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* That she, poor wretch, for grief can speak no

more:

* Whiles Warwick tells his title, fmooths the wrong, * Inferreth arguments of mighty ftrength;2 * And, in conclufion, wins the king from her, * With promise of his fifter, and what else, *To strengthen and support king Edward's place. *O Margaret, thus 'twill be; and thou, poor foul, * Art then forfaken, as thou went'ft forlorn.

2 KEEP. Say, what art thou, that talk'st of kings and queens?

'K. HEN. More than I seem, and less than I was born to :4

A man at leaft, for lefs I fhould not be ;5 And men may talk of kings, and why not I?

2

2 KEEP. Ay, but thou talk'st as if thou wert a king.

'K. HEN. Why, so I am, in mind ; and that's enough."

Inferreth arguments of mighty ftrength;] In the former A&t was the fame line:

"Inferring arguments of mighty force." JOHNSON. This repetition, like many others in these two plays, feems to have arisen from Shakspeare's firft copying his original as it lay before him, and afterwards in fubfequent paffages (added to the old matter) introducing expreffions which had ftruck him in preceding scenes. In the old play the line occurs but once.

MALONE. 30 Margaret, &c.] The piety of Henry fcarce interefts us more for his misfortunes, than this his conftant folicitude for the welfare of his deceitful Queen. STEEVENS.

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lefs than I was born to:] Thus the folio. The quartos for lefs I fhould not be. STEEVENS.

for lefs I fhould not be ;] Such is the reading of the folio. The quartos thus- -and more I cannot be. STEEVENS. but thou talkft as if thou wert a king.

6

K. Hen. Why, fo I am, in mind;] There feems to be an

1

2 KEEP. But, if thou be a king, where is thy

crown?

K. HEN. My crown is in my heart, not on my

head;

*Not deck'd with diamonds, and Indian ftones, *Nor to be feen: my crown is call'd, content; 'A crown it is, that feldom kings enjoy.

2 KEEP. Well, if you be a king crown'd with content,

Your crown content, and you, must be contented 'To go along with us: for, as we think, "You are the king, king Edward hath depos'd; And we his fubjects, fworn in all allegiance,8 * Will apprehend you as his enemy.

* K. HEN. But did you never fwear, and break an oath?

*2 KEEP. No, never fuch an oath, nor will not

now.

*K. HEN. Where did you dwell, when I was king of England?

* 2 KEEP. Here in this country, where we now remain.

*K. HEN. I was anointed king at nine months

old;

allufion to a line in an old fong, (quoted in Every Man out of his Humour):

"My mind to me a kingdom is." MALONE.

See Dr. Percy's Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, 3d edit. Vol. I. p. 293. STEEVENS.

7

66

and that's enough.] So the folio. The quartos thus: though not in fhow." STEEVENS.

And we his fubjects, &c.] So the folio. The quartos thus: "And therefore we charge you in God's name, and the

king's,

"To go along with us unto the officers." STEEevens.

*My father and my grandfather, were kings; * And you were fworn true fubjects unto me: * And, tell me then, have you not broke your oaths?

*1 KEEP. No;

For we were fubjects, but while you were king.

*K. HEN. Why, am I dead? do I not breathe a

man?

* Ah, fimple men, you know not what you fwear. * Look, as I blow this feather from my face, * And as the air blows it to me again,9 * Obeying with my wind when I do blow, * And yielding to another when it blows, * Commanded always by the greater guft; *Such is the lightnefs of you common men. * But do not break your oaths; for, of that fin *My mild entreaty fhall not make you guilty. *Go where you will, the king fhall be commanded:

* And be you kings; command, and I'll obey. *1 KEEP. We are true fubjects to the king, king Edward.

*K. HEN. So would you be again to Henry, *If he were feated as king Edward is.

1 KEEP. We charge you, in God's name, and in the king's,

Το

go

I

with us unto the officers.

Look, as I blow this feather from my face,

And as the air blows it to me again, &c.] So, in The Winter's Tale:

I

"I am a feather for each wind that blows." MALONE. -and in the king's,] The prepofition-in, which is wanting in the old copy, I have supplied for the sake of metre. STEEVENS.

"K. HEN. In God's name, lead; your king's name be obey'd:

*And what God will, then let your king perform ;' * And what he will, I humbly yield unto.

[Exeunt.

SCENE II.

London. A Room in the Palace.

Enter King EDWARD, GLOSTER, CLARENCE, and Lady GREY.

'K. EDW. Brother of Glofter, at Saint Albans'

field

This lady's husband, fir John Grey,3 was flain,
His lands then feiz'd on by the conqueror :
Her fuit is now, to repoffefs thofe lands;
"Which we in juftice cannot well deny,
Because in quarrel of the houfe of York
The worthy gentleman did lofe his life.4

2 In God's name, lead; &c.] So the folio. Inftead of this fpeech, the quartos have the following:

3

"God's name be fulfill'd, your king's name be
"Obey'd; and be you kings; command, and I'll obey."
STEEVENS.

-fir John Grey,] Vid. Hall, Third Year of Edward IV. folio 5. It was hitherto falfely printed Richard. POPE.

Sir John Grey was flain at the fecond battle of St. Albans, fighting on the fide of King Henry. MALONE.

4 His lands then feiz'd on by the conqueror :
Her fuit is now, to repoffefs thofe lands
Which we in juftice cannot well deny,
Becaufe in quarrel of the houfe of York

The worthy gentleman did lofe his life.] This is in every particular a falfification of history. Sir John Grey, as has been already obferved, fell in the fecond battle of St. Albans, which

GLO. Your highness fhall do well, to grant her fuit; * It were dishonour, to deny it her.

K. EDW. It were no lefs; but yet I'll make a pause. 'GLO. Yea! is it fo 5

I fee, the lady hath a thing to grant,

Before the king will grant her humble fuit.

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CLAR. He knows the game; How true he keeps

the wind?

GLO. Silence!

[Afide. [Afide.

· K. EDW. Widow, we will confider" of your suit ;

was fought on Shrove-Tuesday, Feb. 17, 1460-1, fighting on the fide of king Henry; and fo far is it from being true that his lands were feized by the conqueror, (Queen Margaret,) that they were in fact feized by the very person who now speaks, after his great victory at Towton, on the 29th of March, 1461. The prefent fcene is laid in 1464.

Shakspeare in new moulding this play followed implicitly his author, (for these five lines, with only a flight variation in the third, and fifth, are found in the old play,) without giving himfelf the trouble to examine the hiftory; but a few years afterwards, when he had occafion to write his Richard III. and was not warped by a preceding mifreprefentation of another writer, he stated from the chronicles this matter truly as it was; and this is one of the numerous circumftances that prove incontestably, in my apprehenfion, that he was not the original author of this and the preceding play.

In King Richard III. A&t I. fc. iii. Richard addreffing himself to Queen Elizabeth, (the lady Grey of the present scene,) fays: "In all which time you, and your husband Grey,

"Were factious for the houfe of Lancafter ;

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(And Rivers fo were you :)-was not your husband "In Margaret's battle at Saint Albans flain ?"

He calls it Margaret's battle, because she was there victorious. MALONE.

s Glo. Yea! is it fo? &c.] So the folio. The quartos read with the following variations :

"Glo. I, is the wind in that door?

"Clarence. I fee the lady" &c. STEEVENS.

Widow, we will confider-] This is a very lively and Spritely dialogue; the reciprocation is quicker than is common in Shakspeare. JOHNSON.

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