John. Is my name Talbot? and am I your son? And shall I fly? O! if you love my mother,

Dishonour not her honourable name,

To make a bastard, and a slave of me:
The world will say, he is not Talbot's blood,
That basely fled, when noble Talbot stood.

3

Tal. Fly, to revenge my death, if I be slain.
John. He that flies so will ne'er return again.
Tal. If we both stay, we both are sure to die.
John. Then let me stay; and father, do you fly:
Your loss is great, so your regard should be;
My worth unknown, no loss is known in me.
Upon my death the French can little boast,
In yours they will, in you all hopes are lost.
Flight cannot stain 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 say, it was for fear.
There is no hope that ever I will stay,
If the first hour I shrink, and run away.
Here, on my knee, I beg mortality,

4

Rather than life preserv'd with infamy.

Tal. Shall all thy mother's hopes lie in one tomb?
John. Ay, rather than I'll shame my mother's womb.

Tal. Upon my blessing I command thee go.

John. To fight I will, but not to fly the foe. 5
Tal. Part of thy father may be sav'd in thee.
John. No part of him but will be shame in me.
Tal. Thou never hadst renown, nor canst not lose it.
John. Yes, your renowned name: Shall flight abuse it?
Tal. Thy father's charge shall clear thee from that stain.
John. You cannot witness for me, being slain.

If death be so apparent, then both fly. 6

Tal. And leave my followers here, to fight and die?

My age was never tainted with such shame.

John. And shall my youth be guilty of such blame?
No more can I be sever'd from your side,

Than can yourself yourself in twain divide.
Stay, go, do what you will, the like do I;

For live I will not, if my father die.

3) Ihr solltet Euren Verlust für so gross ansehn, wie er in der That sein würde.

*) mortality ist nicht ganz = Tod, sondern = Bestimmung für den Tod, Unterwerfung unter den Tod.

5) the foe gehört zu to fight wie zu to fly.

6) scil. let us both fly. Ebenso weiter hin bei live and die.

Tal. Then here I take my leave of thee, fair son, 7

Born to eclipse thy life this afternoon.

Come, side by side together live and die,

And soul with soul from France to heaven fly.

[Exeunt.

SCENE VI.

A Field of Battle.

Alarum: Excursions, wherein TALBOT's Son is hemmed about,
and TALBOT rescues him.

Tal. Saint George and victory! fight, soldiers, fight!

The regent hath with Talbot broke his word,

And left us to the rage of France his sword.
Where is John Talbot?
pause, and take thy breath:
I gave thee life, and rescued thee from death.
John. O, twice my father! twice am I thy son:
The life thou gav'st me first was lost and done;
Till with thy warlike sword, despite of fate,
To my determin'd 3 time thou gav'st new date.

2

Tal. When from the Dauphin's crest thy sword struck fire,

It warmed thy father's heart with proud desire

Of bold-fac'd victory. Then leaden age, 5

Quicken'd with youthful spleen 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 soon encountered,
And, interchanging blows, I quickly shed
Some of his bastard blood; and, in disgrace,
Bespoke him thus: „Contaminated, base,

And misbegotten blood I spill of thine,

6

Mean and right poor; for that pure blood of mine,

Which thou didst force from Talbot, my brave boy:"

4

7) Das folgende eclipse zeigt, dass Sh. auch hier wie an andern Stellen, ein Wortspiel von son und sun im Sinne hatte.

1) Vgl. A. 1, Sc. 2, Anm. 1 und A. 3, Sc. 2, Anm. 29.

2) Vgl. A. 4, Sc. 3, Anm. 4.

3) determined time = zum Abschluss gelangte Lebenszeit.

4) Der junge Talbot hatte im Kampf sein Schwert so stark an den Helm des Dauphin geschlagen, dass Feuerfunken herausfuhren.

-

5) Mit leaden age charakterisirt der alte Talbot sich selbst. leaden ist ein Sh. geläufiges Epitheton schwerfällig, träge, schläfrig.

