battle of Wakefield with the remark: "Happy was the quene in her two battayls, but vnfortunate was the kyng in all his enterprises, for where his person was presente, ther victory fled euer from him to the other parte." No doubt Henry had the repute of bringing ill luck. Steevens quotes from Drayton an expansion of Hall's words (Var. Ed. xviii. 416). 141. Line 89.--The True Tragedie begins a speech for "George" here, reading our brother in line 92 instead of 142. Line 110: Break off the PARLE. - We have adopted Reed's emendation. Both Ff. and Qq. have parley. 143. Line 116: But ere SUN SET I'll make thee curse the deed.-Ff. have sunset, but Qq. give sunne set, which we have adopted. Compare King John, iii. 1. 110, and note 136 on that play 144. Line 133.-Ff. wrongly give this speech to Warwick. Pope transferred it to Richard, to whom The True Tragedie also assigns it. 145. Line 138: As venom toads, or lizards' dreadful stings. The toad is described as ugly and venomous in As You Like It, and the delusion is still popular. The dreadful sting of the lizard is as imaginary as the harmful qualities of the newt; see A Midsummer Night's Dream, note 133. 146. Line 141: As if a CHANNEL should be call'd the sea. -A channel, Malone remarks, signified in Shakespeare's time what we now call a kennel. Cf. II. King Henry IV. ii. 1. 51: "Throw the quean in the channel." 147. Line 144: A wisp of straw. --The wearing of a wisp upon the head is shown by Malone to have been a punishment for a scold. He quotes, inter alia, A Dialogue between John and Jone: Good gentle Jone, with-holde thy hands, This once let me entreat thee, And make me promise, never more That thou shalt mind to beat me; For feare thou weare the wispe, good wife. In the present passage it seems to be considered also a punishment for a strumpet. 148. Line 172: Since thou DENIEST the gentle king to speak.-Ff. read denied'st. The correction was made by Warburton from Qq. 149. Line 173: let our BLOODY colours ware.--Compare Henry V. i. 2. 101: Stand for your own; unwind your bloody flag. ACT II. SCENE 3. 150. Lord Fitzwalter, a relative of Warwick, had gained the passage of Ferrybridge, but was surprised and slain by Clifford. "When the erle of Warwycke was enformed of this feate," says Hall (p. 255), "he like a man desperate, moŭted on his Hackeney, and came blowyng to kyng Edward saiyng: 'syr I praye God haue mercy of their soules, which in the beginnyng of your enterprise, hath lost their lifes, and because I se no succors of the world, I remit the vengeaunce and punishment to God' and with that lighted doune, and slewe his horse with his swourde, saiyng: 'let him flie that wil, for surely I wil tary with him that wil tary with me,' and kissed the crosse of his swourde. "The lusty kyng Edward, perceiuyng the courage of his trusty fred the erle of Warwycke, made proclamacion that all men, whiche were afrayde to fighte, shoulde incontinent departe, and to all me that tarried the battell, he promised great rewardes." The play puts some of these sentiments of Warwick into Richard's mouth, and includes the events of three different actions in its representation of the battle of Towton. See note 9. 151. Line 5: And, SPITE OF SPITE, needs must I rest awhile. -Compare King John, v. 4. 4, 5: That misbegotten devil, Faulconbridge, 152 Line 15: Thy BROTHER'S blood the thirsty earth hath drunk.—This was "the Bastard of Salisbury, brother to the erle of Warwycke," who fell along with Clifford in the engagement at Ferrybridge. 153. Line 37: Thou setter-up and plucker-down of kings. -Cf. Psalm 1xxv. 7: "God is the judge; he putteth down one and setteth up another;" and Daniel ii. 21: "he removeth kings, and setteth up kings." In ii. 3. 157 Margaret, in disgust at Warwick's unbounded ambition and pretension, addresses him as "Proud setter-up and puller-down of kings." The Qq., instead of lines 33-41, have only the following: Lord Warwike, I doe bend my knees with thine, And, if we thrive, promise them such rewards This somewhat extraordinary proposal is an instance of the way in which, in earlier Elizabethan dramas, classical customs and names were referred to as though still in use. Thus, in David and Bethsabe, Peele calls David "Jove's musician.' In the same way we find Nero mentioned infra, iii. 1. 