IV. iii. 46. Morton. '. . . sailed into Flanders, where he did the earle of Richmond good seruice.' Holinshed, iii. 741. Halle, 390.
IV. iii. 48. power. The date of the beginning of Buckingham's revolt is October 18, 1483, according to the attainder of Buckingham, Rotuli Parliamentorum, vi, 245. For an account of Buckingham's march with his Welshmen, cf. Holinshed, iii. 743, Halle, 394.
IV. iii. 55. Jove's Mercury. Mercury was the messenger who carried the commands of Jove.
IV. iv. 6. to France. Actually, Margaret went to France in 1476, after which time she did not again return to England. See note, I. iii. 167.
IV. iv. 15. right for right. Justice answering to the claims of justice (Johnson).
IV. iv. 28. abstract. Cf. Hamlet, II. ii. 555: 'for they are the abstracts and brief chronicles of the time.'
IV. iv. 52, 53. These two lines are reversed in the Quarto, which makes a rather better sequence, though either can be defended. The Folio printer's eye may have been confused by three consecutive lines beginning with 'That.'
IV. iv. 52. galled eyes. So too in Hamlet, I. ii. 155: 'Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears Had left the flushing in her galled eyes. . . .'
IV. iv. 85. index . . . pageant. The 'index' was the written prologue sometimes distributed to the audience to explain the allegory in the 'pageant' or dumb-show (pantomimic action) to follow. The reference of course is to the representation of a play with a dumb-show. The 'index' here is said to have promised a happier conclusion than afterwards came to pass (Stevens; Wright).
IV. iv. 88–90. These lines are obviously confused in the arrangement of the Quarto. For the Quarto reading, see list of variants, Appendix C.
