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499 como people bare toward him... answered (as men saye) that on that daye he would make an ende of all battailes or els ther finish his lyfe. . .

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When therle had thus obteigned victorie and slain his mortal enemie, he kneled doune and rendred to almightie God his harty thākes w1 deuoute & Godly orisons, besechyng his goodnes to sende hym grace to auaunce & defende the catholike fayth & to mayntaine iustice & cōcorde amōgest his subiectes & people, by God now to his gouernaūce cōmitted & assigned: Which praier finyshed, he replenyshed w' incomperable gladnes, ascended vp to the top of a litell mountaine, where he not only praysed & lawded his valiaunt souldiours, but also gaue vnto theim his harty thankes, w promyse of cōdigne recompence for their fidelite & valiaūt factes, willing & commaundyng al the hurt & wouded persones to be cured, and the dead carcases to be deliuered to yo sepulture. Then ye people reioysed & clapped hādes criyng vp to heauen, kyng Henry, kyng Henry. When the lord Stanley sawe the good will and gratuite of the people he toke the crowne of kynge Richard which was founde amongest the spoyle V, v, 8-13. in the felde, and set it on therles hed, as though he had byne elected king by the voyce of the people as in auncient tymes past in diuers realmes it hath been accustomed, and this was the first signe and token of his good lucke and felicite. I must put you here in remembraunce how that kynge Richarde puttynge some diffidence in the lord Stanley, which had wt hym as an hostage, the lorde straunge his eldest sonne, which lord Stanley as you haue hearde before ioyned not at the firste with his sonne in lawes armye, for feare that kynge Richarde would haue slayne the Lorde Straunge his heyre. When kynge Richarde was come to Boswoorth, he sent a purseuaut to the lord Stanley, commaundyng hym to auaunce forward with hys compaignie and to come to his presence, whiche thynge yf he refused to do, he sware by Christes passion that he woulde stryke of his sonnes hedde before he dined. The lorde Stanley aunswered the pursiuaunt that yf the kynge dyd so, he had more sonnes a lyue, and as to come to hym he was not then so determined: when kynge Richarde harde this aunswere he commaunded the lorde Straunge incontinent to be behedded, whiche was at that very same season when both the armyes had sight eche of other. The counsaillers of kyng Richard pondering the time and the cause, knowynge also the Lorde Straunge to be innocente of his fathers offence, perswaded the kynge that it was now time to fight and not time to execucion, aduisynge him to kepe the Lorde Straunge as a prisoner till the battayll were ended, and then at Leyser his pleasure might be accomplished. So as God woulde kyng Rycharde enfrynged hys holy othe, and the Lorde was deliuered to the kepers of the kynges tentes to be kept as a prisoner, whyche when the felde was done and their master slayne and proclamacion made to knowe were the childe was, they submitted them selfes as prysoners to the Lord Straunge, and he gently receyued them V, v, 15-17. and brought them to the newe proclamed king, where of him and of his Father he was receyued with greate ioye and gladnes. After this the hole campe remoued with bagg and baggage and thesame nyght in the euenyng kynge Henry with great Pompe came to the towne of Leycester. . . . Thus ended this prince his mortall life with infamie and dishonor, whiche neuer preferred fame or honestie before ambicion tyranny and myschiefe.

V, iii, 387-390.

