SCENE IV

Orleans.

Enter, on the walls, a Master Gunner and his Boy.

M. Gun. 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.

M. Gun. 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 in-
trench'd,

Wont through a secret grate of iron bars 10
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;

10. "wont"; the old copy reads went; the emendation is Mr. Tyrwhitt's. The English wont, that is, are accustomed, to overpeer the city. It is the third person plural of the old verb wont. The emendation is fully supported by the speech in the Chronicles on which his is formed.-H. N. H.

And thou shalt find me at the governor's.

20

[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.

Sal. Talbot, my life, my joy, again return'd!
How wert thou handled being prisoner?
Or by what means got'st thou to be released?
Discourse, I prithee, on this turret's top.
Tal. 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

30

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.

22. "on the turrets," Ff., "in an upper chamber of a tower" (Malone).-I. G.

27. "Duke"; Theobald's emendation of "Earle" of the Ff.-I. G. 29. Here again the poet transposes the order of events. The affair in the Tower at Orleans which ended in the death of Salisbury took place October 23, 1428. The capture of Talbot by the French was at the Battle of Patay, June 18, 1429; of Santrailles by the English, in 1431.-H. N. H.

33. "so vile-esteem'd"; Pope, "so vilde esteem'd"; Ff., "so pil'd esteem'd"; Capell, "so pill'd esteem'd"; Mason, "so ill-esteemed," &c. -I. G.

The old copy reads "pil'd esteem'd"-as vile was frequently spelled vild by Shakespeare and others there can hardly be a doubt that it was the word.-H. N. H.

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.

Sal. Yet tell'st thou not how thou wert entertain'd. Tal. With scoffs and scorns and contumelious taunts.

In open market-place produced they me, 40
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;

50

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.

43. "This man [Talbot] was to the French people a very scourge and a daily terror, insomuch that as his person was fearful and terrible to his adversaries present, so his name and fame was spiteful and dreadful to the common people absent; insomuch that women in France, to feare their yong children, would crye the Talbot cometh" (Hall's Chronicle).—H. N. H.

53. "shot" marksman, "shots."-C. H. H.

=

Enter the Boy with a linstock.

Sal. 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, 60
And view the Frenchmen how they fortify:

Let us look in; the sight will much delight thee.
Sir Thomas Gargrave, and Sir William Glans-
dale,

Let me have your express opinions

Where is best place to make our battery next. Gar. I think, at the north gate; for there stand

lords.

Glan. And I, here, at the bulwark of the bridge.
Tal. For aught I see, this city must be famish'd,
Or with light skirmishes enfeebled.
[Here they shoot. Salisbury and Gargrave fall.
Sal. O Lord, have mercy on us, wretched sin-

ners!

70

Gar. O Lord, have mercy on me, woful man!
Tal. 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,

80

His sword did ne'er leave striking in the field. Yet livest 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; 90
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,

95. This looks as if the Poet thought Salisbury's name Plantagenet, while in fact it was Thomas Montacute. Holinshed gives the following account of him: "This earle was the man at that time, by whose wit, strength, and policie, the English name was much terrible to the French; which of himselfe might both appoint, command, and doo all things in manner at his pleasure; for suerlie he was both painefull, diligent, and ready to withstand all dangerous chances that were in hand, prompt in counsell, and of courage invincible; so that in no one man men put more trust, nor any singular person wan the harts so much of all men."-The main event of this scene is thus related by the same writer: "In the tower that was taken at the bridge end, there was an high chamber, having a grate full of barres of iron, by the which a man might looke all the length of the bridge into the citie; at which grate manie of the cheefe capteins stood manie times, viewing the citie, and devising in what place it was best to give the assault. They within the citie well perceived this tooting hole, and laid a peece of ordinance directlie against the window. It so chanced, that the nine and fiftith daie after the siege was laid the earle of Salisburie, sir Thomas Gargrave, and William Glasdale, with diverse other went into the said tower, and so into the high chamber, and looked out at the grate, and within a short space