King Henry VI, Part I
| ACT I SCENE V | The same. | |
| [ Here an alarum again: and TALBOT pursueth the DAUPHIN, and driveth him: then enter JOAN LA PUCELLE, driving Englishmen before her, and exit after them then re-enter TALBOT ] | ||
| TALBOT | Where is my strength, my valour, and my force? | |
| Our English troops retire, I cannot stay them: | ||
| A woman clad in armour chaseth them. | ||
| [Re-enter JOAN LA PUCELLE] | ||
| Here, here she comes. I’ll have a bout with thee; | ||
| Devil or devil’s dam, I’ll conjure thee: | 5 | |
| Blood will I draw on thee, thou art a witch, | ||
| And straightway give thy soul to him thou servest. | ||
| JOAN LA PUCELLE | Come, come, ’tis only I that must disgrace thee. | |
| [Here they fight] | ||
| TALBOT | Heavens, can you suffer hell so to prevail? | |
| My breast I’ll burst with straining of my courage | 10 | |
| And from my shoulders crack my arms asunder. | ||
| But I will chastise this high-minded strumpet. | ||
| [They fight again] | ||
| JOAN LA PUCELLE | Talbot, farewell; thy hour is not yet come: | |
| I must go victual Orleans forthwith. | ||
| [A short alarum; then enter the town with soldiers] | ||
| O’ertake me, if thou canst; I scorn thy strength. | 15 | |
| Go, go, cheer up thy hungry-starved men; | ||
| Help Salisbury to make his testament: | ||
| This day is ours, as many more shall be. | ||
| [Exit] | ||
| TALBOT | My thoughts are whirled like a potter’s wheel; | |
| I know not where I am, nor what I do; | 20 | |
| A witch, by fear, not force, like Hannibal, | ||
| Drives back our troops and conquers as she lists: | ||
| So bees with smoke and doves with noisome stench | ||
| Are from their hives and houses driven away. | ||
| They call’d us for our fierceness English dogs; | 25 | |
| Now, like to whelps, we crying run away. | ||
| [A short alarum] | ||
| Hark, countrymen! either renew the fight, | ||
| Or tear the lions out of England’s coat; | ||
| Renounce your soil, give sheep in lions’ stead: | ||
| Sheep run not half so treacherous from the wolf, | 30 | |
| Or horse or oxen from the leopard, | ||
| As you fly from your oft-subdued slaves. | ||
| [Alarum. Here another skirmish] | ||
| It will not be: retire into your trenches: | ||
| You all consented unto Salisbury’s death, | ||
| For none would strike a stroke in his revenge. | 35 | |
| Pucelle is enter’d into Orleans, | ||
| In spite of us or aught that we could do. | ||
| O, would I were to die with Salisbury! | ||
| The shame hereof will make me hide my head. | ||
| [Exit TALBOT. Alarum; retreat; flourish] | ||
Continue to 1 Henry VI, Act 1, Scene 6