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Camp of the DUKE OF YORK, in Anjou. | |
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Enter YORK, WARWICK, and Others. | |
| York. Bring forth that sorceress, condemn’d to burn. | |
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Enter JOAN LA PUCELLE, guarded; and a Shepherd. | |
| Shep. Ah, Joan! this kills thy father’s heart outright. | 5 |
| Have I sought every country far and near, | |
| And, now it is my chance to find thee out, | |
| Must I behold thy timeless cruel death? | |
| Ah, Joan! sweet daughter Joan, I’ll die with thee. | |
| Joan. Decrepit miser! base ignoble wretch! | 10 |
| I am descended of a gentler blood: | |
| Thou art no father nor no friend of mine. | |
| Shep. Out, out! My lords, an please you, ’tis not so; | |
| I did beget her all the parish knows: | |
| Her mother liveth yet, can testify | 15 |
| She was the first fruit of my bachelorship. | |
| War. Graceless! wilt thou deny thy parentage? | |
| York. This argues what her kind of life hath been: | |
| Wicked and vile; and so her death concludes. | |
| Shep. Fie, Joan, that thou wilt be so obstacle! | 20 |
| God knows, thou art a collop of my flesh; | |
| And for thy sake have I shed many a tear: | |
| Deny me not, I prithee, gentle Joan. | |
| Joan. Peasant, avaunt! You have suborn’d this man, | |
| Of purpose to obscure my noble birth. | 25 |
| Shep. ’Tis true, I gave a noble to the priest, | |
| The morn that I was wedded to her mother. | |
| Kneel down and take my blessing, good my girl. | |
| Wilt thou not stoop? Now cursed be the time | |
| Of thy nativity! I would the milk | 30 |
| Thy mother gave thee, when thou suck’dst her breast, | |
| Had been a little ratsbane for thy sake! | |
| Or else, when thou didst keep my lambs a-field | |
| I wish some ravenous wolf had eaten thee! | |
| Dost thou deny thy father, cursed drab? | 35 |
| O! burn her, burn her! hanging is too good. [Exit. | |
| York. Take her away; for she hath liv’d too long, | |
| To fill the world with vicious qualities. | |
| Joan. First, let me tell you whom you have condemn’d: | |
| Not me begotten of a shepherd swain, | 40 |
| But issu’d from the progeny of kings; | |
| Virtuous and holy; chosen from above, | |
| By inspiration of celestial grace, | |
| To work exceeding miracles on earth. | |
| I never had to do with wicked spirits: | 45 |
| But you,—that are polluted with your lusts, | |
| Stain’d with the guiltless blood of innocents, | |
| Corrupt and tainted with a thousand vices,— | |
| Because you want the grace that others have, | |
| You judge it straight a thing impossible | 50 |
| To compass wonders but by help of devils. | |
| No misconceived! Joan of Arc hath been | |
| A virgin from her tender infancy, | |
| Chaste and immaculate in very thought; | |
| Whose maiden blood, thus rigorously effus’d, | 55 |
| Will cry for vengeance at the gates of heaven. | |
| York. Ay, ay: away with her to execution! | |
| War. And hark ye, sirs; because she is a maid, | |
| Spare for no fagots, let there be enow: | |
| Place barrels of pitch upon the fatal stake, | 60 |
| That so her torture may be shortened. | |
| Joan. Will nothing turn your unrelenting hearts? | |
| Then, Joan, discover thine infirmity; | |
| That warranteth by law to be thy privilege. | |
| I am with child, ye bloody homicides: | 65 |
| Murder not then the fruit within my womb, | |
| Although ye hale me to a violent death. | |
| York. Now, heaven forefend! the holy maid with child! | |
| War. The greatest miracle that e’er ye wrought! | |
| Is all your strict preciseness come to this? | 70 |
| York. She and the Dauphin have been juggling: | |
| I did imagine what would be her refuge. | |
| War. Well, go to; we will have no bastards live; | |
| Especially since Charles must father it. | |
| Joan. You are deceiv’d; my child is none of his: | 75 |
| It was Alençon that enjoy’d my love. | |
| York. Alençon! that notorious Machiavel! | |
| It dies an if it had a thousand lives. | |
| Joan. O! give me leave. I have deluded you: | |
| ’Twas neither Charles, nor yet the duke I nam’d, | 80 |
| But Reignier, King of Naples, that prevail’d. | |
| War. A married man: that’s most intolerable. | |
| York. Why, here’s a girl! I think she knows not well, | |
| There were so many, whom she may accuse. | |
| War. It’s sign she hath been liberal and free. | 85 |
| York. And yet, forsooth, she is a virgin pure. | |
| Strumpet, thy words condemn thy brat and thee: | |
| Use no entreaty, for it is in vain. | |
| Joan. Then lead me hence; with whom I leave my curse: | |
| May never glorious sun reflex his beams | 90 |
