you love with your heart: but, good Kate.ner French and English Lords. mock me mercifully; the rather, gentle princess, because I love thee cruelly. If ever thou be'st mine, Kate, (as I have a saving faith within me tells me thou shalt,) I get thee with scambling, and thou must therefore needs prove a good soldier-breeder: Shall not thou and I, between Saint Dennis and Saint George, compound a boy, half French, half English, that shall go to Constantinople, and take the Turk by the beard? shall we not? what sayest thou, my fair flower-de-luce?

Kath. I do not know dat.

K. Hen. No; 't is hereafter to know, but now to promise: do but now promise, Kate, you will endeavour for your French part of such a boy; and, for my English moiety, take the word of a king and a bachelor. How answer you, la plus belle Katharine du monde, mon tres chere et divine déesse? Kath. Your majesté 'ave fausse French enough to deceive de most sage demoiselle dat is en France. K. Hen. Now, fye upon my false French! By mine honour, in true English, I love thee, Kate: by

Bur. God save your majesty! my royal cousin, teach you our princess English?

K. Hen. I would have her learn, my fair cousin, how perfectly I love her; and that is good English. Bur. Is she not apt?

K. Hen. Our tongue is rough, coz; and my condition is not smooth: so that, having neither the voice nor the heart of flattery about me, I cannot so conjure up the spirit of love in her, that he will appear in his true likeness.

Bur. Pardon the frankness of my mirth, if I answer you for that. If you would conjure in her you must make a circle: if conjure up love in her in his true likeness, he must appear naked and blind: Can you blame her then, being a maid yet rosed over with the virgin crimson of modesty, if she deny the appearance of a naked blind boy in her naked seeing self? It were, my lord, a hard condition for a maid to consign to.

K. Hen. Yet they do wink, and yield; as love is blind, and enforces.

Bur. They are then excused, my lord, when they see not what they do.

K. Hen. Then, good my lord, teach your cousin to consent winking.

Bur. I will wink on her to consent, my lord, if you will teach her to know my meaning: for maids, well summered and warm kept, are like flies at Bartholomew-tide, blind, though they have their eyes; and then they will endure handling, which before would not abide looking on.

K. Hen. This moral ties me over to time, and a hot summer; and so I shall catch the fly, your cousin, in the latter end, and she must be blind too. Bur. As love is, my lord, before it loves. K. Hen. It is so; and you may, some of you, thank love for my blindness; who cannot see many a fair French city, for one fair French maid that stands in

Fr. King. So please you.

will.

K. Hen. I am content; so the maiden cities you talk of may wait on her: so the maid that stood in the way of my wish shall show me the way to my [reason. Fr. King. We have consented to all terms of K. Hen. Is 't so, my lords of England? West. The king hath granted every article: His daughter, first; and then, in sequel, all, According to their firm proposed natures.

Exe. Only, he hath not yet subscribed this:-
Where your majesty demands,-That the king of
France, having any occasion to write for matter of
grant, shall name your highness in this form, and
with this addition, in French,-Notre tres cher filz
Henry roy d'Angleterre, héritier de France; and
thus in Latin,-Præclarissimus filius noster Hen-
ricus, rex Anglia, et hæres Francia.

Fr. King. Nor this I have not, brother, so denied,
But your request shall make me let it pass.
K. Hen. I pray you then, in love and dear alliance,
Let that one article rank with the rest:
And, thereupon, give me your daughter.

Fr. King. Take her, fair son; and from her blood
Issue to me: that the contending kingdoms [raise up
Of France and England, whose very shores look
With envy of each other's happiness,
[pale
May cease their hatred; and this dear conjunction
Plant neighbourhood and Christian-like accord
In their sweet bosoms, that never war advance
His bleeding sword 'twixt England and fair France.
All. Amen!
[ness all,
K. Hen. Now welcome, Kate :-and bear me wit-
That here I kiss her as my sovereign queen.
[Flourish.
Q. Isa. God, the best maker of all marriages,
Combine your hearts in one, your realms in one!
As man and wife, being two, are one in love,
So be there 'twixt your kingdoms such a spousal,
That never may ill office, or fell jealousy,
Which troubles oft the bed of blessed marriage,
Thrust in between the paction of these kingdoms,
To make divorce of their incorporate league;
That English may as French, French Englishmen,
Receive each other!-God speak this Amen!
All. Amen!

K. Hen. Prepare we for our marriage ;-on which
My lord of Burgundy, we 'll take your oath, [day,
And all the peers', for surety of our leagues.
Then shall I swear to Kate, and you to me;
And may our oaths well kept and prosperous be!
[Exeunt.
CHORUS.

