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As are of better person than myself,] | Richard speaks here the language of nature. Whoever is stigmatized with deformity has a constant source of envy in his mind, and would counterbalance by some other superiority those advantages which he feels himself to want. Bacon remarks that the deformed are commonly daring; and it is almost proverbially observed tha. they are ill-natured. The truth is, that the deformed, like all other men, are displeased with inferiority, and endeavour to gain ground by good or bad means, as they are virtuous or corrupt. JOHNSON.

SCENE III.

P. 178, c. 1, 55. - -that Henry was unfortunate. He meaus, that Henry was unsuccessful in war, having lost his dominions in France, &c.

1.65 Exempt from envy, but not from disdain] Evy is always supposed to have some fascinating or blasting power; and to be out of the reach of envy is therefore a privilege belonging only to great excellence. I know not well why envy is mentioned here, or whose enty can be meant; but the meaning is, that h.s love is superior to envy, and can feel no blast from the lady's disdain. Or that, if Boua refuse to quit or requite his pain, his love may tora to disdain, though the consciousness of his own mert will exempt him from the pangs of envy. JOHNSON.

I believe envy is in this place, as in many others, put for malice or hatred. His situation places him above these, though it cannot secure him from female disdain. STEEVENS. Ide 2, 1. 13. You have a father able-] This seems ironical The poverty of Margaret's father is a very frequent topic of reproach. Id 1 20 Thy sly conveyance,] Conveyance is juggling, and thence is taken for artifice and fraud.

Id 1 44.. to sooth your forgery and his,] To soften it, to make it more endurable: or perhaps, to sooth us, and to prevent our being exasperated by your forgery and his. MALONE. Id 1 61. · guerdon'd—] 1. e. rewarded. go fear thy king-] That

P. 179, c. 1, T. 21. —— is. fright thy king. Id 1 26.

—to put armour on.] It was once no Unusual thing for queens themselves to appear ID armour at the head of their forces. The

suit which Elizabeth wore, when she rode through the lines at Tilbury to encourage the troops, on the approach of the armada, may be st seen in the Tower.

Id. L. 30thy reward;] Here we are to suppose that, according to ancient custom, Warwick makes a present to the herald or messenger, whom the original copies call-a post. 11. [ 62. to make a stale,-] i. e. stalkinghorse, pretence.

ACT IV.

SCENE I.

Id. c. 2, 144. Why, knows not Montague, that of itself,

En land is safe, if true within itself?] Neither the lapse of two centuries, nor any circumstance which has occurred during that

eventful period, has in any degree shook the credit of this observation, or impaired the con fidence of the public in the truth of it, "England is and will be still safe, if true within itself."

Id. l. 49. —with the seas,] This has been the advice of every man who in any age understood and favoured the interest of England.

Id. l. 65

you would not have bestowed the heir-] It must be remembered, that till the Restoration, the heiresses of great estates were in the wardship of the king, who in their minority gave them up to plund r, and afterwards matched them to his favourites. I know not when liberty gained more than by the abolition of the court of wards. JOHNSON.

Id. 1. 80 I was not ignoble of descent.] Her father was sir Richard Widville, knight, afterwards earl of Rivers; her mother, Jaqueline, duchess-dowager of Redford who was daughter to Peter of Luxemburgh, earl of Saint Paul, and widow of John duke of Bedford, brother to King Henry V.

P. 180, c. 1, 1. 39. she was there in place.] This expression, signifying, she was there present, occurs frequently in old English writers. En place a Galleism.

Id. 1 41 are done,] i. e. are consumed, thrown off. The word is often used in this sense by the writers of our author's age.

SCENE II.

Id. c. 2, l. 31. "welcome, sweet Clarence;"-MA

LONE.

Id. 1. 40 the Thracian fatal steeds;] We are told by some of the writers on the Trojan story that the capture of these horses was one of the necessary preliminaries to the fate of Troy.

SCENE III.

P. 181, c. 1, l. 43. Then, for his mind, be Edward England's king:] That is, in his mind, as far as his own mind goes.

SCENE VI.

P. 182, c. 1, l. 25. -few men rightly temper with the stars: I suppose the meaning is, that few men conform their temper to their destiny; which King Henry did, when finding himself unfortunate he gave the management of public affairs to more prosperous hands. JOHNSON. Id. 1. 27.. in place] i. e here present. 1. 71. This pretty lad-] He was afterwards Henry VII; a man who put an end to the civil war of the two houses, but no otherwise remarkable for virtue. Shakspeare knew his trade. Henry VII. was grandfather to queen Elizabeth, and the king from whom James inherited. JOHNSON.

Id.

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ACT V.

SCENE I.

P. 184, c. 1, l. 39. I'll do thee service-] i. e. enroll myself among thy dependants. Cowell informs us, that servitium is "that service which the tenant, by reason of his fee, oweth unto his lord." Id. 1. 52. The king was slily finger'd from the deck! A pack of cards was anciently termed a deck of cards, or a pair of cards, and thus is still in use in some parts.

Id. c. 2, l. 14. Two of thy name, both dukes of

Somerset,

Have sold their lives unto the house of York; The first of these noblemen was Elmund, slain at the battle of Saint Alban's, 1455. The second was Henry his son, beheaded after the battle of Hexham, 1463. The present duke Edmund, brother to Heury, was taken prisoner at Tewksbury 1471, and there beheaded, his brother John losing his life in the same fight. Id. 1. 27. --to lime the stones- that is, to cement the stones. Lime makes mortar. Id. 1.29. --so blunt,] Stupid, insensible of pater

nal foudness

Id. 1.50. passing traitor,] Eminent, egregious; traitorous beyond the common track of treason.

SCENE II.

Id. 1. 66. --a bug, that fear'd us all.] Bug is a bugbear, a terrific being. P185, c. 1, 15. My parks, &c.] This mention of his parks and manors diminishes the pathetic effect of the foregoing lines.

Id. 1.38. Which sounded like a cannon in a vault, Mr. Steevens thinks clamour, which is in the old play, the proper word, and adds, "The indistinct gabble of undertakers, while they adjust a coffin in a family cault, will abundantly illustrate the preceding simile. Such a peculiar bubbub of inarticulate sounds might have attracted our authors notice: it has too often forced itself on mine."

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Id. c. 2. l. 41. Work thou the way, &c.] He speaks this line, first touching his head, and then looking on his hand.

Id 1 45. Thanks, noble Clarence; worthy brother, thanks] In my copy of the second folio, which had belonged to king Charles the First, his majesty has erased-Cla. and written King in its stead. Shakspeare, therefore, in the catalogue of his restorers, may boast of a royal name. STFEVENS.

Id 1 65 With stately triumphs,] Triumphs are public shows.

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King Birhard III.

Historical Notes.

THIS tragedy, though it is called the life and death of this prince, comprises, at most, but the last eight years of his time; for it opens With George duke of Clarence being clapped up a the Tower, which happened in the beginning of the year 1477; and closes with the death of Richard at Bosworth field, which battle was fcoght on the 22th of August, in the year 1485. THEOBALD.

It appears that several dramas on the present subject had been written before Shakspeare attempted it. This play was first entered at Statoners' Hall by Andrew Wise, Oct. 20, 1597, under the title of The Tragedie of King Richard the Third, with the Death of the Duke of Clarence. Before this, viz. Aug. 15, 1586, was entered, A tragical report of King Richard the Third, a Ballad. It may be necessary to remark that the words, song, ballad, enterlade, and play, were often synonymously used. STEFFENS.

This play was written, I imagine, in the year 153. The Legend of King Richard III. by Francis Seagars, was printed in the first edithea of The Mirrour for Magistrates, 1559, and in that of 1575, and 1587, but Shakspeare does not appear to be indebted to it. In a subsequent edition of that book printed in 1610, the

old legend was omitted, and a new one inserted, by Richard Nicols, who has very freely copied the play before us. In 1597, when this tragedy was published, Nicols, as Mr. Warton has observed, was but thirteen years old. Hist. of Poetry, Vol. III. p. 267.

The real length of time in this piece is fourteen years; not eight years, as Mr. Theobald supposed for the second scene commences with the funeral of King Henry VI. who, according to the received account, was murdered on the 21st of May, 1471. The imprisonment of Clarence, which is represented previously in the first scene, did not in fact take place till 1477-8.

