[314] Inferior in antiquity and splendour to the house of De Vere, but to the house of De Vere alone, was the house of Talbot.

Ever since the reign of Edward the Third, the Talbots had sate among the peers of the realm.

The earldom of Shrewsbury had been bestowed, in the fifteenth century, on John Talbot, the antagonist of the Maid of Orleans.

He had been long remembered by his countrymen with tenderness and reverence as one of the most illustrious of those warriors who had striven to erect a great English empire on the Continent of Europe.

The stubborn courage which he had shown in the midst of disasters had made him an object of interest greater than more fortunate captains had inspired, and his death had furnished a singularly touching scene to our early stage.