ing anyone else, or if these lines had referred to some totally different subject, the interpolation of Q. 1 would have some meaning; as it is, it only spoils the rhythm. 338 Line 72: For they account his head upon the bridge. -Traitors' heads were, formerly, exposed on a tower which stood at the north end of the drawbridge in the middle of London Bridge; but after 1576, when this tower was taken down, they were removed to the gate at the Southwark end of the bridge on the Surrey side. In the picture of Old London Bridge in 1598 prefixed to Harrison's Description of England (Pt. 3, Reprint, New Shak. Soc., Series 6, No. 8), the heads are fixed on the top of iron spikes over the Southwark Gate. Hentzner, in his account of London, says: "On the South, is a bridge of stone, 800 feet in length, of wonderful work; it is supported upon 20 piers of square stone, 60 feet high, and 30 broad, joined by arches of about 20 feet diameter. The whole is covered on each side with houses, so disposed, as to have the appearance of a continued street, not at all of a bridge. Upon this is built a tower, on whose top the heads of such as have been executed for high treason, are placed upon iron spikes: We counted above 30" (Reprint, 1757, pp. 4, 5) 339 Line 76: My lord, good morrow;-good morrow, Catesby-This is an instance of the "middle pause." See Richard II. note 170. Pope reads and; but the and is weak, the line is much better as it stands. 340 Line 77: by the holy rood. - Rood originally seems to have meant a cross. It is from the A. Sax. ród, "a rod," or "pole." which came to mean "a gallows," "a cross So rood means a measure of land which is measured with a rod or pole. It is evident that the word at first only meant "a cross" as an instrument of capital punishment; and that it came afterwards to be used of the holy cross, and so to mean "a crucifix." Gower in his Confessio Amantis, bk. ii. uses it: Whiche died vpon the roode tre, much as we say "gallows tree." Fabyan has (p. 249): ** and ye crusifix with the image of our lady, also stondynge vpon the roode lofte, was lykewyse ouerthrowen." The holy rool undoubtedly means the cross on which our Saviour died, and was especially applied to the crucifix which stood on the arch or beam which divides the chaucel from the rest of the church, and was called the rood arch or rood beam. 341. Lines 79, 80: My lord, I hold my life as dear as YOU DO yours. Printed as one line in Qq.; Ff. omit you do. There is no particular reason why those words should not be omitted. The sentence without them is not more elliptical than many to be found in Shakespeare. 342. Line 82: Was it MORE precious to me THAN 'T IS now. -This is Capell's reading. Qq. have then it is; Ff. have "*so precious to me as 't is now. The only reason for preferring the reading of Qq. (substantially) is that in line 84, just below, we have I would be so triumphant as I am. 343. Lines 91-93: What, shall we toward the Tower? THE DAY IS SPENT. Hast. Come, come, have with you.-WOT you WHAT, my lord! To-day the lords you talk of are beheaded. The reading in the text is that of Ff. with the exception that line 92 is in two lines. Q. 1 reads: But come my Lo: shall we to the tower? Hast. I go: but stay, heare you not the newes, This day those men you talkt of, are beheaded. The reading of neither version is satisfactory. In Q. 1 lines 91 and 92 are both imperfect and unrhythmical; and the objection to But come, my lord, is that the same words occur again, in line 96 below. It was in order to complete the metre that the alteration in Ff. was probably made as it stands in the text. But, according to line 5, Upon the stroke of four, the scene commences at 4 o'clock in the morning; and although it was a summer morning in June, it is rather an extreme instance of dramatic license to talk about the day being spent; but, probably, this expression does not mean that the day was ended, or even that it was far advanced; but that it was advancing, i.e. "getting on." Compare the following passage in Venus and Adonis, 717-720: "The night is spent." "Why, what of that?" quoth she. And now 't is dark, and going I shall fall." "In night," quoth she, "desire sees best of all.” It is evident that in this passage night is spent does not mean night is ended, or even that it is ending, because from the context it was still dark. On the other hand, the jingle of "Wot you what" is objectionable. 