15 And now, in ftead of mounting Barbed Steeds, To the lafciuious pleasing of a Lute. 18 16. Aduerfaries,] aduerfaries. Q.Q2 17. Ladies] Ladie's F. lady's Rowe et seq. -18. Lute.] loue. Qq. also the following from Ven. & Ad., where Venus, in speaking of the time when Mars wooed her, says: 'Over my altars hath he hung his lance, His batter'd shield, his uncontrolled crest, And for my sake hath learn'd to sport and dance, To toy, to wanton, dally, smile and jest, Scorning his churlish drum and ensign red.' (103-108.) -ED.]-DELIUS takes 'war' by metonymy for warrior.-J. C. COLLINS (p. 68): This looks like a mistranslation of Sophocles' Ajax, l. 7ο6: ' ἔλυσεν, αἰνὸν, ἄχος ἀπ' ὀμμάTwv "Apηs,' and to this mistranslation, it may be added, Shakespeare would be led by all the Latin versions, Vitus Winsemius turning it, 'dissolvit enim gravem dolorem ab oculis Mars'; Stephens paraphrasing it, 'Nam tristis dolor furorque mitigatus est'; and Rotallerus, 'tristes etenim abstersit ab oculis Mars violentus solicitudines'; this last apparently being the version which Shakespeare followed. [In the same connection COLLINS pleads for the force of accumulated examples in substantiating his claim for Shakespeare's classical knowledge. Unless we bear in mind this plea, the foregoing solitary example seems, it must be admitted, inadequate enough.-Ed.] 15. Barbed] MURRAY (N. E. D.): Of a horse: Armed or caparisoned with a barb or bard; properly, barded.-IBID. (s. v. Bard): Obsolete except historically. Anglo-French barde, horse-armour, also 'a long saddle for an ass or mule, of canvas,' Cotgrave; cf. Italian barda, horse-armour, also pack-saddle. These and the existence of a dialectic French aubarde seem to identify the word with Spanish and Portuguese albarda, pack-saddle, referred by Devic to Arabic al-bardakah, ‘covering placed over the back of a beast to alleviate the pressure of a pack-saddle' (Freytag). Whether the French sense 'defensive armour for a horse' arose out of this is doubtful. 1. A protective covering for the breast and flanks of a war-horse, made of metal-plates, or of leather set with metal spikes or bosses, but sometimes merely ornamental, and made of velvet.—IB. (s. v. Barded): Armed, caparisoned or covered with bards. 1501. Douglas. Pal. Hon., I, xlvii, A bardit curser stout and bald. 1535 Coverdale, Joel, II, 4. They are to loke vpon like bayrded horses. 17. He capers] JOHNSON: War capers. This is poetical, though a little harsh; if it be York that 'capers,' the antecedent is at such a distance that it is almost forgotten. [If war be permitted to smooth his wrinkled front, may he not also indulge in a caper?-ED.]-DOUCE (ii, 32): The amorous temper of Edward the Fourth is well known; and there cannot be a doubt that by the lascivious pleasing of a lute,' he is directly alluded to. The subsequent description likewise that Richard gives of himself is in comparison with the king. Johnson thought the image of war capering' poetical; yet it is not easy to conceive how 'grimvisaged war' could caper 'in a lady's chamber.'-WRIGHT: War, still personified as a rough soldier. 18. Lute] VAUGHAN (iii, 3): I believe the reading of the Qq [love] to be the But I, that am not shap'd for sportiue trickes, true one. 20 20. amorous] am'rous Pope, Han. Warb. Johns. Looking-glaffe] looking lass Vaughan (iii, 4). 21. Maiefty] grace Han. Instead of mounting steeds in order to frighten timid adversaries, war now capers in a chamber in order to give lascivious pleasure to his lover. The final cause is thus expressed by 'to' in both instances of its occurrence; and so a far more perfect contrast is sustained. Further, to dance to the 'pleasing of a lute' is a somewhat wavering and misty image. 