Cries out for noble York and Somerset,

To beat affailing death from his weak legions.* And whiles the honourable captain there

Drops bloody fweat from his war-wearied limbs,
And, in advantage ling'ring,' looks for rescue,
You, his falfe hopes, the truft of England's honour,
Keep off aloof with worthless emulation."
Let not your private difcord keep away
The levied fuccours that should lend him aid,
While he, renowned noble gentleman,
Yields up his life unto a world of odds:
Orleans the Bastard, Charles, and Burgundy,"
Alençon, Reignier, compafs him about,
And Talbot perisheth by your default.

SOM. York fet him on, York fhould have fent him aid.

Lucr. And York as faft upon your grace exclaims;

Swearing, that you withhold his levied host,
Collected for this expedition.

4 his weak legions.] Old copy-regions. Corrected by Mr. Rowe. MALONE.

in advantage lingʼring,] Protracting his refiftance by the advantage of a ftrong poft. JoHNSON.

Or, perhaps, endeavouring by every means that he can, with advantage to himself, to linger out the action, &c. MALONE. 6 worthlefs emulation.] In this line emulation fignifies merely rivalry, not struggle for fuperior excellence. JOHNSON. So Ulyffes, in Troilus and Creffida, fays that the Grecian chiefs

were

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grown to an envious fever

"Of pale and bloodless emulation." M. MASON.

7 Yields-] Thus the fecond folio: the firft-yield.

8

STEEVENS.

and Burgundy,] And, which is neceffary to the metre, is wanting in the first folio, but is fupplied by the fecond.

SOM. York lies; he might have fent, and had the horse:

I owe him little duty, and lefs love;

And take foul fcorn, to fawn on him by fending.

Lucr. The fraud of England, not the force of France,

Hath now entrapp'd the noble-minded Talbot: Never to England fhall he bear his life;

But dies, betray'd to fortune by your strife.

SOM. Come, go; I will defpatch the horsemen ftraight:

Within fix hours they will be at his aid.

Lucr. Too late comes refcue; he is ta'en, or

flain:

For fly he could not, if he would have fled;
And fy would Talbot never, though he might.

SOM. If he be dead, brave Talbot then adieu!
Lucr. His fame lives in the world, his shame in
you.
[Exeunt.

SCENE V.

The English Camp near Bourdeaux.

Enter TALBOT and John bis fon.

TAL. O young John Talbot! I did fend for thee, To tutor thee in ftratagems of war;

That Talbot's name might be in thee reviv'd,
When faplefs age, and weak unable limbs,
Should bring thy father to his drooping chair.
But, O malignant and ill-boding ftars!-

Now thou art come unto a feast of death,"
A terrible and unavoided danger:

Therefore, dear boy, mount on my swifteft horse;
And I'll direct thee how thou fhalt escape
By fudden flight: come, dally not, begone.

your fon?

JOHN. Is my name Talbot? and am I
And fhall I fly? O, if you love my mother,
Dishonour not her honourable name,
To make a bastard, and a flave of me:
The world will fay-He is not Talbot's blood,
That bafely fled, when noble Talbot ftood.'

TAL. Fly, to revenge my death, if I be flain.
JOHN. He, that flies fo, will ne'er return again.
TAL. If we both stay, we both are fure to die.
JOHN. Then let me ftay; and, father, do you
fly:

Your lofs is great, fo your regard + should be;
My worth unknown, no lofs is known in me.
Upon my death the French can little boast;
In yours they will, in you all hopes are loft.

9 a feaft of death,] To a field where death will be feafted with flaughter. JOHNSON.

So, in King Richard II:

2

"This feaft of battle, with mine adverfary." STEEVENS. unavoided-] for unavoidable. MALONE.

So, in King Richard II:

"And unavoided is the danger now." STEEVENS.

3 ·noble Talbot ftood.] For what reafon this fcene is written in rhyme, I cannot guefs. If Shakspeare had not in other plays mingled his rhymes and blank verfes in the fame manner, I fhould have fufpected that this dialogue had been a part of fome other poem which was never finished, and that being loath to throw his labour away, he inferted it here. JOHNSON.

-your regard-] Your care of your own fafety.

JOHNSON.

Flight cannot ftain the honour you have won;
But mine it will, that no exploit have done:
You fled for vantage, every one will fwear;
But, if I bow, they'll fay-it was for fear.
There is no hope that ever I will stay,
If, the first hour, I fhrink, and run away.
Here, on my knee, I beg mortality,
Rather than life preferv'd with infamy.

TAL. Shall all thy mother's hopes lie in one tomb?

JOHN. Ay, rather than I'll fhame my mother's womb.

TAL. Upon my bleffing I command thee go. JOHN. To fight I will, but not to fly the foe. TAL. Part of thy father may be fav'd in thee. JOHN. No part of him, but will be shame in me. TAL. Thou never hadft renown, nor canft not lofe it.

JOHN. Yes, your renowned name; Shall flight abuse it?

TAL. Thy father's charge fhall clear thee from that ftain.

JOHN. You cannot witness for me, being flain. If death be fo apparent, then both fly.

TAL. And leave my followers here, to fight, and die?

My age was never tainted with such shame.

JOHN. And fhall my youth be guilty of fuch blame?

No more can I be fever'd from your fide,
Than can yourself yourself in twain divide:
Stay, go, do what you will, the like do I;
For live I will not, if my father die.

TAL. Then here I take my leave of thee, fair son, Born to eclipfe thy life this afternoon.

Come, fide by fide together live and die;

And foul with foul from France to heaven fly.

[Exeunt.

SCENE

VI.

A Field of Battle.

Alarum: Excurfions, wherein Talbot's fon is hemm'd about, and Talbot rescues him.

TAL. Saint George and victory! fight, foldiers, fight:

The regent hath with Talbot broke his word, And left us to the rage of France his fword. Where is John Talbot?-pause, and take thy breath;

I gave thee life, and refcu'd thee from death.

JOHN. O twice my father! twice am I thy fon: 5 The life, thou gav'st me first, was loft and done;

4

-fair fon,

Born to eclipfe &c.] An apparent quibble between son, and fun. So, in King Richard III:

"And turns the fun to fhade ;-alas, alas!—
"Witness my fon, now in the shade of death."

STEEVENS.

50 twice my father! twice am I thy fon:] A French epigram, on a child, who being fhipwrecked with his father faved his life by getting on his parent's dead body, turns on the fame thought. After defcribing the wreck, it concludes thus:

66

66

aprez mille efforts,

J'apperçus prez de moi flotter des membres morts;
"Helas! c'etoit mon pere.

66

Je le connus, je l' embrassai,

"Et fur lui jufq' au port heureufement pouffé,