Obrázky stránek
PDF
ePub

Enter Pucelle.

Here, here, he comes. I'll have a bout with thee; Devil, or devil's dam, I'll conjure thee.

*Blood will I draw on thee, thou art a witch; And straitway give thy foul to him thou serv'st. Pucel. Come, come, 'tis only I, that muft difgrace thee.

[They fight. Tal. Heav'ns, can you fuffer hell fo to prevail? My breast I'll burft with ftraining of my courage, And from my fhoulders crack my arms afunder, But I will chaftife this high-minded strumpet.

Pucel. Talbot, farewel, thy hour is not yet come, I must go victual Orleans forthwith.

[Abort alarm. Then enters the town with foldiers. O'ertake me if thou canft, I fcorn thy ftrength. Go, go, chear up thy hunger-ftarved men. Help Salisbury to make his teftament.

This day is ours, as many more fhall be. [Exit Pucelle.
Tal. My thoughts are whirled like a potter's wheel,
I know not where I am, nor what I do,

A witch, by fear, not force, like Hannibal,
Drives back our troops, and conquers as fhe lifts.
So Bees with smoke, and Doves with noifom stench,
Are from their hives, and houses, driv'n away.
They call'd us for our fierceness English dogs,
Now, like their whelps, we crying run away.

[A fhort alarm.
Hark, countrymen! either renew the fight,
Or tear the Lions out of England's Coat;
Renounce your foil, give Sheep in Lions' ftead.
Sheep run not half so tim'rous from the Wolf,
Or Horse or Oxen from the Leopard,

As you fly from your oft-fubdued flaves.

[Alarm. Here another Skirmish.

[blocks in formation]

It will not be. Retire into your trenches;
You all confented unto Salisbury's death,
For none would strike a stroke in his revenge.
Pucelle is enter'd into Orleans,

In fpight of us, or aught that we could do,
O, would I were to die with Salisbury!

The fhame hereof will make me hide my head.

[Exit Talbot.

[Alarm, Retreat, Flourish.

SCENE XI.

Enter on the Wall, Pucelle, Dauphin, Reignier,
Alanfon, and Soldiers.

Pucel. Advance our waving colours on the walls,
Refcu'd is Orleans from the English Wolves;
Thus Joan la Pucelle hath perform'd her word.
Dau. Divineft creature, bright Aftrea's daughter,
How fhall I honour thee for this fuccefs!
Thy promises are like Adonis' Garden, ?

[blocks in formation]

That

them for Adonis' worship; because Venus had once laid him in a lettice bed. The next day they were thrown away, &c. To this Dr. Pierce replies, That this account of the Gardens of Adonis is right, and yet Milton may be defended for what he fays of them: For why (fays he) did the Grecians on Adonis feftival carry these Small earthen Gardens about in honour of him? It was because they had a tradition, that, when he was alive, he delighted in Gar dens, and had a magnificent one: For proof of this we have Pliny's werds, xix. 4. Antiquitas nihil priùs mirata eft quàm Hefperidum HORTOS, ac regum Ado

LI

NIDIS

That one day bloom'd, and fruitful were the next.
France, triumph in thy glorious prophetess!
Recover'd is the town of Orleans;

More bleffed hap did ne'er befal our state.

Reig. Why ring not out the bells throughout the town?

Dauphin, command the citizens make bonfires,
And feaft and banquet in the open fireets,
To celebrate the joy, that God hath giv'n us.

Alan. All France will be replete with mirth and joy, When they fhall hear how we have play'd the men. Dau. 'Tis Joan, not we, by whom the day is won,

NIDIS & Alcinoi. One would now think the question well decided: But Mr. Theobald comes, and will needs be Dr. Bentley's fecond. A learned and reverend gentleman (fays he) having attempted to im, each Dr. Eentley of error, for maintaining that there NEVER WAS EXISTENT any mag. nificent or Spacious Gardens of Adonis, an opinion in which it has been my fortune to fecond the Doctor, I thought my felf concerned, in fome fart, to weigh thofe authorities all dged by the objetor, &c. The reader fees that Mr. Theobald miftakes the very question in difpute between thefe two truly learned men, which was not whether Adonis' Gardens were ever exifient, but whether there was a tradition of any celebrated Gardens cultivated by Adonis. For this would fufficiently juftify Milton's mention of them, together with the Gardens of Alcinous, confeffed by the poet himfelf to be fabulous. But hear their own words. There was no fuch Garden (lays Dr. Bentley) ever exiftent, or EVEN FEIGN D.