344 Line 96: Enter a Pursuivant.-A pursuivant was an attendant attached to the heralds. We have the word used in a figurative sense, I. Henry VI. ii. 5. 5: And these grey locks, the pursuivants of death; that is to say, the heralds of death." Though pursuivant seems very generally to have been used as a messenger, or inferior kind of herald, it is also used for an officer of justice; compare II. Henry VI. i. 3. 37: "send for his master with a pursuivant presently." This scene is founded upon the following passage from More (pp. 76, 77): "Upon the very tower wharfe so nere the place where his hed was of so sone after, there met he with one Hastinges a purseuant of his own name. And of their meting in that place, he was put in remembraunce At of an other time, in which it had happened them before, to mete in like maner togither in the same place. which other tyme the lord Chamberlein had ben accused vnto king Edward, by the lord Riuers the quenes brother, in such wise that he was for the while (but it lasted not long) farre fallen into the kinges indignacion, and stode in gret fere of himselfe. And for asmuch as he nowe met this purseuant in the same place that iubardy (i.e. jeopardy) so wel passed: it gaue him great pleasure to talke with him thereof with whom he had before talked therof in the same place while he was therin. And therfore he said: Ah Hastinges, art thou remembred when I met thee here ones with an heuy hart? Yea my lord (quod he) that remembre I wel: and thanked be God they gate no good, nor ye none harme thereby. Thou wouldest say so, quod he, if thou knewest asmuch as I know, which few know els as yet and moe shall shortly. That ment he by the lordes of the quenes kindred that were taken before, and should that day be behedded at Pounfreit: which he wel wyst, but nothing ware that the axe hang ouer his own hed. In faith man quod he, I was neuer so sory, nor neuer stode in so great dread in my life, as I did when thou and I met here. And lo how the world is turned, now stand mine enemies in the daunger (as thou maist hap to here more hereafter) and I neuer in my life so mery, nor neuer in so great suerty." 345. Line 111: I thank thee, good SIR John.-Sir was a title given, by courtesy, to all priests and ordained clergy below the degree of priest. Nares says (sub voce) that a bachelor "who in the books (of the university) stood Dominus Brown, was in conversation called Sir Brown. This was in use in some colleges even in my memory. Therefore, as most clerical persons had taken that first degree, it became usual to style them sir." Compare the Sir Topas of Twelfth Night and also the Sir Oliver Martext of As You Like It. In Beaumont and Fletcher's Scornful Lady (ii. 1) Sir Roger the Curate is called also Domine. It was always used coupled with the Christian name. 346. Line 113: Come the next Sabbath, and I will content you. After this line we have in Ff.: Priest. Ile wait upon your Lordship; which was apparently inserted by mistake, as we have the very same words used by Hastings below, line 124. Qq. only have the stage-direction: He whispers in his ear, which we have rendered: They confer pricately in whispers. It is evident, from the first line Buckingham speaks, that some such private conference must have been going on when he entered. ACT III. SCENE 3. 347.-Q. 1 has the stage-direction: Enter Sir Richard Ratliffe, with the Lo: Rivers, Gray, and Vaughan, pris oners." More says (p. 86) that the execution or murder of Rivers, Gray, and Vaughan took place on the same day on which Hastings was beheaded, that is to say, June 13th; but, as Lord Rivers's will is dated June 23d, in which he makes allusion to the execution of Gray, and directs his body to be buried with that of the Lord Richard [Gray], it is certain that he was not put to death till some days later. They were all executed without any form of trial. 348. Line 1.--Qq. commence the scene with a line spoken by Ratcliff: Bring forth the prisoners. This was perhaps inserted in order to make the scene more in accordance with history. On the very day on which Hastings was arrested and beheaded, Ratcliff, according to Lingard (p. 227): "at the head of a numerous body of armed men, entered the castle of Pontefract, and made himself master of the lord Grey, Sir Thomas Vaughan, and Sir Richard Hawse. To the spectators it was announced that they had been guilty of treason; but no judicial forms were observed; and the heads of the victims were struck -off in the presence of the multitude." 