That trudge betwixt the king and Mistress Shore. Lord Hastings was to her for his delivery? 75 Glou. Humbly complaining to her deity Got my lord chamberlain his liberty. If we will keep in favour with the king, To be her men and wear her livery. 80 The jealous o'er-worn widow and herself, Since that our brother dubb'd them gentlewomen, Are mighty gossips in this monarchy. Brak. I beseech your graces both to pardon me; Glou. Even so; an't please your worship, Brakenbury, 85 74. you] Ff, Qq 7, 8; ye Qq 1-6. 75. was to her for his] Qq; was, for her FI; was, for his Ff2, 3; was for his F 4. 83. this] Qq; our Ff. 87. his] Qq; your Ff. 88. an't] Pope; and Qq 1, 2, Ff; & Qq 3-6. Brakenbury] Ff; Brokenbury Qq. 73. Mistress Shore] Jane Shore was daughter of a Cheapside mercer and wife of a goldsmith in Lombard Street. More says that she used her influence with the king "to manie a mans comfort and releefe. Where the king tooke displeasure, shee would mitigate and appease his mind: where men were out of fauour, she would bring them in his grace." In 1483 Gloucester, as Protector (see below, III. iv.) accused her of sorcery against his person. No proof being found against her, she was condemned to do penance in St. Paul's for incontinency. She died in poverty c. 1527. 75. to her for his] Qq, although adding an extra foot to the line, have the better reading. "For her delivery " in Ff can mean only "for delivery at her hands," which is strained and awkward. 81. o'erworn] Compare Chapman (?), Alphonsus Emperor of Germany, 1654, Joachim Carolus, Marquess of Brandenburg, o'erworn with age." i. 2: 66 82. gentlewomen] There was no question of Elizabeth's gentry. Richard brackets her name with that of Mistress Shore in a spirit of malicious insinuation. That erroneous accounts of her origin were current appears from a phrase in the translation of Polydore Vergil (ed. Ellis, 1844, p. 117), where the king is said to have kept his marriage secret "because the woman was of meane caulyng." 83. gossips] familiar acquaintances. So Gammer Gurton's Needle, 1575, "mother Chat, my gossip"; Midsummer-Night's Dream, II. i. 47; Merchant of Venice, II. i. 9; Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, 1614, i. 1: “All the poets and poet-suckers in town. . . are the players' gossips." Nares quotes Verstegen for the origin of the word, "Such as undertooke for the child at baptisme, called each other by the name of Godsib, that is, of kin together through God." The sense of vulgar familiarity implied by Richard is found in Piers the Plowman, B-text, v. 310 (Atext, 152), and Chaucer, Canterbury Tales, D. 548. Compare Fr. compère, commère. We speak no treason, man; we say the king A cherry lip, a bonny eye, a passing pleasing tongue; Brak. With this, my lord, myself have nought to do. Brak. What one, my lord? Glou. Her husband, knave: wouldst thou betray me? . Forbear your conference with the noble duke. 92. jealous] Qq; iealious Ff. 97. nought] Qq 1, 6, Ff; naught Qq 2-5. 98-100. Naught alone] arranged as Qq 1-7; Ff, Q 8 divide thus, Naught Shore? I tell . . . with her (Excepting one) alone. 100. to do] Ff, Q 8; he do Qq 1-7. IOI, 102. What one betray me?] omitted Q 1. 103. beseech] Qq; do beseech Ff. 103, 104. I beseech noble duke] arranged as Capell; Qq divide thus, I beseech Ff thus, I do beseech your Grace To pardon (3 lines). 66 92. struck in years] Aldis Wright points out that this phrase means "well gone" or 66 far run in years. Struck" is from A.S. strican = to go, run: compare Ger. streichen. Strike" is used with this meaning in a lyric poem on Springtime, c. 1300 (Morris and Skeat, Specimens, new ed. 1879, ii. 48): "Asse streme pat strikeb stille." Halliwell, sub Strike (2) and Streke, gives thirteenth and fourteenth century examples. See George a Greene, 1599: "Three men come striking through the corn, my love," and Eastward Ho, i. 1: forbeare Your ... Duke; nature all are jealous," where the same pronunciation is necessary. 94. Steevens emended the metre by giving a whole line to "A cherry lip." Pope omitted "a bonny eye." Is it not possible that the line is a snatch from some old song in "fourteen " metre? 94. bonny] Compare 2 Henry VI. v. ii. 12; Much Ado About Nothing, 11. iii. 69 ; Greene, Friar Bacon (Dyce, 174) "May it please your highness give me leave to post To Fresingfield, I'll fetch the bonny girl." 100. Were best to do it] The ordinary phrase would be "he were best do it." Compare Taming of the Shrew, v. i. 15; Lyly, Alexander and Campaspe, iv. I: "You were as good eat my master." The earliest example cited in New Eng. Dict. belongs to 1483. Before that time the pronoun was in the dative, "him were best." The reading in Qq is confused and ungrammatical, and I have found no parallel for it. Clar. We know thy charge, Brakenbury, and will obey. 105 Glou. We are the queen's abjects, and must obey. > Brother, farewell: I will unto the king, Touches me deeper than you can imagine. Clar. IIO 115 I must perforce: farewell. [Exeunt Clarence, Brakenbury, and guard. Glou. Go, tread the path that thou shalt ne'er return, Simple, plain Clarence!