THE LATIN TRAGEDY OF RICHARDUS TERTIUS

THE Latin Tragedy, Richardus Tertius, was acted at St John's College, Cambridge, some time before 1588; two allusions to this performance, by Harrington and by Heywood, are given in the notes on I, i, 1; to these should be added a third, first mentioned by STEEVENS: 'It appears from the following passage in the 'preface to Nashe's Have With You to Saffron Walden, 1596, that a Latin tragedy 'of King Richard III. had been acted at Trinity [sic] College, Cambridge: “- -or his fellow codshead that in the Latine tragedie of King Richard, cried-Ad urbs, ad 'urbs, ad urbs, when his whole part was no more than-Urbs, urbs, ad arma, ad 'arma." Of this Latin Tragedy there are two copies in manuscript, one in the library of Emmanuel College, and the other in the University Library, Cambridge. Under the editorship of BARRON FIELD, it was printed from the Emmanuel College MS by the Shakespeare Society, vol. v, 1844. This was its first appearance in this form. The editor remarks that the University Library MS alone gives the following title: "Thomae Legge legum doctoris | Collegii Caio-goneviliensis in | Academia Cantabrigiensi | magistri ac Rectoris. | Richardus tertius Tragedia | trivespa habita Collegii Divi Johnis | Evangeliste | Comitii Bacchelaureorum | Anno Domini 1579 | Tragedia in tres accones divisa. ' Two contemporary allusions to the play are given by Field, and concerning Dr Thomas Legge he says: 'The author. . . probably wrote it for the purpose of being performed before 'the Queen. In the year 1592, he was Vice Chancellor of the University, “and,” 'says Mr Collier, "in a communication to Lord Burghley, he refers to some offence 'given to the Queen, probably by requiring, in answer to her wishes to see a play at 'Cambridge, time and the use of the Latin tongue; and mentions that the University 'had sent some of its body to Oxford, to witness the entertainment there given to 'Her Majesty, in order to be better prepared hereafter to obey her directions." '(Hist. of Dram. Poet., i, 296). Besides the play of Richardus Tertius . . . he 'wrote a tragedy called The Destruction of Jerusalem, and, to use Fuller's words: ""having at last refined it to the purity of the publique standard, some plageary 'filched it from him, just as it was to be acted." [Worthies, ii, 491; ed. 1840.] Fuller 'also informs us that Dr Palmer, afterwards Dean of Peterborough, was the original 'performer of Richard, and very successful in Legge's other play.'-Fuller's words in regard to Dr Palmer are delightfully characteristic: 'John Palmer. . . who 'acted King Richard, had his head so possessed with a prince-like humour, that 'ever after he did what then he acted, in his prodigal expences; so that (the cost of 'a sovereign ill befitting the purse of a subject) he died poor in prison, notwithstand'ing his great preferment.'-Worthies, ii, 491. Fuller also tells us that: 'Dr Legge 'died July 12, 1607, in the 72nd year of his age.' FARMER and TYRWHITT both mention another Latin play of the same title as that by Legge; Farmer declares it to be but a 'childish imitation' of the older play written by Henry Lacy in 1586, CHURCHILL goes even further and shows (p. 395) that: 'It is in fact nothing less 'than a transcript of Legge's play, made, as appears from MS Harl. 6926, by Lacy, 'for presentation at Trinity College, Cambridge. . . . The establishment of this 'fact was due to the authors of the Athenæ Cantabrigiensis, 1861. cf. vol. ii, p. 41.’— This accounts, I think, for the apparent error in Steeven's note (quoted above) as to the locality of the performance of the Latin tragedy referred to by Nash in the preface to Have With You, etc.

In addition to the Lacy copy just mentioned, cited also at I, i, 1. by Farmer, Field says that there is another copy in the same collection, No. 2412, and adds: "That these "University men" had acquired some reputation by their theatrical 'performances, is proved by the well-known dialogue in Nash's Return from Parnassus, reprinted in Hawkins [vol. iii] in which Kemp and Burbage are seen in 'treaty with two of them, called Philomusus and Studioso, for engagements as 'actors, and in which one of them gives a taste of his quality, by reciting the open'ing speech of Shakespeare's Richard III.'-[IV, iii, 1878.—Ed. Macray.] An elaborate account of Legge's play may be found in Churchill, pp. 265-395; in concluding his descriptive analysis he remarks: 'There is not enough to warrant 'the assertion of Legge's influence [on Shakespeare.]_One can only venture the 'suggestion that if, as many critics think, Shakespeare's play is a revision of an 'anterior play, especially if this anterior play was Marlowe's, it may have been 'subject to Legge's influence, and so account for the presence in Shakespeare's 'play of some of the resemblances. It is difficult to compare the wooing scenes ' and not cherish a suspicion that such was the case.'

