And keep the Frenchmen in allegiance. Glo. And fo the earl of Armagnac may do, Because he is near kinfman unto Charles. Exe. Befide, his wealth doth warrant a liberal dower; While Reignier fooner will receive, than give. Suf. A dower, my lords! difgrace not fo your king, And not to feek a queen to make him rich: Whom should we match with Henry, being a king, 6-by attorney ship;] By the intervention of another man's choice; or the difcretional agency of another. JOHNSON. 7 It moft-] The word It, which is wanting in the old copy, was inferted by Mr. Rowe, MALONE. 8 Whereas the contrary bringeth blifs,] Contrary is here used as a quadrifyllable; as if it were written conterary. So Henry is ufed by our ld poets as a trifyllable. See Vel, I, p. 120, n.4. MALONE. As is fair Margaret, he be link'd in love. Then yield, my lords; and here conclude with me, K. Hen. Whether it be through force of your report, As I am fick with. working of my thoughts. Take, therefore, shipping; poft, my lord, to France; Agree to any covenants; and procure That lady Margaret do vouchsafe to come To crofs the feas to England, and be crown'd And fo conduct me, where from company, [Exit. [Exeunt GLOSTER, and EXETER. Suf. Thus Suffolk hath prevail'd: and thus he goes, As did the youthful Paris once to Greece; 9 As I am fick with working of my thoughts.] So, in Shakspeare's King Henry V. "Werk, work your thoughts, and therein fee a fiege." MALONE. If you do cenfure me, &c.] To cenfure is here fimply to judge. If in judging me you confider the paft frailties of your own youth. JOHNSON. See Vol I. p. 113, n. 8. MALONE. 2-ruminate my grief.] Grief in the first line is taken generally for pain or uncofiness; in the second specially for forrow. JOHNSON. With With hope to find the like event in love, But profper better than the Trojan did. Margaret fhall now be queen, and rule the king; 3 Of this play there is no copy earlier than that of the folio in 1623, though the two fucceeding parts are extant in two editions in quarto. That the second and third parts were published without the first, may be admitted as no weak proof that the copies were furreptitiously obtained, and that the printers of that time gave the publick thofe plays not fuch as the author defigned, but fuch as they could get them. That this play was written before the two others is indubitably collected from the feries of events; that it was written and played before Henry the Fifth is apparent, becaufe in the epilogue there is mention made of this play, and not of the other parts: Henry the fixth, in infant bands crown'd king, Whofe flate so many bad she managing, That they loft France, and made bis England bleed: France is loft in this play. The two following contain, as the old title imports, the contention of the houfes of York and Lancaster. JOHNSON. That the fecond and third parts (as they are now called) were print ed without the first, is a proof, in my apprehenfion, that they were not written by the author of the first: and the title of The Contention of the boufes of York and Lancafter, being affixed to the two pieces which were printed in quarto in 1600, is a proof that they were a distinct work, commencing where the other ended, but not written at the fame time; and that this play was never known by the name of The first Part of King Henry VI. till Heminge and Condell gave it this title in their volume, to diftinguish it from the two fubfequent plays; which, being altered by Shakspeare, affumed the new titles of the Second and Third Parts of King Henry VI. that they might not be confounded with the original pieces on which they were formed. This first part was, I conceive, originally called The biftorical play of King Henry VI. See the Effay at the end of these contefted pieces. MALONE. King Henry the Sixth: Humphrey, Duke of Glofter, his uncle. Cardinal Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester, great uncle to the king. Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York: Edward and Richard, his jons. Duke of Somerset, Duke of Buckingham, Young Clifford, his fon. Earl of Salisbury, } of the king's party. } of the York faction. Lord Scales, Governour of the Tower. Lord Say. Sir Humphrey Stafford, and his brother. Sir John Stanley. A Sea-captain, Mafter, and Mafter's Mate, and Walter Whitmore. Tavo Gentlemen, prifoners with Suffolk. A Herald. Vaux. Hume and Southwell, tava priefs. Bolingbroke, a Conjurer. A spirit raised by him. Jack Cade, a Rebel: George, John, Dick, Smith, the Weaver, Michael, &c. bis followers. Alexander Iden, a Kentifh Gentleman. Margaret, Queen to King Henry. Eleanor, Dutchess of Glofter. Margery Jourdain, a Witch. Wife to Simpcox. Lords, Ladies, and Attendants; Petitioners, Aldermen, d Beadle, Sheriff, and Officers; Citizens, Prentices, Fal coners, Guards, Soldiers, Meffengers, &c. SCENE, differjedly in various parts of England. |