By her, in his unlawful bed, he got If not to bless us and the land withal, May. Do, good my lord; your citizens entreat you. Buck. If you refuse it,—as in love and zeal, [Exeunt BUCKINGHAM and Citizens. Cate, Call them again, sweet prince, accept their suit; If you deny them, all the land will rue it. Glo. Will you enforce me to a world of cares? Weil, call them again; I am not made of stone, But penetrable to your kind entreaties, [Exit CATESBY. Albeit against my conscience and my soul. Re-enter BUCKINGHAM and the rest. Cousin of Buckingham,—and vou sage, grave men,— May. God bless your grace! we see it, and will Glo. In saying so, you shall but say the truth. Buck. Then I salute you with this roval title,Long live King Richard, England's worthy king! All. Amen. Buck. To-morrow may it please you to be crown'd? Glo. Even when you please, since you will have it so. Buck. To-morrow then we will attend your grace; And so, most joyfully, we take our leave. Glo. Come, let us to our holy work again.[To the Bishops. Farewell, good cousin ;-farewell, gentle friends. [Exeunt. ACT IV. SCENE I. Before the Tower. Enter on one side, QUEEN ELIZABETH, DUCHESS of YORK, and MARQUIS of DORSET; on the other, rying two virgins successively, or once marrying a widow. This is from Sir T. More, as copied by Hall and Holinshed. 1 The duke here hints at the pretended bastardy of Edward and Clarence. By 'some alive' is meant the duchess of York. the mother of Edward and Richard. This is very closely copied from Sir Thomas More. 2 Pity. 3 To this act should probably be added the next scene, so will the coronation pass between the acts; and ACT IV. Upon the like devotion as yourselves, Q. Eliz. Kind sister, thanks; we'll enter all to- Enter BRAKENBURY. And, in good time, here the lieutenant comes, — ence, I may not suffer you to visit them, title! I mean, the lord protector. Ha h he set bounds between their love and me? ther: Then bring me to their sights; I'll bear thy blame, Brak. No, madam, no, I may not leave it so ;' Enter STANLEY. Stan. Let me but meet you, ladies, one hou hence, And I'll salute your grace of York as mother, Anne. Despiteful tidings! O unpleasing news! grace? Q. Eliz. O Dorset, speak not to me, get thee gone, Take all the swift advantage of the hours; Duch. O ill-dispersing wind of misery!- 4 We have not seen this lady since the second scene of the first act, in which she promised to meet Richard at Crosby Place. She was married to him about the year 1472. 5 i. e. grand-daughter. The words grandson or grand-daughter never occur in Shakspeare 6 This was the phraseology of Shakspeare's time. 7 i, e. 'I may not so resign my office. O my accursed womb, the bed of death; Stan. Come, madam, come; I in all haste was sent. Anne. And I with all unwillingness will go.- iny husband Which issu'd from my other angel husband, Than thou hast made me by my dear lord's death! And prov'd the subject of mine own soul's curse: Did I enjoy the golden dew of sleep, But with his timorous dreams was still awak'd. Q. Eliz. Poor heart, adieu; I pity thy complain- Anne. No more than with my soul I mourn for yours. Dor. Farewell, thou woful welcomer of glory! Anne. Adieu, poor soul, that tak'st thy leave of it! Duch. Go thou to Richmond, and good fortune Pity, you ancient stones, those tender babes, [Exeunt. SCENE II. A Room of State in the Palace. Flou rish of Trumpets. RICHARD, as King upon his throne; BUCKINGHAM, CATESBY, a Page, and others. Buck. My gracious sovereign. K. Rich. Give ine thy hand. Thus high, by thy And thy assistance, is King Richard seated :- Buck. Still live they, and for ever let them last! To try if thou be current gold, indeed :-- Buck. Say on, my loving lord. K. Rich. Why, Buckingham, I say, I would be king. Buck. Why, so you are, my thrice-renowned K. Rich. Ha! am I king? "Tis so: but Edward O bitter consequence, K. Rich. Tut, tut, thou art all ice, thy kindness Say, have I thy consent, that they shall die? Before I positively speak in this : I will resolve your grace immediately. [Exit BUCKINGHAM. Page. My lord. K. Rich. Know'st thou not any, whom corrupting Would tempt unto a close exploit of death? The deep-revolving witty1o Buckingham Stan. How now, lord Stanley? what's the news? K. Rich. Stand all apart.-Cousin of Bucking- I will take order for her keeping close. 1 A serpent supposed to originate from a cock's egg, 2 She seems to allude to the ancient mode of punishing a regicide, or other criminals, by placing a crown of iron heated red hot upon his head. 3 It is recorded by Polydore Virgil that Richard was frequently disturbed by terrible dreams. The veracity of that historian has been called in doubt; but Shak speare followed the popular histories. 4 Shakspeare seems here to have spoken at random. The present scene is in 1483. Richard duke of York, the husband of this lady, had he been then living, would have been but serenty-three years old, and we may reasonably suppose she was not older: nor did she go speedily to her grave; she lived tiil 1495. Inquire me out some mean-born gentleman, 5 Sorrow. 