SCENE II.

France. Before Orleans.

Enter CHARLES, with his forces; ALENÇON,
REIGNIER, and Others,

2

CHAR. Mars his true moving, even as in the

heavens,

So in the earth, to this day is not known:
Late, did he shine upon the English fide;
Now we are victors, upon us he fmiles.
What towns of any moment, but we have?
At pleasure here we lie, near Orleans;
Otherwhiles, the famish'd English, like pale ghosts,
Faintly befiege us one hour in a month.

ALEN. They want their porridge, and their fat bull-beeves:

Either they must be dieted, like mules,

And have their provender ty'd to their mouths,
Or piteous they will look, like drowned mice.

REIG. Let's raife the fiege; Why live we idly here?

Talbot is taken, whom we wont to fear:
Remaineth none, but mad-brain'd Salisbury;
And he may well in fretting fpend his gall,
Nor men, nor money, hath he to make war.

CHAR. Sound, found alarum; we will rush on them.

2 Mars his true moving, &c.] So, Nafh, in one of his prefaces before Gabriel Harvey's Hunt is up, 1596:-" You are as ignorant in the true movings of my mufe, as the aftronomers are in the true movings of Mars, which to this day they could never attain to."

STEEVENS.

Now for the honour of the forlorn French :-
Him I forgive my death, that killeth me,
When he fees me go back one foot, or fly.

[Exeunt.

Alarums; Excurfions; afterwards a Retreat.

Re-enter CHARLES, ALENÇON, REIGNIER, and Others.

CHAR. Who ever faw the like? what men have I?—

Dogs! cowards! daftards!-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.
The other lords, like lions wanting food,
Do rush upon us as their hungry prey.'

ALEN. Froifard, a countryman of ours, records,
England all Olivers and Rowlands bred,
During the time Edward the third did reign.
More truly now may this be verified;

3 —as their hungry prey.] I believe it should be read: as their hungred prey. JOHNSON.

I adhere to the old reading, which appears to fignify-the prey for which they are hungry.

STEEVENS.

England all Olivers and Rowlands bred,] These were two of the most famous in the lift of Charlemagne's twelve peers; and their exploits are rendered fo ridiculously and equally extravagant by the old romancers, that from thence arofe that faying amongst our plain and fenfible ancestors, of giving one a Rowland for his Oliver, to fignify the matching one incredible lye with another. WARBURTON.

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

The old copy has-breed. Corrected by Mr. Rowe. MALONE.

For none but Sampfons, and Goliaffes,

It fendeth forth to fkirmish. One to ten!
Lean raw-bon'd rafcals! who would e'er fuppofc
They had fuch courage and audacity?

CHAR. Let's leave this town; for they are hair

brain'd flaves,

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 forfake the fiege.

REIG. I think, by fome odd gimmals" or de

vice,

Their arms are fet, like clocks," ftill to ftrike on;
Elfe ne'er could they hold out fo, as they do.
By my confent, we'll e'en let them alone.
ALEN. Be it fo.

And hunger will enforce them to be more eager:] The prepofition to should be omitted, as injurious to the meafure, and unneceffary in the old elliptical mode of writing. So, A&t IV. fc. i. of this play:

"Let me perfuade you take a better course." i. e. to take &c.

The error pointed out, occurs again in p. 529: "Piel'd prieft, doft thou command me to be shut out?" STEEVENS. -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. JOHNSON.

6

In the inventory of the jewels, &c. belonging to Salisbury cathedral, taken in 1536, 28th of Henry VIII. is, "A faire cheft with gimmals and key." Again: "Three other chefts with gimmals of filver and gilt." Again, in The Vow-breaker, or The Faire Maide of Clifton, 1636:

My actes are like the motionall gymmals "Fixt in a watch."

See alfo, p. 425, n. 2.

STEEVENS.

Their arms are fet, like clocks,] Perhaps the author was thinking of the clocks in which figures in the fhape of men ftruck the hours. Of these there were many in his time. MALONE.

To go like clockwork, is still a phrase in common use, to exprefs a regular and constant motion. STEEVENS.

520

Enter the Baftard of Orleans.

BAST. Where's the prince Dauphin? I have news
for him.

8

CHAR. Baftard of Orleans, thrice welcome to us.
BAST. Methinks, your looks are fad, your cheer
appall'd ;'

Hath the late overthrow wrought this offence?
Be not difmay'd, for fuccour 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 fiege,

And drive the English forth the bounds of France.
The fpirit of deep prophecy fhe hath,

That this in former times was not a 8 Bastard of Orleans,] terin of reproach, fee Bishop Hurd's Letters on Chivalry and Romance, in the third volume of his Dialogues, p. 233, who obferving on circumftances of agreement between the heroic and Gothick manners, fays that "Baftardy was in credit with both." One of William the Conqueror's charters begins, "Ego Gulielmus cognoAnd in the reign of Edward I. John Earl mento Baftardus." Warren and Surrey being called before the King's Juftices to fhow by what title he held his lands, produxit in medium gladium antiquum evaginatum-et ait, Ecce Domini mei, ecce warrantum meum! Anteceffores mei cum Willō Baftardo venientes conquefti funt terras fuas, &c. Dugd. Orig. Jurid. p. 13. Dugd. Bar. of Engl. Vol. I. Blount 9.

"Le Baftarde de Savoy," is infcribed over the head of one of the figures in a curious picture of the Battle of Pavia, in the Afhmolean Museum. In Fenn's Pafton Letters, Vol. III. p. 72-3, in the articles of impeachment against the Duke of Suffolk, we read of the "Erle of Danas, baftard of Orlyaunce

VAILLANT.

9 your cheer appall'd;] Cheer is jollity, gaiety.

M. MASON. Cheer, rather fignifies-countenance. So, in A Midsummer Night's

Dream:

"All fancy-fick fhe is, and pale of cheer." See Vol. V. p. 95, n. 4. STEEVENS,

Exceeding the nine fibyls of old Rome;*

What's past, and what's to come, she can defcry. Speak, fhall I call her in? Believe my words,' For they are certain and infallible.

CHAR. GO, call her in : [Exit Baftard.] But, first, to try her skill,

Reignier, ftand thou as Dauphin in my place:
Question her proudly, let thy looks be ftern;-
By this means, fhall we found what fkill fhe hath.
[Retires.

Enter LA PUCELLE, Baftard of Orleans, and Others.

REIG. Fair maid, is't thou wilt do these wond'rous feats?

Puc. Reignier, is't thou that thinkeft to beguile me?

Where is the Dauphin?-come, come from behind;
I know thee well, though never feen 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 awhile.
REIG. She takes upon her bravely at first dash.
Puc. Dauphin, I am by birth a shepherd's daugh-

ter,

My wit untrain❜d in any kind of art.

2

nine fibyls of old Rome;] There were no nine fibyls of Rome; but he confounds things, and mistakes this for the nine books of Sibylline oracles, brought to one of the Tarquins. WARBURTON.

3

Believe my words,] It should be read:

Believe her words. JOHNSON.

I perceive no need of change. The Baftard calls upon the Dauphin to believe the extraordinary account he has just given of the prophetick fpirit and prowess of the Maid of Orleans.