And says, a wizard told him that by G And, for my name of George begins with G, 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, That made him send Lord Hastings to the Tower, 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. Lord Hastings was to her for his delivery? 75 Glou. Humbly complaining to her deity Got my lord chamberlain his liberty. If we will keep in favour with the king, To be her men and wear her livery. 80 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 ; Glou. Even so; an't please your worship, Brakenbury, 85 87. his] Brakenbury] 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. 73. Mistress Shore] Jane Shore was daughter of a Cheapside mercer and wife of a goldsmith in Lombard Street. More says that she used her influence with the king "to manie a mans comfort and releefe. Where the king tooke displeasure, shee would mitigate and appease his mind: where men were out of fauour, she would bring them in his grace." In 1483 Gloucester, as Protector (see below, III. iv.) accused her of sorcery against his person. No proof being found against her, she was condemned to do penance in St. Paul's for incontinency. She died in poverty C. 1527. 75. to her for his] Qq, although adding an extra foot to the line, have the better reading. "For her delivery" in Ff can mean only "for delivery at her hands," which is strained and awkward. 81. o'erworn] Compare Chapman (?), Alphonsus Emperor of Germany, 1654, i. 2: "6 Joachim Carolus, Marquess of Brandenburg, o'erworn with age." 82. gentlewomen] There was no question of Elizabeth's gentry. Richard 83. gossips] familiar acquaintances. So Gammer Gurton's Needle, 1575, "mother Chat, my gossip"; Midsummer-Night's Dream, II. i. 47; Merchant of Venice, ш. i. 9; Jonson, Bartholomew Fair, 1614, i. 1: "All the poets and poet-suckers in town . . . are the players' gossips." Nares quotes Verstegen for the origin of the word, "Such as undertooke for the child at baptisme, called each other by the name of Godsib, that is, of kin together through God." The sense of vulgar familiarity implied by Richard is found in Piers the Plowman, B-text, v. 310 (Atext, 152), and Chaucer, Canterbury Tales, D. 548. Compare Fr. compère, commère. We speak no treason, man; we say the king 90 A cherry 'lip, a bonny eye, a passing pleasing tongue; 95 Brak. With this, my lord, myself have nought to do. Brak. What one, my lord? Glou. Her husband, knave: wouldst thou betray me? 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, Touches me deeper than you can imagine. Clar. ΠΟ 115 I must perforce: farewell. Glou. Go, tread the path that thou shalt ne'er return, Enter LORD HASTINGS. Hast. Good time of day unto my gracio d! 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; 130 Hast. More pity that the eagle should be mew'd, Glou. What news abroad? Hast. No news so bad abroad as this at home: 135 The king is sickly, weak, and melancholy; Glou. Now, by Saint Paul, that news is bad indeed! 140 And overmuch consum'd his royal person: Hast. He is. Glou. Go you before, and I will follow you. [Exit Hastings. He cannot live, I hope, and must not die 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, 133. While] Qq; Whiles Ff. 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 |