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