Or die a soldier, as I liv'd a king. GLO. Short summers lightly 3 have a forward spring. [Aside. Enter YORK, HASTINGS, and the Cardinal. BUCK. Now, in good time, here comes the duke of York. PRINCE. Richard of York! how fares our loving brother? YORK. Well, my dread lord1; so must I call you now. PRINCE. Ay, brother; to our grief, as it is yours: Too late he died, that might have kept that title, Which by his death hath lost much majesty. GLO. How fares our cousin, noble lord of York? YORK. I thank you, gentle uncle. O, my lord, You said, that idle weeds are fast in growth: The prince my brother hath outgrown me far. GLO. He hath, my lord. 3-lightly-] Commonly, in ordinary course. JOHNSON. So, in the old Proverb: "There's lightning lightly before thunder." See Ray's Proverbs, p. 130, edit. 3d. Again, in Penny-wise and Pound-foolish, &c.-" Misfortunes seldome walke alone; and so when blessings doe knocke at a man's dore, they lightly are not without followers and fellowes." Again, Holinshed, p. 725, concerning one of King Edward's concubines: one whom no one could get out of the church lightly to any place, but it were to his bed." 66 - Again, in Ben Jonson's Cynthia's Revels : "He is not lightly within to his mercer." STEEVENS. "Short summers lightly have a forward spring." That is, short summers are usually preceded by a forward spring; or in other words, and more appositely to Gloster's latent meaning, a premature spring is usually followed by a short summer. MALONE. 4 dread lord;] The original of this epithet applied to kings has been much disputed. In some of our old statutes the king is called Rex metuendissimus. JOHNSON. 5 TOO LATE he died;] i. e. too lately, the loss is too fresh in our memory. WARBURTON. So, in our author's Rape of Lucrece : 66 — I did give that life, "Which she too early, and too late hath spill'd. Again, in King Henry V.: “The mercy that was quick in us but late," &c. MALONE. YORK. And therefore is he idle? GLO. O, my fair cousin, I must not say so. YORK. Then is he more beholden to you, than I. GLO. He may command me, as my sovereign; But you have power in me, as in a kinsman. YORK. I pray you, uncle, give me this daggero. GLO. My dagger, little cousin? with all my heart. PRINCE. A beggar, brother? YORK. Of my kind uncle, that I know will give; And, being but a toy, which is no grief to give. GLO. A greater gift than that I'll give my cousin. YORK. A greater gift! O, that's the sword to it? GLO. Ay, gentle cousin, were it light enough. YORK. Othen, I see, you'll part but with light gifts; In weightier things you'll say a beggar, nay. GLO. It is too weighty for your grace to wear. YORK. I weigh it lightly, were it heavier. I pray you, uncle, THEN, give me this dagger.] Then was added by Sir Thomas Hanmer for the sake of metre. STEEVENS. Upon this system, five syllables must be added to the next speech but one to make it metre. MALONE. 7 And, being but a toy, which is no GRIEF to give.] The reading of the quartos is-gift. The first folio reads: "And, being but a toy, which is no grief to give." This reading, made a little more metrical, has been followed, I think, erroneously, by all the editors. JOHNSON. The quarto 1612 reads: no grief." STEEVENS. "which is no grief to give." Which to give, or the gift of which, induces no regret. Thus the authentick copies, the quarto 1598, and the first folio. A quarto of no authority changed grief to gift, and the editor of the second folio capriciously altered the line thus: "And being a toy, it is no grief to give." MALONE. In conformity to our old elliptical mode of speaking and writing, the words-which is, might be omitted. They hurt the measure, without advancement of the sense. Perhaps, however, the correction in the second folio (which was received by Sir ThomasHanmer) is preferable. STEEVENS. I weigh it lightly, &c.] i. e. I should still esteem it but a trifling gift, were it heavier. But the Oxford editor reads: "I'd weigh it lightly-." i. e. I could manage it, though it were heavier. WARBURTON. GLO. What, would you have my weapon, little lord? YORK. I would, that I might thank you as you call me. GLO. How? YORK. Little. PRINCE. My lord of York will still be cross in talk; Uncle, your grace knows how to bear with him. YORK. You mean, to bear me, not to bear with me: Uncle, my brother mocks both you and me; Because that I am little, like an ape9, Dr. Warburton is right. So, in Love's Labour's Lost, Act V. Sc. II.: "You weigh me not,-O, that's you care not for me." STEEVENS. 