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SECOND PART OF KING HENRY VI.] 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 published. 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.

This play was altered by Crowne, and acted in the year 1681. STEEVENS.

The Contention of the Two famous Houses of Yorke and Lancaster in two parts, was published in quarto, in 1600; and the first part was entered on the Stationers' books, (as Mr. Steevens has observed,) March 12, 1593-4. On these two plays, which I believe to have been written by some preceding author, before the year 1590, Shakspeare formed, as I conceive, this and the following drama; altering, retrenching, or amplifying, as he thought proper. The reasons on which this hypothesis is founded, I shall subjoin at large at the end of The Third Part of King Henry VI. At present it is only necessary to apprize the reader of the method observed in the printing of these plays. All the lines printed in the usual manner, are found in the original quarto plays (or at least with such minute variations as are not worth noticing): and those, I conceive, Shakspeare adopted as he found them. The lines to which inverted commas are prefixed, were, if my hypothesis be well founded, retouched, and greatly improved by him; and those with asterisks were his own original production; the embroidery with which he ornamented the coarse stuff that had been aukwardly made up for the stage by some of his contemporaries. The speeches which he new-modelled, he improved, sometimes by amplification, and sometimes by retrenchment.

These two pieces, I imagine, were produced in their present form in 1591. Dr. Johnson observes very justly, that these two parts were not written without a dependance on the first. Undoubtedly not; the old play of King Henry VI. (or, as it is now called, The First Part,) certainly had been exhibited before these were written in any form. But it does not follow from this concession, either that The Contention of the Two Houses, &c. in two parts, was written by the author of the former play, or that Shakspeare was the author of these two pieces as they originally appeared. MALONE.

King Henry the Sixth:

Humphrey, Duke of Gloster, his Uncle.

Cardinal Beaufort, Bishop of Winchester, great Uncle 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,

}of the York Faction.

Lord Scales, Governor 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.

Two Gentlemen, Prisoners with Suffolk.

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Hume and Southwell, Two Priests.

Bolingbroke, a Conjurer.
Conjurer. A Spirit raised by him.
Thomas Horner, an Armourer. Peter, his Man.
Clerk of Chatham. Mayor of Saint Albans.
Simpcox, an Impostor. Two Murderers.

Jack Cade, a Rebel:

George, John, Dick, Smith, the Weaver, Michael, &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, & Attendants; Petitioners, Aldermen, a Beadle, Sheriff, & Officers; Citizens, Prentices, Falconers, Guards, Soldiers, Messengers, &c. SCENE, dispersedly in various parts of England.

SECOND PART OF

KING HENRY VI.

ACT I.

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 folowing.

Suff. As by your high' imperial majesty
I had in charge at my depart for France,
As procurator 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, Bretaigne, and
Alençon,

Seven earls, twelve barons, twenty reverend bi

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shops,

As by your high, &c.] 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. JOHNSON.

I have perform'd my task, and was espous'd:
And humbly now upon my bended knee,
In sight of England and her lordly peers,
Deliver up my title in the queen

To your most gracious hands, that are the sub

stance

Of that great shadow I did represent;

The happiest gift that ever marquess gave,
The fairest queen that ever king receiv'd.

K. Hen. Suffolk, arise.-Welcome, queen Margaret:

I can express no kinder sign of love,

Than this kind kiss.-O Lord, that lends me life,
Lend me a heart replete with thankfulness!
For thou hast given me, in this beauteous face,
A world of earthly blessings to my soul,
* If sympathy of love unite our thoughts.

'Q. Mar. Great king of England, and my gracious lord;

'The mutual conference that my mind hath had-
By day, by night; waking, and in my dreams;
In courtly company, or at my beads,-
With you mine alder-liefest sovereign,3

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'Makes me the bolder to salute

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my king

. With ruder terms; such as my wit affords,

'And over-joy of heart doth minister.

'K. Hen. Her sight did ravish: but her grace in

speech,

Her words y-clad with wisdom's majesty,

Makes me, from wondering fall to weeping joys; "Such is the fulness of my heart's content.'Lords, with one cheerful voice welcome my love.

2 The mutual conference-] I am the bolder to address you having already familiarized you.to my imagination. JOHNSON. mine alder-liefest sovereign, Alder-liefest is a corruption of the German word alder-liebste, Loved above all things, dearest of all.

All. Long live queen Margaret, England's hap

piness!

Q. Mar. We thank you all.

[Flourish. Suf. My lord protector, so it please your grace, Here are the articles of contracted peace,

Between our sovereign and the French king Charles, 'For eighteen months concluded by consent.

Glo. [Reads.] Imprimis, It is agreed between the French king, Charles, and William de la Poole, marquess of Suffolk, ambassador for Henry king of England, that the said Henry shall espouse the lady Margaret, daughter unto Reignier king of Naples, Sicilia, and Jerusalem; and crown her queen of England, ere the thirtieth of May next ensuing. Item,-That the duchy of Anjou and the county of Maine, shall be released and delivered to the king her father

K. Hen. Uncle, how now? Glo. Pardon me, gracious lord; Some sudden qualm hath struck me at the heart, And dimm'd mine eyes, that I can read no further. K. Hen. Uncle of Winchester, I pray, read on. Win. Item,—It is further agreed between them,that the dutchies of Anjou and Maine shall be released and delivered over to the king her father; and she sent over of the king of England's own proper cost and charges, without having dowry.

K. Hen. They please us well.-Lord marquess, kneel down;

We here create thee the first duke of Suffolk,
And girt thee with the sword.-

Cousin of York, we here discharge your grace
From being regent in the parts of France,
Till term of eighteen months be full expir'd.—
Thanks, uncle Winchester, Gloster, York, and Buck-
ingham,

Somerset, Salisbury, and Warwick;

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