No, no, my heart will burst, an if I speak :---
And I will speak, that so my heart may burst.—
Butchers and villains! bloody cannibals!
How sweet a plant have you untimely cropp'd!
You have no children, butchers! if you had,
The thought of them would have stirr'd up
remorse: 31

But if you ever chance to have a child,
Look in his youth to have him so cut off,

As, deathsmen, you have rid 32 this sweet young prince!

K. Edw. Away with her; go, bear her hence perforce.

2. Mar.

Nay, never bear me hence, dispatch me here; Here sheathe thy sword, I'll pardon thee my death: What! wilt thou not?-then, Clarence, do it thou. Clar. By heaven, I will not do thee so much 2. Mar.

ease.

Good Clarence, do; sweet Clarence, do thou do it.

by some editors to 'thou' in this passage, and one of the Quarto copies of "The True Tragedie" also gives 'thou.' But inasmuch as "the" may be used elliptically to express 'thou, who art the,' we leave the Folio reading in the text. "Railer," of course, refers to Margaret.

28. Words. Here used in its sense of 'dispute,' 'contention,' wrangling,' as it is in "First Part Henry VI.," Act ii., sc. 5:"Some words there grew 'twixt Somerset and me."

29. To equal it. Here used for 'to compare with it,' 'to show side by side with it.'

2. Mar. So come to you and yours, as to this prince! [Exit, led out. K. Edw. Where's Richard gone? Clar. To London, all in post ;33 and, as I guess, To make a bloody supper in the Tower.

K. Edw. He's sudden, if a thing comes in his head.

Now march we hence: discharge the common sort
With pay and thanks, and let's away to London,
And see our gentle queen how well she fares,—
By this, I hope, she hath a son for me.

[Exeunt.

30. In respect. Idiomatically used for 'respectively speaking, 'comparatively speaking.'

31. Remorse. 'Pity,' 'compunction.' 32. Rid 'Destroyed.' See Note 56, Act i., "Tempest." 33. In post 'In post-haste,' 'at utmost speed' 34 Roscius. A celebrated Roman actor, whose name became typical of excellence in stage performance. Cicero was his friend and admirer, making frequent mention of him in his works.

35. Misdoubteth. 'Suspects danger,' ' dreads.'

Have now the fatal object 36 in my eye Where my poor young was lim'd, was caught, and kill'd.

Glo.

Why, what a peevish 37 fool was that of Crete,

That taught his son the office of a fowl!

And yet, for all his wings, the fool was drown'd.39
K. Hen. I, Dædalus; my poor boy, Icarus;
Thy father, Minos, that denied our course;
The sun, that sear'd the wings of my sweet boy,
Thy brother Edward; and thyself, the sea,
Whose envious gulf did swallow up his life.
Ah! kill me with thy weapon, not with words!
My breast can better brook thy dagger's point
Than can my ears that tragic history.
But wherefore dost thou come ? is 't for my life?
Glo. Think'st thou I am an executioner?
K. Hen. A persecutor, I am sure, thou art:
If murd'ring innocents be executing,
Why, then thou art an executioner.

K. Hen.

Hadst thou been kill'd when first thou didst presume,

Thou hadst not liv'd to kill a son of mine.
And thus I prophesy,—that many a thousand,
Which now mistrust no parcel 39 of my fear,
And many an old man's sigh and many a widow's,
And many an orphan's water-standing eye,—
Men for their sons, wives for their husbands
fate,40

And orphans for their parents' timeless death,-
Shall rue the hour that ever thou wast born.
The owl shriek'd at thy birth,-
—an evil sign;
The night-crow cried, aboding 41 luckless time;
Dogs howl'd, and hideous tempest shook down trees;
The raven rook'd her 42 on the chimney's top,
And chattering pies in dismal discords sung.
Thy mother felt more than a mother's pain,

36. The fatal object....where my, &c. The use of "where" in this sentence is peculiar, but it accords with Shakespeare's occasional mode of employing the word. See Note 40, Act v., "Twelfth Night." In the present passage, "bush " having been figuratively applied to Richard, he is called “the fatal object," and is alluded to by the word " where."

37. Peevish. 'Headstrong,' 'rash,' 'wilful.' Act v., "Two Gentlemen of Verona."

See Note 3,

38 The fool was drown'd. Here we think it is intended that Richard should make a scoffing pun on the words "fowl" and "fool," the former word being in some places (in some parts of Scotland, for instance) pronounced like the latter. Allowing this to be the case, it accounts for the apparent reference of "the fool was drown'd" to Dædalus, whereas it was Icarus that thus perished. See Note 45, Act iv., "First Part Henry VI.” We have heretofore noticed that some latitude in the similarity of words was allowed for the jingle of a pun or quibble. See Note 139, Act ii., "First Part Henry IV."

39. Parcel. Sometimes, as here, used for 'portion.' See Note 74. Act iii., "First Part Henry IV."

40. Husbands' fate, and orphans, &c. The words "fate," at the close of the line, and "And," at the commencement of the line here, were omitted in the first Folio, and supplied in the second.

Oh, may such purple tears be always shed
From those that wish the downfall of our house!-
If any spark of life be yet remaining,
Down, down to hell; and say I sent thee thither,—
[Stabs him again.