19, 20. But I... Looking-glasse] In a letter to the Academy, 12 Dec., 1874, J. G. MATHEWS calls attention to the resemblance between this passage and the following in a short poem entitled Ignoto, included among Epigrammes and Elegies, by J. D. [John Davies] and C. M. [Christopher Marlowe]: 'I am not fashioned for these amorous times, To count thy beauty with lascivious rhymes; I cannot dally, caper, dance, and sing, Oiling my saint with supple sonnetting.' MARSHALL (Intro., p. 9) also notes the similarity between these passages-apparently unaware that Mathews has anticipated him, and adds: 'It may be remarked that this poem [Ignoto] does not appear in the subsequent editions [of Epigrammes], which are both undated; but, on the authority of Ritson, the date of the first edition is generally assigned to 1596. The resemblance of expression is sufficient to suggest that the one author might have had the other's lines in his mind at the time.' Marshall wisely refrains, I think, from directly applying the charge of plagiarism either to Marlowe or to Shakespeare. STOKES (p. 30), after citing the letter by Mathews, prefers to regard Marlowe as the copyist. The poem may be found in Dyce's Marlowe, vol. iii, p. 263, and in Bullen's edition, vol. iii, p. 246.-ED. 20. amorous Looking-glasse] SCHMIDT (Lex.): A looking-glass that reflects a face fond of itself.-TAWNEY: 'Amorous' may also mean pertaining to love, as the mirror is part of Cupid's paraphernalia. Thus the passage would mean, to endeavour to gain the favour of a looking-glass, love's chosen instrument. This can be effected only by careful adornment of the person. It seems possible that 'looking-glass' may here mean a beloved lady, who reciprocates affection. Perhaps this is the simplest explanation. It may be illustrated by King John, II, i, 496503. [Both Schmidt and Tawney thus make the looking-glass passive. But Richard is sneering, not at himself, but at the idle pleasures of the time, and uses 'amorous,' I think, in the same sense in which he speaks of the 'lascivious pleasing of a lute'-the sound of the lute is not 'lascivious' nor the glass 'amorous,' though both are active agents in producing the effects characterized by the adjectives.-ED.] 21. I, that am Rudely stampt] 'Richarde the third sonne was in witte and courage egall with either of them, [Edward and George Duke of Clarence] in bodye and prowesse farre under them bothe, little of stature, ill fetured of limmes, 22 To ftrut before a wonton ambling Nymph: 23. of this] of his Vaughan (iii, 5). thus of Coll. MS. 24 croke backed, his left shoulder much higher than his right, hard fauoured of visage, and such as is in states called warlye, in other men otherwise, he was malicious, wrathfull, enuious, and, from afore his birth, ever frowarde.' (More, p. 8.)— LLOYD (Int. Essay): The deformity of Richard is a circumstance as essential to the rancour of his passion as the blackness of Othello-it wounds his pride and irritates his spite, and stirs his rankling revenge. He dwells upon the symbol of royalty as personal ornament compensating for natural personal defects. Hence he dwells on the very name of it, and the indications are absolute that after his success his costume is to be completed by constantly wearing the crown-and the trait is akin to the affection for rich attire ascribed to him by history, and not unusual with the deformed. [See Appendix: Richard's Deformity.] 21. Maiesty] For examples where unaccented syllables are softened and almost ignored, see Abbott, § 468. 22. ambling] WRIGHT: Mincing, walking affectedly, with a dancing gait. Compare Hamlet, III, i, 151: 'You jig, you amble, and you lisp.' Also 1 Henry IV: III, ii, 60: 'The skipping king he ambled up and down.' 23. this] HUDSON: 'This' is probably here used indefinitely, and with something of a sneer. Compare 2 Henry IV: I, ii, 126: 'This apoplexy is, as I take it, a kind of lethargy.' [Hudson is perhaps right in detecting a sneer in this remark by Richard, but it is somewhat difficult to understand how 'this' could ever be used indefinitely.