HENRY VI.

PART II.

BY

WILL. SHAKSPERE:

Printed Complete from the TEXT of

SAM. JOHNSON and GEO. STEEVENS,
And revised from the last Editions.

When Learning's triumph o'er her barb'rous foes
First rear'd the Stage, immortal SHAKSPERE rose;
Each change of many-colour'd life he drew,
Exhausted worlds, and then imagin'd new:
Existence saw him spurn her bounded reign,
And panting Time toil'd after him in vain:
His pow'rful strokes presiding Truth confess'd,
And unresisted Passion storm'd the breast.

DR. SAMUEL JOHNSON

LONDON:

Printed for, and under the direction of,
JOHN BELL, British-Library, STRAND,

Bookseller to his Royal Highness the PRINCE OF WALES.

M DCC LXXXVI.

BIBLIOTHECA

REGIA

MONACENSIS.

OBSERVATIONS

ON THE Fable AND Composition OF THE

SECOND

PART OF

HENRY

VI.

THI's and The Third Part of King Henry VI. contain that troublesome period of this prince's reign which took in the whole contention betwixt the houses of York and Lancaster and under that title were these two plays first acted and published. The present scene opens with king Henry's marriage, which was in the twenty-third year of his reign; and closes with the first battle fought at St. Alban's, and won by the York faction, in the thirty-third year of his reign: so that it comprises the history and transactions of ten years.

THEOBALD.

A ij

MEN.

King HENRY the Sixth.
HUMPHREY, Duke of GLOSTER, Uncle to the King.
Cardinal BEAUFORT, Bishop of Winchefter.
Duke of YORK, pretending to the Crown.
Duke of BUCKINGHAM,
Duke of SOMERSET,
Duke of SUFFOLK,
Earl of SALISBURY,
Earl of WARWICK,
Lord CLIFFORD, of the King's Party.
Lord SAY.

of the King's Party.

of the York Faction.

Lord SCALES, Governor of the Tower.
Sir HUMPHREY STAFFORD.

Young STAFFORD, bis Brother.

ALEXANDER IDEN, a Kentish Gentleman.
Young CLIFFORD, Son to Lord Clifford.
EDWARD

RICHARD PLANTAGEET, Sons to the Duke of York.

VAUX, a Sea Captain, and WALTER WHITMORE, Pirates. A Herald. HUME and SOUTHWEL, two Priests. BOLINGBROKE, an Aftrologer.

A Spirit, attending on JORDAN the Witch.

THOMAS HORNER, an Armourer. PETER, his Man.
Clerk of Chatham. Mayor of Saint Alban's.
SIMPCOX, an Impoftor.

DICK

JACK CADE, BEVIS, MICHAEL, JOHN HOLLAND, the Butcher, SMITH the Weaver, and several others, Rebels.

WOMEN.

MARGARET, Queen to King Henry VI.

Dame ELEANOR, Wife to the Duke of Gloster.
Mother JORDAN, a Witch.

Wife to Simpcox.

Petitioners, Aldermen, a Beadle, Sheriff, and Officers, Citizens, with Faulconers, Guards, Messengers, and other Attendants.

The SCENE is laid very dispersedly in several Parts of England.

SECOND PART OF

HENRY VI.

ACT I. SCENE I.

The Palace. Flourish of Trumpets: then Hautboys. EnterKing HENRY, Duke HUMPHREY, SALISBURY, ↑ WARWICK, and BEAUFORT, on the one Side; the Queen, SUFFOLK, YORK, SOMERSET, and BUCKINGHAM, on the other.

Suffolk.

As by your high imperial majesty

I had in charge at my depart for France,

As procurator to your excellence,

To marry princess Margaret for your grace;

So, in the famous ancient city, Tours-
In presence of the kings of France and Sicil,
The dukes of Orleans, Calaber, Bretaigne, Alen... ·

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con,

A iij

Seven