I, that have neither pity, love, nor fear.-
Indeed, 'tis true, that Henry told me of;
For I have often heard my mother say

I came into the world with my legs forward :
Had I not reason, think ye, to make haste,
And seek their ruin that usurp'd our right?
The midwife wonder'd; and the women cried,
"Oh, Jesus bless us, he is born with teeth!"
And so I was; which plainly signified
That I should snarl, and bite, and play the dog.
Then, since the heavens have shap'd my body so,
Let hell make crook'd my mind to answer it.
I have no brother, I am like no brother;

44

41. Aboding. Here used for 'foreboding,' 'presaging,' ' portending,'

42. The raven rook'd her, &c. To "rook," or ruck, is a verb of Saxon origin, used by ancient English writers, signifying to cower down or squat down as a bird does on its nest or on its perch; to 'roost.'

43. Thou cam'st. The Folio prints the line thus, with a dash, to express the interruption it receives from Richard's rage. Theobald gave it an ending, at the same time asserting that it should be thus completed, on the ground that Henry ought to reproach Richard explicitly with his preposterous birth, otherwise he would not immediately afterwards say, "Tis true, that Henry told me of." But it is for this precise reason that the dramatist allowed the taunt to be left unfinished; since Richard proceeds to repeat the particulars of his monstrous nativity, which, moreover, were well known, and popularly believed. It is part of the playwright's art to avoid needless recapitulation; and we have pointed out many instances wherein Shakespeare showed his skill in this point, while being censured by his critics for faults of so-called " omission," "forgetfulness," &c. See Notes 35 and 55, Act v., "All's Well that Ends Well."

44. I have no brother. The word "brother" is here used in the sense of parallel,' 'counterpart,' 'object that resembles

And this word "love," which divine,

Be resident in men like one another,
And not in me: I am myself alone.-
Clarence, beware; thou keep'st me from the light:
But I will sort a pitchy day for thee;
For I will buzz abroad such prophecies,
That Edward shall be fearful of his life;
And then, to purge his fear, I'll be thy death.
King Henry and the prince his son are gone :
Clarence, thy turn is next, and then the rest;
Counting myself but bad till I be best.-
I'll throw thy body in another room,
And triumph, Henry, in thy day of doom.
[Exit with the body.

A room in the Palace.

SCENE VII.-LONDON. Flourish. King EDWARD is discovered sitting on his throne; Queen ELIZABETH, with the infant Prince, CLARENCE, GLOSTER, HASTINGS, and others, near him.

K. Edw. Once more we sit in England's royal throne,

Re-purchas'd with the blood of enemies.
What valiant foemen, like to autumn's corn,
Have we mow'd down in tops of all their pride!
Three Dukes of Somerset,-threefold renown'd
For hardy and undoubted champions;
Two Cliffords,-as the father and the son;
And two Northumberlands,-two braver men
Ne'er spurr'd their coursers at the trumpet's sound;
With them, the two brave bears, Warwick and
Montague,

That in their chains fetter'd the kingly lion,
And made the forest tremble when they roar'd.
Thus have we swept suspicion from our seat,
And made our footstock of security.—
Come hither, Bess, and let me kiss my boy.-

another;' and there is also a fine bold play on the word, in the above sense, and as marking that the speaker owns no tie of brotherhood or affectionate fraternity with either Edward or Clarence, who are merely born his brothers. In "The True Tragedie," &c., this line is preceded by one that weakens its effect-"I had no father, I am like no father;" which was, therefore, judiciously omitted by Shakespeare in the present version of the drama. Indeed, the whole of Richard's speech here bears the unmistakable impress of Shakespeare's own hand. The sneer at "love," for instance, put into the mouth of this superlative villain, is thoroughly consistent with our author's mode of limning such characters as Iago, Edmund, and the chief personage in the play of "Richard III."

45. I will sort a pitchy day. 'I will select or choose out a dark day;' a day of ominous gloom, or black with thy fate. 46. Work thou the way, and that shall execute. The first Folio prints 'shalt' for "shall" here; corrected in the third Folio. We must suppose Richard to accompany these words by successive gestures; touching his head at "thou," and indicating his hand at "that;" his arm or hand being suggested by the previous word "shoulder."

were laid;

head

47. Thanks, noble Clarence. In the Folio this speech has the prefix Cla.; in "The True Tragedie" it is assigned to the queen; and Steevens says "In my copy of the second Folio, which had belonged to King Charles the First, His Majesty has erased Cla., and written King in its stead. Shakespeare, therefore, in the catalogue of his restorers may boast a royal name." We think that the word "brother" in this speech shows the royal corrector to be right; as, though 'brother' was sometimes used for brother-in-law,' yet, from the whole tenour of the dialogue here, Edward, Clarence, and Richard seem to be the sole speakers.

48. Whenas. An old form of 'when.' See Note 11, Act ii.

49. Sent it for her ransom. "It" is here used according to Shakespeare's mode of employing this word in reference to an implied particular. See Note 53, Act ii., "Henry V." "It" here implies the sums raised by impawning or pledging "the Sicils and Jerusalem."

50. Stately triumphs, mirthful comic shows. and "shows" were both used for pageants.' Act i., "Midsummer Night's Dream."

"Triumphs' See Note 5,