40. Collier, in his second edition, read ware for wear, and Dyce followed him. I cannot, however, find any autho rity for such a form of the past tense of wear in the literature of the time, and the emendation does not make the sentiment any more natural. ACT II. SCENE 4. 156. Line 8: And here's the heart that triumphs in their DEATHS.-This is the reading of Qq. Ff. have death, which is not so forcible. 157 Lines 12, 13.--These lines do not occur in the corresponding place in The True Tragedie. They are, as Malone remarked, a repetition of II. Henry VI. v. 2. 14, 15. ACT II. SCENE 5. 158. The soliloquy in lines 1-54 is much altered and enlarged from the version in Qq. We have there, instead of the simile of lines 5-12, the following lines: How like a mastlesse ship vpon the seas, This woful battaile doth continue still, And none doth know to whom the daie will fall. The likeness between the passages is curious. Perhaps the idea was suggested by the words of Hall, who says (p. 256); “This deadly battayle" (i.e. of Towton) continued. x. houres in doubtfull victorie. The one parte some time flowyng, and sometime ebbyng." Further on he says: "This conflict was in maner vnnaturall, for in it the sonne fought against the father, the brother against the brother, the nephew against the vncle, and the tenaût against his lord." This, it has been supposed with some probability, suggested the episodes in the rest of the scene. The statement does not occur in Holinshed. With the shepherd blowing of his nails of line 3, compare Love's Labour's Lost, v. 2. 922, 923 : When icicles hang by the wall And Dick the shepherd blows his nail. See also Taming of the Shrew, note 34. 159 Line 23: To sit upon a HILL, as I do now. In line 14 Henry has said, "here on this molehill will I sit me down" The word must mean a hillock or knoll: compare Cotgrave, who interprets the French bosse by "a hillocke, molehill, small hill or barrow of ground." And see i. 4. 67, together with the passage from Holinshed given in note 92. Whethamstede, from whom Holinshed is there copying, says (i. 382) Warwick was set "super unum parvum formicarium colliculum," ie. I suppose, an anthill, if the words are to be taken literally. It would appear that during this scene Henry is not seen by the other speakers. 160 Line 36: So many weeks ere the poor fools will EAN.-Compare Merchant of Venice, note 90. 161. Line 37: So many YEARS ere I shall shear the fleece-Probably a line has been lost before this. Henry may have said, "So many months ere I shall wean the lambs." Malone's explanation, which is scouted by Dyce, is probably right, that the years are those which must elapse before the lambs are old enough to be shorn. (Var. Ed. xviii. 433.) Rowe read months for years, and has been followed by many editors. A ewe's period of pregnancy is from twenty-one to twenty-three weeks. The lambing season begins about March, while shearing time is in the autumn. Thus a lamb is about a year and a half old when first shorn. 162. Line 38: So minutes, hours, days, WEEKS, months, and years. Weeks, which the metre requires, is omitted in Ff. It was inserted by Rowe. 163. Line 51: Is far beyond a prince's DELICATES.—The word delicates does not occur elsewhere in Shakespeare. Compare Marlowe, Doctor Faustus: pleasant fruits and princely delicates, -Works, p. 80. 164. Line 55: Enter a Lancastrian soldier, bringing in a dead body. We have altered the stage direction of Ff. here and before line 79, as the context plainly requires that in the first case a Lancastrian soldier should be introduced, and in the second a Yorkist. 165. Line 62: Whom in this conflict I UNWARES have kill'd. We have followed the reading of F. 1, F. 2, F. 3. Whether by accident or otherwise, many editors give unawares, the reading of F. 4. 166. Line 75: Poor harmless lambs ABIDE their enmity. - Abide, in the sense of **pay for," or "be punished for," is used interchangeably with aby, the more proper word. See A Midsummer Night's Dream, note 191. Qq. in this place read Poore lambs do feele the rigor of their wraths. 167. Lines 77, 78: -P. 50. let our hearts and eyes, like civil war, Be blind with tears, and break o'ercharg'd with grief. The best meaning that can be got out of this conceit seems to be: "Let our hearts and eyes, like ourselves in civil war, be self-destructive," and thus Cowden Clarke explained the passage, following Johnson. 