And ample interchange of fweet difcourfe, [Sleeps. The Ghosts of Prince Edward, fon to Henry the Sixth, rifes between the two tents. Ghoft. Let me fit heavy on thy foul to-morrow! [to K. Richard. Think, how thou ftab'dft me in my prime of youth At leifure would permit, where leifure, as in this paffage, ftands for want of leifure. So, again: More than I bave faid, The leisure and enforcement of the time 7 Left leaden lumber peife me down to-morrow,] So, in our authour's Rape of Lucrece: "Now leaden flumber with life's strength doth fight." MALONE. To peixe, i. e. to weigh down, from pefer, Fr. I find the word in the old play of The Reigne of K. Edward III. 1596: "And peize their deeds with heavy weight of lead." STEEV. 8 The Ghoft, &c.] Mr. Steevens has here quoted a paffage from Nichols's Legend of King Richard III. inferted in The Mirror for Magiftrates, At Tewksbury; Defpair therefore, and die!- King Henry's iffue, Richmond, comforts thee. Magiftrates, and another from the 22d Song of Drayton's Polyolbien, both defcriptive of the vifions fuppofed to have been feen by Richard the night before the battle of Bofworth. He adds the following ob{ervation : "It is not unpleasant to trace the progrefs of a poetical idea. Some of our oldest hiftorians had informed us that king Richard was much disturbed in his dreams. The author of a metrical legend, [Nichols] who follows next in fucceffion, proceeds to tell us the quality of these ominous vifions. A poet [Drayton] who takes up the ftory, got further, and acquaints us with the names of thofe who are fuppofed to have appeared in them; and laft of all comes the dramatick writer, who brings the phantoms, speaking in their particular characters, on the stage." The annotations of my ingenious predeceffor feldom require animadverfion or revifion; but I am here obliged to remark, as I did on a former occafion, where the learned Bishop of Worcester had made a fimilar attempt to trace a thought from one poet to another, [See Vol. V. p. 397, n. 4.] that this fuppofed progrefs of a poetical idea is in the pretent inftance merely imaginary, as a few dates will at once demonstrate. Shakspeare's K. Richard III. was printed in 1597. Nichols s Legend of King Richard III. first appeared in that edition of The Mirrour for Magiftrates which was published in 1610, thirteen years after our authour's play had appeared; and the 22d Song of Drayton's Polyclbion was not publifhed till twenty-five years after the tragedy of King Richard III. had been printed, that is, in 1622. Our ancient hiftorians have faid more than that Richard was differb ed by dreams; they have mentioned the nature of them, and particularly of his dream on this night. The account given by Polydore Virgil, which was copied by Hall and Holinfhed, is as follows. "The fame went, that he had the fame night [the night before the battle of Bofworth] a dreadful and a terrible dream; for it seemed to him being aflepe, that he faw diverfe ymages like terrible devilles, which pulled and haled him, not fufferynge him to take any quiet or refte. The which ftraunge vifion not fo fodaynly ftrake his heart with a fodayne feare, but it stuffed his head and troubled his mind with many bufy and dreadful imaginations. And leaft that it might be fufpected that he was abashed for fear of his enemies, and for that cause looked fo piteoufly, he recited and declared to his familiar friends, of the morning, his wonderfull wyfion, and fearefull dreame." I quote from Holinhed, because he was Shakspeare's authority. Polydore Virgil, as I have already obferved, began to write his history about twenty years after Richard's death. MALONE, 4 The The Ghoft of King Henry the Sixth rises. [to K. Rich. By thee was punched full of deadly holes : Ghoft. Let me fit heavy on thy foul to-morrow! [to K. Rich. I, that was wash'd to death with fulfome wine', Thou offspring of the houfe of Lancaster, [to Richm. The Ghofts of Rivers, Grey, and Vaughan, rife. [to K. Rich. Rivers, that dy'd at Pomfret! Defpair, and die! Vaugh. Think upon Vaughan; and, with