William Shakespeare (1564–1616). The Oxford Shakespeare. 1914.

Act III. Scene II.

The First Part of King Henry the Sixth

France.Before Roan.

Enter JOAN LA PUCELLE, disguised, and Soldiers dressed like countrymen, with sacks upon their backs.

Joan.These are the city gates, the gates of Roan,

Through which our policy must make a breach:

Take heed, be wary how you place your words;

Talk like the vulgar sort of market-men

That come to gather money for their corn.

If we have entrance,—as I hope we shall,—

And that we find the slothful watch but weak,

I’ll by a sign give notice to our friends,

That Charles the Dauphin may encounter them.

First Sold.Our sacks shall be a mean to sack the city,

And we be lords and rulers over Roan;

Therefore we’ll knock.[Knocks.

Guard.[Within.]Qui est là?

Joan.Paisans, pauvres gens de France:

Poor market-folks that come to sell their corn.

Guard.[Opening the gates.]Enter, go in; the market-bell is rung.

Joan.Now, Roan, I’ll shake thy bulwarks to the ground.[JOAN LA PUCELLE, &c., enter the city.

Enter CHARLES, the BASTARD OF ORLEANS, ALENÇON, and Forces.

Char.Saint Denis bless this happy stratagem!

And once again we’ll sleep secure in Roan.

Bast.Here enter’d Pucelle and her practisants;

Now she is there how will she specify

Where is the best and safest passage in?

Alen.By thrusting out a torch from yonder tower;

Which, once discern’d, shows that her meaning is,

No way to that, for weakness, which she enter’d.

Enter JOAN LA PUCELLE on a battlement, holding out a torch burning.

Joan.Behold! this is the happy wedding torch

That joineth Roan unto her countrymen,

But burning fatal to the Talbotites![Exit.

Bast.See, noble Charles, the beacon of our friend,

The burning torch in yonder turret stands.

Char.Now shine it like a comet of revenge,

A prophet to the fall of all our foes!

Alen.Defer no time, delays have dangerous ends;

Enter, and cry ‘The Dauphin!’ presently,

And then do execution on the watch.[They enter the town.

Alarum.Enter TALBOT in an Excursion.

Tal.France, thou shalt rue this treason with thy tears,

If Talbot but survive thy treachery.

Pucelle, that witch, that damned sorceress,

Hath wrought this hellish mischief unawares,

That hardly we escap’d the pride of France.[Exit.

Alarum: Excursions.Enter from the town, BEDFORD, brought in sick in a chair. Enter TALBOT and BURGUNDY, and the English Forces. Then, enter on the walls, JOAN LA PUCELLE, CHARLES, the BASTARD OF ORLEANS, ALENÇON, and Others.

Joan.Good morrow, gallants! Want ye corn for bread?

I think the Duke of Burgundy will fast

Before he’ll buy again at such a rate.

’Twas full of darnel; do you like the taste?

Bur.Scoff on, vile fiend and shameless courtezan!

I trust ere long to choke thee with thine own,

And make thee curse the harvest of that corn.

Char.Your Grace may starve perhaps, before that time.

Bed.O! let no words, but deeds, revenge this treason!

Joan.What will you do, good grey-beard? break a lance,

And run a tilt at death within a chair?

Tal.Foul fiend of France, and hag of all despite,

Encompass’d with thy lustful paramours!

Becomes it thee to taunt his valiant age

And twit with cowardice a man half dead?

Damsel, I’ll have a bout with you again,

Or else let Talbot perish with this shame.

Joan.Are you so hot, sir? Yet, Pucelle, hold thy peace;

If Talbot do but thunder, rain will follow.[TALBOT and the rest consult together.

God speed the parliament! who shall be the speaker?

Tal.Dare ye come forth and meet us in the field?

Joan.Belike your lordship takes us then for fools,

To try if that our own be ours or no.

Tal.I speak not to that railing Hecate,

But unto thee, Alençon, and the rest;

Will ye, like soldiers, come and fight it out?

Alen.Signior, no.

Tal.Signior, hang! base muleters of France!

Like peasant foot-boys do they keep the walls,

And dare not take up arms like gentlemen.

Joan.Away, captains! let’s get us from the walls;

For Talbot means no goodness, by his looks.

God be wi’ you, my lord! we came but to tell you

That we are here.[Exeunt JOAN LA PUCELLE, amp;c., from the Walls.

Tal.And there will we be too, ere it be long,

Or else reproach be Talbot’s greatest fame!

Vow, Burgundy, by honour of thy house,—

Prick’d on by public wrongs sustain’d in France,—

Either to get the town again, or die;

And I, as sure as English Henry lives,

And as his father here was conqueror,

As sure as in this late-betrayed town

Great Cœur-de-lion’s heart was buried,

So sure I swear to get the town or die.

Bur.My vows are equal partners with thy vows.

Tal.But, ere we go, regard this dying prince,

The valiant Duke of Bedford. Come, my lord,

We will bestow you in some better place,

Fitter for sickness and for crazy age.

Bed.Lord Talbot, do not so dishonour me:

Here will I sit before the walls of Roan,

And will be partner of your weal or woe.

Bur.Courageous Bedford, let us now persuade you.

Bed.Not to be gone from hence; for once I read,

That stout Pendragon in his litter, sick,

Came to the field and vanquished his foes:

Methinks I should revive the soldiers’ hearts,

Because I ever found them as myself.

Tal.Undaunted spirit in a dying breast!

Then be it so: heavens keep old Bedford safe!

And now no more ado, brave Burgundy,

But gather we our forces out of hand,

And set upon our boasting enemy.[Exeunt all but BEDFORD and Attendants.

Alarum: Excursions; in one of which, enter SIR JOHN FASTOLFE and a Captain.

Cap.Whither away, Sir John Fastolfe, in such haste?

Fast.Whither away! to save myself by flight:

We are like to have the overthrow again.

Cap.What! will you fly, and leave Lord Talbot?

Fast.Ay,

All the Talbots in the world, to save my life.[Exit.

Cap.Cowardly knight! ill fortune follow thee![Exit.

Retreat: Excursions.Re-enter, from the town, JOAN LA PUCELLE, ALENÇON, CHARLES, &c., and exeunt, flying.

Bed.Now, quiet soul, depart when Heaven please,

For I have seen our enemies’ overthrow.

What is the trust or strength of foolish man?

They, that of late were daring with their scoffs

Are glad and fain by flight to save themselves.[Dies, and is carried off in his chair.

Alarum. Re-enter TALBOT, BURGUNDY, and Others.

Tal.Lost, and recover’d in a day again!

This is a double honour, Burgundy:

Yet heavens have glory for this victory!

Bur.Warlike and martial Talbot, Burgundy

Enshrines thee in his heart, and there erects

Thy noble deeds as valour’s monument.

Tal.Thanks, gentle duke. But where is Pucelle now?

I think her old familiar is asleep.

Now where’s the Bastard’s braves, and Charles his gleeks?

What! all amort? Roan hangs her head for grief,

That such a valiant company are fled.

Now will we take some order in the town,

Placing therein some expert officers,

And then depart to Paris to the king;

For there young Henry with his nobles lie.

Bur.What wills Lord Talbot pleaseth Burgundy.

Tal.But yet, before we go, let’s not forget

The noble Duke of Bedford late deceas’d,

But see his exequies fulfill’d in Roan:

A braver soldier never couched lance,

A gentler heart did never sway in court;

But kings and mightiest potentates must die,

For that’s the end of human misery.[Exeunt.

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