168. Line 79: Thou that so stoutly HAST resisted me.— This is the reading of F. 3. F. 1, F. 2 have hath. 169. Line 87: Upon thy wounds, that KILL mine eye and heart.-Ff. have killes or kills. The text is Rowe's. 170. Line 89: What STRATAGEMS, how fell, how butcherly. This is the reading of F. 3, F. 4. F. 1, F. 2 have stragems, which is plainly a blunder. 171. Lines 92, 93: O boy, thy father gave thee life too soon, And hath bereft thee of thy life too late! Warburton's explanation is that he was born too soon, because had he been born later he would not have had to bear arms; and that the father was too late in depriving him of life, because he should have done so by not bringing him into being. But too late, in line 93, is often interpreted here as too lately, too recently, as in Rape of Lucrece, lines 1800, 1801 (quoted by Malone): O, quoth Lucretius, I did give that life Which she too early and too late hath spilled; and this interpretation may be correct. Qq. interchange late and soon, and were followed by Hanmer and Capell. The Cambridge editors remark that this merely transfers the difficulty of explanation from one line to the other. Grant White, however, thinks that this may have been the original reading, and compares Heywood's translation of Seneca's Troas: O sonne begot to late for Troy, but borne too soone for me! a passage of which he thinks the lines in The True Tra• gedie may have been a reminiscence. He further suggests that on the revision the text may have been altered to the present arrangement without sufficient consideration, in order presumably to improve the meaning of the first line. 172. Line 100: The other his pale CHEEK, methinks, presenteth.-Ff. read cheekes. The text is Rowe's. These arms of mine shall be thy winding-sheet; Compare Marlowe, Jew of Malta, iii: These arms of mine shall be thy sepulchre. -Works, p. 161. Lines 114-120 are not in The True Tragedie: they have all the appearance of an insertion superadded upon the earlier play when the revision was made. It seems not an unreasonable supposition that they were suggested by the line in the Jew of Malta. 175. Line 119: E'EN for the loss of thee.-F. 1, F. 2, F. 3 read Men for E'en; F. 4 has Man. Capell printed Even, and Dyce E'en, which is no doubt correct. ACT II. SCENE 6. 176. For the passage in Hall on which this scene is founded, see note 9. The stage direction in Qq. is “Enter Clifford wounded with an arrow in his necke." It may have been in ridicule of this that Beaumont and Fletcher, in The Knight of the Burning Pestle, act v. scene 3, bring in Ralph "with a forked arrow through his head "(Works, vol. ii. p. 96; quoted by Steevens). 177. Line 6: that tough commixture melts. This is the reading of Qq., followed by Steevens. F. 1 has thy tough commixtures melts, and F. 2, F. 3, F. 4, thy tough commixtures melt. 178. Line 8: The common people swarm like summer flies.--This line is found only in Qq., but Ff. have, after line 16, the line "They never then had sprung like summer flies," which looks like a perversion of the line in Qq. inserted in a wrong place. Theobald inserted the line here from Qq. 179 Lines 11-13.-See note 96. 180 Line 18: Had left no mourning widows for our DEATHS.-Ff. have death for deaths, which Capell restored from Qq. 181. Lines 41-43.-In F. 1, followed substantially by F. 2, F. 3, F. 4, lines 41, 42, and the first half of 43 are given to Richard, and Edward's speech begins at "And now the Battailes ended." This seems mere carelessness on the part of the printer. Qq. give the speeches, with but slight variations, as in the text, and their arrange. ment has been generally followed since it was pointed out by Steevens. 182. Line 42: A deadly groan, like life and death's departing.-Departing means "parting," viz. of the soul from the body. Compare line 4, supra. Various corrections of the line have been proposed. Hanmer would read in death; Lettsom and breath; neither of which suggestions improves the sense. 183. Line 46: Who not CONTENTED.