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:

Lo! whilst I waited on my tender lambs,
And to sun's parching head display'd my checks,
God's mother deigned to appear to me;
And, in a vision full of majesty,
Will'd me to leave my base vocation,
And free my country from calamity.

Her aid she promis'd, and assured 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 may see. 16
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.

17

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.

Puc. I am prepar'd. Here is my keen-edg'd sword,
Deck'd with five 18 flower-de-luces on each side;

The which at Touraine, 19 in Saint Katharine's church-yard,
Out of a great deal of old iron I chose forth.

Char. Then come, o' God's name: I fear no woman.
Puc. And, while I live, I'll ne'er fly from a man.
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.

[They fight. 20

16) Die zweite Fol. lässt may aus.

17) to resolve on über Etwas zum Abschluss gelangen, einer Sache gewiss sein. this bezieht sich auf das Folgende.

18) Steevens verbesserte das fine der alten Ausgg. in five, nach Massgabe der entsprechenden Stelle bei Holinshed. Vgl. Einleitung pag. IV.

19) Holinshed hat genauer from Saint Katherine's church of Fierbois in Touraine. 20) Die Bühnenweisung der Fol. lautet: Here they fight and Joan de Pusel overcomes.

Char. Whoe'er helps thee, 't is thou that must help me.

Impatiently I burn with thy desire; 21

My heart and hands thou hast at once subdued.

Excellent Pucelle, if thy name be so,

Let me thy servant, and not sovereign, be:

'Tis the French Dauphin sueth to thee thus.

Puc. I must not yield to any rites of love, 22

For my profession 's sacred from above:

When I have chased all thy foes from hence,

Then will I think upon a recompense.

Char. Meantime look gracious on thy prostrate thrall.
Reig. My lord, methinks, is very long in talk.

Alen. Doubtless he shrives this woman to her smock, 23
Else ne'er could he so long protract his speech.

Reig. Shall we disturb him, since he keeps no mean? 24 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:

Expect Saint Martin's summer, halcyon days, 25
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.
With Henry's death the English circle ends;
Dispersed are the glories it included.
Now am I like that proud insulting 26 ship,
Which Cæsar and his fortune bare at once.

21) thy desire das Verlangen nach Dir, die Liebe zu Dir.
Sc. 1) who by selling her desires buys herself bread.
22) Die Fol. schreibt rights of love, was erst die spätern Hgg.
23) mit frivolem Nebensinn: er nimmt sie in die Beichte
Alles beichten.

So in Othello (A. 4,

verbessern.

bis auf's Hemd, lässt sie

2) Wortspiel zwischen mean = Mass, Mittelstrasse, und to mean meinen, im Sinne haben. Das gute Wetter, das dem Sturme folgt, wie ein Spätsommertag, der erst im November zum Martinstage kommt.

25)

26) to insult gebraucht Sh. im Sinne des jetzigen to exult

=

triumphiren, frohlocken, ohne den Nebenbegriff des Kränkenden. Sh. fand diese Notiz in dem Leben Cäsar's von 'Plutarch, übersetzt von Thomas North, wo Cäsar dem besorgten Schiffer zuruft: Good fellow, be of good cheer, and fear not, for thou hast Cæsar and his fortune with thee.

Char. Was Mahomet inspired with a dove? 27

Thou with an eagle art inspired then.

Helen, the mother of great Constantine,

Nor yet Saint Philip's daughters 28 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.
No prophet will I trust, if she prove false.

Come, let 's away about it:

[Exeunt.

SCENE III.

London. Tower Hill.

Enter at the gates, the Duke of GLOSTER, with his Serving-men.

Glo. I am come to survey the Tower this day; Since Henry's death, I fear, there is conveyance. 2 Where be these warders, that they wait not here? Open the gates! 'T is Gloster that calls.

1

[Servants knock.

1 Ward. [Within.] Who's 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 in.

1 Serv. Villains, answer you so the lord protector?

3

1 Ward. [Within.] The Lord protect him! So we answer 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, I'll be your warrantize. Shall I be flouted thus by dunghill grooms?

27) In Sir W. Raleigh's History of the World fand Sh., dass Mahomet eine Taube hatte, 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.

28) In der Apostelgeschichte (21, 9) werden vier Töchter des Philippus erwähnt, welche Jungfrauen waren und weissagten.

1) Vgl. A. 1, Sc. 1, wo Gloster sagt I'll to the Tower, with all the haste I can || To view the artillery and munition.

2) conveyance = heimliche Fortschaffung, Unterschleif, in Bezug auf das Geschütz und Rüstzeug im Tower. In demselben Sinne kommt auch to convey vor.

3) Dasselbe Wortspiel kehrt wieder in K. Richard III. (A. 4, Sc. 1) wo Brakenbury sagt: I mean the lord protector und die Königin erwidert: The Lord proteet him from that kingly title.

