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But we will be reveng'd sufficiently.
Now it is supper-time in Orleans:

Here, through this grate, I can count every one,5
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.
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."

[Shot from the Town. SAL. and SirTHO. GAR. full.
Sal. O Lord, have mercy on us, wretched sinners!
Gar. O Lord, have mercy on me, woful man!
Tul. What chance is this, that suddenly hath cross'd
us?-

Speak, Salisbury; at least, if thou canst speak; How far'st thou, mirror of all martial men? One of thy eyes, and thy cheek's side struck off!7Accursed tower! accursed fatal hand, That hath contriv'd 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.

-

5 Here, through this grate, I can count every one,] Thus the second folio. The first, very hastily and unmetrically, reads:

6

Here, thorough this grate, 1 count each one. Steevens.

• enfeebled.] This word is here used as a quadrisyllable.

Malone.

thy cheek's side struck off!] Camden says in his Remaines, that the French scarce knew the use of great ordnance, till the siege of Mans in 1425, when a breach was made in the walls of that town by the English, under the conduct of this earl of Salis. bury; and that he was the first English gentleman that was slain by a cannon-ball. Malone.

8 One eye thou hast, &c.] A similar thought occurs in King Lear: my lord, you have one eye left,

་་

"To see some mischief on him." Steevens.

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 Nero-like,"

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.

Mess. 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.

[SAL. groans.

Tal. Hear, hear, how dying Salisbury doth groan!

It irks his heart, he cannot be reveng'd.-
Frenchmen, I'll be a Salisbury to you:-
Pucelle or puzzel, dolphin or dogfish,1

9 and Nero-like,] The first folio reads: Plantagenet, I will; and like thee

Steevens.

In the old copy, the word Nero is wanting, owing probably to the transcriber's not being able to make out the name. The editor of the second folio, with his usual freedom, altered the line thus:

[blocks in formation]

I am content to read with the second folio (not conceiving the emendation in it to be an arbitrary one) and omit only the needless repetition of the word-will. Surely there is some absurdity in making Talbot address Plantagenet, and invoke Nero, in the same line. Steevens.

1 Pucelle or puzzel, dolphin or dog fish,] Pussel means a dirty wench or a drab, from puzza, i. e. malus fætor, says Minshieu. In a translation from Stephens's Apology for Herodotus, in 1607, p. 98, we read "Some filthy queans, especially our puzzles of Paris, use this other theft."

Tollet.

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.2 [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:- -I'll have a bout with thee;
Devil, or devil's dam, I'll conjure thee:

Blood will I draw on thee,3 thou art a witch,
And straightway give thy soul to him thou serv'st.
Puc. Come, come, 'tis only I that must disgrace thee.

[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, But I, will chastise this high-minded strumpet.

Puc. Talbot, farewel; 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 hunger-starved men;

There are frequent references to Pucelle's name in this play: "I'scar'd the dauphin and his trull.”

Again:

"Scoff on, vile fiend, and shameless courtezan!" Malone. 2 And then we'll try what these dastard Frenchmen dare.] Perhaps the conjunction-and, or the demonstrative pronoun-these, for the sake of metre, should be omitted at the beginning of this line, which, in my opinion, however, originally ran thus:

Then try we what these dastard Frenchmen dare. Steevens.

3 Blood will I draw on thee,] The superstition of those times taught that he that could draw the witch's blood, was free from her power. Johnson.

Help Salisbury to make his testament:

This day is ours, as many more shall be.

[Puc. enters the Town, with Soldiers. Tal. My thoughts are whirled like a potter's wheel;5 I know not where I am, nor what I do:

6

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 timorous' 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 enter'd 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 TAL. and his Forces, &c.

4 - hunger-starved-] The same epithet is, I think, used by Shakspeare. The old copy lias-hungry-starved. Corrected by Mr. Rowe. Malone.

5 like a potter's wheel;] This idea might have been caught from Psalm lxxxiii, 13: “ Make them like unto a wheel, and Steevens.

as the stubble before the wind."

6 by fear, &c.] See Hannibal's stratagem to escape by fixing bundles of lighted twigs on the horns of oxen, recorded in Livy, Lib. XXII, c. xvi. H. White.

7

so timorous] Old copy-treacherous. Corrected by Mr. Pope. Malone.

SCENE VI.

The same.

Enter, on the Walls, PUCELLE, CHARLES, REIGNIER, ALENÇON, 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 Astræa'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 neʼer befall our state.

Reig. Why ring not out the bells throughout the town?9

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.
A statelier pyramis to her I'll rear,

Than Rhodope's, or Memphis', ever was:

8from the English wolves: &c.] Thus the second folio, The first omits the word-wolves. Steevens.

If Pucelle, by this term, does not allude to the hunger or fierceness of the English, she refers to the wolves by which their kingdom was formerly infested. So, in King Henry IV, P. II.

"Peopled with wolves, thy old inhabitants." Steevens.

9 Why ring not out the bells throughout the town?] The old copy, unnecessarily as well as redundantly reads→

Why ring not out the bells aloud &c.

But if the bells rang out, they must have rang aloud; for to ring out, as I am informed, is a technical term with that signification. The disagreeable jingle, however, of out and throughout, induces me to suppose the line originally stood thus:

Why ring not bells aloud throughout the town? Steevens.

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