It shall be with such strict and severe covenants, As little shall the Frenchmen gain thereby.

Enter CHARLES, attended: ALENÇON, the Bastard of ORLEANS, REIGNIER, and others.

Char. Since, lords of England, it is thus agreed That peaceful truce shall be proclaim'd in France, We come to be informed by yourselves What the conditions of that league must be. York.

Speak, Winchester; for boiling choler

chokes

The hollow passage of my prison'd voice.46
By sight of these our baleful 47 enemies.

Car. Charles, and the rest, it is enacted thus:-
That, in regard King Henry gives consent,
Of mere compassion and of lenity, 49
To ease your country of distressful war,
And suffer you to breathe in fruitful peace,—
You shall become true liegemen to his crown':
And, Charles, upon condition thou wilt swear
To pay him tribute, and submit thyself,
Thou shalt be plac'd as viceroy under him,
And still enjoy thy regal dignity.

Alen. Must he be, then, as shadow of himself? Adorn his temples with a coronet,49 And yet, in substance and authority, Retain but privilege of a private man? This proffer is absurd and reasonless.

Char. 'Tis known already that I am possess'd With more than half 50 the Gallian territories, And therein reverenc'd for their lawful king: Shall I, for lucre of the rest unvanquish'd, Detract so much from that prerogative, As to be call'd but viceroy of the whole? No, lord embassador; I'll rather keep That which I have, than, coveting for more, Be cast from possibility of all.

York. Insulting Charles! hast thou by secret

means

Us'd intercession to obtain a league,

And, now the matter grows to compromise,
Stand'st thou aloof upon comparison 251
Either accept the title thou usurp'st,
Of benefit 52 proceeding from our king,
And not of any challenge of desert,

Or we will plague thee with incessant wars.
Reig. [Aside to CHAR.] My lord, you do not
well in obstinacy

To cavil in the course of this contract:

46. My prison'd voice. The Folio gives 'poyson'd' for "prison'd." Theobald made the correction; which is shown to be probable, not merely by the context here, but by a similar Folio error in a passage elsewhere. See Note 108, Act iv., "Love's Labour's Lost."

47. Baleful. Mischievous,' 'harmful,' 'destructive,' 'poisonous.' Saxon, bæl, poison, evil, calamity.

48. Of mere compassion and of lenity. "Of" is here used elliptically for 'out of.'

If once it be neglected, ten to one, We shall not find like opportunity.

Alen. [Aside to CHAR.] To say the truth, it is

your policy,

To save your subjects from such massacre,
And ruthless slaughters, as are daily seen
By our proceeding in hostility;

And therefore take this compact of a truce,
Although you break it when your pleasure serves.
War. How say'st thou, Charles? shall our con-
dition stand?

Char. It shall; only reserv'd, you claim no interest In any of our towns of garrison.

York. Then swear allegiance to his majesty ; As thou art knight, never to disobey, Nor be rebellious to the crown of England,Thou, nor thy nobles, to the crown of England.

[CHARLES and the rest give tokens of fealty, So, now dismiss your army when ye please; Hang up your ensigns, let your drums be still, For here we entertain a solemn peace. [Exeunt.

SCENE V.-LONDON. A Room in the Palace. Enter King HENRY, in conference with SUFFOLK; GLOSTER and EXETER following.

K. Hen. Your wondrous rare description, noble earl,

Of beauteous Margaret hath astonish'd me:
Her virtues, graced with external gifts,
Do breed love's settled passions in my heart:
And like as rigour of tempestuous gusts
Provokes the mightiest hulk against the tide,
So am I driven, by breath of her renown,
Either to suffer shipwreck, or arrive
Where I may have fruition of her love.

Suf. Tush, my good lord,-this superficial tale
Is but a preface of her worthy praise;
The chief perfections of that lovely dame
(Had I sufficient skill to utter them)
Would make a volume of enticing lines,
Able to ravish any dull conceit :
And, which is more, she is not so divine,
So full-replete with choice of all delights,
But, with as humble lowliness of mind,
She is content to be at your command,—
Command, I mean, of virtuous chaste intents,
To love and honour Henry as her lord.

K. Hen.

presume.

Therefore, my lord protector, give consent
That Margaret may be England's royal queen.
Glo. So should I give consent to flatter sin.
You know, my lord, your highness is betroth'd
Unto another lady of esteem:

How shall we, then, dispense with that contract,
And not deface your honour with reproach?

Suf. As doth a ruler with unlawful oaths;
Or one that, at a triumph 53 having vow'd
To try his strength, forsaketh yet the lists
By reason of his adversary's odds :

A poor earl's daughter is unequal odds,

And therefore may be broke 5 without offence.

Glo. Why, what, I pray, is Margaret more than that?

Her father is no better than an earl,

Although in glorious titles he excel.

Suf. Yes, my good lord,55 her father is a king, The King of Naples and Jerusalem ; And of such great authority in France, As his alliance will confirm our peace, And keep the Frenchmen in allegiance.

Glo. And so the Earl of Armagnac may do, Because he is near kinsman unto Charles.

