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K. Hen, O Kate, nice customs courtesy to great kings. Dear Kate, you and I cannot be confined within the weak list of a country's fashion: we are the makers of manners, Kate; and the liberty that follows our places stops the mouth of all find-faults; as I will do yours, for upholding the nice fashion of your country in denying me a kiss: therefore, patiently and yielding [Kissing her. You have witchcraft in your lips, Kate: there is more eloquence in a sugar touch of them than in the tongues of the French council: and they should sooner persuade Harry of England than a general petition of monarchs. Here comes your father.

Re-enter the FRENCH KING and his QUEEN, BURGUNDY, and other Lords.

Bur. God save your majesty! my royal cousin, teach you our princess English?

K. Hen. I would have her learn, my fair cousin, how perfectly I love her; and that is good English.

Bur. Is she not apt?

K. Hen. Our tongue is rough, coz, and my condition is not smooth; so that, having neither the voice nor the heart of flattery about me, I cannot so conjure up the spirit of love in her, that he will appear in his true likeness.

Bur. Pardon the frankness of my mirth, if I answer you for that. If you would conjure in her, you must make a circle; if conjure up love in her in his true likeness, he must appear naked and blind. Can you blame her then, being a maid yet rosed over with the virgin crimson of modesty, if she deny the appearance of a naked blind boy in her naked seeing self? It were, my lord, a hard condition for a maid to consign to. K. Hen. Yet they do wink and yield, as love is blind and enforces.

Bur. They are then excused, my lord, when they see not what they do. 33 K. Hen. Then, good my lord, teach your cousin to consent winking.

Bur. I will wink on her to consent, my lord, if you will teach her to know my meaning: for maids, well summered and warm kept, are like flies at Bartholomew-tide, blind, though they have their eyes; and then they will endure handling, which before would not abide looking on. K. Hen. This moral ties me over to time and a hot summer; and so I shall catch the fly, your cousin, in the latter end and she must be blind too. Bur. As love is, my lord, before it loves. K. Hen. It is so: and you may, some of you, thank love for my blindness, who cannot see

many a fair French city for one fair French maid that stands in my way.

Fr. King. Yes, my lord, you see them perspectively, the cities turned into a maid; for they are all girdled with maiden walls that war hath never entered. 350

K. Hen. Shall Kate be my wife?
Fr. King. So please you.

K. Hen. I am content; so the maiden cities you talk of may wait on her: so the maid that stood in the way for my wish shall show me the way to my will.

Fr. King. We have consented to all terms of reason.

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K. Hen. Is't so, my lords of England? West. The king hath granted every article: His daughter first, and then in sequel all, According to their firm proposed natures.

Exe. Only he hath not yet subscribed this: Where your majesty demands, that the King of France, having any occasion to write for matter of grant, shall name your highness in this form and with this addition, in French, Notre trèscher fils Henri, Roi d'Angleterre, Héritier de France; and thus in Latin, Præclarissimus filius noster Henricus, Rex Angliæ, et Hæres Franciæ. Fr. King. Nor this I have not, brother, so denied,

But your request shall make me let it pass.
K. Hen. I pray you then, in love and dear
alliance,

Let that one article rank with the rest;
And thereupon give me your daughter.

Fr. King. Take her, fair son, and from her blood raise up

Issue to me; that the contending kingdoms Of France and England, whose very shores look pale

With envy of each other's happiness, May cease their hatred, and this dear conjunction 380

Plant neighborhood and Christian-like accord In their sweet bosoms, that never war advance His bleeding sword 'twixt England and fair France.

All. Amen!

K. Hen. Now, welcome, Kate: and bear me witness all,

That here I kiss her as my sovereign queen. [Flourish.

Q. Isa. God, the best maker of all marriages, Combine your hearts in one, your realms in one! As man and wife, being two, are one in love, So be there, 'twixt your kingdoms such a spousal, That never may ill office, or fell jealousy, Which troubles oft the bed of blessed marriage, Thrust in between the paction of these kingdoms, To make divorce of their incorporate league; That English may as French, French English

men,

Receive each other. God speak this Amen! All Amen!

K. Hen. Prepare we for our marriage: on which day,

My Lord of Burgundy, we'll take our oath, And all the peers', for surety of our leagues. 400 Then shall I swear to Kate, and you to me; And may our oaths well kept and prosperous be! [Sennet. Exeunt.

EPILOGUE

Enter CHORUS.

