24

Duch. God bless thee, and put meekness in thy breast, Love, charity, obedience, and true duty.

Glo. Amen; [Aside.] and make me die a good old man! -
That is the butt-end of a mother's blessing;
I marvel, that her grace did leave it out.

Buck. You cloudy princes, and heart-sorrowing peers,
That bear this heavy mutual 25 load of moan,
Now cheer each other in each other's love:
Though we have spent our harvest of this king,
We are to reap the harvest of his son.
The broken rancour of your high-swoln hearts,
But lately splinter'd, knit, and join'd together,
Must gently be preserv'd, cherish'd, and kept: 26
Me seemeth good, that, with some little train,
Forthwith from Ludlow the young prince be fet 27
Hither to London, to be crown'd our king. 28

Riv. Why with some little train, my lord of Buckingham ?

Buck. Marry, my lord, lest, by a multitude,
The new-heal'd wound of malice should break out;
Which would be so much the more dangerous,
By how much the estate is green, and yet ungovern'd: 30
Where every horse bears his commanding rein,
And may direct his course as please himself,
As well the fear of harm, as harm apparent,
In my opinion, ought to be prevented.

Glo. I hope the king made peace with all of us;
And the compact is firm and true in me.

29

31

33

Riv. And so in me; and so, I think, in all:
Yet, since it is but green, it should be put
To no apparent likelihood of breach,
Which, haply, by much company might be urg'd:
Therefore, I say with noble Buckingham,
That it is meet so few should fetch the prince.

Hast. And so say I.

Glo. Then be it so; and go we to determine
Who they shall be that straight shall post to Ludlow. 32
Madam, and you my sister,

will you go To give your censures 34 in this business?

[Exeunt all buť BUCKINGHAM and GLOSTER.
Buck. My lord, whoever journeys to the prince,
For God's sake, let not us two stay at home:
For by the way I 'll sort occasion,
As index to the story we late talk'd of,
To part the queen's proud kindred from the prince.

Glo. My other self, my counsel's consistory,
My oracle, my prophet! My dear cousin,
I, as a child, will go by thy direction.
Towards Ludlow then, for we 'll not stay behind.

[Exeunt.

35

36

SCENE III.

The Same. A Street.

Enter Two Citizens, meeting.
1. Cit. Good morrow, neighbour: whither away so fast?

2. Cit. I promise you, I scarcely know myself.
Hear you the news abroad?
1. Cit.

Yes; that the king is dead.

32) Die Fol. hat hier und in der letzten Zeile dieser Scene London für Ludlow. 33) Nach der Fol. redet Richard zuerst seine Mutter und dann die Königin an; nach den

Qs., die my mother für my sister lesen, umgekehrt. 34) censure = Urtheil, Meinung. Die Qs. fügen weighty vor business ein und lassen

dann beide Fürstinnen antworten: With all our hearts. 35) unterwegs will ich schon eine Gelegenheit ausfindig machen, wie eine Anbahnung des

neulich besprochenen Plans, um die Verwandten der Königin zu trennen von dem jungen Prinzen. occasion ist mit to part zu verbinden. - index, eigentlich die dem Buch vorangedruckte kurze Inhaltsanzeige, aus der sich das, was später kommt, schon entnehmen lässt. So in Othello (A. 2, Se. 1) an indese and obscure prologue to the

history of lust and foul thoughts. 36) Buckingham dient dem Gloster statt einer ganzen Reichsversammlung. In dem Ge2. Cit. Ill news, by 'r lady; seldom comes the better : 2 I fear, I fear, 't will prove a giddy 3 world.

Enter another Citizen.
3. Cit. Neighbours, God speed!
1. Cit.

Give you good morrow, Sir. “
3. Cit. Doth the news hold of good king Edward's death?
2. Cit. Ay, Sir, it is too true; God help, the while!
3. Cit. Then, masters, look to see a troublous world.
1. Cit. No, no; by God's good grace, his son shall reign.
3. Cit. Woe to that land that 's govern'd by a child! 5

2. Cit. In him there is a hope of government;
That, in his nonage, council under him,
And, in his full and ripen'd years, himself,
No doubt, shall then, and till then, govern well. 6

1. Cit. So stood the state, when Henry the Sixth Was crown'd in Paris but at nine months old.

3. Cit. Stood the state so? no, no, good friends, God wot; For then this land was famously enrich'd With politic grave counsel: then the king Had virtuous uncles to protect his grace.

1. Cit. Why, so hath this, both by his father and mother.

3. Cit. Better it were, they all came by his father,
Or by his father, there were none at all; ?
For emulation, who shall now be nearest,
Will touch us all too near, if God prevent not.
01 full of danger is the duke of Gloster;
And the queen's sons and brothers haught and proud : 9
And were they to be rul'd, and not to rule,
This sickly land might solace as before.

