Hath been enacted through your enmity:

  Then be at peace, except ye thirst for blood.

  WINCHESTER    He shall submit, or I will never yield.

  GLOUCESTER    Compassion on the king commands me stoop,

  Or I would see his124 heart out, ere the priest

  Should ever get that privilege of125 me.

  WARWICK    Behold, my lord of Winchester, the duke

  Hath banished moody127 discontented fury,

  As by his smoothèd brows it doth appear:

  Why look you still so stern and tragical129?

  Winchester turns away To Winchester

  GLOUCESTER    Here, Winchester, I offer thee my hand.

  KING HENRY VI    Fie, uncle Beaufort! I have heard you preach

  That malice was a great and grievous sin:

  And will not you maintain the thing you teach,

  But prove a chief offender in the same?

  WARWICK    Sweet king: the bishop hath a kindly gird135.

  For shame, my lord of Winchester, relent:

  What, shall a child instruct you what to do?

  WINCHESTER    Well, Duke of Gloucester, I will yield to thee

  Love for thy love and hand for hand I give.

  Aside

  GLOUCESTER    Ay, but I fear me with a hollow140 heart.—

  To the others

  See here, my friends and loving countrymen,

  This token142 serveth for a flag of truce

  Betwixt ourselves and all our followers:

  So help me God, as I dissemble144 not.

  Aside

  WINCHESTER    So help me God,— as I intend it not.

  KING HENRY VI    O loving uncle, kind Duke of Gloucester,

  How joyful am I made by this contract147.—

  Away, my masters148, trouble us no more,

  But join in friendship, as your lords have done.

  FIRST SERVINGMAN    Content: I’ll to the surgeon’s150.

  SECOND SERVINGMAN    And so will I.

  THIRD SERVINGMAN    And I will see what physic152 the tavern affords.

  Exeunt [the Mayor and Servingmen]

  WARWICK    Accept this scroll, most gracious sovereign,

  Which in the right of Richard Plantagenet

  We do exhibit155 to your majesty.

  GLOUCESTER    Well urged, my lord of Warwick — for sweet prince,

  And if your grace mark every circumstance157,

  You have great reason to do Richard right,

  Especially for those occasions159

  At Eltham Place I told your majesty.

  KING HENRY VI    And those occasions, uncle, were of force161:

  Therefore, my loving lords, our pleasure is

  That Richard be restorèd to his blood163.

  WARWICK    Let Richard be restorèd to his blood;

  So shall his father’s wrongs165 be recompensed.

  WINCHESTER    As will the rest, so willeth Winchester.

  KING HENRY VI    If Richard will be true, not that alone

  But all the whole inheritance I give

  That doth belong unto the House of York,

  From whence you spring by lineal descent.

  RICHARD PLANTAGENET    Thy humble servant vows obedience

  And humble service till the point of death.

  Richard kneels

  KING HENRY VI    Stoop then and set your knee against my foot,

  And, in reguerdon174 of that duty done,

  I gird175 thee with the valiant sword of York:

  Rise Richard, like a true Plantagenet,

  And rise created princely177 Duke of York.

  Plantagenet is henceforth known as Richard Duke of York

  RICHARD DUKE OF YORK    And so thrive Richard as thy foes may fall:

  And as my duty springs, so perish they

  That grudge one thought180 against your majesty.

  ALL    Welcome, high prince, the mighty Duke of York!

  Aside

  SOMERSET    Perish, base prince, ignoble Duke of York!

  GLOUCESTER    Now will it best avail your majesty

  To cross the seas and to be crowned in France:

  The presence of a king engenders love

  Amongst his subjects and his loyal friends,

  As it disanimates187 his enemies.

  KING HENRY VI    When Gloucester says the word, King Henry goes,

  For friendly counsel cuts off many foes.

  GLOUCESTER    Your ships already are in readiness.

  Sennet. Flourish

  Exeunt all but Exeter

  EXETER    Ay, we may march in England or in France,

  Not seeing what is likely to ensue:

  This late dissension grown betwixt the peers

  Burns under feignèd ashes of forged194 love,

  And will at last break out into a flame:

  As festered members rot but by degree196,

  Till bones and flesh and sinews fall away,

  So will this base and envious198 discord breed.

  And now I fear that fatal prophecy

  Which, in the time of Henry named the Fifth,

  Was in the mouth of every sucking babe:

  That Henry born at Monmouth202 should win all

  And Henry born at Windsor203 lose all:

  Which is so plain that Exeter doth wish

  His days may finish ere that hapless205 time.

  Exit

  Act 3 Scene 2

  running scene 10

  Enter [Joan la] Pucelle disguised, with four [French] Soldiers with sacks upon their backs

  PUCELLE    These are the city gates, the gates of Rouen,

  Through which our policy2 must make a breach.

