LIFE AND DEATH

OF

KING RICHARD III.

ACTI.

SCENE I.-London. A Street. Enter GLOSTER.
Gloster.

Now is the winter of our discontent

Made glorious summer by this sun of York ;1
And all the clouds, that lowr'd upon our house,
In the deep bosom of the ocean buried.
Now are our brows bound with victorious wreaths;
Our bruised arms hung up for monuments;
Our stern alarums chang'd to merry meetings,
Our dreadful marches to delightful measures.
Grim-visag'd war hath smooth'd his wrinkled front;
And now, instead of mounting barbed steeds,
To fright the souls of fearful adversaries, -
He capers nimbly in a lady's chamber,
To the lascivious pleasing of a lute.
But I, that am not shap'd for sportive tricks,
Nor made to court an amorous looking-glass;
I, that am rudely stamp'd, and want love's majesty,
To strut before a wanton ambling nymph;
I, that am curtail'd of this fair proportion,
Cheated of feature by dissembling nature,
Deform'd, unfinish'd, sent before my time
Into this breathing world, scarce half made up,
And that so lamely and unfashionable,

1

[1] Alluding to the cognizance of Edward IV. which was a sun, in memory of the three suns, which are said to have appeared at the battle which he gained over the Lancastrians at Mortimer's Cross. STEEVENS.

[2] A measure was strictly speaking, a court dance of a stately turn, though the word is sometimes employed to express dances in general. STEEVENS.

[3] Barbed steeds-i. e. steeds caparisoned in a warlike manner. I. Haywarde, in his life and Raigne of Henry IV. 1599, says, "The duke of Hereford came to the barriers, mounted upon a white courser, barbed with blew and green velvet," &c.

STEEVENS.

[4] By dissembling is not meant hypocritical nature, that pretends one thing and does another: but nature that puts together things of a dissimilar kind, as a brave soul and a deformed body. WARBURTON.

5

That dogs bark at me, as I halt by them ;-
Why I, in this weak piping time of peace,
Have no delight to pass away the time;
Unless to spy my shadow in the sun,
And descant on mine own deformity;
And therefore, since I cannot prove a lover,
To entertain these fair well-spoken days,-
I am determined to prove a villain,
And hate the idle pleasures of these days.
Plots have I laid, inductions dangerous,
By drunken prophecies, libels, and dreams,
To set my brother Clarence, and the king,
In deadly hate the one against the other :
And, if king Edward be as true and just,7
As I am subtle, false, and treacherous,
This day should Clarence closely be mew'd up;
About a prophecy, which says-that G
Of Edward's heirs the murderer shall be.

Dive, thoughts, down to my soul! here Clarence comes.
Enter CLARENCE guarded, and BRAKENBURY.
Brother, good day: What means this armed guard,
That waits upon your grace?

Clar. His majesty,

Tendering my person's safety, hath appointed
This conduct to convey me to the Tower.
Glo. Upon what cause ?

Clar. Because my name is George.

Glo. Alack, my lord, that fault is none of yours;
He should, for that, commit your godfathers :-
O, belike, his majesty hath some intent,

That you shall be new christen'd in the Tower.
But what's the matter, Clarence? may I know?

Clar. Yea, Richard, when I know; for, I protest,
As yet I do not: But, as I can learn,
He hearkens after prophecies, and dreams;
And from the cross-row plucks the letter G,
And says a wizard told him, that by G
His issue disinherited should be ;

And, for my name of George begins with G,

[5] Shakspeare very diligently inculcates, that the wickedness of Richard proceeded from his deformity, from the envy that rose at the comparison of his own person with others, and which incited him to disturb the pleasures that he could not partake. JOHNSON.

[6] Preparations for mischief. The induction is preparatory to the action of the play. JOHNSON. [7] That is, if Edward keeps his word. JOHNSON.

It follows in his thought, that I am he :
These, as I learn, and such like toys as these,
Have mov'd his highness to commit me now.

