I will performe it to infranchise you. Meane time, this deepe difgrace in Brotherhood, Touches me deeper then you can imagine. Cla. I know it pleaseth neither of vs well. Rich. Well,your imprisonment shall not be long, I will deliuer you, or else lye for you : Meane time, haue patience. Cla. I must perforce : Farewell. 120 125 Exit Clar. Rich Go treade the path that thou shalt ne're return: That I will shortly fend thy Soule to Heauen, Simple plaine Clarence, I do loue thee fo, If Heauen will take the present at our hands. 130 But who comes heere? the new deliuered Haflings? Queen, where there is no insinuation of any kind?-ED. STEEVENS: King Edward's widow is, I believe, only an expression of contempt, meaning the widow Grey whom Edward had chosen for his queen. Gloucester has already called her 'the jealous o'erworn widow.' 119. infranchise] WRIGHT: That is, to set you at liberty. The word is still used in a technical sense in reference to copyhold land, or to persons who have no vote as citizens; but in its literal meaning it is not employed, though it frequently occurs in Shakespeare. 121. Touches me deeper] TAWNEY: There is, no doubt, an intentional ambiguity in the phrase. Richard intends Clarence to take it in the sense, 'afflicts me more profoundly,' but it may also mean 'concerns me more'; probably in the sense, 'I had more hand in it than you imagine.' 124. lye for you] I. REED: That is, be imprisoned in your stead. To 'lie' was anciently to reside, as appears by many examples. [There is here doubtless a play upon the word, as in Sir Henry Wotton's definition: 'An ambassador is an honest man sent to lie abroad for the commonwealth.'-ED.] 126. I must] STEEVENS: Alluding to the proverb: 'Patience perforce is medicine for a mad dog.' [Ray's Proverb's, p. 100, ed. 1815.—ED.] 129. I will... to Heauen] Boas (p. 151): This light-hearted mirth in a fratricide appalls us, but to Richard the moral aspect of the situation never presents itself: he is simply tickled by its irresistible humor. [See note by COURTENAY, 1. 37 supra.] Haft. Good time of day vnto my gracious Lord. Haft. With patience (Noble Lord) as prisoners must: 133 135 Rich. No doubt, no doubt, and fo fhall Clarence too, 140 For they that were your Enemies, are his, And haue preuail'd as much on him, as you, Haft. More pitty, that the Eagles should be mew'd, Whiles Kites and Buzards play at liberty. Rich. What newes abroad? 145 Haft. No newes fo bad abroad, as this at home: The King is fickly, weake, and melancholly, And his Phyfitians feare him mightily. Rich. Now by S.Iohn, that Newes is bad indeed. 149 Buzards] buffards QQ, buzars - play] Ff, Rowe, Pope. prey Qq -149. S.Iohn] Ff, Rowe. Saint Paul Qq et cet. While Qq Coll. that] Ff,+, Var. '78, '85, Ran. this Qq et cet. 133. Good time of day] WRIGHT: A common mode of salutation, which appears in a fuller form in 2 Henry IV: I, ii, 107: 'God give your lordship good time of day.' 142. preuail'd] For other examples where 'prevail' means to overcome, see SCHMIDT (Lex.). 143. Eagles] The Ff reading is, I am inclined to think, the correct one, since the other two nouns, 'Kites' and 'Buzzards,' are plural. If the Qq were composed from dictation, it would be almost impossible to distinguish 'Eagle should,' from 'Eagles should.'-ED. 143. mew'd] See note, l. 43 supra. 144. play] It would be, perhaps, difficult to find a single example wherein Rowe follows any text other than that of the Ff; it is not strange, therefore, that he here prints what is evidently a compositor's error, either of eye or ear. With Pope the case is, however, different; many Qq readings which he adopts, without comment, are not as obviously correct as the present one. See Text. Notes.-ED. 148. feare] For examples of the 'omission of the preposition after certain verbs which may be regarded as transitive,' see ABBOTT, § 200. 149. S.Iohn] That the Qq is the correct reading may be seen by comparing 150 O he hath kept an euill Diet long, And ouer-much confum'd his Royall Perfon: 'Tis very greeuous to be thought vpon. Where is he, in his bed? Haft. He is. Rich. Go you before, and I will follow you. 155 Exit Haflings. He cannot liue I hope, and must not dye, Till George be pack'd with post-horse vp to Heauen. With Lyes well steel'd with weighty Arguments, Clarence hath not another day to liue : Which done, God take King Edward to his mercy, For then, Ile marry Warwickes yongeft daughter. 