50 "All thefowls of heaven made their nests in spere. his boughs, and under his branches did all the beasts of the field bring forth their young.”. STEEVENS. 137. Cedes coëmptis saltibus, et domo, villáque. HoR. This mention of his parks and manors diminishes the pathetick effect of the foregoing lines. JOHNSON. 142. Ah, Warwich, Warwick! &c.] These two speeches stand thus in the quartos:

Oxf. Ah, Warwick, Warwick! chear up thyself,
and live;

For yet there's hope enough to win the day.
Our warlike queen with troops is come from
France,

And at Southampton landed hath her train;

And, might'st thou live, then would we never fly.
War. Why, then, I would not fly, nor have I

now;

But Hercules himself must yield to odds:

For many wounds receiv'd, and many more repaid,

Hath robb'd my strong-knit sinews of their
strength,

And spite of spites needs must I yield to death.
STEEVENS.

164. Away, away, &c.] Instead of this line, the quartos have the following:

Come, noble Somerset, let's take our horse,
And cause retreat be sounded through the camp:
That all our friends remaining yet alive

May be forewarn'd, and save themselves by flight.

That

That done, with them we'll post unto the queen,
And once more try our fortune in the field.
STEEVENS.

165. Thus far our fortune keeps an upward course, And we are grac'd with wreaths of victory.]

Thus the folio. The quartos thus:

Thus still our fortune gives us victory;
And girt our temples with triumphant joys.
The big-bon'd traitor Warwick hath breath'd his

172.

last.

STEEVENS.

-have arriv'd onr coast,] Milton uses the

same structure, B. II. Par. Lost:

66

-ere he arrive

"The happy isle."

STEEVENS.

188. Strike up the drum; cry-Courage! and away.] Thus the folio. The quartos have the following couplet :

Come, let's go; for if we slack this bright sum

mer's day,

Sharp winter's showers will marour hope for hay.
STEEVENS.

227. Methinks, a woman, &c.] The preceding speech is very imperfect in the quartos, and therefore not worth insertion. In this of the prince there is, however, much and important variation;

Prince. And if there be (as God forbid there should)

'Mongst us a timorous or fearful man,

Let him depart before the battles join:

Lest he in time of need entice another,

And so withdraw the soldiers' hearts from us.
I will not stand aloof, and bid you fight,
But with my sword press in the thickest throngs,
And single Edward from his strongest guard,
And hand to hand enforce him for to yield,
Or leave my body, as witness of my thoughts.
STEEVENS.

255. K. Edw. Brave followers, &c.] This scene is ill contrived, in which the king and queen appear at once on the stage at the head of opposite armies. It had been easy to make one retire before the other entered. JOHNSON.

262. My tears gainsay;] To gainsay is to unsay, to deny, to contradict. So, in a Knack to know a Knave, 1594.

295. Let Esop, &c.] The prince calls Richard, for his crookedness, Æsop; and the poet, following nature, makes Richard highly incensed at the reproach. JOHNSON. -charm your tongue.] The quarto reads,

301.

-tame your tongue.

The former is best. So, in Sir A. Gorges' Translation of Lucan, 1614:

"In hope that thy victorious arme

"Their dunghill crowing so will charme."

STEEVENS.

ვი.

308. thou likeness of this railer here.] Thou that resemblest thy railing mother. JOHNSON.

The old copies describe Edward as striking the first blow, and Gloster the next; and I believe rightly; for history informs us that Edward smote the prince with his gauntlet, on which the rest dispatch'd him. The words sprawl'st thou ? seem evidently to belong to Richard; and I have therefore continued them to him on the authority of ancient editions, in preference to the allotment of modern innovation. STEEVENS.

320. The Tower, man, the Tower!] The quarto adds -I'll root them out; but, perhaps, injudiciously.

STEEVENS.

333. You have no children, butchers!- -] The same sentiment is repeated by Macduff, in the tragedy of Macbeth; and this passage may serve as a comment on BLACKSTONE.

that.

337. -you have rid this sweeet young prince.] The condition of this warlike queen would move compassion, could it be forgotten that she gave York, to wipe his eyes in his captivity, a handkerchief stained with his young child's blood. JOHNSON.

But surely it does move our compassion, though that be not forgotten. When we see any of our fellow-creatures involved in deep distress, from a just and tender cause, we attend only to their present sufferings, and not to their former crimes.

MONCK MASON.

346. 'Twas sin- -] She alludes to the desertion

of Clarence.

E iij

JOHNSON.

348.

348.

where is that devil's butcher,

Richard?

set on by the devil.

-] Devil's butcher, is a butcher JOHNSON. 370. What scene of death hath Roscius now to act?] Roscius was certainly put for Richard by some simple conceited player, who had heard of Roscius and of Rome; but did not know that he was an actor in comedy, not in tragedy. WARBURTON.

Shakspere had occasion to compare Richard to some player about to represent a scene of murder, and took the first or only name of antiquity that occurred to him, without being very scrupulous about its propriety.

I know not, however, that it is proved, on classical authority, that Roscius was no actor in tragedy. Nash, in Pierce Penniless's Supplication to the Devil, 1595, says, "Not Roscius nor Æsope, those admired tragedians, that had lived ever since before Christ was born, could ever performe more in action than famous Ned Allen." Again, in Acolastus his Afterwitte, 1600:

"Through thee each murthering Roscius is appointed

"To act strange scenes of death on God's anointed.” Again, in Certaine Satyres, 1598:

"Was penn'd by Roscio the tragedian."

374.

-misdoubteth every bush :

STEEVENS.

-] To misdoubt is to suspect danger, to fear. So, in Humour out of

Breath, a comedy by John Day, 1608: