Alen. They want their porridge, and their fat, bull-beeves: Either they must be dieted like mules, And have their provender tyed to their mouths, Talbot is taken, whom we wont to fear: Char. Sound, sound alarum; we will rush on them. Now for the honour of the forlorn French :- [Exeunt Alarums; Excursions; afterwards a Retreat. Re-enter CHARLES, ALENÇON, REIGNIER, and Others. Char. Who ever saw the like? what men have I?Dogs! cowards! dastards!-I would ne'er have fled, But that they left me 'midst my enemies. Reig. Salisbury is a desperate homicide; He fighteth as one weary of his life. 8 Alen. Froissard, a countryman of ours, records, England all Olivers and Rowlands bred,s During the time Edward the third did reign. "as their hungry prey.] i. e. the prey for which they are hungry. 8 England all Olivers and Rowlands bred,] These were two of the most famous in the list of Charlemagne's twelve peers; and their exploits are rendered so ridiculously and equally extravagant by the old romancers, that from thence arose that saying amongst More truly now may this be verified; For none but Samsons, and Goliasses, It sendeth forth to skirmish. One to ten! Char. Let's leave this town; for they are hairbrain'd slaves, And hunger will enforce them to be more eager : 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; 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. 9 · gimmals —] A gimmal is a piece of jointed work, where one piece moves within another, whence it is taken at large for an engine. It is now by the vulgar called a gimcrack. Bastard of Orleans,] That this in former times was not a term of reproach, see Bishop Hurd's Letters on Chivalry and Romance, in the third volume of his Dialogues, p. 233, who observing on circumstances of agreement between the heroick and Gothick manners, says that "Bastardy was in credit with both." One of William the conqueror's charters begins, " Ego Gulielmus cognomento Bastardus." Nor was bastardy reckoned a disgrace among the ancients. See the eighth Iliad, in which the illegitimacy of Teucer is mentioned as a panegyrick upon him, ver. 284. Hath the late overthrow wrought this offence? And drive the English forth the bounds of France. Char. Go, call her in: [Exit Bastard.] But, first, Reignier, stand thou as Dauphin in my place : 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 Where is the Dauphin ?-come, come from behind; nine sibyls of old Rome;] There was no nine sibyls of Rome; but he confounds things, and mistakes this for the nine books of Sibylline oracles, brought to one of the Tarquins. Lo, whilst I waited on my tender lambs, terms; Only this proof I'll of thy valour make,— Puc. I am prepar'd: here is my keen-edg'd sword, 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. 3 Resolve on this:] i. e. be firmly persuaded of it. Char. Whoe'er helps me, 'tis thou that must help me : Impatiently I burn with thy desire ; My heart and hands thou hast at once subdu'd. Let me thy servant, and not sovereign, be; 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, 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 Saint 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, 4 Expect Saint Martin's summer,] That is, expect prosperity after misfortune, like fair weather at Martlemas, after winter has begun. |