The Authorship of " King Henry VI." 175 



The case is different with the parallels between our plays and 

 Edward II. When Queen Margaret, enraged at the mild inasser- 

 tiveness of Henry's character and the consequent predominance of 

 Gloucester and his Duchess at the English court, exclaims to Suffolk 

 (parallel 6) : 



" I tell thee Poidl, when thou didst runne at Tilt, 

 And stolst away our Ladaies hearts in France, 

 I thought King Henry had bene Jike to thee, 

 Or else thou hadst not brought me out of France," 



the words are admirably adapted to the speaker's character and to 

 the facts of history. The chroniclers all give special attention to the 

 magnificent jousts in which Suffolk was the chief figure, both during 

 his negotiations with the French king for Henry's marriage and later 

 when he returned to France as Henry's representative to escort the 

 new queen to England. The similar lines spoken by Edward II in 

 his distress, 



" Tell Isahell the Oueene, I lookt not thus. 

 When for her sake I ran at Tilt in France, 

 And there vnhorste the duke of Cleremont" 



add a desired touch of romance and pathos to the king's figure, but 

 they seem to be quite unjustified by history. The words which 

 naturally suggested themselves in connexion with Suffolk's knightly 

 accomplishments seem to have been consciously repeated in order 

 to lend an unhistoric charm to the personality of the hero of a later 

 play. So far was Edward II really, at the time of his marriage with 

 Isabella, from paralleling the chivalrous feats of Suffolk, that a very 

 dark cloud was thrown over the wedding and coronation ceremonies 

 (January, February, 1308) by the obvious degeneracy and effeminacy 

 of the bridegroom.^ 



In the O'Neill passages, again, the Contention version (parallel 11) 

 seems clearly the original, suggested by the historical sources and by 

 dramatic propriety, while the similar hues in Edward II form a mere 

 replica which, except for the recollection of the already written 

 Contention, would have had nothing to suggest it. The name O'Neill 

 was, indeed, very familiar to the English public of Marlowe's day in 

 connexion with Irish disturbances because of the activities of " the 

 great O'Neill," as Fabyan calls him, who was created Earl of Tyrone 

 in 1543 after thrice invading the Pale. But the lines of the Contention, 



1 See Chalfant Robinson, " Was King Edward the Second a Degenerate 

 American Journal of .Insanity, 1910, p. 454 f. 