—ED.] 23. Proportion] WRIGHT: The goodly form appropriate to such luxurious indulgence. Compare 2 Henry VI: I, iii, 57: 'I thought King Henry had resembled thee In courage, courtship, and proportion.' Also: Tit. And., V, ii, 106: 'Well mayst thou know her by thy own proportion.' [SCHMIDT (Lex.) gives two other examples of 'proportion' used in this sense: Mer. of Ven., III, iv, 14; and All's Well, V, iii, 51.-ED.] 24. Feature] WRIGHT: 'Feature' was used by Shakespeare and the writers of his time in a larger sense than at present. It denoted the whole exterior personal appearance, and was not confined, as now, to the face. 'Feature' was applied to the body as favour to the face. [For discussion as to meaning and interpretation of 'feature' in Shakespeare and other writers see As You Like It, III, iii, 5, this ed.-ED.] 24. dissembling] WARBURTON: By dissembling is here meant, nature that puts together things of a dissimilar kind, as a brave soul and a deformed body.— JOHNSON: 'Dissembling' is here put very licentiously for fraudfnl, deceitful.— HENLEY, in support of Warburton's interpretation, quotes: 'Whyle things stoode in this case, and that the manner of addying was sometime too short and sometime too long, els dissembled and let slip together'-Golding's translation of Julius Solinus, 1587.-MALONE: I once thought that Johnson's interpretation was the true one. Dissimulation necessarily includes fraud, and this might have been sufficient to induce Shakespeare to use the two words as synonymous, though fraud certainly may exist without dissimulation. The following lines in the old Deform'd, vn-finish'd, sent before my time Into this breathing World, fcarfe halfe made vp, That dogges barke at me, as I halt by them. Why I (in this weake piping time of Peace) 25. vn-finish'd] vnfinisht Qq. vnfinish'd Ff. 26. Scarfe] Om. Q3QQ5° 27. vnfashionable] 25 29 unfashionably Pope,+, Cap. Var. '78, '85, Ran. 28. by] at QQ King John, 1591, seem rather in favour of Warburton's interpretation: 'Can nature so dissemble in her frame, To make the one so like as like may be, And in the other print no character, . . . ?'-CAPELL: In a speech of this Richard's, following the act of stabbing King Henry in the last play [3 Henry VI: V, vi, 68-83] he is made to 'descant' upon his person in terms resembling the present, and uses these among others: 'I have no brother, I am like no brother: And this word love, which grey-beards call divine, Be resident in men like one another, and not in me; I am myself alone.' This may induce belief with some readers that the term in question is us'd in the uncommon sense of forming dissimilarly forming unlike to others: we may see elsewhere resemble put for make like; And wherefore not 'dissemble'-make unlike? [Capell has herein anticipated DOUCE, who says (ii, 32): 'dissemble". . . signifies the reverse of to resemble, in its active sense, and is not used as dissimulare in Latin.' MARSHALL quotes Douce, adding; "There is no satisfactory evidence that resemble ever had this meaning make like.' In support of Capell's, and Douce's, interpretation of resemble in an active sense, it may be said, as a partial answer to Marshall's objection, that the Century Dictionary, s. v. resemble 2, 'To represent as like something else; liken, compare,' gives the following quotation from Spenser, Faerie Queene, III, x, 21: 'And th' other al yclad in garments bright, . . . He did resemble to his lady bright.'—ED.]— SINGER interprets 'dissembling' as disfiguring or distorting, and cites the use of 'dissembling glass' in Mid. N. Dream, II, ii, 98. WRIGHT considers Johnson's interpretation as probably more nearly correct, wherewith the present editor agrees. 'Dissemble' in the sense of fraudulent, deceitful, is used in three other psasages in this play: I, ii, 261, 262: ‘And I, no friend to back my suit withal But the plain devil and dissembling looks'; II, i, 13: 'Dissemble not your hatred, swear your love'; II, ii, 34: 'Think you my uncle did dissemble Grandam?' wherefore may it not be reasonably supposed that, in this present line, it is used in this same sense also?