Or by what means got'st thou to be releas'd? Tal. The duke of Bedford had a prisoner, Once, in contempt, they would have barter'd me: 3 — so pil'd esteem'd.] Thus the old copy. Some of the modern editors read, but without authority-so vile-esteem'd.—So pill'd, may mean-so pillag'd, so stripp'd of honours; but I suspect a corruption, which Mr. M. Mason would remedy, by reading either vile or ill-esteemed. It is possible, however, that Shakspeare might have writtenPhilistin'd; i. e. treated as contumeliously as Samson was by the Philistines. Both Samson and Talbot had been prisoners, and alike insulted by their captors. Our author has jocularly formed more than one verb from a proper name; as for instance, from Aufidius, in Coriolanus: - -I would not have been so fidius'd for all the chests in Corioli." Again, in K. Henry V, Pistol says to his prisoner; " Master Fer? I'll fer him," &c. Again, in Hamlet, from Herod, we have the verb "out-herod." Shakspeare, therefore, in the present instance, might have taken a similar liberty.-To fall into the hands of the Philistines has long been a cant phrase, expressive of danger incurred, whether from enemies, association with hard drinkers, gamesters, or a less welcome acquaintance with the harpies of the law. Talbot's idea would be sufficiently expressed by the termPhilistin'd, which (as the play before us appears to have been copied by the ear) was more liable to corruption than a common verb. I may add, that perhaps no word will be found nearer to the sound and traces of the letters, in pil-esteem'd, than Philistin'd. Philistine, in the age of Shakspeare, was always accented on the first syllable, and therefore is not injurious to the line in which I have hesitatingly proposed to insert it. I cannot, however, help smiling at my own conjecture; and should it excite the same sensation in the reader who journeys through the barren desert of our accumulated notes on this play, like Addison's traveller, when he discovers a cheerful spring amid the wilds of sand, let him 66 bless his stars, and think it luxury." Steevens. I have no doubt that we should read-so pile-esteem'd: a Latinism, for which the author of this play had, I believe, no occasion to go to Lilly's Grammar: "Flocci, nauci, nihili, pili, &c. his verbis, æstimo, pendo, peculiariter adjiciuntur; ut,-Ne: hu In fine, redeem'd I was as I desir'd. But, O! the treacherous Fastolfe wounds my heart! If I now had him brought into my power. Sal. Yet tell'st thou not, how thou wert entertain❜d. Tal. With scoffs, and scorns, and contumelious taunts. In open market-place produc'd they me, To be a public spectacle to all; Here, said they, is the terror of the French, The scare-crow that affrights our children so.4 My grisly countenance made others fly; None durst come near, for fear of sudden death. So great fear of my name 'mongst them was spread, Sal. I grieve to hear what torments jus facio, qui me pili æstimat." Even if we suppose no change to be necessary, this surely was the meaning intended to be conveyed. In one of Shakspeare's plays we have the same phrase, in English,-vile-esteem'd. Malone. ་ If the author of the play before us designed to avail himself of the Latin phrase-pili astimo, would he have only half translated it? for what correspondence has pile in English to a single hair? Was a single hair ever called-a pile, by any English writer? Steevens. 4-- the terror of the French, The scare-crow that affrights our children so.] From Hall's Chronicle: "This man [Talbot] was to the French people a very scourge and a daily terror, insomuch that as his person was fearful, and terrible to his adversaries present, so his name and fame was spiteful and dreadful to the common people absent; insomuch that women in France to fear their young children, would crye, the Talbot commeth, the Talbot commeth." The same thing is said of King Richard I, when he was in the Holy Land. See Camden's Remaines, 4to. 1614, p. 267. Malone. But we will be reveng'd sufficiently. Now it is supper-time in Orleans: Here, through this grate, I can count every one,5 Let us look in, the sight will much delight thee.