6 To play the touch' is to resemble the touchstone. 7 Several of our ancient historians observe that tins was an accustomed action of Richard's, whether he was pensive or angry. 8 Unrespective, i. e. devoid of cautious and pruden. tial consideration, inconsiderate, unregardful. 9 Secret act. 10 Witty was not at this time employed to signify a man of fancy, but was used for sagacity, wisdom, or judgment; or, as Baret defines it, having the senses sharp, perceiving or foreseeing quicklie.' 11 i. e. take measures, The boy is foolish, and I fear not him.- Re-enter Page, with TYRREL. Is thy name-Tyrrel? Tyr. James Tyrrel, and your most obedient subject. K. Rich. Art thou, indeed? Prove me, my gracious lord. K. Rich. Dar'st thou resolve to kill a friend of mine? Tyr. Please you; but I had rather kill two ene mies. mise, For which your honour and your faith is pawn'd; Shakspeare has here perhaps anticipated the folly of this youth. He was at this time, I believe, about ten years old, and we are not told by any historian that he al then exhibited any symptoms of folly. Being co fined by King Henry VII. immediately after the battle of "Bosworth, and his education being entirely neglected. he is described by Polydore Virgil, at the time of his death, in 1499, as an idiot; and his account, which is copied by Holished, was certainly a sufficient autho rity for Shakspeare's representation. 2 i. e. it is incumbent upon me. 3 I am in blood Step'd in so far, that should I wade no more 4The best part of our chronicles, in all men's opinions, is that of Richard III. written as I have heard by Moorton, but as most suppose by Sir Thomas More sometime lord chancellor of England, where it is aid how the king was devising with Tyrril to have his ne phews privily murdered; and it is ad led. he was then sitting on a draught; a fit carpet for such a counsel.' Sir James Tyrrel was executed for treason in the begin. ning of King Henry VII. 5 We should now say 'deal rith. but the other was the phraseology of Shakspeare's time. 6 The quarto has the following very characteristic line: King, Shall we hear from thee, Tirril, ere we sleep?" 7 King Henry IV. married one of the daughters and coheirs of Humphrey Bohun, earl of Hereford; and the other was married to Thomas duke of Gloster. fifth son of King Edward III., who was created earl of Hereford, I am thus bold To put your grace in mind of what you promis'd me. K. Rich. Well, but what is't o'clock? Buck. Of ten. K. Rich. Well, let it strike. Buck. Upon the stroke Why, let it strike ? K. Rich. Because that, like a Jack, thou keep'st the stroke Betwixt thy begging and my meditation. I am not in the giving vein to-day. O thus, quoth Dighton, lay the gentle babes,— in 1386, by King Richard II.; his only daughter Anne having married Edmund earl of Stafford. The duke of and Aune,) had some pretensions to claim a new grant Buckingham, (who was the grandson of this Edmund of the title, but he had not a shadow of right to the moiety of the estate, which, if it devolved to King Ed. ward IV. with the crown, was now the property of his children, or otherwise belonged to the right heirs of King Henry IV. Many of our historians, however. ascribe the breach between him and Richard, to Richard's refusing to restore him the moiety the Hereford estate; and Shakspeare has followed them. 8 The duke of Gloster, according to the former play, was not by when King Henry uttered the prophecy, but the poet does not often trouble himself about such mi ante points of accuracy. 9 Hooker, who wrote in Queen Elizabeth's time, in his description of Exeter, mentions this as a very old and antient castle, named Rugemont; that is to say, Red Hill. taking the name of the red soil or earth whereupon it is situated. It was first built, he adds, as some think, by Julius Caesar, but rather, and in truth. the Romans after him. 10 This alludes to the juck of the clock house, men. tioned before in King Richard II. Act v. Sc. 5. It was a figure made in old public clocks to strike the bell on the outside; of the same kind as those still preserved at St Dunstan's church in Fleet Street. Richard compare Buckingham to one of the automatons, and bids him not to suspend the stroke on the clock bell, but strike, that the noise may be past, and himself at liberty to pursue his meditations. Jack was a term of contempt occurring before in this play. 11 His castle in Wales SCENE IV. The same. Before the Palace. ter QUEEN MARGARET. Q. Mar. So, now prosperity begins to mellow, And drop into the rotten mouth of death.4 Here in these confines slily have I lurk'd, To watch the waning of mine enemies. 1 He thus denominates Richmond, because after the battle of Tewksbury he had taken refuge in the court of Francis II. duke of Bretagne, where by the procurement of Edward IV. he was kept a long time in honourable custody. 