CHARLES Now shine it like a comet of revenge,
30
A prophet to the fall of all our foes.
REIGNIER Defer no time, delays have dangerous ends.
Enter and cry ‘The Dolphin’ presently,
And then do execution on the watch.
Alarum and exeunt into the town.
An alarum. Enter TALBOT in an excursion.
TALBOT
France, thou shalt rue this treason with thy tears,
35
If Talbot but survive thy treachery.
Puzel, that witch, that damned sorceress,
Hath wrought this hellish mischief unawares,
That hardly we escaped the pride of France.
Exit. An alarum, excursions.
Enter BEDFORD, brought in sick in a chair by two attendants. Enter TALBOT and BURGUNDY without; within, JOAN Puzel, CHARLES, the BASTARD and REIGNIER on the walls.
JOAN Good morrow, gallants; want ye corn for bread?
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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?
BURGUNDY
Scoff on, vile fiend and shameless courtesan.
I trust ere long to choke thee with thine own,
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And make thee curse the harvest of that corn.
CHARLES
Your grace may starve perhaps before that time.
BEDFORD
O let no words, but deeds, revenge this treason.
JOAN What will you do, good greybeard? Break a lance
And run a-tilt at death within a chair?
50
TALBOT 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,
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Or else let Talbot perish with this shame.
JOAN Are ye so hot, sir? Yet, Puzel, hold thy peace;
If Talbot do but thunder, rain will follow.
[The English whisper together in counsel.]
God speed the parliament: who shall be the speaker?
TALBOT Dare ye come forth and meet us in the field?
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JOAN Belike your lordship takes us then for fools,
To try if that our own be ours or no.
TALBOT I speak not to that railing Hecate,
But unto thee, Alençon, and the rest.
Will ye, like soldiers, come and fight it out?
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ALENÇON Seigneur, no.
TALBOT Seigneur, hang: base muleteers of France –
Like peasant footboys do they keep the walls
And dare not take up arms like gentlemen.
JOAN Away, captains; let’s get us from the walls,
70
For Talbot means no goodness by his looks.
Goodbye, my lord. We came but to tell you that we
are here. Exeunt from the walls.
TALBOT 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,
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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
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Great Cœur de Lion’s heart was buried,
So sure I swear to get the town or die.
BURGUNDY My vows are equal partners with thy vows.
TALBOT But ere we go regard this dying prince,
The valiant Duke of Bedford. Come, my lord,
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We will bestow you in some better place,
Fitter for sickness and for crazy age.
BEDFORD Lord Talbot, do not so dishonour me.
Here will I sit, before the walls of Rouen,
And will be partner of your weal or woe.
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BURGUNDY
Courageous Bedford, let us now persuade you.
BEDFORD 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,
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Because I ever found them as myself.
TALBOT 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
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And set upon our boasting enemy.
Exeunt all but Bedford and two attendants.
An alarum; excursions. Enter Sir John FASTOLFE and a Captain.
CAPTAIN
Whither away, Sir John Fastolfe, in such haste?
FASTOLFE Whither away? To save myself by flight –
We are like to have the overthrow again.
CAPTAIN What? Will you fly, and leave Lord Talbot?
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FASTOLFE
Ay, all the Talbots in the world, to save my life. Exit.
CAPTAIN
Cowardly knight, ill fortune follow thee. Exit.
Retreat. Excursions.JOAN Puzel, ALENÇON and CHARLES enter and fly.
BEDFORD Now, quiet soul, depart when heaven please,
For I have seen our enemies’ overthrow.
What is the trust or strength of foolish man?
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They that of late were daring with their scoffs
Are glad and fain by flight to save themselves.
Bedford dies, and is carried in, by two, in his chair.
An alarum. Enter TALBOT, BURGUNDY and the rest.
TALBOT Lost – and recovered in a day again!
This is a double honour, Burgundy;
Yet heavens have glory for this victory.
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BURGUNDY Warlike and martial Talbot, Burgundy
Enshrines thee in his heart, and there erects
Thy noble deeds as valour’s monuments.
TALBOT Thanks, gentle duke. But where is Puzel now?
I think her old familiar is asleep.
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Now where’s the Bastard’s braves and Charles his gleeks?
What, all amort? Rouen 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,
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And then depart to Paris to the King,
For there young Henry with his nobles lie.
