And says, a wizard told him that by G
His issue disinherited should be:

And, for my name of George begins with G,
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.
Glou. Why, this it is, when men are rul'd by women:
'Tis not the king that sends you to the Tower;

60

My Lady Grey his wife, Clarence, 'tis she

That tempers him to this extremity.

65

Was it not she, and that good man of worship,
Anthony Woodville, her brother there,

That made him send Lord Hastings to the Tower,
From whence this present day he is delivered?
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

70

65. tempers] Q1; tempts Qq 2, 5-8, Ff; 71. secure] Ff; is securde Qq 1-3;

61. Have] Qq, F 4; Hath Ff 1-3. temps Qq 3, 4. this] Qq; this harsh Ff. securde Q4; sceurde Q5; secur'd Q 6.

in horn-books. Cotgrave gives "La croix de par Dieu : The Christ's cross row, hornebooke wherein a child learns it." The sixteenth-century screen in the tower-arch of Probus Church, Cornwall, is ornamented with a series of small shields in its lower panels, the first of which bears a cross, and the rest the opening letters of the alphabet cut in relief. New Eng. Dict. quotes a formula repeated before the alphabet from Morley, Plaine and Easie Introduction to Practicall Musicke, 1597: "Christ's crosse be my speede, in all vertue to proceede, A, b, c," etc. Halliwell, s.v. Christ-Cross, notes a variant beginning "Christe cross me spede in all my worke." Skelton refers to one or other of these formulas, Against Venemous Tongues, ant. 1529 (Chalmers, English Poets, ii. 235): "In your crosse rowe, nor Christ crosse you spede."

60. toys] trifles, idle fancies; very common in all writers of this age. Compare Lyly, Euphues (Arber, 208): "They that inuented this toie were unwise, and they that reported it vnkinde."

"I

65. tempers] Reasons for adopting this reading, peculiar to Q 1, have been given in the Introduction. The queen tempers Edward's will as one tempers or moulds wax: compare for the metaphor 2 Henry IV. iv. iii. 140: have him already tempering between my finger and thumb, and shortly will I seal with him." For "temper" in the sense of "govern, control," see Greene, Friar Bacon (Dyce, 178) :"mine art,

Which once I temper'd in my

secret cell."

67. Woodville] pronounced as a trisyllable. The name originally was spelt Wydeville, and a full syllabic value given to the middle e. Steevens mentions that, in his day, one of the bearers of the name Woodville pronounced it in this way. "England and "Henry," among other words, are often found in places where it is necessary to pronounce them as trisyllables, as in Qq readings of Iv. iv. 264, IV. ii. 94 below. Compare Chaucer, Canterbury Tales, A. 16 “ Engelond," A. 389 "Dertemouthe."

That trudge betwixt the king and Mistress Shore.
Heard you not what an humble suppliant

Lord Hastings was to her for his delivery?

Glou. 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 soever, with his brother.

Glou. Even so; an't please your worship, Brakenbury,
You may partake of any thing we say.

74. you] Ff, Qq 7, 8; ye Qq 1-6. 75. was to her for his] Qq; was, for her FI; was, for his Ff2, 3; was for his F 4. 83. this] Qq; our Ff. Qq; your Ff. 88. an 't] Pope; and Qq 1, 2, Ff; & Qq 3-6. Ff; Brokenbury Qq.

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,

90

A cherry 'lip, a bonny eye, a passing pleasing tongue;
And that the queen's kindred are made gentle-folks :
How say you, sir? can you deny all this?

95

Brak. With this, my lord, myself have nought to do.
Glou. Naught to do with Mistress Shore? I tell thee, fellow,
He that doth naught with her, excepting one,
Were best to do it secretly alone.

Brak. What one, my lord?

Glou. Her husband, knave: wouldst thou betray me?
Brak. I beseech your grace to pardon me, and withal

Forbear your conference with the noble duke.

100

alone. 100. to do] betray me?] omitted Q 1. I beseech noble duke]

92. jealous] Qq; iealious Ff. 97. nought] Qq 1, 6, Ff; naught Qq 2-5. 98-100. Naught. alone] arranged as Qq 1-7; Ff, Q 8 divide thus, Naught Shore? I tell . . . with her (Excepting one) Ff, Q 8; he do Qq 1-7. IOI, 102. What one 103. beseech] Qq; do beseech Ff. 103, arranged as Capell; Qq divide thus, I beseech Ff thus, I do beseech your Grace To pardon (3 lines).

92. struck in years Aldis Wright points out that thi Be means "well gone or "far run" in years. "Struck" is from A.S. strican = to go, run compare Ger. streichen. "Strike" is used with this meaning in a lyric poem on Springtime, c. 1300 (Morris and Skeat, Specimens, new ed. 1879, ii. 48): "Asse streme pat strikep stille." Halliwell, sub Strike (2) and Streke, gives thirteenth and fourteenth century examples. See George a Greene, 1599: "Three men come striking through the corn, my love," and Eastward Ho, i. 1:

"prouder hopes, which daringly o'erstrike

Their place and means.' Elizabeth could not be said to be "struck in years" or "o'erworn" (line 81). She was about thirty-seven when Edward IV. died. All Richard's remarks are coloured by insinuation.