349. Line 4: God KEEP the prince from all the pack of you! So Qq.; Ff. have bless. 350. Lines 6, 7: Vaugh. You live that shall cry woe for this hereafter. These lines are omitted in Qq. 351. Line 10: Within the guilty CLOSURE of thy walls Compare Sonnet xlviii. 11: Within the gentle closure of my breast; and Venus and Adonis, 782: Into the quiet closure of my breast. These are the only two other passages in which Shakespeare uses the word in this sense; but in Titus Andronicus, v. 3. 134, it is used in the sense of "end:" "make a mutual closure of our house." 352. Line 11: Richard the Second here was hack'd to death. See Richard II. note 317. 353. Line 12: thy dismal SEAT.-Seat does not seem here an altogether satisfactory word. Qq. read soule, which is nonsense. Capell conjectured soil. But if we take seat "site" (a word which Shakespeare never uses) the expression would be a perfectly suitable one. Compare Macbeth, i. 6. 1: "This castle hath a pleasant seat." Schmidt takes it to mean “a place of residence, abode," in which sense it is often used in Shakespeare. 354. Lines 14, 15.-See above, i. 3. 210-214. 355. Line 15.-Omitted by Qq.; such an omission as this scarcely says much in favour of the accuracy of Q. 1. 356. Lines 17, 18: Then curs'd she Richard Too; then curs'd she Buckingham, Then curs'd she Hastings. We have ventured to insert too in order to make line 17 complete, which in F. 1 is printed as two lines: Then curs'd shee Richard, Then curs'd shee Buckingham. Qq. give the passage as one line; but substitute Hastings for Richard. But the line cannot be made to scan or to read rhythmically without the insertion of a syllable. 357. Line 23: Make haste; the hour of death is EXPIATE. Qq. read: Come, come, dispatch, the limit of your lives is out, omitting line 7 above (see note 350), in which that same expression occurs. The exact meaning of the word erpiate here is by no means clear. Singer proposed to read expirate. Collier substituted expedite. More than one word might be proposed, e. g. explicate = explicated, though this is certainly not a word used by Shakespeare. Expleted might be suggested; as we find in Palsgrave, "I explite, I finish or make an end of anything." The difficulty about expiate is not in its being equivalent to expiated; for that form of past participle is common enough. F. 2, F. 3, F. 4 get out of the difficulty by reading is now expir'd. Nearly all the commentators quote Sonnet xxii. 4: Then look I death my days should expiate. But there we have some trace of the sense in which expiate seems always to have been used, namely, of a propitiatory sacrifice or atonement. It is easy to understand how death can expiate our days by atoning, in some measure, for the wrongs we have committed. But it is not easy to see how the hour of death can be said to be expiated. Perhaps the word expiate should have somewhat of an active sense, and may intentionally be used, with a sneer, by Ratcliff in reference to line 21: Be satisfied, dear God, with our true blood. This seems the most probable explanation if we accept the reading of F. 1. ACT III. SCENE 4. 358 Line 4: Is all things ready for THE royal time?—So FL.; Qq. read: Are all things fitting for that royal time? We have preferred the reading of F. 1, because even those editors, who accept the version of Qq. in this line, read It is in Stanley's speech in the next line, that being the reading both of Qq. and Ff. It is impossible therefore to alter the verb into the plural in this line, and to leave the answer in the singular. Compare II. Henry VI. iii. 2. 11-13 and see note 183 on that play. It will be observed, with regard to that passage, that the Cambridge edd. retain the reading of Ff. on the very same ground that we retain it here. We may also compare Othello, i. 1. 172: ** Is there not charms?" Perhaps this passage affords as good an instance as any of the utterly arbitrary, and, if we may use the expression, careless manner in which the alterations in the first Quarto have been made. If the transcriber of Q 1 had altered It is into There are, he would have shown some sense and consistency; but he alters the verb to the plural, in the first case, without taking the trouble to make the answer correspond to the alteration. 