died in May, 1444. His failure was in a way a vindication, not a disgrace, for Gloucester.
I. iii. 133. Thy sumptuous buildings. The Duke occupied Greenwich Palace, which was greatly enlarged and improved by his Renaissance taste. In Shakespeare's time it was a favorite residence of Queen Elizabeth and King James.
I. iii. 144, 145. Could I come near your beauty with my nails, I'd set my ten commandments in your face. This undignified scene is historically impossible. The Queen and Duchess never met, for the humiliation and banishment of the latter, depicted in Act II, scene iv, occurred in 1441, four years before Margaret came to England.
I. iii. 174, 175. Last time I danc'd attendance on his will Till Paris was besieg'd, famish'd, and lost. The loss of Paris occurred in 1437, seven years before the present Duke of Somerset came to his title. York, however, is probably alluding to a scene in the First Part (IV. iii. 9-11), where he complains of 'that villain Somerset,
That thus delays my promised supply
Of horsemen that were levied for this siege.'
This is in connection with the siege of Bordeaux and last campaign of Talbot, 1453 (historically long after the date of the present scene). These lines have again been added by the reviser. Compare note on I. i. 144, 145.
I. iii. 215, 216. These lines are not in the Folio. They have been introduced from the Contention version because Somerset's reply (line 217) seems to presuppose them.
I. iv. 59. A pretty plot, well chosen to build upon! There is a quibble on 'plot': a plot of ground and a stratagem.
I. iv. 64, 65. Why, this is just, 'Aio te, Æacida, Romanos vincere posse.' The cryptic answer about the
