Let hell make crook"d my mind to answer it.
I have no brother, I am like no brother :

And this word love, which greybeards call divine,
Be resident in men like one another,

And nut in me; I am myself alone.
Clarence, beware; thou keep'st me from the light;
But I will sort a pitchy day for thee:
For I will buzz abroad such prophecies,
That Edward shall be fearful of hit life;
And then, to purge his fear, I'll be thy death.
King Henry and the prince his son are gone:
Clarence, thy turn is next, and then tne rest,
Counting myself but bad till I be best,
I'll throw thy body in another room,
And triumph, Henry, in thy day of doom.

[Exit.

SCENE VII.—The same. A Room in the Palace. King Edward is discovered sitting on his throne; Queen Elizaeeth, with the infant PRINCE, CLARENCE, GLOSTER, HASTINGS, and others, near him. K. Edw. Once more we sit in England's royal throne,

Re-purchas'd with the blood of enemies.

What valiant foemen, like to autumn's corn,
Have we mow'd down, in tops of all their pride!
Three dukes of Somerset, threefold renown d

For hardy and undoubted champions :

Two Cliffords, as the father and the son;

And two Northumberlands; two braver men

Ne'er spurr'd their coursers at the trumpet's sound :

With them, the two brave bears, Warwick and Montague>

That in their chains fetter'd the kingly lion,

And made the forest tremble when they roar'd.
Thus have we swept suspicion from our seat,
And made our footstool of security.
Come hither, Bess, and let me kiss my boy:
Young Ned, for thee, thine uncles and mystlf

Have in our armours watch'd the winter's night;
Went all afoot in summer's scalding heat,
That thou mightst repossess the crown in
And of our labours thou shalt reap

peace;

the gain.

Glo. I'll blast his harvest, if your head were laid;
For yet I am not look'd on in the world.
This shoulder was ordain'd so thick to heave;

And heave it shall some weight, or break my back:
Work thou the way, and thou shalt execute.

[Aside.
K. Edw. Clarence, and Gloster, love my lovely queen,
And kiss your princely nephew, brothers both.
Clar. The duty that I owe unto your majesty

I seal upon the lips of this sweet babe.

K. Edw. Thanks, noble Clarence; worthy brother, thanks.

Glo. And, that I love the tree from whence thou sprang'st,

Witness the loving kiss I give the fruit:

To say the truth, so Judas kiss'd his master;
And cried—All hail! when as he meant—all harm.

[Aside.

K. Edw. Now am I seated as my soul delights, Having my country's peace, and brothers' loves. Clar. What will your grace have done with Margaret? Reignier, her father, to the king of France

Hath pawn'd the Sicils and Jerusalem,

And hither have they sent it for her ransom.

K. Edw. Away with her, and waft her hence to France. And now what rests, but that we spend the time With stately triumphs, mirthful comic shows, Such as befit the pleasure of the court?

Sound, drums and trumpets!—farewell, sour annoy! For here, I hope, begins our lasting joy.

[Exeunt.

End of King Henry VI.—Part XXX.

Introduction.

THIS History was originally published in l597. It was reprinted four times in quarto previous to its appearance in the folio of lC23.

To understand the character of the 'Richard III.' of Shakspere, we must have traced its development by the author of the previous plays. Those who study the subject carefully will find how entire the unity is preserved between the last of these four dramas, which everybody admits to be the work of the "greatest name in all literature," in an unbroken link with the previous drama, which some have been in the habit of assigning to some obscure and very inferior writer. We are taught to open the Life and Death of King Richard III.,' and to look upon the extraordinary being who utters the opening lines as some new creation, set before us in the perfect completeness of self-formed villainy. We have not learnt to trace the growth of the mind of this bold bad man; to see how his bravery became gradually darkened with ferocity; how his prodigious talents insensibly allied themselves with cunning and hypocrisy ; how, in struggling for his house, he ultimately proposed to struggle for himself; how, in fact, the bad ambition

TOl. VI.

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