And make the cowards stand aloof at bay:
Sell every man his life as dear as mine,

And they shall find dear deer of us,1 my friends.—
God, and Saint George! Talbot, and England's right!
Prosper our colours in this dangerous fight! [Exeunt.

SCENE III.

Plains in Gascony.

Enter YORK, with Forces; to him a Messenger.

York. Are not the speedy scouts return'd again,
That dogg'd the mighty army of the Dauphin?
Mess. They are return'd, my lord; and give it out,
That he is march'd to Bourdeaux with his

To fight with Talbot: as he march'd along,
By your espials were discovered

power,

Two mightier troops than that the Dauphin led;
Which join'd with him, and made their march for Bour-
deaux.

York. A plague upon that villain Somerset;
That thus delays my promised supply
Of horsemen, that were levied for this siege!
Renowned Talbot doth expect my aid;
And I am lowted2 by a traitor villain,
And cannot help the noble chevalier:
God comfort him in this necessity!
If he miscarry, farewel wars in France.

Enter Sir WILLIAM LUCY.3

Lucy. Thou princely leader of our English strength,

11 - dear deer of us,] The same quibble occurs in King Henry IV, P. I:

"Death hath not struck so fat a deer to-day,
"Though many dearer," &c. Steevens.

2 And I am lowted -] To lowt may signify to depress, to lower, to dishonour; but I do not remember it so used. We may readAnd I am flouted; I am mocked, and treated with contempt.

Johnson. A lowt is a country fellow, a clown. He means that Somerset treats him like a hind. Ritson.

I believe the meaning is: I am treated with contempt like a lowt, or low country fellow. Malone.

3 Enter Sir William Lucy.] In the old copy we have only—Enter a Messenger. But it appears from the subsequent scene that the messenger was Sir William Lucy. Malone.

Never so needful on the earth of France,
Spur to the rescue of the noble Talbot;
Who now is girdled with a waist of iron,
And hemm'd about with grim destruction:

To Bourdeaux, warlike duke! to Bourdeaux, York!
Else, farewel Talbot, France, and England's honour.
York. O God! that Somerset-who in proud heart
Doth stop my cornets-were in Talbot's place!
So should we save a valiant gentleman,

By forfeiting a traitor and a coward.

Mad ire, and wrathful fury, make me weep,
That thus we die, while remiss traitors sleep.

Lucy. O, send some succour to thy distress'd lord! York. He dies, we lose; I break my warlike word: We mourn, France smiles; we lose, they daily get; All 'long of this vile traitor Somerset.

Lucy. Then, God take mercy on brave Talbot's soul! And on his son, young John; whom, two hours since, I met in travel toward his warlike father!

This seven years did not Talbot see his son;

And now they meet where both their lives are done."
York. Alas! what joy shall noble Talbot have,
To bid his young son welcome to his grave?
Away! vexation almost stops my breath,

That sunder'd friends greet in the hour of death.
Lucy, farewel: no more my fortune can,

But curse the cause I cannot aid the man.

Lucy. Thus, while the vulture of sedition

Maine, Blois, Poictiers, and Tours, are won away, 'Long all of Somerset, and his delay.

Feeds in the bosom of such great commanders,

[Exit.

Sleeping neglection doth betray to loss

The conquest of our scarce-cold conqueror,

That ever-living man of memory,

Henry the fifth-Whiles they each other cross,
Lives, honours, lands, and all, hurry to loss.

[Exit.

4

5

girdled with a waist of iron,] So, in King John:

those sleeping stones,

"That as a waist do girdle you about

are done.] i. e. expended, consumed. The word is yet

used in this sense in the Western counties. Malone.

6

the vulture ➡] Alluding to the tale of Prometheus.

Johnson.

SCENE IV.

Other Plains of Gascony.

Enter SOMERSET, with his Forces; an Officer of TALBOT's with him.

Som. It is too late; I cannot send them now: This expedition was by York, and Talbot, Too rashly plotted; all our general force Might with a sally of the very town Be buckled with: the over-daring Talbot Hath sullied all his gloss of former honour,7 By this unheedful, desperate, wild adventure: York set him on to fight, and die in shame, That, Talbot dead, great York might bear the name. Off. Here is sir William Lucy, who with me Set from our o'er-match'd forces forth for aid.

Enter Sir WILLIAM LUCY.

