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Go then, my mother, to thy daughter go;
Make bold her bashful years with your experience;
Prepare her ears to hear a wooer's tale;
Put in her tender heart the aspiring flame
Of golden sov'reignty; acquaint the princess
With the sweet silent hours of marriage joys:
And when this arm of mine hath chastised
The petty rebel, dull-brain'd Buckingham,
Bound with triumphant garlands will I come,
And lead thy daughter to a conqueror's bed;
To whom I will retail my conquest won,5
And she shall be sole victress, Cæsar's Cæsar.

Q. Eliz. What were I best to say? her father's brother
Would be her lord? Or shall I say, her uncle?
Or, he that slew her brothers, and her uncles?
Under what title shall I woo for thee,

That God, the law, my honour, and her love,
Can make seem pleasing to her tender years?

K. Rich. Infer fair England's peace by this alliance.
Q. Eliz. Which she shall purchase with still lasting war.
K. Rich. Tell her, the king, that may command, en-

treats.

Q. Eliz. That at her hands, which the king's King forbids."

K. Rich. Say, she shall be a high and mighty queen. Q. Eliz. To wail the title, as her mother doth.

K. Rich. Say, I will love her everlastingly.

Q. Eliz. But how long shall that title, ever, last?"

The tears that you have lent to your afflictions, shall be turned into gems; and requite you by way of interest, &c. Theobald.

How often the letters u and n are confounded in these copies, has been shown in various places. See Vol. III, p 40, n. 5; and note on Timon of Athens, Act IV, sc. iii, Vol. XV. Malone.

5 To whom I will retail my conquest won,] To retail (as Mr. M. Mason has observed in a note on Act III, sc. i, p. 81, n. 6,) is to hand down from one to another. Richard, in the present instance, means to say he will transmit the benefit of his victories to Eliza beth. Steevens.

6

which the king's King forbids] Alluding to the prohibition in the Levitical law. See Leviticus, xviii, 14. Grey.

7 But how long shall that title, ever, last?] Young has borrowed this thought in his Universal Passion:

"But say, my all, my mistress, and my friend,
"What day next week th' eternity shall end?"

Steerens

K. Rich. Sweetly in force unto her fair life's end.
Q. Eliz. But how long fairly shall her sweet life last?
K. Rich. As long as heaven, and nature, lengthens it.
Q. Eliz. As long as hell, and Richard, likes of it..
K. Rich. Say, I, her sovʼreign, am her subject low.
Q. Eliz. But she, your subject, loaths such sov'reignty.
K. Rich. Be eloquent in my behalf to her.

Q. Eliz. An honest tale speeds best, being plainly told.
K. Rich. Then, in plain terms tell her my loving tale.9
Q. Eliz. Plain, and not honest, is too harsh a style.
K. Rich. Your reasons are too shallow and too quick.
Q. Eliz. O, no, my reasons are too deep and dead;-
Two* deep and dead, poor infants, in their graves.

K. Rich. Harp not1 on that string, madam; that is past.

8 — am her subject low.] Thus the folio. The quarto reads: her subject love. Steevens.

9 Then, in plain terms tell her my loving tale ] So the quarto. The folio reads:

"Then plainly to her tell my loving tale." Malone.

1 Harp not &c.] In the regulation of these short speeches I have followed the quarto, 1597. Steevens.

K. Rich. Harp not on that string, madam; that is past.

Q Eliz. Harp on it still shall Ï, &c.] In the quarto, 1598, the first of these two lines is wanting. The passage stands thus: Qu. O, no, my reasons, &c.

66

"Too deep and dead, poor infants, in their graves.

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King Harp on it still shall I, till heart-strings break. "Now by my george," &c.

The printer of the next quarto saw that the line-" Harp on it still shall I," &c. could not belong to Richard, and therefore annexed it to the Queen's former speech, but did not insert the omitted line.

The editor of the folio supplied the line that was wanting, but absurdly misplaced it, and exhibited the passage thus:

"Qu. O, no, my reasons are too deep and dead; "Too deep and dead, poor infants, in their graves. "Harp on it still shall I, till heart-strings break.

"King. Harp not on that string, madam, that is past. "Now by my george," &c.

The text is formed from the quarto, and the folio. Malone.

* I have restored the true reading, " Two deep and dead," &c. instead of "Too deep and dead," &c. The eye of the compositor must have been led astray, by the frequent repetition of the word too, and the ear of the proof-reader could not detect the error. Mr. Ayscough's edition, which deservedly ranks with the most correct, countenances the reading which I have taken the liberty to adopt. Am. Ed.

Q. Eliz. Harp on it still shall I, till heart-strings break. K. Rich. Now, by my george, my garter, and my

crown,

Q. Eliz. Profan'd, dishonour'd, and the third usurp❜d. K. Rich. I swear.

Q. Eliz. By nothing; for this is no oath. Thy george, profan'd, hath lost his holy honour; Thy garter, blemish'd, pawn'd his knightly virtue; Thy crown, usurp'd, disgrac'd his kingly glory : If something thou would'st swear to be believ'd, Swear then by something that thou hast not wrong'd. K. Rich. Now by the world, Q. Eliz.

'Tis full of thy foul wrongs.

