Id. 1. 33. put up a bill;] i. e. articles of accusation, for in this sense the word bill was sometimes used.

Id 1 78. Thou bastard of my grandfather!] The bishop of Winchester was an illegitimate Son of John of Gaunt, duke of Lancaster, by Catharine Swynford, whom the duke afterwards married.

P. 112. c. 1, . 10. "Rome shall remeny this."MALONE.

III. Roam thither then.] Roam to Rome. To roam is supposed to be derived from the cant of vagabonds, who often pretended a pilgrimaze to Rome. JOHNSON. 14.60.unaccustom'd fight-] Unaccustom'd is unseemly, indecent.

163 but to his majesty :"-MALONE. 14. 1. 66.

It

- an inkhora mate,] A bookman. was a term of reproach at the time towards Bea of learning, or men affecting to be learned. Id. c. 2, 1.3. Yield, my lord protector ;"-MAhath a kindly gird.] i. e. feels an emotion of kind remorse.

Id. 1. 68.

-reguerdon-] Recompense, return.

SCENE 11.

P. 113, c. 1, 1. 51. Here enter'd Pucelle, and her practisants;] Practice, in the language of that time, was treachery, and perhaps in the softer sease, stratagem Practisants are therefore confederates in stratagem. JOHNSON,

56 No way to that,] that is, no way equal to that, no way so fit as that. JOHNSON. Id. 1.75.—the pride of France.] Pride signifies the haughty power.

Ide 21.44 Mr. Malone omits sir.

Id. 1.68 That stout Pendragon,] This hero was Uther Pendragon, brother to Aurelius, and father to king Arthur.

Shakspeare has imputed to Pendragon an exploit of Aurelius, who, says Holinshed, "even sicke of a fixe as he was, caused himself to be carried forth in a litter: with whose presence his people were so incouraged, that encountering with the Saxons they wan the victorie."

was always the subject of satire. I have read a dissertation written to prove that the index of the wind upon our steeples was made in form of a cock, to ridicule the French for their frequent changes. JOHNSON.

SCENE IV.

P. 115, c. 1, l. 25. I do remember how my father said,] The author of this play was not a very correct historian. Henry was but nine months old when his father died, and never saw him. Id. l. 27. resolved,] i. e. confirmed in opinion of it.

Id. 1. 30. Or been reguerdon'd-] i. e. rewarded. The word was obsolete even in the time of Shakspeare. Chaucer uses it in the Boke of Boetius.

Id. 1.71. such as shall pretend-] To pretend is to design, to intend.

Id. c. 2, l. 6. To tear the garter from thy craven's leg,] i. e. thy mean, dastardly leg. haughty courage,] Haughty is here in its original sense for high.

Id. 1. 27.

Id. 1. 30.- -in most extremes.] i, e. in greatest extremities. Id. l. 49. Pretend-] To pretend seems to be here used in its Latin sense, i. e. to hold out, to stretch forward. It may mean, however, as in other places, to design.

Id. 1. 68. "How say you, my lord?" MALONE. Id. l. 70. I am prevented.] Prevented is here anticipated; a Latinism.'"

P. 116, c. 1, 7. 21. did repugn the truth,] To repugn is to resist.

Id. l. 47. 'Tis much,] In our author's time this phrase meant- 'Tis strange or wonderful. Id. l. 48 when envy breeds unkind division; Envy in old English writers frequently means enmity. Unkind is unnatural.

SCENE II.

P. 117, c. 1, l. 4. To rive their dangerous artillery-1 To rive their artillery means only to fire their artillery. To rive is to burst: and a cannon, when fired, has so much the appearance of bursting, that, in the language of poetry, it may well be said to burst. We say, a cloud bursts, when it thunders.

due thee withal;] To due is to enId. 1. 9. due, to deck, to grace.

Id. l. 25. - be then in blood :] Be in high spi

11

rits, be of true mettle.

Id. 1. 26. Not rascal-like.] A rascal deer is the term of chase for lean poor deer.

SCENE III.

Id. 1. 52. And I am lowted-] i. e. treated with contempt like a lowl, or low country fellow. Id. c. 2, L. 4. are done. i. e. expended, consumed. The word is yet used in this sense in the Western counties.

Id. 1. 13. the vulture-] Alluding to the tale of Prometheus.

1d. 10. Id. l. 19.

SCENE V.

P. 118. c. 1. 1. 9. -- a feast of death.] To a field where death will be feasted with slaughter. unavoided for unavoidable. noble Talbot stood.] For what reason this scene is written in rhyme, I cannot guess. If Shakspeare had not in other plays | mingled his rhymes and blank verses in the same manner, I should have suspected that this dialogue had been a part of some other poem which was never finished, and that being loath to throw his labour away, he inserted it here. JOHNSON.