359. Line 6: To-morrow, then, I judge a happy day.The meaning of this speech is not quite clear at first sight; but it is really an answer to the preceding line, as will be seen from the explanation of wants but nomination given in our foot-note. The meaning, of course, is, that the bishop thinks that to-morrow will be a fortunate day for the coronation. noble Lo:" Noble is the preferable epithet here for metrical reasons. 362. Line 23: 1 have been long a sleeper.-It is worth comparing the following passage from The True Tragedy: "Rich. Go to, no more ado Catesby, they say I have bin a long sleeper to-day, but ile be awake anon to some of their costs;" and, just below, The Page soliloquizes: "Doth my lord say he hath bene a long sleeper to day? There are those of the Court that are of another opinion, that thinks his grace lieth neuer lög inough a bed' (Hazlitt's Shak. Lib. vol. i. pt. 2, p. 85). " 363. Line 26: cue.-See Mids. Night's Dream, note 151. It would seem to be unnecessary to explain the meaning of this word, but that, recently (January, 1877), a judge upon the bench said that he did not know the meaning of the word "until very late in life." 364. Lines 32-35: My Lord of Ely, when I was last in Holborn, Ely. Marry, and will, my lord, with all my heart. So Ff.; Qq. insert a line quite unnecessarily before line 32: Hast. I thanke your grace; and then continue thus: Glo. My Lo: of Elie. Bish. My Lo: Glo. When I was last in Holborne: I saw good strawberries in your garden there, I doe beseech you send for some of them. Bish. I go my Lord. Sir Thomas More thus narrates the incident of the strawberries (p. 70): "And after a little talking with them, he sayd vnto the Bishop of Elye: my lord you haue very good strawberies at your gardayne in Holberne, I require you let vs haue a messe of them. Gladly my lord, quod he, woulde god I had some better thing as redy to your pleasure as that. And therwith in al the hast he sent hys seruant for a messe of strawberies. The protectour sette the lordes fast in comoning, and therupon prayeng them to spare hym for a little while, departed thence." the Latin play of Richardus Tertius (act v.) Gloster says: ferunt hortû tuũ decora fragra plurimů producere. Episcop. Eliens. Nil tibi claudetur, hortus quod meus producit. -Hazlitt, vol. i. pt. ii. p. 163. In 365. Line 41: His master's child, as WORSHIPFUL he terms it.-Ff. have worshipfully. We prefer the reading of Qq. for the sake of the metre. The transcriber may easily have mistaken he for ly; instances of adjectives used as adverbs are common enough. Compare above, i. 1. 22: unfashionable = unfashionably; and below, line 50, "cheerfully and smooth." 366. Line 45: To-morrow, IN MY JUDGMENT, is too sudden. So Ff.; Qq. have here in mine opinion, a reading which it is really impossible to say why any editor should retain, considering that it renders the line horribly unrhythmical, and possesses no force or merit of any kind whatever. 367. Lines 48, 49: Where is my lord the Duke of Gloster? I have sent for these strawberries. So Ff.; Qq. have: Where is my L. protector, I have sent for these strawberies, printed all in one line, which the Cambridge edd. print as prose. We may suppose that Gloster (Gloucester) is here pronounced as a trisyllable, as there are instances of such a division of the syllables. Compare I. Henry VI. note 89, and Richard II. note 171. As to line 49, if we take the passage as verse, it is hopelessly imperfect and unrhythmical. Hanmer supplied the word straightway, in order to complete the metre. We might complete it by reading: "I have sent some one.' Compare iv. 4. 536 of this play: Some one take order Buckingham be brought. 368. Lines 57, 58: What of his heart perceive you in his face So Qq.; Ff. have livelihood, a reading which it appears to us to be impossible to defend. Livelihood is only used in two other passages in Shakespeare, in Venus and Adonis, 26. The precedent of pith and livelihood, where it undoubtedly means "liveliness;" and in All's Well, i. 1. 