Chapter: SCENE 5.

                          Before Orleans

         Here an alarum again, and TALBOT pursueth the
      DAUPHIN and driveth him. Then enter JOAN LA PUCELLE
       driving Englishmen before her. Then enter TALBOT

  TALBOT. Where is my strength, my valour, and my force?
    Our English troops retire, I cannot stay them;
    A woman clad in armour chaseth them.

                          Enter LA PUCELLE

    Here, here she 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 straightway give thy soul to him thou serv'st.
  PUCELLE. Come, come, 'tis only I that must disgrace thee.
                                               [Here they fight]
  TALBOT. Heavens, can you suffer hell so to prevail?
    My breast I'll burst with straining of my courage.
    And from my shoulders crack my arms asunder,
    But I will chastise this high minded strumpet.
                                              [They fight again]
  PUCELLE. Talbot, 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.
    Go, go, cheer up thy hungry starved men;
    Help Salisbury to make his testament.
    This day is ours, as many more shall be.                Exit
  TALBOT. 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 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;
    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,
    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.
    Pucelle is ent'red 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

 The action shifts to the English forces outside Orleans. The Earl of Salisbury and Lord Talbot enter on the turrets of a tower that the English forces have taken. Salisbury joyously greets Talbot, who had been taken prisoner by the French but has just been released in exchange for a French noble who had been a prisoner of the Duke of Bedford. Talbot is angry at the treachery of Sir John Fastolf, whose cowardice led to the capture of Talbot. Talbot says at first he was treated with contempt by the French and was paraded as a public spectacle. But so fierce was his resistance that his French captors became afraid of him, appointing a marksman to guard him at all times. The Boy passes across the stage with a lighted linstock. Salisbury tells Talbot that the English forces will soon avenge his shame. He asks two officers, Gargrave and Glasdale, where they should next direct their fire. Suddenly shots are heard and Salisbury and Gargrave fall. Gargrave is dead and Salisbury fatally wounded. Talbot speaks a eulogy over Salisbury, recalling that he was victorious in thirteen battles and taught the art of war to Henry V. Talbot vows to avenge Salisbury's imminent death on the French. A messenger enters with the news that Joan la Pucelle has joined Charles and that their forces are ready to besiege Orleans. Salisbury is carried out

