And his contract by deputy in France:
The insatiate greediness of his desires,
And his enforcement of the city wives;
His tyranny for trifles; his own bastardy,-
As being got, your father then in France;1
And his resemblance, being not like the duke.
Withal, I did infer your lineaments,-
Being the right idea of your father,

Both in your form and nobleness of mind:
Laid open all your victories in Scotland,
Your discipline in war, wisdom in peace,
Your bounty, virtue, fair humility;
Indeed, left nothing, fitting for your purpose,
Untouch'd, or slightly handled, in discourse.
And, when my oratory grew to an end,

Dowager of York, Edward's mother, who was averse to the match, before he espoused that lady. But Elizabeth Lucy, the daughter of one Wyat, and the wife of one Lucy, being sworn to speak the truth, declared that the King had not been affianced to her, though she owned she had been his concubine. Philip de Comines, a contemporary historian, says that Edward, previous to his marriage with Lady Grey, was married to an English lady by the Bishop of Bath, who revealed the secret; and according to the Chronicle of Croyland this Lady was Lady Eleanor Butler, widow of Lord Butler of Sudley, and daughter to the great Earl of Shrewsbury. On this ground the children of Edward were declared illegitimate by the only parliament assembled by King Richard III; but no mention was made of Elizabeth Lucy.

Shakspeare followed Holinshed, who copied Hall, as Hall transcribed the account given by Sir Thomas More. Malone. 1 his own bastardy,

As being got, your father then in France;] This tale is supposed to have been first propagated by the Duke of Clarence, soon after he, in conjunction with his father-in-law the Earl of Warwick, restored King Henry VI to the throne; at which time he obtained a settlement of the crown on himself and his issue, after the death of Henry and his heirs male. Sir Thomas More says, that the Duke of Glocester soon after Edward's death revived this tale; but Mr. Walpole very justly observes, that it is highly improbable that Richard should have urged such a topick to the people; that he should "start doubts concerning his own legitimacy, which was too much connected with that of his brothers to be tossed and bandied about before the multitude." The same ingenious writer has also shown, that Richard "lived in perfect harmony with his mother, and lodged with her in her palace at this very time." Historick Doubts, quarto, 1768.

Malone.

I bade them, that did love their country's good,
Cry-God save Richard, England's royal king!
Glo. And did they so?

Buck. No, so God help me, they spake not a word;
But, like dumb statuas, or breathless stones,2
Star'd on each other, and look'd deadly pale.
Which when I saw, I reprehended them;
And ask'd the mayor, what meant this wilful silence:
His answer was, the people were not us'd
To be spoke to, but by the recorder.

Then he was urg'd to tell my tale again;—
Thus saith the duke, thus hath the duke inferr'd;
But nothing spoke in warrant from himself.
When he had done, some followers of mine own,
At lower end o'the hall, hurl'd up their caps,
And some ten voices cried, God save king Richard!
And thus I took the vantage of those few,-
Thanks, gentle citizens, and friends, quoth I;
This general applause, and cheerful shout,
Argues your wisdom, and your love to Richard:
And even here brake off, and came away.

Glo. What tongueless blocks were they; Would they not speak?

Will not the mayor then, and his brethren, come?
Buck. The mayor is here at hand; intend some fear:3
Be not you spoke with, but by mighty suit:
And look you get a prayer-book in your hand,
And stand between two churchmen, good my lord;
For on that ground I'll make a holy descant:
And be not easily won to our requests;

Play the maid's part, still answer nay, and take it.

2 But, like dumb statuas, or breathless stones,] See Mr. Reed's very decisive account of the word—statua, in a note on The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Vol. II, p. 226, n. 5.

The eldest quartos, 1597 and 1598, together with the first folio, read-breathing. The modern editors, with Mr. Rowe,—unbreath. · ing Breathless is the reading of the quarto 1612. Steevens.

3intend some fear:] Perhaps, pretend; though intend will stand in the sense of giving attention. Johnson.

One of the ancient senses of to intend was certainly to pretend So, in sc. v, of this Act:

"Tremble and start at wagging of a straw,
"Intending deep suspicion." Steevens.

Glo. Igo; And if you plead as well for them, As I can say nay to thee for myself,

No doubt we'll bring it to a happy issue.

Buck. Go, go, up to the leads; the lord mayor knocks.

[Exit GLO. Enter the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and Citizens. Welcome, my lord: I dance attendance here; I think, the duke will not be spoke withal.— Enter, from the Castle, CATESBY.

Now, Catesby! what says your lord to my request?
Cates. He doth entreat your grace, my noble lord,
To visit him to-morrow, or next day:

He is within, with two right reverend fathers,
Divinely bent to meditation;

And in no worldly suit would he be mov'd,
To draw him from his holy exercise.