58: "the tyranny of her sorrow takes all livelihood from her cheek;" a passage upon which Knight relies for the justification of the reading of Ff. here; but surely, there it means nothing more than "colour" or "brightness." There may be some better ground for defending the reading livelihood, because it corresponds with line 50 above; but Hastings' answer seems to correspond much better with likelihood, which is used pretty frequently in Shakespeare="sign," "evidence." Compare Two Gent. of Verona, v. 2. 43: These likelihoods confirm her flight from hence; and Othello, i. 3. 108: "these thin habits and poor likelihoods." 369. Line 60: For, were he, he had shown it in his looks. -After this line Qq. insert quite unnecessarily: Der. (i.e. Stanley) I pray God he be not, I say. But as Gloucester's next speech begins with the words I pray the line is much better omitted. 370. Line 61.-In the old play this incident is thus nar rated: Enter Richard, Catesby, and others, pulling Lord Hastings. Rich. Come bring him away, let this suffice, thou and that accursed sorceresse the mother Queene hath bewitched me, with assistance of that famous strumpet of my brothers, Shores wife: my withered arme is a sufficient testimony, deny it if thou canst: laie not Shores wife with thee last night! Hast. That she was in my house my Lord I cannot deny, but not for any such matter. If. Rich. If, villain, feedest thou me with Ifs and ands, go fetch me a Priest, make a short shrift, and dispatch him quickly. For by the blessed Saint Paule I sweare, I will not dine till I see the traytors head. -Hazlitt, vol. i. pt. 2, p. 86. And in the Mirror for Magistrates, Hastings is made to say of Richard (st. 71): Frowning he enters, with so chaunged cheare, With frothy jawes, whose foame he chawde and supd, 371. Lines 78-80: Off with his head!—now, by Saint Paul, I swear Off with his head. Now by Saint Paule, 372. Line 80: Lovel and Ratcliff, look that it be done.The introduction of Ratcliff in this scene has occasioned much difficulty to the various editors of Shakespeare: for, as he was represented, in the last scene, as being at Pomfret, and the events there represented are supposed to take place simultaneously with the events in this scene, it is impossible that he could have been in London and Pomfret at the same time. In Q 1 an attempt is made to meet the difficulty. Ratcliff is not among the characters present in this scene, the only stage-direction at the commencement being: Enter the Lords to Councell. And after line 81 is the stage-direction: Exeunt. manet Cat. with Ha. F. 1 has Ratcliff's name distinctly among the characters who enter with Buckingham. It also has after this next line the stage-direction: Manet Louell and RATCLIFFE, with the Lord Hastings; and, in the next scene, after line 20, where Q. 1 has: Enter CATESBY with Hast. head, F. 1 has, after line 21: Enter LOUELL and RATCLIFFE, with Hastings Head. It is evident, therefore, that, in the copy from which Q. 1 was transcribed, an attempt was made to remedy this oversight on the part of the author. But, as in many other cases of attempted improvements to be found in Q. 1, the reviser overlooked one important point; for he left in the next scene, i.e. scene 5, line 17, Gloucester's direction to Catesby: "Catesby onerlooke the wals." For this reason we agree with the Cambridge edd. that it is doing too much violence to the text of our author to try and correct this evident oversight. It is one into which any author, at a time when the change of scene involved no change of scenery, might easily fall. The Clarendon edd. also suggest that one of the players may have doubled Catesby and Ratcliff; but this could scarcely be possible, as in act iv. scene 4 we have Ratcliff and Catesby on the stage at the same time, and speaking to Richard. The fact is, that this is one of those slips on the part of the author which can be easily remedied on the stage, but not where the text is printed entire. 373. Line 84: Stanley did dream the boar did RASE Au helm.-Q. 1 has 874 Line 85: And I did scorn it, and disdain to fly.So F. 1; Q. 1 has: But I disdaind it, and did scorne to flie; which most modern editors seem to prefer, for what precise reason does not appear. 375. Line 86: FOOT-CLOTH horse.-See II. Henry VI. note 227. 