not be devised, he resolved with himself to marry her, not asking counsel of any man; till they might perceive it was no booty to advise him of the contrary of this his concluded purpose. .But yet the Duchess of York letted this match as much as in her lay, and when all would not serve, she caused a precontract to be alleged, made by him with Lady Elizabeth Lucy, that all doubts resolved, all things made clear, and all cavillations ended, privily in a monastery he married the kind Lady Elizabeth Grey, at Grafton, aforesaid, where he had first fancied her."*

"K. Edw. Her looks do argue her replete with

modesty,

Her words do shew her wit incomparable,

All her perfections challenge sovereignty.

One way or other, she is for a king;

And she shall be my love or else my queen.

Lady Grey. I know I am too mean to be your

queen,

And yet too good to be your concubine."

Other parts of this wooing, are equally supported by the Chroniclers.+

Contemporary historians give us no circum

* Hol., 283.

† See Bosw. 459.

Croyl. Cont., 539; Hearne's MS., 292; Fabyan's traditions are a little more particular, but not important, p. 654.

stances, simply stating that the marriage was clandestine, and without communication with the great men of the land, to whom, when known, it was very unacceptable, by reason of the inferior birth of the lady. Nevertheless, we are told, Elizabeth Grey was, at Michaelmas 1461, presented to the nobles as queen, by Clarence and Warwick.*

Shakspeare closes this scene with the first of the speeches in which Gloucester laments the deformity of his body, and disclaiming all the gentler feelings of humanity, announces the evil tendencies of his mind ;

"for I should not deal in her soft laws,
Shet did corrupt frail nature with some bribe,
To shrink mine arm up like a wither'd shrub;
To make an envious mountain on my back,
Where sits deformity to mock my body;
To shape my legs of an unequal size;
To disproportion me in every part."

This description is carried further than in the original play, and Shakspeare has also enlarged upon the powers of mischief of which Richard boasts. But

"I can smile, and murder whilst I smile." And

"Can I do this, and cannot get the crown?" are in both plays.

The scene * now introduces us to the French court, where Louis XI. receives the supplications of Margaret for succour against the Yorkists:

Now, therefore, be it known to noble Louis,

That Henry, sole possessor of my love,

Is of a king become a banish'd man,

And forc'd to live in Scotland a forlorn :

Scotland hath will to help, but cannot help."

Louis promises aid, but Warwick arrives, to demand the Lady Bona (described as the sister of Louis, but really sister of his queen, Charlotte of Savoy), in marriage for Edward. This had been announced before by Warwick himself:

"From whence shall Warwick cut the sea to France, And ask the Lady Bona for thy queen,

So shalt thou sinew both these lands together ;
And having France thy friend, thou shalt not dread
The scatter'd foe that hopes to rise again."†

This story of the Lady Bona, and of Warwick's taking offence, is in Holinshed; but the meeting between Margaret and Warwick at this time at Paris, and its consequences, are Shakspeare's own. The embassy of that earl to obtain for his master + Continued from p. 18.

* Act iii. Sc. 3. + P. 280.

the hand of the Lady Bona is assigned to the year 1464, after the battle of Hexham, and he found Louis not at Paris, but at Tours,* Margaret was not then in France.

With one exception, however, of doubtful authority, there is no ground in contemporary historians, French or English, for Edward's suit to this Lady Bona.† It was probably taken from Polydore Vergil. It is remarkable that Hearne's fragment repeats and refutes a story which sends Warwick not to France but to Spain; to seek in marriage, not Bona of Savoy, but Isabel of Castile. But all such suits, it is added, were fruitless, because the princes of Europe had not confidence in the stability of Edward's throne.

On the arrival of the news of Edward's marriage, Shakspeare reconciles Margaret and Warwick, who now becomes a zealous Lancastrian; and when Louis, who now promises succour to Margaret, not unnaturally asks for some pledge of the loyalty of the convert, Warwick answers,

* Hol., 283.

† See Ritson's note in Bosw. 467; and Lingard, 189, who shows that Warwick was not in France at the time of Edward's marriage. The authority which he overlooks is the Chronicle in Leland, ii. 500.

‡ P.513, edit. 1546. He was probably not even born a the time.

"This shall assure my constant loyalty,
That if our queen and this young prince agree,
I'll join my eldest daughter and my joy

To him forthwith in holy wedlock bands." Margaret's visit, as we have seen, was earlier, and the promised aid was actually given. As the poet has placed this visit too late, so has he placed another, at which some of the circumstances of the play did occur, much too soon.

It was in 1470 that Margaret and Warwick did unite against Edward, and cement their union, under the mediation of Louis, by the marriage of their children. Prince Edward was betrothed to Anne (not eldest, but), second daughter of Warwick. It does not appear that the French king sent any succours to the Lancastrians at any period after the declaration of Edward's marriage.

In the fourth act there is a glimmering of the truth, but by no means a clear development. We have the outbreak of the dislike of the nobles to Edward's marriage. * Clarence openly tells his brother that he has made an enemy of the King of France, and dishonoured Warwick, and Montagu regrets the loss of the alliance of France. Some notable lines follow:

* The persons present, besides the king, queen, and thə two princes, are Somerset, Montagu, Pembroke, Stafford, and Hastings.