  Take heed, be wary how you place your words:

  Talk like the vulgar4 sort of market men

  That come to gather money for their corn.

  If we have entrance, as I hope we shall,

  And that7 we find the slothful watch but weak,

  I’ll by a sign give notice to our friends,

  That Charles the Dauphin may encounter9 them.

  FIRST SOLDIER    Our sacks shall be a mean10 to sack the city,

  And we be11 lords and rulers over Rouen:

  Therefore we’ll knock.

  [They] knock

  Within

  WATCH. Qui là13?

  PUCELLE. Paysans, la pauvre gens de France:14

  Poor market folks that come to sell their corn.

  opening the gates

  WATCH    Enter, go in: the market bell is rung.

  PUCELLE    Now, Rouen, I’ll shake thy bulwarks to the ground.

  Exeunt

  Enter Charles, [the] Bastard [of Orléans], Alençon, [Reignier, and forces]

  CHARLES    Saint Denis bless this happy18 stratagem,

  And once again we’ll sleep secure in Rouen.

  BASTARD    Here entered Pucelle and her practisants20:

  Now she is there, how will she specify

  Here is the best and safest passage in?

  REIGNIER    By thrusting out a torch from yonder tower,

  Which, once discerned, shows that her meaning is,

  No way to that, for weakness, which she entered25.

  Enter [Joan la] Pucelle on the top, thrusting out a torch burning

  PUCELLE    Behold, this is the happy wedding torch26

  That joineth Rouen unto her countrymen,

  But burning fatal to the Talbonites!

  BASTARD    See, noble Charles, the beacon of our friend:

  The burning torch in yonder turret stands.

  CHARLES    Now shine it31 like a comet of revenge,

  A prophet to32 the fall of all our foes!

  REIGNIER    Defer no time, delays have dangerous ends:

  Enter and cry, ‘The dauphin!’, presently34,

  And then do execution on the watch35.

  Alarum [Exeunt]

  An alarum. [Enter] Talbot in an excursion

  TALBOT    France, thou shalt rue this treason with thy tears,

  If Talbot but survive thy treachery.

  Pucelle, that witch, that damnèd sorceress,

  Hath wrought this hellish mischief unawares39,

  That hardly40 we escaped the pride of France.

  Exit

  An alarum: excursions. Bedford brought in sick in a chair. Enter Talbot and Burgundy without: within, [Joan la] Pucelle, Charles, Bastard of Orléans, [Alençon] and Reignier on the walls

  PUCELLE    Good morrow, gallants41: want ye corn for bread?

  I think the Duke of Burgundy will fast

  Before he’ll buy again at such a rate43.

  ’Twas full of darnel44: do you like the taste?

  BURGUNDY    Scoff on, vile fiend and shameless courtesan:

  I trust ere long to choke thee with thine own

  And make thee curse the harvest of that corn.

  CHARLES    Your grace may starve, perhaps, before that time.

  BEDFORD O, let no words, but deeds, revenge this treason.

  PUCELLE    What will you do, good grey-beard? Break a lance

  And run a-tilt at death within51 a chair?

  TALBOT    Foul fiend of France, and hag of all despite52,

  Encompassed with53 thy lustful paramours,

  Becomes it thee to taunt his valiant age

  And twit55 with cowardice a man half dead?

  Damsel, I’ll have a bout56 with you again,

  Or else let Talbot perish with this shame.

  PUCELLE    Are ye so hot58, sir? Yet, Pucelle, hold thy peace:

  If Talbot do but thunder, rain will follow.

  [The English] whisper together in counsel

  God speed the parliament: who shall be the speaker60?

  TALBOT    Dare ye come forth and meet us in the field61?

  PUCELLE    Belike62 your lordship takes us then for fools,

  To try if that our own be ours or no.

  TALBOT    I speak not to that railing Hecate64,

  But unto thee, Alençon, and the rest.

  Will ye, like soldiers, come and fight it out?

  ALENÇON    Seigneur67, no.

  TALBOT    Seigneur, hang! Base muleteers68 of France,

  Like peasant footboys do they keep69 the walls,

  And dare not take up arms like gentlemen.

  PUCELLE    Away, captains, let’s get us from the walls,

  For Talbot means no goodness by his looks.

  Goodbye, my lord: we came but to tell you

  That we are here.

  Exeunt from the walls

  TALBOT    And there will we be too, ere it be long,

  Or else reproach be Talbot’s greatest fame.

  Vow, Burgundy, by honour of thy house,

  Pricked78 on by public wrongs sustained in France,

  Either to get the town again or die.

  And I, as sure as English Henry lives,

  And as his father here was conqueror81,

  As sure as in this late betrayèd town

  Great Coeur-de-lion’s83 heart was burièd,

  So sure I swear to get the town or die.

