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 a liberal dower ; While Reignier sooner will receive, than give.

Suf. A dower, my lords ! disgrace not fo your king, That he should be fo 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 attorneyshipo; 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 molt? of all these reasons bindeth us, In our opinions the should be preferr'd. For what is wedlock forced, but a hell, An age of discord and continual strife? Whereas the contrary bringeth bliss e, . 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 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,

6 - by attorneysbip;] By the intervention of another man's choice; or the discretional agency of another. JOMNSON.

7 Jt moft-] The word It, which is wanting in the old copy, was inserted by Mr. Rowe, MALONE.

8 Wbereas the contrary bringerb bliss,] Contrary is here used as a quadrifyllable; as if it were written conterary. So Henry is used by our old posts as a trifyllable. See Vol. I, p. 120, n.4 Maloni.

As

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 the.

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 tharp diffenfion in my breast,
Such fierce alarums both of hope and fear,
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 cross the seas to England, and be crown'd
King Henry's faithful and anointed queen:
For your expences and fufficient charge,
Among the people gather up a tenth.
Be gone, I lay ; for, till you do return,
I rett perplexed with a thousand cares.-
And you, good uncle, banith 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;

9 As I am fick with working of my thoughts.] So, in Shakspeare's
King Henry V.
“Work, work your sboughes, and therein fee a fiege.”

MALONI. ! If you do censure me, &c.] To censure is here simply to judge. If in judging me you consider ebe paft frailties of your own youtb. JOHNSON,

See Vol I. p. 113, n. 8.' MALONE.

: - ruminare my grief.] Grief in the first line is taken generally for pois or vreafisejs in the second fpecially for forrów. JOHNSON.

With

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.

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 those plays not such as the author defigned, but such as they could get them. That this play was written before the two others is indubitably colleaed from the series of events; that it was written and played before Henry the Fifth is apparent, because in the epilogue there is mention made of this play, and not of the other parts :

Henry the foxıb, in infant bands crown'd king,
W bose Hare so many bad sbe managing,
Thai tbey loji France, and made bis England bleed:

Wbicb of our fage barb shewn. France is left in this play. The two following containi, as the old title imports, the contention of the houses of York and Lancaster.

JOHNSON. That the second and third parts (as they are now called) were princ. ed without the first, is a proof, in my apprehention, that they were not written by the author of the first : and the title of Tbe Contesrion of the houses of York and Lancaster, being aitixed 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 same time; and that this play was never known by the name of Tbe first part of King Henry VI. till Heminge and Condell gave it this title in their volume, to distinguish it from the two subsequent plays; which, being altered by Shakspeare, assumed the new titles of the Second and I bird 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 Etay at the end of these contested picces. MAJONE.

}

} of the York faaiion.

King Henry the Sixth:
Humphrey, Duke of Glofter, his uncle.
Cardinal Beaufort, Bishop of Wincheiter, great uncle to

the king.
Richard Plantagenet, Duke of York:
Edward and Richard, his jons.
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 Walter

Whitmore. Iwo Gentlemen, prisoners with Suffolk, A Herald. Vaux. Hume and Southwell, twa priejis. Boling broke, a Conjurer. A spirit raised by him. Thomas Horner, an Armourer. Peter, his man. Clerk of Chatham. Mayor of Saint Alban's. Simpcox, an Impofior. Two Murderers. Jack Cade, a Rebel: George, John, Dick, Smith, the Weaver, Michael, &c.

bis folloswers. Alexander Iden, a Kentish Gentleman. Margaret, Queen to King Henry. Eleanor, Dutchess of Glofter. Margery Jourdain, a Witob. Wife 10 Simpcox. Lords, Ladies, and Attendants; Petitioners, Aldermen, 4

Beadle, Sheriff, and Officers; Citizens, Prentices, Falconers, Guards, Soldiers, Messengers, &c. SCENE, differedly in various parts of England.