Amongst the soldiers this is muttered,

70

That here you maintain several factions,
And whilst a field should be dispatch'd and
fought,

You are disputing of your generals:

One would have lingering wars with little cost;
Another would fly swift, but wanteth wings;
A third thinks, without expense at all,

By guileful fair words peace may be obtain'd.
Awake, awake, English nobility!

Let not sloth dim your honors new-begot:
Cropp'd are the flower-de-luces in your

arms;

80

Of England's coat one half is cut away. Exe. Were our tears wanting to this funeral, These tidings would call forth their flowing tides.

Bed. Me they concern; Regent I am of France. Give me my steeled coat. I'll fight for France. Away with these disgraceful wailing robes! Wounds will I lend the French instead of eyes, To weep their intermissive miseries.

Enter to them another Messenger.

76. "A third"; Ff. 2, 3, 4, "A third man"; Walker, "A third one"; Delius, "A third thinketh"; Keightley, "A third thinks that"; Dyce, "And a third thinks," &c. Surely a simpler solution of the difficulty is to read "third" as a dissyllable with a trilled r.-I. G.

78. "Awake, awake"; F. 2, "Awake, away."—I. G.

83. "their"; Theobald's emendation; Ff. "her"; Anon. conj. “our.” -I. G.

That is, England's flowing tides.-H. N. H.

88. That is, their miseries which have only a short intermission.— H. N. H.

Mess. Lords, view these letters full of bad mis

chance.

France is revolted from the English quite,
Except some petty towns of no import:
The Dauphin Charles is crowned king in
Rheims;

90

The Bastard of Orleans with him is join'd; Reignier, Duke of Anjou, doth take his part; The Duke of Alençon flieth to his side. Exe. The Dauphin crowned king! all fly to him! O, whither shall we fly from this reproach? Glou. We will not fly, but to our enemies' throats. Bedford, if thou be slack, I'll fight it out. Bed. Gloucester, why doubt'st thou of my forward

ness?

An army have I muster'd in my thoughts,
Wherewith already France is overrun.

Enter another Messenger.

Mess. My gracious lords, to add to your laments, Wherewith you now bedew King Henry's hearse,

I must inform you of a dismal fight

100

Betwixt the stout Lord Talbot and the French. Win. What! wherein Talbot overcame? is 't so? Mess. O, no; wherein Lord Talbot was o'erthrown: The circumstance I'll tell you more at large. The tenth of August last this dreadful lord, 110

94. "Reignier"; Rowe's emendation of "Reynold" of the Ff.-I. G. 95. "The Duke of Alençon”; Walker omits "of," to improve the rhythm of the line.-I. G.

96. "crowned"; Rowe's emendation; "crown'd," the reading of the Folios.-I. G.

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 up, 130
If Sir John Fastolfe had not play'd the coward:

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

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 Tálbot! 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 Hunger

ford:

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