Page 187 - Shakespeare - Vol. 1

Enter [a Third] Messenger.

THIRD MESSENGER

My gracious lords, to add to your laments
Wherewith you now bedew King Henry’s hearse,
I must inform you of a dismal fight [105]
Betwixt the stout Lord Talbot and the French.

WINCHEST ER

What? Wherein Talbot overcame - is’t so?

THIRD MESSENGER

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]
Retiring from the siege of Orléans,
Having full scarce six thousand in his troop,
By three and twenty thousand of the French
Was round encompassèd and set upon:
No leisure had he to enrank his men. [115]
He wanted pikes to set before his archers;
In stead whereof sharp stakes plucked out of hedges
They pitchèd in the ground confusèdly
To keep the horsemen off from breaking in.
More than three hours the fight continuèd, [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 everywhere, enraged he slew.
The French exclaimed the devil was in arms: [125]
All the whole army stood agazed on him.
His soldiers, spying his undaunted spirit,
‘A Talbot! A Talbot!’ crièd out amain
And rushed into the bowels of the battle.
Here had the conquest fully been sealed up, [130]
If Sir John Fastolf had not played the coward.
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 wrack and massacre: [135]
Enclosèd were they with their enemies.