8

1. Cit. Come, come; we fear the worst: all will be well.

3. Cit. When clouds are seen, wise men put on their cloaks; When great leaves 10 fall, then winter is at hand: When the sun sets, who doth not look for night? Untimely storms make men expect a dearth. All may be well; but, if God sort it so, 'T is more than we deserve, or I expect.

2. Cit. Truly, the hearts of men are full of fear:
You cannot reason 11 almost with a man
That looks not heavily and full of dread.

3. Cit. Before the days of change, still is it so.
By a divine instinct, men's minds mistrust
Ensuing danger ; 12 as by proof we see
The water swell before a boisterous storm.
But leave it all to God. Whither away?

2. Cit. Marry, we were sent for to the justices.
3. Cit. And so was I: I 'll bear you company.

[Exeunt.

SCENE IV.

London. A Room in the Palace.

Enter the Archbishop of York, the young Duke of York, Queen ELIZABETH,

and the Duchess of York.
Arch. Last night, I heard, they lay at Stony-Stratford,
And at Northampton they do rest to-night: 1
To-morrow, or next day, they will be here.

Duch. I long with all my heart to see the prince.
I hope, he is much grown since last I saw him.

10) great leaves = das Laub in Masse. 11) to reason = sich unterhalten mit Jemandem, eigentlich = ein bestimmtes Thema im

Gespräch vorhandeln. So in Merchant of Venice (A. 2, Sc. 8) I reason'd with a

Frenchman yesterday. 12) Vermöge eines göttlichen Instincts haben die Gemüther der Menschen eine bange

Ahnung vor der bald nachfolgenden Gefahr. Ensuing in den Qs., Pursuing in der Fol. instinct betont Sh. auf der zweiten Sylbe. Der Gedanke dieses Satzes ist aus Holinshed entlehnt: yet began there some manner of muttering among the people, as though all should not be well, though they neither wist what they feared, nor wherefore: were it, that before such great things, men's hearts of a secret instinct of nature misgive them; as the sea without wind swelleth of himself sometime before a

tempest, etc. etc. *) So lauten diese beiden Verse in der Fol. in Uebereinstimmung mit der Erzählung der

Chronisten, dass Gloster den jungen Prinzen in Stony-Stratford überfallen und nach
Northampton zurückgeschleppt habe. Die Lesart der Qs. ist: Last night, I hear,
they lay at Northampton; || At Stony-Stratford will they be to-night und wird von
Malone adoptirt, weil Stratford näher als Northampton bei London liegt und der
Erzbischof von dem beabsichtigten Gewaltstreich Richard's noch nichts wissen kann.

4

Q. Eliz. But I hear, no: they say, my son of York
Hath almost overta'en him in his growth.

York. Ay, mother, but I would not have it so.
Duch. Why, my young cousin, 2 it is good to grow.

York. Grandam, one night, as we did sit at supper,
My uncle Rivers talk'd how I did grow
More than my brother; „Ay,“ quoth my uncle Gloster,
,,Small herbs have grace, great weeds do grow apace:“
And since, methinks, I would not grow so fast,
Because sweet flowers are slow, and weeds make haste.

Duch. 'Good faith, 'good faith, the saying did not hold
In him that did object the same to thee:
He was the wretched'st thing when he was young,
So long a growing, and so leisurely, 3
That, if his rule were true, he should be gracious.

Arch. And so, no doubt, he is, my gracious Madam.
Duch. I hope, he is; but yet let mothers doubt.

York. Now, by my troth, if I had been remember'd, 5
I could have given my uncle's grace a flout,
To touch his growth nearer than he touch'd mine. 6

Duch. How, my young York? I pr’ythee, let me hear it.

York. Marry, they say, my uncle grew so fast,
That he could gnaw a crust at two hours old: 7
'T was full two years ere I could get a tooth.
Grandam, this would have been a biting jest.

Duch. I prythee, pretty. York, who told thee this ?
York. Grandam, his nurse.
Duch. His nurse! why, she was dead ere thou wast born.
York. If 't were not she , I cannot tell who told me.
Q. Eliz. A parlous 8 boy. Go to, you are too shrewd.
Arch. Good Madam, be not angry with the child.
Q. Eliz. Pitchers have ears.

9

2 Vgl. A. 2, Sc. 2, Apm. 2. 3) es dauerte so lange mit seinem Wachsthum und er nahm sich so viel Zeit dabei. *) gracious bezieht sich auf das erwähnte Sprichwort small herbs have grace. Ebenso

weiterhin doppelsinnig my uncle's grade. Die folgende Zeile theilt die Fol. irrthüm

lich dem jungen Herzog von York zu. 5) wenn ich daran gedacht hätte, wenn es mir eingefallen wäre. 6) In den Qs. That should have nearer touch'd his growth than he did mine. ? So hatte in K. Henry VI. Third Part (A. 5, Sc. 6) der König za Gloster gesagt:

Teeth hadst thou in thy head, when thou wast born. 8) parlous , entstellt aus perilous, wie die Qs. lesen, gebraucht Sh. öfter halb scherzhaft