Thus far, with rough and all unable pen,
Our bending author hath pursued the story;
In little room confining mighty men,
Mangling by starts the full course of their glory.
Small time, but in that small, most greatly liv'd
This star of England: fortune made his sword;
By which the world's best garden he achiev'd,
And of it left his son imperial lord.

Henry the Sixth, in infant bands crown'd king-
Of France and England, did this king succeed;
Whose state so many had the managing, [bleed:
That they lost France, and made his England
Which oft our stage hath shown; and, for their sake,
In your fair minds let this acceptance take.

FIRST PART OF

KING HENRY VI.

KING HENRY VI.

PERSONS REPRESENTED.

Mortimer's Keeper, and a Lawyer. | General of the French forces in

Tower.

VERNON, of the White Rose, or
York faction.
BASSET, of the Red Rose, or

DUKE OF GLOSTER, uncle to the Sir JOHN FASTOLFE.
King, and Protector.
Sir WILLIAM LUCY.
DUKE OF BEDFORD, uncle to the Sir WILLIAM GLANSDALE.
King, and regent of France. Sir THOMAS GARGRAVE.
THOMAS BEAUFORT, Duke of Mayor of London.
Exeter, great uncle to the King. WOODVILLE, Lieutenant of the
HENRY BEAUFORT, great uncle
to the King, bishop of Winches-
ter, and afterwards cardinal.
JOHN BEAUFORT, Farl of Som-
erset; afterwards duke.
RICHARD PLANTAGENET, eldest
son of Richard late Earl of Cam-
bridge; afterwards Duke of
EARL OF WARWICK. [York.
EARL OF SALISBURY.
EARL OF SUFFOLK.
LORD TALBOT, afterwards Earl
of Shrewsbury.

Lancaster faction.
CHARLES, Dauphin, and after-
wards King of France.
REIGNIER, Duke of Anjou, and
titular King of Naples.
DUKE OF BURGUNDY.
DUKE OF ALENÇON.
Governor of Paris.
BASTARD OF ORLEANS.

JOHN TALBOT, his son. [March.
EDMUND MORTIMER, Earl of his son.

Bourdeaux.

A French Sergeant.

A Porter.

An old Shepherd, father to Joan
La Pucelle.

MARGARET, daughter to Rei-
gnier; afterwards married to
King Henry.
COUNTESS OF AUVERGNE.
JOAN LA PUCELLE, commonly
called Joan of Arc.

Fiends appearing to La Pucelle,
Lords, Warders of the Tower,
Heralds, Officers, Soldiers, Mes-
sengers, and several Attendants
both on the English and French.

Master-Gunner of Orleans, and SCENE.-Partly in ENGLAND, and partly in FRANCE.

ACT I.

SCENE I.-Westminster Abbey.
Dead march. Corpse of King Henry V. discovered
lying in state; attended on by the Dukes of Bed-
ford, Gloster, and Exeter; the Earl of Warwick,
the Bishop of Winchester, Heralds, &c.
Bed. 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."
Glo. 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.

[blood?

Exe. We mourn in black: Why mourn we not in
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?

Win. 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.

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.
Exe. Were our tears wanting to this funeral,
Bed. Me they concern; regent I am of France.
These tidings would call forth her flowing tides.
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 another Messenger.

2 Mess. Lords, view these letters, full of bad mis-
France is revolted from the English quite; [chance:
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 Alençon flieth to his side.

Exe. The Dauphin crowned king! all fly to him!
O, whither shall we fly from this reproach?
Glo. We will not fly, but to our enemies' throats :-
Bedford, if thou be slack, I'll fight it out.
Bed. Gloster, why doubt 'st thou of my forwardness?
An ariny have I muster'd in my thoughts,
Wherewith already France is overrun.

Enter a third Messenger.

3 Mess. 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.
Win. What? wherein Talbot overcame? is 't so?
The circumstance I 'll tell you more at large.
3 Mess. O, no; wherein lordTalbot was o'erthrown:
The tenth of August last, this dreadful lord,
Retiring from the siege of Orleans,
Having full scarce six thousand in his troop,

Glo. The church! where is it? Had not church-By three and twenty thousand of the French

men pray'd,

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
They pitched in the ground confusedly, [hedges,
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.
Here, there, and everywhere, enrag'd he flew:
Hundreds he sent to hell, and none durst stand him;
All the whole army stood agaz'd on him:
The French exclaim'd, The devil was in arms;
His soldiers, spying his undaunted spirit,
A Talbot! a Talbot! cried out amain,
And rush'd into the bowels of the battle.
shall If sir John Fastolfe had not play'd the coward;
Here had the conquest fully been seal'd up,
[suck; He being in the vaward, (plac'd behind,

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.
Win. Gloster, 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.
Glo. 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. [in peace!
Bed. Cease, cease these jars, and rest your minds
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' moisten'd eyes babes

Our isle be made a nourish 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 Cæsar, or bright-

Enter a Messenger.

