SCENE I-Before ORLEANS.

Enter, to the Gate, a French Sergeant and two Sentinels.

Serg. Sirs, take your places, and be vigilant:

If any noise or soldier you perceive

Near to the walls, by some apparent sign

Let us have knowledge at the court of guard.1

First Sent. Sergeant, you shall. [Exit Sergeant.] Thus are poor servitors,

(When others sleep upon their quiet beds,) Constrain'd to watch in darkness, rain, and cold.

Enter TALBOT, BEDFORD, BURGUNDY, and Forces. with scaling-ladders, their drums beating a dead march.

Tal. Lord regent, and redoubted Burgundy,2By whose approach the regions of Artois, Walloon, and Picardy are friends to us,— This happy night the Frenchmen are secure, Having all day carous'd and banqueted: Embrace we, then, this opportunity, As fitting best to quittance3 their deceit, Contriv'd by art and baleful sorcery.

Bed. Coward of France, how much he wrongs

his fame,

Despairing of his own arm's fortitude,

To join with witches and the help of hell!

Bur. Traitors have never other company.—

But what's that Pucelle, whom they term so pure?
Tal. A maid, they say.
Bed.

A maid and be so martial!

Bur. Pray Heaven she prove not masculine ere

long;

If underneath the standard of the French

She carry armour, as she hath begun.

Tal. Well, let them practise and converse with spirits:

God is our fortress, in whose conquering name
Let us resolve to scale their flinty bulwarks.

Bed. Ascend, brave Talbot; we will follow thee.
Tal. Not all together: better far, I guess,

1. The court of guard. An expression used in Shakespeare's time for the guard-room;' or, perhaps, rather for the open-air spot surrounding or adjoining the guard-room.

2. Burgundy. This was the Duke of Burgundy, surnamed "Philip the Good." He became an ally of England in consequence of the treacherous murder of his father; who, being summoned to a conference with the Dauphin at Montereau upon Yonne, was there basely assassinated by the Dauphin's attendants. The alliance with England was strengthened by Bedford's marriage with Burgundy's sister in 1423.

3. Quittance. Here used as a verb, to express 'give reprisal for,' 'retaliate upon.' See Note 46, Act ii., “Henry V."

Now, Salisbury, for thee, and for the right
Of English Henry, shall this night appear
How much in duty I am bound to both.

[The English scale the walls, crying, "St. George! a Talbot!" and all enter the Town. Sent. Arm! arm! the enemy doth make assault !

The French leap over the Walls in their shirts.

Enter, several ways, the Bastard of Orleans, ALENÇON, and REIGNIER, half ready and half unreadys

Alen. How now, my lords! what, all unready

Come hither, captain. [Wh.spers.] You perceive my mind?

Capt. I do, my lord, and meɛn accordingly.

[Exeunt.

SCENE III.-AUVERGNE. Court of the Castle.
Enter the Countess and her Porter.
Count. Porter, remember what I gave in charge;
And when you have done so, bring the keys to me.
Port. Madam, I will.

Count. The plot is laid: if all things fall out right, I shall as famous be by this exploit

As Scythian Thomyris14 by Cyrus' death.
Great is the rumour of this dreadful knight,
And his achievements of no less account:
Fain would mine eyes be witness with mine ears,
To give their censure of these rare reports.

Enter Messenger and TALBOT,

Mess. Madam,

According as your ladyship desir'd,

By message crav'd, so is Lord Talbot come.

Count. And he is welcome,

man?

Mess. Madam, it is.

Count.

What is this the

Is this the scourge of France? Is this the Talbot, so much fear'd abroad, That with his name the mothers still their babes? I see report is fabulous and false;

I thought I should have seen some Hercules,

A second Hector, for his grim aspéct,
And large proportion of his strong-knit limbs.
Alas! this is a child, a silly dwarf!

It cannot be this weak and writhlèd 16 shrimp
Should strike such terror to his enemies.

Tal. Madam, I have been bold to trouble you;
But since your ladyship is not at leisure,
I'll sort 17 some other time to visit you.
Count. What means he now ?-Go ask him

whither he goes.

[Going.

Tal. I laugh to see your ladyship so fond 20
To think that you have aught but Talbot's shadow
Whereon to practise your severity.

Count. Why, art not thou the man?
Tal.
I am indeed,
Count. Then have I substance too.
Tal, No, no, I am but shadow of myself;
You are deceiv'd, my substance is not here;
For what you see is but the smallest part
And least proportion of humanity:

I tell you, madam, were the whole frame here,
It is of such a spacious lofty pitch,

Your roof were not sufficient to contain 't.

Count. This is a riddling merchant for the

nonce ; 21

He will be here, and yet he is not here!

How can these contrarieties agree? Tal. That will I show you presently. [He winds a born. Drums strike up; then a peal of ordnance. The gates being forced, enter Soldiers, How say you, madam? are you now persuaded That Talbot is but shadow of himself? These are his substance, sinews, arms, and strength, With which he yoketh your rebellious necks, Razeth your cities, and subverts your towns, And in a moment makes them desolate.

