Q. Mar. Our earl of Warwick, Edward's greatest

friend.

K. Lew. Welcome, brave Warwick! What brings thee too France?

[Descending from his state. Q. MAR. rises. * Q. Mar. Ay, now begins a second storm to rise; * For this is he, that, moves both wind and tide.

War. From worthy Edward, king of Albion,
My lord and sovereign, and thy vowed friend,
I come,-in kindness, and unfeigned love,—
First, to do greetings to thy royal person;
And, then, to crave a league of amity;
And, lastly, to confirm that amity

With nuptial knot, if thou vouchsafe to grant
That virtuous lady Bona, thy fair sister,

To England's king in lawful marriage.

'Q. Mar. If that go forward, Henry's hope is done.9

so natural, perhaps, to those who are under obligations too great to be discharged. Beneficia, (says Tacitus,) eò usque læta sunt, dum videntur exsolvi posse: ubi multum antevenêre, pro gratiâ odium redditur.

There needs no other proof how little our common bistories are to be depended upon than this fabulous story of Warwick and the Lady Bona. The King was privately married to Lady Elizabeth Widville, in 1463, and in February 1465, Warwick actually stood sponsor to the Princess Elizabeth their first child. What secretly displeased him was: 1. the King's marrying one of the Queen's sisters to the Duke of Buckingham; 2. his conferring the office of Lord Treasurer (which he had taken from the Lord Montjoy) upon Lord Rivers, the Queen's brother; 3. his making a match between the son and heir of the Lord Herbert and another of the Queen's sisters; and between that nobleman's daughter and the young Lord Lisle; and creating young Herbert Knight and Lord of Dunstar; 4. his making a match between Sir Thomas Grey, the Queen's son, and Lady Ann daughter and heiress of the Duke of Exeter, the King's niece, who had been talked of as a wife for the Earl of Northumberland, Warwick's brother. See Wilhelmi Wyrcester Annales, which are unfortunately defective from the beginning of November 1468, at which time no open rupture had taken place between the King and Warwick, who, for any thing that appears to the contrary, were, at least, upon speaking terms." Ritson.

9 Henry's hope is done.] So, the folio. The quartos read :all our hope is done. Steevens.

We have had nearly the same line in Margaret's former speech p. 366. The line having made an impression on Shakspeare, he introduced it in that speech, which appears (except in this in

War. And, gracious madam, [to BONA] in our king's

behalf,

I am commanded, with your leave and favour, Humbly to kiss your hand, and with my tongue To tell the passion of my sovereign's heart; Where fame, late entering at his heedful ears, Hath plac'd thy beauty's image, and thy virtue.1

Q. Mar. King Lewis,-and lady Bona,-hear me speak, Before you answer Warwick. His demand2

Springs not from Edward's well-meant honest love, * But from deceit, bred by necessity:

*For how can tyrants safely govern home,

* Unless abroad they purchase great alliance?
* To prove him tyrant, this reason may suffice,-
*That Henry liveth still: but were he dead,

*Yet here prince Edward stands, king Henry's son.
*Look therefore, Lewis, that by this league and marriage
*Thou draw not on thy danger and dishonour:

*For though usurpers sway the rule a while,

* Yet heavens are just, and time suppresseth wrongs. War. Injurious Margaret!

Prince.

And why not queen ?

War. Because thy father Henry did usurp;

And thou no more art prince, than she is queen.
Oxf. Then Warwick disannuls great John of Gaunt.
Which did subdue the greatest part of Spain;
And, after John of Gaunt, Henry the fourth,
Whose wisdom was a mirror to the wisest;3
And, after that wise prince, Henry the fifth,
Who by his prowess conquered all France:

stance) to have been entirely his own production; and afterwards inadvertently suffered it with a slight variation to remain here, where only it is found in the old play. Malone.

1Hath plac'd thy beauty's image, and thy virtue.] So, the folio. The quarto thus:

2

"Hath plac'd thy glorious image, and thy vertues."

Steevens.

His demand &c.] Instead of the remainder of this speech

the old play has the following lines:

3

hear me speak,

"Before you answer Warwick, or his words,

"For he it is hath done us all these wrongs." Malone.

-to the wisest; So, the folio. The quartos-to the world.

Steeven.

From these our Henry lineally descends.

War. Oxford, how haps it, in this smooth discourse, You told not, how Henry the sixth hath lost

All that which Henry the fifth had gotten?

Methinks, these peers of France should smile at that. But for the rest,-You tell a pedigree

Of threescore and two years; a silly time

To make prescription for a kingdom's worth.

'Oxf. Why, Warwick, canst thou speak against thy liege,

Whom thou obeyed'st thirty and six years, And not bewray thy treason with a blush?

War. Can Oxford, that did ever fence the right, Now buckler falsehood with a pedigree?

For shame, leave Henry, and call Edward king.

Oxf. Call him my king, by whose injurious doom My elder brother, the lord Aubrey Vere, Was done to death? and more than so, my father, Even in the downfall of his mellow'd years,

When nature brought him to the door of death ?5 No, Warwick, no; while life upholds this arm, This arm upholds the house of Lancaster.

