This descent of the Duke of York is, as history gives it, and according to the English law, was a better title to the crown of England than that of the house of Lancaster. Richard of York was the son of the earl of Cambridge, beheaded by Henry the Fifth for asserting his claim to the crown; his mother, Anne, the heiress of the Mortimers, and thus his title to the crown, as the descendant of the third son of Edward the Third, Lionel, of Clarence, was stronger, in law, than that of Henry VI, a descendant of John of Gaunt, the fourth son.1 York was the issue of the elder son, and since, in law, such issue would succeed, before that of the younger son, as the Poet presents it, his claim was the stronger to the crown.2 Sec. 285. Duchess of Gloster's sentence.— "K. Hen. Stand forth, dame Eleanor Cobham, Gloster's wife; In sight of God, and us, your guilt is great; Receive the sentence of the law, for sins Such as by God's book, are adjudg'd to death. You, madam, for you are more nobly born, The usual practice of having the prisoner "stand forth," to receive the sentence, is here adopted. Like Grotius,* the Poet here makes the King conclude that capital punishment, in cases of treason and murder, are not only lawful, under the divine law, but indispensable to restrain 11' Greene's England, pp. 561, 564. 2 The right of primogeniture, or the superior claim of the elder son, has been recognized, in England, ever since the reign of Henry II. I Reeve's History Eng. Law, pp. 254, 255. 32' Henry VI, Act II, Scene III. 4 De Jure Belli, b. 2, c. 20. the audaciousness of guilt, as the Scripture recognizes that "all that a man hath, will he give for his life." The King assumes the attitude of the Judge pronouncing sentence-which is the judgment or judicial declaration of the court assessing the prisoners punishment—when he tells the Duchess to "receive the sentence of the law," but of course the evidence of the Duchess' guilt is not established as it should have been, in a court of justice, nor is the offense one in magnitude sufficient to constitute treason, had she been accorded a fair trial. Sec. 286. Justification for one condemned by law. "Glo. Eleonor, the law, thou seest, "hath judged thee; I cannot justify whom the law condemns."i Gloster here bows in humble submission to the decree of the law, in pronouncing punishment upon his wife. These lines show a beautiful respect for the majesty and might of law, in the abstract and this is in keeping with all the references which his characters show to the mandates of the law, after the law is applied to the rights of the litigants that the Poet introduces. Gloster did not assume to raise his right to judge one upon whom the law had already judged, or claim the prerogative to usurp the judgment seat. "The law, thou see'st hath judged thee." Not the King, as such, but the King, as the Eleanor Cobham, the mistress of Humphrey, duke of Gloster, became his wife in 1440 and in 1441, she with Roger Bolingbroke, a priest, was seized for conspiracy in a plot to encompass the King's death, by sorcery. On Bolingbroke's arrest, she fled to a sanctuary, at Westminster. "Her judges found that she had made a waxen image of the King and slowly melted it at a fire, a process which was held to account for Henry's growing weakness, both of mind and body. The Duchess was doomed to penance for her crime; she was led bare-headed and bare-footed in a penance-sheet through the streets of London, and then thrown into prison for life." 1' Greene's England, pp. 562, 563. 12' Henry VI, Act III, Scene I. mouthpiece of the law, had spoken and the law was higher and more sacred than the king, even; the law, itself had pronounced judgment. No man should question its high decrees. In the history of the trial by battle, when females were accused, their male friends or relatives, acting as justificators, or compurgators, by their oaths, had the right to justify the female accused and to stand in their place, upon their oaths, in the wager of the law.1 But this could not be done, after judgment pronounced, so Gloster here, could only let the law take its course and he would not "justify whom the law condemns." Sec. 287. Contrary to form of law. "Car. Did he not, contrary to form of law, Devise strange deaths for small offenses done?"2 The Cardinal here, no doubt, refers to the provision of Magna Charta,3 providing that amercement of a freeman fault, shall be proportionate to his crime and not excessive. Death, "for small offenses done," would certainly be contrary to the "form of law," at the time to which the play refers.