In yours they will, in you all hopes are lost.
Flight cannot stain the honour you have won;
But mine it will, that no exploit have done:
You fled for vantage every one will swear;
But, if I bow, they 'll say it was for fear.
There is no hope that ever I will stay,
If, the first hour, I shrink, and run away.
Here, on my knee, I beg mortality,
Rather than life preserv'd with infamy.

Tal. Shall all thy mother's hopes lie in one tomb?
John. Ay, rather than I'll shame my mother's womb.
Tal. Upon my blessing I command thee go.
John. To fight I will, but not to fly the foe.

Tal. Part of thy father may be sav'd in thee.
John. No part of him, but will be shame in me.
Tal. Thou never hadst renown, nor canst not lose it.
John. Yes, your renowned name; Shall flight abuse it?
Tal. Thy father's charge shall clear thee from that
stain.

John. You cannot witness for me, being slain.
If death be so apparent, then both fly.

Tul. And leave my followers here, to fight, and die? My age was never tainted with such shame.

John. And shall my youth be guilty of such blame? No more can I be sever'd from your side,

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 eclipse1 thy life this afternoon.

Come, side by side together live and die;

And soul with soul from France to heaven fly. [Exeunt.

SCENE VI.

A Field of Battle.

Alarum: Excursions, wherein TALBOT's Son is hemmed about, and TALBOT rescues him.

Tal. Saint George and victory! fight, soldiers, fight: The regent hath with Talbot broke his word,

1

-fair son,

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

And left us to the rage of France his sword,
Where is John Talbot?-pause, and take thy breath;
thee life, and rescu'd thee from death.

I

gave

John. O twice my father! twice am I thy son:?

The life, thou gav'st me first, was lost and done; 3
Till with thy warlike sword, despite of fate,

To my determin'd time4 thou gav'st new date.

Tal. When from the Dauphin's crest thy sword struck fire,5

It warm'd thy father's heart with proud desire
Of bold-fac'd victory. Then leaden age,
'Quicken'd with youthful spleen, and warlike rage,
Beat down Alençon, Orleans, Burgundy,
And from the pride of Gallia rescu'd thee.
The ireful bastard Orleans-that drew blood
From thee, my boy; and had the maidenhood
Of thy first fight-I soon encountered;
And, interchanging blows, I quickly shed
Some of his bastard blood; and, in disgrace,
Bespoke him thus: Contaminated, base,
And misbegotten blood I spill of thine,

"And turns the sun to shade;-alas, alas!

"Witness my son, now in the shade of death." Steevens.

O twice my father! twice am I thy son:] A French epigram, on a child, who being shipwrecked with his father saved his life by getting on his parent's dead body, turns on the same thought. After describing the wreck, it concludes thus:

3

4 To

aprez mille efforts,

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

Je le connus, je l' embrassai,

"Et sur lui jusq' au port heureusement poussé,

Part II:

Des ondes et vents j'evitai la furie.

"Que ce pere doit m'etre cher,

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Qui m'a deux fois donné la vie,

"Une fois sur la terre, et l'autre sur la mer !" Malone.

and done:] See p. 88, n. 5.

my

Malone.

determin'd time-] i. e. ended. So, in K. Henry IV,

"Till his friend sickness hath determin'd me." The word is still used in that sense by legal conveyancers.

Steevens.

Malone.

When from the Dauphin's crest thy sword struck fire,] So, in Drayton's Mortimeriados, 1596:

"Made fire to fly from Hertford's burgonet." Steevens,

Mean and right poor; for that pure blood of mine,
Which thou didst force from Talbot, my brave boy:-
Here, purposing the Bastard to destroy,

Came in strong rescue. Speak, thy father's care;
Art not thou weary, John? How dost thou fare?
Wilt thou yet leave the battle, boy, and fly,
Now thou art seal'd the son of chivalry?
Fly, to revenge my death, when I am dead;
The help of one stands me in little stead.
O, too much folly is it, well I wot,
To hazard all our lives in one small boat.
If I to-day die not with Frenchmen's rage,
To-morrow I shall die with mickle age:
By me they nothing gain, an if I stay,
'Tis but the short'ning of my life one day:

6

In thee thy mother dies, our household's name,

My death's revenge, thy youth, and England's fame:
All these, and more, we hazard by thy stay;
All these are sav'd, if thou wilt fly away.

John. The sword of Orleans hath not made me smart,
These words of yours draw life-blood from my heart:7
On that advantage, bought with such a shame,
(To save a paltry life, and slay bright fame,)

6'Tis but the short'ning of my life one day:] The structure of this line very much resembles that of another, in King Henry IV, P. II:

to say,

"Heaven shorten Harry's happy life one day." Steevens:

7 The sword of Orleans hath not made me smart, These words of yours draw life-blood from my heart:

"Are there not poisons, racks, and flames, and swords? "That Emma thus must die by Henry's words?" Prior.