-Unless the meaning given in the foot-note is taken, there is no verb to which who can belong. The same intransitive use of the verb content is proposed by Dyce in Venus and Adonis, line 61: Forc'd to content, but never to obey. (See his Glossary, p. 97.) Qq. have, instead of lines 46-50, only the following: Who kild our tender brother Rutland, And stabd our princelie father Duke of York. It may be that in expanding this into the form in which we now have it, the alteration in the construction of the first clause escaped notice. 184. Line 55: Bring forth that fatal SCREECH-OWL to our house. The screech-owl is the common barn or white owl (Strix flammea). Its usual cry is a shriek, and it is seldom heard to hoot as the brown owls commonly do. Popular dislike extended to all the owl tribe, their appearance and cry being both supposed to foretell misfortune and death. Pliny (Natural History, book x. chap. 12) says of the "scritch-owle," "he is the verie monster of the night, neither crying nor singing out cleere, but uttering a certaine heavie grone of dolefull moning. therefore if he be seene to flie either within citties, or otherwise abroad in any place, it is not good, but prognosticateth some fearfull misfortune" (Holland's Pliny, vol. i. p. 276). Compare v. 6. 44, infra, in the present play, and A Midsummer Night's Dream, v. 1. 383-385: Whilst the screech-owl, screeching loud, Puts the wretch that lies in woe In remembrance of a shroud. See also I. Henry VI. note 193. 185. Lines 65, 66: And Because he would avoid SUCH bitter taunts WHICH in the time of death he gave our father. The passage corresponding to this in Qq. is as follows: that in the time of death, He might avoid such bitter stormes as he In his hour of death did give vnto our father. This is no doubt corrupt; but Dyce thinks that which having been substituted in the latter line, it was by an oversight that such was not altered into those. No change, however, is required; we find which following such in several other places; e.g. Twelfth Night, act v. line 358: in such forms which here were presupposed. 186. Line 81: I'D chop it off-Ff. here have This hand should chop it off;" Qq. "Ide cut it off." Compare v. 1. 50, 51, infra; a passage which is not in The True Tragedie. But it seems to us that in this place the words This hand are more likely to be a repetition of this right hand in line 79, by a printer's or transcriber's error, than an intentional alteration of the author's. We have accordingly adopted Capell's reading, founded on that of Qq. 187. Line 88.-Edward was crowned on his return from Towton, June 1, 1461. It was in 1463, according to Hall (p. 263), that Warwick went to France to ask the hand of the lady Bona for Edward. Holinshed (p. 283) appears to put it in 1464, after the overthrow of the Lancastrian rising. Both put the embassy in the same year with the king's secret espousal to Elizabeth Wydvile-ie. 1464but Warwick, it has been shown, could not at the later time have been in France. (See Lingard, vol. iv. pp. 161, 162.) 188. Line 106: Gloster's dukedom is too ominous.-Malone refers to Hall's words (p. 209) on the death of the Good Duke Humphrey: "It semeth to many men, that the name and title of Gloucester, hath been vnfortunate and vnluckie to diuerse, whiche for their honor, haue been erected by creacion of princes, to that stile and dignitie, as Hugh Spencer, Thomas of Woodstocke, sonne to kyng Edward the third, and this duke Humfrey, whiche thre persones, by miserable death finished their daies, and after them kyng Richard the .iii. also, duke of Gloucester, in ciuill warre was slain and confounded: so yt this name of Gloucester, is take for an vnhappie and vnfortunate stile." Foxe remarked that this is based on Polydore Virgil's Historia Rerum Anglicarum, book xxiii. (See Acts and Monuments, &c., p. 705, edn. 1583.) The superstitious character of Richard, here indicated, is further developed in the course of this play and that of Richard III. ACT III. SCENE 1. 