All scatter'd in the bottom of the sea.

Some lay in dead men's skulls; and, in those holes
Where eyes did once inhabit, there were crept
(As 'twere in scorn of eyes) reflecting gems,
That woo'd the slimy bottom3 of the deep,
And mock'd the dead bones that lay scatter'd by.
Brak. Had you such leisure in the time of death,
To gaze upon the secrets of the deep?

Clar. Methought I had; and often did I strive
To yield the ghost: but still the envious flood
Kept in my soul, and would not let it forth
To seek the empty, vast, and wand'ring air;5
But smother'd it within my panting bulk,
Which almost burst to belch it in the sea.

Brak. Awak'd you not with this sore agony?
Clar. O, no, my dream was lengthen'd after life;
O, then began the tempest to my soul!

I pass'd, methought, the melancholy flood,
With that grim ferryman" which poets write of,
Unto the kingdom of perpetual night.

The first that there did greet my stranger soul,
Was my great father-in-law, renowned Warwick;
Who cry'd aloud,-What scourge for perjury

66 the unvalew'd robe she wore,
"Made infinite lay lovers to adore."

Malone.

3 That woo'd the slimy bottom-] By seeming to gaze upon it; or, as we now say, to ogle it. Johnson.

4 Kept in my soul,] Thus the quarto. The folio-Stopt in.

Malone.

5 To seek the empty, vast, and wand'ring air;] Perhaps we should point thus:

To seek the empty vast, and wand'ring air.

that is, to seek the immense vacuity. Vast is used by our author as a substantive in other places See Vol. VI, p. 164, n. 3. Seek is the reading of the quarto, 1598, the folio has find.

Malone.

empty, vast, and wand'ring air;] Vast, is waste, desolatevastum per inane. Steevens.

6

within my panting bulk,] Bulk is often used by Shakspeare and his contemporaries for body. So again, in Hamlet:

7

it did seem to shatter all his bulk,

"And end his being." Malone.

·grim ferryman] The folio reads-sour ferryman.

Steevens.

Can this dark monarchy afford false Clarence?
And so he vanish'd: Then came wand'ring by
A shadow like an angel, with bright hair

8

Dabbled in blood; and he shriek'd out aloud,—

Clarence is come,—false, fleeting, perjur'd Clarence,9—
That stabb'd me in the field by Tewksbury;—
Seize on him, furies, take him to your torments!—
With that, methought, a legion of foul fiends
Environ'd me,1 and howled in mine ears
Such hideous cries, that, with the very noise,
I trembling wak'd, and, for a season after,
Could not believe but that I was in hell:
Such terrible impression made my dream.
Brak. No marvel, lord, though it affrighted you;'
I am afraid, methinks, to hear you tell it.

Clar. O, Brakenbury, I have done these things,—
That now give evidence against my soul,-

For Edward's sake; and, see, how he requites me!
O God! if my deep prayers cannot appease thee,2

8 with bright hair

Dabbled in blood;] Lee has transplanted this image into his Mithridates, Act IV, sc. i:

9

"I slept; but oh, a dream so full of terror,

"The pale, the trembling midnight ravisher

"Ne'er saw, when cold Lucretia's mourning shadow
"His curtains drew, and lash'd him in his eyes

"With her bright tresses, dabbled in her blood." Steevens.

fleeting, perjur'd Clarence,] Fleeting is the same as changing sides. Johnson.

So, in Antony and Cleopatra:

66 now the fleeting moon

"No planet is of mine."

Clarence broke his oath with the Earl of Warwick, and joined the army of his brother King Edward IV. See Vol. X, p. 406.

1 — a legion of foul fiends

Steevens.

Environ'd me, &c.] Milton seems to have thought on this passage where he is describing the midnight sufferings of Our Saviour, in the 4th Book of Paradise Regain'd:

nor yet stay'd the terror there,

"Infernal ghosts, and hellish furies, round

"Environ'd thee, some howl'd, some yell'd, some shriek'd." Steevens.

20 God! if my deep prayers &c.] The four following lines have been added since the first edition. Pope.

They are found in the folio, but not in the quarto. Malone.

But thou wilt be aveng'd on my misdeeds,

Yet execute thy wrath on me alone :

O, spare my guiltless wife,3 and my poor children!pray thee, gentle keeper, stay by me;4

I

My soul is heavy, and I fain would sleep.

Brak. I will, my lord; God give your grace good
rest! [CLAR. reposes himself on a Chair.
Sorrow breaks seasons, and reposing hours,
Makes the night morning, and the noon-tide night.
Princes have but their titles for their glories,
An outward honour for an inward toil;"
And, for unfelt imaginations,

They often feel a world of restless cares:"
So that, between their titles, and low name,
There's nothing differs but the outward fame.

Enter the Two Murderers

1 Murd. Ho! who 's here?

Brak. What would'st thou, fellow? and how cam'st thou hither?

3 my guiltless wife,] The wife of Clarence died before he was apprehended and confined in the Tower. See p. 47, n. 8.

Malone.

