Even of your mettle, of your very blood ;3 Familiarly fhall call thy Dorfet-brother; And all the ruins of diftrefsful times 3 Even of your mettle, of your very blood;] The folio hasmettal. The two words are frequently confounded in the old copies. That mettle was the word intended here, appears from various other paffages. So, in Macbeth : 66 66 Thy undaunted mettle fhould compofe Nothing but males.” Again, in King Richard II: that bed, that womb, "That mettle, that felf-mould that fashion'd thee, Again, in Timon of Athens: "Whose womb unmeasurable, and infinite breast, 66 • Endur'd of her,] Of in the language of Shakspeare's age was frequently used for by. MALONE. 5 bid like forrow.] Bid is in the paft tense from bide. JOHNSON. Repair'd with double riches of content. Of ten-times-double gain of happiness." Q. ELIZ. What were I best to say? her father's Would be her lord? Or fhall I fay, her uncle? 6 Advantaging their loan, with intereft Of ten-times-double gain of happiness.] [The folio-love.] My eafy emendation will convince every reader that love and lone are made out of one another only by a letter turned upfide down. The tears that you have lent to your afflictions, shall be turned into gems; and requite you by way of intereft, &c. THEOBALD. How often the letters u and n are confounded in these copies, has been shown in various places. See Vol. V. p. 191, n. 3 and note on Timon of Athens, A&t IV. fc. iii. Vol. XIX. MALONE. 7 To whom I will retail my conqueft won,] To retail (as Mr. M. Mason has observed in a note on A&t III. fc. i. p. 370, n. 8,) is to hand down from one to another. Richard, in the present inftance, means to fay he will tranfmit the benefit of his victories to Elizabeth. STEEVENS. Or, he that flew her brothers, and her uncles? That God, the law, my honour, and her love, K. RICH. Infer fair England's peace by this alli ance. Q. ELIZ. Which the fhall purchase with still lafting war. K. RICH. Tell her, the king, that entreats. may command, Q. ELIZ. That at her hands, which the king's K. RICH. Say, fhe fhall be a high and mighty queen. Q. ELIZ. To wail the title, as her mother doth. K. RICH. As long as heaven, and nature, lengthens it. Q. ELIZ. As long as hell, and Richard, likes of it. K. RICH. Say, I, her fov'reign, am her subject low.' 8 which the king's King forbids.] Alluding to the prohibition in the Levitical law. See Leviticus, xviii. 14. GREY. 9 But how long fhall that title, ever, laft?] Young has borrowed this thought in his Univerfal Paffion: "But fay, my all, my miftrefs, and my friend, STEEVENS. am her fubject low.] Thus the folio. The quarto reads: her fubject love. STEEVENS. Q. ELIZ. But the, your subject, loaths such sov❜reignty. K. RICH. Be eloquent in my behalf to her. Q. ELIZ. An honest tale speeds beft, being plainly told. K. RICH. Then, in plain terms tell her my loving tale.2 Q. ELIZ. Plain, and not honest, is too harsh a style. K. RICH. Your reafons are too fhallow and too quiek. Q. ELIZ. O, no, my reafons are too deep and dead ; Too deep and dead, poor infants, in their graves. K. RICH. Harp not3 on that string, madam is past. ; that 2 Then, in plain terms tell her my loving tale.] So the quarto. The folio reads: "Then plainly to her tell my loving tale." MALONE. 3 Harp not &c.] In the regulation of these short speeches I have followed the quarto 1597. STEEVENS. K. Rich. Harp not on that string, madam; that is paft. Q. Eliz. Harp on it ftill fhall I, &c.] In the quarto, 1598, the first of these two lines is wanting. The paffage stands thus: Qu. O, no, my reasons, &c. 66 "Too deep and dead, poor infants, in their graves. King. Harp on it still thall I, till heart-ftrings break. "Now by my george," &c. The printer of the next quarto faw that the line-" Harp on it ftill fhall I," &c. could not belong to Richard, and therefore annexed it to the Queen's former speech, but did not insert the omitted line. The editor of the folio fupplied the line that was wanting, but abfurdly misplaced it, and exhibited the paffage thus: Qu. O, no, my reasons are too deep and dead; "Too deep and dead, poor infants, in their graves. 66 Harp on it still fhall I, till heart-ftrings break. "King. Harp not on that ftring, madam, that is past. "Now by my george," &c. The text is formed from the quarto, and the folio. MALONE. Q. ELIZ. Harp on it ftill fhall I, till heart-ftrings break. K. RICH. Now, by my George, my garter, and my crown, Q. ELIZ. Profan'd, difhonour'd, and the third ufurp'd. K. RICH. I swear. Q. ELIZ. By nothing; for this is no oath. Thy George, profan'd, hath loft his holy honour; Thy garter,4 blemish'd, pawn'd his knightly virtue ; Thy crown, ufurp'd, difgrac'd his kingly glory : If fomething thou would'ft fwear to be believ'd, Swear then by fomething that thou haft not wrong'd. K. RICH. Now by the world, God's wrong is moft of all. K. RICH. Why then, by God, Q. ELIZ. If thou had'ft fear'd to break an oath by him,5 4 Thy George, profan'd, hath loft his holy honour; Thy garter, &c.] The quarto reads-The George, &c. The folio-Thy George; &c. and, afterwards,-lordly inftead of holy. STEEVENS. 5 God's wrong is most of all. If thou had ft fear'd to break an oath by him, &c.] I have followed the quarto, except that it reads in the preceding speech, Why then, by God-. The editors of the folio, from the apprehenfion of the penalty of the Statute, 3 Jac. I. c. 21. printed Why then by heaven,"-and the whole they abfurdly exhibited thus: 66 |