During the time Edward the Third did reign.
More truly now may this be verified;
For none but Samsons, and Goliasses,

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 hair-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 tear down, than forsake the siege.
Reig. I think, by some odd grimmals' 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;3

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 ;*

What's past, and what's to come, she can descry.

old romancers, that from thence arose that saying amongst our plain and sensible ancestors, of giving one a Rowland for his Oliver, to signify the matching one incredible lie with another. WARBURTON.

Rather, to oppose one hero to another; i. e. to give a person as good a one as he brings. STEEVENS.

[1] A grimmal is a piece of jointed wood, where one piece moves within another, whence it is taken at large for an engine. It is now by the vulgar called a gimcrack. JOHNSON.

[2] That this in former times was not a term of reproach, see Bishop Hurd's Letters on Chivalry and Romance, who observing on circumstances of agreement between the heroic and Gothic manners, says that " Bastardy was in credit with both." One of William the Conqueror's charters begins, Ego Gulielmus cognomento Bastardus." VAILLANT.

Bastardy was reckoned no disgrace among the ancients. See the eighth Iliad, in which the illegitimacy of Teucer is mentioned as a panegyric upon him.

STEEVENS.

[3] Cheer-countenance. STEEVENS. [4] There were no nine sibyls of Rome; but he confounds things, and mistakes this for the pine books of Sibylline oracles, brought to one of the Tarquins

WARBURTON.

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, Bastard of Orleans, and others.
Reig. Fair maid, is't thou wilt do these wond'rous 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 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 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:
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 see.
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.

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;

[5] That is, be firmly persuaded of it. STEEVENS.

Otherwise, I renounce all confidence.

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

The which at Touraine, in St. Katharine's church-yard,
Out of a 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.

[They fight 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. Char. Whoe'er helps thee, 'tis thou that must help me : Impatiently I burn with thy desire;

My heart and hands thou hast at once subdu'd.
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,
For my profession's sacred from above:
When I have chased all thy foes from hence,
Then will I think upon a recompense.

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

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

Reig. Shall we disturb him, since he keeps no mean? 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 St. Martin's summer, halcyon days,
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.

[6] That is, expect prosperity after misfortune, like fair weather at Martlemas, after winter has begun. JOHNSON

8

VOL. VI

Now am I like that proud insulting ship,
Which Cæsar and his fortune bare at once.

Char. Was Mahomet inspired with a dove ??
Thou with an eagle art inspired then.
Helen, the mother of great Constantine,

Nor yet Saint Philip's daughters, 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 :-Come, let's away about it No prophet will I trust, if she prove false.

SCENE III.

[Exeunt

London. Hill before the Tower. Enter, at the gates, the
Duke of GLOSTER, with his Serving-Men, in blue coats.
Glo. I am come to survey the Tower this day;
Since Henry's death, I fear, there is conveyance.9
Where be these warders, that they wait not here?
Open the gates; Gloster it is that calls.

1 Ward. Who's there, that knocks so imperiously? 1 Serv. It is the noble duke of Gloster. [Serv. knocks. 2 Ward. [Within.] Whoe'er he be, you may not be let in. 1 Serv. Answer you so the lord protector, villains? 1 Ward. 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?

Servants rush at the Tower-gates. Enter to the gates,
WOODVILLE, the lieutenant.

Wood. [Within.] What noise is this? what traitors have we here?

[7] Mahomet had a dove," 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." Sir Walter Raleigh's History of the World. GREY.

[8] Meaning the four daughters of Philip mentioned in the Acts. HANMER. [9] Conveyance means theft. HANMER.

Thus, in passed through the He would have

1 To break up in Shakespeare's age was the same as to break open. our translation of the Bible: "They have broken up, and have gate." Micah, ii. 13. So again, in St. Matthew, xxiv. 43. watched and would not have suffered his house to be broken up." WHALLEY.

Glo. Lieutenant, is it you, whose voice I hear? Open the gates; here's Gloster, that would enter. Wood. Have patience, noble duke; I may not open ; The cardinal of Winchester forbids:

From him I have express commandment,

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

Glo. Faint-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 a Train of Servants in tawny coats.

Win. How now, ambitious Humphrey ? what means this? Glo. Piel'd priest, dost thou command me to be shut out?

Win. I do, thou most usurping proditor,
And not protector of the king or realm.

Glo. Stand back, thou manifest conspirator;
Thou, that contriv'st to murder our dead lord;
Thou, that giv'st whores indulgences to sin :3
I'll canvass thee in thy broad cardinal's hat,*
If thou proceed in this thy insolence.

Win. Nay, stand thou back, I will not budge a foot;
This be Damascus, 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 beard thee to thy face. Glo. What? am I dar'd, and bearded to my face? -Draw, men, for all this privileged place;

Blue-coats to tawny-coats.

Priest, beware your beard; [GLOSTER and his men attack the Bishop.

[2] Alluding to his shaven crown. POPE.

[3] The public stews were formerly under the district of the bishop of Win chester. POPE.

[4] To canvass was anciently used for to sift. STEEVENS.

Probably from the materials of which the bottom of a sieve is made. Perhaps, however, in the passage before us Gloster means, that he will toss the cardinal in a sheet. Coarse sheets were formerly termed canvass sheets. MALONE.

[5] About four miles from Damascus is a high bill, reported to be the same on which Cain slew his brother Abel. Maundrel's Travels, p. 131. POPE