It has been since observed to me by Mr. Elderton (who is of opinion that Richard was charged with this murder by the Lancastrian historians without any foundation,) that "itappears on the face of the public accounts allowed in the exchequer for the maintenance of king Henry and his numerous attendants in the Tower, that he lived to the 12th of June, which was twenty-two days after the time assigned for his pretended assassination; was exposed to the public view in St. Paul's for some days, and interred at Chertsey with much solemnity, and at no inconsiderable expense." MALONE.

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KING RICHARD III.

This is one of the most celebrated of our author's performances; yet I know not whether it has not happened to him s to others, to be praised most, when praise is not most deserved. That this play has scenes noble in themselves, and very well contrived to strike in the exhibition, cannot be denied. But some parts are trifling, others shocking, and some probable. Johnson.

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SCENE L-London. A Street.
Enter GLOSTER.

Clo. Now is the winter of our discontent
Made glorious summer by this sun of York;
Aad all the clouds, that lowr'd upon our house,
La the deep bosom of the ocean bury'd.

Now are our brows bound with victorious wreaths;
Dar bruised arms hung up for monuments;
Our stern alarums chang'd to merry meetings,
Our dreadful marches to delightful measures.
Grum-visag'd war hath smooth'd his wrinkled front;
And now, instead of mounting barbed steeds,
Tonight the souls of fearful adversaries,—
He capers nimbly in a lady's chamber,
To the lascivious pleasing of a lute.

Bet I,-that am not shap'd for sportive tricks,
Nor made to court an amorous looking-glass;

1. that am rudely stamp'd, and want love's majesty,
To strut before a wanton ambling nymph;
I that am curtail'd of this fair proportion,
Cheated of feature by dissembling nature,
Deform'd, unfinish'd, sent before my time
lato this breathing world, scarce half made up,
And that so lamely and unfashionable,

at dogs bark at me, as I halt by them ;-
Why I, in this weak piping time of peace,
Have no delight to pass away the time;
Uness to spy my shadow in the sun,
And descant on mine own deformity;
And therefore, since I cannot prove a lover,
entertain these fair well-spoken days,—
I am determined to prove a villain,
Asi bate the idle pleasures of these days.
Pots have I laid, inductions dangerous,

dranken prophecies, libels, and dreams, I set my brother Clarence, and the king, 1 deadly hate the one against the other: Ad, if King Edward be as true and just, A. I am subtle, false, and treacherous, 1 day should Clarence closely be mew'd up; About a prophecy, which says-that G Edward's heirs the murderer shall be. [comes. Dve, thoughts, down to my soul! here Clarence Enter CLARENCE, guarded, and BRAKENBURY. Brother, good day: What means this armed guard,

That waits upon your grace?

Clar.

His majesty,

Tendering my person's safety, hath appointed
This conduct to convey me to the Tower.
Glo. Upon what cause?

Clar.
Because my name is—George.
Glo. Alack, my lord, that fault is none of yours;
He should, for that, commit your godfathers :-
O, belike, his majesty hath some intent,

:

That you shall be new christen'd in the Tower.
But what's the matter, Clarence? may I know?
Clar. Yea, Richard, when I know; for, I protest,
As yet I do not: But, as I can learn,

He hearkens after prophecies, and dreams;
And from the cross-row plucks the letter G,
And says a wizard told him, that by G
His issue disinherited should be;
And, for my name of George begins with G,
It follows in his thought, that I am he:
These, as I learn, and such like toys as these,
Have mov'd his highness to commit me now.

Glo. Why, this it is, when men are rul'd by wo

men;

'Tis not the king, that sends you to the Tower;
My lady Grey, his wife, Clarence, 'tis she,
That tempers him to this extremity.

Was it not she, and that good man of worship,
Antony Woodeville, her brother there,
That made him send lord Hastings to the Tower;
From whence this present day he is deliver'd?
We are not safe, Clarence, we are not safe.

Clar. By heaven, I think, there is no man secure,
But the queen's kindred, and night-walking heralds
That trudge betwixt the king and Mistress Shore.
Heard you not, what an humble suppliant
Lord Hastings was to her for his delivery?

Glo. Humbly complaining to her deity Got my lord chamberlain his liberty. I'll tell you what,-I think, it is our way, If we will keep in favour with the king, To be her men, and wear her livery: 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 ; His majesty hath straitly given in charge, That no man shall have private conference, Of what degree soever, with his brother.

N⭑

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