* 1 Hale, Hist. Com. Law, 188; 3 Sh. Bl. Comm. 337. In making his peace with the world, before his execution, Buckingham said in King Henry VIII: "Buck. The law I bear no malice for my death, It has done, upon the premises, but justice." (Act II, Scene I.) 22' Henry VI, Act III, Scene I. Magna Charta, C. C. 14, 29. 4 This repository of the rights of Englishmen was wrung from King John, by his barons, on the 19th of June, 1215, on the little island in the Thames, within the county of Buckinghamshire, which is still called Magna Charta Island. Coke, 2' Inst.; 4 Sh. Bl. Comm. 423; Bouvier's Law Dictionary. For history of Magna Charta, and the details and scope of its different provisions, the reader is referred to the excellent article thereon, in II Reeve's History Eng. Law, pp. 16-50. Sec. 288. Levying sums of money.- Levy great sums of money through the realm, Levy, in the sense in which it is here used, means to raise, i. e., Gloster, during his protectorship, is charged with having raised money, through the realm, for the pay of soldiers and then not sent it for this purpose. Levy, in law, is also used in the way of a seizure, as where money is raised from a seizure of property for a lawful purpose. The term always contemplates that the levy is made by lawful authority, for otherwise the payment could not be enforced by the levy.2 Sec. 289. Taking bribes. "York. "Tis thought, my lord, that you took bribes of France, And, being protector, stayed the soldier's pay; By means whereof, his highness hath lost France." The giving or receiving of a bribe, is the acceptance or offering of any undue reward, by or to any person, whose ordinary profession or business relates to the administration of justice, in order to influence his behavior Gloster tells the Mayor, in King Richard III: "Glo. What: think you, we are Turks, or infidels? Or that we would, against the form of law, Proceed thus rashly in the villain's death?" (Act III, Scene V.) Menenius tells the tribunes of the people, after Coriolanus' summary condemnation: "Men. Give me leave, I'll go to him, and undertake to bring him where he shall answer, by a lawful form, (In peace) to his utmost peril." (Act III, Scene I.) Cornwall, in King Lear, in ordering the arrest of Gloster, said: "Corn. Pinion him like a thief, bring him before us. Though well we may not pass upon his life, 12' Henry VI, Act III, Scene I. 22 Bl. Comm. 357; 4 Bl. Comm. 81. 2' Henry VI, Act III, Scene I. in office, and to incline him to act contrary to his duty and the known rules of honesty and integrity.1 For Gloster to have accepted money from a foreign nation, at war with his own country, while acting as protector of the realm, would of course be accepting a bribe, if the effect or object was to incline the party receiving the money to fail in the performance of his duty to his own country; but of course there was no foundation, in fact, for this charge against the good Duke Gloster, but the charge was a mere subterfuge, as the Poet makes plain. 1 Coke, 3' Inst., 147, 149; 4 Bl. Comm. 139; 1 Russell, Cr. 156. Replying to the charges against him, Gloster said, in 2' Henry VI: "Glo. I never robb'd the soldiers of their pay, Nor never had one penny bribe from France." (Act III, Scene I.) Apemantus, the philosopher, in Timon of Athens, tells Timon, when he offers him good treatment: "Apem. If I should be brib'd too, there would be none left to raill upon thee; and then thou would'st sin the faster." (Act I, Scene II.) Pleading for his client, in Timon of Athens, Alcibiades said: "Alciab. . . his service done at Lacedaemon and Byzantium, were a sufficient briber for his life." (Act III, Scene V.) Caius Marcius tells Cominius, in Coriolanus: "Mar. I thank you, general, But cannot make my heart consent to take a bribe to pay my sword." (Act I, Scene IX.) Cassius tells Brutus, in Julius Cæsar: "Cas. That you have wrong'd me, doth appear in this; You have condemn'd the noted Lucius Pella, For taking bribes here of the Sardians." (Act IV, Scene III.) That struck the foremost man in all this world, But for supporting robbers; shall we now Contaminate our fingers with base bribes?" In Cymbeline, Belarius observes: "O, this life (Act IV, Scene III.) Is nobler than attending for a check, (Act III, Scene III.) |