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 ;' In the deep bosom of the ocean buried. Now are our brows bound with victorious wreaths; But I,-that am not shap'd for sportive tricks, [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. STEÈVENS. [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. That dogs bark at me, as I halt by them ;- This day should Clarence closely be mew'd up; Of Edward's heirs the murderer shall be. Dive, thoughts, down to my soul! here Clarence comes. Brother, good day: What means this armed guard, 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; That you shall be new christen'd in the Tower. 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, for my name of George begins with G, [5] Shakspeare very diligently inculcates, that the wickedness of Richard proceeded from his deformity, from the envy that rose at the comparison of his own person with others, and which incited him to disturb the pleasures that he could not partake. JOHNSÓN. [6] Preparations for mischief. The induction is preparatory to the action of the play. JOHNSON. [7] That is, if Edward keeps his word. JOHNSON. It follows in his thought, that I am he: These, as I learn, and such like toys as these, Glo. Why, this it is, when men are rul'd by women :'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, That made him send lord Hastings to the Tower; Clar. By heaven, I think, there is no man secure, Brak. I beseech your graces both to pardon me; His majesty hath straitly given in charge, That no man shall have private conference, Glo. Even so? an please your worship, Brakenbury, You may partake of any thing we say : We speak no treason, man ;-We say, the king Well struck in years; fair, and not jealous :- A bonny eye, a passing pleasing tongue; How say you, sir? can you deny all this? Brak. With this, my lord, myself have nought to do. [8] Fancies, freaks of imagination. JOHNSON. He that doth naught with her, excepting one, Brak. What one, my lord? Glo. Her husband, knave :-Wouldst thou betray me? Brak. I beseech your grace to pardon me; and, withal, Forbear your conference with the noble duke. Clar. We know thy charge, Brakenbury, and will obey. Glo. We are the queen's abjects, and must obey. Brother, farewell: I will unto the king; And whatsoe'er you will employ me in,- Mean time, this deep disgrace in brotherhood, Clar. I know it pleaseth neither of us well. Mean time, have patience. Clar. I must perforce; farewell. [Exeunt CLARENCE, BRAKENBURY, and Guard. Glo. Go, tread the path that thou shalt ne'er return, Simple, plain Clarence!—I do love thee so, That I will shortly send thy soul to heaven, If heaven will take the present at our hands. But who comes here? the new-deliver'd Hastings? Hast. Good time of day unto my gracious lord! Glo. No doubt, no doubt; and so shall Clarence too; For they, that were your enemies, are his, And have prevail'd as much on him, as you. Hast. More pity, that the eagle should be mew'd,* [2] That is, not the Queen's subjects, whom she might protect, but her abjects. JOHNSON. [3] This is a very covert and subtle manner of insinuating treason. The natural expression would have been, were it to call king Edward's wife, sister. I will solicit for you, though it should be at the expense of so much degradation and constraint, as to own the low-born wife of King Edward for a sister. But by slipping, as it were casually, widow into the place of wife, he tempts Clarence in an oblique proposal to kill the King. JOHNSON. [4] A mew was the place of confinement where a hawk was kept till he had moulted. JOHNSON. |