101

ENS

ONE

3

SUF. Yes, my good lord, her father is a king,
The king of Naples, and Jerufalem;
And of fuch great authority in France,
As his alliance will confirm our peace,
And keep the Frenchmen in allegiance.
GLO. And fo the earl of Armagnac may do,
Because he is near kinfman unto Charles.

EXE. Beside, his wealth doth warrant 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; 4
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 moft 5 of all thefe reafons 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?

3

my good lord,] Good, which is not in the old copy, was added for the fake of the metre, in the fecond folio. MALONE.

4 14

か

by attorneyfhip; ] By the intervention of another man's choice; or the difcretional agency of another. JOHNSON. This is a phrase of which Shakspeare is peculiarly fond. Occurs twice in King Richard III:

Again:

5

"Be the attorney of my love to her."

It

"I, by attorney, bless thee from thy mother." STEEVENS. It moft- The word It, which is wanting in the old copy, was inferted by Mr. Rowe. MALONE.

M

Whereas the contrary bringeth forth blifs,
And is a pattern of celeftial peace.

Whom fhould 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 anfwer our hope in iffue of a king; 6
For Henry, fon unto a conqueror,
Is likely to beget more conquerors,
If with a lady of fo high refolve,

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 diffention in my breaft,
Such fierce alarums both of hope and fear,

5 Whereas the contrary bringeth forth bliss,] The word-forth, which is not in the firft folio, was supplied, I think, unneceffarily, by the fecond. Contrary, was, I believe, used by the author as a quadrifyllable, as if it were written conterary; according to which pronunciation the metre is not defective:

Whereas the conterary bringeth blifs.

In the fame manner Shakspeare frequently ufes Henry as a trifyllable, and hour and fire as diffyllables. See Vol. IV. p. 190, u. 7.

MALONE.

I have little confidence in this remark. Such a pronunciation of the word contrary is, perhaps, without example. Hour and fire were anciently written as diffyllables, viz. hower fier.

STEEVENS.

• Will answer our hope in iffue of a king: The useless word our, which deftroys the harmony of this line, I fuppofe ought to be omitted. STEEVENS.

As I am fick with working of my thoughts.?
Take, therefore fhipping; 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.

8

Be gone, I fay; for, till you do return,
I reft perplexed with a thousand cares.
And you, good uncle, banifh 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,
may revolve and ruminate my grief. 9.
[ 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

1

goes,

As did the youthful Paris once to Greece;
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 realm. *

[Exit.

7 As I am fick with working of my thoughts.] So, in, Shakfpeare's King Henry V:

"Work, work your thoughts, and therein fee a fiege.

MALONE.

8 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.

See Vol. IV. p. 179, n. 5. MALONE.

9

JOHNSON.

ruminate my grief. ] Grief in the firft line is taken generally for pain or uneasiness; in the second specially for forrow.

JOHNSON.

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 fecond and third parts were publifhed 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 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 fixth in fwaddling bands crown'd king, "Whofe ftate fo many had the managing,

"That they loft France, and made his England bleed: "Which oft our ftage hath shown."

France is loft in this play. The two following contain, as the old title imports, the contention of the houses of York and Lan cafter.

The fecond and third parts of Henry VI. were printed in 1600. When Henry V. was written, we know not, but it was printed likewife in 1600, and therefore before the publication of the first and fecond parts. The first part of Henry VI. had been often shown on the ftage, and would certainly have appeared in its place, had the author been the publisher. JOHNSON.

That the fecond and third parts (as they are now called) were printed without the firft, is a proof, in my apprehenfion, that they were not written by the author of the firft: and the title of The Contention of the houses of York and Lancaster, being affixed to the two pieces which were printed in quarto in 1600, is a proof that they were a diftin& 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 firft part was, 1 conceive, originally called The hiftorical play of King Henry VỊ. See the Effay at the end of these contested pieces. MALONE.

KING HENRY VI,*

PART II.