Chor. Thus far, with rough and all-unable pen, Our bending author hath pursued the story, In little room confining mighty men.

Mangling by starts the full course of their glory. Small time, but in that small most greatly lived This star of England: Fortune made his sword: By which the world's best garden be achieved,

[ACT v.

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LORD TALBOT, afterwards Earl of Shrewsbury.

JOHN TALBOT, his son.

EDMUND MORTIMER, Earl of March.

SIR JOHN FASTOLFE.

SIR WILLIAM LUCY.

SIR WILLIAM GLANSDALE.

SIR THOMAS GARGRAVE.

Mayor of London.

WOODVILLE, Lieutenant of the Tower.

SCENE I.

VERNON, of the White-Rose or York faction. BASSET, of the Red-Rose or Lancaster faction.

A Lawyer. Mortimer's Keepers.

CHARLES, Dauphin, and afterwards King, of France.

REIGNIER, Duke of Anjou, and titular King of Naples.

DUKE OF BURGUNDY.
DUKE OF ALENÇON.

BASTARD OF ORLEANS.

Governor of Paris.

Master-Gunner of Orleans, and his Son.
General of the French forces in Bourdeaux.
A French Sergeant. A Porter.

An old Shepherd, father to Joan la Pucelle.

MARGARET, daughter to Reignier, afterwards married to King Henry. COUNTESS OF AUVERGNE.

JOAN LA PUCELLE, commonly called Joan
of Arc.

Lords, Warders of the Tower, Heralds, Officers,
Soldiers, Messengers, and Attendants.
Fiends appearing to La Pucelle.

SCENE-Partly in England, and partly in France.

ACT I.

Westminster Abbey.

Dead March. Enter the Funeral of KING
HENRY the Fifth, attended on by the DUKE OF
BEDFORD, Regent of France; the DUKE OF
GLOUCESTER, Protector; the DUKE OF EXE-
TER, the EARL OF WARWICK, the BISHOP OF
WINCHESTER, Heralds, &c.

Bed. Hung be the heavens with black, yield
day to night!

Comets, importing change of times and states,
Brandish your crystal tresses in the sky,
And with them scourge the bad revolting stars
That have consented unto Henry's death!
King Henry the Fifth, too famous to live long!
England ne'er lost a king of so much worth.
Glou. England ne'er had a king until his time.
Virtue he had, deserving to command:
His brandish'd sword did blind men with his
beams:

ΙΟ

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Unto the French the dreadful judgment-day
So dreadful will not be as was his sight.
The battles of the Lord of hosts he fought:
The church's prayers made him so prosperous.
Glou. The church! where is it? Had not
churchmen pray'd,

His thread of life had not so soon decay'd:
None do you like but an effeminate prince,
Whom, like a school-boy, you may over-awe.
Win. Gloucester, whate'er we like, thou art
protector,

His arms spread wider than a dragon's wings;
His sparkling eyes, replete with wrathful fire,
More dazzled and drove back his enemies
Than mid-day sun fierce bent against their faces.
What should I say? his deeds exceed all speech: | And lookest to command the prince and realm.

Thy wife is proud; she holdeth thee in awe, More than God or religious churchmen may. 40 Glou. Name not religion, for thou lovest the flesh,

And ne'er thoughout the year to church thou go'st Except it be to pray against thy foes.

Bed. Cease, cease these jars, and rest your minds in peace:

Let's to the altar: heralds, wait on us:
Instead of gold, we'll offer up our arms;
Since arms avail not now that Henry's dead.
Posterity, await for wretched years,
When at their mothers' moist eyes babes shall
suck,

Our isle be made a nourish of salt tears,
And none but women left to wail the dead.
Henry the Fifth, thy ghost I invocate:
Prosper this realm, keep it from civil broils,
Combat with adverse planets in the heavens!
A far more glorious star thy soul will make
Than Julius Cæsar or bright-

Enter a Messenger.

50

all!

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Mess. My gracious lords, to add to your laments, Wherewith you now bedew King Henry's I must inform you of a dismal fight [hearse, Betwixt the stout Lord Talbot and the French.

Win. What! wherein Talbot overcame? is't so?
Mess. O, no; wherein Lord Talbot was
o'erthrown:

The circumstance I'll tell you more at large,
The tenth of August last this dreadful lord, 110
Retiring from the siege of Orleans,

Having full scarce six thousand in his troop,
By three and twenty thousand of the French
Was round encompassed and set upon.

