I have no brother, I am like no brother; SO And this word "love," which greybeards call divine, Be resident in men like one another, But I will sort a pitchy day for thee; 1 Sort, select, find. Glo. And, that I love the tree from whence thou sprang'st, Witness the loving kiss I give the fruit.[Aside] To say the truth, so Judas kiss'd his master, And cried "All hail!" whenas he meant all harm. K. Edu. Now am I seated as my soul delights, Having my country's peace and brothers' loves. Clar. What will your grace have done with Margaret? Reignier, her father, to the king of France Hath pawn'd the Sicils and Jerusalem, NOTES TO KING HENRY VI.-PART III DRAMATIS PERSONÆ. 1. HENRY VI. In this play the troublous reign and life of this unfortunate king are both brought to a conclusion. As to the manner of his death, it will perhaps be more convenient to summarize the evidence on that point here. Fabyan and Hall, following common report, both ascribe his death to the murderous hand of Gloucester. Hall's words are (p. 303): “Poore kyng Henry the sixte, a litle before depriued of his realme, and Imperiall Croune, was Low in the Tower of London, spoyled of his life, and all worldly felicitie, by Richard duke of Gloucester (as the constant fame ranne) which, to thintent that king Edward his brother, should be clere out of all secret suspicion of sodain inuasion, murthered thesaid kyng with a dagger." There is no allusion, in this play, to the circumstance which really was the immediate cause of King Henry's being removed out of the way of his rival, namely, the brief insurrection headed by Thomas Neville, commonly called the Bastard of Falconberg. This bold attempt to liberate Henry from captivity nearly succeeded. No doubt it impressed upon the most zealous partisans of Edward, that there was no real security for the House of York as long as Henry was alive. In a note, vol. iv. pp. 191, 192, Lingard gives the evidence of two contemporary writers on the subject of Henry's death, one the Croyland historian, the other the author of the Harleian MS. 543. They were both strong Yorkists; and appear to have been eye-witnesses of many of the events which they record, or, at any rate, to have had access to trustworthy sources of information. We translate the Latin of the original: "May God spare and give space for repentance to him, whoever he was, that dared to lay sacrilegious hands on the Lord's anointed. Whence both the agent of the tyrant, and the sufferer (patiensque) may deserve the title of glorious martyr." Continuation, Croyl. 556. The other writer merely gives the same account as that circulated by the friends of Edward, namely, that Henry died of pure displeasure and melancholy." Although the dead body was exposed at St. Paul's, no examination or inquiry as to the cause of death seems to have taken place. Holinshed (vol. iii. p. 324) says that the body bled in the presence of the beholders both at St. Paul's and Blackfriars. The assassination is said to have taken place on 21st May, 1471. Those few writers who have sought to whitewash that execrable murderer, Richard, Duke of Gloucester, lay too much stress on the fact that it would appear, from the public accounts allowed in the exchequer for the maintenance of Henry VI. and his dependants in the Tower, that he lived until the 12th June. Lingard says in foot-note 1 (vol. iv. p 192) that "they afford no proof that Henry lived till the 12th of June. The latest date of any particular charge is that of William Sayer for the maintenance of Henry and ten guards for a fortnight, beginning the 11th of May, and of course ending on the day on which the king is said to have been buried. The mistake arises from this, that Malone has taken the day of the month on which the accounts were allowed at the exchequer, for the day on which the expenses ceased." The account of these expenses is to be found in Rymer's Fœdera, vol. xi. p. 712. As to King Henry's personal appearance and his character, Hall (p. 303) says: "Kyng Henry was of stature goodly, of body sleder, to which proporcion, al other mēbers wer correspondent: his face beautifull, in the which continually was resident, the bountie of mynde, with whiche, he was inwardly endued. He did abhorre of his awne nature, all the vices, as well of the body as of the soule, and from his verie infancie, he was of honest conuersacion and pure integritie, no knower of euill, and a keper of all goodnes: a dispiser of all thynges, whiche bee wonte to cause, the myndes of mortall menne to slide, fall, or appaire. Beside this, pacience was so radicate in his harte, that of all the iniuries to him committed, (whiche were no small nombre) he neuer asked vengeaunce nor punishment, but for that, rendered to almightie God, his creator, hartie thankes, thinking that by this trouble, and aduersitie, his synnes were to him forgotten and forgeuen." In the epigrammatic character of him, given in Baker's Chronicle (edn. 1643, p. 91), there are one or two sentences worth quoting: "His greatest imperfection was, that he had in him too much of the Logge, and too little of the Storke; for he would not move, but as he was moved, and had rather be devoured, than he would deBy being innocent as a Dove, he kept his Crown upon his head so long; but if he had been as wise as a Serpent, he might have kept it on longer." There is no doubt that he was wanting in strength of character; but we may say of him that he was too virtuous a man to make a good king. voure. 2. EDWARD, PRINCE OF WALES, was born at Westminster, October 14th, 1453. From his mother he seems to have inherited beauty and courage; from his father sweetness of disposition and virtue. At the time of his birth his father, unhappily, was completely incapacitated by bodily and mental illness. In one of the Paston Letters (vol. i. p. 263, No. 195), dated 19th January, 1454, occurs the following account of the first presentation of the infant prince to his unhappy father: "As touchyng tythynges, please it you to wite that at the Princes comyng to Wyndesore, the Duc of Buk1 toke hym in his armes and presented hym to the Kyng in godely wise, besechyng the Kyng to blisse hym; and the Kyng yave no maner answere. Natheless the Duk abode stille with Prince by the Kyng; and whan he coude no maner answere have, 1 ie. the Duke of Buckingham. the Queene come in, and toke the Prince in hir armes and presented hym in like forme as the Duke had done, desiryng that he shuld blisse it; but alle their