Som. How now, sir William? whither were you sent?
Lucy. Whither, my lord? from bought and sold lord
Talbot; 8

Who, ring'd about' with bold adversity,
Cries out for noble York and Somerset,

To beat assailing death from his weak legions.1
And whiles the honourable captain there
Drops bloody sweat from his war-wearied limbs,

7 - all his gloss of former honour,] Our author very frequently employs this phrase. So, in Much Ado About Nothing: 66-the new gloss of your marriage." It occurs also in Love's Labour 's Lost, and in Macbeth, &c. Steevens.

8 - from bought and sold Lord Talbot;] i. e. from one utterly ruined by the treacherous practices of others. So, in King Rich ard III:

"Jocky of Norfolk, be not too bold,

"For Dickon thy master is bought and sold.”

The expression appears to have been proverbial. See Vol. VII, p. 409, n. 4. Malone.

9

ring'd about ] Environed, encircled.

So, in A Midsummer Night's Dream:

1

"Enrings the barky fingers of the elm."

Johnson.

Steevens.

•his weak legions.] Old copy-regions. Corrected by Mr Rowe. Malone.

And, in advantage ling'ring,2 looks for rescue,
You, his false hopes, the trust of England's honour,
Keep off aloof with worthless emulation.3

Let not your private discord keep away
The levied succours 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, compass him about,

And Talbot perisheth by your default.

Som. York set him on, York should have sent him aid. Lucy. And York as fast upon your grace exclaims; Swearing that you withhold his levied host,

Collected for this expedition.

Som. York lies; he might have sent, and had the horse: I owe him little duty, and less love;

And take foul scorn, to fawn on him by sending.

Lucy. The fraud of England, not the force of France, Hath now entrapp'd the noble-minded Talbot: Never to England shall he bear his life;

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

Som. Come, go; I will despatch the horsemen straight: Within six hours they will be at his aid.

Lucy. Too late comes rescue; he is ta'en, or slain: For fly he could not, if he would have fled; And fly would Talbot never, though he might. Som. If he be dead, brave Talbot then adieu! Lucy. His fame lives in the world, his shame in you. [Exeunt.

2

in advantage ling'ring,] Protracting his resistance by the advantage of a strong post. Johnson.

Or, perhaps, endeavouring by every means that he can, with advantage to himself, to linger out the action, &c. Malone.

3 worthless emulation.] In this line, emulation signifies merely rivalry, not struggle for superior excellence. Johnson. So Ulysses, in Troilus and Cressida, says that the Grecian chiefs were

5

grown to an envious fever

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

4 Yields] Thus the second folio: the first-yield. Steevens. and Burgundy,] And, which is necessary to the metre, is wanting in the first folio, but is supplied by the second. Steevens.

SCENE V.

The English Camp near Bourdeaux.

Enter TALBOT and John his Son.

Tal. O young John Talbot! I did send for thee,
To tutor thee in stratagems of war;

That Talbot's name might be in thee reviv'd,
When sapless age, and weak unable limbs,
Should bring thy father to his drooping chair.
But, O malignant and ill-boding stars!—
Now thou art come unto a feast of death,"
A terrible and unavoided danger:
Therefore, dear boy, mount on my swiftest horse;
And I'll direct thee how thou shalt escape
By sudden flight: come, dally not, be gone.
John. Is my name Talbot? and am I your son?
And shall I fly? O, if you love my mother,
Dishonour fot her honourable name,
To make a bastard, and a slave of me:
The world will say-He is not Talbot's blood,
That basely fled, when noble Talbot stood.
Tal. Fly, to revenge my death, if I be slain.
John. He, that flies so, will ne'er return again.
Tal. If we both stay, we both are sure to die.
John. Then let me stay; and, father, do you fly:
Your loss is great, so your regard' should be;
My worth unknown, no loss is known in me.
Upon my death the French can little boast;

6 a feast of death,] To a field where death will be feasted with slaughter. Johnson.

So, in King Richard II:

7

"This feast of battle, with mine adversary." Stecvens. unavoided —] for unavoidable. Malone.

So, in King Richard II:

"And unavoided is the danger now." Steevens.

8 noble Talbot stood.] For what reason this scene is written in rhyme, I cannot guess. If Shakspeare had not in other plays mingled his rhymes and blank verses in the same manner, I should have suspected that this dialogue had been a part of some other poem which was never finished, and that being loth to throw his labour away, he inserted it here. Johnson.

9 your regard-] Your care of your own safety. Johnson.