Bur. Warlike and martial Talbot, Burgundy
Enshrines thee in his heart and there erects
Thy noble deeds as valour's monuments.
Tal. Thanks, gentle duke.

Pucelle now?

I think her old familiar is asleep :

But where is

Now where's the Bastard's braves, and Charles his gleeks?

What, all amort? Rouen hangs her head for

grief

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.

Bur. What wills Lord Talbot pleaseth Burgundy.

Tal. 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,
A gentler heart did never sway in court;
But kings and mightiest potentates must die,
For that's the end of human misery.

[Exeunt.

SCENE III. The plains near Rouen.

Enter CHARLES, the BASTARD of Orleans,
ALENÇON, LA PUCELLE, and forces.

Puc. Dismay not, princes, at this accident,

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130

126. take some order, adopt

some measures.

1. Dismay, be dismayed.

Nor grieve that Rouen is so recovered:
Care is no cure, but rather córrosive,
For things that are not to be remedied.
Let frantic Talbot triumph for a while
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.

Char. We have been guided by thee hitherto
And of thy cunning had no diffidence:
One sudden foil shall never breed distrust.

Bast. Search out thy wit for secret policies, And we will make thee famous through the world.

Alen. We'll set thy statue in some holy place, And have thee reverenced like a blessed saint: Employ thee then, sweet virgin, for our good.

Puc. 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.

Char. 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.

Alen. For ever should they be expulsed from France

And not have title of an earldom here.

Puc. 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.

10. diffidence, suspicion.

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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 the DUKE OF 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.

[Trumpets sound a parley. Char. A parley with the Duke of Burgundy! Bur. Who craves a parley with the Burgundy? Puc. The princely Charles of France, thy countryman.

Bur. What say'st thou, Charles? for I am marching hence.

Char. Speak, Pucelle, and enchant him with thy words.

Puc. Brave Burgundy, undoubted hope of France!

Stay, let thy humble handmaid speak to thee.

Bur. Speak on; but be not over-tedious.
Puc. Look on thy country, look on fertile

France,

And see the cities and the towns defaced

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,
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.

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50

One drop of blood drawn from thy country's

bosom

Should grieve thee more than streams of foreign

gore:

Return thee therefore with a flood of tears,

And wash away thy country's stained spots.

Bur. Either she hath bewitch'd me with her words,

Or nature makes me suddenly relent.

Puc. Besides, all French and France exclaims
on thee,

Doubting thy birth and lawful progeny.
Who join'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,
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?
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 join'st with them will be thy slaughter-men.
Come, come, return; return, thou wandering
lord

Charles and the rest will take thee in their arms.
Bur. I am vanquished; these haughty words
of hers

Have batter'd me like roaring cannon-shot,
And made me almost yield upon my knees.
Forgive me, country, and sweet countrymen,
And, lords, accept this hearty kind embrace:
My forces and my power of men are yours:

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80

So farewell, Talbot; I'll no longer trust thee.
Puc. [Aside] Done like a Frenchman: turn,
and turn again !

Char. Welcome, brave duke! thy friendship
makes us fresh.

Bast. And doth beget new courage in our breasts.

Alen. Pucelle hath bravely play'd her part in this,

And doth deserve a coronet of gold.

Char. Now let us on, my lords, and join our

powers,

And seek how we may prejudice the foe.

[Exeunt.

SCENE IV. Paris. The palace.

Enter the KING, GLOUCESTER, BISHOP OF WIN-
CHESTER, YORK, SUFFOLK, SOMERSET, WAR-
WICK, EXETER: VERNON, BASSET, and others.
To them with his Soldiers, TALBOT.

Tal. My gracious prince, and honourable peers,

Hearing of your arrival in this realm,

I have awhile given truce unto my wars,

To do my duty to my sovereign :

In sign whereof, this arm, that hath reclaim'd

To your obedience fifty fortresses,

Twelve cities and seven walled towns of strength,
Beside five hundred prisoners of esteem,

Lets fall his sword before your highness' feet,
And with submissive loyalty of heart

Ascribes the glory of his conquest got

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85. A sarcasm on French fickleness, undramatically put into the mouth of Joan.