That Anne my queen is fick, and like to die: To ftop all hopes, whofe growth may damage me.- So far in blood, that fin will pluck on fin.4 Re-enter Page, with TYRREL. Is thy name-Tyrrel ?5 3 TYR. James Tyrrel, and your most obedient subject. it ftands me much upon,] i. e. it is of the utmost confequence to my defigns. The fame phrase occurs in The Comedy of Errors: "Confider how it ftands upon my credit." See alfo Antony and Cleopatra, A&t II. fc. i. STEEVENS. So far in blood, that fin will pluck on fin.] The fame reflections occur in Macbeth: Again: I am in blood Step'd in fo far, that should I wade no more,' Things bad begun make strong themselves by ill.” 5 Is thy name-Tyrrel ?] It feems, that a late editor (who boafts much of his fidelity in " marking the places of action, both general and particular, and supplying scenical directions,") throughout this fcene, has left King Richard on his throne; whereas he might have learnt from the following paffage in Sir John Harrington's Metamorphofs of Ajax, 1596, that the monarch appeared, during the present interview with Tyrrel, on an elevation of much lefs dignity. "The beft part (fays Sir John) of our chronicles, in all men's opinions is that of Richard the K. RICH. Art thou, indeed? TYR. Prove me, my gracious lord, K. RICH. Dar'ft thou refolve to kill a friend of mine? TYR. Please you; but I had rather kill two ene mies. K. RICH. Why, then thou haft it; two deep ene mies, Foes to my reft, and my fweet fleep's disturbers, TYR. Let me have open means to come to them, And foon I'll rid you from the, fear of them. K. RICH. Thou fing'ft fweet mufick. Hark, come hither, Tyrrel; third, written as I have heard by Moorton, but as most suppose, by that worthy and incorrupt magiftrate Sir Thomas More, fometime lord chancellor of England, where it is faid, how the king was devifing with Teril to have his nephews privily murdred; and it is added, he was then fitting on a draught; a fit carpet for fuch a counfel." See likewife Holinfhed, Vol. II. p. 735. STEEVENS. For Richard's mode of proceeding on this occafion, there are, it appears, many ancient and dignified precedents: " Maximilian the emperor," fays old Montaigne, "with other cuftomes of his had this one, moft contrary to other princes, (who, to dispatch their weightieft affaires, make often their ce s-1 their regal throne or council-chamber,) which was," &c. Florio's translation, 1603. MALONE. 6 deal upon ] So, in Have with you to Saffron Walden, &c. by Nathe, 1596: "At Wolfe's he's billeted, sweating and dealing upon it most intentively." See alfo my note on Antony and Cleopatra, A&t III. fc. ix., STEEVENS. deal upon :] i. e. act upon. We should now fay-deal with; but the other was the phraseology of our author's time. MALONE. Go, by this token :-Rise, and lend thine ear : [Whispers. There is no more but fo:-Say, it is done, Re-enter BUCKINGHAM. [Exit. BUCK. My lord, I have confider'd in my mind The late demand that you did found me in. K. RICH. Well, let that reft. Richmond. BUCK. I hear the news, my lord. Dorfet is fled to K. RICH. Stanley, he is your wife's fon :—Well, look to it.. BUCK. My lord, I claim the gift, my due by pro mife, For which your honour and your faith is pawn'd; The earldom of Hereford," and the moveables, 7 The earldom of Hereford, &c.] Thomas Duke of Glofter, the fifth fon of Edward the Third, married one of the daughters and coheirs of Humphrey de Bohun Earl of Hereford. The Duke of Glofter's nephew, Henry Earl of Derby, (the eldest fon of John of Gaunt, Duke of Lancaster, the fourth son of Edward the Third,) who was afterwards King Henry IV. married the other daughter of the Earl of Hereford. The moiety of the Hereford eftate, which had been poffeffed by that King, was seized on by Edward IV. as legally devolved to the crown, on its being transferred from the house of Lancaster to that of York. Henry Stafford Duke of Buckingham was lineally defcended from Thomas Duke of Glofter, his only daughter Anne having married Edmund Earl of Stafford, and Henry being the great grandfon of Edmund and Anne. In this right he and his anceftors had poffeffed one half of the Hereford eftate; and he claimed and actually obtained from Richard III. after he ufurped the throne, the reftitution of the other half, which had been feized on by Edward; and also the earldom of Hereford, and the Which you have promised I fhall poffefs. K. RICH. Stanley, look to your wife; if the con vey Letters to Richmond, you fhall answer it. BUCK. What fays your highness to my just requeft? K. RICH. I do remember me,-Henry the fixth Did prophecy, that Richmond fhould be king, When Richmond was a little peevish boy. A king!-perhaps 8. BUCK. My lord, K. RICH. How chance, the prophet could not at that time, Have told me, I being by, that I should kill him? office of Conftable of England, which had long been annexed by inheritance to that earldom. See Dugdale's Baronage, Vol. I. p. 168-169. Many of our hiftorians, however, afcribe the breach between him and Richard to Richard's refufing to restore the moiety of the Hereford estate; and Shakspeare has followed them. Thomas Duke of Glofter was created Earl of Hereford in 1386, by King Richard II. on which ground the Duke of Buckingham had fome pretenfions to claim a new grant of the title; but with refpect to the moiety of the estate, he had not a fhadow of right to it; for fuppofing that it devolved to Edward IV. with the crown, it became, after the murder of his fons, the joint property of his daughters. If it did not devolve to King Edward IV. it belonged to the right heirs of King Henry IV. MALONE. 8 A king!-perhaps-] From hence to the words, Thou troubleft me, I am not in the vein―have been left out ever fince the first editions; but I like them well enough to replace them, РОРЕ. The allufions to the plays of Henry VI. are no weak proofs of the authenticity of these difputed pieces. JOHNSON. These allufions, I trust, have been fufficiently accounted for in the Differtation annexed to the preceding play. MALONE, 9 I being by,] The Duke of Glofter was not by when BUCK. My lord, your promife for the earldom,K. RICH. Richmond!-When laft I was at Exeter, The mayor in courtesy fhow'd me the castle, And call'd it-Rouge-mont: at which name, I started; Because a bard of Ireland told me once, I should not live long after I faw Richmond. BUCK. My lord, K. RICH. BUCK. Ay, what's o'clock ? I am thus bold To put your grace in mind of what you promis'd me. K. RICH. Well, but what is't o'clock? K. RICH. Because that, like a Jack,3 thou keep'ft the ftroke Henry uttered the prophecy. See p. 158. Our author feldom took the trouble to turn to the plays to which he referred. I MALONE. Rouge-mont] Hooker, who wrote in Queen Elizabeth's time, in his description of Exeter mentions this as a 66 very old and antient caftle, named Rugemont; that is to fay, the Red Hill, taking that name of the red foil or earth whereupon it is fituated." It was first built, he adds, as fome think, by Julius Cæfar, but rather, and in truth, by the Romans after him. REED. 2 Well, let it ftrike.] This feems to have been proverbial fentence. So, in Pierce's Supererogation, &c. by Gabriel Harvey, 4to. 1593: "Let the clock firike: I have loft more howers, and lofe nothing if I find equity." MALONE. 3 Becaufe that, like a Jack, &c.] An image, like those at St. Dunftan's church in Fleet Street, and at the market-houses at feveral towns in this kingdom, was ufually called a Jack of the |