PERSONS REPRESENTED.

King EDWARD the Fourth.

EDWARD, prince of Wales, afterwards King Edward V.

RICHARD, duke of York,

GEORGE, duke of Clarence,

RICHARD, duke of Gloster, after

wards King Richard III.

A young son of Clarence.

sons to the king.

brothers to the king.

HENRY, earl of Richmond, afterwards K. Henry VII.
Cardinal BOURCHIER, archbishop of Canterbury.

THOMAS ROTHERAM, archbishop of York. JOHN Morton, bishop of Ely.

Duke of BUCKINGHAM.

Duke of NORFOLK: Earl of SURREY, his son.
Earl RIVERS, brother to king Edward's queen.
Marquis of DORSET, and Lord GREY, her sons.
Earl of OXFORD. Lord HASTINGS. Lord STANLEY. Lord

LOVEL.

Sir THOMAS VAUGHAN. Sir RICHARD RAtcliff.
Sir WILLIAM CATESBY. Sir JAMES TYRREL.
Sir JAMES BLOUNT. Sir WALTER HERBERT.
Sir ROBERT BRAKENBURY, lieutenant of the Tower.
CHRISTOPHER URSWICK, a priest. Another Priest.
Lord Mayor of London. Sheriff of Wiltshire.

ELIZABETH, queen of king Edward IV.
MARGARET, widow of king Henry VI.

Duchess of YORK, mother to king Edward IV. Clarence. and Gloster.

Lady ANNE, widow of Edward prince of Wales, son to king Henry VI.; afterwards married to the duke of Gloster.

A young daughter of Clarence.

Lords, and other Attendants; two Gentlemen, a Pursuivunt, Scrivener, Citizens, Murderers, Messengers, Ghosts, Soldiers, &c.

SCENE, England.

LIFE AND DEATH

OF

KING RICHARD III.

ACT I.

SCENE I.-London. A Street. Enter GLOSTER.

Gloster.

Now is the winter of our discontent

Made glorious summer by this sun of York ;'
And all the clouds, that lowr'd upon our house,
In the deep bosom of the ocean buried.

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

But I,—that am not shap'd for sportive tricks,
Nor made to court an amorous looking-glass;
I, 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
Into this breathing world, scarce half made
And that so lamely and unfashionable,

up,

[1] Alluding to the cognizance of Edward IV. which was a sun, in memory of the three suns, which are said to have appeared at the battle which he gained over the Lancastrians at Mortimer's Cross. STEEVENS.

[2] A measure was strictly speaking, a court dance of a stately turn, though the word is sometimes employed to express dances in general. STEEVENS.

[3] Barbed steeds-i. e. steeds caparisoned in a warlike manner. I. Haywarde, in his life and Raigne of Henry IV. 1599, says, "The duke of Hereford came to the barriers, mounted upon a white courser, barbed with blew and green velvet," &c. STEEVENS.

[4] By dissembling is not meant hypocritical nature, that pretends one thing and does another: but nature that puts together things of a dissimilar kind, as a brave soul and a deformed body. WARBURTON.