the proceedings in the case of Dame Eleanor, which really occurred several years before the opening of the play. Her crime and disgrace, however, are properly represented here, as they had a large share in bringing about the fall of her husband, while his fall had in turn much to do in kindling the fierce domestic wars that form the main subject of this and the following play. Besides, the matter in question furnishes occasion for a most characteristic passage between the Duchess and the Queen, though in fact they never met; thus giving an early taste of the haughty and vindictive temper, the indomitable energy, and the fire-spouting tongue, which marked the whole course of Margaret, fitting her to be, as in truth she was, the constant provoker and stirrer-up of hatreds and strifes.

In all other points the opening of the present play takes up the thread of history precisely where it was left at the close of the First Part. And the proceedings of the Second Part, in the main, grow forth naturally and in course from the principles of the First; the two plays being as closely interwoven as any two Acts of either. The passages of humour interspersed through the scenes of Cade and his followers are nearly the same in the quarto form of the play as in the folio. As these abound in the right Shakespeare flavour, it is out of the question for Greene or Marlowe to have written them, neither of whom seems to have had any humour at all in his composition. And it is remarkable that the strong instinct and impulse of humour seem in this case to have put the Poet upon blending together the elements of two widely-separated passages of history; the persons and events being those of the insurrection known as Jack Cade's, while the sentiments and designs are the same, in part, as became matter of history some seventy years before in the rebellion of Wat Tyler and Jack Straw. After the quelling of Cade's insurrection, which was in July, 1450, the Poet overleaps the events, with one exception, of more than four years, and enters upon the preliminaries of the battle of St. Alban's, which was the first ripe fulfilment of the presage and promise given out far back in the scene of the Temple Garden, and the forethought of which is more or less apparent in the whole preceding matter of the

dramatic series.

RICHARD PLANTAGENET, Duke of HUME and SOUTHWELL, Priests.

A Sea-Captain, Master, and Master's MARGERY JOURDAIN, a Witch.

Mate.

Wife to Simpcox.

Lords, Ladies, and Attendants; a Herald; Petitioners, Aldermen, a Beadle, Sheriff, and Officers; Citizens, Prentices, Falconers, Guards, Soldiers, Messengers, &c.

SCENE I. - London. A Room of State in the Palace.

Flourish of trumpets: then hautboys. Enter, on one side, King

HENRY, the Duke of GLOSTER, SALISBURY, WARWICK, and

Cardinal BEAUFORT; on the other, Queen MARGARET, led in by SUFFOLK; YORK, SOMERSET, BUCKINGHAM, and others following.

Suf. 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, Bretagne, and Alençon,
Seven earls, twelve barons, and twenty reverend bishops,
I did perform my task, and was espoused:

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 substance
Of that great shadow I did represent ;

The happiest gift that ever marquess gave,
The fairest queen that ever king received.

King. 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.

Queen. 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-liefest1 sovereign,

1 Alder-liefest is dearest of all; from alder, all, and liefest, the superlative of liefe or lieve, dear. The word, though pretty much obsolete in

Makes me the bolder to salute my King

With ruder terms, such as my wit affords,
And over-joy of heart doth minister.

King. Her sight did ravish; but her grace in speech,
Her words yclad with wisdom's majesty,

Make me from wondering fall to weeping joys;

Such is the fulness of my heart's content.

Lords, with one cheerful voice welcome my love.

All. [Kneeling.] Long live Queen Margeret, England's

happiness!

Queen. 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 Pole, 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;

King. 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.
King. Uncle of Winchester, I pray, read on.

Shakespeare's time, was occasionally used by the older writers. So in Chaucer's Troilus and Creseide, Book iii. v. 239: "Mine alderlevest lord, and brother dere." The German has allerliebst, and the Dutch allerliefste, in the same sense. Alder also occurs in composition with other words, as alderbest, alderfirst, alderlast, aldermost, all in Chaucer.

Car. [Reads.] Item, It is further agreed between them, that the duchies 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 any dowry.

King. They please us well. — Lord marquess, kneel thee

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
I' the parts of France, till term of eighteen months
Be full expired. - Thanks, uncle Winchester,
Gloster, York, Buckingham, Somerset,
Salisbury, and Warwick;

We thank you all for this great favour done,
In entertainment to my princely Queen.
Come, let us in; and with all speed provide
To see her coronation be perform'd.

[Exeunt King, Queen, and SUFFOLK.
Glo. Brave peers of England, pillars of the State,
To you Duke Humphrey must unload his grief,

Your grief, the common grief of all the land.
What did my brother Henry spend his youth,
His valour, coin, and people, in the wars?
Did he so often lodge in open field

In Winter's cold and Summer's parching heat,
To conquer France, his true inheritance?
And did my brother Bedford toil his wits,
To keep by policy what Henry got?

2 The wording of the instrument seems to have changed rather oddly in passing from Gloster's hand to Beaufort's. Some would account for this by supposing that Gloster's sudden dimness of vision causes him to misread the words; but the author has too many such discrepancies to admit of being explained in that way. An oversight, probably.

S