labour was in veyne, for they departed thens without any answere or countenance savyng only that ones he loked on the Prince and caste doune his eyene ayen, without any more." One of the first signs of his recovery was the interest he took in his little son. In a later letter (ut supra, p. 315, No. 226), we read: "And on the Moneday after noon the Queen came to him, and brought my Lord Prynce with her. And then he askid what the Princes name was, and the Queen told him Edward; and than he hild up his hands and thankid God therof, And he seid he never knew til that tyme, nor wist not what was seid to him, nor wist not where he had be whils he hath be seke til now." It would seem that young Edward shared many of the dangers of his unhappy parents. The well-known story of the capture of the queen and her son by robbers, various versions of which exist, is thus narrated by Monstrelet (vol. ii. p. 290): "I must mention here a singular adventure which befel the queen of England. She, in company with the lord de Varennes and her son, having lost their way in a forest of Hainault, were met by some banditti, who robbed them of all they had. It is probable the banditti would have murdered them, had they not quarrelled about the division of the spoil, insomuch that from words they came to blows: and, while they were fighting, she caught her son in her arms and fled to the thickest part of the forest, where, weary with fatigue, she was forced to stop. At this moment she met another robber, to whom she instantly gave her son, and said; Take him, friend, and save the son of a king. The robber received him willingly, and conducted them in safety toward the seashore, where they arrived at Sluys, and thence the queen and her own son went to Bruges, where they were received most honourably." After the battle of Towton, he accompanied his father and mother to Scotland; whence, after a time, Henry sent the young prince with the queen into France. He was married, or, as some say, only affianced, to the second daughter of Warwick, the King-maker; a most extraordinary marriage, as the elder sister was already the wife of the Duke of Clarence, the son of the greatest enemy of the House of Lancaster. Hall (p. 281) thus refers to the marriage: "After that thei had long comoned, and debated diuerse matters, concernyng their suretie and wealthe, they determined by meane of the Frenche kyng, to conclude a league and a treatie betwene them: And first to begin with all, for the more sure foundacion of the newe amitie, Edward Prince of Wales, wedded Anne second daughter to therle of Warwicke, which Lady came with her mother into Fraunce." It is supposed that Warwick, by thus allying himself with both houses, hoped, during his lifetime, to hold the balance of power between them in his own hand. This unfortunate prince was taken prisoner after the battle of Tewksbury. Hall's account of his death is as follows (p. 301): "After the felde ended, kyng Edward made a Proclamatiō, that who so euer could bring prince Edward to him alyue or dead, shoulde haue an annuitie of an. C. 1. [£100] duryng his lyfe, and the Princes life to be saned. Syr Richard Croftes, a wyse and a valyaut knyght, nothing mistrusting the kynges former promyse, brought furth his prisoner prince Edward, beynge a goodly femenine and a well feautered yonge gentelman, whome when kynge Edward had well aduised, he demaunded of him, how he durst so presumptuously enter in to his Realme with banner displayed. The prince, beyng bold of stomacke and of a good courage, answered sayinge, to recouer my fathers kyngdome and enheritage, from his father and grandfather to him, and from him, after him, to me lyneally diuoluted. At which wordes kyng Edward sayd nothyng, but with his had thrust hym from hym (or as some say, stroke him with his gauntlet) whom incontinent, they that stode about, whiche were George duke of Clarence, Rychard duke of Gloucester, Thomas Marques Dorset, and Willia lord Hastynges, sodaynly murthered, and pitiously manquelled. The bitternesse of which murder, some of the actors, after in their latter dayes tasted and assayed by the very rod of Justice and punishment of God. Hys body was homely enterred with ye other symple corses, in ye church of the monastery of blacke monkes in Tewkesburye." Whether Edward actually struck the young son of his rival or not, is a matter of little importance. What is indisputable is that the murder was committed in his presence and with his consent; and that it adds one more to the many crimes which stain his character. 3. LEWIS XI., KING OF FRANCE. This celebrated prince was born in 1423. He was the son of Charles VII. (see I. Henry VI. note 22) and Mary of Anjou, sister of René, Duke of Anjou, and therefore first cousin to Queen Margaret of England. When only seventeen years old, Lewis, then Dauphin, took part in the rising known as la Praguerie. He revolted against his father again in 1456, and took refuge with the Duke of Burgundy, Philip le Bon, at whose court he remained till the death of the king in 1461, when he came to the throne the same year as Edward IV. On his accession he made all sorts of fine promises, which he fulfilled by exacting the most exorbitant taxes, and by punishing most severely the cities Rheims, Angers, &c., whose inhabitants had complained of his extortion. He surrounded himself with people of the lowest birth, such as the well-known Olivier le Dain, his barber, and the Provost Tristan. In 1465 some of the discontented nobles under his own brother, Charles Duke of Berry, and Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, formed against him a league known as the League "Du Bien Publique." For nearly twelve years he carried on with varying success an almost continuous war with the Duke of Burgundy; in the course of which, by dint of cunning, hypocrisy, unscrupulous lying, and abominable cruelty, he added considerably to the possessions of France; but left behind him one of the most infamous names in all history. He promised assistance to Henry VI. (to whom he was also first cousin) and to Margaret during the fatal struggle against the House of York; but his only purpose was to obtain some considerable advantage to himself. He very nearly succeeded, by a trick, in recovering Calais. Ultimately he got back the whole of the nominal possessions of René by lending him money to redeem Queen Margaret from captivity after the death of her husband. His character has been drawn by a masterly |