189. The stubborn fight at Towton, 1461, established Edward's position. Henry and Margaret, with Somerset and Exeter, found refuge in Scotland, and having bought the king's aid by the cession of Berwick, beset Carlisle, but were routed by Montague. In November the parlia ment attainted the surviving Lancastrian nobles. Intestine quarrels prevented further aid from Scotland, and in 1463 Margaret's attempt on Northumberland with some French troops under Peter de Brezé ended in failure and shipwreck. Somerset and Percy submitted to Edward and were pardoned, but in 1464 joined Henry and the Lancastrian exiles in a new revolt in the North. In April, 1464, Percy fell at Hedgeley Moor, and a month later Somerset was taken in battle at Hexham and beheaded, Henry himself barely escaping by a precipitate flight. For some time he took refuge in Scotland, but afterwards he seems to have been in hiding in Westmorland and Lancashire. There is a tradition that he dwelt in retreat at Bolton for several months. Margaret withdrew to Flanders and subsequently to her father at Anjou. It was at this time that Edward met Elizabeth Grey, whom he married at the end of April, 1464. The marriage was not, however, declared till five months later (See note 11.) The next year Henry "whether he wer past all feare, or was not well stablished in his perfite mynde, or could not long kepe hymself secrete, in a disguyzed apparell, boldely entered into Englande. He was no soner entered, but he was knowen and taken of one Cantlowe" (Hall, p. 261; Fabyan adds, "in a wood, in the North coûtrey." Compare the Fragment published by Hearne, p. 292.) Warkworth, p. 5, says the capture was made "in a wood beside Bungerly Hyppyngstones" (on the Ribble), "by the mean of a black [i.e. Dominican] monk of Abyngdon." Elsewhere it is said to have happened at Waddington Hall, in the same neighbourhood Henry was at once brought to London to the Tower, "and there he was laied in sure holde" (Hall, p. 261). The inversion of the historical sequence in this and the next scene is due to the fact that Hall, whose chronology is somewhat uncertain,1 describes under one and the same year the capture of Henry, Edward's marriage, and Warwick's mission for the hand of Bona. For dramatic convenience the time from 1461 to 1465 is treated in the play as a period of only a few months. 190. Enter two Keepers.-For this, the stage direction of Qq., F. 1 substitutes "Enter Sinklo, and Humfrey." Sinklo seems to have been an actor (see Taming of the Shrew, note 9), and probably, therefore, Humfrey is the name of another. Malone (Var. Ed. xviii. 447) suggests that he may have been Humphrey Jeaffes, who appears from Henslowe's Diary (pp. 99, 102) to have been one of the Lord Admiral's players, and the holder of a hal:share in the Rose Theatre. 191. Line 24: Let me embrace thee, sour adversity. F. 1 reads: Let me embrace the sower Aduersaries. We have adopted Dyce's correction Beyond all limit of what else i' the world This seems to be almost the only instance in Shakespeare of what meaning "anything," though there are several examples where it means "any." 193. Line 55: Say, what art thou THAT talk'st of kings and queens?-Ff. omit that, which is, however, found in Q4., and was restored by Rowe. 194 Line 63: Indian stones are perhaps pearls; but India was commonly reckoned the general storehouse for all gems in Elizabethan times. 195. Line 82: do 1 not BREATHE a man?-The same use of breathe as a copulative verb is found in Richard III iii. 5. 25, 26: the plainest harmless creature That breath'd upon this earth a Christian. 196. Line 97: We charge you, in God's name, and in the 1 He puts into the second year of Edward's reign all the events of the third, and is a year behindhand in his numbering for several years after. king's. The True Tragedie--which contains nothing corresponding to lines 70 to 96-reads, instead of this line, And therefore we charge you in Gods name and the kings, and Ff. have the same, with the omission of the first two words. I suspect the lacking syllable was, not noticed when the correction was made. The text is Rowe's. ACT III. SCENE 2. 197. Line 2: Sir JOHN Grey.-He is called Richard in Qq. and Ff. by mistake. Pope made the necessary correction. 198. Line 3: His LANDS then seiz'd on by the conqueror. - Ff. read land, but Qq. lands. It was, however, Edward who seized Sir John Grey's lands after his victory at Towton. 199. Lines 6, 7: in quarrel of the house of YORK The worthy gentleman did lose his life. This is incorrect. Sir John Grey fought on the Lancastrian side (see note 11). Hall merely says (p. 252), “In this battayl were slayn .xxiii. C. men, . . . of whome no noble man is remébred, saue syr Ihon Gray," and the mistake in the text perhaps arose from misunderstanding this passage. 