By any in this prefence, I defire
To reconcile me to his friendly peace:
'Tis death to me, to be at enmity;

I hate it, and defire all good men's love.-
Firft, madam, I entreat true peace of you,
Which I will purchase with my duteous fervice ;-
Of you, my noble coufin Buckingham,

If ever any grudge were lodg'd between us ;—
Of you, lord Rivers, and lord Grey, of you,-
That all without defert have frown'd on me ;-
Dukes, earls, lords, gentlemen; indeed, of all.
I do not know that Englishman alive,

With whom my foul is any jot at odds,
More than the infant that is born to-night;
I thank my God for
my humility.'

8

-frown'd on me ;] I have followed the original copy in quarto. The folio adds

"Of you, lord Woodville, and lord Scales, of you;— The eldest fon of Earl Rivers was Lord Scales; but there was no fuch perfon as Lord Woodville. MALONE.

9 I do not know &c.] Milton in his EIKONOKAAƐTEƐ, has this obfervation: "The poets, and fome English, have been in this point fo mindful of decorum, as to put never more pious words in the mouth of any perfon, than of a tyrant. I fhall not instance an abstruse author, wherein the king might be less converfant, but one whom we well know was the closet companion of these his folitudes, William Shakspeare; who introduced the perfon of Richard the Third, fpeaking in as high a strain of piety and mortification as is uttered in any paffage in this book, and fometimes to the fame fenfe and purpofe with fome words in this place; I intended, faith he, not only to oblige my friends, but my enemies. The like faith Richard, A&t II. fc. i: "I do not know that Englishman alive, "With whom my foul is any jot at odds, "More than the infant that is born to-night; "I thank my god for my humility."

Other ftuff of this fort may be read throughout the tragedy, wherein the poet ufed not much licence in departing from the truth of hiftory, which delivers him a deep diffembler, not of his affections only, but of religion." STEEVENS.

Q. ELIZ. A holy-day fhall this be kept here

after:

I would to God, all ftrifes were well compounded.-
My fovereign lord, I do befeech your highness
To take our brother Clarence to your grace.

GLO. Why, madam, have I offer'd love for this,
To be fo flouted in this royal prefence?
Who knows not, that the gentle duke is dead?
[They all ftart.
You do him injury, to fcorn his corfe.
K. EDW. Who knows not, he is dead! who knows

he is?

Q. ELIZ. All-feeing heaven, what a world is this! BUCK. Look I fo pale, lord Dorset, as the rest? DOR. Ay, my good lord; and no man in the prefence,

But his red colour hath forfook his cheeks.

K. EDW. Is Clarence dead? the order was revers'd.

GLO. But he, poor man, by your first order died,
And that a winged Mercury did bear;
Some tardy cripple bore the countermand,1
That came too lag to fee him buried :-

God grant, that fome, less noble, and less loyal,
Nearer in bloody thoughts, and not in blood,2

1 Some tardy cripple &c.] This is an allufion to a proverbial expreffion which Drayton has verfified in the second canto of The Barons' Wars:

"Ill news hath wings, and with the wind doth go;
"Comfort's a cripple, and comes ever flow."

STEEVENS.

* Nearer in bloody thoughts, and not in blood,] In Macbeth we have the fame play on words:

Deferve not worse than wretched Clarence did,
And yet go current from suspicion!

Enter STANLEY.

STAN. A boon, my fovereign, for my service done!

K. EDW. I pr'ythee, peace; my foul is full of forrow.

STAN. I will not rife, unless your highness hear

me.

K. EDW. Then say at once, what is it thou requeft'ft.

STAN. The forfeit,3 fovereign, of my fervant's life;

Who flew to-day a riotous gentleman,

Lately attendant on the duke of Norfolk.

K. EDW. Have I a tongue to doom my brother's death,4

And shall that tongue give pardon to a flave?
My brother kill'd no man, his fault was thought,
And yet his punishment was bitter death.
Who fued to me for him ?5 who, in my wrath,

The forfeit,] He means the remission of the forfeit.

JOHNSON.

4 Have I a tongue to doom my brother's death,] This lamentation is very tender and pathetick. The recollection of the good qualities of the dead is very natural, and no less naturally does the King endeavour to communicate the crime to others.

JOHNSON.

5 Who fued to me for him? &c.] This pathetick speech is founded on this flight hint in Sir Thomas More's Hiftory of Edward V. inferted by Holinfhed in his Chronicle: "Sure it is, that although king Edward were confenting to his death, yet he much did both lament his infortunate chance, and repent his fudden execution. Infomuch that when any person sued to him

Kneel'd at my feet, and bade me be advis'd ?
Who fpoke of brotherhood? who spoke of love?
Who told me, how the poor foul did forfake
The mighty Warwick, and did fight for me?
Who told me, in the field at Tewksbury,
When Oxford had me down, he refcu'd me,
And faid, Dear brother, live, and be a king?
Who told me, when we both lay in the field,
Frozen almost to death, how he did lap me
Even in his garments; and did give himself,
All thin and naked, to the numb-cold night?
All this from my remembrance brutish wrath
Sinfully pluck'd, and not a man of you
Had fo much grace to put it in my mind.
But, when your carters, or your waiting-vassals,
Have done a drunken flaughter, and defac'd
The precious image of our dear Redeemer,
You ftraight are on your knees for pardon, pardon;
And I, unjustly too, muft grant it you:-
But for my brother, not a man would speak,—
Nor I (ungracious) fpeak unto myself
For him, poor foul. The proudeft of you all
Have been beholden to him in his life;

Yet none of you would once plead for his life.-
O God! I fear, thy justice will take hold

On me,

and you, and mine, and yours, for this.

for the pardon of malefactors condemned to death, he would accuftomablie fay, and openly speake, O infortunate brother, for whofe life not one would make fuite! openly and apparently meaning by fuche words that by the means of fome of the nobilitie he was deceived, and brought to his confufion."

6

MALONE.

be advis'd?] i. e. deliberate; confider what I was about to do. So. in The Letters of the Pafton Family, Vol. II. p. 279: "Written in hafte with fhort advisement," &c. alfo, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, Vol. IV. p. 227, n. 5.

See

MALONE.

Come, Haftings, help me to my closet." O,
Poor Clarence!

[Exeunt King, Queen, HASTINGS, Rivers,
DORSET, and GREY.

GLO. This is the fruit of rashness!—Mark'd

not,

you

How that the guilty kindred of the queen Look'd pale, when they did hear of Clarence' death?

O! they did urge it ftill unto the king:

God will revenge it. Come, lords; will you go, To comfort Edward with our company ?

BUCK. We wait upon your grace.

[Exeunt.

SCENE II.

The fame.

Enter the Duchess of York, with a Son and Daughter of Clarence.

SON. Good grandam, tell us, is our father dead? DUCH. No, boy.

DAUGH. Why do you weep fo oft? and beat your breaft;

And cry-O Clarence, my unhappy fon!

7 Come, Haftings, help me to my clofet.] Haftings was Lord Chamberlain to King Edward IV. MALONE.

8 Enter the Duchefs of York,] Cecily, daughter of Ralph Neville first Earl of Weftmoreland, and widow of Richard Duke of York, who was killed at the battle of Wakefield in 1460. She furvived her husband thirty-five years, living till the year 1495. MALONE.