THE DRAMATIS PERSONÆ

IN

FIRST PART OF KING HENRY VI

[From French's "Shakespeareana Genealogica."]

Time of Action, from a. d. 1422 to a. D. 1443.

KING HENRY THE SIXTH. Of this most unfortunate monarch Fuller says in his quaint fashion: "This Henry was twice crowned, twice deposed, and twice buried, - first at Chertsey, and then at Windsor, and once half-sainted." Henry V. had expressly directed that his son's birth should not take place at Windsor, but the event occurred there Dec. 6, 1421; and when the young king came to the throne he was only eight months old.

The scenes in this play are much confused as to order of time, and the youthful sovereign is brought upon the stage long before he could take any active share in the realities of government. This First Part is made to commence with the funeral of Henry V. in Westminster Abbey, Nov. 11, 1422; and it closes with the departure of the Earl of Suffolk to treat for the hand of Margaret of Anjou, which commission was given in 1443. Henry VI. was crowned by Archbishop Chicheley, Nov. 6, 1429.

DUKE OF GLOUCESTER, Uncle of the King, and Protector. - The brave Humphrey Plantagenet, who fought

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so well at Agincourt, figures in this play as the chief guardian to the young king, his nephew; and in the very first scene he is brought into collision with the proud priest, the Bishop of Winchester, better known as Cardinal Beaufort, — in foretaste of the bitter hatred and struggle for power between them, which ceased not until the "good Duke Humphrey" came to an untimely end by his envious rival's means. The career of Gloucester is continued in the next play.

DUKE OF BEDFORD, Uncle to the King, and Regent of France. In this play the "Prince John of Lancaster," of former plays, closes his career of military glory and wise administration, sullied, however, by one blot, -his treatment of the heroine, Joan of Arc. Hume calls him "the most accomplished prince of the age," and Talbot's eulogy in the play (iii. 2. 134, 135) well expressed Bedford's character,

"A braver soldier never couched lance,

A gentler heart did never sway in court.”

This great general gained the famous battle of Verneuil, Aug. 27, 1424, against the combined French and Scots, and after achieving many other victories died at Rouen, the seat of his government, Sept. 14, 1435, after the execution of Joan of Arc, although in the play his own death is made to occur before that of the Maid of Orleans.

The Duke of Bedford was buried in the Church of St. Marie at Rouen, and the following inscription was placed on his tomb: "Cy gist fu de noble memoire tres-haut et puissant prince Johan en son vivant Regent le Roialme de France, Duc de Bedford; pour lequel est fondre une

Messe estre chez un jour perpetuellement celebre a cest autel par le college des Clementines incontinent apres prime. Et trespassa le xiv jour de Septembre l' an Mill. ccccxxxv, au quel xiv jour semblablement est fonde pour luy une solempnele en ceste Eglise. Dieu face pardon a son ame." Greatly to his praise, Louis XI. refused to deface the monument to Bedford's memory when urged to do so, declaring, “Let his body rest in quiet, which when he was living would have disquieted the proudest of us all; and as for his tomb, which I assure you is not so worthy as his acts deserve, I account it an honour to have his remains in my dominions.”

THOMAS BEAUFORT, Duke of Exeter. This is the character in the last play, but as he died Dec. 27, 1426, his introduction is out of place in many of the scenes, as in that of his nephew's coronation in Paris (iv. 1), which did not occur till 1431. Thomas Beaufort had no issue by his wife Margaret, daughter of Sir Thomas Nevill, and his large estates passed to his nephew, John Beaufort, first Duke of Somerset.

HENRY BEAUFORT, Great Uncle to the King, Bishop of Winchester, aad afterwards Cardinal. This eminent ecclesiastic was the second son of John of Gaunt and Catharine Swynford; and Humphrey of Gloucester takes care to remind his rival of the bar-sinister attaching to his birth (iii. 1. 42), « Thou bastard of my grandfather," for no Act of Parliament can change a natural taint of blood in a person, though it may, restore him to forfeited honours.

Henry Beaufort was born about the year 1370, and in 1402 succeeded the illustrious William of Wickham

in the see of Winchester, and in the same year was appointed Lord High Chancellor. He became extremely rich, and lent to his nephew, Henry V., the large sum (for those days) of £28,000 for his French wars. His abilities, as well as his birth, qualified him for the leading part which he took in state affairs during the long minority of his great-nephew. In 1426, June 23, Pope Martin V. made him Cardinal of St. Eusebius. In opposition to the Duke of Gloucester, who wished the young king to marry a daughter of the Count of Armagnac, Cardinal Beaufort recommended Margaret of Anjou, and his interest prevailed. The character of this prelate, as drawn in the play, agrees with the account given of him by the old chroniclers, "haughty in stomach, and high in countenance," says Holinshed, "and strong in malice and mischief." His career is continued in the next play.

JOHN BEAUFORT, Earl, afterwards Duke of Somerset.· This character was third earl, succeeding his elder brother Henry in that title, and was second son of John Beaufort, first Earl of Somerset, the eldest of the children of John of Gaunt and Catharine Swynford. The first earl was a distinguished soldier, under his father, and in the reign of Richard II. was Constable of Dover Castle and Warden of the Cinque Ports; he died in 1410, and his third son, Edmund Beaufort, afterwards Duke of Somerset, is a character in the Second Part of King Henry VI.

The character in this play served with great honour in the French wars, was a K. G., and was created by Henry VI. in 1443 Duke of Somerset. He died in the next year, leaving by his wife Margaret, daughter of Sir John Beauchamp of Bletsho, an only child, the great heiress,

Margaret Beaufort, who married Edmund Tudor, Earl of Richmond; and their only son sat on the throne as Henry VII.

John Beaufort, Duke of Somerset, and his wife, Margaret Beauchamp, are buried under a rich monument at Wimborne Minster, Dorsetshire, where their daughter, the Countess of Richmond, founded a grammar-school in 1497.

RICHARD PLANTAGENET, son of Richard late Earl of Cambridge, afterwards Duke of York. This prince was the only son of Richard of Coningsburg and Anne Mortimer. As his father had been attainted, it was necessary that he should be restored in blood; thus Somerset taunts him (ii. 4. 95), " And, till thou art restored, thou art a yeoman." This taint was removed in the Parliament held April 30, 1425 (iii. 1. 159), where King Henry, though only in his fourth year, is made to express his pleasure, "That Richard be restored to his blood." He was at the same time created Duke of York (iii. 1. 173), the title which had been held by his uncle, who fell at Agincourt, and by his grandfather, Edmund of Langley. In 8 Henry VI., he was made Constable of England during the absence of the Duke of Bedford in France; and at the death in 1435 of that warlike prince he succeeded him as Regent of France, conjointly with the Duke of Somerset. The introduction however of the Duke of York in iv. 1 is premature, as he did not arrive in France until 1436. He had been elected a K. G. in 1433. As his sons, although really too young for such scenes, are introduced in the Second Part, it will be most in place here to notice the marriage of Richard Plantagenet with Cicely Nevill, the "Rose of Raby,"

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