4) to break up im älteren Englisch für to break open.

GLOSTER'S Men 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 commandement,

That thou, nor none of thine, shall be let in.

Glo. Fain-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 Servants in tawny coats. 7
Win. How now, ambitious Humphrey? what means this?
Glo. Pill'd priest, dost thou command me to be shut out?
Win. I do, thou most usurping proditor, 9

And not protector, of the king or realm.

Glo. Stand back, thou manifest conspirator,
Thou that contriv'dst to murder our dead lord;
Thou that giv'st whores indulgences to sin. 10
I'll canvass 11 thee in thy broad cardinal's hat,
If thou proceed in this thy insolence.

5) commandement, viersylbig zu lesen, ist Sh.'s Wort schon in der Fol.

6) Auf thee liegt der Nachdruck: ich will Dich bald aussperren, wie Du mich aussperrst. 7) In braunen Röcken gingen die Diener des geistlichen Gerichts, also auch des Bischofs von Winchester als der obersten geistlichen Gerichtsbehörde. Gloster's Leute tragen dagegen blaue Röcke als Diener der weltlichen Gerichtsbarkeit. In der folgenden Zeile emendirt Theobald in Humphrey das sinnlose, cursiv gedruckte Umpheir der Fol., woraus die spätern Folioausgg. Umpire machten, was Rowe beibehielt. Mit seinem Namen Humphrey wird der Herzog von Gloster namentlich in K. Henry VI. Second Part wiederholt genannt.

9 proditor

=

to pill oder to peel

=

rupfen, schälen, geht verächtlich auf die

Verräther, ein veraltetes, und auch bei Sh. sonst nicht vorkommendes

Wort, hier im lautlichen Gegensatz zu protector gewählt.

10) Die Londoner Bordelle in der Vorstadt Southwark standen unter dem Schutze des Bischofs von Winchester, dem sie eine Abgabe zu entrichten hatten.

11) to canvass = hin- und herschütteln, eigentlich beuteln. Gloster verhöhnt den breiten Cardinalshut des Bischofs, indem er droht, in demselben ihn zu schütteln und zu rütteln, wie in einem Siebe.

Win. Nay, stand thou back; I will not budge a foot: This be Damascus, 12 be thou cursed Cain,

To slay thy brother Abel, if thou wilt.

Glo. I will not slay thee, but I'll drive thee back. Thy scarlet robes, as a child's bearing-cloth

I'll use to carry thee out of this place.

Win. Do what thou dar'st; I'll beard thee to thy face.
Glo. What! am I dar'd, and bearded to my face?
Draw, men, for all this privileged place; 13
Blue-coats to-tawny-coats. 14 Priest, beware your beard,

[GLOSTER and his Men attack the Bishop.

I mean to tug it, and to cuff you soundly.
Under my feet I stamp thy cardinal's hat,
In spite of pope or dignities of church;
Here by the cheeks I'll drag thee up and down.

Win. Gloster, thou 'lt answer this before the pope.
Glo. Winchester goose! 15 I cry
a rope! a rope!

Now beat them hence: Why do you let them stay?-
Thee I'll chase hence, thou wolf in sheep's array.

Out, tawny-coats! out, scarlet hypocrite!

Here GLOSTER'S Men beat out the Cardinal's Men, and enter in the hurlyburly the Mayor of London and his Officers. 16

May. Fie, lords! that you, being supreme magistrates,

Thus contumeliously should break the peace!

Glo. Peace, mayor! thou know'st little of my wrongs.

Here's Beaufort, that regards nor God nor king,

Hath here distrain'd the Tower to his use.

Win. Here's Gloster too, 17 a foe to citizens; One that still motions war, and never peace, O'ercharging your free purses with large fines; 18 That seeks to overthrow religion,

Because he is protector of the realm;

12) In der Gegend von Damaskus sollte Kain seinen Bruder Abel erschlagen haben. 13) Gloster's Diener sollen die Schwerter ziehen, so verpönt auch jeder Streit auf dem Platz sein mag, wo sie sich befinden. privileged ist viersylbig zu lesen.

14) Vgl. Anm. 6 dieser Scene.

15) Anspielung auf die oben erwähnte Gerichtsbarkeit des Bischofs über die Bordelle, da Winchester goose Freudenmädchen, und - Lustseuche ist. So in Troilus and

Cressida (A. 5, Sc. 11) some galled goose of Winchester would hiss.

16) Diese Bühnenweisung, interessant durch das jetzt veraltete, auch sonst bei Sh. vorkommende Wort hurly-burly

Tumult, Handgemenge, ist aus der Fol. entlehnt und

=

17) too, das in der ersten Fol. ausgefallen ist, ergänzt die zweite.

18) fines sind die Gelder, mit denen die Londoner ihre Privilegien erneuern lassen oder

erkaufen mussten, und von deren Bezahlung ihr Seckel rechtlich frei sein sollte.