Id. 1. 24. own safety. Id. 1.58.

your regard-] Your care of your

fair son, Born to eclipse, &c] A quibble, between

son and sun.

SCENE VI.

Id. 1. 74. To my determin'd time-] i. e. ended. Id. c. 2, l. 35. On that advantage, bought with such a shame,

(To save a paltry life, and slay bright fame) The sense is-Before young Talbot fly from his father, in order to save his life while he destroys his character, en, or for the sake of, the advantages you ment on, namely, preserving our household's name, &c. may my coward horse drop down dead! MALONE. Id. 1 38. And like me to the peasant boys of France; To like one to the peasants, is, to compare, to level by comparison.

SCENE VII.

Id. I 55. Triumphant death, smear'd with captivity that is, death stained and dishonoured with captivity. JonssoN.

Id. 1. 62. Tend'ring my ruin. Watching me with tenderness in my fall.

Id. 1. 71. Thou antic death. The fool, or antic of the play, made sport by mocking the graver personages.

Id. l. 75 -winged through the lither sky,] Lither is flexible or yielding.

P. 119, c. 1, Z. 16. - raging wood.] i, e. raging mad.

Id. l. 18. in Frenchmen's blood! The return

of rhyme where young Talbot is again mentioned, and in no other place, strengthens this suspicion that these verses were originally part of some other work, and were copied here only to save the trouble of composing new. JOHN

Id. 1. 44. Asplays the sun upon the glassy streams, &c.] This comparison, made between things which seem sufficiently unlike, is intended to express the softness and delicacy of lady Margaret's beauty, which delighted, but did not dazzle; which was bright, but gave no pain by its lustre. JOHNSON.

Id. l. 49. disable not thyself: Do not repre sent thyself so weak. To disable the judg ment of another was, in that age, the same as to destroy its credit or authority. JOHN

SON.

Id. 53. and makes the senses rough The meaning of this word is not very obvious. Sit Thomas Hanmer reads-crouch, Id. 1. 72 -- a wooden thing is an awkward business, an undertaking not likely to succeed. Id. l. 74. my fancy-] i e. my love. P. 121, c. 1, l. 55. —-face.] To face is to carry & false appearance: to play the hypocrite. Id. c. 2. 25. To send such peevish tokens-] Peevish, for childish.

Id. 1. 32. Mad.-] i e wild, if mad be the word that ought to stand here, which some of the commentators doubt.

SCENE IV.

Id. 1 46. timeless-] is untimely. Id. 1.48. Decrepit miser!] Miser has no relation to avarice in this passage, but simply meaus & miserable creature.

Id. 1. 59. that thou wilt be so obstacle! A vulgar corruption of obstinate, which I think has oddly lasted since our author's time tall now. JOHNSON,

P. 122. c 1./15. No, misconceiv'd!] i. e. No, ye misconceivers, ye who mistake me and my qualities.

SCENE V.

P 123, c. 1, l. 5. So am I driven,] This simile is somewhat obscure; he seems to mean, that as a ship is driven against the tide by the wind, so he is driven by love against the current of his interest. JOHNSON.

Id.

1 35. --at a triumph-] A triumph, in the age of Shakspeare, siguified a public exhibition, such as a mask, a revel, &c.

Id. c. 2, l. 1. by attorneyship;] By the intervention of another man's choice; or the discretional agency of another.

Id. 1. 9. "bringeth bliss "-MALONE.

Id. 1. 43. If you do censure me, &c.] To censure is here simply to judge. If in judging me you consider the past frailties of your own youth.

Id.

l. 47. - ruminate my grief.] Grief in the first line is taken generally for pain or unea siness; in the second specially for sorrow.

8 8 8 8 8 8 888888

THIS 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 Heary's marriage, which was in the twenty-third year of his reign (A. D. 1445); 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 (A. D. 1455): so that it comprizes the history and transactions of ten years. THEOBALD.

This play was altered by Crowne, and acted in the year 1681. STFEVENS.

The Contention of the Two famous Houses of Yorke and Lancaster, in two parts, was published in quarto, in 1600; and the first part was entered on the Stationers' books (as Mr. Steevens has observed), March 12, 1593-4. On these two plays, which I believe to have

been written by some preceding author, before the year 1590, Shakspeare formed, as I conceive, his and the following drama; altering, retrenching, or amplifying, as he thought proper. The speeches which he new-modelled, he improved, sometimes by amplification, and sometimes by retrenchment.

These two pieces, I imagine, were produced in their present form in 1591. Dr. Johnson observes very justly, that these two parts were not written without a dependance on the first. Undoubtedly not; the old play of King Henry VI. (or, as it is now called, The First Part) certainly had been exhibited before these were written in any form. But it does not follow from this concession, either that The Contention of the Two Houses, &c. in two parts, was written by the author of the former play, or that Shakspeare was the author of these two pieces as they originally appeared. MALONE.