King Henry VI, Part I
ACT III SCENE II | France. Before Rouen. | |
[ Enter JOAN LA PUCELLE disguised, with four Soldiers with sacks upon their backs ] | ||
JOAN LA PUCELLE | 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. | 5 | |
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 Soldier | Our sacks shall be a mean to sack the city, | 10 |
And we be lords and rulers over Rouen; | ||
Therefore we’ll knock. | ||
[Knocks] | ||
Watch | [Within] Qui est la? | |
JOAN LA PUCELLE | Paysans, pauvres gens de France; | |
Poor market folks that come to sell their corn. | 15 | |
Watch | Enter, go in; the market bell is rung. | |
JOAN LA PUCELLE | Now, Rouen, I’ll shake thy bulwarks to the ground. | |
[Exeunt] | ||
[ Enter CHARLES, the BASTARD OF ORLEANS, ALENCON, REIGNIER, and forces ] | ||
CHARLES | Saint Denis bless this happy stratagem! | |
And once again we’ll sleep secure in Rouen. | ||
BASTARD OF ORLEANS | Here enter’d Pucelle and her practisants; | 20 |
Now she is there, how will she specify | ||
Where is the best and safest passage in? | ||
REIGNIER | 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. | 25 | |
[ Enter JOAN LA PUCELLE on the top, thrusting out a torch burning ] | ||
JOAN LA PUCELLE | Behold, this is the happy wedding torch | |
That joineth Rouen unto her countrymen, | ||
But burning fatal to the Talbotites! | ||
[Exit] | ||
BASTARD OF ORLEANS | See, noble Charles, the beacon of our friend; | |
The burning torch in yonder turret stands. | 30 | |
CHARLES | Now shine it like a comet of revenge, | |
A prophet to the fall of all our foes! | ||
REIGNIER | Defer no time, delays have dangerous ends; | |
Enter, and cry ‘The Dauphin!’ presently, | ||
And then do execution on the watch. | 35 | |
[Alarum. Exeunt] | ||
[An alarum. Enter TALBOT in an excursion] | ||
TALBOT | 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 pride of France. | 40 | |
[Exit] | ||
[ An alarum: excursions. BEDFORD, brought in sick in a chair. Enter TALBOT and BURGUNDY without: within JOAN LA PUCELLE, CHARLES, BASTARD OF ORLEANS, ALENCON, and REIGNIER, on the walls ] | ||
JOAN LA PUCELLE | 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? | ||
BURGUNDY | Scoff on, vile fiend and shameless courtezan! | 45 |
I trust ere long to choke thee with thine own | ||
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 LA PUCELLE | What will you do, good grey-beard? break a lance, | 50 |
And run a tilt at death within a chair? | ||
TALBOT | 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? | 55 | |
Damsel, I’ll have a bout with you again, | ||
Or else let Talbot perish with this shame. | ||
JOAN LA PUCELLE | Are ye so hot, sir? yet, Pucelle, hold thy peace; | |
If Talbot do but thunder, rain will follow. | ||
[The English whisper together in council] | ||
God speed the parliament! who shall be the speaker? | 60 | |
TALBOT | Dare ye come forth and meet us in the field? | |
JOAN LA PUCELLE | 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, Alencon, and the rest; | 65 | |
Will ye, like soldiers, come and fight it out? | ||
ALENCON | Signior, no. | |
TALBOT | Signior, hang! base muleters of France! | |
Like peasant foot-boys do they keep the walls | ||
And dare not take up arms like gentlemen. | 70 | |
JOAN LA PUCELLE | 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 from the walls] | ||
TALBOT | And there will we be too, ere it be long, | 75 |
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 | 80 | |
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. | ||
BURGUNDY | My vows are equal partners with thy vows. | 85 |
TALBOT | 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. | ||
BEDFORD | Lord Talbot, do not so dishonour me: | 90 |
Here will I sit before the walls of Rouen | ||
And will be partner of your weal or woe. | ||
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 | 95 | |
Came to the field and vanquished his foes: | ||
Methinks I should revive the soldiers’ hearts, | ||
Because I ever found them as myself. | ||
TALBOT | Undaunted spirit in a dying breast! | |
Then be it so: heavens keep old Bedford safe! | 100 | |
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] | ||
[ An alarum: excursions. Enter FASTOLFE and a Captain ] | ||
Captain | Whither away, Sir John Fastolfe, in such haste? | |
FASTOLFE | Whither away! to save myself by flight: | 105 |
We are like to have the overthrow again. | ||
Captain | What! will you fly, and leave Lord Talbot? | |
FASTOLFE | Ay, | |
All the Talbots in the world, to save my life! | ||
[Exit] | ||
Captain | Cowardly knight! ill fortune follow thee! | 110 |
[Exit] | ||
[ Retreat: excursions. JOAN LA PUCELLE, ALENCON, and CHARLES 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? | ||
They that of late were daring with their scoffs | ||
Are glad and fain by flight to save themselves. | 115 | |
[BEDFORD dies, and is carried in by two in his chair] | ||
[An alarum. Re-enter TALBOT, BURGUNDY, and the rest] | ||
TALBOT | Lost, and recover’d in a day again! | |
This is a double honour, Burgundy: | ||
Yet heavens have glory for this victory! | ||
BURGUNDY | Warlike and martial Talbot, Burgundy | |
Enshrines thee in his heart and there erects | 120 | |
Thy noble deeds as valour’s monuments. | ||
TALBOT | 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? Rouen hangs her head for grief | 125 | |
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. | 130 | |
BURGUNDY | What wills Lord Talbot pleaseth Burgundy. | |
TALBOT | But yet, before we go, let’s not forget | |
The noble Duke of Bedford late deceased, | ||
But see his exequies fulfill’d in Rouen: | ||
A braver soldier never couched lance, | 135 | |
A gentler heart did never sway in court; | ||
But kings and mightiest potentates must die, | ||
For that’s the end of human misery. | ||
[Exeunt] |
Continue to 1 Henry VI, Act 3, Scene 3