The First Part Of Henry The Sixth

1 Enter La Pucelle with four Soldiers with sacks upon their backs.
2 PUCELLE.
3 These are the city gates, the gates of Rouen,
4 Through which our policy must make a breach.
5 Take heed, be wary how you place your words;
6 Talk like the vulgar sort of market men
7 That come to gather money for their corn.
8 If we have entrance, as I hope we shall,
9 And that we find the slothful watch but weak,
10 I’ll by a sign give notice to our friends,
11 That Charles the Dauphin may encounter them.
12 FIRST SOLDIER.
13 Our sacks shall be a mean to sack the city,
14 And we be lords and rulers over Rouen;
15 Therefore we’ll knock. [_Knocks._]
16 WATCH.
17 [_Within_.] _Qui est la?_
18 PUCELLE.
19 _Paysans, la pauvres gens de France:_
20 Poor market folks that come to sell their corn.
21 WATCH.
22 Enter, go in; the market bell is rung.
23 PUCELLE.
24 Now, Rouen, I’ll shake thy bulwarks to the ground.
25 [_Exeunt._]
26 Enter Charles, the Bastard of Orleans, Alençon, Reignier and forces.
27 CHARLES.
28 Saint Denis bless this happy stratagem,
29 And once again we’ll sleep secure in Rouen.
30 BASTARD.
31 Here enter’d Pucelle and her practisants;
32 Now she is there, how will she specify
33 Here is the best and safest passage in?
34 REIGNIER.
35 By thrusting out a torch from yonder tower,
36 Which, once discern’d, shows that her meaning is:
37 No way to that, for weakness, which she enter’d.
38 Enter La Pucelle, on the top, thrusting out a torch burning.
39 PUCELLE.
40 Behold, this is the happy wedding torch
41 That joineth Rouen unto her countrymen,
42 But burning fatal to the Talbonites.
43 [_Exit._]
44 BASTARD.
45 See, noble Charles, the beacon of our friend;
46 The burning torch, in yonder turret stands.
47 CHARLES.
48 Now shine it like a comet of revenge,
49 A prophet to the fall of all our foes!
50 REIGNIER.
51 Defer no time, delays have dangerous ends;
52 Enter and cry, “The Dauphin!” presently,
53 And then do execution on the watch.
54 [_Alarum. Exeunt._]
55 An alarum. Enter Talbot in an excursion.
56 TALBOT.
57 France, thou shalt rue this treason with thy tears,
58 If Talbot but survive thy treachery.
59 Pucelle, that witch, that damned sorceress,
60 Hath wrought this hellish mischief unawares,
61 That hardly we escaped the pride of France.
62 [_Exit._]
63 An alarum. Excursions. Bedford, brought in sick in a chair. Enter
64 Talbot and Burgundy without: within, La Pucelle, Charles, Bastard,
65 Alençon, and Reignier on the walls.
66 PUCELLE.
67 Good morrow, gallants! Want ye corn for bread?
68 I think the Duke of Burgundy will fast
69 Before he’ll buy again at such a rate.
70 ’Twas full of darnel. Do you like the taste?
71 BURGUNDY.
72 Scoff on, vile fiend and shameless courtezan!
73 I trust ere long to choke thee with thine own,
74 And make thee curse the harvest of that corn.
75 CHARLES.
76 Your Grace may starve, perhaps, before that time.
77 BEDFORD.
78 O, let no words, but deeds, revenge this treason!
79 PUCELLE.
80 What will you do, good graybeard? Break a lance
81 And run a tilt at Death within a chair?
82 TALBOT.
83 Foul fiend of France and hag of all despite,
84 Encompass’d with thy lustful paramours,
85 Becomes it thee to taunt his valiant age
86 And twit with cowardice a man half dead?
87 Damsel, I’ll have a bout with you again,
88 Or else let Talbot perish with this shame.
89 PUCELLE.
90 Are ye so hot? Yet, Pucelle, hold thy peace;
91 If Talbot do but thunder, rain will follow.
92 [_The English whisper together in council._]
93 God speed the Parliament! Who shall be the Speaker?
94 TALBOT.
95 Dare ye come forth and meet us in the field?
96 PUCELLE.
97 Belike your lordship takes us then for fools,
98 To try if that our own be ours or no.
99 TALBOT.
100 I speak not to that railing Hecate,
101 But unto thee, Alençon, and the rest;
102 Will ye, like soldiers, come and fight it out?
103 ALENÇON.
104 Seignieur, no.
105 TALBOT.
106 Seignieur, hang! Base muleteers of France!
107 Like peasant foot-boys do they keep the walls,
108 And dare not take up arms like gentlemen.
109 PUCELLE.
110 Away, captains! Let’s get us from the walls,
111 For Talbot means no goodness by his looks.
112 Goodbye, my lord; we came but to tell you
113 That we are here.
114 [_Exeunt from the walls._]
115 TALBOT.
116 And there will we be too, ere it be long,
117 Or else reproach be Talbot’s greatest fame!
118 Vow, Burgundy, by honour of thy house,
119 Prick’d on by public wrongs sustain’d in France,
120 Either to get the town again or die.
121 And I, as sure as English Henry lives,
122 And as his father here was conqueror,
123 As sure as in this late-betrayed town
124 Great Coeur-de-lion’s heart was buried,
125 So sure I swear to get the town or die.
126 BURGUNDY.
127 My vows are equal partners with thy vows.
128 TALBOT.
129 But, ere we go, regard this dying prince,
130 The valiant Duke of Bedford. Come, my lord,
131 We will bestow you in some better place,
132 Fitter for sickness and for crazy age.
133 BEDFORD.
134 Lord Talbot, do not so dishonour me.
135 Here will I sit before the walls of Rouen,
136 And will be partner of your weal or woe.
137 BURGUNDY.
138 Courageous Bedford, let us now persuade you.
139 BEDFORD.
140 Not to be gone from hence; for once I read
141 That stout Pendragon in his litter sick
142 Came to the field and vanquished his foes.
143 Methinks I should revive the soldiers’ hearts,
144 Because I ever found them as myself.
145 TALBOT.
146 Undaunted spirit in a dying breast!
147 Then be it so. Heavens keep old Bedford safe!
148 And now no more ado, brave Burgundy,
149 But gather we our forces out of hand
150 And set upon our boasting enemy.
151 [_Exeunt all but Bedford and Attendants._]
152 An alarum. Excursions. Enter Sir John Fastolf and a Captain.
153 CAPTAIN.
154 Whither away, Sir John Fastolf, in such haste?
155 FASTOLF.
156 Whither away? To save myself by flight.
157 We are like to have the overthrow again.
158 CAPTAIN.
159 What! Will you fly, and leave Lord Talbot?
160 FASTOLF.
161 Ay,
162 All the Talbots in the world, to save my life.
163 [_Exit._]
164 CAPTAIN.
165 Cowardly knight, ill fortune follow thee!
166 [_Exit._]
167 Retreat. Excursions. La Pucelle, Alençon and Charles fly.
168 BEDFORD.
169 Now, quiet soul, depart when heaven please,
170 For I have seen our enemies’ overthrow.
171 What is the trust or strength of foolish man?
172 They that of late were daring with their scoffs
173 Are glad and fain by flight to save themselves.
174 [_Bedford dies, and is carried in by two in his chair._]
175 An alarum. Enter Talbot, Burgundy and the rest.
176 TALBOT.
177 Lost, and recover’d in a day again!
178 This is a double honour, Burgundy.
179 Yet heavens have glory for this victory!
180 BURGUNDY.
181 Warlike and martial Talbot, Burgundy
182 Enshrines thee in his heart, and there erects
183 Thy noble deeds as valour’s monuments.
184 TALBOT.
185 Thanks, gentle Duke. But where is Pucelle now?
186 I think her old familiar is asleep.
187 Now where’s the Bastard’s braves, and Charles his gleeks?
188 What, all amort? Rouen hangs her head for grief
189 That such a valiant company are fled.
190 Now will we take some order in the town,
191 Placing therein some expert officers,
192 And then depart to Paris to the King,
193 For there young Henry with his nobles lie.
194 BURGUNDY.
195 What wills Lord Talbot pleaseth Burgundy.
196 TALBOT.
197 But yet, before we go, let’s not forget
198 The noble Duke of Bedford late deceased,
199 But see his exequies fulfill’d in Rouen.
200 A braver soldier never couched lance,
201 A gentler heart did never sway in court;
202 But kings and mightiest potentates must die,
203 For that’s the end of human misery.
204 [_Exeunt._]