But madam, I must trouble you again—
No loving token to his majesty?

Mar. Yes, my good lord; a pure unspotted heart, Never yet taint with love, I send the king.

Suf. And this withal.

[Kisses her. Mar. That for thyself:-I will not so presume, To send such peevish 14 tokens to a king.

[Exeunt REIGNIER and MARGARET. Suf. O, wert thou for myself!-But, Suffolk, stay; Thou may'st not wander in that labyrinth; There Minotaurs, and ugly treasons, lurk. Solicit Henry with her wondrous praise: Bethink thee on her virtues that surmount; Mad 15, natural graces that extinguish art; Repeat their semblance often on the seas, That, when thou com'st to kneel at Henry's feet, Thou may'st bereave him of his wits with wonder.

SCENE IV.

Camp of the Duke of York, in Anjou.

[Exit.

Enter YORK, WARWICK, and Others.
York. Bring forth that sorceress,condemn'd to burn.
Enter LA PUCELLE, guarded, and a Shepherd.
Shep. Ah, Joan! this kills thy father's heart out-
right!

Have I sought every country far and near,
And, now it is my chance to find thee out,

14 i. e. silly, foolish. Vide note on Comedy of Errors, Act iv. Sc. 1.

15 Mad has been shown by Steevens to have been occasionally used for wild, in which sense we must take it here; if we do not, with others, suspect it an error of the press for And or Her.

Must I behold thy timeless1 cruel death?

Ah, Joan, sweet daughter Joan, I'll die with thee!
Puc. Decrepit miser! base ignoble wretch!
I am descended of a gentler blood;

Thou art no father, nor no friend of mine.

Shep. Out, out!-My lords, an please you, 'tis

not so;

I did beget her, all the parish knows:
Her mother liveth yet, can testify,

She was the first fruit of my bachelorship.

War. Graceless! wilt thou deny thy parentage? York. This argues what her kind of life hath been;

Wicked and vile; and so her death concludes.
Shep. Fye, Joan! that thou wilt be so obstacle 3!
God knows, thou art a collop of my flesh;
And for thy sake have I shed many a tear:
Deny me not, I pr'ythee, gentle Joan.

1 Timeless is untimely. Thus Drayton in his Legend of Robert Duke of Normandy :

-:

Thy strength was buried in his timeless death.' We have the word again in King Richard II. and in Romeo and Juliet.

2 Miser has no relation to avarice in this passage, but simply means a miserable creature. Thus Holinshed, p. 760, speaking of the death of King Richard III.:-' And so this miser, at the same verie point had like chance and fortune,' &c, And describing the death of Lord Cromwell, he says:-' And so patiently suffered the stroke of the axe, by a ragged and butcherlie miser, which ill-favouredlie performed the office,' p. 951. Other instances may be seen in Mr. Nares's Glossary, and in the Variorum Shak

speare.

3 This vulgar corruption of obstinate has oddly lasted till now, says Johnson. It occurs in Chapman's May Day, 1611.

'An obstacle young thing it is.'

We have the phrase a collop of his flesh in the History of Morindos and Miracola, 1609: ' yet being his second selfe, a collop of his own flesh.' Thus also in The Winter's Tale:

'Most dearest! my collop.'

Puc. Peasant, avaunt!-You have suborn'd this

man,

Of purpose to obscure my noble birth.

Shep. 'Tis true, I gave a noble to the priest, The morn that I was wedded to her mother.Kneel down and take my blessing, good my girl. Wilt thou not stoop? Now cursed be the time Of thy nativity! I would the milk

Thy mother gave thee, when thou suck'dst her breast,
Had been a little ratsbane for thy sake!

Or else, when thou didst keep my lambs a-field,
I wish some ravenous wolf had eaten thee!

Dost thou deny thy father, cursed drab?

O, burn her, burn her; hanging is too good. [Exit. York. Take her away, for she hath liv'd too long, To fill the world with vicious qualities.

Puc. First, let me tell you whom your

demn'd;

have con

Not one begotten of a shepherd swain,
But issu'd from the progeny of kings;
Virtuous, and holy; chosen from above,
By inspiration of celestial grace,
To work exceeding miracles on earth.
I never had to do with wicked spirits:
But you, that are polluted with your lusts,
Stain'd with the guiltless blood of innocents,
Corrupt and tainted with a thousand vices,-
Because you want the grace that others have,
You judge it straight a thing impossible
To compass wonders, but by help of devils.
No, misconceived! Joan of Arc hath been
A virgin from her tender infancy,

Chaste and immaculate in very thought;

No, ye misconceivers, ye who mistake me and my quali

Whose maiden blood, thus rigorously effus'd,
Will cry
for vengeance at the gates of heaven.
York. Ay, ay;-away with her to execution.
War. And hark ye, sirs; because she is a maid,
Spare for no fagots, let there be enough:
Place barrels of pitch upon the fatal stake,
That so her torture may be shortened.

Puc. Will nothing turn your unrelenting hearts?— Then, Joan, discover thine infirmity;

That warranteth by law to be thy privilege.-
I am with child, ye bloody homicides;
Murder not then the fruit within my womb,
Although ye hale me to a violent death.

York. Now heaven forefend! the holy maid with
child!

War. The greatest miracle that e'er ye wrought; Is all your strict preciseness come to this?

York. She and the Dauphin have been juggling; I did imagine what would be her refuge.

War. Well, go to; we will have no bastards live: Especially, since Charles must father it.

Puc. You are deceived; my child is none of his; It was Alençon, that enjoy'd my love.

York. Alençon! that notorious Machiavel5! It dies, an if it had a thousand lives.

Puc. O, give me leave, I have deluded you; 'Twas neither Charles, nor yet the duke I nam'd, But Reignier, king of Naples, that prevail'd.

War. A married man! that's most intolerable.

5 The character of Machiavel seems to have made so very deep an impression on the dramatic writers of this age, that he is many times introduced without regard to anachronism. Thus in The Valiant Welchman, 1615, one of the characters bids Caradoc (i. e. Caractacus)—

read Machiavel,

Princes that would aspire must mock at hell.'

York. Why, here's a girl! I think, she knows not well,

There were so many, whom she may accuse.

War. It's sign, she hath been liberal and free. York. And, yet, forsooth, she is a virgin pure.Strumpet, thy words condemn thy brat, and thee: Use no entreaty, for it is in vain.

Puc. Then lead me hence;-with whom I leave

my curse:

May never glorious sun reflex his beams
Upon the country where you make abode!
But darkness and the gloomy shade of death
Environ you; till mischief, and despair,

Drive you to break your necks, or hang yourselves! [Exit, guarded. York. Break thou in pieces, and consume to ashes,

Thou foul accursed minister of hell!

Enter CARDINAL BEAUFORT, attended.

Car. Lord regent, I do greet your excellence With letters of commission from the king. For know, my lords, the states of Christendom, Mov'd with remorse of these outrageous broils, Have earnestly implor'd a general peace Betwixt our nation and the aspiring French : And here at hand the Dauphin, and his train, Approacheth, to confer about some matter.

York. Is all our travail turn'd to this effect? After the slaughter of so many peers, So many captains, gentlemen, and soldiers, That in this quarrel have been overthrown, And sold their bodies for their country's benefit,

6 Compassion, pity.