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"My lord of Gloucester, and lord Mortimer,
"To do you honour in your fovereign's eyes,
"That, as we hear, is newly come aland,
"From Palestine, with all his men of war,

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(The poor remainder of the royal fleet, "Preferv'd by miracle in Sicil road,)

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"Go mount your courfers, meet him on the way; Pray him to fpur his fteed, minutes and hours, "Untill his mother fee her princely fon,

"Shining in glory of his fafe return."

Edward I. by George Peele, 1593.

"Then go thy ways, and clime up to the clouds, "And tell Apollo that Orlando fits

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Making of verses for Angelica.

"And if he do deny to fend me down

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"The fhirt which Deianira fent to Hercules,
"To make me brave upon my wedding day,
"Tell him I'll país the Alps, and up to Meroe,
(I know he knows that watry lakish hill)
"And pull the harp out of the minstrels hands,
"And pawne it unto lovely Proferpine,
"That the may fetch the faire Angelica.".

Orlando Furiofo, by Robert Greene, printed in
1599; written before 1592.

"The work that Ninus rear'd at Babylon,
"The brazen walls fram'd by Semiramis,
"Carv'd out like to the portal of the funne,
"Shall not be such as rings the English ftrand
"From Dover to the market-place of Rye."

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Proportion'd as was Paris, when in gray, "He courted Oenon in the vale by Troy."

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"Who dar'd for Edward's fake cut through the feas, "And venture as Agenor's damfel through the deepe.".

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"England's rich monarch, brave Plantagenet,
"The Pyren mountains fwelling above the clouds,
"That ward this wealthy Caftile in with walls,

"Could not detain the beauteous Eleanor;

"But hearing of the fame of Edward's youth,

“She dar'd to brave Neptunus' haughty pride, “And brave the brunt of froward Eolus.”

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"Daphne, the damfel that caught Phoebus faft, "And lock'd him in the brightness of her looks, "Was not fo beauteous in Apollo's eyes,

"As is fair Margaret, to the Lincoln earl."

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"We must lay plots for stately tragedies,

Strange comick fhews, fuch as proud Rofcius "Vaunted before the Roman emperours."

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"Lacy, thou can'ft not fhrowd thy traiterous thoughts, "Nor cover, as did Caffius, all his wiles; "For Edward hath an eye that looks as far "As Lynceus from the thores of Greecia."

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"Pardon, my lord: If Jove's great royalty
"Sent me fuch prefents as to Danae;
"If Phoebus tied to Latona's webs,

"Came courting from the beauty of his lodge;
"The dulcet tunes of frolick Mercurie,

"Nor all the wealth heaven's treasury affords
"Should make me leave lord Lacy or his love."

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"Shew thee the tree leav'd with refined gold,
"Whereon the fearful dragon held his feate,
"That watch'd the garden call'd Hefperides,
"Subdued and wonne by conquering Hercules."

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Margaret,

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"That overfhines our damfels, as the moone "Darkens the brightest sparkles of the night."

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"Should'Paris enter in the courts of Greece, "And not lie fetter'd in fair Helen's looks? "Or Phoebus fcape those piercing amorists, "That Daphne glanced at his deitie ? "Can Edward then fit by a flame and freeze, "Whose heats put Hellen and fair Daphne down?" The Honourable Hiftorie of Friar Bacon, &c. by Robert Greene; written before 1592, printed in 1598.

King. Thus far, ye English Peers, have we display'd "Our waving enfigns with a happy war;

"Thus nearly hath our furious rage reveng'd

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My daughter's death upon the traiterous Scot; "And now before Dunbar our camp is pitch'd, "Which, if it yield not to our compromife, "The place fhall furrow where the palace ftood, "And fury fhall envy fo high a power,

"That mercy fhall be banish'd from our fword. "Doug. What feeks the English king?

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King. Scot, ope those gates, and let me enter in. "Submit thyself and thine unto my grace,

"Or I will put each mother's fon to death, "And lay this city level with the ground.'

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James IV. by Robert Greene, printed in 1598; written before 1592.

"Valeria, attend; I have a lovely bride "As bright as is the heaven chrystaline; "As faire as is the milke-white way of Jove, "As chafte as Phoebe in her fummer fports, "As foft and tender as the azure downe "That circles Citherea's filver doves; "Her do I meane to make my lovely bride, "And in her bed to breathe the fweet content “That I, thou know'ft, long time have aimed at."

The Taming of a Shrew, written before 1594. "Pol. Faire Emilia, fummers bright fun queene, "Brighter of hew than is the burning clime "Where Phoebus in his bright equator fits, "Creating gold and pretious minerals, "What would Emilia doe, if I were fond

"To leave faire Athens, and to range the world? "Emil. Should thou affay to scale the feate of Jove, Mounting the fubtle airie regions,

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"Or be fnatcht up, as erft was Ganimede,

"Love fhould give wings unto my swift defires, "And prune my thoughts, that I would follow thee, "Or fall and perifh as did Icarus." Ibid.

