likewise addresses York as 'brother' at this point; but in the next scene (lines 4 and 36), where York calls him 'brother,' the True Tragedy has 'cosen Montague.' See notes on lines 209 and 239.
I. i. 17. Richard hath best deserv'd of all my sons. The precocity of Richard of Gloucester is probably the most striking of all the deviations from history in this play and its predecessor, the Second Part. Born at Fotheringay Castle, October 2, 1452, Richard was incapable of taking part in the first battle of St. Albans, May 22, 1455. He was less than nineteen at the time of the battle of Tewkesbury (May 4, 1471), with which this play concludes.
I. i. 32. S. d. They go up. The chair of state, in which York seats himself (cf. l. 51), is apparently on the upper stage.
I. i. 35. The queen this day here holds her parliament. The author represents these events as following immediately upon the first battle of St. Albans (May 22, 1455), but the Parliament which declared York heir to the throne did not in fact meet till October, 1460.
I. i. 47. Dares stir a wing if Warwick shake his bells. An allusion to falconry. Bells were attached to the legs of falcons. The best illustration I know is a passage in Nicholas Grimald's Latin play, Christus Redivivus (1543), II. iii.:
'Attamen a dominis cum dimittitur,
Sinistra hic ales & in sublime uolitat: eam
Adoritur atque insequitur strenuissime,
Ac motis pendenteis tibijs campanulæ
Tubæ sonitum supplent, crescat ut audacitas.'
'Yet, when the hawk is sent forth by its masters, it flies aloft on the left, and attacks the heron most vigorously; and, as its legs move, the hanging bells give forth the sound of a trumpet, so that the bird's daring increases.' (Translated by L. R. Merrill.)
