Those eyes of thine from mine have drawn salt

tears,

Sham'd their aspects with store of childish drops:
These eyes, which never shed remorseful tear3,
No, when my father* York and Edward wept,
To hear the piteous moan that Rutland made,
When black-fac'd Clifford shook his sword at him:
Nor when thy warlike father, like a child,
Told the sad story of my father's death;

And twenty times made pause, to sob, and weep,
That all the standers-by had wet their cheeks,
Like trees bedash'd with rain: in that sad time,
My manly eyes did scorn an humble tear 5;
And what these sorrows could not thence exhale,
Thy beauty hath, and made them blind with weeping.
I never su'd to friend, nor enemy;

My tongue could never learn sweet soothing word";
But now thy beauty is propos'd my fee,

My proud heart sues, and prompts my tongue to
speak. [She looks scornfully at him.
Teach not thy lip such scorn; for it was made
For kissing, lady, not for such contempt.

If thy revengeful heart cannot forgive,

3 These eyes, which never, &c.] The twelve following beautiful lines added after the first editions.

They were added with many more.

POPE.
JOHNSON.

They are found only in the folio. MALONE.

4 NOT, when my father-] The old copies read-No, when, &c. The alteration was made unnecessarily by Mr. Pope.

The same phraseology occurs in a subsequent passage:

66

66

Duch. I hope he is much grown since last I saw him.
Q. Eliz. But I hear, no." MALONE.

5 My manly eyes did scorn, &c.] Here is an apparent reference to King Henry VI. Part III. Act II. Sc. I. See vol. xviii.

p. 406, n. 5. STEEVENS.

6

sweet SOOTHING word;] Thus the quarto 1598. The folio has-sweet smoothing word. MALONE.

Smooth is, probably, the true reading. So again, p. 36, line penult. :

"Smile in men's faces, smooth, deceive, and cog."

See also, Pericles, Act I. Sc. II. STEEVENS.

Lo! here I lend thee this sharp-pointed sword* ; Which if thou please to hide in this true breast, And let the soul forth that adoreth thee,

I lay it naked to the deadly stroke,

And humbly beg the death upon my knee.

[He lays his Breast open; she offers at it with his Sword.

Nay, do not pause; for I did kill king Henry†;— But 'twas thy beauty' that provoked me.

Nay, now despatch; 'twas I that stabb'd young Edward;

[She again offers at his Breast.

But 'twas thy heavenly face that set me on.

[She lets fall the Sword.

Take up the sword again, or take up me.

ANNE. Arise, dissembler: though I wish thy death,

I will not be thy executioner.

GLO. Then bid me kill myself, and I will do it. ANNE. I have already.

GLO.

That was in thy rage:

Speak it again, and, even with the word,

This hand, which, for thy love, did kill thy love,
Shall, for thy love, kill a far truer love;

To both their deaths shalt thou be accessary.

ANNE. I would, I knew thy heart.
GLO. 'Tis figur'd in my tongue.
ANNE. I fear me, both are false.
GLO. Then never man was true 8.

* Quarto 1597, bosom.

† Quarto 1597, 'Twas I that killed your husband.
Quarto 1597, 'Twas I that killed King Henry.

§ Quarto 1597, Tush, that.

7 But 'twas thy beauty-] Shakspeare countenances the observation, that no woman can ever be offended with the mention of her beauty. JOHNSON.

8 Then man

Was never true.] Old copy

"Then never man was true."

ANNE. Well, well, put up your sword.
GLO. Say then, my peace is made.
ANNE. That shall you know hereafter.
GLO. But shall I live in hope?
ANNE. All men, I hope, live so.
GLO. Vouchsafe to wear this ring.
ANNE. To take, is not to give.

[She puts on the Ring. GLO. Look, how this ring encompasseth thy

finger,

Even so thy breast encloseth my poor heart;
Wear both of them, for both of them are thine.
And if thy poor devoted servant * may

But beg one favour at thy gracious hand,
Thou dost confirm his happiness for ever.
ANNE. What is it?

GLO. That it may please you leave these sad designs

To him that hath more cause9 to be a mourner,
And presently repair to Crosby-place 1:

* Quarto 1597, suppliant.

For the sake of measure, I have hazarded this slight transposition. STEEVENS.

I have again and again had occasion to observe, that short prose speeches are perpetually intermingled with the metrical dialogue of our poet and his contemporaries; but I am inclined to think that, in the present instance, these speeches were intended for the short metre of six syllables, as suited to this light and flippant courtship. MALONE.