376. Lines 91, 92: As too TRIUMPHING, how mine enemies In Q 1 these lines stand: As were triumphing at mine enemies; How they at Pomfret bloudily were butcherd. The alteration of Q. 1 was evidently made to avoid the To-day, with a view of getting rid of the difficulty about Ratelif (see above, note 372); but if we refer back to scene 2 of this act, line 105, we shall see that Q. 1 retains This day in Hastings's speech. For an instance of triumphing accented on the second syllable, compare Love's Labour's Lost, iv. 3. 35: So ridest thou triumphing in my woe. $77 Line 96: Come, come, dispatch; the duke would be at dinner. -This speech is given in Q. 1 to Catesby. (See note 372) The reading in the text is that of F. 1. Most editors prefer to adopt the reading of Q. 1: Dispatch, my lord, in order to avoid the repetition of the same expression in line 104 below, a line omitted by Q. 1; but we doubt whether Ratcliff would address Hastings as my lord at all. In scene 3, according to Qq., he uses the same form of words: Come, come, dispatch (see note 357). Shakespeare seems to have intended to represent his manner as that of a ruffian to correspond with his deeds. 378. Line 98: O momentary grace of mortal men.—So FL.; Qq. have: O momentary state of worldly men; an utterly meaningless reading; it is impossible to believe Shakespeare could have written such nonsense as that. 379 Line 100: Who builds his hope in air of your GOOD LOOKS.-Q. 1 has "your fair grace;" but we prefer the reading of F. 1, as it avoids the jingle of air and fair. The expression in air of is noticeable.” I cannot find any instance of it elsewhere. Johnson quotes Horace "Nescius quiæ fallacis." Livy has “honoris aura," and there is the very common expression "aura popularis." 380 Lines 104-107.-Qq. omit the incident of Hastings' horse stumbling. It is mentioned in More (p. 75): “Certain is it also, that in the riding toward the tower, the same morning in which he was behedded, his horse twise or thrise stumbled with him almost to the falling, which thing albeit eche man wote wel daily happeneth to them to whom no such mischaunce is toward: yet hath it ben of an olde rite and custome, obserued as a token often times notably foregoing some great misfortune"--Hastings says, in The Mirror for Magistrates (st. 57): My palfrey in the playnest paued streete, Thrise bowed his boanes, thrise kneeled on the flowre, -Vol. ii. p. 294. 382. Line 4: As if thou wert DISTRAUGHT and mad with terror.-Compare Romeo and Juliet, iv. 3. 49: O if I wake, shall I not be distraught) 383. Lines 5-11.-This speech of Buckingham's is doubly interesting. In the first place it gives us some idea of the conventional tragic actor of the time, whose simple tricks were preserved by tradition down to the time when the Richardsonian booth was a common adjunct to every country fair; secondly, one cannot help being amused at Buckingham's boasting of his capacity for acting to Richard, who was the most consummate actor that ever lived. The difference between them was precisely that between the really great actor and the ranting tragedian of Richardson's booth. Buckingham's acting could deceive no one but himself; but Richard's powers of simulation and dissimulation deceived even his most intimate associates. 384 Line 7: Tremble and start at wagging of a straw.— Omitted in Qq. 385. Line 8: INTENDING deep suspicion.-Intend is used in the same sense="to pretend," "to simulate," below, in this act, scene 7, line 45. Compare Taming of Shrew, iv. 1. 206: amid this hurly I intend That all is done in reverent care of her. 386. Lines 10-21.-In this passage the differences between Q. 1 and F. 1 are most difficult to reconcile. The chief discrepancy arises, no doubt, from the attempt made by Q. 1 to set right the mistake there had been made above in scene 3. With regard to the presence of Ratcliff both here and at the executions at Pomfret, see note 372. In Q. 1 the passage stands thus: And both are ready in their offices To grace my stratagems. Enter Maior, Glo. Here comes the Maior. Buc. Let me alone to entertaine him. Lo. Maior, Buc. The reason we haue sent for you. Glo. Looke backe, defend thee, here are enemies. As we have already pointed out, Q. 1 does not get rid of the difficulty; for Richard is made to give directions to Catesby before, according to the stage-direction, he has entered on the scene at all. We have followed the version of F. 1, omitting Buckingham's words, Let me alone to entertain him (line 14), which are given by most modern |