"Barons of England, and my noble lords,

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Though God and fortune hath bereft from us "Victorious Richard, fcourge of infidels, "And clad this land in ftole of difmal hue, "Yet give me leave to joy, and joy you all,

"That from this wombe hath sprung a fecond hope, "A king that may in rule and virtue both

"Succeed his brother in his emperie."

The troublesome Raigne of King John, 1591.

"C -as fometimes Phaeton,

"Mistrusting filly Merops for his fire-." Ibid. "As curfed Nero with his mother did,

"So I with you, if you refolve me not." Ibid.

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"Peace, Arthur, peace! thy mother makes thee wings, "To foar with peril after Icarus." Ibid.

"How doth Alecto whisper in my ears,

"Delay not, Philip, kill the villaine straight." Ibid.

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"Philippus atavis edite regibus,

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"What faift thou, Philip, fprung of ancient kings,Quo me rapit tempeftas ?" Ibid.

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"Morpheus, leave here thy filent ebon cave, Befiege his thoughts with dismal phantafies; "And ghaftly objects of pale threatning Mors, "Affright him every minute with ftern looks." Ibid.

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"Here is the ransome that allaies his rage,
"The firft freehold that Richard left his fonne,
"With which I fhall furprize his living spies,
"As Hector's ftatue did the fainting Greeks."

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Ibid.

"This curfed country, where the traitors breathe, "Whose perjurie (as proud Briareus)

"Beleaguers all the fky with misbelief." Ibid.

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"Muft Constance speak? let tears prevent her talk. "Muft I difcourfe? let Dido figh, and fay,

"She weeps again to hear the wrack of Troy." Ibid.

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"John, 'tis thy fins that make it miserable, "Quicquid delirant reges, plectuntur Achivi." Ibid.

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King. Robert of Artoys, banish'd though thou be, "From France, thy native country, yet with us

"Thou shalt retain as great a fignorie,

"For we create thee earle of Richmond, here:

"And now go forwards with our pedigree;

"Who next fucceeded Philip of Bew?

"Art. Three fonnes of his, which, all fuccessfully,

"Did fit upon their father's regal throne;

"Yet died, and left no iffue of their loynes.

"King. But was my mother fifter unto these?

"Art. She was, my lord; and only Ifabel "Was all the daughters that this Philip had."

The Raigne of King Edward III. 1596.

The tragedies of Marius and Sylla, by T. Lodge, 1594, A Looking Glafs for London and England, by T. Lodge and R. Greene, 1598, Solyman and Perfeda, written before 1592, Selimus, Emperour of the Turks, 1594, The Spanish Tragedy, 1392, and Titus Andronicus, will all furnish examples of a fimilar verfification; a verfification fo exactly correfponding with that of The First Part of King Henry VI. and The Whole Contention of the Two Houfes of Yorke and Lancaster, &c. as it originally appeared, that I have no doubt thefe plays were the production of fome one or other of the authors of the pieces above quoted or enumerated.

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A paffage in a pamphlet written by Thomas Nafhe, an intimate friend of Greene, Peele, &c. fhows that The First Part of King Henry VI had been on the stage before 1592; and his favourable mention of this piece inclines me to believe that it was written by a friend of his. How would it have joyed brave Talbot, (fays Nathe in Pierce Pennilesse his Supplication to the Devil, 1592,) the terror of the French, to thinke that after he had lyen two hundred yeare in his tombe, he should triumph again on the ftage; and have his bones new embalmed with the teares of ten thousand fpectators at least, (at several times) who in the tragedian that reprefents his perfon behold him fresh bleeding.'

This paffage was feveral years ago pointed out by my friend Dr. Farmer, as a proof of the hypothefis which I am now endea vouring to eftablish. That it related to the old play of King Henry VI. or, as it is now called, The First Part of K. Henry VI. cannot, I think, be doubted. Talbot appears in the First part, and not in the second or third part; and is exprefsly spoken of in the play, (as well as in Hall's Chronicle,) as "the terror of the French." Holinfhed, who was Shakspeare's guide, omits the paffage in Hall, in which Talbot is thus defcribed; and this is an additional proof that this play was not our author's. But of this more hereafter.

The First Part of King Henry VI. (as it is now called) furnishes us with other internal proofs also of its not being the work of Shakspeare.

1. The author of that play, whoever he was, does not seem to have known precifely how old Henry the Sixth was at the time of his father's death. He opens his play indeed with the funeral of Henry the Fifth, but no where mentions exprefsly the young king's age. It is clear, however, from one paffage, that he fup

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