Dauphin and persuaded to return to his old allegiance. Henry creates Talbot Earl of Shrewsbury in recognition of his services. АСТ IV Talbot and his son John attempt to capture Bordeaux, but are surrounded by a much larger force of the French under the Dauphin. The quarrels of the Dukes of York and Somerset prevent them from sending additional troops to the Talbots and they are slain in a strongly contested battle. ACT V Henry VI consents to his guardians' plans for his marriage with the daughter of the French Earl of Armagnac. In a battle before Angiers, the English capture Joan of Arc and Margaret of Anjou. Joan is condemned to death at the stake and Henry is persuaded by the Duke of Suffolk to break his engagement with the Earl of Armagnac's daughter in favor of an alliance with Margaret. Charles the Dauphin swears allegiance to Henry VI and reigns as viceroy of France. THE FIRST PART OF KING HENRY VI ACT FIRST 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 Gloucester, Protector; the Duke of Exeter, the Earl of Warwick, the Bishop of Winchester, Heralds, &c. Bed. Hung be the heavens with black, yield day to night! Comets, importing change of times and states, And with them scourge the bad revolting stars 1. The upper part of the stage was in Shakespeare's times technically called the heavens, and was used to be hung with black when tragedies were performed. To this custom the text probably refers. -H. N. H. 3. "crystal," unnecessarily changed by Hanmer to "crisped"; Warburton, "cristed" or "crested"; Roderick, "tristful tresses in the sky," or "tresses in the crystal sky."—I. G. That have consented unto Henry's death! King Henry the Fifth, too famous to live long! England ne'er lost a king of so much worth. Glou. England ne'er had a king until his time. Virtue he had, deserving to command: His brandish'd sword did blind men with his beams: 10 His arms spread wider than a dragon's wings; Than mid-day sun fierce bent against their What should I say? his deeds exceed all speech: Exe. We mourn in black: why mourn we not in blood? Henry is dead and never shall revive: And death's dishonorable victory 20 The epithet Crystal was often bestowed on Comets by the old writers.-H. N. H. 5. consented unto, conspired to bring about.-C. H. H. 6. "King Henry the Fifth"; Pope, "Henry the Fifth"; Walker, "King Henry Fifth"; Pope's reading has been generally followed by modern editors.-I. G. 12. "wrathful"; Rowe, "awful.”—I. G. 17. Thomas Beaufort, the present duke of Exeter, was son to John of Ghent by Catherine Swynford; born out of wedlock, but legitimated along with three other children in the time of Richard II. Of course therefore he was great uncle to King Henry VI. At the death of Henry V he was appointed governor of the infant king, which office he held till his death in 1425. The Poet, however, prolongs his life till 1444, the period of the First Part. Holinshed calls him "a right sage and discreet counsellor." The name Beaufort was derived from the place of his birth, which was Beaufort castle in France.-H. N. H. We with our stately presence glorify, Like captives bound to a triumphant car. What! shall we curse the planets of mishap That plotted thus our glory's overthrow? Or shall we think the subtle-witted French Conjurers and sorcerers, that afraid of him By magic verses have contrived his end? Win. He was a king bless'd of the King of kings. Unto the French the dreadful judgment-day So dreadful will not be as was his sight. The battles of the Lord of hosts he fought: 24. "glory's"; Ff., “Glories.”—I. G. 30 27. "By magic verses have contrived his end"; alluding to the old notion "that life might be taken away by metrical charms" (Johnson). Ff. 2, 3, 4, "Verse"; Pope, "verse have thus."-I. G. This is well explained by a passage in Reginald Scot's Discoverie of Witchcraft, 1584: "The Irishmen will not sticke to affirme that they can rime man or Beast to death."-H. N. H. 28. Henry Beaufort, known in history as "the great bishop of Winchester," was brother to the duke of Exeter. At this time he held the office of chancellor, and was associated with Exeter in the governing of the infant sovereign. The quarrel between him and his nephew, the duke of Gloster, did not break out till 1425, though it had been brewing in secret for some time. In 1427 he was advanced by Pope Martin to the office of cardinal. The matter is thus related by Holinshed: "After that the duke of Bedford had set all things in good order in England, he returned into France, first landing at Calis, where the bishop of Winchester, that also passed the seas with him, received the habit, hat, and dignitie of a cardinall. The late king, right deeplie persing into the unrestrainable ambitious mind of the man, that even from his youth was ever to checke at the highest; and also right well ascertained with what intollerable pride his head should soone be swollen under such a hat; did therefore all his life long keepe this prelat backe from that presumptuous estate. But now, the king being yoong, and the regent his freend, he obteined his purpose to his great profit. For by a bull legantin, which he purchased from Rome, he gathered so much treasure, that no man in maner had monie but he; so that he was called the rich cardinall of Winchester."-H. N. H. Had not church The church's prayers made him so prosperous. Glou. The church! where is it? men pray'd, His thread of life had not so soon decay'd: None do you like but an effeminate prince, Whom, like a school-boy, you may over-awe. Win. Gloucester, whate'er we like, thou art Protector, And lookest to command the prince and realm. More than God or religious churchmen may. 40 Glou. Name not religion, for thou lovest the flesh, And ne'er throughout the year to church thou go'st Except it be to pray against thy foes. Bed. Cease, cease these jars and rest your minds in peace: Let's to the altar: heralds, wait on us: Instead of gold, we 'll offer up our arms; When at their mothers' moist eyes babes shall Our isle be made a marish of salt tears, And none but women left to wail the dead. 50 33. "had not"; Vaughan proposed "had but" (but cp. 11. 41–43).— I. G. 49. "moist"; so Ff. 2, 3, 4; F. 1, "moistned."-I. G. 50. The original has “nourish" here, which can hardly be made to yield any reasonable meaning. Pope thought "nourish" a misprint for "marish," an old form of “marsh”; and Ritson gives an apt quotation from Kyd's Spanish Tragedy: "Made mountains marsh with spring tides of my tears."-H. N. H. |