Mess. My honourable lords, health to you all!
Sad tidings bring I to you out of France,
Of loss, of slaughter, and discomfiture:
Guienne, Champaigne, Rheims, Orleans,
Paris, Guysors, Poictiers, are all quite lost. [corse?
Bed. What say'st thou, man, before dead Henry's
Speak softly; or the loss of those great towns
Will make him burst his lead, and rise from death.
Glo. Is Paris lost? is Rouen yielded up?
If Henry were recall'd to life again,
[ghost.
These news would cause him once more yield the
Exe. How were they lost? what treachery was us'd?
Mess. No treachery; but want of men and money.
Amongst the soldiers this is muttered,--
That here you maintain several factions;
And, whilst afield should be despatch'd and fought,
You are disputing of your generals.
One would have ling'ring wars, with little cost;
Another would fly swift, but wanteth wings;
A third man thinks, without expense at all,

With purpose to relieve and follow them,)
Cowardly fled, not having struck one stroke.
Hence grew the general wrack 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.
Bed. 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.

3 Mess. 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.
Bed. 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 all Europe quake.
3 Mess. 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.?
Exe. Remember, lords, your oaths to Henry sworn,
Either to quell the Dauphin utterly,
Or bring him in obedience to your yoke.
Bed. I do remember it; and here take my leave,
To go about my preparation.

[Exit.

Glo. 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.
Exe. 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.
Win. 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.

[Exit. Scene closes.
SCENE II.-France. Before Orleans.
Enter Charles, with his Forces; Alençon, Reignier,
and others.

Char. 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.
Alen. They want their porridge and their fat bull-
Either they must be dieted like mules, [beeves:
And have their provender tied to their mouths,
Or piteous they will look, like drowned mice.
Reig. Let's raise the siege: Why live we idly
Talbot is taken, whom we wont to fear: [here?
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.
Char. 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 fly. [Exeunt
Alarums. They are beaten back by the English,
with great loss. Re-enter Charles, Alençon, Reig.

nier, and others.

Char. 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.
Reig. 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.

Alen. 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 Goliasses,

It sendeth forth to skirmish. One to ten!

Lean raw-bon'd rascals! who would e'er suppose

They had such courage and audacity?

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.

Char. 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.
[Retires.

Enter La Pucelle, Bastard of Orleans, and others.
Reig. Fair maid, is 't thou wilt do these wond'rous
feats?
[me?

Puc. Reignier, is 't thou that thinkest to beguile
Where is the Dauphin?-come, come from behind;
I know thee well, though never seen before.
Be not amaz'd, there 's nothing hid from me:
In private will I talk with thee apart ;-
Stand back, you lords, and give us leave awhile.
Reig. She takes upon her bravely at first dash.
Puc. 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 pleas'd
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 promis'd and assur'd 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.
Char. Thou hast astonish'd me with thy high
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.

[terms;

Puc. I am prepar'd: here is my keen-edg'd sword,
Deck'd with five flower-de-luces on each side;
The which, at Touraine, in Saint Katherine's
churchyard,

Out of a great deal of old iron I chose forth.
Char. Then come o' God's name, I fear no woman.
Puc. And, while I live, I 'll ne'er fly from a man.
[They fight, and La Pucelle overcomes.
Char. Stay, stay thy hands; thou art an Amazon,
And fightest with the sword of Deborah.

Puc. Christ's mother helps me, else I were too weak.
Char. Whoe'er helps thee, 't is thou that must
Impatiently I burn with thy desire: [help me :

My heart and hands thou hast at once subdued.
Excellent Pucelle, if thy name be so,
Let me thy servant, and not sovereign, be;

Char. Let's leave this town; for they are hair-'T is the French Dauphin sueth to thee thus.

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.
Reig. I think, by some odd gimmers 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.
Alen. Be it so.

Enter the Bastard of Orleans.
Bast. Where's the prince Dauphin? I have news

for him.

Char. Bastard of Orleans, thrice welcome to us.
Bast. 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.

Else ne'er could he so long protract his speech.
Reig. Shall we disturb him, since he keeps no mean?
Alen. He may mean more than we poor men do
know:
[tongues.
These women are shrewd tempters with their
Reig. My lord, where are you? what devise you on?
Shall we give over Orleans, or no?

Puc. Why, no, I say, distrustful recreants!
Fight to the last gasp; I will be your guard.
Char. What she says I'll confirm; we'll fight it out.
Puc. Assign'd am I to be the English scourge.
This night the siege assuredly I'll raise :
Expect Saint Martin's summer, halcyon days,