Page:Henry VI Part 1 (1918) Yale.djvu/88

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Som. Come, go; I will dispatch the horsemen straight:

Within six hours they will be at his aid.

Lucy. Too late comes rescue: he is ta'en or slain,

For fly he could not if he would have fled;

And fly would Talbot never, though he might.

Som. If he be dead, brave Talbot, then adieu!

Lucy. His fame lives in the world, his shame in you.

Tal. O young John Talbot! I did send for thee

To tutor thee in stratagems of war,

That Talbot's name might be in thee reviv'd

When sapless age, and weak unable limbs

Should bring thy father to his drooping chair.

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

By sudden flight: come, dally not, be gone.

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.

Tal. Fly, to revenge my death, if I be slain.

 8 unavoided: unavoidable 