William Shakespeare: King Henry VI, First Part

ACT FIFTH 4. SCENE IV. Camp of the Duke of York in Anjou. (continued)

WARWICK.
A married man! that's most intolerable.

YORK.
Why, here's a girl! I think she knows not well
There were so many, whom she may accuse.

WARWICK.
It's sign she hath been liberal and free.

YORK.
And yet, forsooth, she is a virgin pure.
Strumpet, thy words condemn thy brat and thee:
Use no entreaty, for it is in vain.

PUCELLE.
Then lead me hence; with whom I leave my curse:
May never glorious sun reflex his beams
Upon the country where you make abode:
But darkness and the gloomy shade of death
Environ you, till mischief and despair
Drive you to break your necks or hang yourselves!

[Exit, guarded.]

YORK.
Break thou in pieces and consume to ashes,
Thou foul accursed minister of hell!

[Enter Cardinal Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester,
attended.]

CARDINAL.
Lord regent, I do greet your excellence
With letters of commission from the king.
For know, my lords, the states of Christendom,
Moved with remorse of these outrageous broils,
Have earnestly implored a general peace
Betwixt our nation and the aspiring French;
And here at hand the Dauphin and his train
Approacheth, to confer about some matter.

YORK.
Is all our travail turn'd to this effect?
After the slaughter of so many peers,
So many captains, gentlemen and soldiers,
That in this quarrel have been overthrown,
And sold their bodies for their country's benefit,
Shall we at last conclude effeminate peace?
Have we not lost most part of all the towns,
By treason, falsehood, and by treachery,
Our great progenitors had conquered?
O, Warwick, Warwick! I foresee with grief
The utter loss of all the realm of France.

WARWICK.
Be patient, York: if we conclude
a peace,
It shall be with such strict and severe covenants
As little shall the Frenchmen gain thereby.

[Enter Charles, Alencon, Bastard, Reignier, and others.]