Glo. Why, this it is, when men are rul'd by women :

'Tis not the king, that sends you to the Tower ;

My lady Grey, his wife, Clarence, 'tis she,
That tempers him to this extremity.9
Was it not she, and that good man of worship,
Antony Woodeville, her brother there,
That made him send lord Hastings to the Tower;
From whence this present day he is deliver'd?
We are not safe, Clarence, we are not safe.

Clar. By heaven, I think, there is no man secure,
But the queen's kindred, and night-walking heralds
That trudge betwixt the king and mistress Shore.
Heard you not, what an humble suppliant
Lord Hastings was to her for his delivery?

Glo. Humbly complaining to her deity
Got my lord chamberlain his liberty.
I'll tell you what, I think, it is our way,
If we will keep in favour with the king,
To be her men, and wear her livery :
The jealous o'er-worn widow, and herself,'
Since that our brother dubb'd them gentlewomen,
Are mighty gossips in this monarchy.

Brak. I beseech your graces both to pardon me;
His majesty hath straitly given in charge,
That no man shall have private conference,
Of what degree so ever, with his brother.

Glo. Even so? an please your worship, Brakenbury,
You may partake of any thing we say :
We speak no treason, man; - We say, the king
Is wise, and virtuous; and his noble queen
Well struck in years; fair, and not jealous :-
We say, that Shore's wife hath a pretty foot,
A cherry lip,

A bonny eye, a passing pleasing tongue ;
And the queen's kindred are made gentlefolks :
How say you, sir? can you deny all this?

Brak. With this, my lord, myself have nought to do.
Glo. Naught to do with mistress Shore? I tell thee, fellow,

[8] Fancies, freaks of imagination. JOHNSON.

[9] To temper is to mould to fashion. MALONE.

[1] That is, the Queen and Shore. JOHNSON.

He that doth naught with her, excepting one,
Were best to do it secretly, alone.

Brak. What one, my lord?

Glo. Her husband, knave:-Wouldst thou betray me? Brak. I beseech your grace to pardon me; and, withal,

Forbear your conference with the noble duke.

Clar. We know thy charge, Brakenbury, and will obey.
Glo. We are the queen's abjects, and must obey.

Brother, farewell: I will unto the king;
And whatsoe'er you will employ me in,-
Were it, to call king Edward's widow-sister,-
I will perform it to enfranchise you.

Mean time, this deep disgrace in brotherhood,
Touches me deeper than you can imagine.

Clar. I know it pleaseth neither of us well.
Glo. Well, your imprisonment shall not be long;
I will deliver you, or else lie for you :
Mean time, have patience.

Clar. I must perforce; farewell.

[Exeunt CLARENCE, BRAKENBURY, and Guard. Glo. Go, tread the path that thou shalt ne'er return, Simple, plain Clarence!-I do love thee so, That I will shortly send thy soul to heaven, If heaven will take the present at our hands. But who comes here? the new-deliver'd Hastings?

Enter HASTINGS.

Hast. Good time of day unto my gracious lord!
Glo. As much unto my good lord chamberlain !
Well are you welcome to this open air.
How hath your lordship brook'd imprisonment ?

Hast. With patience, noble lord, as prisoners must:
But I shall live, my lord, to give them thanks,
That were the cause of my imprisonment.

Glo. No doubt, no doubt; and so shall Clarence too;

For they, that were your enemies, are his,
And have prevail'd as much on him, as you.

Hast. More pity, that the eagle should be mew'd,

[2] That is, not the Queen's subjects, whom she might protect, but her abjects. JOHNSON.

[3] This is a very covert and subtle manner of insinuating treason. The natural expression would have been, were it to call king Edward's wife, sister. I will solicit for you, though it should be at the expense of so much degradation and constraint, as to own the low-born wife of King Edward for a sister. But by slipping, as it were casually, widow into the place of wife, he tempts Clarence in an oblique proposal to kill the King. JOHNSON.

[4] A mew was the place of confinement where a hawk was kept till he had moulted. JOHNSON.