Page:Henry VI Part 1 (1918) Yale.djvu/64

52

And that we find the slothful watch but weak,

I'll by a sign give notice to our friends,

That Charles the Dauphin may encounter them.

First Sold. Our sacks shall be a mean to sack the city,

And we be lords and rulers over Roan;

Therefore we'll knock.

Watch. [Within.] Qui est là?

Joan. Paysans, pauvres gens de France:

Poor market-folks that come to sell their corn.

Watch. [Opening the gates.] Enter, go in; the market-bell is rung.

Joan. Now, Roan, I'll shake thy bulwarks to the ground.

Char. Saint Denis bless this happy stratagem!

And once again we'll sleep secure in Roan.

Bast. Here enter'd Pucelle and her practisants;

Now she is there how will she specify

Where is the best and safest passage in?

Alen. By thrusting out a torch from yonder tower;

Which, once discern'd, shows that her meaning is,

No way to that, for weakness, which she enter'd.

Joan. Behold! this is the happy wedding torch

That joineth Roan unto her countrymen,

But burning fatal to the Talbonites!

Bast. See, noble Charles, the beacon of our friend,

 7 that: i.e., if

16 market-bell: bell signaling the opening of market

20 practisants: conspirators

22 Where, cf. n.

25 to: is comparable to

28 Talbonites; cf. n. 