King Henry VI, Part 1 | Page 7

break our minds at large.?WINCHESTER. Gloucester, we'll meet to thy cost, be sure;?Thy heart-blood I will have for this day's work.?MAYOR. I'll call for clubs if you will not away.?This Cardinal's more haughty than the devil.?GLOUCESTER. Mayor, farewell; thou dost but what thou?mayst.?WINCHESTER. Abominable Gloucester, guard thy head,?For I intend to have it ere long.
Exeunt, severally, GLOUCESTER and WINCHESTER
with their servants
MAYOR. See the coast clear'd, and then we will depart.?Good God, these nobles should such stomachs bear!?I myself fight not once in forty year. Exeunt
SCENE 4.
France. Before Orleans
Enter, on the walls, the MASTER-GUNNER
OF ORLEANS and his BOY
MASTER-GUNNER. Sirrah, thou know'st how Orleans is?besieg'd,?And how the English have the suburbs won.?BOY. Father, I know; and oft have shot at them,?Howe'er unfortunate I miss'd my aim.?MASTER-GUNNER. But now thou shalt not. Be thou rul'd?by me.?Chief master-gunner am I of this town;?Something I must do to procure me grace.?The Prince's espials have informed me?How the English, in the suburbs close intrench'd,?Wont, through a secret grate of iron bars?In yonder tower, to overpeer the city,?And thence discover how with most advantage?They may vex us with shot or with assault.?To intercept this inconvenience,?A piece of ordnance 'gainst it I have plac'd;?And even these three days have I watch'd?If I could see them. Now do thou watch,?For I can stay no longer.?If thou spy'st any, run and bring me word;?And thou shalt find me at the Governor's. Exit BOY. Father, I warrant you; take you no care;?I'll never trouble you, if I may spy them. Exit
Enter SALISBURY and TALBOT on the turrets, with
SIR WILLIAM GLANSDALE, SIR THOMAS GARGRAVE,
and others
SALISBURY. Talbot, my life, my joy, again return'd!?How wert thou handled being prisoner??Or by what means got'st thou to be releas'd??Discourse, I prithee, on this turret's top.?TALBOT. The Earl of Bedford had a prisoner?Call'd the brave Lord Ponton de Santrailles;?For him was I exchang'd and ransomed.?But with a baser man of arms by far?Once, in contempt, they would have barter'd me;?Which I disdaining scorn'd, and craved death?Rather than I would be so vile esteem'd.?In fine, redeem'd I was as I desir'd.?But, O! the treacherous Fastolfe wounds my heart?Whom with my bare fists I would execute,?If I now had him brought into my power.?SALISBURY. Yet tell'st thou not how thou wert entertain'd. TALBOT. With scoffs, and scorns, and contumelious taunts, In open market-place produc'd they me?To be a public spectacle to all;?Here, said they, is the terror of the French,?The scarecrow that affrights our children so.?Then broke I from the officers that led me,?And with my nails digg'd stones out of the ground?To hurl at the beholders of my shame;?My grisly countenance made others fly;?None durst come near for fear of sudden death.?In iron walls they deem'd me not secure;?So great fear of my name 'mongst them was spread?That they suppos'd I could rend bars of steel?And spurn in pieces posts of adamant;?Wherefore a guard of chosen shot I had?That walk'd about me every minute-while;?And if I did but stir out of my bed,?Ready they were to shoot me to the heart.
Enter the BOY with a linstock
SALISBURY. I grieve to hear what torments you endur'd;?But we will be reveng'd sufficiently.?Now it is supper-time in Orleans:?Here, through this grate, I count each one?And view the Frenchmen how they fortify.?Let us look in; the sight will much delight thee.?Sir Thomas Gargrave and Sir William Glansdale,?Let me have your express opinions?Where is best place to make our batt'ry next.?GARGRAVE. I think at the North Gate; for there stand lords. GLANSDALE. And I here, at the bulwark of the bridge.?TALBOT. For aught I see, this city must be famish'd,?Or with light skirmishes enfeebled.
[Here they shoot and SALISBURY and GARGRAVE