Exeter
To Eltham will I, where the young king is,
Being ordain’d his special governor,
And for his safety there I’ll best devise.
Exit
Bishop Of Winchester
Each hath his place and function to attend:
I am left out; for me nothing remains.
But long I will not be Jack out of office:
The king from Eltham I intend to steal
And sit at chiefest stern of public weal.
Exeunt
SCENE II. FRANCE. BEFORE ORLEANS.
Sound a flourish. Enter Charles, Alencon, and Reignier, marching with drum and Soldiers
Charles
Mars his true moving, even as in the heavens
So in the earth, to this day is not known:
Late did he shine upon the English side;
Now we are victors; upon us he smiles.
What towns of any moment but we have?
At pleasure here we lie near Orleans;
Otherwhiles the famish’d English, like pale ghosts,
Faintly besiege us one hour in a month.
Alencon
They want their porridge and their fat bull-beeves:
Either they must be dieted like mules
And have their provender tied to their mouths
Or piteous they will look, like drowned mice.
Reignier
Let’s raise the siege: why live we idly here?
Talbot is taken, whom we wont to fear:
Remaineth none but mad-brain’d Salisbury;
And he may well in fretting spend his gall,
Nor men nor money hath he to make war.
Charles
Sound, sound alarum! we will rush on them.
Now for the honour of the forlorn French!
Him I forgive my death that killeth me
When he sees me go back one foot or fly.
Exeunt
Here alarum; they are beaten back by the English with great loss. Re-enter Charles, Alencon, and Reignier
Charles
Who ever saw the like? what men have I!
Dogs! cowards! dastards! I would ne’er have fled,
But that they left me ’midst my enemies.
Reignier
Salisbury is a desperate homicide;
He fighteth as one weary of his life.
The other lords, like lions wanting food,
Do rush upon us as their hungry prey.
Alencon
Froissart, a countryman of ours, records,
England all Olivers and Rowlands bred,
During the time Edward the Third did reign.
More truly now may this be verified;
For none but Samsons and Goliases
It sendeth forth to skirmish. One to ten!
Lean, raw-boned rascals! who would e’er suppose
They had such courage and audacity?
Charles
Let’s leave this town; for they are hare-brain’d slaves,
And hunger will enforce them to be more eager:
Of old I know them; rather with their teeth
The walls they’ll tear down than forsake the siege.
Reignier
I think, by some odd gimmors or device
Their arms are set like clocks, stiff to strike on;
Else ne’er could they hold out so as they do.
By my consent, we’ll even let them alone.
Alencon
Be it so.
Enter the Bastard Of Orleans
Bastard Of Orleans
Where’s the Prince Dauphin? I have news for him.
Charles
Bastard of Orleans, thrice welcome to us.
Bastard Of Orleans
Methinks your looks are sad, your cheer appall’d:
Hath the late overthrow wrought this offence?
Be not dismay’d, for succor is at hand:
A holy maid hither with me I bring,
Which by a vision sent to her from heaven
Ordained is to raise this tedious siege
And drive the English forth the bounds of France.
The spirit of deep prophecy she hath,
Exceeding the nine sibyls of old Rome:
What’s past and what’s to come she can descry.
Speak, shall I call her in? Believe my words,
For they are certain and unfallible.
Charles
Go, call her in.
Exit Bastard Of Orleans
But first, to try her skill,
Reignier, stand thou as Dauphin in my place:
Question her proudly; let thy looks be stern:
By this means shall we sound what skill she hath.
Re-enter the Bastard Of Orleans, with Joan La Pucelle
Reignier
Fair maid, is’t thou wilt do these wondrous feats?
Joan La Pucelle
Reignier, is’t thou that thinkest to beguile me?
Where is the Dauphin? Come, come from behind;
I know thee well, though never seen before.
Be not amazed, there’s nothing hid from me:
In private will I talk with thee apart.
Stand back, you lords, and give us leave awhile.
Reignier
She takes upon her bravely at first dash.
Joan La Pucelle
Dauphin, I am by birth a shepherd’s daughter,
My wit untrain’d in any kind of art.
Heaven and our Lady gracious hath it pleased
To shine on my contemptible estate:
Lo, whilst I waited on my tender lambs,
And to sun’s parching heat display’d my cheeks,
God’s mother deigned to appear to me
And in a vision full of majesty
Will’d me to leave my base vocation
And free my country from calamity:
Her aid she promised and assured success:
In complete glory she reveal’d herself;
And, whereas I was black and swart before,
With those clear rays which she infused on me
That beauty am I bless’d with which you see.
