1    These are the city gates, the gates of Rouen,
2    Through which our policy must make a breach:
3    Take heed, be wary how you place your words;
4    Talk like the vulgar sort of market men
5    That come to gather money for their corn.
6    If we have entrance, as I hope we shall,
7    And that we find the slothful watch but weak,
8    I'll by a sign give notice to our friends,
9    That Charles the Dauphin may encounter them.

10   Our sacks shall be a mean to sack the city,
11   And we be lords and rulers over Rouen;
12   Therefore we'll knock.

Within
13    Qui est la?

14   Paysans, pauvres gens de France;
15   Poor market folks that come to sell their corn.

16   Enter, go in; the market bell is rung.

17   Now, Rouen, I'll shake thy bulwarks to the ground.

18   Saint Denis bless this happy stratagem!
19   And once again we'll sleep secure in Rouen.

20   Here enter'd Pucelle and her practisants;
21   Now she is there, how will she specify
22   Where is the best and safest passage in?

23   By thrusting out a torch from yonder tower;
24   Which, once discern'd, shows that her meaning is,
25   No way to that, for weakness, which she enter'd.

26   Behold, this is the happy wedding torch
27   That joineth Rouen unto her countrymen,
28   But burning fatal to the Talbotites!

29   See, noble Charles, the beacon of our friend;
30   The burning torch in yonder turret stands.

31   Now shine it like a comet of revenge,
32   A prophet to the fall of all our foes!

33   Defer no time, delays have dangerous ends;
34   Enter, and cry 'The Dauphin!' presently,
35   And then do execution on the watch.

36   France, thou shalt rue this treason with thy tears,
37   If Talbot but survive thy treachery.
38   Pucelle, that witch, that damned sorceress,
39   Hath wrought this hellish mischief unawares,
40   That hardly we escaped the pride of France.

41   Good morrow, gallants! want ye corn for bread?
42   I think the Duke of Burgundy will fast
43   Before he'll buy again at such a rate:
44   'Twas full of darnel; do you like the taste?

45   Scoff on, vile fiend and shameless courtezan!
46   I trust ere long to choke thee with thine own
47   And make thee curse the harvest of that corn.

48   Your grace may starve perhaps before that time.

49   O, let no words, but deeds, revenge this treason!

50   What will you do, good grey-beard? break a lance,
51   And run a tilt at death within a chair?

52   Foul fiend of France, and hag of all despite,
53   Encompass'd with thy lustful paramours!
54   Becomes it thee to taunt his valiant age
55   And twit with cowardice a man half dead?
56   Damsel, I'll have a bout with you again,
57   Or else let Talbot perish with this shame.

58   Are ye so hot, sir? yet, Pucelle, hold thy peace;
59   If Talbot do but thunder, rain will follow.
The English whisper together in council
60   God speed the parliament! who shall be the speaker?

61   Dare ye come forth and meet us in the field?

62   Belike your lordship takes us then for fools,
63   To try if that our own be ours or no.

64   I speak not to that railing Hecate,
65   But unto thee, Alencon, and the rest;
66   Will ye, like soldiers, come and fight it out?

67   Signior, no.

68   Signior, hang! base muleters of France!
69   Like peasant foot-boys do they keep the walls
70   And dare not take up arms like gentlemen.

71   Away, captains! let's get us from the walls;
72   For Talbot means no goodness by his looks.
73   God be wi' you, my lord! we came but to tell you
74   That we are here.

75   And there will we be too, ere it be long,
76   Or else reproach be Talbot's greatest fame!
77   Vow, Burgundy, by honour of thy house,
78   Prick'd on by public wrongs sustain'd in France,
79   Either to get the town again or die:
80   And I, as sure as English Henry lives
81   And as his father here was conqueror,
82   As sure as in this late-betrayed town
83   Great Coeur-de-lion's heart was buried,
84   So sure I swear to get the town or die.

85   My vows are equal partners with thy vows.

86   But, ere we go, regard this dying prince,
87   The valiant Duke of Bedford. Come, my lord,
88   We will bestow you in some better place,
89   Fitter for sickness and for crazy age.

90   Lord Talbot, do not so dishonour me:
91   Here will I sit before the walls of Rouen
92   And will be partner of your weal or woe.

93   Courageous Bedford, let us now persuade you.

94   Not to be gone from hence; for once I read
95   That stout Pendragon in his litter sick
96   Came to the field and vanquished his foes:
97   Methinks I should revive the soldiers' hearts,
98   Because I ever found them as myself.

99   Undaunted spirit in a dying breast!
100  Then be it so: heavens keep old Bedford safe!
101  And now no more ado, brave Burgundy,
102  But gather we our forces out of hand
103  And set upon our boasting enemy.

104  Whither away, Sir John Fastolfe, in such haste?

105  Whither away! to save myself by flight:
106  We are like to have the overthrow again.

107  What! will you fly, and leave Lord Talbot?

108  Ay,
109  All the Talbots in the world, to save my life!

110  Cowardly knight! ill fortune follow thee!

111  Now, quiet soul, depart when heaven please,
112  For I have seen our enemies' overthrow.
113  What is the trust or strength of foolish man?
114  They that of late were daring with their scoffs
115  Are glad and fain by flight to save themselves.

116  Lost, and recover'd in a day again!
117  This is a double honour, Burgundy:
118  Yet heavens have glory for this victory!

119  Warlike and martial Talbot, Burgundy
120  Enshrines thee in his heart and there erects
121  Thy noble deeds as valour's monuments.

122  Thanks, gentle duke. But where is Pucelle now?
123  I think her old familiar is asleep:
124  Now where's the Bastard's braves, and Charles his gleeks?
125  What, all amort? Rouen hangs her head for grief
126  That such a valiant company are fled.
127  Now will we take some order in the town,
128  Placing therein some expert officers,
129  And then depart to Paris to the king,
130  For there young Henry with his nobles lie.

131  What wills Lord Talbot pleaseth Burgundy.

132  But yet, before we go, let's not forget
133  The noble Duke of Bedford late deceased,
134  But see his exequies fulfill'd in Rouen:
135  A braver soldier never couched lance,
136  A gentler heart did never sway in court;
137  But kings and mightiest potentates must die,
138  For that's the end of human misery.