War. And I the house of York.

K. Lew. Queen Margaret, prince Edward, and Oxford, Vouchsafe, at our request, to stand aside,

While I use further conference with Warwick. * Q. Mar. Heavens grant, that Warwick's words bewitch him not!

[Retiring with the Prince and Oxf. K. Lew. Now, Warwick, tell me, even upon thy conscience,

Is Edward your true king? for I were loth,

4 thirty and six years,] So, the folio. The quartos-thirty and eight years. Steevens.

The number in the old play is right. The alteration, however, is of little consequence. Malone.

5 When nature brought him to the door of death?] Thus the folio. The quartos:

"When age did call him to the door of death." Steevens. This passage unavoidably brings before the mind that admirable image of old age in Sackville's Induction:

"His withered fist still knocking at deathe's dore," &c.

Farmer.

To link with him that were not lawful chosen. "
War. Thereon I pawn my credit and mine honour.
K. Lew. But is he gracious in the people's eye?
War. The more, that Henry was unfortunate."
• K. Lew. Then further,—all dissembling set aside,
Tell me for truth the measure of his love

Unto our sister Bona.

War.

Such it seems,

As may beseem a monarch like himself.
Myself have often heard him say, and swear,-
That this his love was an eternal plant;*
Whereof the root was fix'd in virtue's ground,
The leaves and fruit maintain'd with beauty's sun;
Exempt from envy, but not from disdain,"
Unless the lady Bona quit his pain.

K. Lew. Now, sister, let us hear your firm resolve. Bona. Your grant, or your denial, shall be mine :— Yet I confess, [to WAR.] that often ere this day,

6 that were not lawful chosen.] Thus the folio. as follows:

66

71

that is not lawful heir." Steevens.

The quarto

that Henry was unfortunate.] He means, that Henry was unsuccessful in war, having lost his dominions in France, &c.

Malone.

8 That this his love was an eternal plant;] The old quarto reads rightly eternal; alluding to the plants of Paradise. Warburton. In the language of Shakspeare's time, by an eternal plant was meant what we now call a perennial one. Steevens.

The folio reads-an external plant; but as that word seems to afford no meaning, and as Shakspeare has adopted every other part of this speech as he found it in the old play, without alteration, I suppose external was a mistake of the transcriber or printer, and have therefore followed the reading of the quarto.

Malone.

9 Exempt from envy, but not from disdain,] Envy is always supposed to have some fascinating or blasting power; and to be out of the reach of envy is therefore a privilege belonging only to great excellence. I know not well why envy is mentioned here, or whose envy can be meant; but the meaning is, that his love is superior to envy, and can feel no blast from the lady's disdain. Or, that, if Bona refuse to quit or requite his pain, his love may turn to disdain, though the consciousness of his own merit will exempt him from the pangs of envy Johnson.

I believe envy is in this place, as in many others, put for malice or hatred. His situation places him above these, though it cannot secure him from female disdain.

Steevens.

When I have heard your king's desert recounted,
Mine ear hath tempted judgment to desire.

*K. Lew. Then, Warwick, thus,-Our sister shall be
Edward's;

*And now forthwith shall articles be drawn
*Touching the jointure that your king must make,
* Which with her dowry shall be counterpois'd:-
Draw near, queen Margaret; and be a witness,
That Bona shall be wife to the English king.

Prince. To Edward, but not to the English king. * Q. Mar. Deceitful Warwick! it was thy device * By this alliance to make void my suit;

* Before thy coming, Lewis was Henry's friend. *K. Lew. And still is friend to him and Margaret : * But if your title to the crown be weak,

་

* As may appear by Edward's good success,—
*Then 'tis but reason, that I be releas'd
* From giving aid, which late I promised.
* Yet shall you have all kindness at my hand,
* That your estate requires, and mine can yield.
War. Henry now lives in Scotland, at his ease;
Where having nothing, nothing he can lose.
And as for you yourself, our quondam queen,→→→
You have a father able to maintain you;

And better 'twere, you troubled him than France.

*

Q. Mar. Peace, impudent and shameless Warwick, peace;2

*Proud setter-up and puller-down of kings!

* I will not hence, till with my talk and tears,
* Both full of truth, I make king Lewis behold
*Thy sly conveyance, and thy lord's false love;

4

1 You have a father able] This seems ironical. The poverty of Margaret's father is a very frequent topick of reproach.

Johnson. 2 Peace, impudent and shameless Warwick, peace:] The word peace, at the end of this line, is wanting in the first folio, but is supplied by the second. Steevens.

3 Proud setter-up and puller-down of kings!] The Queen here applies to Warwick, the very words that Edward, p. 334, addresses to the Deity.. M. Mason.

See p. 334, n. 8. The repetition has been already accounted for, in p. 354, n. 3, &c. Malone.

Thy sly conveyance,] Conveyance is juggling, and thence is taken for artifice and fraud. Johnson.