—I do love thee so, Hast. Good time of day unto my gracious lord! I 20 125 108. whatsoe'er] whatsoe're Ff; whatsoeuer Qq. 115. or else] Ff; or Qq. Exeunt guard.] Capell; Exit Clar. (or Cla.) Qq, Ff. Ff; the Qq 1, 2. 124. this] Qq 3-8, 115. lie for you] On their face, the words mean, "lie in prison instead of you." But Gloucester, no doubt, uses "lie" in a double sense. He really means "I will deliver you, or else will tell falsehoods about you." See below, lines 147, 148. 116. patience. . . perforce] Steevens sees an allusion to the proverb "Patience perforce is a medicine for a mad dog." Glou. No doubt, no doubt; and so shall Clarence too; 130 Hast. More pity that the eagle should be mew'd, Glou. What news abroad? Hast. No news so bad abroad as this at home: 135 The king is sickly, weak, and melancholy; Glou. Now, by Saint Paul, that news is bad indeed! O, he hath kept an evil diet long, And overmuch consum'd his royal person: Hast. He is. Glou. Go you before, and I will follow you. 140 [Exit Hastings. He cannot live, I hope, and must not die 145 With lies well steel'd with weighty arguments; Ff. And if I fail not in my deep intent, Clarence hath not another day to live; Which done, God take King Edward to his mercy, 132. eagle] Qq; Eagles Ff. 133. While] Qq; Whiles Ff. 138. Saint Paul] Qq; S. John Ff. is he] Qq; Where is he, Ff. 136. sickly] See below, II. iii. 30, "this sickly land," and compare Lyly, Euphues (Arber, 227): "Cassander being both aged and sickly, found such weaknesse in himselfe, that he thought nature would yeeld to death." 137. fear] fear for. New Eng. Dict. suggests that the pronoun may originally have been in the dative, like Lat. timere alicui, and quotes Berners, Hystorye of the moost noble and valiaunt Knyght Arthur of lytell Brytayne, c. 1530 (ed. 1814, p. 213): "Arthur fered his horse, lest that the lyon sholde haue slayne him." See also Merchant of Venice, III. v. 3, 33; 1 Henry IV. iv. i. 24. 150 prey] Qq; play 142. What, 139. evil diet] So More (ap. Holinshed, iii. 712): "The king his brother (whose life he looked that euill diet should shorten)." 148. steel'd] pointed with steel, like a lance; and so, armed, fortified. Compare 2 Henry VI. III. i. 331: "Now, York, or never, steel thy fearful thoughts," where, however, "steel" approximates more nearly to the sense of "harden," as "the steeled gaoler " in Measure for Measure, Iv. ii. 90. 152. bustle] busy myself energetically. Compare Lyly, Alexander and Campaspe, iv. 1: See, they begin to flock, and behold my master bustles himself to fly"; Merry Devil of Ed For then I'll marry Warwick's youngest daughter. As for another secret close intent, By marrying her which I must reach unto. But yet I run before my horse to market: 155 160 Clarence still breathes; Edward still lives and reigns; SCENE II.-The same. Another street. Enter the corpse of KING HENRY VI., Gentlemen with halberds to guard it; LADY ANNE being the mourner. Anne. Set down, set down your honourable load— Enter SCENE II. The same. Another street.] Capell. the Coarse of Henrie the sixt with Halberds to guard it Enter Lady Anne, with the hearse of Harry the 6. Qq. imperfect] Q 1; lord Qq 2-8. monton, 1617: "Let us alone to bustle for the set." In the same play, the keeper Brian uses the word thus : "Let me alone to bustle with your fathers; I warrant you that I will keep them play "Her Till you have quit the Chase." 154. her husband and her father] For the traditional part taken by Richard in the slaying of Prince Edward after Tewkesbury, see below, 1. ii. 242, and 3 Henry VI. v. v. 39: father" cannot mean Warwick, Gloucester commanded the vanguard at Barnet, where Warwick fell; but only in this general sense could he be called Warwick's murderer. On the other hand, he was credited with the murder of Henry VI., Anne's father-in-law. The later Qq use "father" for "fatherin-law" below, I. ii. 231; and compare Romeo and Juliet, IV. i. 2, etc. 5 158. secret close] The second adjective intensifies the first: compare "secretly alone" above, line 100. For "close" compare below, Iv. ii. 35. Scene II. 3. obsequiously] as befits a funeral, mournfully. Compare 3 Henry VI. 11. v. 118. For the more usual and modern sense, see Merry Wives of Windsor, IV. ii. 2, and Othello, 1. i. 46. 5. key-cold] as cold as a key, i.e. very cold. Aldis Wright quotes Gower, Confessio Amantis, vi. 244-7 :— "For certes there was never keie Ne frosen is vpon the walle More inly cold, than I am alle." Compare Lucrece, 1774; Decker, Seuen Deadly Sinnes of London, 1606 (Arber, p. 19): "Such fellowes [the porters at the city-gates] are key-cold in their comming downe to Strangers, except < |