-Ed. 27. lamely and vnfashionable] For examples of ellipsis of adverbial inflections see ABBOTT, § 397.-WEBB: The succession of monosyllables in this line suggests a slow, jerky movement, such as one would expect in Richard's gait. 28. halt] WRIGHT: In Genesis xxxii, 31, it is said that Jacob 'halted upon his thigh.' 29. weake piping time] WRIGHT: Compare Much Ado, II, iii, 13-15, 'I have known when there was no music with him but the drum and the fife, and now had he rather hear the tabor and the pipe.'-MARSHALL offers as an explanation alternative to that given by Wright that 'weak piping time' may refer to the feeble, shrill-voiced women or old men. 30 Haue no delight to paffe away the time, 31. fee] Ff, Rowe, Pope, Han. Knt, Coll. Sing. Hal. Rlfe. Spic or spy Qq et cet. 32. on] one Q 33 31. see] R. G. WHITE: The Quarto reading [spy] implies intentional observation, the idea of which is not conveyed by the Folio. The change could hardly have been accidental; but as it is consistent with Richard's character that he should find it a bitter delight to pass away his time in spying out his own deformity, and goading himself on in his remorseless course by comparison of his personal defects with others' perfections, it is possible that spy was changed to 'see' in the acting copy, by some book-holder (i. e., prompter) or actor. 32. descant] NARES: To make division or variation, in music, on any particular subject. Originally accented like the noun from which it was formed; but now mixed with the class of verbs regularly accented on the last syllable, and in that form not obsolete.-WRIGHT quotes from the second part of Morley's Plaine and Easie Introduction to Practicall Musicke, 1597: 'Last of all, they take it [descant] for singing a part extempore vpon a playne-song, in which sence we commonly vse it: so that when a man talketh of a Descanter, it must be vnderstood of one that can extempore sing a part vpon a playnesong' (p. 70).—MALONE, while acknowledging that the original meaning of 'descant' was to make variations as in music, yet prefers to believe the word is here used 'in its secondary and colloquial sense, without any reference to music.' Both SCHMIDT (Lex.) and MURRAY (N. E. D.) agree with Malone. Murray quotes the present line (s. v. descant, 2) and also 'circa 1510 More, Picus, Works, 15, 1: The company of the court descanted thereof to his rebuke; 1571, Golding. Calvin on Psalms, ii, 7; They have curiously descanted upon theis woords.'-WRight: Mr Hugh Carleton has pointed out to me that Richard, whose love of music is well known (Sharon Turner's History, ed. 1839, vii, 31), plays upon the terms of his favourite art throughout this speech: 'measures,' 'lute,' 'proportion,' 'piping,' 'descant,' 'determined,' 'inductions,' 'set,' being all used with a special sense in music. [The use of musical phrases is common throughout Shakespeare's plays, and by characters who need not always be considered as having any special love of music. Buckingham in this play (III, vii, 50) uses this word 'descant' as a noun. If Shakespeare had a design thus to show a side of Richard's character, as is ingeniously and plausibly suggested, he has apparently confined it to this first soliloquy.—ED.] 33. since I... Louer] JOHNSON: Shakespeare very diligently inculcates that the wickedness of Richard proceeded from his deformity, from the envy that rose from the comparison of his own person with others, and which incited him to disturb the pleasures that he could not partake.-HUDSON (Life, etc., ii, 145): Richard's sense of personal disgrace begets a most hateful and malignant form of pridethe pride of intellectual force and mastery. Hence he comes to glory in the matter of his shame, and magnify his strength of fertility and wit. . . . On much the same principle he nurses to the highest pitch his consciousness of moral deformities. To succeed by wrong, to rise by crime, to grow great by inverting the moral order of things is, in his view, the highest proof of genius and skill.—WRIGHT: Bacon, |