6) ihm zum Schimpf oder Hohn.

Here, purposing 7 the Bastard to destroy,
Came in strong rescue. Speak, thy father's care,
Art thou not weary, John? How dost thou fare?
Wilt thou yet leave the battle, boy, and fly,
Now thou art seal'd the son of chivalry?
Fly to revenge my death, when I am dead;
The help of one stands me in little stead.
0! too much folly is it, well I wot,

To hazard all our lives in one small boat.
If I to-day die not with Frenchmen's rage,
To-morrow I shall die with mickle 8 age:
By me they nothing gain, and if I stay,

T is but the short'ning of my life one day. 9

In thee thy mother dies, our household's name,

My death's revenge, thy youth, and England's fame.

All these, and more, we hazard by thy stay;

All these are sav'd, if thou wilt fly away.

John. The sword of Orleans hath not made me smart;
These words of yours draw life-blood from my heart.

On that 10 advantage, bought with such a shame,
To save a paltry life, and slay bright fame,
Before young Talbot from old Talbot fly,
The coward horse that bears me fall and die!
And like 11 me to the peasant boys of France,
To be shame's scorn, and subject of mischance!
Surely, by all the glory you have won,

An if I fly, I am not Talbot's son:

Then talk no more of flight, it is no boot,

If son to Talbot, die at Talbot's foot.

Tal. Then follow thou thy desperate sire of Crete, 12

7) Als ich gerade die Absicht hatte, den Bastard zu vertilgen u. s. w. $) mickle = great, much, und eben vorher, wot

know sind veraltete Wörter, wie sie

sich vorzugsweise in Sh.'s Jugendarbeiten finden. 9) so verkürzt das mein Leben nur um einen Tag. So in K. Henry IV. Second Part (A. 5, Sc. 3) Heaven shorten Harry's happy life one day.

10) Malone bezieht that auf die vorhergehenden Worte des alten Talbot, in denen er seinem Sohne die Vortheile des Lebens vorstelle. Einfacher und natürlicher aber geht on that advantage auf ein solches Glück hin, das mit solcher Schmach erkauft wird, wohl auf die nächste Zeile, die deshalb nicht in Parenthese zu stellen ist, sondern die Erklärung von that advantage giebt. Die Construction des Vordersatzes ist Before young Talbot fly on that advantage to save etc., worauf der Nachsatz folgt: may the coward horse fall and die.

11) to like mit dem Accusativ und mit to Jemanden einem Andern gleichstellen. 12) Der Vater aus Kreta ist Dädalus, den Sh. ähnlich bezeichnet in K. Henry VI. Third Part (A. 5, Sc. 6) Why, what a peevish fool was that of Crete, || That taught his son the office of a fowi?

Thou Icarus. Thy life to me is sweet:

If thou wilt fight, fight by thy father's side,

And, commendable 13 prov'd, let 's die in pride.

SCENE VII.

Another Part of the Same.

[Exeunt.

Alarums: Excursions. Enter TALBOT wounded, supported by a Servant. 1

Tal. Where is my other life? mine own is gone:
O, where 's young Talbot? where is valiant John?
Triumphant death, smear'd with captivity,
Young Talbot's valour makes me smile at thee. 2
When he perceiv'd me shrink, and on my knee,
His bloody sword he brandish'd over me,
And like a hungry lion did commence
Rough deeds of rage, and stern impatience;
But when my angry guardant 3 stood alone,
Tendering my ruin, and assail'd of none,
Dizzy-ey'd fury, and great rage of heart,
Suddenly made him from my side to start
Into the clust'ring battle of the French:
And in that sea of blood my boy did drench
His overmounting spirit; and there died

4

My Icarus, my blossom, in his pride.

Enter Soldiers, bearing the body of JoHN TALBOT.

Serv. O, my dear lord! lo, where your son is born!

Tal. Thou antick, death, 5 which laugh'st us here to scorn,

Anon, from thy insulting 6 tyranny,

13) commendable für commendably. Vgl. A. 4, Sc. 2, Anm. 6.

