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HENRY THE SIXTH.

THIRD PART.

Dramatis

Perfonæ

MEN.

HENRY THE SIXTH.

EARL OF RICHMOND, a Youth, afterwards Henry the Seventh.

LORD RIVERS, Brother to the Lady Gray, Wife to Edward Duke of York, afterwards Edward the Fourth.

LORD CLIFFORD.

LORD HASTINGS.

WOMEN.

1 1

MARGARET OF ANJOU, Queen to Henry the Sixth. LADY GRAY, Wife to Edward Duke of York, afterwards Queen.

HENRY the SIXTH.

THIRD PART.

MR

R. Theobald fufpects the three parts of this Drama to be fpurious, on account of fome obfolete expreffions in them, alder-lieveft, unneath, mailed, me-feemeth, darraign, exigent, a-brook, &c.*; and Doctor Warburton is of the fame opinion, from the want of fpirit and effect in the compofition. If I was to offer an objection to the authenticity of thefe Pieces, it should be rather from their barrenness of fentiment, or reflection; though I think there is enough of the ftile and manner of Shakespeare, in them all, to evince them to be his.

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There is a natural inftinct, even ftronger than that of felf-prefervation, implanted in all the brute creation for the fafety of their young - The fimpleft animals manifest an art, and the moft pufillanimous fhew a courage, in the defence of their progeny ; but this, only till they become capable of taking care of themselves. Account for this Providence, upon the principle of uninspired mechanifm, if ye can, ye unphilofophic Sophifters!

Clifford. Unreasonable † creatures feed their young;
And though man's face be fearful to their eyes,

Mr. Theobald does not enumerate the words, but I have taken this task upon me, in order to give the fulleft force to his criticifm. The Antients have left us an humane maxim, that we should never speak ill of the dead. I think we should carry this moral even further, by doing them every juftice in our power. What has particularly induced me to make this remark, is, that Doctor Johnfon fays he can obferve but two expreffions of the old phrafeology, throughout thefe three Plays. I do not mean to make any comparifon between the fenfe, knowledge, or literature of these two critics; but Dr. Johnfon is alive, to answer for himself, and poor Theobald muft now fpeak by another's tongue.

† Irrational,

Yet,

Yet, in protection of their tender ones,

Who hath not feen them, even with those wings
Which fometimes they have afed with fearful flight,
Make war with him that climbs unto their neft,
Offering their own lives in their young's defence?

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The eafe and fecurity of the fubject is finely contrafted with the anxiety and danger of the Prince, in one of our Author's oft-repeated reflections upon this fubject, in a foliloquy made by the King reclining on a hillock, during the warfare between the houfes of York and Lancaster.

Would I were dead, if God's good will were fo!
For what is in this world, but grief and woe?
O God! methinks it were a happier life,
To be no better than a homely fwain ;
To fit upon a hill, as I do now,

To carve out dials quaintly, point by point;
Thereby to mark the minutes as they run,
How many make the hour* full compleat,
How many hours bring about the day,
How many days will finish up the year,
How many years a mortal man may live.
When this is known, then to divide the time;
So many hours must I tend my flock,
So many hours muft I take my rest,
So many hours muft I contemplate,
So many hours must I fport myfelf;

So many days my.ewes have been with young,
So many weeks ere the poor fools will yean,
So many months ere I fhall fheer the fleece;
So minutes, hours, days, weeks, months and years,
Paft over, to the end they were created,

Would bring white hairs unto a quiet grave.

Ah! what a life were this! how fweet, how lovely!
Gives not the haw-thorn bufh a sweeter fhade

To fhepherds looking on their filly fheep,
Than doth a rich-embroidered canopy
To kings that fear their fubjects' treachery?
O yes, it doth-a thousand-fold it doth.
And to conclude, the fhepherd's homely curds,
His cold thin drink out of his leather bottle,
His wonted fleep under a fresh tree's shade,

Throughout this fpeech, and many other places, our Author ufes baur as a word of two syllables.

All

All which fecure and fweetly he enjoys,
Is far beyond a prince's delicates,
His viands fparkling in a golden cup,
His body couched on a curious bed,

When care, mistrust, and treasons wait on him.

ACT III. SCENE

I.

Upon the occafion of Queen Margaret and Warwick's going to France; one to folicit the aid of Lewis for Lancafter, and the other for York, poor. Henry makes a very natural reflection, foreboding how the ballance will probably incline, where intereft holds the fcales between two fupplicants, whereof one has only fomething to afk, and the other fomething to proffer.

King. My queen and fon are gone to France for aid;
And, as I hear, the great commanding Warwick
Is thither gone to crave the French king's fifter
To wife for Edward. If this news be true,
Poor queen and fon! your labour is but loft;
For Warwick is a fubtle orator,

And Lewis a prince foon won with moving words.
By this account, then, Margaret may win him;
For fhe's a woman to be pitied much;
Her fighs will make a battery in his breast,
Her tears will pierce into a marble heart,
The tyger will be mild, while the doth mourn,
And Nero would be tainted with remorfe,
To hear and fee her plaints, her brinish tears.
Ay, but he's come to beg-Warwick to give;
She, on his left fide, craving aid for Henry ;
He, on his right, afking a wife for Edward.
She weeps, and fays, her Henry is depofed;
He fmiles, and fays, his Edward is inftalled;
That the, poor wretch, for grief can speak no more,
While Warwick tells his title, fmooths the wrong,
Inferreth arguments of mighty ftrength,
And, in conclufion, wins the king from her,
With promife of his fifter, and what elfe,
To ftrengthen and fupport king Edward's place.
O Margaret, thus 'twill be, and thou, poor foul,
Art then forfaken, as thou went'ft forlorn.

In the fame Scene, this unhappy Prince, who appears, throughout, to be more fit for a fubject, than

X

a king,

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