So, in this play, Part III:

Malone

"Ah, kill me with thy weapon, not with words." Steevens. 8 On that advantage, bought with such a shame,

(To save a paltry life, and slay bright fame,)] This passage seems to lie obscure and disjointed. Neither the grammar is to be jus tified; nor is the sentiment better. I have ventured at a slight alteration, which departs so little from the reading which has obtained, but so much raises the sense, as well as takes away the obscurity, that I am willing to think it restores the author's. meaning:

Out on that vantage,

Theobald.

Before young Talbot from old Talbot fly,
The coward horse, that bears me, fall and die!
And like me to the peasant boys of France;9
To be shame's scorn, and subject of mischance!
Surely, by all the glory you have won,

An if I fly, I am not Talbot's son:

Then talk no more of flight, it is no boot;

If son to Talbot, die at Talbot's foot.

Tal. Then follow thou thy desperate sire of Crete, Thou Icarus;1 thy life to me is sweet:

If thou wilt fight, fight by thy father's side;

And, commendable prov'd, let 's die in pride. [Exeunt.

Sir T. Hanmer reads:

O what advantage,

which I have followed, though Mr. Theobald's conjecture may be well enough admitted. Johnson.

I have no doubt but the old reading is right, and the amendment unnecessary; the passage being better as it stood originally, if pointed thus:

On that advantage, bought with such a shame,
(To save a paltry life, and slay bright fame,)
Before young Talbot from old Talbot fly,

The coward horse, that bears me, fall and die! The dividing the sentence into two distinct parts, occasioned the obscurity of it, which this method of printing removes.

M. Mason.

The sense is-Before young Talbot fly from his father, (in order to save his life while he destroys his character,) on, or for the sake of, the advantages you mention, namely, preserving our household's name, &c. may my coward horse drop down dead!

Malone.

And like me to the peasant boys of France;] To like one to the peasants, is, to compare, to level by comparison; the line is therefore intelligible enough by itself, but in this sense it wants connection. Sir T. Hanmer reads,-And leave me, which makes a clear sense and just consequence. But as change is not to be allowed without necessity, I have suffered like to stand, because suppose the author meant the same as make like, or reduce to a level with. Johnson.

I

So, in King Henry IV, Part II: "when the Prince broke thy head for liking his father to a singing Lan" &c. Steevens.

1

thy desperate sire of Crete,

Thou Icarus;] So, in the Third Part of this play: "What a peevish fool was that of Crete?"

Again:

"I, Dædalus; my poor boy, Icarus." Steevens.

SCENE VII.

Another Part of the same.

Alarum: Excursions. Enter TALBOT wounded, supported by a Servant.

Tal. Where is my other life?-mine own is gone ;O, where 's young Talbot? where is valiant John?Triumphant death, smear'd with captivity!2 Young Talbot's valour makes me smile at thee: When he perceiv'd me shrink, and on my knee, His bloody sword he brandish'd over me, And, like a hungry lion, did commence Rough deeds of rage, and stern impatience; But when my angry guardant stood alone, Tend'ring my ruin,3 and assail'd of none, Dizzy-ey'd fury, and great rage of heart, Suddenly made him from my side to start Into the clust'ring battle of the French: And in that sea of blood my boy did drench His over-mounting spirit; and there dy'd My Icarus, my blossom, in his pride.

Enter Soldiers, bearing the Body of JOHN TALBOT.4 Serv. O my dear lord! lo, where your son is borne! Tal. Thou antick death, which laugh'st us here to

scorn,

2 Triumphant death, smear'd with captivity!] That is, death stained and dishonoured with captivity. Johnson.

8 Tend'ring my ruin,] Watching me with tenderness in my fall. Johnson.

the Body of John Talbot] This John Talbot was the eldest son of the first Earl by his second wife, and was Viscount Lisle, when he was killed with his father, in endeavouring to relieve Chatillon, after the battle of Bourdeaux, in the year 1453. He was created Viscount Lisle in 1451. John, the Earl's eldest son by his first wife, was slain at the battle of Northampton, in 1460. Malone.

5 Thou antick death,] The fool, or antick of the play, made sport by mocking the graver personages. Johnson.

In King Richard II, we have the same image:

66

within the hollow crown

"That rounds the mortal temples of a king

"Keeps death his court; and there the antick sits
"Scoffing his state, and grinning at his pomp." Steevens.