1) Enter old Talbot led in der Fol.

2) Dem alten Talbot erscheint der Tod, obgleich für ihn mit der drohenden Gefangenschaft befleckt, doch triumphirend und willkommen, wenn er an den tapfern Tod seines Sohnes denkt. Nach einer andern Construction, die Malone wenigstens für möglich hält, wäre smear'd Apposition zu me, nicht zu death. 3) guardant

Beschützer, hier der junge Talbot, der seinem verwundet in's Knie gesunkenen Vater vertheidigte und so dessen Fall in seine Obhut nahm (tend'ring my ruin).

4) Vgl. A. 4, Sc. 6, Anm. 12. Die folgende Bühnenweisung in der Fol. lautet: Enter with John Talbot borne.

5) Wie hier wird auch in K. Richard II. (A. 3, Sc. 2) der Tod als der Possenreisser der altenglischen Bühne gefasst, der sich über die Bestrebungen der Menschen lustig macht, weil er ihre Nichtigkeit kennt und ihnen ein Ende macht. Es heisst daselbst round the mortal temples of a king || Keeps death his court and there the antick sits || Scoffing his state and grinning at his pomp.

--

6) Vgl. A. 1, Sc. 2, Anm. 26. In K. Richard III. (A. 2, Sc. 4) Insulting tyranny begins to jet.

Coupled in bonds of perpetuity,

Two Talbots, winged through the lither sky, 7
In thy despite shall 'scape mortality. -

0 thou whose wounds become hard-favour'd death, 8
Speak to thy father, ere thou yield thy breath:
Brave death by speaking, whether he will or no; 9
Imagine him a Frenchman, and thy foe. -

Poor boy! he smiles, methinks, as who should say,
Had death been French, then death had died to-day.
Come, come, and lay him in his father's arms.
My spirit can no longer bear these harms.
Soldiers, adien! I have what I would have,

Now my old arms are young John Talbot's grave.

[Dies.

Alarums. Exeunt Soldiers and Servant, leaving the two bodies. Enter Charles, ALENÇON, BURGUNDY, Bastard, LA PUCELLE, and Forces.

Char. Had York and Somerset brought rescue in,

We should have found a bloody day of this.

Bast. How the young whelp of Talbot's, raging-wood,

Did flesh his puny sword in Frenchmen's blood!

Puc. Once I encounter'd him, and thus I said,
Thou maiden youth, be vanquish'd by a maid:"
But with a proud, majestical high scorn,

He answered thus: "Young Talbot was not born
To be the pillage of a giglot wench." 11

So, rushing in the bowels of the French, 12

He left me proudly, as unworthy fight.

Bur. Doubtless, he would have made a noble knight;

See, where he lies inhersed in the arms

Of the most bloody nurser of his harms.

Bast. Hew them to pieces, hack their bones asunder, Whose life 13 was England's glory, Gallia's wonder.

=

10

7) lither sky der weiche, nachgiebige Luftraum, der vermöge dieser Beschaffenheit dem Fluge der beiden Talbots keinen Widerstand entgegensetzt.

8) hard-favoured

=

toll, für sich allein hat

hässlich, abstossend von Ansehen. Die rühmlichen Wunden des jungen Talbot gereichen selbst dem unfreundlich aussehenden Tode zur Zierde. 9) trotze dem Tode, indem Du mir antwortest, er mag wollen oder nicht. 10) raging-wood in toller Raserei. Das veraltete wood = Sh. in Venus and Adonis: Life-prisoning pestilence and frenzies wood. 11) giglot, das sonst bei Sh. und seinen Zeitgenossen substantivisch steht = Buhlerin, buhlerisch, auch in Cymbeline (A. 3,

Metze, kommt wie hier adjectivisch

Sc. 1) vor.

=

12) Er stürzte sich mitten in den dichtesten Schwarm der Franzosen.

13) whose life etc. geht eigentlich nur auf den alten Talbot, der in dem vorhergehenden them und their miteinbegriffen ist.