  BURGUNDY    My vows are equal partners with thy vows.

  TALBOT    But ere we go, regard86 this dying prince,

  To Bedford

  The valiant Duke of Bedford.— Come, my lord,

  We will bestow you in some better place,

  Fitter for sickness and for crazy89 age.

  BEDFORD    Lord Talbot, do not so dishonour me:

  Here will I sit before the walls of Rouen

  And will be partner of your weal92 or woe.

  BURGUNDY    Courageous Bedford, let us now persuade you.

  BEDFORD    Not to be gone from hence: for once I read

  That stout Pendragon, in his litter95 sick,

  Came to the field and vanquishèd his foes.

  Methinks I should revive the soldiers’ hearts,

  Because I ever98 found them as myself.

  TALBOT    Undaunted spirit in a dying breast!

  Then be it so: heavens keep old Bedford safe.

  And now no more ado101, brave Burgundy,

  But gather we our forces out of hand102,

  And set upon our boasting enemy.

  Exit [with Burgundy and forces]

  An alarum: excursions. Enter Sir John Falstaff and a Captain

  CAPTAIN    Whither away, Sir John Falstaff, in such haste?

  FALSTAFF    Whither away? To save myself by flight:

  We are like to have the overthrow106 again.

  CAPTAIN    What? Will you fly, and leave Lord Talbot?

  FALSTAFF    Ay, all the Talbots in the world, to save my life.

  Exit

  CAPTAIN    Cowardly knight, ill fortune follow thee!

  Exit

  Retreat: excursions. [Joan la] Pucelle, Alençon and Charles fly

  BEDFORD    Now, quiet soul, depart when heaven please,

  For I have seen our enemies’ overthrow.

  What is the trust or strength of foolish man?

  They that of late were daring113 with their scoffs

  Are glad114 and fain by flight to save themselves.

  Bedford dies, and is carried in by two in his chair. An alarum. Enter Talbot, Burgundy and the rest [of the English soldiers]

  TALBOT    Lost, and recovered in a day again!

  This is a double honour, Burgundy:

  Yet heavens have glory for this victory.

  BURGUNDY    Warlike and martial Talbot, Burgundy

  Enshrines thee in his heart, and there erects

  Thy noble deeds as valour’s monuments.

  TALBOT    Thanks, gentle121 duke. But where is Pucelle now?

  I think her old familiar122 is asleep.

  Now where’s the Bastard’s braves, and Charles his gleeks123?

  What, all amort124? Rouen hangs her head for grief

  That such a valiant company are fled.

  Now will we take some order126 in the town,

  Placing therein some expert127 officers,

  And then depart to Paris, to the king,

  For there young Henry with his nobles lie129.

  BURGUNDY    What wills Lord Talbot pleaseth Burgundy.

  TALBOT    But yet, before we go, let’s not forget

  The noble Duke of Bedford late deceased,

  But see his exequies133 fulfilled in Rouen.

  A braver soldier never couchèd lance134,

  A gentler heart did never sway135 in court.

  But kings and mightiest potentates136 must die,

  For that’s the end137 of human misery.

  Exeunt

  Act 3 Scene 3

  running scene 11

  Enter Charles, [the] Bastard [of Orléans], Alençon, [Joan la] Pucelle [and French soldiers]

  PUCELLE    Dismay not, princes, at this accident1,

  Nor grieve that Rouen is so recoverèd2:

  Care is no cure3, but rather corrosive,

  For things that are not to be remedied.

  Let frantic Talbot triumph for a while

  And like a peacock sweep along his tail:

  We’ll pull his plumes and take away his train7,

  If Dauphin and the rest will be but ruled8.

  CHARLES    We have been guided by thee hitherto,

  And of thy cunning had no diffidence10:

  One sudden foil11 shall never breed distrust.

  BASTARD    Search out thy wit for secret policies12,

  And we will make thee famous through the world.

  ALENÇON    We’ll set thy statue in some holy place,

  And have thee reverenced like a blessèd saint.

  Employ thee then, sweet virgin, for our good.

  PUCELLE    Then thus it must be: this doth Joan devise:

  By fair18 persuasions, mixed with sugared words,

  We will entice the Duke of Burgundy

  To leave the Talbot and to follow us.

  CHARLES    Ay, marry, sweeting21, if we could do that,

  France were no place for Henry’s warriors,

  Nor should that nation boast it so with us,

  But be extirpèd24 from our provinces.

  ALENÇON    For ever should they be expulsed25 from France

  And not have title of an earldom here.

  PUCELLE    Your honours shall perceive how I will work

  To bring this matter to the wishèd end.

  Drum sounds afar off