BURGUNDY
What wills Lord Talbot pleaseth Burgundy.
TALBOT But yet before we go let’s not forget
The noble Duke of Bedford, late deceased,
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But see his exequies fulfilled in Rouen.
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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3.3 Enter CHARLES, the BASTARD, ALENÇON and JOAN Puzel.
JOAN Dismay not, princes, at this accident,
Nor grieve that Rouen is so recovered:
Care is no cure, but rather corrosive,
For things that are not to be remedied.
Let frantic Talbot triumph for a while,
5
And like a peacock sweep along his tail;
We’ll pull his plumes and take away his train,
If Dolphin and the rest will be but ruled.
CHARLES We have been guided by thee hitherto
And of thy cunning had no diffidence.
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One sudden foil shall never breed distrust.
BASTARD Search out thy wit for secret policies
And we will make thee famous through the world.
ALENÇON We’ll set thy statue in some holy place
And have thee reverenced like a blessed saint.
15
Employ thee then, sweet virgin, for our good.
JOAN Then thus it must be – this doth Joan devise:
By fair persuasions mixed with sugared words
We will entice the Duke of Burgundy
To leave the Talbot and to follow us.
20
CHARLES Ay marry, sweeting, if we could do that,
France were no place for Henry’s warriors,
Nor should that nation boast it so with us,
But be extirped from our provinces.
ALENÇON
For ever should they be expulsed from France,
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And not have title of an earldom here.
JOAN Your honours shall perceive how I will work
To bring this matter to the wished end.
[Drum sounds afar off.]
Hark – by the sound of drum you may perceive
Their powers are marching unto Paris-ward.
30
[Here sound an English march offstage.]
There goes the Talbot with his colours spread,
And all the troops of English after him.
[French march sounds offstage.]
Now in the rearward comes the Duke and his:
Fortune, in favour, makes him lag behind.
Summon a parley. We will talk with him.
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[Trumpets sound a parley.]
CHARLES A parley with the Duke of Burgundy.
Enter BURGUNDY.
BURGUNDY Who craves a parley with the Burgundy?
JOAN
The princely Charles of France, thy countryman.
BURGUNDY
What sayst thou, Charles? For I am marching hence.
CHARLES
Speak, Puzel, and enchant him with thy words.
40
JOAN Brave Burgundy, undoubted hope of France,
Stay, let thy humble handmaid speak to thee.
BURGUNDY Speak on, but be not over-tedious.
JOAN Look on thy country, look on fertile France,
And see the cities and the towns defaced
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By wasting ruin of the cruel foe,
As looks the mother on her lowly babe
When death doth close his tender-dying eyes.
See, see the pining malady of France,
Behold the wounds, the most unnatural wounds,
50
Which thou thyself hast given her woeful breast.
O turn thy edged sword another way,
Strike those that hurt, and hurt not those that help:
One drop of blood drawn from thy country’s bosom
Should grieve thee more than streams of foreign gore.
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Return thee therefore with a flood of tears
And wash away thy country’s stained spots.
BURGUNDY [aside]
Either she hath bewitched me with her words,
Or nature makes me suddenly relent.
JOAN
Besides, all French and France exclaims on thee,
60
Doubting thy birth and lawful progeny.
Who join’st thou with but with a lordly nation,
That will not trust thee but for profit’s sake?
When Talbot hath set footing once in France
And fashioned thee that instrument of ill,
65
Who then but English Henry will be lord,
And thou be thrust out, like a fugitive?
Call we to mind – and mark but this for proof –
Was not the Duke of Orleans thy foe?
And was he not in England prisoner?
70
But when they heard he was thine enemy
They set him free without his ransom paid,
In spite of Burgundy and all his friends.
See then, thou fight’st against thy countrymen
And join’st with them will be thy slaughter-men.
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Come, come, return; return, thou wandering lord.
Charles and the rest will take thee in their arms.
BURGUNDY [aside]
I am vanquished: these haughty words of hers
Have battered me like roaring cannon-shot
And made me almost yield upon my knees. –
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Forgive me, country, and sweet countrymen;
And, lords, accept this hearty kind embrace.
My forces and my power of men are yours.
So farewell, Talbot. I’ll no longer trust thee.
JOAN Done like a Frenchman: turn and turn again.
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The Arden Shakespeare Complete Works Page 207