Q. Eliz. O, thou didst prophecy, the time would come, That I should wish for thee to help me curse That bottled spider, that foul bunch-back'd toad. Q. Mar. I call'd thee then, vain flourish of my fortune; I call'd thee then, poor shadow, painted queen; The flattering index of a direful pageant', Where is thy husband now? where be thy brothers? 7 The flattering index of a direful pageant,] Pageants are dumb shows, and the poet meant to allude to one of these, the index of which promised a happier conclusion. The pageants then displayed on public occasions were generally preceded by a brief account of the order in which the characters were to walk. These indexes were distributed among the spectators, that they might understand the meaning of such allegorical stuff as was usually exhibited. The index of every book was anciently placed before the beginning of it. To be the aim of every dangerous shot;] Alluding to the dangerous situation of those persons to whose care the standards of armies were entrusted. STEEVENS. "Decline all this,] i. e. run through all this from first to last. For one being fear'd of all, now fearing one; Having no more but thought of what thou wert, Now thy proud neck bears half my burden'd yoke; Q. Mar. Forbear to sleep the night, and fast the day ; Compare dead happiness with living woe; Think that thy babes were fairer than they were, Q. Eliz. My words are dull, O, quicken them with thine! like mine. Q. Mar. Thy woes will make them sharp, and pierce [Exit Q. MARGARET. Duch. Why should calamity be full of words? Q. Eliz. Windy attorneys to their client woes, Airy succeeders of intestate joys, Poor breathing orators of miseries! Let them have scope: though what they do impart Duch. If so, then be not tongue-ty'd: go with me, I hear his drum,-be copious in exclaims. Enter King RICHARD, and his Train, marching. K. Rich. Who intercepts me in my expedition? Duch. O, she, that might have intercepted thee, By strangling thee in her accursed womb, From all the slaughters, wretch, that thou hast done. Q. Eliz. Hid'st thou that forehead with a golden crown, Where should be branded, if that right were right, And little Ned Plantagenet, his son? Q. Eliz. Where is the gentle Rivers, Vaughan, Grey? Duch. Where is kind Hastings? K. Rich. A flourish, trumpets!-strike alarum, drums! Let not the heavens hear these tell-tale women Rail on the Lord's anointed: Strike, I say. [Flourish. Alarums. Either be patient, and entreat me fair, K. Rich. Ay; I thank God, my father, and yourself. K. Rich. Madam, I have a touch of your condition 2, That cannot brook the accent of reproof. 1 2 Duch. O, let me speak. K. Rich. Do, then; but I'll not hear. Duch. I will be mild and gentle in my words. K. Rich. And brief, good mother; for I am in haste. that ow'd that crown,] i. e. that possessed it. a touch of your condition,] A spice or particle of your temper or disposition. Duch. Art thou so hasty? I have staid for thee, K. Rich. And came I not at last to comfort you? Tetchy and wayward was thy infancy; Thy school-days, frightful, desperate, wild, and furious; That ever grac'd me' in thy company? K. Rich. 'Faith, none, but Humphrey Hour', that call'd your grace To breakfast once, forth of my company. Duch. madam. I pr'ythee, hear me speak. K. Rich. You speak too bitterly. For I shall never speak to thee again. K. Rich. So. Hear me a word, Duch. Either thou wilt die, by God's just ordinance, Ere from this war thou turn a conqueror; Or I with grief and extreme age shall perish, And never look upon thy face again. Therefore, take with thee my most heavy curse; 3 Tetchy-] Is touchy, peevish, fretful, ill-tempered. 4 That ever grac'd me — -] To grace seems here to mean the same as to bless, to make happy. So, gracious is kind, and graces are favours. JOHNSON. 5 Humphrey Hour,] I believe nothing more than a quibble was meant. In our poet's twentieth Sonnet we find a similar conceit; a quibble between hues (colours) and Hughes (formerly spelt Hewes), the person addressed. MALOne. Than all the complete armour that thou wear'st! And promise them success and victory. Shame serves thy life, and doth thy death attend. [Exit. Q. Eliz. Though far more cause, yet much less spirit to curse Abides in me; I say amen to her. [Going. K. Rich. Stay, madam', I must speak a word with you. Q. Eliz. I have no more sons of the royal blood, For thee to murder: for my daughters, Richard,They shall be praying nuns, not weeping queens; And therefore level not to hit their lives. K. Rich. You have a daughter call'd-Elizabeth, Virtuous and fair, royal and gracious. Q. Eliz. And must she die for this? O, let her live, So she may live unscarr'd of bleeding slaughter, K. Rich. Wrong not her birth, she is of royal blood. • Shame serves thy life,] To serve is to accompany, servants being near the persons of their masters. 7 Stay, madam,] On this dialogue 'tis not necessary to bestow much criticism; part of it is ridiculous, and the whole improbable. JOHNSON. I cannot agree with Dr. Johnson's opinion. I see nothing ridiculous in any part of this dialogue; and with respect to probability, it was not unnatural that Richard, who by his art and wheedling tongue had prevailed on lady Anne to marry him in her heart's extremest grief, should hope to persuade an ambitious, and, as he thought her, a wicked woman, to consent to his marriage with her daughter, which would make her a queen, and aggrandize her family. M. MASON. |