And ample interchange of fweet difcourfe, Once more, adieu:-Be valiant, and speed well! [Sleeps. The Ghoft of Prince Edward, fon to Henry the Sixth, rifes between the two tents. Ghoft. Let me fit heavy on thy foul to-morrow! [to K. Richard. Think, how thou ftab'dft me in my prime of youth At leifure would permit, where leifure, as in this paffage, ftands for want of leifure. So, again: More than I have faid, The leisure and enforcement of the time 7 Left leaden flumber peife me down to-morrow,] So, in our authour's Rape of Lucrece: "Now leaden flumber with life's ftrength doth fight." MALONE. To peixe, i. e. to weigh down, from pefer, Fr. I find the word in the old play of The Reigne of K. Edward III. 1596: "And peize their deeds with heavy weight of lead." STEEV. 8 The Ghoft, &c.] Mr. Steevens has here quoted a paffage from Nichols's Legend of King Richard III. inserted in The Mirrour for Magiftrates, At Tewksbury; Defpair therefore, and die!- King Henry's iffue, Richmond, comforts thee. Magifirates, and another from the 22d Song of Drayton's Palyclbise, both defcriptive of the vifions fuppofed to have been feen by Richard the night before the battle of Bofworth. He adds the following observation : "It is not unpleasant to trace the progrefs of a poetical idea. Some of our oldest hiftorians had informed us that king Richard was much difturbed in his dreams. The author of a metrical legend, [Nichols] who follows next in fucceffion, proceeds to tell us the quality of thefe ominous vifions. A poet [Drayton] who takes up the story, goes further, and acquaints us with the names of those who are fuppofed to have appeared in them; and laft of all comes the dramatick writer, who brings the phantoms, fpeaking in their particular characters, on the ftage." The annotations of my ingenious predeceffor feldom require animadverfion or revifion; but I am here obliged to remark, as I did on a former occafion, where the learned Bishop of Worcester had made a fimilar attempt to trace a thought from one poet to another, [See Vol. V. p. 397, n. 4.] that this fuppofed progrefs of a poetical idea is in the prefent inftance merely imaginary, as a few dates will at once demonftrate. Shakspeare's K. Richard III. was printed in 1597. Nichols's Legend of King Richard III. first appeared in that edition of The Mirrour for Magiftrates which was published in 1610, thirteen years after our authour's play had appeared; and the 22d Song of Drayton's Polyolbion was not published till twenty-five years after the tragedy of King Richard III. had been printed, that is, in 1622. Our ancient hiftorians have faid more than that Richard was difturb ed by dreams; they have mentioned the nature of them, and particularly of his dream on this night. The account given by Polydore Virgil, which was copied by Hall and Holinfhed, is as follows." The fame went, that he had the fame night [the night before the battle of Bofworth a dreadful and a terrible dream; for it feemed to him being aflepe, that he faw diverfe ymages like terrible devilles, which pulled and haled him, not fufferynge him to take any quiet or refte. The which ftraunge vifion not fo fodaynly ftrake his heart with a fodayne feare, but it ftuffed his head and troubled his mind with many buly and dreadful imaginations. And leaft that it might be fufpected that he was abashed for fear of his enemies, and for that caufe looked fo piteously, he recited and declared to his familiar friends, of the morning, his wonderfull vyfion, and fearefull dreame." I quote from Ho linthed, becaufe he was Shakspeare's authority. Polydore Virgil, as I have already obferved, hiftory about twenty years after Richard's death, began to write his MALONE. The The Ghoft of King Henry the Sixth rifes. [to K. Rich. By thee was punched full of deadly holes : Virtuous and holy, be thou conqueror ! [to Richm. Ghost. Let me fit heavy on thy foul to-morrow! [to K. Rich. Thou offspring of the houfe of Lancafter, [to Richm. The Ghosts of Rivers, Grey, and Vaughan, rise. [to K. Rich. fom 9 Harry, that propbefy'd thou should't be king,] This prophecy, to See p. 359, n. 5. MALONE. - 1 with fulfome wine,] Fulfome, was fometimes ufed, I think, in The The Ghost of Haftings rises, Ghoft. Bloody and guilty, guiltily awake; [to K. Rich. Think on lord Haftings; and defpair, and die !- [to Richm. Arm, fight, and conquer, for fair England's fake! Ghofts. Dream on thy coufins fmother'd in the Tower; Sleep, Richmond, fleep in peace, and wake in joy; The Ghoft of Lady Anne rifes. Ghoft. Richard, thy wife, that wretched Anne thy wife, That never slept a quiet hour with thee3, Now Let us be lead within thy bofom,-] So, fays Mr. Theobald, the quarto, 1597. The fubfequent copies all have laid, instead of lead. That there was an edition of this play printed in 1597, I have not the leaft doubt, (though none of the editors except Mr. Theobald have ever feen it,) because it was entered in the ftationers' books in that year, and nearly at the fame time with K. Richard II. by the fame bookfeller for whom an edition of that play was printed in 1597, which is ftill extant. Theobald fhould have profited in this fingle inftance only, by that It is, however, very remarkable, that Mr. copy. Whenever it fhall be difcovered, it will, I am confident, if diligently collated, like every other firft edition that I have feen, prove its fuperior value in other inftances befide the prefent. MALONE. 3 That never slept a quiet bour with thee,] Shakspeare was probably here thinking of Sir Thomas More's animated defcription of Richard, which Holinfhed tranfcribed: "I have heard (fays Sir Thomas) by credible report of fuch as were fecret with his chamberlaine, that after this abominable deed done [the murder of his nephews] he never had quiet in his mind. He never thought himself fure where he went abroad; his eyes whirled about; his body privily fenced; his hand ever upon his dagger; his countenance and maner like one always readie to ftrike againe. He tooke ill reft a-nights; lay long waking and mufing, fore wearied with care and watch; rather flumbered than flept, troubled with fearfull dreames ; fodainely fometime flart up, leapt out of bed Now fills thy fleep with perturbations: To-morrow in the battle think on me, And fall thy edgelefs fword; Defpair, and die! Thy adversary's wife doth pray for thee. The Ghoft of Buckingham rises. Ghoft. The firft was I, that help'd thee to the crown; [to K. Rich. The laft was I, that felt thy tyranny: Dream on, dream on, of bloody deeds and death; [to Richm. [The Ghosts vanish. K. Richard ftarts out of his dream, wounds, Have mercy, Jefu!-Soft; I did but dream.- Cold bed, and ran about the chamber; fo was his reftlefs heart continually toft and tumbled with the tedious impreffion and stormy remembrance of his abominable deede." With fuch a companion well might Anne fay, that she never sept one quiet bour. MALONE. I dy'd for hope,] I died for only having hoped to give you that affiftance, which I never had it in my power to afford you in reality. STEEVENS. 5 Give me another borfe, &c.] There is in this, as in many of our authour's fpeeches of paffion, fomething very trifling, and fomething very ftriking. Richard's debate, whether he should quarrel with him. felf, is too long continued, but the fubfequent exaggeration of his crimes is truly tragical. JOHNSON. The lights burn blue.] So, in Lylly's Galathea, 1592: "I thought there was fome Spirit in it because it burnt fo blue; for my mother would |