150. an euill] on ill Q, an ill Qg 151. ouer-much] ouermuch Qq, Cam. + (subs.) 152. greeuous] grieuous Q, greevous F. grievous FF. 153, 154. Where...is] As one line, Steev. Var. '03, '13, Knt, Coll. i, ii, Ktly. 153. Where is he,] Ff, Rowe, +, Knt. What is he Q1-3. (What! Qg) Where is 160 165 he? Coll. Sing. Wh. i, Hal. Ktly, Rlfe. What, is he Q et cet. 154. He is] He is, my Lord Han. 155. you] yon Q3. 158. poft-horse] posthorse Knt, Dyce, Wh. i, Hal. post-haste Coll. ii, iii (MS), Huds. 160. With] Which QF3F4, Rowe. 164. bussle] bussell Qq. bufle F. I, ii, 40, 46; III, iv, 85; V, iii, 250. More was Holinshed's authority, and thereby, perhaps, Shakespeare's also, for giving this form of oath to Richard, 'by saynt Poule (quod he) I wil not to dinner til I se thy hed of' (p. 73).—ED. 150. an euill Diet] 'They thinke that he long time in king Edward's life forethought to be king; in case that the king his brother (whose life he looked that euill diet should shorten) should happen to deceasse while his children were yoong.' -Holinshed.-WRIGHT: 'Diet' here denotes generally mode of life. 158. post-horse] SINGER (Sh. Vind., p. 165): [Collier's MS corrector's change] Of 'post-horse' to posthaste, we may allow to be an admissible correction of a probable misprint, and therefore possibly right.-DYCE: I believe the old text is right; 'with post-horse'-meaning with the speediest possible conveyance. 164. bussle] TAWNEY: The expression is an instance of rhetorical understatement. Richard intended to display a mischievous activity. 165. Warwickes yongest daughter] MALONE: Lady Anne, the widow of Edward Prince of Wales. [See Dram. Person. s. v. Anne, l. 39.]—VAUGHAN (iii, 10): This line possesses an interest as contrasting the historical knowledge of Shakespeare writing Richard III., with that of the poet who composed 3 Henry VI. In that play the wife of Prince Edward, son of Henry VI., is twice erroneously What though I kill'd her Husband, and her Father, 166. kill'd] kild Qq. her Father,] Ff, Rowe, Knt, Sta. 166 her father! Wh. i, Ktly. his father, Booth. her father? Pope et cet. described as the eldest daughter of Warwick: that is, in II, iii, and in IV, iv; and yet that wife is the 'Warwick's youngest daughter of this scene. ... 166. I kill'd her Husband] 'Sir Richard Crofts... brought foorth his prisoner prince Edward,... whom when king Edward had aduised, he demanded of him, how he durst so presumptuouslie enter into his realme with banner displaied? Wherevnto the prince boldlie answered, saieng: "To recouer my fathers kingdome & heritage, from his father and grandfather to him, and from him after him to me, lineallie descended." At which words king Edward said nothing, but with his hand thrust him from him, or (as some saie) stroke him with his gantlet; whom incontinentlie, George duke of Clarence, Richard duke of Glocester, Thomas Greie marquesse Dorcet, and William lord Hastings, that stood by, suddenlie murthered.'-Holinshed, Edward IV.-WALPOLE (p. 6): A cotemporary names the king's servants as perpetrators of this murder: Is not that more probable than that the king's own brothers should have dipped their hands in so foul an assassination? Richard, in particular, is allowed on all hands to have been a brave and martial prince: he had great share in the victory at Tewkesbury. Such men may be carried by ambition to command the execution of those who stand in their way, but are not likely to lend their hand, in cold blood, to a base and, to themselves, useless assassination. How did it import Richard in what manner the young prince was put to death? If he had so early planned the ambitious designs ascribed to him, he might have trusted his brother Edward, so much more immediately concerned, that the young prince would not be spared. If those views did not, as is probable, take root in his heart till long afterwards, what interest had Richard to murder an unhappy young prince? This crime therefore was so unnecessary, and is so far from being established by any authority, that he deserves to be entirely acquitted of it.-GAIRDNER (p. 16): If this was Richard's first heinous crime, it was probably one in which he was only an accessory, or in which, if a principal actor, he received great encouragement from those about him. On the other hand, to suppose him altogether guiltless in this matter is a great violation of all reasonable probability. For however feeble may be the direct evidence of his complicity, it would be absurd to suppose that he either disapproved the act, or was greatly shocked at it.