65 No leisure had he to enrank his men;

Mess. My honorable lords, health to you
Sad tidings bring I to you out of France,
Of loss, of slaughter and discomfiture:
Guienne, Champagne, Rheims, Orleans,
Paris, Guysors, Poictiers, are all quite lost.
Bed. What say'st thou, man, before dead
Henry's corse?

Speak softly, or the loss of those great towns
Will make him burst his lead and rise from death.
Glou. Is Paris lost? is Rouen yielded up?
If Henry were recall'd to life again,
These news would cause him once more yield
the ghost.

Exe. How were they lost? what treachery was used?

Mess. No treachery; but want of men and

money.

Among the soldiers this is muttered,
70
That here you maintain several factions,
And whilst a field should be despatch'd and
You are disputing of your generals: (fought,
One would have lingering wars with little cost;
Another would fly swift, but wanteth wings;
A third thinks, without expense at all,
By guileful fair words peace may be obtain'd.
Awake, awake, English nobility!

Let not sloth dim your honors new-begot:
Cropp'd are the flower-de-luces in your arms; 80
Of England's coat one half is cut away.

Exe. Were our tears wanting to this funeral, These tidings would call forth their flowing tides. Bed. Me they concern; Regent I am of France.

Give me my steeled coat. I'll fight for France. Away with these disgraceful wailing robes! Wounds will I lend the French instead of eyes, To weep their intermissive miseries.

Enter to them another Messenger. Mess. Lords, view these letters full of bad mischance.

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He wanted pikes to set before his archers; Instead whereof sharp stakes pluck'd out of hedges

120

They pitched in the ground confusedly,
To keep the horsemen off from breaking in.
More than three hours the fight continued;
Where valiant Talbot above human thought
Enacted wonders with his sword and lance: [him;
Hundreds he sent to hell, and none durst stand
Here, there, and everywhere, enraged he flew:
The French exclaim'd, the devil was in arms;
All the whole army stood agazed on him;
His soldiers, spying his undaunted spirit,
A Talbot! a Talbot! cried out amain,
And rush'd into the bowels of the battle.
Here had the conquest fully been seal'd up. 130
If Sir John Fastolfe had not play'd the coward:
He, being in the vaward, placed behind
With purpose to relieve and follow them,
Cowardly fled, not having struck one stroke.
Hence grew the general wreck and massacre:
Enclosed were they with their enemies:
A base Walloon, to win the Dauphin's grace,
Thrust Talbot with a spear into the back,
Whom all France with their chief assembled
strength

Durst not presume to look once in the face. 140
Bed. Is Talbot slain? then I will slay myself,
For living idly here in pomp and ease,
Whilst such a worthy leader, wanting aid,
Unto his dastard foemen is betray'd.

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; 150 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 Saint George's feast withal: Ten thousand soldiers with me I will take,

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Sound a flourish. Enter CHARLES, ALENÇON, and REIGNIER, marching with drum and Soldiers.

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

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

ΙΟ

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;
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 honor of the forlorn French!
Him I forgive my death that killeth me
When he sees me go back one foot or fly.

20

[Exeunt.

Here alarum; they are beaten back by the English with great loss. Re-enter CHARLES, ALENÇON, and REIGNIER.

Char. Who ever saw the like? what men have I !

[fled, Dogs! cowards! dastards! I would ne'er have 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.

30

Alen. Froissart, a countryman of ours, records, England all Olivers and Rowlands bred 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-boned 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:
Of old I know them; rather with their teeth
The walls they'll teardown than forsake the siege.

39

Reig. I think, by some odd gimmors 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 even 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:

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Hath the late overthrow wrought this offence?
Be not dismay'd, for succor 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,
Anddrive the English forth the bounds of France.
The spirit of deep prophecy she hath,
Exceeding the nine sibyls of old Rome:
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 infallible.
Char. Go, call her in.

[Exit Bastard.]

60

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. Re-enter the BASTARD of Orleans, with JOAN LA PUCELLE.

Reig. Fair maid, is't thou wilt do these wondrous feats?

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

Where is the Dauphin? Come, come from behind;
I know thee well, though never seen before.
Be not amazed, there's nothing hid from me:
In private will I talk with thee apart. 69
Stand back, you lords, and give us leave awhile.
Reig. She takes upon her bravely at first dash.
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 pleased
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 promised, and assured success:
In complete glory she reveal'd herself;

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