p. 318. " J'oiV lords " : — The folio has, "Free lords," which
is meaningless, except to those who can believe that
' free ' meant noble ; as to which, see the Note on " the
free maids," Twelfth Night, Act II. Sc. 4. The reading
of the text, which supposes an easy typographical error,
and which is justified by Shakespeare's frequent use of
the phrases 'fair lord' or 'lords,' ' fair assembly,' 'fair
prayer,' ' fair gentleman ' or ' gentlemen,' was found in
Mr. Collier's folio of 1632.
" "The King will labour still to save his life": — Yet,

when, after the death of the Duke, his friends made
many and powerful efforts in parliament to obtain a
declaration of his innocence, they could not succeed while
the government was in Henry's own hands. It is not
clear that Gloster was murdered, or, if he was, that the
King was not concerned in, or consenting to, his death.
See the authorities quoted by the Bight Hon. Peregrine
Courtenay, in his Commentaries on the Historical Plays,
&c., pp. 276-282.
p. 319. " Which mates him first," &c. : — Here ' mate ' may be
used either with or without a reference to chess. " Mate,
exp. Pined, Consumed, Tame, Daunted, Abashed, h Fr.
Mater, Matter = Vincere, Siibjugare, vel ^ Belg. Mat, Teut.
Matt = Fessus, Defessus." Skinner's Etymologicon, &c.
890 KING HENRY VI. PART II. ACT m.
p. 320. "It skills not greatly": — i. c, it avails not greatly,
or accomplishes but little. The word occxirs in the same
sense in The Taming of the Shrew, Act III. Sc. 2, p. 442,
and in Twelfth Night, Act V. Sc. 1, p. 235. It hardly
needs a gloss, and Scott uses it frequently.
