Page:Henry VI Part 3 (1923) Yale.djvu/140

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The Third Part of

IV. ii. 20, 21. With sleight and manhood stole to Rhesus' tents, And brought from thence the Thracian fatal steeds. It had been prophesied that Troy could not be taken if the horses of Rhesus, King of Thrace, drank of the Xanthus River and grazed on the Trojan plain. The tenth book of the Iliad tells how Ulysses and Diomede, exponents of craft (sleight) and valor (manhood) respectively, averted the peril by slaying Rhesus on the night of his arrival and carrying off the horses. The story is referred to by both Ovid and Vergil. This allusion is an addition by the reviser of the play: lines 19-25 appear first in the Folio, whereas the rest of Warwick's speech is virtually unchanged from the True Tragedy.

IV. iii. 22 S. d. French Soldiers. This stage direction and all the business of the watchmen (lines 1-22, 26, 27) are added by the reviser. Two separate overthrows of King Edward by Warwick have been merged by the dramatists. The capture of the king here depicted took place in July, 1469, before Warwick's reconciliation with King Henry and without the aid of French soldiers. In March, 1470, Edward suddenly regained his power, and Warwick was obliged to flee to France. Here he united with the Lancastrians, and in September (1470) he landed at Dartmouth, accompanied by French troops. Edward then found himself deserted by his followers and fled to Holland.

IV. iii. 52. Unto my brother, Archbishop of York. George Nevil. It was in fact he who commanded the body of horse that captured Edward, July 28, 1469.

IV. iii. 53. When I have fought with Pembroke and his fellows. This fight took place a couple of days before Edward's capture. The Earl of Pembroke was defeated near Banbury, July 26, 1469, and beheaded at Northampton the next day.

IV. iv. In the True Tragedy version this scene fol-