Now, therefore, be it known to noble Lewis,
That Henry, sole possessor of my love,
Is of a king become a banish'd man,
And forced to live in Scotland a forlorn;

25

While proud ambitious Edward Duke of York
Usurps the regal title and the seat

Of England's true-anointed lawful king.
This is the cause that I, poor Margaret,

30

With this my son, Prince Edward, Henry's heir,
Am come to crave thy just and lawful aid;
And if thou fail us, all our hope is done.
Scotland hath will to help, but cannot help;
Our people and our peers are both misled,
Our treasure seiz'd, our soldiers put to flight,
And, as thou seest, ourselves in heavy plight.
K. Lew. Renowned queen with patience calm the storm,
While we bethink a means to break it off.
Q. Mar. The more we stay, the stronger grows our foe.
K. Lew. The more I stay, the more I'll succour thee.
Q. Mar. O! but impatience waiteth on true sorrow:

And see where comes the breeder of my sorrow.

Enter WARWICK.

35

40

45

K. Lew. What's he approacheth boldly to our presence?
Q. Mar. Our Earl of Warwick, Edward's greatest friend.
K. Lew. Welcome, brave Warwick! What brings thee to
[He descends. She ariseth.

France?

...

23-43. Now, therefore the breeder of my sorrow] omitted Q. Enter K. Lew. What's he . . . presence? Our Earl. 10-12. Enter Lew. How now, who is this? friend... France? Q. [He . . .] Ff; omitted Q.

26. a forlorn] New Eng. Dict. has one early example of this word, as a noun, from Dunbar. Several such Scotticisms appear in these plays. 27. proud ambitious] See below, v. v. 17.

29. true-anointed] For "anointed king' see III. i. 17 and 76. Shakespeare has about fifteen such compounds, true- preceding a participle. Whether they are hyphened or not appears to be a toss-up. They belong chiefly to his early work. Peele's "true-succeeding" is not in Shakespeare. See Part II., Introduction, on Jack Straw.

38, 39. storm... break it off] turn

Our Earle

44-46. France ?] chiefest

it aside, an unhappy expression, as if the storm was to be cut short, like a conversation, by human means: especially as the Queen is about to calm it. Compare “break off the parley" above, II. ii. IIO. There is very poor writing in this scene. It is quite insipid, such as Kyd could have written; but although unworthy of Shakespeare it does not recall any other writer to me.

43. Enter Warwick] Ritson enumerates four considerable reasons for Warwick's displeasure with the King, all wholly independent of this "fabulous story of Warwick and the lady Bona" as told by "our common histories" (Steevens' Shakespeare, 1793).

Q. Mar. Ay, now begins a second storm to rise;
For this is he that moves both wind and tide.
War. From worthy Edward, King of Albion,

My lord and sovereign, and thy vowed friend,
I come, in kindness and unfeigned love,
First to do greetings to thy royal person;
And then to crave a league of amity;

50

And lastly to confirm that amity

With nuptial knot, if thou vouchsafe to grant

55

That virtuous Lady Bona, thy fair sister,

To England's king in lawful marriage.

Q. Mar. [Aside.] If that go forward, Henry's hope is done.

War. [To Bona] And, gracious madam, in our king's behalf,

I am commanded, with your leave and favour,
Humbly to kiss your hand, and with my tongue
To tell the passion of my sovereign's heart;
Where fame, late entering at his heedful ears,
Hath plac'd thy beauty's image and thy virtue.
Q. Mar. King Lewis and Lady Bona, hear me speak,
Before you answer Warwick. His demand
Springs not from Edward's well-meant honest love,

47, 48. Ay, now

60

65

Albion

tide] omitted Q. 49-57. From worthy lawful marriage] 13-21. From worthy... England... Lawfull marriage Q. 58. If that Henry's... done] 22. And if this . . . all our done Q. 59-64. And your leave.. passion... beauty's . virtue] 23-28. And. your love... passions . . . glorious . . . vertues Q. 65, 66. King Lewis. Warwick] 29-31. King Lewes. Warwike or his words, For hee it is hath done vs all these wrongs Q. 66-77. His demand presseth wrongs] omitted Q.

sup

But from deceit bred by necessity;
For how can tyrants safely govern home,
Unless abroad they purchase great alliance?
To prove him tyrant this reason may suffice,

70

That Henry liveth still; but were he dead,

Yet here Prince Edward stands, King Henry's son.