9

I

MORE cause

STEEVENS.

-] The folio-most cause. 1- Crosby-place:] A house near Bishopsgate Street, belonging to the Duke of Gloster. JOHNSON.

Crosby-place is now Crosby-square in Bishopsgate Street; part of the house is yet remaining, and is a meeting place for a presbyterian congregation. SIR J. HAWKINS.

This magnificent house was built in the year 1466, by Sir John Crosby, grocer and woolman. He died in 1475. The ancient hall of this fabrick is still remaining, though divided by an additional floor, and incumbered by modern galleries, having been converted into a place of worship for Antinomians, &c. The upper part of it is now the warehouse of an eminent packer.

Sir J. Crosby's tomb is in the neighbouring church of St. Helen the Great. STEEVENS.

Where-after I have solemnly interr'd,
At Chertsey monast'ry, this noble king,
And wet his grave with my repentant tears,—
I will with all expedient duty2 see you :

2

For divers unknown reasons, I beseech you,
Grant me this boon.

ANNE. With all my heart; and much it joys me

too,

To see you are become so penitent.

Tressel, and Berkley, go along with me.

GLO. Bid me farewell.

ANNE.

'Tis more than you deserve:

But, since you teach me how to flatter you,
Imagine I have said farewell already 3

2 --

[Exeunt Lady ANNE, TRESSEL, and BERKLEY.

with all EXPEDIENT duty-] Expeditious. See vol. vi. p. 416, n. 7. MALONE.

3 Imagine I have said farewell already.] Cibber, who altered King Richard III. for the stage, was so thoroughly convinced of the ridiculousness and improbability of this scene, that he thought himself obliged to make Tressel say:

"When future chronicles shall speak of this,

66

They will be thought romance, not history."

Thus also, in Twelfth-Night, where Fabian observing the conduct of Malvolio, says: "If this were played upon a stage now, I could condemn it as an improbable fiction."

From an account of our late unsuccessful embassy to the Emperor of China, we learn, indeed, that a scene of equal absurdity was represented in a theatre at Tien-sing: "One of the dramas, particularly, attracted the attention of those who recollected scenes, somewhat similar, upon the English stage. The piece represented a Emperor of China and his Empress living in supreme felicity, when, on a sudden, his subjects revolt, a civil war ensues, battles are fought, and at last the arch-rebel, who was a general of cavalry, overcomes his sovereign, kills him with his own hand, and routs the imperial army. The captive Empress then appears upon the stage in all the agonies of despair, naturally resulting from the loss of her husband and of her dignity, as well as the apprehension for that of her honour. Whilst she is tearing her hair, and rending the skies with her complaints, the conqueror enters, approaches her with respect, addresses her in a gentle tone, soothes her sorrows with his compassion, talks of love and

Towards Chertsey, noble lord ?

GLO. Sirs, take up the corse *.

GENT.

GLO. No, to White-Friars; there attend my

coming.

Exeunt the rest, with the Corse.

Was ever woman in this humour woo'd?

Was ever woman in this humour won ?

I'll have her, but I will not keep her long.
What! I, that kill'd her husband, and his father,
To take her in her heart's extremest hate;
With curses in her mouth, tears in her eyes,

The bleeding witness of her hatred by;

With God, her conscience, and these bars against

me,

And I no friends to back my suit withal,
But the plain devil, and dissembling looks,

And yet to win her, all the world to nothing! ah! Hath she forgot already that brave prince,

Edward, her lord, whom I, some three months

since,

4

Stabb'd in my angry mood at Tewksbury 1?

A sweeter and a lovelier gentleman,-
Fram'd in the prodigality of nature,

*Folio omits this speech.

5

adoration, and like Richard the Third, with Lady Anne in Shakspeare, prevails, in less than half an hour, on the Chinese Princess to dry up her tears, to forget her deceased consort, and yield to a consoling wooer." STEEVENS.

4 whom I, some three months since,

Stabb'd in my angry mood at Tewksbury ?] Here we have the exact time of this scene ascertained, namely, August 1471. King Edward, however, is in the second Act introduced dying. That King died in April 1483; so there is an interval between this and the next Act of almost twelve years. Clarence, who is represented in the preceding scene as committed to the Tower before the burial of King Henry VI. was in fact not confined nor put to death till seven years afterwards, March 1477-8. MALONE.

5 Fram'd in the prodigality of nature,] i. e. when nature was in a prodigal or lavish mood. WARBURTON.