Enter LA PUCELLE, Bastard of Orleans, and Others. Reig. Fair maid, is 't thou wilt do these wond'rous 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 awhile.
Reig. She takes upon her bravely at first dash.
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
To shine on my contemptible estate:6
Lo, whilst I waited on my tender lambs,

And to sun's parching heat display'd my cheeks,
God's mother deigned to appear to me;
And, in a vision full of majesty,7
Will'd me to leave my base vocation,
And free my country from calamity:
Her aid she promis'd, and assur'd success:
In complete glory she reveal'd herself;
And, whereas I was black and swart before,
With those clear rays which she infus'd on me,
That beauty am I bless'd with, which you see.8
Ask me what question thou canst possible,
And I will answer unpremeditated:
My courage try by combat, if thou dar'st,
And thou shalt find that I exceed my sex.
Resolve on this: Thou shalt be fortunate,
If thou receive me for thy warlike mate.

To shine on my contemptible estate:] So, in Daniel's Complaint of Rosamond, 1594:

7

8

thy king &c.

Lightens forth glory on thy dark estate." Steevens.

a vision full of majesty,] So, in The Tempest: "This is a most majestick vision —" Steevens.

which you see.] Thus the second folio. The first, injudiciously as well as redundantly,-which you may see. Steevens. 9 Resolve on this:] i. e. be firmly persuaded of it. So, in King Henry VI, P. III:

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; And, if thou vanquishest, thy words are true; "Otherwise, I renounce all confidence

m you

Puc. I am prepar'd: here is my keen-edg'd sword,
Deck'd with five flower-de-luces on each side;1
The which, at Touraine, in Saint Katharine's churchyard,
Out of a deal of old iron I chose forth.2

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.
Char. 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;3

My heart and hands thou hast at once subdu❜d.
Excellent Pucelle, if thy name be so,

Let me thy servant, and not sovereign, be;

"That Clifford's manhood lies upon his tongue." Steevens. 1 Deck'd with five flower-de-luces &c.] Old copy-fine; but we should read, according to Holinshed,-five flower-de-luces. "-in a secret place there among old iron, appointed she hir sword to be sought out and brought her, that with five floure-delices was graven on both sides," &c. Steevens.

The same mistake having happened in A Midsummer Night's Dream, and in other places, I have not hesitated to reform the text, according to Mr. Steevens's suggestion. In the MSS. of the age of Queen Elizabeth, u and n are undistinguishable.

Malone.

2 Out of a deal of old iron &c.] The old copy yet more redundantly-Out of a great deal &c. I have no doubt but the original line stood, elliptically, thus:

Out a deal of old iron I chose forth.

The phrase of hospitals is still an out door, not an out of door patient. Steevens.

3 Impatiently I burn with thy desire;] The amorous constitution of the Dauphin, has been mentioned in the preceding play:

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Doing is activity, and he will still be doing." Collins. The Dauphin in the preceding play is John, the elder brother of the present speaker. He died in 1416, the year after the battle of Agincourt. Ritson.

'Tis the French Dauphin sueth to thee thus.
Puc. I must not yield to any rights of love,
For my profession 's sacred from above:
When I have chased all thy foes from hence,
Then will I think upon a recompense.

Char. Mean time, look gracious on thy prostrate thrall. Reig. My lord, methinks, is very long in talk. Alen. Doubtless, he shrives this woman to her smock; Else ne'er could he so long protract his speech.

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:

4

Expect Saint Martin's summer, halcyon days,
Since I have entered into these wars.

Glory is like a circle in the water,

Which never ceaseth to enlarge itself,

Till, by broad spreading, it disperse to nought.5
With Henry's death, the English circle ends;
Dispersed are the glories it included.
Now am I like that proud insulting ship,

Which Cæsar and his fortune bare at once."

4 Expect Saint Martin's summer,] That is, expect prosperity after misfortune, like fair weather at Martlemas, after winter has begun. Johnson.

5 Glory is like a circle in the water,

Which never ceaseth to enlarge itself,

Till, by broad spreading, it disperse to nought.] So, in Nosce Teipsum, a poem by Sir John Davies, 1599:

"As when a stone is into water cast,

"One circle doth another circle make,,

"Till the last circle reach the bank at last." Malone.

like that proud insulting ship,

Which Casar and his fortune bare at once.] This alludes to a passage in Plutarch's Life of Julius Cæsar, thus translated by Sir Thomas North: "Cæsar hearing that, straight discovered himselfe unto the maister of the pynnase, who at the first was amazed when he saw him; but Cæsar, &c. said unto him, Good fellow,

Char. Was Mahomet inspired with a dove??
Thou with an eagle art inspired then.
Helen, the mother of great Constantine,

Nor yet Saint Philip's daughters, were like thee.
Bright star of Venus, fall'n down on the earth,
How may I reverently worship thee enough?

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. [Exeunt.

SCENE III.

London. Hill before the Tower.

Enter, at the Gates, the Duke of GLOSTER, 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.1 Where be these warders, that they wait not here? Open the gates; it is Gloster that calls. [Servants knock. 1 Ward. [within] Who is 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

1

in.

be of good cheere, &c. and fear not, for thou hast Cæsar and his fortune with thee." Steevens.

7 Was Mahomet inspired with a dove?] 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." See Sir Walter Raleigh's History of the World, Book I, P. I, ch. vi. Life of Mahomet, by Dr. Prideaux. Grey.

Nor yet Saint Philip's daughters,] Meaning the four daughters of Philip mentioned in the Acts. Hanmer.

9 How may I reverently worship thee enough?] Perhaps this unmetrical line originally ran thus:

How may I reverence, worship thee enough? The climax rises properly, from reverence, to worship.

1

there is conveyance.] Conveyance means theft.

Steevens.

Hanmer.

So Pistol, in The Merry Wives of Windsor: "Convey the wise it call: Steal! foh; a fico for the phrase." Steevens.

1 Serv. Villains, answer you so the lord protector? 1 Ward. [within] The Lord protect him! so we an

swer 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,2 2 I'll be your warrantize: Shall I be flouted thus by dunghill grooms?

Servants rush at the Tower Gates. Enter, to the Gates, WOODVILLE, the Lieutenant.

Wood. [within] What noise is this? what traitors have we here?

Glo. Lieutenant, is it you, whose voice I hear? Open the gates; here 's Gloster, that would enter. Wood. [within] Have patience, noble duke; I may not open;

The cardinal of Winchester forbids:

From him I have express commandment,
That thou, nor none of thine, shall be let in.

Glo. Faint-hearted Woodville, prizest him 'fore me?
Arrogant Winchester? that haughty prelate,
Whom Henry, our late sovereign, ne'er could brook?
Thou art no friend to God, or to the king:
Open the gates, or I'll shut thee out shortly.

1 Serv. Open the gates unto the lord protector; Or we 'll burst them open, if that you come not quickly. Enter WINCHESTER, attended by a Train of Servants in tawny Coats.3

Win. How now, ambitious Humphry? what means this?4

2 Break up the gates,] I suppose to break up the gate is to force up the portcullis, or by the application of petards to blow up the gates themselves. Steevens.

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, ii, 13. So again, in St. Matthew, xxiv, 43: "He would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up." Whalley.

Some one has proposed to read

Break ope the gates,

but the old copy is right. So Hall, HENRY VI, folio 78, b: "The lusty Kentishmen hopyng on more friends, brake up the gaytes of the King's Bench and Marshalsea," &c. Malone.