Henry vi part 1, p.19
Henry VI, Part 1,
p.19
Thou mayst bereave him of his wits with wonder.
200
He exits.
Enter York, Warwick, Shepherd,
YORK
Bring forth that sorceress condemned to burn.
1
SHEPHERD
Ah, Joan, this kills thy father’s heart outright.
2
Have I sought every country far and near,
3
And, now it is my chance to find thee out,
4
Must I behold thy timeless cruel death?
5
Ah, Joan, sweet daughter Joan, I’ll die with thee.
6
PUCELLE
Decrepit miser, base ignoble wretch!
7
I am descended of a gentler blood.
8
Thou art no father nor no friend of mine.
9
SHEPHERD
Out, out!—My lords, an please you, ’tis not so!
10
I did beget her, all the parish knows;
11
Her mother liveth yet, can testify
12
She was the first fruit of my bach’lorship.
13
WARWICK
Graceless, wilt thou deny thy parentage?
14
YORK
This argues what her kind of life hath been,
15
Wicked and vile; and so her death concludes.
16
SHEPHERD
Fie, Joan, that thou wilt be so obstacle!
17
God knows thou art a collop of my flesh,
18
And for thy sake have I shed many a tear.
19
Deny me not, I prithee, gentle Joan.
20
PUCELLE
Peasant, avaunt!—You have suborned this man
21
Of purpose to obscure my noble birth.
22
SHEPHERD
’Tis true, I gave a noble to the priest
23
The morn that I was wedded to her mother.—
24
Kneel down and take my blessing, good my girl.
25
Wilt thou not stoop? Now cursèd be the time
26
Of thy nativity! I would the milk
27
Thy mother gave thee when thou
28
breast
29
Had been a little ratsbane for thy sake!
30
Or else, when thou didst keep my lambs afield,
31
I wish some ravenous wolf had eaten thee!
32
Dost thou deny thy father, cursèd drab?
33
O burn her, burn her! Hanging is too good.
34
He exits.
YORK
Take her away, for she hath lived too long
35
To fill the world with vicious qualities.
36
PUCELLE
First, let me tell you whom you have condemned:
37
Not
38
But issued from the progeny of kings,
39
Virtuous and holy, chosen from above
40
By inspiration of celestial grace
41
To work exceeding miracles on earth.
42
I never had to do with wicked spirits.
43
But you, that are polluted with your lusts,
44
Stained with the guiltless blood of innocents,
45
Corrupt and tainted with a thousand vices,
46
Because you want the grace that others have,
47
You judge it straight a thing impossible
48
To compass wonders but by help of devils.
49
No, misconceivèd! Joan of
50
A virgin from her tender infancy,
51
Chaste and immaculate in very thought,
52
Whose maiden blood, thus rigorously effused,
53
Will cry for vengeance at the gates of heaven.
54
YORK
Ay, ay.—Away with her to execution.
55
WARWICK
And hark you, sirs: because she is a maid,
56
Spare for no faggots; let there be enow.
57
Place barrels of pitch upon the fatal stake
58
That so her torture may be shortenèd.
59
PUCELLE
Will nothing turn your unrelenting hearts?
60
Then, Joan, discover thine infirmity,
61
That warranteth by law to be thy privilege:
62
I am with child, you bloody homicides.
63
Murder not then the fruit within my womb,
64
Although you hale me to a violent death.
65
YORK
Now heaven forfend, the holy maid with child?
66
WARWICK,
The greatest miracle that e’er you wrought!
67
Is all your strict preciseness come to this?
68
YORK
She and the Dauphin have been juggling.
69
I did imagine what would be her refuge.
70
WARWICK
Well, go to, we’ll have no bastards live,
71
Especially since Charles must father it.
72
PUCELLE
You are deceived; my child is none of his.
73
It was Alanson that enjoyed my love.
74
YORK
Alanson, that notorious Machiavel?
75
It dies an if it had a thousand lives!
76
PUCELLE
O, give me leave! I have deluded you.
77
’Twas neither Charles nor yet the Duke I named,
78
But Reignier, King of Naples, that prevailed.
79
WARWICK
A married man? That’s most intolerable.
80
YORK
Why, here’s a girl! I think she knows not well—
81
There were so many—whom she may accuse.
82
WARWICK
It’s sign she hath been liberal and free.
83
YORK
And yet, forsooth, she is a virgin pure!—
84
Strumpet, thy words condemn thy brat and thee.
85
Use no entreaty, for it is in vain.
86
PUCELLE
Then lead me hence, with whom I leave my curse:
87
May never glorious sun reflex his beams
88
Upon the country where you make abode,
89
But darkness and the gloomy shade of death
90
Environ you, till mischief and despair
91
Drive you to break your necks or hang yourselves.
92
She exits,
YORK
Break thou in pieces, and consume to ashes,
93
Thou foul accursèd minister of hell!
94
Enter
WINCHESTER
Lord Regent, I do greet your Excellence
95
With letters of commission from the King.
96
For know, my lords, the states of Christendom,
97
Moved with remorse of these outrageous broils,
98
Have earnestly implored a general peace
99
Betwixt our nation and the aspiring French;
100
And here at hand the Dauphin and his train
101
Approacheth to confer about some matter.
102
YORK
Is all our travail turned to this effect?
103
After the slaughter of so many peers,
104
So many captains, gentlemen, and soldiers
105
That in this quarrel have been overthrown
106
And sold their bodies for their country’s benefit,
107
Shall we at last conclude effeminate peace?
108
Have we not lost most part of all the towns—
109
By treason, falsehood, and by treachery—
110
Our great progenitors had conquerèd?
111
O, Warwick, Warwick, I foresee with grief
112
The utter loss of all the realm of France!
113
WARWICK
Be patient, York; if we conclude a peace
114
It shall be with such strict and severe covenants
115
As little shall the Frenchmen gain thereby.
116
Enter Charles, Alanson, Bastard,
Reignier,
CHARLES
Since, lords of England, it is thus agreed
117
That peaceful truce shall be proclaimed in France,
118
We come to be informèd by yourselves
119
What the conditions of that league must be.
120
YORK
Speak, Winchester, for boiling choler chokes
121
The hollow passage of my poisoned voice
122
By sight of these our baleful enemies.
123
WINCHESTER
Charles and the rest, it is enacted thus:
124
That, in regard King Henry gives consent,
125
Of mere compassion and of lenity,
126
To ease your country of distressful war
127
And suffer you to breathe in fruitful peace,
128
You shall become true liegemen to his crown.
129
And, Charles, upon condition thou wilt swear
130
To pay him tribute and submit thyself,
131
Thou shalt be placed as viceroy under him,
132
And still enjoy thy regal dignity.
133
ALANSON
Must he be then as shadow of himself—
134
Adorn his temples with a coronet,
135
And yet, in substance and authority,
136
Retain but privilege of a private man?
137
This proffer is absurd and reasonless.
138
CHARLES
’Tis known already that I am possessed
139
With more than half the Gallian territories,
140
And therein reverenced for their lawful king.
141
Shall I, for lucre of the rest unvanquished,
142
Detract so much from that prerogative
143
As to be called but viceroy of the whole?
144
No, lord ambassador, I’ll rather keep
145
That which I have than, coveting for more,
146
Be cast from possibility of all.
147
YORK
Insulting Charles, hast thou by secret means
148
Used intercession to obtain a league
149
And, now the matter grows to compromise,
150
Stand’st thou aloof upon comparison?
151
Either accept the title thou usurp’st,
152
Of benefit proceeding from our king
153
And not of any challenge of desert,
154
Or we will plague thee with incessant wars.
155
REIGNIER,