200. Lines 24-33.—This passage, with lines 36-59, is another instance of σrixoμlía, or dialogue in alternate lines, already remarked on in I. Henry VI. note 207. 201. Line 28: Nay, whip me, then.-This is the reading of Qq. Ff. have " Nay then, whip me." 202. Lines 31, 32: 'Twere pity they should lose their father's lands. L. Grey. Be pitiful, dread lord, and grant it, then. It denotes Lady Grey's suit. Compare v. 7. 40, infra, and Love's Labour 's Lost, note 1, for a similar use of the word. Qq. read them for then. 203. Lines 97, 98: I know I am too mean to be your queen, This is taken from Hall, who says (p. 264) "she... aunswered... affirmynge that as she was for his honor farre vnable to be hys spouse and bedfelow: So for her awne poore honestie, she was to good to be either hys concubyne, or souereigne lady." The sentence which follows seems to have furnished the idea for lines 84-86. Edward, Hall says, "was nowe set all on a hote burnyng fyre, what for the confidence that he had in her perfyte constancy, and the trust that he had in her constant chastitie." But lines 102-105 are probably founded on a passage in the Life of Edward the Fifth by Sir Thomas More, which Hall reproduces in his Chronicle. The words are as follows: "That she is a widdowe and hath alredy children: By god his blessed lady, I am a bachelor and have some to, & so eche of vs hath a proofe, that neither of vs is like to be barren" (p. 367). They are found in a supposed speech of Edward IV. to his mother in defence of his alliance with Lady Grey. It may be that this duplicate account of the king's misalliance was in the mind of the author of the play when he wrote the present scene. If so, he ought not to have blundered as he did about Sir John Grey, who is plainly described therein as one "whom kyng Henry made knight at the laste battaill of sainct Albones." 204. Line 110. The widow likes it not, for she looks sad. -F. 1 inadvertently inserts very before sad, but is corrected by F. 2. 205. Line 112. To WHOM, my lord?-So Qq. substantially, and F. 2, F. 3, F. 4. F. 1 reads who for whom. 206. Line 123: lords, use her honourably. For the honorablie of Qq. F. 1 has honourable, but the necessary correction was made in F. 2, and is justified by the next line, where all the copies have the adverbial form. 207. Line 131: all the LOOK'D-FOR issue of their bodies.The reading of Q. 1 (p. 63) is all they lookt for issue Of their loines, where Q. 2, Q. 3 wrongly made the alteration looke. F. 1, which the other editions substantially follow, has all the vnlook'd-for Issue of their Bodies. This seems out of place, for Gloster in reckoning up all those who stand between him and the crown naturally concludes with the children not yet born, but whom the Unlook'd persons spoken of might reasonably hope for. for, the reading of Ff., is followed by all the editors. cannot, however, give any more satisfactory interpretation to it than "whom it is not yet time to expect." I 208. Line 139: he'll LADE it dry.-The word lade has sometimes been misunderstood; but the sense is clearly shown by the following passage quoted in Dyce's Glossary from Cotgrave: “Bacqueter. To lade, or draine a river, or other water, with pailes, or buckets." The word is still used with this meaning. 209. Line 153: Why, love forswore me in my mother's womb. Malone (Var. Ed. xviii. p. 462) compares Wily Beguiled: For love did scorn me in my mother's womb. -Dodsley, ix 27 210. Lines 160, 161: To disproportion me in every part, Like to a chaos, or an unlick'd bear-whelp. Compare II. Henry VI. v. 1. 157; and v. 6. 51, infra, where Henry says that Gloster at his birth was An indigested and deformed lump. And compare Beaumont and Fletcher, Wit without They're only lumps, and undigested pieces, -Works, vol. i. p. 184. These passages call to mind Ovid, Metam. i. 7: chaos rudis indigestaque moles. The dramatist has given chaos the unusual sense of “abortion." With line 157 compare v. 7. 23, infra; and for the description of Richard see More's account, given in Hall (pp. 342, 343). There we are told: "he was litle of stature, |