Whilst such a worthy leader, wanting aid,
Unto his dastard foemen is betray'd.

3 Mess. O, no! he lives, but is took prisoner, And lord Scales with him, and lord Hungerford Most of the rest slaughter'd, or took, likewise.

Bed. His ransom there is none but I shall pay. I'll hale the Dauphin headlong from his throne: His crown shall be the ransom of my friend: Four of their lords I'll change for one of ours. Farewell, my masters; to my task will I: Bonfires in France forthwith I am to make, To keep our great St. George's feast withal: Ten thousand soldiers with me I will take, Whose bloody deeds shall make all Europe quake. 3 Mess. So you had need; for Orleans is be

sieg'd:

The English army is grown weak and faint;
The earl of Salisbury craveth supply,

And hardly keeps his men from mutiny,

Since they, so few, watch such a multitude.

Exe. Remember, lords, your oaths to Henry

sworn,

Either to quell the Dauphin utterly,

Or bring him in obedience to your yoke.

Bed. I do remember it, and here take my leave, To go about my preparation.

[Exit

Glo. I'll to the Tower with all the haste I can, To view the artillery and munition; And then I will proclaim young Henry king. [Exit Exe. To Eltham will I, where the young king is, Being ordain'd his special governor;

And for his safety there I'll best devise. [Erit Win. Each hath his place and function to attend I am left out; for me nothing remains.

But long I will not be Jack-out-of-office :

The king from Eltham I intend to steal,12
And sit at chiefest stern of public weal.

[Excunt.

SCENE II. France. Before Orleans.

Flourish. Enter CHARLES, with his Forces ;
ALENÇON, REIGNIER, and Others.

Char. Mars his true moving,' even as in the heavens,

So in the earth, to this day is not known:
Late did he shine upon the English side;
Now we are victors, upon us he smiles.
What towns of any moment but we have?
At pleasure here we lie near Orleans;

Otherwhiles, the famish'd English, like pale ghosts,
Faintly besiege us one hour in a month.

Alen. They want their porridge, and their fat bull-beeves:

Either they must be dieted like mules,

And have their provender tied to their mouths,
Or piteous they will look, like drowned mice.
Reig. Let's raise the siege: Why live we idly
here ?

Talbot is taken, whom we wont to fear:
Remaineth none but mad-brain'd Salisbury,

12 This was one of the things charged upon the bishop by Gloster when their quarrel broke out. Thus in Holinshed: " My said lord of Winchester purposed and disposed him to set hand on the kings person, and to have remooved him from Eltham, the place that he was in, to Windsor, to the intent to put him in gov ernance as him list."

H.

1 "You are as ignorant in the true movings of my muse as the astronomers are in the true morings of Mars, which to this day they could never attain to.". -Gabriel Harvey's Hunt is up: By Nash 1596, Preface.

And he may well in fretting spend his gall;
Nor men, nor money, hath he to make war.

Char. Sound, sound alarum! we will rush on them.

Now, for the honour of the forlorn French!-
Him I forgive my death, that killeth me,
When he sees me go back one foot, or fly. [Exeunt.

Re

Alarums: Excursions; afterwards a Retreat. enter CHARLES, Alençon, Reignier, and Others.

Char. Who ever saw the like? what men have I?Dogs! cowards! dastards! - I would ne'er have fled,

But that they left me 'midst my enemies.

Reig. Salisbury is a desperate homicide;

He fighteth as one weary of his life :
The other lords, like lions wanting food,
Do rush upon us as their hungry prey.2

Alen. Froissart, a countryman of ours, records England all Olivers and Rowlands bred,

3

During the time Edward the Third did reign
More truly now may this be verified;

For none but Samsons and Goliases

It sendeth forth to skirmish. One to ten!
Lean raw-bon'd rascals! who would e'er suppose
They had such courage and audacity?

Char. Let's leave this town; for they are hare

brain'd slaves,

And hunger will enforce them to be more eager :

That is, the prey for which they are hungry.

These were two of the most famous in the list of Charlemagne's twelve peers; and their exploits are the theme of the old romances. From the equally doughty and unheard-of exploits of these champions, arose the saying of Giring a Rowlana fc on Oliver, for giving a person as good as he brings.

Of old I know them; rather with their teeth
The walls they'll tear down, than forsake the siege.

Reig. I think, by some odd gimmals or device,
Their arms are set like clocks still to strike on;
Else ne'er could they hold out so as they do.
By my consent, we'll e'en let them alone.
Alen. Be it so.

Enter the Bastard of Orleans.

Bast. Where's the prince Dauphin? I have news for him.

Char. Bastard' of Orleans, thrice welcome to us. Bast. Methinks, your looks are sad, your cheer"

appall'd:

Hath the late overthrow wrought this offence?
Be not dismay'd, for succour is at hand:

A holy maid hither with me I bring,

Which, by a vision sent to her from heaven,

Ordained is to raise this tedious siege,

And drive the English forth the bounds of France. The spirit of deep prophecy she hath,

Exceeding the nine sibyls of old Rome;"

Gimmals, or gimmors, as it is spelt in the original, means any kind of device or machine for producing motion. Thus Digby, Of Man's Soul: "Whence 'tis manifest that his answers do not proceed upon set gimals or strings, whereof one being struck moves the rest in a set order." And in Bishop Hall's Epistles: "The famous Kentish idol moved her eyes and hands by those secret gimmers which now every puppet play can imitate."

H.

5 Bastard was not in former times a title of reproach. Hurd, in his Letters on Chivalry and Romance, makes it one of the circumstances of agreement between Heroic and Gothic manners. "that bastardy was in credit with both."

6 Cheer in this instance means heart or courage, as in the expression, "be of good cheer."

7 Warburton says, "there were no nine sibyls of Rome: it is a mistake for the nine Sibylline Oracles brought to one of the Tarquins" But the Poet followed the popular books of his day,

What's past, and what's to come, she can descry. Speak, shall I call her in? Believe my words, For they are certain and unfallible.

Char. Go, call her in. [Exit Bastard.] But, first to try her skill,

Reignier, stand thou as Dauphin in my place :
Question her proudly, let thy looks be stern.
By this means shall we sound what skill she hath.

[Retires

Enter LA PUCELLE, the Bastard, and Others. Reig. Fair maid, is't thou wilt do these wondrous feats ?

Puc. Reignier, is't thou that thinkest to beguile me?

Where is the Dauphin?

come, come from behind; I know thee well, though never seen before. Be not amaz'd, there's nothing hid from me: In private will I talk with thee apart.— Stand back, you lords, and give us leave a while

Reig. She takes upon her bravely at first dash. Puc. Dauphin, I am by birth a shepherd's daugh

ter,

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 heat display'd my cheeks,
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 assur'd success:

which say that "the ten sibyls were women that had the spirit of prophecy, and that they prophesied of Christ."