Retiring from the siege of Orleans,

Having full scarce six thousand in his troop,
By three and twenty thousand of the French
Was round encompassed and set upon.

No leisure had he to enrank his men;

He wanted pikes to set before his archers; Instead whereof sharp stakes pluck'd out of hedges

They pitched in the ground confusedly,

To keep the horsemen off from breaking in.
More than three hours the fight continued; 120
Where valiant Talbot above human thought
Enacted wonders with his sword and lance:
Hundreds he sent to hell, and none durst stand
him;

Here, there, and every where, enraged he flew:
The French exclaim'd, the devil was in arms;
All the whole army stood agazed on him:
His soldiers spying his undaunted spirit
A Talbot! a Talbot! cried out amain,
And rush'd into the bowels of the battle.
Here had the conquest fully been seal'd
If Sir John Fastolfe had not play'd the coward:

124. "flew," Rowe's correction; Ff., "slew."-I. G.

up,

130

128. "A Talbot! a Talbot! cried out amain." The line has been variously emended as being defective, metrically. Pope, “A Talbot! Talbot! cried"; Seymour, "A Talbot! cried, a Talbot!"; Vaughan, "Talbot! a Talbot! cried." If, however, "cried" is read as a dissyllable, the movement of the line is parallel to that of "prevent it, resist it, let it not be so," in Richard II. iv., and no correction seems necessary

A Tálbot! | A Talbot! cried out | amáin | .—I. G.

131. "Sir John Fastolfe"; Theobald's emendation here and elsewhere of Ff. "Sir John Falstaffe"; but in all probability Falstaff was the popular form of the name, and it is questionable whether

He, being in the vaward, placed behind
With purpose to relieve and follow them,
Cowardly fled, not having struck one stroke.
Hence grew the general wreck and massacre;
Enclosed were they with their enemies:

A base Walloon, to win the Dauphin's grace,
Thrust Talbot with a spear into the back,
Whom all France with their chief assembled
strength

Durst not presume to look once in the face. 140
Bed. Is Talbot slain? then I will slay myself,
For living idly here in pomp and ease,
Whilst such a worthy leader, wanting aid,
Unto his dastard foemen is betray'd.
Mess. O no, he lives; but is took prisoner,

the text should be altered here. "He was a lieutenant-general, deputy regent to the Duke of Bedford in Normandy, and a Knight of the Garter."-I. G.

van.

132. "Vaward" is an old word for the foremost part of an army, the The passage seems to involve a contradiction; but the meaning probably is, that Fastolfe commonly led the vaward, but was on this occasion placed behind. Monck Mason supposes the army to have been attacked in the rear, and remarks that in such cases "the van becomes the rear."-The original has Falstaffe for Fastolfe; but of course without any reference to the fat, funny old sinner of Henry IV, who had not been conceived when this play was written. Fastolfe was an actual person, greatly distinguished during these wars in France, and is well known in history. He was as far as possible from being a "coward": nevertheless, Holinshed, speaking of the battle of Patay, June, 1429, where Talbot was taken prisoner, has the following: "From this battell departed without anie stroke striken sir John Fastolfe, the same yeare for his valiantnesse elected into the order of the garter. But, for doubt of misdealing in this brunt, the duke of Bedford tooke from him the image of saint George and his garter; though afterward, by means of freends, and apparent causes of good excuse, the same were to him again delivered against the mind of lord Talbot."-H. N. H.

And Lord Scales with him, and Lord Hungerford:

Most of the rest slaughter'd or took likewise. Bed. His ransom there is none but I shall

pay:
I'll hale the Dauphin headlong from his throne:
His crown shall be the ransom of my friend; 150
Four of their lords I'll change for one of ours.
Farewell, my masters; to my task will I;
Bonfires in France forthwith I am to make,
To keep our great Saint George's feast withal:
Ten thousand soldiers with me I will take,

Whose bloody deeds shall make all Europe
quake.

160

Mess. So you had need; for Orleans is besieged;
The English army is grown weak and faint:
The Earl of Salisbury craveth supply,
And hardly keeps his men from mutiny,
Since they, so few, watch such a multitude.
Exe. Remember, lords, your oaths to Henry sworn,
Either to quell the Dauphin utterly,

Or bring him in obedience to your yoke.

Bed. I do remember it; and here take my leave,
To go about my preparation.

[Exit.

Glou. I'll to the Tower with all the haste I can,

To view the artillery and munition;
And then I will proclaim young Henry

[Exit.

king. Exe. To Eltham will I, where the young king

is,

Being ordain'd his special governor,

170. “Eltham," a royal palace.-C. H. H.

170

And for his safety there I'll best devise. [Exit. Win. Each hath his place and function to attend: I am left out; for me nothing remains. But long I will not be Jack out of office: The king from Eltham I intend to steal And sit at chiefest stern of public weal.

[Exeunt.

SCENE II

France. Before Orleans.

Sound a Flourish. Enter Charles, Alençon, and
Reignier, marching with Drum and Soldiers.

Char. Mars his true moving, even as in the heavens
So in the earth, to this day is not known:
Late did he shine upon the English side;
Now we are victors; upon us he smiles.
What towns of any moment but we have?
At pleasure here we lie near Orleans;

176. "steal," Mason's conjecture; Ff., "send"; Keightley, "fetch.” -I. G.

177. This was one of the things charged upon the Bishop by Gloucester when their quarrel broke out. Thus in Holinshed "my said lord of Winchester purposed and disposed him to set hand on the King's person, and to have him removed from Eltham, to the intent to put him in governance as he list."-H. N. H.

1. “Mars his true moving"; cp. “You are as ignorant in the true movings of my muse as the astronomers are in the true movings of Mars, which to this day they could not attain to," quoted by Steevens from one of Nash's prefaces to Gabriel Harvey's Hunt's Up, 1596. Kepler's work on Mars (Comment. de Motibus Stella Martis) was published in 1609.-I. G.

Otherwhiles the famish'd English, like pale

ghosts,

Faintly besiege us one hour in a month.

Alen. They want their porridge and their fat bullbeeves

Either they must be dieted like mules,

10

And have their provender tied to their mouths, Or piteous they will look, like drowned mice. Reig. Let's raise the siege: why live we idly here? Talbot is taken, whom we wont to fear: Remaineth none but mad-brain'd Salisbury; And he may well in fretting spend his gall, Nor men nor money hath he to make war. Char. Sound, sound alarum! we will rush on them. Now for the honor of the forlorn French! Him I forgive my death that killeth me When he sees me go back one foot or fly.

20

[Exeunt.

Here Alarum; they are beaten back by the English with great loss.

Re-enter Charles, Alençon, and Reignier.

Char. Who ever saw the like? what men have I!

Dogs! cowards! dastards! I would ne'er have fled,

But that they left me 'midst my enemies.

Reig. Salisbury is a desperate homicide;

He fighteth as one weary of his life.
The other lords, like lions wanting food,
Do rush upon us as their hungry prey.

13. "live"; Capell, "sit"; Walker, "lie."-I. G.

28. That is, the prey for which they are hungry.-H. N. H.