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,

6

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 réverently 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."
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 teft. HANMER.

To break up in Shakespeare's age was the same as to break open. Thus, in our translation of the Bible: "They have broken up, and have passed through the gate." Micah, ii. 13. So again, in St. Matthew, xxiv. 43. "He would have 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.

Alluding to his shaven crown. POPE.

The public stews were formerly under the district of the bishop of Winchester. 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 hill, reported to be the same or which Cain slew his brother Abel. Maundrel's Travels, p. 131. POPE.

I mean to tug it, and to cuff you soundly :
Under my feet I stamp thy cardinal's hat;
In spite of pope or dignities of church,
Here by the cheeks I'll drag thee down.

Win. Gloster, thou'lt answer this before the pope. Glo. Winchester goose, I cry—a rope! a rope! -Now beat them hence, Why do you let them stay? -Thee I'll chace hence, thou wolf in sheep's array.Out, tawny coats!-out, scarlet hypocrite!

Here a great tumult. In the midst of it, enter the Mayor of London, and his Officers.

May. Fye, lords! that you, being supreme magistrates, Thus contumeliously should break the peace!

Glo. Peace, mayor; thou know'st little of my wrongs : Here's Beaufort, that regards nor God nor king, Hath here distrain'd the Tower to his use.

Win. Here's Gloster too, a foe to citizens; One that still motions war, and never peace. O'er-charging your free purses with large fines; That seeks to overthrow religion,

Because he is protector of the realm;

And would have armour here out of the Tower,
To crown himself king, and suppress the prince.
Glo. I will not answer thee with words, but blows.
[Here they skirmish again.
May. Nought rests for me, in this tumultuous strife,
But to make open proclamation:

-Come, officer; as loud as e'er thou canst.
Offi. All manner of men, assembled here in arms this
day, against God's peace and the king's, we charge
and command you, in his highness' name, to repair
to your several dwelling-places; and not to wear, han-
dle, or use, any sword, weapon, or dagger, hencefor-
ward, upon pain of death.

Glo. Cardinal, I'll be no breaker of the law : But we shall meet, and break our minds at large. Win. Gloster, we'll meet; to thy dear cost, be sure : Thy heart-blood I will have, for this day's work. May. I'll call for clubs, if you will not away :—

[6] A strumpet, or the consequences of her love, was a Winchester goose. JOHNSON. [7] That is, for peace-officers armed with clubs or staves. In affrays, it was customary in this author's time to call out clubs, clubs! MALONE.

This Cardinal is more haughty than the devil.

Glo. Mayor, farewell: thou dost but what thou may'st. Win. Abominable Gloster! guard thy head; For I intend to have it, ere long.

[Exeunt. May. See the coast clear'd, and then we will depart.Good God! that nobles should such stomachs bear! I myself fight not once in forty year.

SCENE IV.

[Exeunt.

France. Before Orleans. Enter, on the walls, the Mastergunner and his Son.

M. Gun. Sirrah, thou know'st how Orleans is besieg'd; And how the English have the suburbs won.

Son. Father, I know; and oft have shot at them,

Howe'er, unfortunate, I miss'd my aim.

M. Gun. But now thou shalt not. Be thou rul'd by me: Chief master-gunner am I of this town;

Something I must do, to procure me grace.

The prince's espials have informed me,

How the English, in the suburbs close intrench'd,
Wont, through a secret grate of iron bars

In yonder tower, to overpeer the city;

And thence discover, how, with most advantage,
They may vex. us, with shot, or with assault.
To intercept this inconvenience,

A piece of ordnance 'gainst it I have plac'd ;
And fully even these three days have I watch'd,
If I could see them. Now, boy, do thou watch,

For I can stay no longer.

If thou spy'st any, run and bring me word;

And thou shalt find me at the governor's.

I'll never trouble you, if I may spy them.

Son. Father, I warrant you; take you no care;

[Exit.

Enter, in an upper chamber of a tower, the Lords SAL ISBURY and TALBOT, Sir WILLIAM GLANSDALE, Sir THOMAS GARGRAVE, and others.

Sal. Talbot, my life, my joy, again return'd! How wert thou handled, being prisoner?

Or by what means gott'st thou to be releas'd?

[8] Stomach is price, a haughty spirit of resentment.

STEEVENS.

The third persca plural of the old verb went The English-mont, that is, are accustomed to over-peer the city. The word is used very frequently by Spenser, and several times by Milton. TYRWHITT.