Ask me what question thou canst possible,
And I will answer unpremeditated:
My courage try by combat, if thou darest,
And thou shalt find that I exceed my sex.
Resolve on this, thou shalt be fortunate,
If thou receive me for thy warlike mate.
Charles
Thou hast astonish’d me with thy high terms:
Only this proof I’ll of thy valour make,
In single combat thou shalt buckle with me,
And if thou vanquishest, thy words are true;
Otherwise I renounce all confidence.
Joan La Pucelle
I am prepared: here is my keen-edged sword,
Deck’d with five flower-de-luces on each side;
The which at Touraine, in Saint Katharine’s churchyard,
Out of a great deal of old iron I chose forth.
Charles
Then come, o’ God’s name; I fear no woman.
Joan La Pucelle
And while I live, I’ll ne’er fly from a man.
Here they fight, and Joan La Pucelle overcomes
Charles
Stay, stay thy hands! thou art an Amazon
And fightest with the sword of Deborah.
Joan La Pucelle
Christ’s mother helps me, else I were too weak.
Charles
Whoe’er helps thee, ’tis thou that must help me:
Impatiently I burn with thy desire;
My heart and hands thou hast at once subdued.
Excellent Pucelle, if thy name be so,
Let me thy servant and not sovereign be:
’Tis the French Dauphin sueth to thee thus.
Joan La Pucelle
I must not yield to any rites of love,
For my
profession’s sacred from above:
When I have chased all thy foes from hence,
Then will I think upon a recompense.
Charles
Meantime look gracious on thy prostrate thrall.
Reignier
My lord, methinks, is very long in talk.
Alencon
Doubtless he shrives this woman to her smock;
Else ne’er could he so long protract his speech.
Reignier
Shall we disturb him, since he keeps no mean?
Alencon
He may mean more than we poor men do know:
These women are shrewd tempters with their tongues.
Reignier
My lord, where are you? what devise you on?
Shall we give over Orleans, or no?
Joan La Pucelle
Why, no, I say, distrustful recreants!
Fight till the last gasp; I will be your guard.
Charles
What she says I’ll confirm: we’ll fight it out.
Joan La Pucelle
Assign’d am I to be the English scourge.
This night the siege assuredly I’ll raise:
Expect Saint Martin’s summer, halcyon days,
Since I have entered into these wars.
Glory is like a circle in the water,
Which never ceaseth to enlarge itself
Till by broad spreading it disperse to nought.
With Henry’s death the English circle ends;
Dispersed are the glories it included.
Now am I like that proud insulting ship
Which Caesar and his fortune bare at once.
Charles
Was Mahomet inspired with a dove?
Thou with an eagle art inspired then.
Helen, the mother of great Constantine,
Nor yet Saint Philip’s daughters, were like thee.
Bright star of Venus, fall’n down on the earth,
How may I reverently worship thee enough?
Alencon
Leave off delays, and let us raise the siege.
Reignier
Woman, do what thou canst to save our honours;
Drive them from Orleans and be immortalized.
Charles
Presently we’ll try: come, let’s away about it:
No prophet will I trust, if she prove false.
Exeunt
SCENE III. LONDON. BEFORE THE TOWER.
Enter Gloucester, with his Serving-men in blue coats
Gloucester
I am come to survey the Tower this day:
Since Henry’s death, I fear, there is conveyance.
Where be these warders, that they wait not here?
Open the gates; ’tis Gloucester that calls.
First Warder
[Within] Who’s there that knocks so imperiously?
First Serving-Man
It is the noble Duke of Gloucester.
Second Warder
[Within] Whoe’er he be, you may not be let in.
First Serving-Man
Villains, answer you so the lord protector?
First Warder
[Within] The Lord protect him! so we answer him:
We do no otherwise than we are will’d.
Gloucester
Who willed you? or whose will stands but mine?
There’s none protector of the realm but I.
Break up the gates, I’ll be your warrantize.
Shall I be flouted thus by dunghill grooms?
Gloucester’s men rush at the Tower Gates, and Woodvile the Lieutenant speaks within
Woodvile
What noise is this? what traitors have we here?
Gloucester
Lieutenant, is it you whose voice I hear?
Open the gates; here’s Gloucester that would enter.
