| ACT IV SCENE V | The English camp near Bourdeaux. | |
| [Enter TALBOT and JOHN his son] |
| TALBOT | O young John Talbot! I did send for thee |
| To tutor thee in stratagems of war, |
| That Talbot's name might be in thee revived |
| When sapless age and weak unable limbs |
| Should bring thy father to his drooping chair. | 5 |
| But, O malignant and ill-boding stars! |
| Now thou art come unto a feast of death, |
| A terrible and unavoided danger: |
| Therefore, dear boy, mount on my swiftest horse; |
| And I'll direct thee how thou shalt escape | 10 |
| By sudden flight: come, dally not, be gone. |
| JOHN TALBOT | 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! | 15 |
| The world will say, he is not Talbot's blood, |
| That basely fled when noble Talbot stood. |
| TALBOT | Fly, to revenge my death, if I be slain. |
| JOHN TALBOT | He that flies so will ne'er return again. |
| TALBOT | If we both stay, we both are sure to die. | 20 |
| JOHN TALBOT | 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. | 25 |
| Flight cannot stain the honour you have won; |
| But mine it will, that no exploit have done: |
| You fled for vantage, everyone will swear; |
| But, if I bow, they'll say it was for fear. |
| There is no hope that ever I will stay, | 30 |
| If the first hour I shrink and run away. |
| Here on my knee I beg mortality, |
| Rather than life preserved with infamy. |
| TALBOT | Shall all thy mother's hopes lie in one tomb? |
| JOHN TALBOT | Ay, rather than I'll shame my mother's womb. | 35 |
| TALBOT | Upon my blessing, I command thee go. |
| JOHN TALBOT | To fight I will, but not to fly the foe. |
| TALBOT | Part of thy father may be saved in thee. |
| JOHN TALBOT | No part of him but will be shame in me. |
| TALBOT | Thou never hadst renown, nor canst not lose it. | 40 |
| JOHN TALBOT | Yes, your renowned name: shall flight abuse it? |
| TALBOT | Thy father's charge shall clear thee from that stain. |
| JOHN TALBOT | You cannot witness for me, being slain. |
| If death be so apparent, then both fly. |
| TALBOT | And leave my followers here to fight and die? | 45 |
| My age was never tainted with such shame. |
| JOHN TALBOT | 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; | 50 |
| For live I will not, if my father die. |
| TALBOT | Then here I take my leave of thee, fair son, |
| Born to eclipse thy life this afternoon. |
| Come, side by side together live and die. |
| And soul with soul from France to heaven fly. | 55 |
| [Exeunt] |
The Essential Student History Quiz (with answers and illustrations)