Puc. Talbot, farewell; thy hour is not yet come :

I must go victual Orleans forthwith.

O'ertake me, if thou canst; I scorn thy strength.
Go, go, cheer up thy hunger-starved men;
Help Salisbury to make his testament :

This day is ours, as many more shall be.

[Pucelle enters the town, with soldiers.

Tal. My thoughts are whirled like a potter's wheel; I know not where I am, nor what I do:

A witch, by fear, not force, like Hannibal,
Drives back our troops, and conquers as she lists:
So bees with sinoke, and doves with noisome stench,
Are from their hives, and houses, driven away.
They call'd us, for our fierceness, English dogs;
Now, like to whelps, we crying run away.

[A short alarum.
Hark, countrymen! either renew the fight,
Or tear the lions out of England's coat;
Renounce your soil, give sheep in lions' stead:
Sheep run not half so timorous from the wolf,
Or horse, or oxen, from the leopard,
As you fly from your oft-subdued slaves.

[Alarum. Another skirmish.

It will not be:-Retire into your trenches:
You all consented unto Salisbury's death,
For none would strike a stroke in his revenge.—
Pucelle is enter'd into Orleans,

In spite of us, or aught that we could do.
O, would I were to die with Salisbury!
The shame hereof will make me hide my head.
[Alarum. Retreat. Exeunt Talbot and his
forces, &c.

SCENE VI.-The same.

Enter, on the walls, PUCELLE, Charles,
REIGNIER, Alençon, and Soldiers.

Puc. Advance our waving colours on the walls;
Rescu'd is Orleans from the English wolves:-
Thus Joan la Pucelle hath perform'd her word.
Char. Divinest creature, bright Astræa's daughter,
How shall I honour thee for this success?
Thy promises are like Adonis' gardens,

That one day bloom'd, and fruitful were the next.France, triumph in thy glorious prophetess!-Recover'd is the town of Orleans:

More blessed hap did ne'er befal our state.

Reig. Why ring not out the bells throughout the

town?

Dauphin, command the citizens make bonfires,
And feast and banquet in the open streets,
To celebrate the joy that God hath given us.

Alen. All France will be replete with mirth and joy,
When they shall hear how we have play'd the men.
Char. 'Tis Joan, not we, by whom the day is won;
For which, I will divide my crown with her:
And all the priests and friars in my realm
Shall, in procession, sing her endless praise.
A statelier pyramis to her I'll rear,
Than Rhodope's, or Memphis', ever was:
In memory of her, when she is dead,
Her ashes, in an urn, more precious
Than the rich-jewel'd coffer of Darius,
Transported shall be at high festivals
Before the kings and queens of France.
No longer on Saint Dennis will we cry,
But Joan la Pucelle shall be France's saint.
Come in; and let us banquet royally,

After this golden day of victory. [Flourish. Exeunt.

ACT II.

SCENE I.-The same.

Enter to the gates, a French Sergeant, and two Sentinels.

Serg. Sirs, take your places, and be vigilant :
If any noise, or soldier, you perceive,

Near to the walls, by some apparent sign,
Let us have knowledge at the court of guard.

1 Sent. Sergeant, you shall.

Thus are poor servitors

[Exit Sergeant.

(When others sleep upon their quiet beds,) Constrain'd to watch in darkness, rain, and cold.

Enter TALBOT, Bedford, Burgundy, and forces, with scaling ladders; their drums beating a dead march.

Tal. Lord regent,-and redoubted Burgundy,By whose approach, the regions of Artois, Walloon, and Picardy, are friends to us,This happy night the Frenchmen are secure, Having all day carous'd and banqueted: Embrace we then this opportunity; As fitting best to quittance their deceit, Contriv'd by art, and baleful sorcery.

Bed. Coward of France!-how much he wrongs

his fame,

Despairing of his own arm's fortitude,

To join with witches, and the help of hell.

Bur. Traitors have never other company.—

But what's that Pucelle, whom they term so pure? Tal. A maid, they say.

Bed. A maid! and be so martial!

Bur. Pray God, she prove not masculine ere long; If underneath the standard of the French,

She carry armour, as she hath begun.

Tal. Well, let them practise and converse with spirits:

God is our fortress; in whose conquering name,
Let us resolve to scale their flinty bulwarks.

Bed. Ascend, brave Talbot; we will follow thee.
Tal. Not all together: better far, I guess,
That we do make our entrance several ways;
That, if it chance the one of us do fail,
The other yet may rise against their force.
Bed. Agreed; I'll to yon corner.

Bur. And I to this.

Tal. And here will Talbot mount, or make his

grave.

Now, Salisbury! for thee, and for the right

Of English Henry, shall this night appear
How much in duty I am bound to both.

[The English scale the walls, crying
St George! a Talbot! and all enter
by the town.

Sent. [Within.] Arm, arm! the enemy doth make assault!

The French leap over the walls in their shirts.
Enter, several ways, Bastard, Alençon, REIG-
NIER, half ready, and half unready.

Alen. How now, my lords? what, all unready so?
Bast. Unready? ay, and glad we 'scap'd so well.
Reig. 'Twas time, I trow, to wake and leave our
beds,

Hearing alarums at our chamber doors.

Alen. Of all exploits, since first I follow'd arms, Ne'er heard I of a warlike enterprize

More venturous, or desperate than this.

Bast. I think, this Talbot be a fiend of hell.

Reig. If not of hell, the heavens, sure, favour him.
Alen. Here cometh Charles; I marvel how he sped.

Enter CHARLES and LA PUCELLE.

Bast. Tut! holy Joan was his defensive guard. Char. Is this thy cunning, thou deceitful dame? Didst thou at first, to flatter us withal,

Make us partakers of a little gain,

That now our loss might be ten times so much? Puc. Wherefore is Charles impatient with his friend?

At all times will you have my power alike?
Sleeping, or waking, must I still prevail,

Or will you blame and lay the fault on me?—
Improvident soldiers! had your watch been good,
This sudden mischief never could have fall'n.
Char. Duke of Alençon, this was your default;
That, being captain of the watch to-night,
Did look no better to that weighty charge.

Alen. Had all your quarters been as safely kept,
As that whereof I had the government,
We had not been thus shamefully surpriz❜d.
Bast. Mine was secure.

Reig. And so was mine, my lord.

Char. And, for myself, most part of all this night,
Within her quarter, and mine own precinct,
I was employ'd in passing to and fro,
About relieving of the sentinels :

Then how, or which way, should they first break in?
Puc. Question, my lords, no further of the case,
How, or which way; 'tis sure, they found some place
But weakly guarded, where the breach was made.
And now there rests no other shift but this,-
To gather our soldiers, scatter'd and dispers'd,
And lay new platforms to endamage them.