More truly now may this be verified;
For none but Samfons, and Goliaffes,
It fendeth forth to skirmish. One to ten!
Lean raw-bon'd rafcals! who would e'er suppose
They had fuch courage and audacity?

CHAR. Let's leave this town; for they are hairbrain'd flaves,

And hunger will enforce them to be more eager .8
Of old I know them; rather with their teeth
The walls they'll tear down, than forfake the fiege.

9

REIG. I think, by fome odd gimmals or de

vice,

Their arms are fet, like clocks,' ftill to ftrike on;

And hunger will enforce them to be more eager :] The prepofition to fhould be omitted, as injurious to the measure, and unneceffary in the old elliptical mode of writing. So, A& IV. fc. i. of this play :

"Let me perfuade you take a better course." i. e. to take &c. The error pointed out, occurs again in p. 31: "Piel'd priest, doft thou command me to be shut out?"

STEEVENS.

9 gimmals-] A gimmal is a piece of jointed work, where one piece moves within another, whence it is taken at large for an engine. It is now by the vulgar called a gimcrack. JOHNSON.

In the inventory of the jewels, &c. belonging to Salisbury cathedral, taken in 1536, 28th of Henry VIII. is " A faire cheft with gimmals and key." Again: "Three other chefts with gimmals of filver and gilt." Again, in The Vow-breaker, or The faire Maide of Clifton, 1636:

My actes are like the motionall gymmals, "Fixt in a watch.'

See also King Henry V. A& IV. fc. ii. STEEVENS.

1 Their arms are fet, like clocks,] Perhaps our author was thinking of the clocks in which figures in the fhape of men ftruck the hours. Of these there were many in his time.

MALONE. Το go like clockwork, is ftill a phrase in common ufe, to exprefs a regular and conftant motion. STEEVENS.

Elfe ne'er could they hold out fo, as they do."
By my confent, we'll e'en let them alone.
ALEN. Be it fo.

2

Enter the Baftard of Orleans.

BAST. Where's the prince Dauphin, I have news for him.

CHAR. Baftard of Orleans, thrice welcome to us. BAST. Methinks, your looks are fad, your cheer appall'd ;3

Baftard of Orleans,] That this in former times was not a term of reproach, fee Bishop Hurd's Letters on Chivalry and Romance, in the third volume of his Dialogues, p. 233, who obferving on circumftances of agreement between the heroick and Gothick manners, fays that "Baftardy was in credit with both." One of William the Conqueror's charters begins, "Ego Gulielmus cognomento Baftardus." And in the reign of Edward I. John Earl Warren and Surrey being called before the King's Juftices to show by what title he held his lands, produxit in medium gladium antiquum evaginatum-et ait, Ecce Domini mei, ecce warrantum meum! Anteceffores mei cum Willō Baftardo venientes conquefti funt terras fuas, &c. Dugd. Orig. Jurid. p. 13. Dugd. Bar. of Engl. Vol. I. Blount 9.

"Le Bastarde de Savoy," is inscribed over the head of one of the figures in a curious picture of the Battle of Pavia, in the Afhmolean Museum. In Fenn's Pafton Letters, Vol. III. p. 72-3, in the articles of impeachment against the Duke of Suffolk, we read of the "Erle of Danas, baftard of Orlyaunce—."

VAILLANT. Baftardy was reckoned no difgrace among the ancients. See the eighth Iliad, in which the illegitimacy of Teucer is mentioned as a panegyrick upon him, ver. 284:

3

“ Καί σε, νόθον περ εόντα, κομίσσατο ὦ ἐνὶ οἴκω.”

σε

STEEVENS.

your cheer appall'd;] Cheer is jollity, gaiety.

M. MASON.

Cheer, rather fignifies-countenance. So, in A Midfummer' Night's Dream:

"All fancy-fick fhe is, and pale of cheer." See Vol. IV. p. 414, n. 9. STEEvens.

