* That carries no impreffion like the dam. And am I then a man to be belov'd?

'O, monftrous fault, to harbour such a thought! * Then, fince this earth affords no joy to me, * But to command, to check, to o'erbear fuch *As are of better perfon than myself,

* I'll make my heaven-to dream upon the crown; * And, whiles I live, to account this world but hell, * Until my misfhap'd trunk that bears this head, * Be round impaled with a glorious crown.3 * And yet I know not how to get the crown, * For many lives ftand between me and home: * And I,-like one loft in a thorny wood,

* That rents the thorns, and is rent with the thorns;

shapeless lumps of animated flesh, which the licks into the form of bears. It is now well known that the whelps of the bear are produced in the same state with those of other creatures.

to o'erbear fuch

JOHNSON.

As are of better perfon than myself,] Richard speaks here the language of nature. Whoever is ftigmatized with deformity has a conftant fource of envy in his mind, and would counterbalance by fome other fuperiority thofe advantages which he feels himself to want. Bacon remarks that the deformed are commonly daring; and it is almoft proverbially obferved that they are ill-natured. The truth is, that the deformed, like all other men, are displeased with inferiority, and endeavour to gain ground by good or bad means, as they are virtuous or corrupt.

1 2

3

4 5 6 7 8 * Until my mishap'd trunk that bears this head,

JOHNSON.

Beround impaled &c.] A tranfpofition feems to be neceffary:

1 2 8 5 7

6

"Until my head, that this misfhap'd trunk bears." Otherwise the trunk that bears the head is to be encircled with

the crown, and not the head itself. STEEVENS.

Sir T. Hanmer reads as Mr. Steevens recommends. I believe our author is anfwerable for this inaccuracy. MALONE.

* Seeking a way, and ftraying from the way; * Not knowing how to find the open air, * But toiling defperately to find it out,* Torment myself to catch the English crown: And from that torment I will free myself, * Or hew my way out with a bloody axe. Why, I can fmile, and murder while I fmile; And cry, content, to that which grieves my heart; *And wet my cheeks with artificial tears,

* And frame my face to all occafions.

* I'll drown more failors than the mermaid fhall;
I'll flay more gazers than the basilisk;
I'll play the orator as well as Neftor,
* Deceive more flily than Ulyffes could,
* And, like a Sinon, take another Troy :
I can add colours to the cameleon;

Change fhapes, with Proteus, for advantages,
And fet the murd'rous Machiavel to school.4

-impaled-] i. e. encircled. So, in Heywood's Rape of Lucrece, 1630:

"Tear off the crown that yet empales his temples." STEEVENS. And fet the murd'rous Machiavel to school.] As this is an anachronism, and the old quarto reads:

"And fet the afpiring Catiline to school-."

I don't know why it should not be preferred. WARBurton. This is not the first proof I have met with, that Shakspeare, in his attempts to familiarize ideas, has diminished their propriety. STEEVENS.

Catiline first occurred to the author of the old play, who was probably a scholar; and Machiavel, who is mentioned in various books of our author's age, as the great exemplar of profound politicians, naturally was fubftituted by Shakspeare in his room. See this play, P. I. A&t V. fc. iv :

66

Alençon! that notorious Machiavel!"

In King Edward II. Marlowe, who was probably the author of The True Tragedie of Richarde Duke of Yorke, in like manner introduces Catiline:

Can I do this, and cannot get a crown?
"Tut! were it further off, I'll pluck it down.

Flourish.

SCENE III.

France. A Room in the Palace.

[Exit.

Enter Lewis the French King, and Lady BONA, attended; the King takes his State. Then enter Queen MARGARET, Prince EDWARD her Son, and the Earl of Oxford.

'K. LEW. Fair queen of England,5 worthy Mar[Rifing.

garet,

'Sit down with us; it ill befits thy ftate, 'And birth, that thou should'ft ftand, while Lewis

doth fit.

