In earnest of a further benefit, So you do condescend to help me now. [They hang their heads. No hope to have redress ?-My body shall Pay recompense, if you will grant my suit. Cannot my body nor blood-sacrifice [They shake their heads. Entreat you to your wonted furtherance? Then take my soul,-my body, soul, and all, Before that England give the French the foil. [They depart. [Exit. Alarums. Enter French and English, fighting. LA PUCELLE and York. Damsel of France, I think I have you fast: A goodly prize, fit for the devil's grace! No shape but his can please your dainty eye. Puc. A plaguing mischief light on Charles and thee! And may ye both be suddenly surpris'd By bloody hands, in sleeping on your beds! York. Fell banning hag, enchantress, hold thy tongue! Puc. I prithee, give me leave to curse awhile. York. Curse, miscreant, when thou comest to the stake. [Exeunt. (136) La Pucelle and York fight hand to hand :] The folio has "Burgundie and Yorke fight hand to hand." Alarums. Enter SUFFOLK, leading in MARGARET. Suf. Be what thou wilt, thou art my prisoner. O fairest beauty, do not fear nor fly! For I will touch thee but with reverent hands, And lay them gently on thy tender side. [Gazes on her. I kiss these fingers for eternal peace.(137) [Kissing her hand. Who art thou? say, that I may honour thee. Mar. Margaret my name, and daughter to a king, The King of Naples,-whosoe'er thou art. Suf. An earl I am, and Suffolk am I call'd. Be not offended, nature's miracle, Thou art allotted to be ta'en by me: So doth the swan her downy cygnets save, Keeping them prisoners underneath her wings.(138) Go, and be free again as Suffolk's friend. [She turns away as going. O, stay!—[Aside] I have no power to let her pass; (137) And lay them gently on thy tender side. In the folio these two lines are by mistake transposed. Capell first arranged them rightly.-1864. Mr. Staunton defends the old reading : he supposes that Suffolk kisses his own fingers,-" a symbol of peace," says Malone, "of which there is, I believe, no example." (138) Keeping them prisoners underneath her wings.] The folio has · prisoner vnderneath his wings.”—The second folio corrects the latter of these errors.-The third folio gives the line rightly. In the first line Mr. Collier's Ms. Corrector substitutes "go" for "pass," and very probably such was the original author's reading, as also, in the third line, "stream" but is it not equally probable that here, as occasionally elsewhere, the rhymes were purposely done away with when the play underwent those alterations with which it is exhibited in the So seems this gorgeous beauty to mine eyes. I'll call for pen and ink, and write my mind:- Hast not a tongue? is she not here thy prisoner ?(140) Confounds the tongue, and makes the senses crouch.(141) For I perceive I am thy prisoner. Suf. [aside] How canst thou tell she will deny thy suit Before thou make a trial of her love? Mar. Why speak'st thou not? what ransom must I pay? Suf. [aside] She's beautiful, and therefore to be woo'd; She is a woman, therefore to be won. Mar. Wilt thou accept of ransom-yea or no? Suf. [aside] Fond man, remember that thou hast a wife; Then how can Margaret be thy paramour? folio? (Mr. Collier's Ms. Corrector is not always fortunate in restoring a rhyme at p. 89, where the common lection is, "For princes should be free. Suf. And so shall you, If happy England's royal king be free. Mar. Why, what concerns his freedom unto me?" he makes Suffolk say, "If happy England's royal king be true,”-without any regard to what immediately follows.) (140) is she not here thy prisoner?] The words "thy prisoner" were added in the second folio; nor does this addition appear to me so objectionable as it does to Mr. W. N. Lettsom: see his note apud Walker's Crit. Exam., &c., vol. iii. p. 152. (141) Ay, beauty's princely majesty is such, Confounds the tongue, and makes the senses crouch.] The folio has "- and makes the senses rough."—I adopt Hanmer's reading, which at least affords a meaning, and suits the context. (Compare a modern poet; "how every sense Bows to your beauties," &c. Mr. Collier's Ms. Corrector substitutes " touch," which is bad enough; while Mr. (Shakespeare Vindicated, &c., p. 145) gives touch," which is little, if at all, better. Mar. I were best to leave him,(142) for he will not hear. sure, the man is mad. Suf. [aside] And yet a dispensation may be had. Mar. He talks of wood: it is some carpenter. Mar. Hear ye, captain,-are you not at leisure? Madam, I have a secret to reveal. Mar. [aside] What though I be enthrall'd? he seems a knight, And will not any way dishonour me. Suf. Lady, vouchsafe to listen what I say. Mar. [aside] Perhaps I shall be rescu'd by the French; And then I need not crave his courtesy. Suf. Sweet madam, give me hearing in a cause Mar. [aside] Tush, women have been captivate ere now. Suf. I prithee, lady,(144) wherefore talk you so? Mar. I cry you mercy, 'tis but quid for quo. Suf. Say, gentle princess, would you not suppose Your bondage happy, to be made a queen ? (142) I were best to leave him,] Here Capell was the first to omit “to:" but see Walker's Crit. Exam., &c., vol. ii. p. 205. (143) at random;] Here the folio has "at randon" (a not unusual form with early writers); but in The Two Gent. of Verona, act ii. sc. I, it has "I writ at randome." (144) I prithee, lady,] The folio has merely "Lady,"-there being, as Walker observes, "a gap, apparently, at the beginning of the line" (Crit. Exam., &c., vol. iii. p. 152).-Capell printed "Nay, hear me, lady."Mr. Collier's Ms. Corrector reads "Lady, pray tell me."-Mr. W. N. Lettsom proposes "Lady, sweet lady" (but Suffolk calls her "sweet" in his preceding speech). Mar. To be a queen in bondage is more vile Than is a slave in base servility; For princes should be free. Suf. And so shall you, If happy England's royal king be free. Mar. Why, what concerns his freedom unto me? And set a precious crown upon thy head, Mar. What? His love. Mar. I am unworthy to be Henry's wife. And, madam, at your father's castle-walls A parley sounded. Enter REIGNIER on the walls. See, Reignier, see, thy daughter prisoner ! Suf. Reig. To me. Suffolk, what remedy? I am a soldier, and unapt to weep Or to exclaim on fortune's fickleness. Suf. Yes, there is remedy enough, my lord: Consent and, for thy honour, give consent― Thy daughter shall be wedded to my king; Whom I with pain have woo'd and won thereto; And this her easy-held imprisonment Hath gain'd thy daughter princely liberty. (145) condescend to-] The folio has "condiscend to be my-.” “I have little doubt that the words 'be my' are an interpolation." STEEVENS. |