K. Henry. Prepare we for our marriage; on which day,

My Lord of Burgundy, we'll take your oath
And all the Peers, for furety of our leagues.
Then fhall I fwear to Kate, and you to me,
And may our oaths well kept, and profp'rous be!

Enter Chorus.

Thus far with rough, and all unable, pen

2

[Exeunt.

Our blending author hath purfu'd the ftory; In little room confining mighty men,

Mangling by ftarts the full courfe of their glory.
Small time, but, in that small, most greatly liv'd
This Star of England; fortune made his fword,
By which the world's beft garden he atchiev'd,
And of it left his fon imperial Lord.

Henry the Sixth, in infant bands crown'd King
Of France and England, did this King fucceed,
Whose state so many had i'th' managing,

That they loft France, and made his England bleed: Which oft our stage hath fhown; and, for their fake, In your fair minds let this acceptance take. +

4

has perhaps been the model of all the bullies that have yet appeared on the English tage.

The lines given to the chorus have many admirers; but the truth is, that in them a little may be praifed, and much must be forgiven; nor can it be easily difcovered why the intelligence given by the chorus is more neceffary in this play than in many others where it is omitted. The great defect of this play is the emptiness and narrowness of the last act, which a very little diligence might have easily avoided.

THE

FIRST PART

O F

HENRY

VI.

KING Henry the Sixth.

Duke of Gloucefter, Uncle to the King, and Protector. Duke of Bedford, Uncle to the King, and Regent of France. Cardinal Beauford, Bishop of Winchefter, and great Uncle to the King.

Duke of Exeter.
Duke of Somerset.

Earl of Warwick.
Earl of Salisbury.
Earl of Suffolk.
Lord Talbot.

Young Talbot, his Son.

Richard Plantagenet, afterwards Duke of York.
Mortimer, Earl of March.

Sir John Faftolfe. Woodvile, Lieutenant of the Tower.
Lord Mayor of London. Sir Thomas Gargrave,
Sir William Glanfdale. Sir William Lucy.
Vernon, of the White Rofe, or York Faction.
Baffet, of the Red Rofe, or Lancaster Faction.
Charles, Dauphin, and afterwards King of France.
Reignier, Duke of Anjou, and Titular King of Naples.
Duke of Burgundy.

Duke of Alanfon.

Baftard of Orleans.

Governor of Paris.

Mafter Gunner of Orleans. Boy, his Son:
An old Shepherd, Father to Joan la Pucelle.

Margaret, Daughter to Reignier, and afterwards Queen to King Henry.

Countess of Auvergne.

Joan la Pucelle, a Maid pretending to be infpir'd from Heav'n, and fetting up for the Championess of France. Fiends, attending her.

Lords, Captains, Soldiers, Messengers, and feveral Attendants both on the English and French.

The SCENE is partly in England, and partly in

France.

The FIRST PART of

King HENRY VI

ACT I. SCENE I,

WESTMINSTER-Abbey.

Dead March. Enter the Funeral of King Henry the Fifth, attended on by the Duke of Bedford, Regent of France; the Duke of Gloucefter, Protector; the Duke of Exeter, and the Earl of Warwick, the Bishop of Winchester, and the Duke of Somerset.

H

BEDFORD.

UNG be the heavens with black, yield day
to night!

Comets, importing change
change of times and

ftates,

The first Part of K. HENRY VI.] The Historical Tranfactions contained in this Play, take in the Compafs of above 30 Years. I muft obferve, however, that our Author, in the three Parts of Henry VI. has not been very precife to the Date and Difpofition of his Facts; but fhuffled them, backwards and

Brandifh

For

forwards, out of Time. Inftance; The Lord Talbot is kill'd at the End of the 4th Ac of this Play, who in reality did not fall till the 13th of July 1453: and the 2d Part of Henry VI. opens with the Marriage of the King, which was folemniz'd 8 Years before Talbot's Death, in the Year 1445. Again, in

the