41 pray thee, gentle keeper, &c.] So the quarto, 1598. The folio reads:

"Keeper, I pr'ythee, sit by me a while." Malone.

5 Sorrow breaks seasons, &c.] In the common editions, the Keeper is made to hold the dialogue with Clarence till this line. And here Brakenbury enters, pronouncing these words; which seem to me a reflection naturally resulting from the foregoing conversation, and therefore continued to be spoken by the same person, as it is accordingly in the first edition. Pope.

The keeper, introduced in the quarto, 1598, was, in fact, Brakenbury, who was Lieutenant of the Tower. There can be no doubt therefore that the text, which is regulated according to the quarto, is right. Malone.

6 Princes have but their titles for their glories,

An outward honour for an inward toil; The first line may be understood in this sense, The glories of princes are nothing more than empty titles: but it would more impress the purpose of the speaker, and correspond better with the following lines, if it were read:

7

Princes have but their titles for their troubles. Johnson.

for unfelt imaginations,

They often feel a world of restless cares:] They often suffer real miseries for imaginary and unreal gratifications. Johnson.

1 Murd. I would speak with Clarence, and I came hither on my legs.

Brak. What, so brief?

2 Murd. O, sir, 'tis better to be brief, than tedious:Let him see our commission; talk no more.R

[A Paper is delivered to BRAK. who reads it. Brak. I am, in this, commanded to deliver The noble duke of Clarence to your hands: I will not reason what is meant hereby, Because I will be guiltless of the meaning. Here are the keys;9—there sits the duke asleep: I'll to the king; and signify to him,

That thus I have resigned to you my charge.

1 Murd. You may, sir; 'tis a point of wisdom: Fare you well. [Exit BRAK. 2 Murd. What, shall we stab him as he sleeps? 1 Murd. No; he 'll say, 'twas done cowardly, when he wakes.

2 Murd. When he wakes! why, fool, he shall never wake until the great judgment day.

1 Murd. Why, then he 'll say, we stabb'd him sleeping. 2 Murd. The urging of that word, judgment, hath bred a kind of remorse in me.

1 Murd. What? art thou afraid?

2 Murd. Not to kill him, having a warrant for it; but to be damn❜d for killing him, from the which no warrant can defend me.

1 Murd. I thought, thou hadst been resolute.

2 Murd. So I am, to let him live.

1 Murd. I'll back to the duke of Gloster, and tell him so.

2 Murd. Nay, I pr'ythee, stay a little: I hope, this "holy"humour of mine will change; it was wont to hold me but while one would tell twenty.

compassionate ms. 1632

8 Let him see our commission; &c.] Thus the second folio. Other copies, with measure evidently defective

1

"Show him our commission, talk no more." Steevens.

9 Here are the keys; &c.] So the quarto, 1598. The folio reads: "There lies the duke asleep, and there the keys." Malone. this holy humour of mine-] Thus the early quarto. The folio has this passionate humour of mine, for which the modern editors have substituted compassionate, unnecessarily. Passionate,

1 Murd. How dost thou feel thyself now?

2 Murd. 'Faith, some certain dregs of conscience are yet within me.

1 Murd. Remember our reward, when the deed's done. 2 Murd. Come, he dies; I had forgot the reward. 1 Murd. Where 's thy conscience now?

2 Murd. In the duke of Gloster's purse.

1 Murd. So, when he opens his purse to give us our reward, thy conscience flies out.

2 Murd. 'Tis no matter; let it go; there's few, or none, will entertain it.

1 Murd. What, if it come to thee again?

2 Murd. I'll not meddle with it, it is a dangerous thing, it makes a man a coward; a man cannot steal, but it accuseth him: a man cannot swear, but it checks him; a man cannot lie with his neighbour's wife, but it detects him: 'Tis a blushing shame-faced spirit, that mutinies in a man's bosom; it fills one full of obstacles: it made me once restore a purse of gold, that by chance I found; it beggars any man that keeps it: it is turned out of all towns and cities for a dangerous thing; and every man, that means to live well, endeavours to trust to himself, and live without it.

1 Murd. 'Zounds, it is even now at my elbow, persuading me not to kill the duke.

2 Murd. Take the devil in thy mind, and believe him not: he would insinuate with thee, but to make thee sigh.2

though not so good an epithet as that which is furnished by the quarto, is sufficiently intelligible. See Vol. VII, p. 330, n. 3.

A

The second murderer's next speech proves that holy was the author's word. The player editors probably changed it, as they did many others, on account of the Statute, 3 Jac. I, c. 21. little lower, they, from the same apprehension, omitted the word, faith. Malone.

2 Take the devil in thy mind, and believe him not: he would insi- ** nuate with thee, &c.] One villain says, Conscience is at his elbows, persuading him not to kill the duke. The other says, take the devil into thy nearer acquaintance, into thy mind, who will be a match for thy conscience, and believe it not, &c. It is plain then, that him in both places in the text should be it, namely, conscience. Warburton. Shakspeare so frequently uses both these pronouns indiscriminately, that no correction is necessary. Steevens.

In The Merchant of Venice we have a long dialogue between Launcelot, his Conscience, and the Devil. But though conscience