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They were married at Troyes, by the Archbishop of
Sens, June 3, 1420, and had only one child, Henry of
Windsor, born there Dec. 6, 1421.

The heroic king, in the midst of preparation for new conquests, was taken ill of pleurisy, ending in fever, and died at the castle of Vincennes, Aug. 31, 1422. The ceremony of his funeral occupied ten weeks, being celebrated with great pomp and splendour, the body resting each night in some church or cathedral, the solemn service for the dead never ceasing, by day or night, until the royal corpse was finally deposited in Westminster Abbey, November the tenth, and buried the next day.

DUKE OF BEDFORD, Brother to the King.. This is the "Prince John of Lancaster" of the preceding play, who was created by his brother, May 6, 1414, Earl of Kendal, and Duke of Bedford, and was also appointed to act, during the king's absence in France, as "Lieutenant of the whole realm of England." His presence, therefore, before Harfleur and at Agincourt, as in the play, is out of place, since he remained at home, whilst his brother was at those two celebrated scenes of his glory. Afterwards, in 1420, Bedford carried over large reinforcements to the king in Normandy, and was with him at the siege of Melun, which lasted fourteen weeks. He was present at the sick couch of his dying brother, who charged him never to give up Normandy. Bedford is a prominent character in the next play.

It would be more in accordance with history if the Duke of Clarence had been substituted for his brother Bedford, since it was he who directed, with the assistance of "Master Giles" the engineer, the mining operations against Harfleur, which in the play are allotted to the

Duke of Gloucester (iii. 2. 61, 62). This insertion would be justified by the fact that Shakspeare makes Henry V. say, at the interview with Charles VI. at Troyes (v. 2. 83-85),

"Go, uncle Exeter,

And brother Clarence, and you, brother Gloucester, go with the king,”

and Clarence, though not present at Agincourt, was performing good service elsewhere in France.

Prince

DUKE OF GLOUCESTER, Brother to the King. Humphrey Plantagenet was in reality the only one of King Henry's brothers present at Agincourt, with his retinue of 143 lances, and 406 archers," the largest contingent, with the exception of the king's, brought by any leader into that glorious field, where he behaved with the greatest valour; and being wounded and thrown down, his kingly brother bestrode hiɛ body, and bravely defended him until he was carried in safety from the field. Prince Humphrey had fought with distinguished courage at Harfleur, as he did in other parts of France during the reign of his warlike brother. He was present at the meeting of the English and French princes at Troyes, 1420. He was created Duke of Gloucester (1 Henry V.) Sept. 26, 1414. His further career belongs to the next reign, and he will be found in the two following plays.

DUKE OF EXETER, Uncle to the King. - This personage was Thomas Beaufort, third son of John of Gaunt and Catharine Swynford, and therefore half-brother to Henry IV., who made him Admiral of the Fleet to the North

ward, and Captain of Calais; and for a soldier he was strangely appointed to be Lord Chancellor of England, a post usually filled by a churchman in our early reigns. By the same king he was created Earl of Dorset, and a K. G.; and by his nephew Henry V. in his first year Thomas Beaufort was made Lieutenant of Aquitaine, and in his fifth year (Nov. 18, 1418) Duke of Exeter, by which title he is known in the play; though at the time of the siege of Harfleur, and of the battle of Agincourt (both in 1415), he was still only Earl of Dorset, the poet giving him his higher rank by anticipation. He was not present at Agincourt, although nearly all writers have fallen into the mistake, followed by Shakspeare, of giving him a chief command there, that of the rearguard, which in fact was held by the Lord Camoys. It is remarkable that the poet himself has assigned a sufficient reason for Beaufort's absence from that famous field, for he makes King Henry confide Harfleur, after its capture, to his uncle's care (iii. 3. 51–53), –

ད

“Come, uncle Exeter,

Go you and enter Harfleur; there remain,
And fortify it strongly 'gainst the French."

This agrees with the language of a contemporaneous
ballad, "The Batayl of Egyne Court and the Great
Sege of Rone, imp. by John Skot," of which the orig-
inal manuscript is in the Bodleian Library; the king
saying,-

Myne uncle Dorset, without lettynge,
Captayne of Herfflete shall he be.”

And in fact his presence was urgently required at Harfleur, as the Count of Armagnac twice attacked the town

after its capture by the English, and was signally repulsed each time by the garrison under the Earl of Dorset, whose prowess on these occasions is highly praised by the old chroniclers. Sir N. Harris Nicolas, in his admirable History of the Battle of Agincourt, does not mention Dorset as being there, and he gives the name of every baron, knight, and lance engaged. In the latter part of this play Beaufort would be rightly styled Duke of Exeter, and he was present at Troyes, being one of the ambassadors on the part of Henry V. to negotiate his marriage. He is continued a character in the next play.

DUKE OF YORK, Cousin to the King.. This prince is the "Aumerle” in King Richard II., and was restored by Henry IV. to his father's title in 1406, and made a K. G. He redeemed his early career of infamy by his glorious death at Agincourt, "fought on the day of Crispin Crispianus" (iv. 7. 88), Oct. 25, 1415, where he commanded the English van, as recorded by Shakspeare, and also by Michael Drayton in his Ballad on Agincourt,

"The Duke of York so dread
The eager vanward led.”

He was very corpulent, and having been struck down by the Duke of Alençon, it was in stooping to assist his cousin that the king himself was assailed by that French prince, who smote off Henry's jewelled coronet.

EARL OF SALISBURY. This valiant noble was Thomas de Montacute, eldest son of the loyal Earl of Salisbury in King Richard II., and was restored to his father's forfeited title by Henry IV. He was one of the

greatest captains in the French wars of Henry V., by whom he was made a K. G., and rewarded with the earldom of Perche. He does not appear in the list given by Sir N. Harris Nicolas of those who fought at Agincourt, nor is he mentioned as being there by contemporary historians. He was one of the ambassadors to treat of Henry's marriage with the Princess Katharine, and was his lieutenant-general in Normandy. His career is continued in the next play.

EARL OF WESTMORELAND. — -This is the same nobleman who is a character in the two preceding plays, the great earl Ralph Nevill. He however was not the person who uttered the wish for more men from England (iv. 3. 16-18), but Sir Walter Hungerford, a most valiant knight, who, was present at Agincourt, with a train of "seventeen lances and fifty-five archers," and was much engaged in the wars of Henry V., who made him a K. G.

The Earl of Westmoreland could not be at Agincourt, because his duty would require him to remain in England, not only as one of the Council to the Regent Bedford, but also as Warden of the West Marches towards Scotland; and the necessity of guarding the North of England during Henry's absence, against "the weasel Scot," is strongly insisted upon (i. 2. 136–139) by the king himself,

"We must not only arm to invade the French,

But lay down our proportions to defend
Against the Scot, who will make road upon us
With all advantages."

He died in 1425, and was buried at Staindrop, Durham, where there is a magnificent tomb, with the effigies in