Glo. Why, what, I pray, is Margaret more than that? Her father is no better than an earl, Although in glorious titles he excel.

Suff. Yes, my good lord, her father is a king,
The king of Naples, and Jerusalem;
And of such great authority in France,
As his alliance will confirm our peace,
And keep the Frenchmen in allegiance.

Glo. And so the earl of Armagnac may do, Because he is near kinsman unto Charles.

Exe. Beside, his wealth doth warrant liberal dower; While Reignier sooner will receive than give.

Suff. A dower, my lords! Disgrace not so your king,
That he should be so abject, base, and poor,
To choose for wealth, and not for perfect love.
Henry is able to enrich his queen,

And not to seek a queen to make him rich;
So worthless peasants bargain for their wives,
As market-men for oxen, sheep, or horse.
Marriage is a matter of more worth,
Than to be dealt in by attorneyship:
Not whom we will, but whom his grace affects,
Must be companion of his nuptial bed:
And therefore, lords, since he affects her most,
It most of all these reasons bindeth us,
In our opinions she should be preferred.
For what is wedlock forced, but a hell,
An age of discord and continual strife?
Whereas the contrary bringeth forth bliss,
And is a pattern of celestial peace.
Whom should we match with Henry, being a king,
But Margaret, that is daughter to a king?
Her peerless feature, joined with her birth,
Approves her fit for none, but for a king;
Her valiant courage, and undaunted spirit,
(More than in women commonly is seen,)
Will answer our hope in issue of a king;
For Henry, son unto a conqueror,
Is likely to beget more conquerors,
If with a lady of so high resolve,
As is fair Margaret, he be linked in love.
Then yield, my lords; and here conclude with me,
That Margaret shall be queen, and none but she.

K. Hen. Whether it be through force of your report, My noble lord of Suffolk, or for that

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FIRST PART OF KING HENRY VI. [ACT V.

My tender youth was never yet attaint
With any passion of inflaming love,
I cannot tell; but this I am assured,
I feel such sharp dissension in my breast,
Such fierce alarums both of hope and fear,
As I am sick with working of my thoughts.
Take, therefore, shipping; post, my lord, to France;
Agree to any covenants; and procure
That lady Margaret do vouchsafe to come
To cross the seas to England, and be crowned
King Henry's faithful and anointed queen.
For your expenses and sufficient charge,
Among the people gather up a tenth.
Be gone, I say; for, till you do return,
I rest perplexed with a thousand cares.-
And you, good uncle, banish all offence;
If you do censure me by what you were,
Not what you are, I know it will excuse
This sudden execution of my will.
And so conduct me, where from company,
I may revolve and ruminate my grief.

[Exit.

Glo. Ay, grief, I fear me, both at first and last. [Exeunt GLOSTER and EXETER. Suff. Thus Suffolk hath prevailed; and thus he goes, As did the youthful Paris once to Greece; With hope to find the like event in love, But prosper better than the Trojan did. Margaret shall now be queen, and rule the king; But I will rule both her, the king, and realm.

[Exit.

EXPLANATORY NOTES.

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EXPLANATORY NOTES.

TAMING OF THE SHREW.

"Take them to the buttery."— Induction.

"The top of the profession were then mere players, not gentlemen of the stage: they were led into the buttery by the steward; not placed at the lord's table, or the lady's toilette."-RowE.

“Marian Hacket, the fat ale-wife of Wincot.”—Induction.

Wilnecotte is a village in Warwickshire, near Stratford, with which Shakspeare was well acquainted. The house kept by our genial hostess still remains, but is at present a mill.-WARTON.

“Be she as foul as was Florentius' love.”—Act I. Sc. 2.

"A Florentine young gentleman was so deceived by the lustre and orientness of her jewels, pearles, rings, lawns, scarfes, laces, gold, spangles, and other devices, that he was ravished overnight, and was mad till the marriage was solemnized. But next morning by light viewing her before she was gorgeously trimmed up, she was such a leane, yellow, riveled, deformed creature, that he never lay with her, nor lived with her afterwards; and would say that he had married himself to a stinking house of office, painted over, and set out with fine garments: and so for grief consumed away in melancholy, and at last poysoned himself." Gomesius, lib. III. de Sal. Gen. cap. 22.—FARMER.

"And for your love to her, lead apes in hell.”—Act II. Sc. 1.

To lead apes was anciently, as at present, one of the bearward's employments, who often carries one of those animals about with his bear; but it does not appear how this phrase came to be applied to old maids. There is a similar passage in Much Ado about Nothing. "Therefore (says Beatrice), I will even take sixpence in earnest of the bearward, and lead his apes in hell."-MALONE.

"This small packet of Greek and Latin books.”—Act II. Sc. 1.

A strange present from a lover! It might be thought so now, but in Elizabeth's time the young ladies of quality were usually instructed in the learned languages, if any attention was paid to their minds at all. Lady Jane Grey and her sisters, Queen Elizabeth, &c., are trite instances.-PERCY.

Counterpoints."—Act II. Sc. 1.

Counterpoints, or, as we now say, Counterpanes, were in ancient times extremely costly. In Wat Tyler's rebellion, Stowe informs us, when the insurgents broke into the wardrobe in the Savoy, they destroyed a cover let worth a thousand marks.-MALONE.

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