He adds the latter part, as knowing that that would justify the poet; and it is on that affertion only that his adverfary Dr. Pierce joins iffue with him. Why (fays he) did thy carry the Small earthen Gardens ? It was because they had a TRADITION, that when he was alive he delighted in Gardens. Mr. Theobald, therefore, miftaking the question, it is no wonder that all he fays, in his long note at the end of the fourth volume, is nothing to the purpofe; it being to fhew that Dr. Pierce's quotations from Plny and others, do not prove the real existence of the Gardens. After thefe, comes the Oxford Editor; and he pronounces in favour of Dr. Bentley against Dr. Pierce, in these words, The Gardens of Adonis were never reprefented under any local defcrip tion. But whether this was faid at hazard, or to contradict Dr. Pierce, or to rectify Mr. Theobald's mistake of the queftion, it is fo obfcurely expreffed, that one can hardly determine.

WARBURTON.

For which I will divide my Crown with her,
And all the priests and friars in my realm
Shall in proceffion fing her endless praise.
A ftatelier pyramid to her I'll rear,
Than Rhodope's or Memphis' ever was!
In memory of her, when she is dead,
Her afhes, in an urn more precious
Than the rich-jewel'd coffer of Darius,
Transported fhall be at high feftivals,
Before the Kings and Queens of France.
No longer on St. Dennis will we cry,
But Joan la Pucelle fhall be France's Saint.
Come in, and let us banquet royally,

After this golden day of victory. [Flourish. Exeunt.

ACT II. SCENE I.

Before ORLEANS.

Enter a Serjeant of a Band, with two Centinels.

SERJEANT.

IRS, take your places, and be vigilant,
If any noife or foldier you perceive

Near to the wall, by fome apparent fign
Let us have knowledge at the court of guard.
Cent. Serjeant, you fhall. [Exit Serjeant] Thus are
poor fervitors

When others fleep upon their quiet beds

Conftrain'd to watch in darknefs, rain, and cold.

Enter Talbot, Bedford, and Burgundy, with scaling ladders. Their drums beating a dead march.

Tal. Lord Regent, and redoubted Burgundy,
By whofe approach the regions of Arteis,
LI 2

Walloon,

Walloon, and Picardy are friends to us;
This happy night the Frenchmen are secure,
Having all day carous'd and banquetted,
Embrace we then this opportunity,
As fitting beft to quittance their deceit,
Contriv'd by art and baleful forcery.

Bed. Coward of France! how much he wrongs his
fame,

Defpairing of his own arms fortitude,

To join with witches and the help of hell!
Bur. Traitors have never other company.

But what's that Pucelle, whom they term fo pure?
Tal. A maid, they fay.

Bed. A maid? and be fo martial?

Bur. Pray God, fhe prove not mafculine ere long! If underneath the standard of the French She carry armour, as fhe hath begun.

Tal. Well, let them practise and converse with spirits; God is our fortrefs, in whofe conqu❜ring name Let us refolve to scale their flinty bulwarks.

Bed. Afcend, brave Talbot, we will follow thee. Tal. Not all together; better far I guess, That we do make our entrance feveral ways, That if it chance the one of us do fail, The other yet may rise against their force. Bed. Agreed; I'll to yon corner.

Bur. I to this.

Tal. And here will Talbot mount, or make his grave. Now, Salisbury! for thee, and for the right Of English Henry, fhall this night appear

How much in duty I am bound to both.

Cent. [within.] Arm, arm; the enemy doth make affault.

[The English, fealing the Walls, cry, St. George! A Talbot!

SCENE

« PředchozíPokračovat »