King Henry VI, Part I
| ACT III SCENE III | The plains near Rouen. | |
| [ Enter CHARLES, the BASTARD OF ORLEANS, ALENCON, JOAN LA PUCELLE, and forces ] | ||
| JOAN LA PUCELLE | 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 Dauphin and the rest will be but ruled. | ||
| CHARLES | We have been guided by thee hitherto, | |
| And of thy cunning had no diffidence: | 10 | |
| One sudden foil shall never breed distrust. | ||
| BASTARD OF ORLEANS | Search out thy wit for secret policies, | |
| And we will make thee famous through the world. | ||
| ALENCON | 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 LA PUCELLE | Then thus it must be; this doth Joan devise: | |
| By fair persuasions mix’d with sugar’d 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. | ||
| ALENCON | For ever should they be expulsed from France | 25 |
| And not have title of an earldom here. | ||
| JOAN LA PUCELLE | 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. Enter, and pass over at a distance, TALBOT and his forces ] | ||
| There goes the Talbot, with his colours spread, | ||
| And all the troops of English after him. | ||
| [French march. Enter BURGUNDY and forces] | ||
| Now in the rearward comes the duke and his: | ||
| Fortune in favour makes him lag behind. | ||
| Summon a parley; we will talk with him. | 35 | |
| [Trumpets sound a parley] | ||
| CHARLES | A parley with the Duke of Burgundy! | |
| BURGUNDY | Who craves a parley with the Burgundy? | |
| JOAN LA PUCELLE | The princely Charles of France, thy countryman. | |
| BURGUNDY | What say’st thou, Charles? for I am marching hence. | |
| CHARLES | Speak, Pucelle, and enchant him with thy words. | 40 |
| JOAN LA PUCELLE | Brave Burgundy, undoubted hope of France! | |
| Stay, let thy humble handmaid speak to thee. | ||
| BURGUNDY | Speak on; but be not over-tedious. | |
| JOAN LA PUCELLE | Look on thy country, look on fertile France, | |
| And see the cities and the towns defaced | 45 | |
| 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 woful 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: | 55 | |
| Return thee therefore with a flood of tears, | ||
And wash away thy country’s stained spots. | ||
| BURGUNDY | Either she hath bewitch’d me with her words, | |
| Or nature makes me suddenly relent. | ||
| JOAN LA PUCELLE | Besides, all French and France exclaims on thee, | 60 |
| Doubting thy birth and lawful progeny. | ||
| Who joint’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 fashion’d 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 joint’st with them will be thy slaughtermen. | 75 | |
| Come, come, return; return, thou wandering lord: | ||
| Charles and the rest will take thee in their arms. | ||
| BURGUNDY | I am vanquished; these haughty words of hers | |
| Have batter’d me like roaring cannon-shot, | ||
| And made me almost yield upon my knees. | 80 | |
| 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 LA PUCELLE | [Aside] Done like a Frenchman: turn, and turn again! | 85 |
| CHARLES | Welcome, brave duke! thy friendship makes us fresh. | |
| BASTARD OF ORLEANS | And doth beget new courage in our breasts. | |
| ALENCON | Pucelle hath bravely play’d her part in this, | |
| And doth deserve a coronet of gold. | ||
| CHARLES | Now let us on, my lords, and join our powers, | 90 |
| And seek how we may prejudice the foe. | ||
| [Exeunt] | ||
Continue to 1 Henry VI, Act 3, Scene 4