Now thou art come unto a feaft of death,
A terrible and unavoided' danger:

9

Therefore, dear boy, mount on my swifteft horse;
And I'll direct thee how thou fhalt escape
By fudden flight: come, dally not, begone.
JOHN. Is my name Talbot? and am I
your fon?
And fhall I fly? O, if you love my mother,
Difhonour not her honourable name,
To make a baftard, and a flave of me:
The world will fay
That basely fled, when

He is not Talbot's blood, noble Talbot flood.3 TAL. Fly, to revenge my death, if I be flain. JOHN. He, that flies fo, will ne'er return again. TAL. If we both ftay, we both are fure to die. JOHN. Then let me ftay; and, father, do you

fly:

Your loss is great, so your regard 4 should be; My worth unknown, no lofs is known in me. Upon my death the French can little boaft; In yours they will, in you all hopes are loft.

9 ——a feast 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 adversary. STEEVENS. unavoided for unavoidable.

So, in King Richard II:

3

MALONE.

"And unavoided is the danger now. STEEVENS.

noble Talbot food. ] 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 should 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 inserted 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 swear;
But, if I bow, they'll fay it was for fear.
There is no hope that ever I will flay,
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 witnefs 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 fuch fhame. JOHN. And fhall my youth be guilty of fuch blame?

No more can I be fever'd from your fide,
Than can yourself yourfelf 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 fon, Born to eclipfe thy life this afternoon.

4

Come, fide by fide together live and die;
And foul with foul from France to heaven fly.

Alarum: Excurfions, wherein Talbot's fon is hemm'd about, and Talbot refcues 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?-paufe, and take thy
breath;

1

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

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

4

fair fon,

6

Born to eclipfe &c.] An apparent quibb'e between fon, and fun. So, in King Richard III:

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

STEEVENS.

A French epigram,

50 twice my father! twice am I thy fon:] on a child, who being thipwrecked 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:

เ

aprez mille efforts,

"J'apperçus prez de moi flotter des membres morts;

Helas! c'etoit mon pere.

"Je le connus, je l'embraffai,

"Et fur lui jusqu'au port heureusement pouffé,

VOL. XIV.

K

Till with thy warlike sword, despite of fate,
To my determin'd time' thou gav'ft new date.
TAL. When from the Dauphin's crest thy sword
ftruck fire,

It warm'd thy father's heart with proud defire
Of bold-fac'd victory. Then leaden age,
Quicken'd with youthful fpleen, 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 foon encountered;
And, interchanging blows, I quickly shed
Some of his bastard blood; and, in disgrace,
Bespoke him thus: Contaminated, base,
And mifbegotten blood I fpill of thine,

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

Came in ftrong refcue. Speak, thy father's care;
Art not thou weary, John? How doft thou fare?
Wilt thou yet leave the battle, boy, and fly,
Now thou art feal'd the fon of chivalry?
Fly, to revenge my death, when I am dead;
The help of one ftands me in little ftead.

6

"Des ondes & vents j'evitai la furie.
"Que ce pere doit m'être cher,

Qui m'a deux fois donné la vie,

"Une fois fur la terre, & l'autre fur la mér!”

and done;] See p. 123, n. 8. MALONE.

MALONE.

7 To my determin'd time] i. e. ended. So, in King Henry IV.

Part II:

"Till his friend fickness hath determin'd me."

STEEVENS.

MALONE.

The word is fill ufed in that fenfe by legal conveyancers.

O, too much folly is it, well I wot,
To hazard all our lives in one fmall boat.
If I to-day die not with Frenchmen's rage,
To-morrow I fhall die with mickle age:
By me they nothing gain, an if I stay,
'Tis but the fhort'ning of my life one day:

In thee thy mother dies, our household's name, My death's revenge, thy youth, and England's

fame:

All thefe, and more, we hazard by thy flay;
All these are fav'd, if thou wilt fly away.

JOHN. The fword of Orleans hath not made me fmart,

These words of yours draw live-blood from my heart:9

On that advantage, bought with such a shame, (To fave a paltry life, and flay bright fame,)*

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

to fay,

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

STEEVENS

The fword of Orleans hath not made me fmart,
Thefe words of yours draw life-blood from my heart:]
"Are there not poifons, racks, and flames, and fwords?
That Emma thus muft die by Henry's words?" PRIOR.

So, in this play, Part III:

"Ah, kill me with thy weapon, not with words."

MALONE.

STEEVENS.

bright fame,)] This paffage Neither the grammar is to be I have ventur'd at a flight the reading which has ob

On that advantage, bought with fuch a shame, (To Save a paltry life, and lay feems to lie obfcure and disjointed. juftified; nor is the fentiment better. alteration, which departs fo little from tain'd, but so much raifes the fenfe, as well as takes away thế