And is a pattern of celestial peace.
Whom should we match with Henry, being a king;
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 woman 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 dissention 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 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
I may revolve and ruminate my grief.

[Exit. Glo. Ay, grief, I fear me, both at first and last.

[Exeunt GLOSTER and EXETER. Suf. Thus Suffolk hath prevail'd : and thus he goes, As did the youthful Paris once to Greece; With hope to find the like event in love, But prosper better than the Trojan did. Margaret shall now be queen, and rule the king; But I will rule both her, the king, and realm. [Exit.

KING HENRY VI.

PART II.

OBSERVATIONS.

THIS and The Third Part of King Henry VI. contain that troublesome period of this prince's reign which took in the whole contention betwixt the houses of York and Lancaster : and under that title were these two plays first acted and pub. lished. The present scene opens with king Henry's marriage, which was in the twenty-third year of his reign [A. D. 1445:] and closes with the first battle fought at St. Albans, and won by the York faction, in the thirty-third year of his reign [A.D. 1455 : ] so that it comprizes the history and transactions of ten years.

THEOBALD. It is apparent that this play begins where the former ends, and continues the series of transactions, of which it presupposes the first part already known. This is a sufficient proof that the second and third parts were not written without dependance on the first, though they were printed as containing a complete period of history.

The Three Parts of Henry VI.-These plays, considered, without regard to characters and incidents, merely as narratives in verse, are more happily conceived and more accurately finished, than those of King John, Richard II. or the tragic scenes of Henry IV. and V.

Of these three plays I think the second the best. The truth is, that they have not sufficient variety of action, for the inci. dents are too often of the same kind ; yet many of the characters are well discriminated. King Henry and his queen, king Edward, the duke of Gloster, and the earl of Warwick, are very strongly and distinctly painted.

JOHNSON.

}

}of the York faction.

King HENRY the Sixth :
HUMPHREY, duke of Gloster, his uncle.
Cardinal BEAUFORT, bishop of Winchester, great un-

cle to the king.
RICHARD PLANTAGENET, duke of York :
EDWARD and RICHARD, his sons.
Duke of SOMERSET,
Duke of SUFFOLK,
Duke of BUCKINGHAM, of the king's party.
Lord CLIFFORD;
Young CLIFFORD, his son,
Earl of SALISBURY,
Earl of WARWICK,
Lord SCALES, Governour of the Tower. Lord SAY.
Sir HUMPHREY STAFFORD, and his brother. Sir

John STANLEY.
A Sea-captain, Master, and Master's Mate, and WAL-

TER WHITMORE.
Two Gentlemen, prisoners with Suffolk.
A Herald. VAUX.
HUME and SouthWELL, two priests.
BOLINGBROKE, a conjurer. A Spirit raised by him.
Thomas HORNER, an armourer. PETER, his man.
Clerk of Chatham. Mayor of Saint Alban's.
SIMPcox, an impostor. Two Murderers.
JACK CADE, a rebel :
GEORGE, JOHN, Dick, Smith, the weaver, Mi-

CHAEL, &c. his followers.
ALEXANDER IDEN, a Kentish gentleman.

MARGARET, queen to king Henry.
ELEANOR, duchess of Gloster.
MARGERY JOURDAIN, a witch. Wife to Simpcox.

Lords, Ladies and Attendants ; Petitioners, Aldermen,

a Beadle, Sheriff, and Officers ; Citizens, Prentices, Falconers, Guards, Soldiers, Messengers, &c.

SCENE, dispersedly in various parts of England.