any misconception sixteenth-century
Englishmen may have formed of their hated foe.

As a specimen of Peele's rarely exercised broad humour the knavery of
the Welsh Friar, Hugh ap David, should be noticed; his trick for winning
a hundred marks from 'sweet St. Francis' receiver' is, perhaps, the best
part of it. More worthy of remembrance is Joan, admirably chosen, for
her innocence and gentleness, to stand in contrast to Queen Elinor; the
story of her happy love and most unhappy death adds a touch of genuine
pathos to the gruesome shadows of tragedy which darken the final pages.
Much in her portrait, as in the prose scenes concerned with the Welsh
Friar, may have been inspired by the success of Greene, whose influence
is marked throughout the play.

For our illustrations we quote Gloucester's lament over his young
wife--the closing speech of the play--, and one of several allusions to
the English nation which testify to the poet's sincere and warm
patriotism.

(1)

_Gloucester._ Now, Joan of Acon, let me mourn thy fall.
Sole, here alone, now sit thee down and sigh,
Sigh, hapless Gloucester, for thy sudden loss:
Pale death, alas, hath banish'd all thy pride,
Thy wedlock-vows! How oft have I beheld
Thy eyes, thy looks, thy lips, and every part,
How nature strove in them to show her art,
In shine, in shape, in colour and compare!
But now hath death, the enemy of love,
Stain'd and deform'd the shine, the shape, the red,
With pale and dimness, and my love is dead.
Ah, dead, my love! vile wretch, why am I living?
So willeth fate, and I must be contented:
All pomp in time must fade, and grow to nothing.
Wept I like Niobe, yet it profits nothing.
Then cease, my sighs, since I may not regain her;
And woe to wretched death that thus hath slain her!

(2)

_Joan._ Madam, if Joan thy daughter may advise,
Let not your honour make your manners change.
The people of this land are men of war,
The women courteous, mild, and debonair,
Laying their lives at princes' feet
That govern with familiar majesty.
But if their sovereigns once gin swell with pride,
Disdaining commons' love, which is the strength
And sureness of the richest commonwealth,
That prince were better live a private life
Than rule with tyranny and discontent.

If Peele wrote _The Battle of Alcazar_, which seems probable, he
benefited