2 Bishop of Ely. A dire induction am I witness to, Enter QUEEN ELIZABETH and the DUCHESS of Q. Eliz. Ah, my poor princes! ah, my tender babes! My unblown flowers, new appearing sweets! Q. Mar. Hover about her; say, that right fo: rights Hath dimm'd your infant morn to aged night. Duch. So many miseries have craz'd my voice, That my woe-wearied tongue is still and mute,Edward Plantagenet, why art thou dead? Q. Mar. Plantagenet doth quit Plantagenet, Edward for Edward pays a dying debt. Q. Eliz. Wilt thou, O God, fly from such gentle lambs, And throw them in the entrails of the wolf? son. Duch. Dead life, blind sight, poor mortal-living Woe's scene, world's shame, grave's due by life ghost, usurp'd, Brief abstract and record of tedious days, As thou canst yield a melancholy seat; [Sitting down by her. "Sitting down with them. Tell o'er your woes again by viewing mine :I had an Edward, till a Richard kill'd him; I had a husband, till a Richard kill'd him: Thou hadst an Edward, till a Richard kill'd him: Thou hadst a Richard, till a Richard kill'd him. Duch. I had a Richard too, and thou didst kill him; I had a Rutland too, thou holp'st to kill him. From forth the kennel of thy womb hath crept proached with the murder of young Rutland, and the death of her husband and son were imputed to divine vengeance roused by that wicked act. So just is God to right the innocent. Margaret now, perhaps, means 3 Timorous thought and cautious disquisition are the to say, The right of me, an injured mother, whose son dull attendants on delay. 4 now is his fate grown mellow, Instant to fall into the rotten jaws Marston's Antonio und Mellida, 1602. King Richard III. was printed in 1597, Marston is therefore the imitator. 5 Induction is preface, introduction, or prologue. was slain at Tewksbury, has now operated as powerfully as that right which the death of Rutland gave you to divine justice, and has destroyed your children in their turn.' 7 Seniority. 8 Vide Hamlet, Act v. Sc. 2: 'Of carnal, bloody, and unnatural acts." Its apparent signification is cruel, sanguinary, fleshly. 6 In the third scene of the first act Margaret was re- I minded. P Freys on the issue of his mother's body, Q. Mar. Bear with me, I am hungry for revenge, 2 The adulterate Hastings, Rivers, Vaughan, Grey, Q. Eliz. O, thou didst prophesy, the time would come, That I should wish for thee to help me curse I call'd thee then, poor shadow, painted queen; Where be the bending peers that flatter'd thee? These English woes shall make me smile in France. Q. Elix. O thou well skill'd in curses, stay a while, And teach me how to curse mine enemies. Q. Mar. Forbear to sleep the night, and fast the Compare dead happiness with living woe: Q. Mar. Thy woes will make them sharp, and Duch. If so, then be not tongue-ty'd go with me, I hear his drum,-be copious in exclaims. crown Where should be branded, if that right were right, And little Ned Plantagenet, his son? Q. Eliz. Where is the gentle Rivers, Vaughan, Duch. Where is kind Hastings? K. Rich. A flourish, trumpets!-strike alarum, Let not the heavens hear these tell-tale women K. Rich. Ay; I thank God, my father, and your- your con Duch. Then patiently hear my impatience. K. Rich. Do, then; but I'll not hear. haste. Duch. Art thou so hasty? I have staid for thee, K. Rich. And came I not at last to comfort you? 1 i. e. partaker of or participator in the grief of others. The word appears to have been used metapho-Thou cam'st on earth to make the earth nry hell. rically for an equal, a companion, or old and intimate acquaintance. 2 i. e. thrown into the bargain. 3 Adulterate is stained with adultery. Adulterata, Lat. 4 See note on Hamlet, Act iii. Sc. 4:what act That roars so loud and thunders in the inder? Mr. Nares suggests that the index of a pageant was probably a painted cloth hung up before a booth where a pageant was to be exhibited. Alluding to the dangerous situation of those persons to whose care the standards of armies were entrusted. 6 i. e. run through all this from first to last. 7 Fast has no connection with the preceding word forbear; the meaning being sleep not at night, and fast during the day. 8 Bettering is amplifying, magnifying thy loss. I Shakspeare employed the word for the sake of the an tithesis between better and loss. 9 Thus in Venus and Adonis: So of concealed sorrow may be said: Free vent of words love's fire doth assuage; But when the heart's attorney once is mute, The client breaks as desperate of his suit.' 10 The meaning of this harsh metaphor is: The joys already possessed being all consumed and passed away, are supposed to have died intestate; that is, to have made no will, having nothing to bequeath; and more verbal complaints are their successors, but inherit nothing but misery. 11 Give sorrow words; the grief that does not speak, Whispers the o'er-fraught heart, and bids it break.' Macbeth. 12 A spice or particle of your disposition. |