And as my duty springs, so perish they

That grudge one thought against your majesty!

All. Welcome, high prince, the mighty duke of

York!

Som. Perish, base prince, ignoble duke of York!

Glo. Now will it best avail your majesty,

To cross the seas, and to be crowned in France.
The presence of a king engenders love

Amongst his subjects, and his loyal friends;
As it disanimates his enemies.

[Aside.

K. Hen. When Gloster says the word, king Henry

goes;

For friendly counsel cuts off many foes.

Glo. Your ships already are in readiness.

[Exeunt all but EXETER.

Exe. Ay, we may march in England, or in France,

Not seeing what is likely to ensue.

This late dissension, grown betwixt the peers,
Burns under feigned ashes of forged love,
And will at last break out into a flame;
As festered members rot but by degrees,
Till bones, and flesh, and sinews, fall away,
So will this base and envious discord breed.
And now I fear that fatal prophecy,
Which in the time of Henry, named the Fifth,
Was in the mouth of every sucking babe,-
That Henry, born at Monmouth, should win all;
And Henry, born at Windsor, should lose all:
Which is so plain, that Exeter doth wish
His days may finish ere that hapless time.

[Exit.1

1

1 The duke of Exeter died shortly after the meeting of this parliament, and the earl of Warwick was appointed governor or tutor to the king in

his room.

SCENE II. France. Before Rouen.

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

Puc. These are the city gates, the gates of Rouen, 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.

1 Sold. Our sacks shall be a mean to sack the city, And we be lords and rulers over Rouen;

Therefore we'll knock.

Guard. [Within.] Qui est la?

Puc. Paisans, pauvres gens de France.

[Knocks.

Poor market-folks, that come to sell their corn.
Guard. Enter, go in; the market-bell is rung.

[Opens the gate. Puc. Now, Rouen,' I'll shake thy bulwarks to the [PUCELLE, &c. enter the city.

ground.

Enter CHARLES, Bastard of Orleans, ALENÇON and Forces.

Char. Saint Dennis bless this happy stratagem! And once again we'll sleep secure in Rouen.

Bast. Here entered Pucelle, and her practisants; 2 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 discerned, shows, that her meaning is,No way to that,3 for weakness, which she entered.

1 Rouen was anciently written and pronounced Roan.

2 Practice, in the language of the time, was treachery, or insidious stratagem. Practisants are therefore confederates in treachery. 3 i. e. no way like or compared to that.

VOL. IV.

35

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

Puc. Behold, this is the happy wedding torch, That joineth Rouen unto her countrymen,

But burning fatal to the Talbotites.

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.

Alarums. Enter TALBOT, and certain English.

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 escaped the pride1 of France.

[Exeunt to the town.

Alarum: Excursions. Enter, from the town, Bedford, brought in sick in a chair, with TALBOT, BURGUNDY, and the English Forces. Then enter, on the walls, LA PUCELLE, CHARLES, Bastard, ALENÇON, and others.

Puc. 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.

2

"Twas full of darnel. Do you like the taste?

1 Pride signifies haughty power.

2 "Darnel (says Gerarde, in his Herbal) hurteth the eyes, and maketh them dim, if it happen either in corne for breade, or drinke." La Pucelle means to intimate that the corn she carried with her had produced the same effect on the guards of Rouen.

Bur. Scoff on, vile fiend, and shameless courtesan ! 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!

Puc. What will you do, good gray-beard? Break a lance,

And run a tilt at death within a chair?

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

Puc. 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? Puc. 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. Seignior, no.

Tal. Seignior, hang!-Base muleteers of France! Like peasant footboys do they keep the walls;

And dare not take up arms like gentlemen.

Puc. Captains, away: let's get us from the walls; For Talbot means no goodness, by his looks.

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

That we are here.

[Exeunt LA PUCELLE, &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 honor of thy house,

(Pricked on by public wrongs, sustained 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 Coeur-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 dishonor me. Here will I sit before the walls of Rouen, And will be partner of your weal, or woe.

1

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,1 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 BURGUNDY, TALBOT, and Forces, leaving BEDFORD, and others.

Alarums: Excursions.

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.

1 This is from Harding's Chronicle, who gives a like account of Uther

Pendragon.