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,
That joineth Rouen unto her countrymen;
But burning fatal to the Talbotites.

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,
Before he 'll buy again at such a rate:
'Twas full of darnel; Do you like the taste?

Bur. Scoff on, vile fiend, and shameless courtezan!
I trust, ere long, to choke thee with thine own,
And make thee curse the harvest of that corn.

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,
Encompass'd with thy lustful paramours!
Becomes it thee to taunt his valiant

age,
And twit with cowardice a man half dead?
Damsel, I'll have a bout with you again,
Or else let Talbot perish with this shame.

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!
Like peasant foot-boys do they keep the walls,
And dare not take up arms like gentlemen.

Puc. Captains, away: let's get us from the walls;
For Talbot means no goodness, by his looks.-
God be wi' you, my lord! we came, sir, but to tell you
That we are here. [Exeunt La Puc. &c. from the Walls.
Tal. And there will we be too, ere it be long,
Or else reproach be Talbot's greatest fame!-
Vow, Burgundy, by honour of thy house,
(Prick'd on by publick wrongs, sustain'd in France,)
Either to get the town again, or die:

And I, as sure as English Henry lives,
And as his father here was conqueror;
As sure as in this late-betray'd town
Great Coeur-de-lion's heart was buried;
So sure I swear, to get the town, or die.

Bur. My vows are equal partners with thy vows.
Tal. But, ere we go, regard this dying prince,
The valiant duke of Bedford:-Come, my lord,
We will bestow you in some better place,
Fitter for sickness, and for crazy age.

Bed. Lord Talbot, do not so dishonour me:
Here will I sit before the walls of Rouen,
And will be a partner of your weal, or woe.

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
"To bear him so then unto Verolame,
"Where Ocea lay, and Oysa also in fear,

Came to the field, and vanquished his foes:
Methinks, I should revive the soldiers' hearts,
Because I ever found them as myself.

Tal. Undaunted spirit in a dying breast!-
Then be it so:-Heavens keep old Bedford safe !—
And now no more ado, brave Burgundy,

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?
Fast.

Ay, [Exit.

All the Talbots in the world, to save my life.
Cap. Cowardly knight! ill fortune follow thee! [Exit.
Retreat: Excursions. Enter, from the Town, LA PUCELLE,
ALENÇON, CHARLES, &c. and Exeunt, flying.

Bed. Now, quiet soul, depart when heaven please; For I have seen our enemies' overthrow.

What is the trust or strength of foolish man?
They, that of late were daring with their scoffs,

7

"That saint Albones now hight of noble fame,
"Bet down the walles; but to him forth they came,
"Where in battayle Ocea and Oysa were slayn.

"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,
That such a valiant company are fled.

Now will we take some order2 in the town,
Placing therein some expert officers;

And then depart to Paris, to the king;

For there young Henry, with his nobles, lies.
Bur. What wills lord Talbot, pleaseth Burgundy,
Tal. But yet, before we go, let's not forget
The noble duke of Bedford, late deceas'd,
But see his exequies fulfill'd in Roüen;
A braver soldier never couched lance,3
A gentler heart did never sway in court:
But kings, and mightiest potentates, must die;
For that's the end of human misery.

[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.