CHAP. I. and the splendid services which raised him in the twentieth year of the reign of Henry VI. to the dignity of Earl of Shrewsbury, were rather flattering to his country's pride than productive of any material advantage to the English crown.

Talbot's name has already appeared on these pages connected with every event of importance occurring in the war with France. No man ever inspired a higher degree of respect in the breasts of the knightly ranks of his opponents, or struck deeper consternation into the hearts of the populace. Hall, who in his quaint manner bears testimony of the extraordinary estimation in which the earl was held, says, "This man was to the French people a very scorge and a daily terror, insomuch that as his person was fearfull and terrible to his adversaries present, so his name and fame was spitefull and dreadful to the common people absent, in so much that women in Fraunce to fear their young children would crye the Talbot commeth! the Talbot commeth!"" When at length the tide of fortune turned against the English, Talbot was taken prisoner at the field of Patay and led into the presence of the King of France: he was received with the respect due to his valour. Saintrailles, one of the band of heroes who clung to their king in his severest distress, and by their devoted constancy to the best interests of France, preserved it from chains and slavery, with the generosity inherent in all noble minds, prevailed upon his sovereign to liberate the brave English captain without a ransom; an act of chivalrous courtesy which Talbot had the good fortune to be enabled to return.

During the vicissitudes of war, occurring in the CHAP. I. long interval which elapsed before the final expulsion of the English, Saintrailles fell into the hands of a victor who retained a grateful remembrance of the French knight's honourable conduct. Monstrelet tells us that Charles VII. notwithstanding that Talbot had fought against France for the space of four and twenty years, evinced the high esteem which he felt for this intrepid warrior's character by presenting him with rich gifts in gold, silver, and horses, when he heard that the earl intended to visit Rome in the Jubilee year, namely 1450.

A brilliant ray illumined the close of Talbot's eventful life. Invited to renew the war upon the continent by the people of Guienne, he achieved a series of rapid conquests worthy of the brightest period of England's heroism. Henry's standard, borne by the veteran soldier, was re-erected in the province so long one of the most precious jewels in the English crown; but its triumph was of short duration. The force under Talbot, though united to that of his valiant son, the Lord Lisle, was inadequate to contend with the powerful army which Charles VII. sent into the field.

The French had become extremely expert in the management of their artillery. Talbot, who found himself opposed to three hundred pieces of ordnance which discharged their ponderous ammunition with fearful havoc aniongst his soldiers, could not as heretofore engage hand to hand with the stoutest of his adversaries, and carve with his own sword a passage for his followers: his horse was killed under him, his leg shattered by a bullet, and lying dis

CHAP. I. abled on the field, he was dispatched by the bayonets of the enemy, after his gallant son had sacrificed his own life in the vain attempt to bear the wounded body of his venerable parent from the fatal spot. The cold remains of the veteran hero, sought after by a herald who had followed his glorious fortunes for nearly half a century, were discovered amidst ghastly piles of the dead. Weeping and embracing the corse, this faithful servant exclaimed, "Alas, my lord, and is it you! I pray God pardon all your misdoings! I have been your officer of arms forty years and more; it is time that I should surrender to you the ensigns of my office." Then, the tears still flowing from his eyes, he spread his coat of arms over the lifeless body, thus performing one of the ancient rites of sepulture.*

Fuller, in whose worthies the Earl of Shrewsbury has obtained a distinguished place, bursts forth into a glowing panegyric at the mention of his name. "This is that terrible Talbot, so famous for his sword, or rather whose sword was so famous for the arm that used it; a sword with bad Latin upon it, • Sum Talboti pro vincere inimicos meos,' but good steel within it, insomuch that the bare fame of his approach frighted the French from the siege of Bourdeaux." The same author quotes an interesting parallel drawn by the pen of Sir Walter Raleigh between Sir John Talbot, Lord Lisle, and Paulus Æmilius the Roman general, which it would be unjust to omit while commemorating the filial affection and unyielding valour of this gallant knight. "Æmilius was overpowered by the forces of Han

• Andrews from Registre De Wyrksop apud Anstis.

nibal and Asdrubal to the loss of the day. The CHAP. I. same sad success attended the two Talbots in fight against the French.-Cornelius Lentulus entreated Emilius, sitting all bloodied upon a stone, to rise and save himself, offering his horse and other assistance. The father advised the son by escape to reserve himself for future fortune. Æmilius refused the proffer, adding withall, that he would not again come under the judgment of the people of Rome. His son craved to be excused, and would not on any terms be persuaded to forsake his father.In two considerables Talbot far surpassed Æmilius, for Æmilius was old, grievously, if not mortally wounded: our lord, in the flower of his youth, unhurt, easily able to escape; Emilius accountable for the overthrow received: the other no ways answerable for that day's misfortune."

The Earl of Shrewsbury married a second time in the seventeenth year of the reign of Henry VI. the eldest of the three daughters of Richard Beauchamp Earl of Warwick, by his first wife Elizabeth, the heiress of Thomas Lord Berkely, an amazon well fitted to contend for her alleged right to the titles and estates of the Berkelys, and whose exploits will be mentioned in their proper place. The earl became possessed of the lands and cther property attached to the ancient family of the Talbots by the death of his niece, whose decease occurred nine years after the accession of Henry V. to the throne. Besides the riches which he acquired in common with the other commanders in the war, by the plunder of towns and fortresses and the ransom of prisoners, he obtained a grant from Edward Mortimer, Earl of

CHAP. I. March and Ulster, under whose banner he served, of an annual rent of an hundred pounds, as the reward of his extraordinary merit. The earl devoted a part of his wealth to the necessities of his sovereign Henry VI. who was indebted to this loyal servant in the sum of ten thousand four hundred and twenty-six pounds four shillings farthing, and who" in consideration of his great services, as well to King Henry V. his father as to himself, both in France and Normandy, granted that after the sum of twenty-one thousand pounds, wherein he stood indebted unto Henry, the Cardinal Bishop of Winchester, were paid, he should receive yearly four hundred marks out of the customs and duties issuing from the port of Kingston upon Hull."* Talbot's declining years were full of honour. He served the king a second time as his lieutenant in Ireland, and performed the duties of that high office with so much zeal and ability, that the grateful monarch added the Earldom of Waterford to the titles and dignities which he already possessed.

• Dugdale.