He being in the vaward, (plac'd behind,3
With purpose to relieve and follow them,)
Cowardly fled, not having ftruck one stroke.
Hence grew the general wreck and maffacre;
Enclosed were they with their enemies :
A bafe Walloon, to win the Dauphin's grace,
Thruft Talbot with a spear into the back;
Whom all France, with their chief affembled
ftrength,

Durft not presume to look once in the face.

faid by Hall and Holinfhed to have been degraded for cowardice. Dr. Heylin, in his Saint George for England, tells us, that "he was afterwards, upon good reason by him alledged in his defence, reftored to his honour."-"This Sir John Faftolfe," continues he, "was without doubt, a valiant and wife captain, notwithstanding the stage hath made merry with him." FARMER. See Vol. XI. p. 194, n. 3; and Oldys's Life of Sir John Faftolfe in the General Dictionary. MALONE.

In the 18th Song of Drayton's Polyolbion is the following character of this Sir John Faftolph:

66

Strong Faftolph with this man compare we juftly may;
By Salfbury who oft being seriously imploy'd

"In many a brave attempt the general foe annoy'd;
"With excellent fucceffe in Main and Anjou fought,
"And many a bulwarke there into our keeping brought;
"And chofen to go forth with Vadamont in warre,
"Moft refolutely tooke proud Renate duke of Barre."
STEEVENS.

For an account of this Sir John Faftolfe, see Anftis's Treatife on the Order of the Garter; Parkins's Supplement to Blomfield's Hiftory of Norfolk; Tanner's Bibliotheca Britannica; or Capel's notes, Vol. II. p. 221; and Sir John Fenn's Collection of the Pafton Letters. REED.

3 He being in the vaward, (plac'd behind,] Some of the editors feem to have confidered this as a contradiction in terms, and have proposed to read-the rearward,—but without necessity. Some part of the van must have been behind the foremost line of it. We often say the back front of a house. STEEVENS.

When an army is attacked in the rear, the van becomes the rear in its turn, and of courfe the referve. M. MASON.

BED. Is Talbot flain? then I will flay myself,
For living idly here, in pomp and ease,
Whilft fuch a worthy leader, wanting aid,
Unto his daftard foe-men is betray'd.

3 MESS. O no, he lives; but is took prisoner, And lord Scales with him, and lord Hungerford: Most of the reft slaughter'd, or took, likewise.

BED. His ranfome there is none but I fhall pay : I'll hale the Dauphin headlong from his throne, His crown fhall be the ranfome of my friend; Four of their lords I'll change for one of ours.Farewell, my mafters; to my task will I; Bonfires in France forthwith I am to make, To keep our great Saint George's feaft withal: Ten thoufand foldiers with me I will take, Whose bloody deeds fhall make all Europe quake.

3 MESS. So you had need; for Orleans is befieg'd;

The English army is grown weak and faint:
The earl of Salisbury craveth fupply,

And hardly keeps his men from mutiny,
Since they, fo few, watch fuch a multitude.

EXE. Remember, lords, your oaths to Henry fworn;

Either to quell the Dauphin utterly,

Or bring him in obedience to your yoke.

BED. I do remember it; and here take leave,

To go about my preparation.

[Exit.

GLO. I'll to the Tower, with all the hafte I can,

To view the artillery and munition;

And then I will proclaim young Henry king.

[Exit.

EXE. To Eltham will I, where the young king

is,

*

Being ordain'd his fpecial governor;

And for his fafety there I'll beft devise.

[Exit.

WIN. Each hath his place and function to attend :

I am left out; for me nothing remains.
But long I will not be Jack-out-of-office ;
The king from Eltham I intend to fend,
And fit at chiefest stern of publick weal.4

[Exit. Scene clofes.

The king from Eltham I intend to fend,

And fit at chiefeft ftern of publick weal.] The King was not at this time fo much in the power of the Cardinal, that he could fend him where he pleased. I have therefore no doubt but that there is an error in this paffage, and that it should be read thus:

The king from Eltham I intend to fteal,

And fit at chiefeft ftern of publick weal.

This flight alteration preferves the fenfe, and the rhyme alfo with which many fcenes in this play conclude. The King's perfon, as appears from the fpeech immediately preceding this of Winchefter, was under the care of the Duke of Exeter, not of the Cardinal:

"Exe. To Eltham will I, where the young king is, Being ordain'd his special governor.' M. MASON. The fecond charge in the Articles of Accufation preferred by the Duke of Glofter against the Bishop, (Hall's Chron. Hen. VI. f. 12, b.) countenances this conjecture. MALONE.

The difagreeable clash of the words-intend and fend, feems indeed to confirm the propriety of Mr. M. Mafon's emendation. STEEVENS,

SCENE II.

France. Before Orleans.

Enter CHARLES, with his Forces; ALENÇON, REIGNIER, and Others.

CHAR. Mars his true moving,5 even as in the hea

vens,

So in the earth, to this day is not known:
Late did he shine upon the English fide;
Now we are victors upon us he fmiles.
What towns of any moment, but we have?
At pleasure here we lie, near Orleans;
Otherwhiles, the famish'd English, like pale ghosts,
Faintly befiege us one hour in a month.

ALEN. They want their porridge, and their fat bull-beeves:

Either they must be dieted like mules,

And have their provender tyed to their mouths,
Or piteous they will look, like drowned mice.

REIG. Let's raife the fiege; Why live we idly here?

Talbot is taken, whom we wont to fear:
Remaineth none but mad-brain'd Salisbury';
And he may well in fretting spend his gall,
Nor men, nor money, hath he to make war.
CHAR. Sound, found alarum; we will rush on
them.

5 Mars his true moving, &c.] So, Nash, in one of his prefaces before Gabriel Harvey's Hunt is u, 1596: "You are as ignorant in the true movings of my mufe, as the aftronomers are in the true movings of Mars, which to this day they could never attain to." STEEVENS.

Now for the honour of the forlorn French:→→→
Him I forgive my death, that killeth me,
When he fees me go back one foot, or fly.

[Exeunt.

Alarums; Excurfions; afterwards a Retreat.

Re-enter CHARLES, ALENGON, REIGNIER, and Others.

CHAR. Who ever faw the like? what men have
I?-

Dogs! cowards! daftards!-I would ne'er have fled,
But that they left me 'midft my enemies.
REIG. Salisbury is a desperate homicide;
He fighteth as one weary of his life.
The other lords, like lions wanting food,
Do rush upon us as their hungry prey.

ALEN. Froiffard, a countryman of ours, records,
England all Olivers and Rowlands bred,?
During the time Edward the third did reign.

as their hungry prey.] I believe it fhould be read: as their hungred prey. JOHNSON.

I adhere to the old reading, which appears to fignify-the prey for which they are hungry. STEEVENS.

7 England all Olivers and Rowlands bred,] These were two of the most famous in the lift of Charlemagne's twelve peers; and their exploits are rendered fo ridiculously and equally extravagant by the old romancers, that from thence arofe that faying amongst our plain and fenfible ancestors, of giving one a Rowland for his Oliver, to fignify the matching one incredible lie with another. WARBURTON.

Rather, to oppofe one hero to another; i. e. to give a perfon as good a one as he brings. STEEVENS.

Corrected by Mr. Rowe.

The old copy has-breed.

MALONE,