Exe. Beside, his wealth doth warrant liberal dower,

Where 56 Reignier sooner will receive than give. Suf. A dower, my lords! disgrace not so your king,

That he should be so abject, base, and poor,
To choose for wealth, and not for perfect love.
Henry is able to enrich his queen,

And not to seek a queen to make him rich:
So worthless peasants bargain for their wives,
As market-men for oxen, sheep, or horse.
Marriage is a matter of more worth
Than to be dealt in by attorneyship: 57

Not whom we will, but whom his grace affects,
Must be companion of his nuptial bed :
And therefore, lords, since he affects her most,
It most of all these reasons 59 bindeth us,
In our opinions she should be preferr❜d.
For what is wedlock force but a hell,
An age of discord and continual strife?
Whereas the contràry 59 bringeth bliss,
And is a pattern of celestial peace.

But Margaret, that is daughter to a king?
Her peerless feature, joined with her birth,
Approves her fit for none but for a king:
Her valiant courage and undaunted spirit
(More than in women commonly is seen)
Will answer our hope in issue of a king;
For Henry, son unto a conqueror,
Is likely to beget more conquerors,
If with a lady of so high resolve,

As is fair Margaret, he be link'd in love.
Then yield, my lords; and here conclude with me
That Margaret shall be queen, and none but she.
K. Hen. Whether it be through force of your

report,

My noble Lord of Suffolk, or for that
My tender youth was never yet attaint
With any passion of inflaming love,
I cannot tell; but this I am assur'd,
I feel such sharp dissension in my breast,
Such fierce alarums both of hope and fear,
As I am sick with working of my thoughts.
Take, therefore, shipping; post, my lord, to
France;

Agree to any covenants; and procure

That Lady Margaret do vouchsafe to come
To cross the seas to England, and be crown'd
King Henry's faithful and anointed queen :
For your expenses and sufficient charge,
Among the people gather up a tenth.
Be gone, I say; for, till you do return,
I rest perplexed with a thousand cares-
And you, good uncle, banish all offence:
If you do censure 60 me by what you were,
Not what you are, I know it will excuse
This sudden execution of my will.
And so, conduct me where, from company,

SCENE I-LONDON. A Room of State in the Palace.

Flourish of trumpets, then hautboys. Enter, on one side, King HENRY, Duke of GLOSTER, SALISBURY, WARWICK, and Cardinal BEAUFORT; on the other, Queen MARGARET, led in by

SUFFOLK; YORK, SOMERSET, BUCKINGHAM, and others, following.

Suf As by your high imperial majesty

1. Under the title of "The Second Part of Henry the Sixt; with the death of the Good Duke Hvmfrey," this play was first printed in the Folio, 1623. It is an alteration and amplification of a play printed in Quarto, with the following title:-"The First Part of the Contention betwixt the two famous houses of Yorke and Lancaster, with the death of the good Duke Humphrey And the banishment and death of the Duke of Suffolke, and the Tragicall end of the proud Cardinall of Winchester, with the notable Rebellion of Jacke Cade: And the Duke of Yorke's first claime vnto the Crowne. London, Printed by Thomas Creed, for Thomas Millington, and are to be sold at his shop vnder Saint Peter's Church in Cornwall. 1594" Malone stated his belief that this Quarto play was written "by some preceding author;" while Mr. Halliwell, in his Introduction to its reprint for the Shakespeare Society in 1843, argues for its being a first sketch by Shakespeare from an original drama as yet undiscovered. The question has been carefully sifted, the points of corroboration carefully collected, while the internal evidence of the production itself does not militate against this latter theory: for though there is an air of boldness throughout, yet there do not exist those coarse rants and bombastic flights which so disfigure the "First Part of Henry VI." So visible is this difference of style, that we can rather believe the "First Part of the Contention," &c. to have been Shakespeare's first sketch from an earlier play, than that the "First Part of the Contention," &c. was written by the same hand that wrote the drama which Shakespeare made the groundwork of his “First Part of Henry VI." Until the original plays, upon which were

I had in charge at my depart2 for France,
As procurator3 to your excellence,
To marry Princess Margaret for your grace;
So, in the famous ancient city, Tours,
In presence of the Kings of France and Sicil,
The Dukes of Orleans, Calaber, Bretagne, and
Alençon,

Seven earls, twelve barons, and twenty reverend bishops,5

based the three which appear in the Folio, 1623, as Shakespeare's First, Second, and Third Parts of Henry VI. shall be discovered, all must be mere conjecture; therefore we content ourselves with giving the above opinion, thinking it but due candour to frankly state it.

2. Depart. Used here for 'departure.' A similar abbreviation occurs in the "Two Gentlemen of Verona," Act v., sc. 4, "At my depart I gave this unto Julia;" and also twice in the "Third Part Henry VI." the word appears in its abbreviated form, but nowhere else in Shakespeare's plays a fact which affords one slight point in corroboration of our belief that the present play, with its companion historical dramas, the First and Third Parts of Henry VI., were the work-though the adaptation-work-of Shakespeare at an early period.

3. Procurator. A manager of affairs; one deputed as agent for another. The strict consecution between the opening of the present play and the close of its predecessor-the "First Part of Henry VI."-appears to us to prove merely that Shakespeare, when adopting the subject and adapting the three plays for representation at the Blackfriars Theatre, took care to maintain the thread of historic narrative, and preserve its consistent con| tinuance throughout these chronicle dramas. See Note 1, Act i., "First Part Henry VI."

4. The Dukes of Orleans, Calaber, &c. One of those lines where, proper names being introduced, the exact number of feet is disregarded. See Note 35, Act i., "Richard II."

5. Seven earls, twelve barons, and twenty, &c. The details here given of these espousals are according to Hall and Holinshed's account.