Where is the best and safest passage in? Alen. By thrusting out a torch from yonder tower; Which, once discern'd, shows, that her meaning is,— No way to that, for weakness, which she enter❜d. Enter LA PUCELLE on a Battlement, holding out a Torch burning. Puc. Behold, this is the happy wedding torch, Bast. See, noble Charles! the beacon of our friend, The burning torch in yonder turret stands. Char. Now shine it like a comet of revenge, A prophet to the fall of all our foes! Alen. Defer no time, Delays have dangerous ends; Enter, and cry-The Dauphin!-presently, And then do execution on the watch. [They enter. Alarums. Enter TALBOT, and certain English. Tal. France, thou shalt rue this treason with thy tears,1 If Talbot but survive thy treachery.Pucelle, that witch, that damned sorceress, Hath wrought this hellish mischief unawares, That hardly we escap'd the pride of France.2 [Exeunt to the Town. Alarum: Excursions. Enter, from the Town, BEDFORD, brought in sick, in a Chair, with TALBOT, BURGUNDY, and the English Forces. Then, enter on the Walls, Lâ PUCELLE, CHARLES, Bastard, ALENÇON,3 and Others. Puc. Good morrow, gallants! want ye corn for bread? 9 No way to that,] That is, no way equal to that, no way so fit as that. Johnson. So, in The Two Gentlemen of Verona: "There is no woe to his correction." Steevens. France, thou shalt rue this &c.] So, in King John: "France, thou shalt rue this hour" &c. Steevens. 2 That hardly we escap'd the pride of France.] Pride signifies the haughty power. The same speaker says afterwards, Act ÏV, sc. vi: "And from the pride of Gallia rescu'd thee." One would think this plain enough. But what won't a puzzling critick obscure! Mr. Theobald says-Pride of France is an absurd and unmeaning expression, and therefore alters it to prize of France; and in this is followed by the Oxford editor. Warburton. Alencon,] Alencon Sir T. Hanmer has replaced here, in 3 I think, the duke of Burgundy will fast, Bur. Scoff on, vile fiend, and shameless courtezan! Char. Your grace may starve, perhaps, before that time. Bed. O, let no words, but deeds, revenge this treason! Puc. What will you do, good grey-beard? break a lance, And run a tilt at death within a chair? Tal. Foul fiend of France, and hag of all despite, age, Puc. Are you so hot, sir?-Yet, Pucelle, hold thy peace; If Talbot do but thunder, rain will follow. [TAL. and the rest, consult together. God speed the parliament! who shall be the speaker? Tal. Dare ye come forth, and meet us in the field? Puc. Belike, your lordship takes us then for fools, To try if that our own be ours, or no. Tal. I speak not to that railing Hecaté, But unto thee, Alençon, and the rest; Will ye, like soldiers, come and fight it out? Alen. Signior, no. stead of Reignier, because Alencon, not Reignier, appears in the ensuing scene. Johnson. 4- darnel;] So, in King Lear: "Darnel, and all the idle weeds that grow "In our sustaining corn.” "Darnel (says Gerard) hurteth the eyes, and maketh them dim, if it happen either in corne for breade, or drinke." Hence the old proverb-Lolio victitare, applied to such as were dim-sighted. Thus also, Ovid, Fast. I, 691: "Et careant lolüs oculos vitiantibus agri.” Pucelle means to intimate, that the corn she carried with her, had produced the same effect on the guards of Roüen; otherwise they would have seen through her disguise, and defeated her Stratagem. Steevens. Tal. Signior, hang!-base muleteers of France! Puc. Captains, away: let's get us from the walls; And I, as sure as English Henry lives, Bur. My vows are equal partners with thy vows. Bed. Lord Talbot, do not so dishonour me: Bur. Courageous Bedford, let us now persuade you. Bed. Not to be gone from hence; for once I read, That stout Pendragon, in his litter, sick, 5 we came, sir, but to tell you-] The word-sir, which is wanting in the first folio, was judiciously supplied by the second. Steevens.. That stout Pendragon, in his litter, &c.] This hero was Uther Pendragon, brother to Aurelius, and father to King Arthur. Shakspeare has imputed to Pendragon an exploit of Aurelius, who, says Holinshed, "even sicke of a flixe as he was, caused himselfe to be carried forth in a litter: with whose presence his people were so incouraged, that encountering with the Saxons they wan the victorie." Hist. of Scotland, p. 99. Harding, however, in his Chronicle (as I learn from Dr. Grey) gives the following account of Uther Pendragon: "For which the king ordain'd a horse-litter Came to the field, and vanquished his foes: Tal. Undaunted spirit in a dying breast!- But gather we our forces out of hand, And set upon our boasting enemy. [Exeunt BUR. TAL. and Forces, leaving BED. and Others. Alarum: Excursions. Enter Sir JOHN FASTOLFE, and a Captain. Cap. Whither away, sir John Fastolfe, in such haste? Fast. Whither away? to save myself by flight;" We are like to have the overthrow again. Cap. What! will you fly, and leave lord Talbot? Ay, [Exit. All the Talbots in the world, to save my life. Bed. Now, quiet soul, depart when heaven please; For I have seen our enemies' overthrow. What is the trust or strength of foolish man? 7 "That saint Albones now hight of noble fame, "The fielde he had, and thereof was full fayne." Steevens. -save myself by flight;] I have no doubt that it was the exaggerated representation of Sir John Fastolfe's cowardice which the author of this play has given, that induced Shakspeare to give the name of Falstaff to his knight. Sir John Fastolfe did indeed fly at the battle of Patay in the year 1429; and is reproached by Talbot in a subsequent scene, for his conduct on that occasion; but no historian has said that he fled before Rouen. The change of the name had been already made, for throughout the old copy of this play, this flying general is erroneously called Falstaffe. Malone. 8 Now, quiet soul, depart when heaven please; For I have seen -] So, in St. Luke, ii, 29: "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, for mine eyes have seen thy salvation." Steevens. Are glad and fain by flight to save themselves. [Dies, and is carried off in his Chair. Alarum: Enter TALBOT, BURGUNDY, and Others. Tal. Lost, and recover'd in a day again! This is a double honour, Burgundy: Yet, heavens have glory for this victory! Bur. Warlike and martial Talbot, Burgundy Enshrines thee in his heart; and there erects Thy noble deeds, as valour's monument. 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 glocks? What, all a-mort?1 Rouen hangs her head for grief, Now will we take some order2 in the town, And then depart to Paris, to the king; For there young Henry, with his nobles, lies. [Exeunt. 9 Dies, &c.] The Duke of Bedford died at Rouen in September, 1435, but not in any action before that town. Malone. 1 What, all a-mort?] i. e. quite dispirited; a frequent Gallicism. So, in The Taming of the Shrew: 2 "What, sweeting! all a-mort?" Steevens. take some order -] i. e. make some necessary disposi tions. So, in The Comedy of Errors: "Whilst to take order for the wrong I went." See also Othello, sc. ult. Steevens. 3 A braver soldier never couched lance,] So, in a subsequent scene, p. 76: "A stouter champion never handled sword." The same praise is expressed with more animation in the Third Part of this play: 66 braver men "Ne'er spur'd their coursers at the trumpet's sound." Steevens. |