Buck. Return, good Catesby, to the gracious duke;
Tell him, myself, the mayor and aldermen,
In deep designs, in matter of great moment,
No less importing than our general good,

Are come to have some conference with his grace. Cates. I'll signify so much unto him straight. [Exit. Buck. Ah, ha, my lord, this prince is not an Edward! He is not lolling on a lewd day-bed,5

But on his knees at meditation;

Not dallying with a brace of courtezans,
But meditating with two deep divines;
Not sleeping, to engross his idle body,
But praying, to enrich his watchful soul:
Happy were England, would this virtuous prince
Take on himself the sovereignty thereof;

But, sure, I fear, we shall ne'er win him to it.

May. Marry, God defend his grace should say us nay !3

As I can say nay to thee-] I think it must be read:

if you plead as well for them

As I must say, nay to them for myself. Johnson. Perhaps the change is not necessary. Buckingham is to plead for the citizens; and if (says Richard) you speak for them as plausibly as I in my own person, or for my own purposes, shall seem to deny your suit, there is no doubt but we shall bring all to a happy issue. Steevens.

5

day-bed,] i. e. a couch, or sofa

Steevens.

6 to engross-] To fatten; to pamper. Johnson.

Buck. I fear, he will: Here Catesby comes again;-
Re-enter CATESBY.

Now Catesby, what says his grace?

Cates. He wonders to what end you have assembled Such troops of citizens to come to him,

His grace not being warn'd thereof before:
He fears, my lord, you mean no good to him.
Buck. Sorry I am, my noble cousin should
Suspect me, that I mean no good to him:
By heaven, we come to him in perfect love;
And so once more return and tell his grace.

When holy and devout religious men

[Exit CATES.

Are at their beads, 'tis hard to draw them thence;
So sweet is zealous contemplation.

Enter GLOSTER, in a Gallery, above, between Two
8
Bishops. CATESBY returns.

May. See, where his grace stands 'tween two clergymen!

Buck. Two props of virtue for a christian prince,
To stay him from the fall of vanity:

And, see, a book of prayer in his hand;
True ornaments to know a holy man.9—
Famous Plantagenet, most gracious prince,
Lend favourable ear to our requests;

7- God defend, his grace should say us nay!] This pious and courtly Mayor was Edmund Shaw, brother to Doctor Shaw, whom Richard had employed to prove his title to the crown, from the pulpit at Saint Paul's Cross Malone.

8

between Two Bishops.] "At the last he came out of his chamber, and yet not downe to theim, but in a galary over theim, with a bishop on every hande of hym, where thei beneth might see hym and speake to hym, as though he woulde not yet come nere theim til he wist what they meant," &c. Hall's Chronicle.

Farmer.

So also, Holinshed after him. The words "with a bishop on every hande of hym," are an interpolation by Hall, or rather by Grafton, (See his Continuation of Harding's Chronicle, 1543, fol. 75,) not being found in Sir Thomas More's History of King Richard III, folio, 1557, from whom the rest of the sentence is transcribed. Malone.

9to know a holy man.] i. e. to know a holy man by. See note on Coriolanus, Act III, sc. ii, where several instances of a similar phraseology are given. Malone.

And pardon us the interruption

Of thy devotion, and right-christian zeal.
Glo. My lord, there needs no such apology;
I rather do beseech you pardon me,
Who, earnest in the service of my God,
Neglect the visitation of my friends.

But, leaving this, what is your grace's pleasure?
Buck. Even that, I hope, which pleaseth God above,
And all good men of this ungovern'd isle.

Glo. I do suspect, I have done some offence,
That seems disgracious in the city's eye;
And that you come to reprehend my ignorance.
Buck. You have, my lord; Would it might please your

grace,

On our entreaties, to amend your fault!

Glo. Else wherefore breathe I in a Christian land? Buck. Know, then, it is your fault, that you resign The supreme seat, the throne majestical,

The scepter'd office of your ancestors,

Your state of fortune, and your due of birth,
The lineal glory of your royal house,
To the corruption of a blemish'd stock:

Whilst, in the mildness of your sleepy thoughts,
(Which here we waken to our country's good)
The noble isle doth want her proper limbs ;1
Her face defac'd with scars of infamy,
Her royal stock graft with ignoble plants,2
And almost shoulder'd in the swallowing gulf
Of dark forgetfulness3 and deep oblivion.

her proper limbs;] Thus the quarto 1598. The folio has -his limbs; an error which I should not mention, but that it justifies corrections that I have made in other places, where, for want of more ancient copies than one, conjectural emendation became necessary. Malone.

2 Her royal stock graft with ignoble plants,] Shakspeare seems to have recollected the text on which Dr. Shaw preached his remarkable Sermon at Saint Paul's Cross: "Bastard slips shall never take deep root." Malone.

3 And almost shoulder'd in the swallowing gulf

Of dark forgetfulness] What it is to be shoulder'd in a gulph, Hanmer is the only editor who seems not to have known; for the rest let it pass without observation. He reads:

Almost shoulder'd into th' swallowing gulph.

I believe we should read: