REIG. 'Twas time, I trow, to wake, and leave our beds, Hearing alarums at our chamber doors.* ALEN. Of all exploits, since first I follow'd arms, Ne'er heard I of a warlike enterprize More venturous, or defperate than this. BAST. I think, this Talbot is a fiend of hell. REIG. If not of hell, the heavens, fure, favour him. ALEN. Here cometh Charles; I marvel, how he sped. BAST. Tut! holy Joan was his defenfive guard. Didit thou at first, to flatter us withal, That now our loss might be ten times so much? Puc. Wherefore is Charles impatient with his friend? At all times will you have my power alike? CHAR. Duke of Alençon, this was your default; ATEN. Had all your quarters been as fafely kept, We had not been thus shamefully furpriz'd. * Hearing alarums at our chamber doors. So, in King Lear: "Or, at their chamber door I'll beat the drum--." STEEVENS. BAST. Mine was secure. REIG. 1 And so was mine, my lord, CHAR. And, for myself, most part of all this night, Within her quarter, and mine own precinct, Then how, or which way, should they first break in? place But weakly guarded, where the breach was made. Alarum, Enter an English Soldier crying, a Talbot! a Talbot! 4 They fly, leaving their clothes behind. SOLD. I'll be fo bold to take what they have left. The cry of Talbot serves me for a sword; 3 platforms i. e. plans, schemes. STEEVENS. 4 Enter an English Soldier crying, a Talbot! a Talbot!) And afterwards: "The cry of Talbot serves me for a sword." Here a popular tradition, exclusive of any chronicle-evidence, was in Shakspeare's mind. Edward Kerke, the old commentator on Spenser's Paftorals, first published in 1579, observes in his notes on June, that Lord Talbot's " noblenesse bred such a terrour in the hearts of the French, that oftimes greate armies were defaited and put to flight, at the only hearing of his name: infomuch that the French women, to affray their children, would tell them, that the TALBOT cometh." See also sc. iii. T. WARTON. The same is faid in Drayton's Miseries of Queen Margaret, of Lord Warwick : "And ftill fo fearful was great Warwick's name, STEEVENS. 1 1 For I have loaden me with many spoils, SCENE II. Orleans. Within the town. [Exit. Enter TALBOT, BEDFORD, BURGUNDY, a Captain, and Others. BED. The day begins to break, and night is fled, Whose pitchy mantle over-veil'd the earth. Here found retreat, and cease our hot pursuit. [Retreat founded. TAL. Bring forth the body of old Salisbury; In a note on a former passage, p. 38, n. 7, I have quoted a passage from Hall's Chronicle, which probably furnished the author of this play with this circumftance. It is not mentioned by Holinshed, (Shakspeare's historian,) and is one of the numerous proofs that have convinced me that this play was not the production of our author. See the Eflay at the end of the Third Part of King Henry VI. It is furely more probable that the writer of this play should have taken this circumstance from the Chronicle which furnished him with his plot, than from the Comment on Spenser's Paftorals. MALONE. This is one of the floating atoms of intelligence which might have been orally circulated, and confequently have reached our author through other channels than those of Spenser's annotator, or our English Chronicler. STEEVENS. 4 Now have I pay'd my vow unto his soul; &c.] So, in the old spurious play of King John; "Thus hath king Richard's son perform'd his vow, 4 Unto his father's ever-living foul." STEEVENS. For every drop of blood was drawn from him, BED. 'Tis thought, lord Talbot, when the fight began, Rous'd on the fudden from their drowsy beds, They did, amongst the troops of armed men, Leap o'er the walls for refuge in the field. BUR. Myself (as far as I could well difcern, For smoke, and dusky vapours of the night,) Am sure, I scar'd the Dauphin, and his trull; When arm in arm they both came swiftly running, Like to a pair of loving turtle-doves, That could not live asunder day or night. After that things are fet in order here, We'll follow them with all the power we have. Enter a Messenger. MESS. All hail, my lords! which of this princely train Call ye the warlike Talbot, for his acts So much applauded through the realm of France? TAL. Here is the Talbot; Who would speak with him? J MESS. The virtuous lady, countess of Auvergne, With modesty admiring thy renown, By me entreats, great lord, thou wouldst vouchsafe To visit her poor castle where she lies; 5 That she may boast, she hath beheld the man Whose glory fills the world with loud report. BUR. Is it even so? Nay, then, I see, our wars Will turn unto a peaceful comick sport, When ladies crave to be encounter'd with.- men Could not prevail with all their oratory, Will not your honours bear me company? BED. No, truly it is more than manners will; And I have heard it faid,-Unbidden guests Are often welcomest when they are gone. TAL. Well then, alone, fince there's no remedy, I mean to prove this lady's courtesy. my mind. CAPT. I do, my lord; and mean accordingly. V [Exeunt. 5 where the lies;] i. e. where the dwells. See Vol. XIII. p. 140, n. 6. MALONE. |