66

jealous] a trisyllable. Ff print iealious." Compare Drayton, Eng. Her. Epp. 1597, Mary of France to Charles Brandon, 72: "That we by

104.

forbeare Your . . . Duke; forbeare Your . . . Duke

nature all are jealous," where the same pronunciation is necessary.

94. Steevens emended the metre by giving a whole line to "A cherry lip.' Pope omitted "a bonny eye." Is it not possible that the line is a snatch from some old song in "fourteen" metre?

94. bonny] Compare 2 Henry VI. v. ii. 12; Much Ado About Nothing, II. iii. 69; Greene, Friar Bacon (Dyce, 174) :—

"May it please your highness give me leave to post

To Fresingfield, I'll fetch the bonny girl."

100. Were best to do it] The ordinary phrase would be "he were best do it." Compare Taming of the Shrew, v. i. 15; Lyly, Alexander and Campaspe, iv. 1: "You were as good eat my master.' The earliest example cited in New Eng. Dict. belongs to 1483. Before that time the pronoun was in the dative, "him were best." The reading in Qq is confused and ungrammatical, and I have found no parallel for it.

Clar. We know thy charge, Brakenbury, and will obey.

105

Glou. 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.
Meantime, this deep disgrace in brotherhood

Touches me deeper than you can imagine.
Clar. I know it pleaseth neither of us well.
Glou. Well, your imprisonment shall not be long;
I will deliver you, or else lie for you:
Meantime, have patience.

Clar.

ΠΟ

115

I must perforce: farewell.
[Exeunt Clarence, Brakenbury, and guard.

Glou. 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-delivered Hastings?

Enter LORD HASTINGS.

Hast. Good time of day unto my gracio d!
Glou. As much unto my good lord champlain !
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.

I 20

125

124. this] Qq 3-8,

108. whatsoe'er] whatsoe're Ff; whatsoeuer Qq. 115. or else] Ff; or Qq. Exeunt guard.] Capell; Exit Clar. (or Cla.) Qq, Ff. Ff; the Qq 1, 2.

Glou. 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.

130

Hast. More pity that the eagle should be mew'd,
While kites and buzzards prey at liberty.

Glou. What news abroad?

Hast. No news so bad abroad as this at home:

135

The king is sickly, weak, and melancholy;
And his physicians fear him mightily.

Glou. Now, by Saint Paul, that news is bad indeed!
O, he hath kept an evil diet long,

140

And overmuch consum'd his royal person:
'Tis very grievous to be thought upon.
What, is he in his bed?

Hast. He is.

Glou. Go you before, and I will follow you.

[Exit Hastings.

He cannot live, I hope, and must not die
Till George be pack'd with post-horse up to heaven.
I'll in, to urge his hatred more to Clarence,

145

With lies well steel'd with weighty arguments;

And if I fail not in my deep intent,

Clarence hath not another day to live;

150

Which done, God take King Edward to his mercy,
And leave the world for me to bustle in!

133. While] Qq; Whiles Ff.
that] Ff; this Qq.

132. eagle] Qq; Eagles Ff. Ff. 138. Saint Paul] Qq; S. John Ff. is he] Qq; Where is he, Fi.

136. sickly] See below, II. iii. 30, "this sickly land," and compare Lyly, Euphues (Arber, 227): "Cassander.. being both aged and sickly, found such weaknesse in himselfe, that he thought nature would yeeld to death."

137. fear] fear for. New Eng. Dict. suggests that the pronoun may originally have been in the dative, like Lat. timere alicui, and quotes Berners, Hystorye of the moost noble and valiaunt Knyght Arthur of lytell Brytayne, c. 1530 (ed. 1814, p. 213): "Arthur fered his horse, lest that the lyon sholde haue slayne him." See also Merchant of Venice, III. v. 3, 33; 1 Henry IV. IV.

i. 24.

prey] Qq; play 142. What,

139. evil diet] So More (ap. Holinshed, iii. 712): "The king his brother (whose life he looked that euill diet should shorten)."

148. steel'd] pointed with steel, like a lance; and so, armed, fortified. Compare 2 Henry VI. III. i. 331: "Now, York, or never, steel thy fearful thoughts," where, however, "steel" approximates more nearly to the sense of "harden," as "the steeled gaoler in Measure for Measure, Iv. ii. 90.

152. bustle] busy myself energetically. Compare Lyly, Alexander and Campaspe, iv. 1: "See, they begin to flock, and behold my master bustles himself to fly"; Merry Devil of Ed