If I revolt, off goes young George's head; But, tell me, where is princely Richmond now? Chris. At Pembroke, or at Ha'rford-west, in Wales. Oxford, redoubted Pembroke, sir James Blunt, Stan. Well, hie thee to thy lord; commend me to him; These letters will resolve him of my mind. Farewel. [Gives Papers to Sir CHRIS. [Exeunt. ACT V..... SCENE I. Salisbury. An open Place. Enter the Sheriff, and Guard, with BUCKINGHAM, led to Execution. Buck. Will not king Richard let me speak with him?4 Sher. No, my lord; therefore be patient. 2 my present aid.] Thus the quarto. After these words three lines are added in the folio, in substance the same as the first three lines of Stanley's concluding speech. Instead of the concluding speech of the quarto, which is here followed, the folio reads thus: "Well, hie to thy lord; I kiss his hand; 3- valiant crew;] This expression (which sounds but meanly in modern ears) has been transplanted by Dryden into his Alexander's Feast: "Give the vengeance due "To the valiant crew." Steevens. 4 Will not king Richard let me speak with him ?] The reason why the Duke of Buckingham solicited an interview with the King, is explained in King Henry VIII, Act I: Buck. Hastings, and Edward's children, Rivers, Grey, Do through the clouds behold this present hour, This is All-Souls' day, fellows, is it not? Sher. It is, my lord. Buck. Why, then All-Souls' day is my body's doomsday. This is the day, which, in king Edward's time, Come, sirs, convey me to the block of shame; Wrong hath but wrong, and blame the due of blame." [Exeunt Buck. &c. 66 I would have play'd "The part my father meant to act upon "The usurper Richard; who, being at Salisbury, "Have put his knife into him." Steevens. See also Hall's Chronicle, Richard III, fo. 16. Reed. 5 Is the determin'd respite of my wrongs.] Hanmer has rightly explained it, the time to which the punishment of his wrongs was respited. Wrongs in this line means wrongs done, or injurious practices. 6 Johnson. blame the due of blame.] This scene should, in my opinion, be added to the foregoing Act, so the fourth Act will have a more full and striking conclusion, and the fifth Act will comprise the SCENE II. Plain near Tamworth. 8 Enter, with Drum and Colours, RICHMOND, OXFORD," Sir JAMES BLUNT, Sir WALTER HERBERT, and Others, with Forces, marching. Richm. Fellows in arms, and my most loving friends, Bruis'd underneath the yoke of tyranny, Thus far into the bowels of the land Have we march'd on without impediment ; The wretched, bloody, and usurping boar, reckless business of the important day, which put an end to the competition of York and Lancaster. Some of the quarto editions are not divided into Acts, and it is probable, that this and many other plays were left by the author in one unbroken continuity, and afterwards distributed by chance, or what seems to have been a guide very little better, by the judgment or caprice of the first editors. Johnson. 7 Oxford,] John de Vere, Earl of Oxford, a zealous Lancastrian, who after a long confinement in Hames Castle in Picardy, escaped from thence in 1484, and joined the earl of Richmond at Paris. He commanded the Archers at the battle of Bosworth. Malone. 8 Sir James Blunt,] He had been captain of the Castle of Hames, and assisted the Earl of Oxford in his escape. Malone. 9 That spoil'd your summer fields, and fruitful vines, Swills your warm blood &c.] This sudden change from the past time to the present, and vice versa, is common in Shakspeare. So, in the argument prefixed to his Rape of Lucrece: "The same night he treacherously stealeth into her chamber, violently ravished her," &c. Malone. 1 ▪embowel'd bosoms,] Exenterated; ripped up: alluding, perhaps, to the Promethean vulture; or, more probably, to the sentence pronounced in the English courts against traitors, by which they are condemned to be hanged, drawn, that is, embowelled, and quartered. Johnson. Drawn, in the sentence pronounced upon traitors only, signifies to be drawn by the heels or on a hurdle from the prison to the place of execution. So, Dr. Johnson has properly expounded it Lies now even in the centre of this isle, Το reap By this one bloody trial of sharp war. Oxf. Every man's conscience is a thousand swords," To fight against that bloody homicide. Herb. I doubt not, but his friends will turn to us. Blunt. He hath no friends, but who are friends for fear; Which, in his dearest need, will fly from him. Richm. All for our vantage. Then, in God's name, march: True hope is swift, and flies with swallow's wings, SCENE III. Bosworth Field. 4 [Exeunt. Enter King RICHARD, and Forces; the Duke of NORFOLK, Earl of SURREY, and Others. K. Rich. Here pitch our tents, even here in Eosworth field. My lord of Surrey, why look you so sad? in Measure for Measure, Act II. So, Holinshed, in the year 1569, and Stowe's Chronicle, edit. 1614, p. 162, 171, 418, 763, 766. Sometimes our historians use a colloquial inaccuracy of expres-sion in writing, hanged, drawn, and quartered; but they often express it-drawn, hanged, and quartered; and sometimes they add-bowelled, or his bowels taken out, which would be tautology, if the same thing was implied in the word drawn. Tollet. Drawn in the sense of embowelled, is never used but in speaking of a fowl. It is true, embowelling is also part of the sentence in high treason, but in order of time it comes after drawing and hanging. Blackstone. 2 Lies now- -]i. e. sojourns. See Vol. IX, p. 105, n. 2.-For lies, the reading of the quarto, the editors of the folio, probably not understanding the term, substituted-Is. See p. 167, n. 8. Malone. 3 conscience is a thousand swords,] Alluding to the old adage, "Conscientia mille testes.' "" Blackstone. Thus the quarto. The folio reads-a thousand men. Malone and flies with swallow's wings,] Drayton calls joy : Sur. My heart is ten times lighter than my looks. Here, most gracious liege. K. Rich. Norfolk, we must have knocks; Ha! must we not? Nor. We must both give and take, my loving lord. K. Rich. Up with my tent: Here will I lie to-night;5 [Soldiers begin to set up the King's Tent. But where, to-morrow?-Well, all's one for that.— Who hath descried the number of the traitors? Nor. Six or seven thousand is their utmost power. [Exeunt. Enter on the other side of the Field, RICHMOND, Sir 5 Up with my tent: Here will I lie to-night;] Richard is reported not to have slept in his tent on the night before the battle, but in the town of Leicester. Steevens 6 our battalia trebles that account:] Richmond's forces are said to have been only five thousand; and Richard's army consisted of about twelve thousand men. But Lord Stanley lay at a small distance with three thousand men, and Rhad may be supposed to have reckoned on them as his friends, though the event proved otherwise. Malone. 7 8 sound direction:] True judgment; tried military skill. Johnson. Oxford, and other Lords.] The direction in the folio is"Enter Richmond and Sir William Brandon, Oxford and Durset.” In the quarto only, "Enter Richmond, with the lordes." This is one of numerous proofs that many of the alterations in the folio edition of this play were made by the players, and not by Shakspeare; for Shakspeare had been informed by Holinshed that Dorset was not at the battle of Bosworth; Richmond before his leaving Paris having borrowed a sum of money from the French King, Charles the Eighth, and having left the Marquis of Dorset and Sir John Bouchier as hostages for the payment. Malone... |