guilty fear, [to K. Rich. All. Awake! and think, our wrongs in Richard's bo- fom [to Richm. Will conquer him ;-awake, and win the day! 9 Harry, that propbesy'd thou should't be king,] This prophecy, to See p. 359, n. 5. MALONE. I - with fulfome wine,] Fulfome, was fometimes ufed, I think, in The The Ghoft of Haftings rifes. Ghoft. Bloody and guilty, guiltily awake; [to K. Rich, And in a bloody battle end thy days! Think on lord Haftings; and despair, and die !Quiet untroubled foul, awake, awake! [to Richm. Arm, fight, and conquer, for fair England's fake! The Ghofts of the two young Princes rife. Ghosts. Dream on thy coufins fmother'd in the Tower; Let us be lead within thy bofom 2, Richard,. And weigh thee down to ruin, fhame, and death! Thy nephews' fouls bid thee despair and die. Sleep, Richmond, fleep in peace, and wake in joy; Good angels guard thee from the boar's annoy! Live, and beget a happy race of kings! Edward's unhappy fons do bid thee flourish. The Ghoft of Lady Anne rifes. Ghoft. Richard, thy wife, that wretched Anne thy wife, That never flept a quiet hour with thee3, Now 2 Let us be lead within thy bofom,-] So, fays Mr. Theobald, the quarto, 1597. The fubfequent copies all have laid, instead of lead. That there was an edition of this play printed in 1597, I have not the leaft doubt, (though none of the editors except Mr. Theobald have ever seen it,) because it was entered in the ftationers' books in that year, and nearly at the fame time with K. Richard II. by the fame bookfeller for whom an edition of that play was printed in 1597, which is ftill extant. It is, however, very remarkable, that Mr. Theobald fhould have profited in this fingle inftance only, by that copy. Whenever it fhall be discovered, it will, I am confident, if diligently collated, like every other first edition that I have seen, prove its fuperior value in other inftances befide the present. MALONE. 3 That never slept a quiet bour with thee,] Shakspeare was probably here thinking of Sir Thomas More's animated defcription of Richard, which Holinshed tranfcribed: "I have heard (fays Sir Thomas) by credible report of fuch as were fecret with his chamberlaine, that after this abominable deed done [the murder of his nephews] he never had quiet in his mind. He never thought himself sure where he went abroad; his eyes whirled about; his body privily fenced; his hand ever upon his dagger; his countenance and maner like one always readie to ftrike againe. He tooke ill reft a-nights; lay long waking and mufing, fore wearied with care and watch; rather lumbered than flept, roubled with fearfull dreames; fodainely fometime ftart up, leapt cut of bed Now fills thy fleep with perturbations: To-morrow in the battle think on me, And fall thy edgelefs fword; Defpair, and die! Thy adversary's wife doth pray for thee. The Ghoft of Buckingham rises. Ghoft. The first was I, that help'd thee to the crown; [to K. Rich. The last was I, that felt thy tyranny: Dream on, dream on, of bloody deeds and death; [to Richm. [The Ghosts vanish. K. Richard ftarts out of his dream. K. Rich. Give me another horfe, bind up my wounds, Have mercy, Jefu!-Soft; I did but dream. O coward confcience, how doft thou afflict me !— Cold bed, and ran about the chamber; fo was his reftlefs heart continually toft and tumbled with the tedious impreffion and stormy remembrance of his abominable deede." With fuch a companion well might Anne say, that she never slept one quiet bour. MALONE. 4I dy'd for hope,] I died for only having hoped to give you that affiftance, which I never had it in my power to afford you in reality. STEEVENS. 5 Give me another borfe, &c.] There is in this, as in many of our authour's fpeeches of paffion, fomething very trifling, and fomething very ftriking. Richard's debate, whether he should quarrel with himfelf, is too long continued, but the fubfequent exaggeration of his crimes is truly tragical. JOHNSON. 6 The lights burn blue.] So, in Lylly's Galathea, 1592: "I thought there was fome Spirit in it because it burnt fo blue; for my mother would |