Three times to-day I holp him to his horse,

Three times bestrid him; thrice I led him off,
Persuaded him from any farther act:

But still where danger was, still there I met him;
And like rich hangings in a homely house,

So was his will in his old feeble body.
But, noble as he is, look where he comes.

Enter SALISBURY.

Sal. Now, by my sword, well hast thou fought to-day;

B' th' mass, so did we all. -I thank you, Richard:
God knows how long it is I have to live,

And it hath pleas'd him that three times to-day
You have defended me from imminent death.
Well, lords, we have not got that which we have:
'Tis not enough our foes are this time fled,
Being opposites of such repairing nature.

York. I know our safety is to follow them;
For, as I hear, the King is fled to London,
To call a present Court of Parliament:
Let us pursue him ere the writs go forth.
What says Lord Warwick? shall we after them?
War. After them! nay, before them, if we can.
Now, by my hand, lords, 'twas a glorious day:
Saint Albans' battle, won by famous York,
Shall be eterniz'd in all age to come.

Sound, drums and trumpets!—and to London all; And more such days as these to us befall! [Exeunt.

NOTES ON

THE SECOND PART

OF KING HENRY VI.

p. 269.

66

p. 270.

p. 271.

p. 272.

66—

ACT FIRST.

·

SCENE I.

and twenty reverend bishops": The quarto has, "and then the reverend bishops," which has hitherto been treated as a different reading, in spite of its want of meaning. It seems to have been merely the result of a mistake of the ear, twenty' sounding like 'then the.' mine alderlievest sovereign": 'Alderlievest' (compounded of the superlative of the common word lieve,' and aller or alder, the genitive of 'all') means dearest of all. It is of rare occurrence even in books of Shakespeare's time, when, however, the use of lief' for dear' was common. The compounds alderfirst' and 'aldertruest' are also found in our early literature.

661

that the duchies of Anjou and Maine":- Just before, when Gloster reads the same document, we have "The duchy of Anjou and the county of Maine." Such variations in the reading of documents and the repetition of speeches are not uncommon in Shakespeare's works.

"And had his Highness," &c. :- -The folio gives, "And hath his highness," &c. - a slight and very common misprint in the books of Shakespeare's day, in which a final d is frequently printed th, and vice versa. Gloster asks if Beaufort and himself have studied, sat in councils, and had the young King crowned in Paris all in vain. Not seeing this, Rowe read, "And was his highness," &c.; and Steevens, retaining hath,' read, "Been crown'd in Paris." One or other of these more violent disturbances of the old text (the latter of which appears in Mr. Collier's folio of 1632) has hitherto been followed.

66

p. 273. that rules the roost" :- Dr. Richardson queries, in v. 'roast,' whether rule the roast' (which he explains very improbably and inconsistently with our English tone of thought, in my judgment) may not be, ‘rule the roost' -"an expression," he remarks, "of which every poultry yard would afford an explanation." Surely, 'rules the roast' seems likely to be near of kin to our other phrase, cock of the walk;' and the change from 'roost' to 'roast' may be a mere corruption consequent upon the former phonographic irregularity of our spelling; roast' and 'roost' having both been pronounced with the first or name sound of o, and both having been written rost or rowst. For instance, "- — like bragginge cockes on the roust flappe your whinges." Jewell. Defence of the Apologie, p. 35, (apud Dr. Richardson ;) and in the present passage the folio has, "rules the rost." And see the following passage from John Studley's translation of Seneca's Agamemnon, 1581, which also seems to me quite inconsistent with the supposed turnspit origin of the phrase:

p. 275.

66

66

"But valiaunt Agamemnon hee graund captayne of the Hoste,

Who bare the sway among the Kinges, and ruled all the roste." fol. 141 b.

and thy house-keeping". :- Warwick's housekeeping was lavish and wasteful, even for a prince. It is related by Holinshed that "when he came to London he held such an house, that six oxen were eaten at a breakfast, and everie taverne was full of his meat, for who that had anie acquaintance in that house, he should have had as much sod and rost as he might carry upon a long dagger." Vol. iii. p. 678, Ed. 1587: again, remarking upon the love the people bore to Warwick, "they judged the verie sunn was taken from the world when he was absent." Ibid. p. 675.

And, brother York" :- - York had married the sister of Salisbury, who was son to Ralph Nevil, first Earl of Westmoreland, by a second wife, and acquired the Earldom of Salisbury by marriage with Alice, the only daughter and heir of Thomas de Montacute, fourth and last Earl of that name.

"While they do tend the profit of the land": - Mr. Collier's folio of 1632 plausibly has, "tend to profit," &c.

p. 276.

p. 277.

p. 280.

p. 281.

p. 282.

""Tis mine they give away":- The folio, ""Tis thine" an obvious misprint for the word in the text. error is not uncommon.

661

The

wrings his hapless hands": - Mr Collier's folio helpless hands," which is quite possibly

of 1632 has, 66
the true reading.

66—

the fatal brand Althea burn'd," &c. :- Althea, the mother of Meleager, was informed by the Oracle that he would live only so long as a certain firebrand was unconsumed. She preserved the brand with solicitous care; but Meleager having slain her two brothers, who endeavored to take his mistress, Atalanta, from him, his mother, in a moment of revengeful fury, threw the brand into the fire, and as it burned away he died.

SCENE II.

"Enter Gloster and the Duchess :-This Duchess of Gloster was Eleanor Cobham, daughter of Reginald Lord Cobham, whose beauty and fascination had made her the favorite of more than one nobleman before she became the mistress of the Duke. After openly living with her for some time in this relation, he married her; but her character did not change with her condition.

66

My troublous dream":- The folio has, "dreames" - a palpable misprint, as the context shows.

66―

--

The

where kings and queens are crown'd": folio has, "wer crown'd." The misprint would be plain enough even if we had not in the quarto, "Where Kings and Queenes are crownde," &c.

66—

ill-nurtur'd Eleanor" :- The folio has, illnurter'd." See Note on "an inland man," As You Like It, Act III. Sc. 2, p. 375.

66—

Sir John": :- Not a knight, but a priest. See the Note on "Sir Hugh," Merry Wives, &c., Act I. Sc. 1.

66

SCENE III.

our supplications in the quill": - i. e., written supplications, as supplications in type would be printed supplications. Mr. Singer and Mr. Dyce suggest, 'in the quoil' coil = confusion.

"To my Lord Protector" :- - Capell, with great probability of correctness, read, "For my Lord Protector "a surprised repetition of the last words of the petitioner, not a reading of the indorsement on the petition.

"That my master was":- The folio has, "That my