Look, therefore, Lewis, that by this league and marriage
Thou draw not on thy danger and dishonour;

75

For though usurpers sway the rule awhile,

And why not queen?

Yet heavens are just, and time suppresseth wrongs.
War. Injurious Margaret!
Prince.
War. Because thy father Henry did usurp,

And thou no more art prince than she is queen.
Oxf. Then Warwick disannuls great John of Gaunt,
Which did subdue the greatest part of Spain;
And, after John of Gaunt, Henry the Fourth,
Whose wisdom was a mirror to the wisest ;
And after that wise prince, Henry the Fifth,
Who by his prowess conquered all France:
From these our Henry lineally descends.

80

85

78-87. Injurious . . . Gaunt, Henry... the wisest ... that wise... Who by his... Henry. descends] 32-42. Injurious. Gaunt wise Henry the world... this wise... Who with his . . . Henries lineallie discent Q.

78. Injurious] detractory, insulting. See 2 Henry VI. 1. iv. 51. Used again in address similarly in Coriolanus and Cymbeline.

81. disannuls] cancels. Occurs again Comedy of Errors, I. i. 145. A common word at this time.

81, 82. John of Gaunt

subdue

Spain] Boswell Stone says Warwick might well have exposed this misrepresentation. John of Gaunt claimed Castile in right of his wife Constance, daughter of Pedro. But he failed to dethrone the son of Pedro's bastard brother, and obtained only a few slight successes by his invasion. Mr. Daniel suggests that popular belief is concerned, since a play was bought by Henslowe entitled "The Conquest of Spayne by John a Gant."

More to the point still, than either Stone's history or Daniel's suggestion, is a passage I find in Kyd's Spanish Tragedy, 1. vi. 48-52, ed. Boas) :

"a valiant Englishman,

War. Oxford, how haps it, in this smooth discourse,
You told not how Henry the Sixth hath lost

All that which Henry the Fifth had gotten?

90

Methinks these peers of France should smile at that.
But for the rest, you tell a pedigree

Of threescore and two years; a silly time
To make prescription for a kingdom's worth.

Oxf. Why, Warwick, canst thou speak against thy liege,
Whom thou obeyedst thirty and six years,
And not bewray thy treason with a blush?
War. Can Oxford, that did ever fence the right,
Now buckler falsehood with a pedigree?
For shame! leave Henry, and call Edward king.
Oxf. Call him my king, by whose injurious doom
My elder brother, the Lord Aubrey Vere,
Was done to death? and more than so, my father,
Even in the downfall of his mellow'd years,
When nature brought him to the door of death?

88-94. Oxford, how haps it... hath lost worth] 43-49. Oxford, how haps that . . (pedigree Q 3) worth Q. 95-97. Why,

...

95

100

105

had lost... that ... pettigree

speak liege, Whom

six years, And not blush ?] 50-52. Why ... denie thy king, Whom
eight yeeres, And bewray treasons
blush? Q. 98-108. Can

to the door

Oxford... pedigree?... by whose... elder... When nature house of York] 53-63. Can Oxford.. pettigree? (pedigree Q 3) . . by whom mine elder .. when age did call him to the dore . . . whilst . . of Yorke Q (lines wrongly divided for verse).

