The midwife wonder'd; and the women cried,
O, Jesus bless us, he is born with teeth!

And so I was; which plainly signified

That I should snarl, and bite, and play the dog.

Then, since the heavens have shap'd my body so,

Let hell make crook'd my mind to answer it.

I have no brother, I am like no brother:

And this word-love, which greybeards call divinė, Be resident in men like one another, And not in me; I am myself alone.Clarence, beware; thou keep'st me from the light; But I will sort a pitchy day for thee: For I will buz abroad such prophecies,

That Edward shall be fearful of his life;

And then, to purge his fear, I'll be thy death.

King Henry, and the prince his son, are gone: Clarence, thy turn is next, and then the rest; Counting myself but bad, till I be best.

I'll throw thy body in another room, And triumph, Henry, in thy day of doom.

[Exit.

SCENE VII.-The same. A room in the palace.

King EDWARD is discovered sitting on his throne; Queen ELIZABETH with the infant Prince, CLARENCE, GlosTER, HASTINGS, and others, near him.

K. Edw. Once more we sit in England's royal throne, Re-purchas'd with the blood of enemies.

What valiant foe-men, like to autumn's corn,
Have we mow'd down, in tops of all their pride?
Three dukes of Somerset, threefold renown'd

For hardy and undoubted champions:

Two Cliffords, as the father and the son,

And two Northumberlands; two braver men

Ne'er spurr'd their coursers at the trumpet's sound: `
'With them, the two brave bears, Warwick and
Montague,

That in their chains fetter'd the kingly lion,
And made the forest tremble when they roar'd.
Thus have we swept suspicion from our seat,
And made our footstool of security.→
Come hither, Bess, and let me kiss my boy:-
Young Ned, for thee, thine uncles, and myself,
Have in our armours watch'd the winter's night;
• Went all a foot in summer's scalding heat,
That thou might'st repossess the crown in peace;
And of our labours thou shalt reap the gain.

Glo. I'll blast his harvest, if your head were laid;
For yet I am not look'd on in the world.
This shoulder was ordain'd so thick, to heave;
And heave it shall some weight, or break my back :-
Work thou the way,-and thou shalt execute. [Aside.
K. Edw. Clarence, and Gloster, love my lovely queen ;
And kiss your princely nephew, brothers both.

Clar. The duty, that I owe unto your majesty,

I seal upon the lips of this sweet babe.

K. Edw. Thanks, noble Clarence; worthy brother, thanks.

Glo. And, that I love the tree from whence thou sprang'st,

• Witness the loving kiss I give the fruit:—

To say the truth, so Judas kiss'd his master;

And cried-all hail! when as he meant-all Aside.

harm.

K. Edu. Now am I seated as my soul delights,

Having my country's peace, and brothers' loves

Clar. What will your grace have done with Margaret? Reignier, her father, to the king of France

Hath pawn'd the Sicils and Jerusalem,

And hither have they sent it for her ransome.

K. Edw. Away with her, and waft her hence to France. And now what rests, but that we spend the time With stately triumphs, mirthful comick shows, Such as befit the pleasures of the court?— Sound, drums and trumpets!-farewell, sour annoy! For here, I hope, begins our lasting joy.

[Exeunt

KING RICHARD III

Life and Death of King RICHARD III.] This tragedy, though it is called the Life and Death of this Prince, comprizes, at most, but the last eight years of his time; for it opens with George Duke of Clarence being clapped up in the Tower, which happened in the beginning of the year 1477; and closes with the death of Richard at Bosworth field, which battle was fought on the 22d of August, in the year THEOBALD.

1485.

It appears that several dramas on the present subject had been written before Shakespeare attempted it. This play was first entered at Stationers' Hall by Andrew Wise, Oct. 20, 1597, under the title of The Tragedie of King Richard the Third, with the Death of the Duke of Clarence. Before this, viz. Aug. 15th, 1586, was entered, A tragical Report of King Richard the Third, a Bullad. It may be necessary to remark that the words, song, baliad, enterlude and play, were often synonymously used. STEEVENS.

This play was written, I imagine, in the same year in which it was first printed,-1597. The Legend of King Richard III. by Francis Seagers, was printed in the first edition of The Mirrour for Magistrates, 1559, and in that of 1575, and 1587, but Shakespeare does not appear to be indebted to it. In a subsequent edition of that book printed in 1610, the old legend was omitted, and a new one inserted, by Richard Niccols, who has very freely copied the play before us. In 1597, when this tragedy was published, Niccols, as Mr. Warton has observed, was but thirteen years old.— Hist. of Poetry, Vol. III. p. 267.

The real length of time in this piece is fourteen years; (not eight years, as Mr. Theobald supposed:) for the second scene commences with the funeral of King Henry VI. who, according to the received account, was murdered on the 21st of May, 1471. The imprisonment of Clarence, which is represented previously in the first scene, did not in fact take place till 1477-8.

It has been since observed to me by Mr. Elderton, (who is of opinion that Richard was charged with this murder by the Lancastrian historians without any foundation,) that it appears on the face of the public accounts allowed in the

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