All the Talbots in the world, to save my life.

Cap. Cowardly knight! ill fortune follow thee!

[Exit.

[Exit into the town.

Retreat excursions. Re-enter, from the town, LA PUCELLE, ALENÇON, CHARLES, &c., and exeunt flying.

Bed. Now, quiet soul, depart when heaven please,
For I have seen our enemies' overthrow.

What is the trust or strength of foolish man?
They that of late were daring with their scoffs
Are glad and fain by flight to save themselves

Alarums.

[Dies, and is carried off in his chair.

Re-enter TALBOT, BURGUNDY, and others.

Tal. Lost and recover'd in a day again! This is a double honour, Burgundy:

Let (97) heavens have glory for this victory!

Bur. Warlike and martial Talbot,(98) Burgundy Enshrines thee in his heart, and there erects

Thy noble deeds, as valour's monuments.

Tal. Thanks, gentle duke. But where is Pucelle now? I think her old familiar is asleep:

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,

(97) Let] The folio has "Yet."

(98) Warlike and martial Talbot,] Mr. Collier's Ms. Corrector substitutes "Warlike and matchless Talbot," and Mr. Collier says, that, "the old text being mere tautology, we may gladly welcome his striking improvement." On the contrary, we must reject it; for the present passage is far from being the only tautological one in this very unShakespearian drama: e.g.;

"In private will I talk with thee apart," p. 14.

"Or will you blame and lay the fault on me?" p. 30.
"To gather our soldiers, scatter'd and dispers'd," &c., 31.
"I see report is fabulous and false," p. 33.

So clear, so shining, and so evident," &c., p. 36. "Than I am able to instruct or teach," p. 66.

1864. Mr. Collier no longer "welcomes" this "striking improvement: see the sec. ed. of his Shakespeare.

Placing therein some expert officers;

And then depart to Paris to the king,

For there young Henry with his nobles lie.(99)
Bur. What wills Lord Talbot pleaseth Burgundy.
Tal. But yet, before we go, let's not forget
The noble Duke of Bedford late deceas'd,
But see his exequies fulfill'd in Rouen :
A braver soldier never couchèd 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,
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 rul'd.

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.

(99) For there young Henry with his nobles lie.] The modern editors usually print Henry with his nobles lies:" but the old text (nor did the editor of the second folio make any change here) is, doubtless, what the author wrote. Compare The Third Part of King Henry VI. act i. sc. 2;

"The queen with all the northern earls and lords
Intend here to besiege you in your castle."

(Mr. Robson observes to me that a similar construction is sometimes found in Latin :-"atque ipse dux cum aliquot principibus caviuntur" Livy, xxi. 60, where see Ruperti's note.)

Alen. We'll set thy statue in some holy place,
And have thee reverenc'd like a blessèd 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 extirpèd from our provinces.

Alen. For ever should they be expuls'd 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 wishèd end.

[Drums heard.

Hark! by the sound of drum you may perceive

Their powers are marching unto Paris-ward.

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.

A French march. Enter the Duke of BURGUNDY and his 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 defac'd

By wasting ruin of the cruel foe!

As looks the mother on her lovely babe (100)
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 edgèd sword another way;

Strike those that hurt, and hurt not those that help!
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 stainèd spots.

Bur. [aside] Either she hath bewitch'd me with her words, Or nature makes me suddenly relent.

Puc. Besides, all French and France exclaim 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.

(100) As looks the mother on her lovely babe] So Warburton (an Mr. Collier's Ms. Corrector).-The folio has " her lowly Babe."According to Mr. Singer (Shakespeare Vindicated, &c., p. 141), Warburton's emendation "was rejected with good reason by Johnson:" but the fact is, Johnson's note proves that he had great doubts about "lowly," and his explanation of it is ridiculously forced; he calls Warburton's reading "easy and probable; but," he adds, "PERHAPS the poet by lowly babe meant the babe lying low in death."-Capell, too, patronises the old lection," the image is fetched from some rustic mother, and her rustic or lowly babe :" what a strange fancy! (Printers frequently confound "lovely" and "lowly:" compare Lady E. Carew's Tragedie of Mariam, 1613;

"For Aristobolus, the lowlyest [read "louelyest"] youth
That euer did in Angels shape appeare," &c. Sig. A 3.)

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. [aside] I'm vanquishèd; 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:So, farewell, Talbot; I'll no longer trust thee.

Puc. Done like a Frenchman,-[Aside] 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. A room in the palace.

· Enter King HENRY, GLOSTER, WINCHESTER, YORK, SUFFOLK, SOMERSET, WARWICK, EXETER, VERNON, BASSET, &c. To them TALBOT and some of his Officers.

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 wallèd towns of strength.
Beside five hundred prisoners of esteem-

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

[Kneeling.

Ascribes the glory of his conquest got

First to my God, and next unto your grace.