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,
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 feek a queen to make him rich:
So worthless peasants bargain for their wives,
As market-men for oxen, fheep, or horse.
Marriage is a matter of more worth,
Than to be dealt in by attorneyfhip";
Not whom we will, but whom his grace affects,
Must be companion of his nuptial bed:
And therefore, lords, fince he affects her moft,
It most of all these reasons bindeth us,
In our opinions she should be preferr'd.
For what is wedlock forced, but a hell,
An age of difcord and continual ftrife è
Whereas the contrary bringeth bliss®,
And is a pattern of celeftial 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 fpirit,
(More than in women commonly is seen,)
Will answer our hope in iffue of a king;
For Henry, fon unto a conqueror,
Is likely to beget more conquerors,
If with a lady of fo high refolve,

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,
That Margaret fhall be queen, and none but fhe.

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 paffion of inflaming love,
I cannot tell; but this I am affur'd,
I feel fuch fharp 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 crofs the feas 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 fay; for, till you do return,
I reft perplexed with a thousand cares.-
And you, good uncle, banish all offence:
If you do cenfure me by what you were',
Not what you are, I know it will excufe
This fudden execution of my will.

And fo conduct me, where from company,
I may revolve and ruminate my grief2.
Glo. Ay, grief, I fear me, both at first and laft.

[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;
But I will rule both her, the king, and realm3. ́ ́ [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 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:
Which oft our Aage bath fhewn.

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 VI.

PART II.

VOL. VI.

I

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 Suffolk,

Duke of Buckingham,
Lord Clifford,

Young Clifford, his fon.

Earl of Salisbury,
Earl of Warwick,

}

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.
Thomas Horner, an Armourer. Peter, his man.
Clerk of Chatham. Mayor of Saint Alban's.
Simpcox, an Impoftor. Two Murderers.

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.