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King Henry VI, Part I

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ACT I SCENE V The same. 
[ Here an alarum again: and TALBOT pursueth the DAUPHIN, and driveth him: then enter JOAN LA PUCELLE, driving Englishmen before her, and exit after them then re-enter TALBOT ]
TALBOTWhere is my strength, my valour, and my force?
Our English troops retire, I cannot stay them:
A woman clad in armour chaseth them.
[Re-enter JOAN LA PUCELLE]
Here, here she comes. I'll have a bout with thee;
Devil or devil's dam, I'll conjure thee:5
Blood will I draw on thee, thou art a witch,
And straightway give thy soul to him thou servest.
JOAN LA PUCELLECome, come, 'tis only I that must disgrace thee.
[Here they fight]
TALBOTHeavens, can you suffer hell so to prevail?
My breast I'll burst with straining of my courage10
And from my shoulders crack my arms asunder.
But I will chastise this high-minded strumpet.
[They fight again]
JOAN LA PUCELLETalbot, farewell; thy hour is not yet come:
I must go victual Orleans forthwith.
[A short alarum; then enter the town with soldiers]
O'ertake me, if thou canst; I scorn thy strength.15
Go, go, cheer up thy hungry-starved men;
Help Salisbury to make his testament:
This day is ours, as many more shall be.
[Exit]
TALBOTMy thoughts are whirled like a potter's wheel;
I know not where I am, nor what I do;20
A witch, by fear, not force, like Hannibal,
Drives back our troops and conquers as she lists:
So bees with smoke and doves with noisome stench
Are from their hives and houses driven away.
They call'd us for our fierceness English dogs;25
Now, like to whelps, we crying run away.
[A short alarum]
Hark, countrymen! either renew the fight,
Or tear the lions out of England's coat;
Renounce your soil, give sheep in lions' stead:
Sheep run not half so treacherous from the wolf,30
Or horse or oxen from the leopard,
As you fly from your oft-subdued slaves.
[Alarum. Here another skirmish]
It will not be: retire into your trenches:
You all consented unto Salisbury's death,
For none would strike a stroke in his revenge.35
Pucelle is enter'd into Orleans,
In spite of us or aught that we could do.
O, would I were to die with Salisbury!
The shame hereof will make me hide my head.
[Exit TALBOT. Alarum; retreat; flourish]

Continue to 1 Henry VI, Act 1, Scene 6

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