Count. Victorious Talbot! pardon my abuse:
I find thou art no less than fame hath bruited,22
And more than may be gather'd by thy shape.
Let my presumption not provoke thy wrath;
For I am sorry that with reverence

I did not entertain thee as thou art,
Tal. Be not dismay'd, fair lady; nor misconstrue
The mind of Talbot, as you did mistake

21. A riddling merchant for the nonce. In feudal timeswhen to be merely a lord of the soil was reckoned honourable, and to pursue commerce was thought to involve a certain amount of degradation-the word "merchant" was often used as a term of contemptuous reproach, in contradistinction to 'gentleman; ' hence the word 'chap,' derived from, and an abbreviation of, 'chapman," is still used as a slighting appellation. "For the nonce means 'for the occasion:' as we should at present say 'now.' See Note 47, Act i., "First Part Henry IV."

22. Bruited. Noised, reported. See Note 11, Act i., "Second Part Henry IV."

The outward composition of his body.
What you have done hath not offended me:
No other satisfaction do I crave,
But only (with your patience) that we may
Taste of your wine, and see what cates 23
you have;
For soldiers' stomachs always serve them well.
Count. With all my heart; and think me
honoured

Som. And on my side it is so well apparell'd, So clear, so shining, and so evident, That it will glimmer through a blind man's eye. Plan. Since you are tongue-tied and so loth to

speak,

Enter the Earls of SOMERSET, SUFFOLK, and WARWICK; RICHARD PLANTAGENET, VERNON, and another Lawyer.25

Plan. Great lords and gentlemen, what means this silence?

Dare no man answer in a case of truth?

Suf. Within the Temple Hall we were too loud; The garden here is more convenient.

Plan. Then say at once if I maintain'd the truth; Or else was wrangling 26 Somerset in error?

Suf. 'Faith, I have been a truant in the law,
And never yet could frame my will to it;
And therefore frame the law unto my wil.

Som. Judge you, my Lord of Warwick, then, between us.

From off this brier pluck a white rose with me.
Som. Let him that is no coward nor no flatterer,
But dare maintain the party of the truth,
Pluck a red rose from off this thorn with me.
War. I love no colours; 30 and, without all colour
Of base insinuating flattery,

I pluck this white rose with Plantagenet.
Suf. I pluck this red rose with young Somerset;
And say withal, I think he held the right.

Ver. Stay, lords and gentlemen, and pluck no

pitch;

Between two dogs, which hath the deeper mouth;
Between two blades, which bears the better temper;
Between two horses, which doth bear him best; 27
Between two girls, which hath the merriest eye;-
I have, perhaps, some shallow spirit of judgment:
But in these nice sharp quillets 28 of the law,
Good faith, I am no wiser than a daw.

Plan. Tut, tut! here is a mannerly forbearance:
The truth appears so naked on my side,
That any purblind eye may find it out.

23. Cates. Food, victuals, provisions. See Note 18, Act ii., "Taming of the Shrew."

24. Richard Plantagenet. He was son to the Earl of Cambridge, whom we have seen discovered in a plot against Henry V., in Act ii., sc. 2 of that play; and nephew to the Edward, Duke of York, whose death is described in Act iv., sc. 6 of the same play. As his uncle had no son, he was his heir; and in the fourth year of the reign of Henry VI., Richard Plantagenet was restored to the rights and titles that had been forfeited by his father, and was created Duke of York.

25. Another Lawyer. Ritson says, "This lawyer was probably Roger Nevyle, who was afterwards hanged. See W. Wyrcester, p. 478."

26. Or else was wrangling, &c. Johnson remarked, "There is apparently a want of opposition between the two questions." But or else" is used in the sense of or in other words;' and the passage is similar to one or two we have pointed out elsewhere, where there is apparent antithesis and the effect of two questions given, while in fact there is but one put into varied words. See Note 187, Act iv., "Winter's Tale."

27. Which doth bear him best. 'Which comports himself

Som. Prick not your finger as you pluck it off, Lest, bleeding, you do paint the white rose red, And fall on my side so, against your will.

-Ver. If 1, my lord, for my opinion bleed,
Opinion shall be surgeon to my hurt,
And keep me on the side where still I am.
Som. Well, well, come on: who else?
Lawyer. [To SOMERSET.] Unless my study and
my books be false,

The argument you held was wrong in you;
In sign whereof I pluck a white rose too.

31. It is well objected. It is well stated,' 'well set forth,' 'well proposed;' 'well presented as an object or in its object.' Thus, in Goulart's "Admirable Histories," 1607—“ Because Sathan transfigures himself into an angell of light, I objected many and sundry questions to him." And in book xxi. of Chapman's "Homer's Odyssey"—

"Pallas, the goddess with the sparkling eyes,
Excites Penelope t' object the prize,

The bow and bright steels, to the wooer's strength."