96. thirty and six years] thirty and eight yeares" in Q. Boswell Stone reconciles this discrepancy as follows: Warwick was attainted by the Lancastrian parliament at Coventry, 1459, and his allegiance was merely formal after the attempt made on his life ten months previously (1458); with which however we have nothing to do in the play. The date in the Quarto is perhaps a mere misprint-but the reduced time here may refer to the period exclusive of the wars, while that in Q brings the date down to the time of the speaker.

98. fence] defend, guard. See II. vi. 75 above.

99. buckler] defend. See 2 Henry VI. III. ii. 216. Also in Taming of the Shrew, III. ii. 241.

101-105. whose injurious doom

...

house

door of death] Hall tells in the first year of Edward the IV. (1461): "In the which yere he called his high Court of Parliament.

In the whiche Parliament, the erle of Oxford farre striken in age and the Lord Aubrey Vere, his sonne and heire, whether it were for malyce of their ennemies, or thei wer suspected or had offended, thei both and diuers of their counsailors, wer attainted and put to execution, whiche caused Ihon erle of Oxford ever after to rebell" (p. 258).

103. done to death] See note at I. iv. 108 above; and at II. i. 103.

104. mellow'd] See again Richard III. III. vii. 168. Kyd applies the word similarly in The Spanish Tragedy (1. iii. 41, ed. Boas): My yeeres were mellow, his but young and greene (ante 1589).

No, Warwick, no; while life upholds this arm,
This arm upholds the house of Lancaster.

War. And I the house of York.

K. Lew. Queen Margaret, Prince Edward, and Oxford,
Vouchsafe at our request to stand aside,

While I use further conference with Warwick.

IIO

[They stand aloof.

Q. Mar. Heavens grant that Warwick's words bewitch him

not!

K. Lew. Now, Warwick, tell me, even upon thy conscience,

Is Edward your true king? for I were loath

To link with him that were not lawful chosen.
War. Thereon I pawn my credit and mine honour.
K. Lew. But is he gracious in the people's eye?
War. The more that Henry was unfortunate.
K. Lew. Then further, all dissembling set aside,
Tell me for truth the measure of his love
Unto our sister Bona.

War.
Such it seems
As may beseem a monarch like himself.

Myself have often heard him say and swear
That this his love was an eternal plant,

115

I 20

Whereof the root was fixed in virtue's ground,

The leaves and fruit maintain'd with beauty's sun,

125

109-113. Queen... Vouchsafe. . . with Warwick. Q. Mar. Heavens him not! K. Lew. Now, Warwick] 64-67. Queene... vouchsafe to forbeare a while Till I doe talke a word with Warwike. Now Warwike Q (Queen's speech omitted). 113-115. tell me . for I.. were not lawful chosen] 67-69. euen vpon thy honor tell me true: Is Edward lawfull king or no? For I. is not lawful heire Q. is ... eye?

116-118. Thereon... my was unfortunate] 70-72. Thereon

credit. Lew. But. eies? is unfortunate Q.

honour. K. Lew. But mine honour and my 119-121. Then further 121-128. Such it

Bona] 73. What is his loue to our sister Bona? Q.

Whereof the root fixed... quit his pain] 74-81. Such it . . . The root whereof... fixt. . . quite his paine Q.

106. upholds] supports, sustains. 115. lawful chosen] "lawful heir " in Q. The words here refer to one claim to the crown; those in the Quarto to the other. Hall tells these details at considerable length; a few words suffice on this point: "after Te Deum sung with great solempnitie, he was conueyed to Westmynster, and there set in the hawle, with the sceptre royall in his hand, where, to all the people whiche there in a great number were assembled, his title and clayme to the croune of England was declared by ii maner of

wayes: the fyrste as sonne and heyre to Duke Richard his father, right enheritor to the same: the second by aucthoritie of Parliament and forfeiture committed by Kyng Henry. Wherupon it was agayne demaunded of the commons, if they would admitte, and take the sayd erle as their prince & soueraigne lord, which al with one voice cried yea, yea” (p. 252).

124. eternal] Here Qq correct the Folio, which reads "externall." Warburton made the change.