-LEGGE (i, 108): Carte, whom Horace Walpole describes as 'one of the few modern historians who seem not to have swallowed implicitly all the vulgar tales propagated by the Lancastrians to blacken the house of York,' distinctly says that the murder was perpetrated by Dorset and Hastings (History of England, ii, 190). If the fact of the murder could be established, they were certainly the most likely agents. What appears least likely is that Richard, the youngest of the four implicated, a lad of eighteen, described as good-natured and obsequious, would, in the presence of his elders, to whom he had always shown deference, execute the royal vengeance and in so doing claim precedence over them. And this is confirmed by Buck, who says [p. 81] he had seen 'in a faithfull Manuscript Chronicle of those times, that the Duke of Gloucester onely of all the great persons, stood still and drew not his sword.' Such an attitude is precisely what we should expect from the young chivalrous knight, who, however willing to strike 167 The readiest way to make the Wench amends, 168. Is to] Is—to Mal. Steev. Var. 170 down a foe in fair fight, would not sully his honour by slaying in cold blood a prostrate enemy.-BROOKE: (Sh. Trans., 1880-6, p. 512): It is a total absence of Love, and therefore of conscience, which makes Richard try to do things which to any one who believed in love would seem impossible. No other man would have wooed lady Anne as he does, or asked Elizabeth for her daughter. It is only these wants in Richard which make on his side these scenes natural. [The three lines beginning: 'What though,' etc.] are incredible on the lips of any one who had ever loved. It is only when he has won her that he is astonished; and in the astonishment a faint gleam of belief in the existence of moral right and wrong for others comes upon him. 'She has God and her conscience against her.' But this only serves to deepen his scorn of himself and others, and the mixture of bitterness, contempt, and isolation is wonderful in the soliloquy which ends the wooing scene. [This article on Richard III. is reprinted in Brooke's volume On Ten Plays of Shakespeare, p. 100, with many slight verbal changes. Any minute discussion of the question of Gloucester's share in this murder is, I think, out of place here it is sufficient for Shakespeare's purposes that Richard's complicity is mentioned both by Hall and Holinshed; and the question then resolves itself into an enquiry into the historical accuracy of these two chroniclers. In all such historical discussions we must strictly remember that 'The play's the thing,' and that historical accuracy is not the thing.-ED.] 166. her Father] WRIGHT: In the battle of Barnet, where Warwick was slain, Richard commanded the vanguard of his brother's army, but the death of Warwick is attributed to one of Edward's soldiers. 'He lept vpon a horse to flie, and comming into a wood where was no passage, one of king Edwards men came to him, killed him, and spoiled him to the naked skin.'-Holinshed, p. 685.-TAWNEY: I believe 'Father' refers to Henry VI. The word is used in the sense of fatherin-law in I, iii, 144, and in many other passages. 169. The which] See ABBOTT, § 270. 169. not... for loue] JESSE (Memor. of Richard III., etc., p. 55): May it not have been at Middleham [the establishment of Warwick] in the days of their childhood, that Richard was first inspired by that memorable passion which was destined to triumph over all human opposition, even when Anne Neville had become the betrothed, if not the bride, of another, and which was eventually rewarded by her becoming his wife and queen? [Jesse, in a preceding passage, shows that Richard was sent, as a young boy, to Middleham to be under the supervision of Warwick; and for his military education.-ED.] 170. secret close intent] HUDSON: This probably was to get into his hands the son and daughter of Clarence, who had been left in the care of their aunt, Lady Anne, and had succeeded to the large portion of the vast estates of their grandfather, the Earl of Warwick.-WRIGHT: It is not clear how Richard's marriage with Anne could be supposed to favour his plans for obtaining the crown.—WARNER (p. 170): Richard's object in the marriage was twofold: first, to get Anne's enor |