- Where is best place to make our battery next. [Shot from the Town. SAL. and SirTHO. GAR. fall. Sal. O Lord, have mercy on us, wretched sinners! Gar. O Lord, have mercy on me, woful man! Tal. What chance is this, that suddenly hath cross'd us? Speak, Salisbury; at least, if thou canst speak; That hath contriv'd this woful tragedy! Whilst any trump did sound, or drum struck up, 5 Here, through this grate, I can count every one,] Thus the second folio. The first, very hastily and unmetrically, reads: Here, thorough this grate, I count each one. Steevens. enfeebled.] This word is here used as a quadrisyllable. 6 7 Malone. - thy cheek's side struck off!] Camden says in his Remaines, that the French scarce knew the use of great ordnance, till the siege of Mans in 1425, when a breach was made in the walls of that town by the English, under the conduct of this earl of Salisbury; and that he was the first English gentleman that was slain by a cannon-ball. Malone. 8 One eye thou hast, &c.] A similar thought occurs in King Lear : my lord, you have one eye left, 66 "To see some mischief on him." Steevens. Heaven, be thou gracious to none alive, He beckons with his hand, and smiles on me; Play on the lute, beholding the towns burn: [Thunder heard; afterwards an Alarum. What stir is this? What tumult 's in the heavens? Enter a Messenger. Mess. My lord, my lord, the French have gather'd head: The Dauphin, with one Joan la Pucelle join'd,- Is come with a great power to raise the siege. [SAL. groans. Tal. Hear, hear, how dying Salisbury doth groan! It irks his heart, he cannot be reveng'd.— and Nero-like,] The first folio reads: Plantagenet, I will; and like thee Steevens. In the old copy, the word Nero is wanting, owing probably to the transcriber's not being able to make out the name. The editor of the second folio, with his usual freedom, altered the line thus: I am content to read with the second folio (not conceiving the emendation in it to be an arbitrary one) and omit only the needless repetition of the word-will. Surely there is some absurdity in making Talbot address Plantagenet, and invoke Nero, in - the same line. Steevens. 1 Pucelle or puzzel, dolphin or dog fish,] Pussel means a dirty wench or a drab, from puzza, i. e. malus fætor, says Minshieu. In a translation from Stephens's Apology for Herodotus, in 1607, p. 98, we read "Some filthy queans, especially our puzzles of Paris, use this other theft." Tollet. Your hearts I'll stamp out with my horse's heels, And then we 'll try what these dastard Frenchmen dare." [Exeunt, bearing out the Bodies. SCENE V. The same. Before one of the Gates. Alarum. Skirmishings. TALBOT pursueth the Dauphin, and driveth him in: then enter JOAN LA PUCELLE, driving Englishmen before her. Then enter TALBOT. Tal. Where is my strength, my valour, and my Our English troops retire, I cannot stay them; Enter LA PUCELLE. Here, here she comes: -I'll have a bout with thee; Devil, or devil's dam, I'll conjure thee: Blood will I draw on thee,3 thou art a witch, And straightway give thy soul to him thou serv'st. [They fight. Tal. Heavens, can you suffer hell so to prevail? My breast I'll burst with straining of my courage, And from my shoulders crack my arms asunder, But I will chastise this high-minded strumpet. Puc. Talbot, farewel; thy hour is not yet come: O'ertake me, if thou canst; I scorn thy strength. There are frequent references to Pucelle's name in this play: "I'scar'd the dauphin and his trull.” Again: "Scoff on, vile fiend, and shameless courtezan!" Malone. 2 And then we'll try what these dastard Frenchmen dare.] Perhaps the conjunction-and, or the demonstrative pronoun-these, for the sake of metre, should be omitted at the beginning of this line, which, in my opinion, however, originally ran thus: Then try we what these dastard Frenchmen dare. Steevens. 3 Blood will I draw on thee,] The superstition of those times taught that he that could draw the witch's blood, was free from her power. Johnson. |