Hath the late overthrow wrought this offence?
Be not difmay'd, for fuccour is at hand:
A holy maid hither with me I bring,

Which, by a vifion fent to her from heaven,
Ordained is to raise this tedious fiege,

And drive the English forth the bounds of France.
The spirit of deep prophecy the hath,
Exceeding the nine fibyls of old Rome ;4
What's paft, and what's to come, she can defery.
Speak, fhall I call her in? Believe

For they are certain and unfallible.

my words,5

CHAR. GO, call her in: [Exit Baftard.] But, first, to try her skill,

Reignier, fland thou as Dauphin in my place: Question her proudly, let thy looks be ftern :By this means fhall we found what skill she hath.

[Retires.

Enter LA PUCELLE, Baftard of Orleans, and Others.

REIG. Fair maid, is't thou wilt do these wond'rous feats?

Puc. Reignier, is't thou that thinkeft to beguile

me?

Where is the Dauphin ?-come, come from behind;

--

nine fibyls of old Rome;] There were no nine fibyls of Rome; but he confounds things, and miftakes this for the nine books of Sibylline oracles, brought to one of the Tarquins. WARBURTON.

Believe my words,] It fhould be read:

Believe her words. JOHNSON.

I perceive no need of change. The Battard calls upon the Dauphin to believe the extraordinary account he has juft given of the prophetick spirit and prowess of the Maid of Orleans.

MALONE.

!

I know thee well, though never seen before.
Be not amaz'd, there's nothing hid from me:
In private will I talk with thee apart ;-
Stand back, you lords, and give us leave a while.

REIG. She takes upon her bravely at first dash. Puc. Dauphin, I am by birth a fhepherd's daugh

ter,

My wit untrain❜d in any kind of art.

Heaven, and our Lady gracious, hath it pleas'd
To fhine on my contemptible eftate:6
Lo, whilft I waited on my tender lambs,
And to fun's parching heat display'd my cheeks,
God's mother deigned to appear to me;
And, in a vision full of majefty,"
Will'd me to leave my bafe vocation,
And free my country from calamity:
Her aid fhe promis'd, and affur'd fuccefs:
In complete glory fhe reveal'd herself;
And, whereas I was black and swart before,
With those clear rays which the infus'd on me,
That beauty am I bless'd with, which you fee.8
Afk me what question thou canft poffible,
And I will answer unpremeditated:
My courage try by combat, if thou dar'st,
And thou fhalt find that I exceed my fex.

To fhine on my contemptible eftate :] So, in Daniel's Complaint of Rofamond, 1594:

thy king &c.

Lightens forth glory on thy dark eftate." STEEVENS. — a vifion full of majefty,] So, in The Tempest: "This is a moft majestick vifion-." STEEVENS. which you fee.] Thus the fecond folio. The firft, injudiciously as well as redundantly,-which you may fee. STEEVENS.

8

Resolve on this :9 Thou fhalt be fortunate,
If thou receive me for thy warlike mate.

CHAR. Thou haft astonish'd me with thy high terms;

Only this proof I'll of thy valour make,-
In fingle combat thou fhalt buckle with me;
And, if thou vanquifheft, thy words are true;
Otherwise, I renounce all confidence.

Puc. I am prepar'd; here is my keen-edg'd fword,

Deck'd with five flower-de-luces on each fide;' The which at Touraine, in Saint Katharine's churchyard,

Out of a deal of old iron I chose forth.2

CHAR. Then come o'God's name, I fear no wo

man.

Refolve on this] i. e. be firmly perfuaded of it. So, in King Henry VI. P. III:

66

I am refolv'd

"That Clifford's manhood lies upon his tongue."

STEEVENS.

1 Deck'd with five flower-de-luces &c.] Old copy-fine; but we should read, according to Holinfhed,-five flower-de-luces. in a fecret place there among old iron, appointed fhe hir fword to be fought out and brought her, that with five floure-delices was graven on both fides," &c. STEEVENS.

The fame mistake having happened in A Midfummer-Night's Dream, and in other places, I have not hesitated to reform the text, according to Mr. Steevens's fuggeftion. In the MSS. of the age of Queen Elizabeth, u and n are undiftinguishable.

MALONE.

2 Out of a deal of old iron &c.] The old copy yet more redundantly-Out of a great deal &c. I have no doubt but the original line ftood, elliptically, thus:

Out a deal of old iron I chofe forth.

The phrase of hospitals is still an out door, not an out of door patient. STEEVENS,