prince was born October 13, 1454, and was therefore only six years old at the time of this scene.
I. i. 239. Stern Faulconbridge commands the narrow seas. This line is echoed in Marlowe's Edward II, line 970: 'The hautie Dane commands the narrow seas.' Faulconbridge is mentioned only here in the play. He is Warwick's uncle, William Nevil, Baron Fauconberg, who commanded at Calais as Warwick's deputy in 1459-1460, led the Yorkist left wing at Towton, and was later made Earl of Kent. The special reference in the present line is to his control of Calais and the Straits of Dover during the year previous to the Parliament of 1460. There is no reason for the assumption of commentators that Fauconberg's son Thomas (also known as Faulconbridge) is referred to. The latter figures at a later period (ca. 1470) and receives much attention in the first part of Heywood's play, King Edward IV. I conjecture that Faulconbridge's part in the drama has been amalgamated with that of his nephew Montague, and that the figure referred to in this line is the same as the speaker of lines 14 and 209 above.
I. ii. 28-31. And, father, do but think How sweet a thing it is to wear a crown, Within whose circuit is Elysium, And all that poets feign of bliss and joy. These beautiful lines, which are not found in the True Tragedy version, reproduce very exactly the sentiment and melody of Marlowe's Tamburlaine. Compare lines 763-765 of that play:
'I thinke the pleasure they enioy in heauen
Can not compare with kingly ioyes in earth,
To weare a Crowne enchac’d with pearle and golde.'
And also lines 863, 879 f.,
'The . . . sweetnes of a crowne . . .
That perfect blisse and sole felicitie,
The sweet fruition of an earthly crowne.'