* Q. MAR. No, mighty king of France; now Margaret

"Spencer, the father of that wanton Spencer,
"That like the lawless Catiline of Rome,

"Revell'd in England's wealth and treasury." MALONE. 5 Fair queen of England, &c.] Thus the folio. The quartos give the following:

"Welcome, queen Margaret, to the court of France.
"It fits not Lewis to fit while thou doft ftand,

"Sit by my fide; and here I vow to thee,
"Thou fhalt have aid to re-poffefs thy right,
"And beat proud Edward from his ufurped feat,
"And place king Henry in his former rule."

See the notes referred to in p. 74, n. 3. MALOne.
• No, mighty king of France; &c.]
the quartos only fupply the following:

STEEVENS.

Inftead of this speech

Queen. I humbly thank your royal majefty, "And pray the God of heaven to bless thy ftate, "Great king of France, that thus regard'ft our wrongs."

Із

STEEVENS.

* Must strike her fail, and learn a while to serve, * Where kings command. I was, I must confefs, * Great Albion's queen in former golden days: *But now mifchance hath trod my title down, And with dishonour laid me on the ground; Where I must take like feat unto my fortune, * And to my humble feat conform myself. *K. LEW. Why, fay, fair queen, whence fprings this deep despair?

*Q. MAR. From fuch a caufe as fills mine eyes with tears,

* And ftops my tongue, while heart is drown'd in

cares.

* K. LEW. Whate'er it be, be thou ftill like thy

felf,

*And fit thee by our fide: yield not thy neck

Seats her by him. *To fortune's yoke, but let thy dauntless mind Still ride in triumph over all mischance. Be plain, queen Margaret, and tell thy grief; *It fhall be eas'd, if France can yield relief.

* Q. MAR. Thofe gracious words revive my drooping thoughts,

* And give my tongue-tied forrows leave to speak. * Now, therefore, be it known to noble Lewis,*That Henry, fole poffeffor of my love,

*Is, of a king, become a banish'd man, *And forc'd to live in Scotland a forlorn; *While proud ambitious Edward, duke of York, * Ufurps the regal title, and the feat

* Of England's true-anointed lawful king.. *This is the cause, that I, poor Margaret,* With this my fon, prince Edward, Henry's heir,* Am come to crave thy juft and lawful aid; "And, if thou fail us, all our hope is done:

* Scotland hath will to help, but cannot help; * Our people and our peers are both misled, * Our treasure, feiz'd, our foldiers put to flight, *And, as thou fee'ft, ourselves in heavy plight. * K. LEW. Renowned queen, with patience calm the ftorm,

*While we bethink a means to break it off.

*Q. MAR. The more we stay, the stronger grows our foe.

*K. LEW. The more I ftay, the more I'll fuccour thee.

*Q. MAR. O, but impatience waiteth on true

forrow:

* And fee, where comes the breeder of my forrow.

Enter WARWICK," attended,

'K. LEW. What's he, approacheth boldly to our prefence?

"Enter Warwick,] This nobleman's embaffy and commiffion, the infult he receives by the King's hafty marriage, and his confequent refolution to avenge it; with the capture, imprisonment, and escape of the King, Shakspeare, it is true, found in Hall and Holinfhed; but later, as well as earlier writers, of better authority, incline us to difcredit the whole; and to refer the rupture between the King and his political creator, to causes which have not reached pofterity, or to that jealousy and ingratitude so natural, perhaps, to those who are under great obligations too great to be discharged. Beneficia, (fays Tacitus,) ed ufque læta funt, dum videntur exfolvi posse: ubi multum antevenêre, pro gratiá odium redditur."

There needs no other proof how little our common hiftories are to be depended upon than this fabulous ftory of Warwick and the Lady Bona. The King was privately married to Lady Elizabeth Widville, in 1463, and in February 1465, Warwick actually stood fponfor to the Princess Elizabeth their first child. What fecretly difpleafed him was: 1. the King's marrying one of the Queen's fifters to the Duke of Buckingham; 2. his con