THE TRUE TRAGEDIE OF RICHARD THE THIRD

In the Preliminary Remarks on Richard III. in the Variorum of 1821, the editor, BOSWELL, says: 'I have been favoured by Mr Rhodes, of Lyons Inn, with the perusal of an ancient interlude which unfortunately has lost the title page and a few lines at the beginning, but which I have not a doubt is the very piece referred to in the Stationers' Registers [under the name of Thomas Creede, June 19, 1594]. As it is probably unique, and appears evidently to have been read and used by Shakespeare, that gentleman has very liberally permitted me to reprint it.' He also adds the following note at the end of the reprinted piece: 'I have not thought it necessary to point out the particular passages in which a resemblance may be traced between the foregoing drama and our author's Richard III.; but I think the reader will be satisfied that Shakespeare must have seen it when he sat down to the composition of his own play. Who the author was of the original performance is a question of minor importance; but I am inclined to think it was the same person who wrote Locrine, which has been absurdly ascribed to Shakespeare himself. If the reader will compare Richard's soliloquy, p. 542, with the following lines from the play I have mentioned, he will be able to judge how far I am justified in ascribing both to the same person:

"The boysterous Boreas thundreth forth revenge
The stonie rocks crie out on sharpe revenge

Now Corineus staie and see revenge.'

Again:

[Fourth Folio; p. 301, col. a.]

'What said I falshood? I that filthie crime,
For Locrine hath forsaken Guendoline.

F. G. FLEAY (Biog. Chron. of English Drama, ii, 315): The True Tragedie was played at court (see prayer at end), and therefore cannot date later than 1591; but as it was evidently meant as a continuation of the series 1 Henry VI. and The Contention of York and Lancaster, it cannot be much earlier. . . . As to the authorship, I doubt not that the Induction is by Lodge; Sc. 1, 3, 4, 8, 11, 12, including the death of Edward IV., and the smothering of the Princes, seem to be Peele's; Sc. 2, 6, 7, 9, 13, 10, and 14-20 I attribute, as also the Epilogue to Lodge. Indications are not wanting that it is founded on an earlier play in which Kyd had a hand. Note especially in Sc. 9 the phrase: 'Blood is a threatener and will have revenge'; Nash, when twitting Kyd with his Seneca phrases in the address before Menaphon, quotes as one of them, 'Blood is a beggar.'

G. B. CHURCHILL (p. 398): As a history play the True Tragedie is undoubtedly the first in which the interest is fixed upon one central and dominating figure. It is not the first to abandon the loose and unorganised method of writing chroniclehistories which spread out the events of a period in their historical succession without attempt at unity; for in the Edward II. of Marlowe these plays had already advanced to a point where the historical events are not detailed purely for their own sake, but are unified by their relation to a central figure, and where the history play becomes in a high degree a study of character. The Richard of The True Tragedie is not only central but dominating, not merely attracts the chief interest, but absorbs practically all of it. The play is not the chronicle-history of a reign, it is purely the history of a character. [For an exhaustive account of the 'historical position, nature, and style of the True Tragedie,' see Churchill, pp. 398–496.]

...

THE

TRUE TRAGEDIE OF RI

CHARD THE THIRD:

Wherein is showne the death of Edward the fourth, with the smothering of the two yoong Princes in the Tower:

With a lamentable ende of Shores wife, an example
for all wicked women.

And lastly the coniunction and ioyning of the two noble Houses, Lancaster and Yorke.

[merged small][merged small][graphic][subsumed][merged small]

Printed by Thomas Creede, and are to be sold by William Barley, at his shop in Newgate Market, neare Christ Church doore. 1594.

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