Woodvile
Have patience, noble duke; I may not open;
The Cardinal of Winchester forbids:
From him I have express commandment
That thou nor none of thine shall be let in.
Gloucester
Faint-hearted Woodvile, prizest him ’fore me?
Arrogant Winchester, that haughty prelate,
Whom Henry, our late sovereign, ne’er could brook?
Thou art no friend to God or to the king:
Open the gates, or I’ll shut thee out shortly.
Serving-Men Open the gates unto the lord protector,
Or we’ll burst them open, if that you come not quickly.
Enter to the Protector at the Tower Gates Bishop Of Winchester and his men in tawny coats
Bishop Of Winchester
How now, ambitious Humphry! what means this?
Gloucester
Peel’d priest, dost thou command me to be shut out?
Bishop Of Winchester
I do, thou most usurping proditor,
And not protector, of the king or realm.
Gloucester
Stand back, thou manifest conspirator,
Thou that contrivedst to murder our dead lord;
Thou that givest whores indulgences to sin:
I’ll canvass thee in thy broad cardinal’s hat,
If thou proceed in this thy insolence.
Bishop Of Winchester
Nay, stand thou back, I will not budge a foot:
This be Damascus, be thou cursed Cain,
To slay thy brother Abel, if thou wilt.
Gloucester
I will not slay thee, but I’ll drive thee back:
Thy scarlet robes as a child’s bearing-cloth
I’ll use to carry thee out of this place.
Bishop Of Winchester
Do what thou darest; I beard thee to thy face.
Gloucester
What! am I dared and bearded to my face?
Draw, men, for all this privileged place;
Blue coats to tawny coats. Priest, beware your beard,
I mean to tug it and to cuff you soundly:
Under my feet I stamp thy cardinal’s hat:
In spite of pope or dignities of church,
Here by the cheeks I’ll drag thee up and down.
Bishop Of Winchester
Gloucester, thou wilt answer this before the pope.
Gloucester
Winchester goose, I cry, a rope! a rope!
Now beat them hence; why do you let them stay?
Thee I’ll chase hence, thou wolf in sheep’s array.
Out, tawny coats! out, scarlet hypocrite!
Here Gloucester’s men beat out Bishop Of Winchester’s men, and enter in the hurly- burly the Mayor of London and his Officers
Mayor
Fie, lords! that you, being supreme magistrates,
Thus contumeliously should break the peace!
Gloucester
Peace, mayor! thou know’st little of my wrongs:
Here’s Beaufort, that regards nor God nor king,
Hath here distrain’d the Tower to his use.
Bishop Of Winchester
Here’s Gloucester, a foe to citizens,
One that still motions war and never peace,
O’ercharging your free purses with large fines,
That seeks to overthrow religion,
Because he is protector of the realm,
And would have armour here out of the Tower,
To crown himself king and suppress the prince.
Gloucester
I will not answer thee with words, but blows.
Here they skirmish again
Mayor
Naught rests for me in this tumultuous strife
But to make open proclamation:
Come, officer; as loud as e’er thou canst,
Cry.
Officer
All manner of men assembled here in arms this day against God’s peace and the king’s, we charge and command you, in his highness’ name, to repair to your several dwelling-places; and not to wear, handle, or use any sword, weapon,
or dagger, henceforward, upon pain of death.
Gloucester
Cardinal, I’ll be no breaker of the law:
But we shall meet, and break our minds at large.
Bishop Of Winchester
Gloucester, we will meet; to thy cost, be sure:
Thy heart-blood I will have for this day’s work.
Mayor
I’ll call for clubs, if you will not away.
This cardinal’s more haughty than the devil.
Gloucester
Mayor, farewell: thou dost but what thou mayst.
Bishop Of Winchester
Abominable Gloucester, guard thy head;
For I intend to have it ere long.
Exeunt, severally, Gloucester and Bishop Of Winchester with their Serving-men
Mayor
See the coast clear’d, and then we will depart.
Good God, these nobles should such stomachs bear!
I myself fight not once in forty year.
Exeunt
SCENE IV. ORLEANS.
Enter, on the walls, a Master Gunner and his Boy
Master-Gunner 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.
Master-Gunner 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 intrench’d,
Wont, through a secret grate of iron bars
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;
And thou shalt find me at the governor’s.
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, Salisbury and Talbot, Glansdale, Gargrave, and others
Salisbury
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.
Talbot
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
Once in contempt they would have barter’d me:
Complete Plays, The Page 197