9 Because that I am little, like an ape,] The reproach seems to consist in this at country shows it was common to set the monkey on the back of some other animal, as a bear. The Duke therefore in calling himself ape, calls his uncle bear. JOHNSON. To this custom there seems to be an allusion in Ben Jonson's Masque of Gypsies : 66 A gypsy in his shape, "More calls the beholder, "Or the ape on his shoulder." Again, in The First Part of the Eighth liberal Science, entituled Ars Adulandi, &c. devised and compiled by Ulpian Fulwel, 1576: "-thou hast an excellent back to carry my lord's ape." See likewise Hogarth's Humours of an Election, plate iv. York also alludes to the protuberance on Gloster's back, which was commodious for carrying burdens, as it supplied the place of a porter's knot. STEEVENS. I do not believe that the reproach is what Johnson supposes, or that York meant to call his uncle a bear. He merely alludes to Richard's deformity, his high shoulder, or hump-back, as it is called. That was the scorn he meant to give his uncle. In the third Act of the Third Part of King Henry VI. the same thought occurs to Richard himself, where describing his own figure, he says: "To make an envious mountain on my back, "Where sits deformity, to mock my body." M. MASON. He thinks that you should bear me on your shoul ders. BUCK. With what a sharp-provided wit he reasons! To mitigate the scorn he gives his uncle, He prettily and aptly taunts himself: So cunning, and so young, is wonderful. GLO. My lord, will't please you pass along? Myself, and my good cousin Buckingham, Will to your mother; to entreat of her, To meet you at the Tower, and welcome you. YORK. What, will you go unto the Tower, my lord ? PRINCE. My lord protector needs will have it so. YORK. I shall not sleep in quiet at the Tower. GLO. Why, what should you fear? YORK. Marry, my uncle Clarence' angry ghost; My grandam told me, he was murder'd there. PRINCE. I fear no uncles dead. GLO. Nor none that live, I hope. Little, like an ape, wat a common comparison in our author's time. So, Nashe, in one of his pamphlets: "When I was a little ape at Cambridge." MALONE. 8 My lord protector NEEDS will have it so.] Thus the quarto of 1597. In all the subsequent ancient copies the word needs is omitted. MALONE. 2 Why, SIR, &c.] The word-sir, was added by Sir Thomas Hanmer. Without it this half line is harsh, and quite unmetrical. STEEVENS. Mr. Steevens reads, after Sir Thomas Hanmer-" Why, sir, what should you fear?" and observes, without it [the added word, sir,]" this half line is harsh, and quite unmetrical." Certainly unmetrical, and why not?-Here Mr. Steevens again falls into the errour which I have so often had occasion to mention, that every word, and every short address of three or four words, are to be considered as parts of metrical verses, a notion which has already been again and again confuted. But if any addition were to be made to this line, a more improper word than sir could scarcely be found. Sir Thomas Hanmer should seem to have been thinking of the court of George the Second. In our days, we address the princes of the blood by the title of sir; but I have found no instance of such an address eing used to a prince in the time of Shakspeare. MALONE. PRINCE. An if they live, I hope, I need not fear. But come, my lord, and, with a heavy heart, Thinking on them, go I unto the Tower. [Exeunt Prince, YORK, HASTINGS, Cardinal, and Attendants. BUCK. Think you, my lord, this little prating York Was not incensed by his subtle mother 3, To taunt and scorn you thus opprobriously? GLO. No doubt, no doubt: O, 'tis a parlous boy; Bold, quick, ingenious, forward, capable *; He's all the mother's, from the top to toe. BUCK. Well, let them rest.-Come hither, Catesby; Thou art sworn as deeply to effect what we intend, Thou know'st our reasons urg'd upon the way;- In the seat royal of this famous isle? CATE. He for his father's sake so loves the prince, That he will not be won to aught against him. 3 Was not INCENSED by his subtle mother,] Incensed means here, incited or suggested. So, in King Henry VIII. Gardiner says of Cranmer : 66 I have "Incens'd the lords of the council, that he is And in Much Ado About Nothing, Borachio says to Pedro: how Don John your brother incensed me to slander the lady Hero." M. MASON. 4-capable ;] Here, as in many other places in these plays, means intelligent, quick of apprehension. See p. 77, n. 1. MALONE. So again, in Troilus and Cressida : "Let me carry another to his horse, for that's the more capable creature." RITSON. 5 GENTLE Catesby;] I have [following Mr. Capell], supplied the epithet-gentle, for the same reasons urged by Mr. Malone in the foregoing page, n. 1, in defence of a similar insertion. STEEVENS. In the preceding play, 1. 6, Mr. Malone read "my gracious lord; " but has since withdrawn his insertion. BosWELL. |