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K. Rich. Why then, by God,
Q. Eliz.
If thou had'st fear'd to break an oath by him,3
The unity, the king thy brother made,

God's wrong is most of all.

Had not been broken, nor my brother slain.4

2 Thy george, profan'd, hath lost his holy honour; Thy garter, &c.] The quarto reads-The george, &c. The folio-Thy george; &c. and, afterwards,-lordly instead of-holy.

3 God's wrong is most of all.

Steevens.

If thou hadst fear'd to break an oath by him, &c.] I have followed the quarto, except that it reads in the preceding speech, Why then, by God. The editors of the folio, from the appre -hension of the penalty of the Statute, 3 Jac. I, c. 21, printed 66 Why then by heaven,"—and the whole they absurdly exhibited thus:

"Rich. Why then, by heaven.

66

Qu. Heaven's wrong is most of all.

"If thou didst fear to break an oath with him,

"The unity," &c.

"If thou had'st fear'd to break an oath by him,

"The imperial metal," &c.

By their alteration in the first line of the Queen's speech, they made all that follows ungrammatical. The change in the preceding speech, not having that consequence, I have adopted it.

the king thy brother made,

Malone.

Had not been broken, nor my brother slain.] The quarto, by.

If thou had'st fear'd to break an oath by him,
The imperial metal, circling now thy head,
Had grac'd the tender temples of my child;
And both the princes had been breathing here,
Which now, two tender bed-fellows for dust,5
Thy broken faith hath made a prey for worms.6
What canst thou swear by now?

K. Rich.

By the time to come." Q. Eliz. That thou hast wronged in the time o'er-past; For I myself have many tears to wash

Hereafter time, for time past, wrong'd by thee.

The children live, whose parents thou hast slaughter'd,
Ungovern'd youth, to wail it in their age: 8

The parents live, whose children thou hast butcher'd,
Old barren plants, to wail it with their age.
Swear not by time to come; for that thou hast
Misus'd ere used, by times ill-us'd o'er-past.

K. Rich. As I intend to prosper, and repent!
So thrive I in my dangerous attempt9
Of hostile arms! myself myself confound!
Heaven, and fortune, bar me happy hours!1
Day, yield me not thy light; nor, night, thy rest!
Be opposite all planets of good luck

To my proceeding, if, with pure heart's love,
Immaculate devotion, holy thoughts,

I tender not thy beauteous princely daughter!

an error of the press, has-my brother, which the editor of the folio corrected thus:

The unity the king, my husband, made,

Thou hadst not broken, nor my brothers died.

Malone.

5 Which now, two tender bed-fellows &c.] Mr. Roderick observes, that the word two is without any force, and would read:

Which now too tender &c. Steevens. Thus the folio. The quarto-two tender play-fellows. Malone. 6 a prey for worms.] So the quarto. Folio-the prey. 7 By the time to come.] So the quarto. By is not in the folio.

Malone.

Malone.

8 to wail it in their age:] So the quarto, 1598. The quarto, 1602, &c. and the folio, read-with their age. Malone.

9

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in my dangerous attempt -] So the quarto. Folio-dangerous affairs. Malone.

1 Heaven, and fortune, bar me happy hours!] This line is found only in the folio. Malone,

In her consists my happiness, and thine;
Without her, follows to myself, and thee,
Herself, the land, and many a christian soul,
Death, desolation, ruin, and decay:

It cannot be avoided, but by this;
It will not be avoided, but by this.
Therefore, dear mother, (I must call you so)
Be the attorney of my love to her.

Plead what I will be, not what I have been;
Not my deserts, but what I will deserve:
Urge the necessity and state of times,
And be not peevish2 found in great designs.
Q. Eliz. Shall I be tempted of the devil thus?
K. Rich. Ay, if the devil tempt thee to do good.
Q. Eliz. Shall I forget myself, to be myself?

K. Rich. Ay, if your self's remembrance wrong yourself.

Q. Eliz. But thou didst kill my children.

K. Rich. But in your daughter's womb I bury them: Where, in that nest of spicery they shall breed3 Selves of themselves, to your recomforture.

Q. Eliz. Shall I go win my daughter to thy will?
K. Rich. And be a happy mother by the deed.
Q. Eliz. I go.-Write to me very shortly,

And

you shall understand from me her mind.

K. Rich. Bear her my true love's kiss, and so farewel. [Kissing her. Exit Q. ELIZ.

2 And be not peevish found-] Thus the folio-Peevish in our author's time signified foolish. So, in the second scene of this Act: "When Richmond was a little peevish boy,

See also Minsheu's DICT. in The quarto reads-peevish fond, and I am not sure that it is not right. A compound epithet might have been intended, peevish-fond. So childish-foolish, senseless-obstinate, foolish-witty, &c. Malone.

I believe the present reading is the true one. So, in King Henry VIII:

3

phoen

So

4

have great care

not found a talker." Steevens.

in that nest of spicery, they shall breed-] Alluding to the Steevens.

the quarto. The folio reads-they will breed. Malone. shortly,] This adverb, in the present instance, is employed as a trisyllable. See Mr. Tyrwhitt's note, Vol. II, p. 160. Steevens.

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