I am left out; for me nothing remains. France. Before Orleans. SCENE II. [Exit Enter CHARLES, with his Forces ; ALENCON, REIGNIER, and others. Char. Mars his true moving, even as in the heavens, Other whiles, the famish'd English, like pale ghosts, Alen. They want their porridge, and their fat bullbeeves: Either they must be dieted like mules, And have their provender tyed to their mouths, Reig. Let's raise the siege; Why live we idly here? Char. Sound, sound, alarum; we will rush on them. Now for the honour of the forlorn French :Him I forgive my death, that killeth me, When he sees me go back one foot, or fly. [Exeunt. Alarums; Excursions; afterwards a Retreat. Reenter CHARLES, ALENÇON, REIGNIER, and others. Char. Who ever saw the like? what men have I ?Dogs cowards! dastards!-I would ne'er have fled, But that they left me 'midst my enemies. Reig. Salisbury is a desperate homicide; He fighteth as one weary of his life. The other lords, like lions wanting food, Do rush upon us as their hungry prey. Alen. Froisard, a countryman of ours, records, England all Olivers and Rowlands bred, [9] These were two of the most famous in the list ofCharlemagne's twelve peers; and their exploits are rendered so ridiculously and equally extrava During the time Edward the Third did reign. It sendeth forth to skirmish. One to ten! Char. Let's leave this town; for they are hairbrain'd slaves, And hunger will enforce them to be more eager : Enter the Bastard of Orleans. Bast. Where's the prince Dauphin? I have news for him. Char. Bastard of Orleans, 2 thrice welcome to us. Bast. Methinks, your looks are sad, your cheer ap pall'd ;3 Hath the late overthrow wrought this offence? A holy maid hither with me I bring, Which, by a vision sent to her from heaven, Ordained is to raise this tedious siege, And drive the English forth the bounds of France. What's past, and what's to come, she can descry. gant by the old romancers, that from thence arose that saying amongst our plain and sensible ancestors, of giving one a Rowland for his Oliver, to sig nify the matching one incredible lie with another. WARB. Rather, to oppose one hero to another; i. e. to give a person as good a one as he brings. STEEV. [1] A gimmal is a piece of jointed wood, where one piece moves within another, whence it is taken at large for an engine. It is now by the vulgar alled a gimcrack. JOHNS. [2] That this in former times was not a term of reproach, see Bishop Hurd's Letters on Chivalry and Romance, who observing on circumstances of agreement between the heroic and Gothic manners, says that "Bastardy was in credit with both." One of William the Conqueror's charters beys, "Ego Gulielmus cognomento Bastardus." VAILLANT-Bastardy was reckoned no disgrace among the ancients. See the eighth Iliad, in which the illegitimacy of Teucer is mentioned as a panegyric upon him. STEEV. [3] Cheer-countenance. STEEV. [4] There were no nine sibyls of Rome; but he confounds things, and mistakes this for the nine books of Sibylline oracles, brought to one of the Tarquins. WARB. Speak, shall I call her in? Believe my words, For they are certain and unfallible. Char. Go, call her in: [Exit Bastard.] But, first, to try her skill, Reignier, stand thou as Dauphin in my place : feats ? Puc. Reignier, is't thou that thinkest to beguile me?Where is the Dauphin ?-come, come from behind; I know thee well, though never seen before. Be not amaz'd, there's nothing hid from me; In private will I talk with thee apart ; Stand back, you lords, and give us leave a while. Puc. Dauphin, I am by birth a shepherd's daughter, My wit untrain❜d in any kind of art. Heaven, and our Lady gracious, hath it pleas'd Lo, whilst I waited on my tender lambs, And to sun's parching heat display'd my cheeks, Char. Thou hast astonish'd me with thy high terms; Only this proof I'll of thy valour make,— In single combat thou shalt buckle with me ; [5] That is, be firmly persuaded of it. STEEV. 1 Otherwise, I renounce all confidence. Puc. I am prepar'd here is my keen-edg'd sword, Deck'd with five flower-de-luces on each side; The which at Touraine, in Saint Katherine's church yard, Out of a deal of old iron I chose forth. Char. Then come o'God's name, I fear no woman. Puc. And, while I live, I'll ne'er fly from a man. [They fight. Dau. Stay, stay thy hands; thou art an Amazon, And fightest with the sword of Deborah. Puc. Christ's mother helps me, else I were too weak. Char. Whoe'er helps thee, 'tis thou that must help me : Impatiently I burn with thy desire; My heart and hands thou hast at once subdu'd. Let me thy servant, and not sovereign, be ; Char.Mean time, look gracious on thy prostrate thrall. Reig. Shall we disturb him, since he keeps no mean? Alen. He may mean more than we poor men do know : These women are shrewd tempters with their tongues. Reig. My lord, where are you? what devise you on? Shall we give over Orleans, or no? Puc. Why, no, I say, distrustful recreants! Fight till the last gasp; I will be your guard. Char. What she says, I'll confirm; we'll fight it out. Puc. Assign'd am I to be the English scourge. This night the siege assuredly I'll raise : Expect Saint Martin's summer, halcyon days, 6 Glory is like a circle in the water, Which never ceaseth to enlarge itself, Till, by broad spreading, it disperse to nought. [6] That is, expect prosperity after misfortune, like fair weather at Martlemas, after winter has begun. JOHNS. Now am I like that proud insulting ship, Alen. Leave off delays, and let us raise the siege. Reig. Woman, do what thou canst to save our honours; Drive them from Orleans, and be immortaliz’d. Char. Presently we'll try :- -Come, let's away about it: No prophet will I trust, if she prove false. SCENE III. [Exeunt. London. Hill before the Tower. Enter, at the gates, the Duke of GLOSIER, with his Serving-Men, in blue coats. Glo. I am come to survey the Tower this day; Since Henry's death, I fear, there is conveyance. 9 Where be these warders, that they wait not here? Open the gates; Gloster it is that calls. 1 Ward. Who's there, that knocks so imperiously? 1 Serv. It is the noble duke of Gloster. 2 Ward. [Within.] Whoe'er he be, you may not be let in. 1 Serv. Answer you so the lord protector, villains? 1 Ward. The Lord protect him so we answer him: We do no otherwise than we are will'd. Glo. Who willed you? or whose will stands,but mine? There's none protector of the realm, but I.— Break up the gates,1 I'll be your warrantize : Servants rush at the Tower-gates. Enter to the gates, Wood. [Within.] What noise is this? what traitors have we here? [7] Mahomet had a dove, "which he used to feed with wheat out of his ear; which dove, when it was hungry, lighted on Mahomet's shoulder, and thrust its bill in to find its breakfast; Mahomet persuading the rude and simple Arabians, that it was the Holy Ghost that gave him advice." Sir Walter Raleigh's History of the World. GREY. [8] Meaning the four daughters of Philip mentioned in the Acts. HANM. [9] Conveyance means theft. HANMER [1] To break up in Shakspeare's age was the same as to break open. Thus, in our translation of the Bible: They have broken up, and have passed through the gate." Micah i 13. So again, in St Matthew, xxiv. 43. "He would have watched and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.” " WHALLEY. |