| Upon the country where you make abode; | |
| But darkness and the gloomy shade of death | |
| Environ you, till mischief and despair | |
| Drive you to break your necks or hang yourselves! [Exit, guarded. | |
| York. Break thou in pieces and consume to ashes, | 95 |
| Thou foul accursed minister of hell! | |
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Enter CARDINAL BEAUFORT, attended. | |
| Car. Lord regent, I do greet your excellence | |
| With letters of commission from the king. | |
| For know, my lords, the states of Christendom, | 100 |
| Mov’d with remorse of these outrageous broils, | |
| Have earnestly implor’d a general peace | |
| Betwixt our nation and the aspiring French; | |
| And here at hand the Dauphin, and his train, | |
| Approacheth to confer about some matter. | 105 |
| York. Is all our travail turn’d to this effect? | |
| After the slaughter of so many peers, | |
| So many captains, gentlemen, and soldiers, | |
| That in this quarrel have been overthrown, | |
| And sold their bodies for their country’s benefit, | 110 |
| Shall we at last conclude effeminate peace? | |
| Have we not lost most part of all the towns, | |
| By treason, falsehood, and by treachery, | |
| Our great progenitors had conquered? | |
| O! Warwick, Warwick! I foresee with grief | 115 |
| The utter loss of all the realm of France. | |
| War. Be patient, York: if we conclude a peace, | |
| It shall be with such strict and severe covenants | |
| As little shall the Frenchmen gain thereby. | |
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Enter CHARLES, attended; ALENÇON, the BASTARD OF ORLEANS, REIGNIER, and Others. | 120 |
| Char. Since, lords of England, it is thus agreed, | |
| That peaceful truce shall be proclaim’d in France, | |
| We come to be informed by yourselves | |
| What the conditions of that league must be. | |
| York. Speak, Winchester; for boiling choler chokes | 125 |
| The hollow passage of my poison’d voice, | |
| By sight of these our baleful enemies. | |
| Car. Charles, and the rest, it is enacted thus: | |
| That, in regard King Henry gives consent, | |
| Of mere compassion and of lenity, | 130 |
| To ease your country of distressful war, | |
| And suffer you to breathe in fruitful peace, | |
| You shall become true liegemen to his crown: | |
| And, Charles, upon condition thou wilt swear | |
| To pay him tribute, and submit thyself, | 135 |
| Thou shalt be plac’d as viceroy under him, | |
| And still enjoy thy regal dignity. | |
| Alen. Must he be then, as shadow of himself?. | |
| Adorn his temples with a coronet, | |
| And yet, in substance and authority, | 140 |
| Retain but privilege of a private man? | |
| This proffer is absurd and reasonless. | |
| Char. ’Tis known already that I am possess’d | |
| With more than half the Gallian territories, | |
| And therein reverenc’d for their lawful king: | 145 |
| Shall I, for lucre of the rest unvanquish’d, | |
| Detract so much from that prerogative | |
| As to be call’d but viceroy of the whole? | |
| No, lord ambassador; I’ll rather keep | |
| That which I have than, coveting for more, | 150 |
| Be cast from possibility of all. | |
| York. Insulting Charles! hast thou by secret means | |
| Us’d intercession to obtain a league, | |
| And now the matter grows to compromise, | |
| Stand’st thou aloof upon comparison? | 155 |
| Either accept the title thou usurp’st, | |
| Of benefit proceeding from our king | |
| And not of any challenge of desert, | |
| Or we will plague thee with incessant wars. | |
| Reig. My lord, you do not well in obstinacy | 160 |
| To cavil in the course of this contract: | |
| If once it be neglected, ten to one, | |
| We shall not find like opportunity. | |
| Alen. [Aside to CHARLES.] To say the truth, it is your policy | |
| To save your subjects from such massacre | 165 |
| And ruthless slaughters as are daily seen | |
| By our proceeding in hostility; | |
| And therefore take this compact of a truce, | |
| Although you break it when your pleasure serves. | |
| War. How sayst thou, Charles? shall our condition stand? | 170 |
| Char. It shall; | |
| Only reserv’d, you claim no interest | |
| In any of our towns of garrison. | |
| York. Then swear allegiance to his majesty; | |
| As thou art knight, never to disobey | 175 |
| Nor be rebellious to the crown of England, | |
| Thou, nor thy nobles, to the crown of England. [CHARLES, &c., give tokens of fealty. | |
| So, now dismiss your army when ye please; | |
| Hang up your ensigns, let your drums be still, | |
| For here we entertain a solemn peace. [Exeunt. | 180 |
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