[6] Scorpions were machines like cross-bows, for the discharge of darts and arrows.
[7] Rollin.
[8] Rollin.
[9] Following Hale and Holinshed, Shakespeare has made Fastolfe a coward, and, it is supposed, borrowed from him the name for his inimitable Falstaff. But the historical Fastolfe vindicated his good name, and was restored to his honours. Dr. Heylin, in his “St. George for England,” says, “without doubt, this Sir John Fastolfe was a valiant and wise captain.”
[10] All the world knows the famous quatrain composed by Francis I upon this action of the fair Agnes:—
“Gentille Agnès, plus d’honneur tu mérite,
La cause étant de France recouvrer,
Que ce que peut dedans un cloître ouvrer,
Clause Nonnain, ou bien dévôt Hermite.”
[11] This circumstance seems to authorize the opinion of those who pretend that La Pucelle was nothing more than a shrewd, clever girl, whom Dunois employed to excite the wavering courage of the king’s followers, and detain the monarch himself. Shakespeare makes Dunois introduce her to the king.
[12] Memoirs of Sir Sidney Smith.
[13] This anecdote is evidently the foundation of an amusing scene in Dumas’ “Three Musketeers,” and proves the truth of the proverb, “that truth is even more strange than fiction.”
[14] A small work composed of two sides, which is raised opposite the salient angles or rentrants of the covered way, at the extremity of its glacis.