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Re-enter King RICHARD, RATCLIFF, Attendants, and Forces.

K. RICH. What faid Northumberland, as touching Richmond?

RAT. That he was never trained up in arms. K. RICH. He faid the truth: And what faid Surrey then?

RAT. He finil'd and faid, the better for our pur

pofe.

is.

K. RICH. He was i'the right; and fo, indeed, it [Clock ftrikes. Tell the clock there.-Give me a calendar.Who faw the fun to-day?

RAT.

Not I, my lord.

word, Saint George, forward, or upon them, faint George, whereby the fouldiour is much comforted, and the enemy difmaied by calling to minde the ancient valour of England, which with that name has fo often been victorious; and therefore he, who upon any finifier zeale, fhall maliciously omit fo fortunate a name, fhall be feverely punished for his obftinate erroneous heart, and perverfe mind."

Hence too the humour of the following lines in Marston's nervous but neglected fatires, entitled The Scourge of Villanie, printed in 1599, Lib. III. Sat. viii :

"A pox upon't that Bacchis' name should be

"The watch-word given to the fouldierie.

"Goe troupe to field, mount thy obfcured fame,

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Cry out Saint George, invoke thy mistressfe' name;

Thy Miftreffe and Saint George," &c.

In Beaumont and Fletcher's Knight of the Burning Pefile, that admirable and early ridicule of romance-writing, where the champion Ralph is going to attack the Barber, or the huge giant Barborofo, the burlefque is heightened, when, with much folemnity, and as if a real heroick encounter had been going forward, he cries out, "Saint George! fet on before, march fquire and page." Act III. fc. i. And afterwards, when the engagement begins, Ralph fays, " St. George for me:" and Barbarofo, Garagantua for me." T. WARTON.

66

K. RICH. Then he difdains to fhine; for, by the

book,

He fhould have brav'd the east 3 an hour ago:
A black day will it be to fomebody.-

Ratcliff,

RAT. My lord?

K. RICH.

The fun will not be feen to-day; The fky doth frown and lour upon our army. I would, thefe dewy tears were from the ground. Not fhine to-day! Why, what is that to me, More than to Richmond? for the self-fame heaven, That frowns on me, looks fadly upon him.

Enter NORFOLK.

NOR. Arm, arm, my lord; the foe vaunts in the field.

K. RICH. Come, buftle, buftle;-Caparison my horfe ;

Call up lord Stanley, bid him bring his power :-
I will lead forth my foldiers to the plain,
And thus my battle fhall be ordered.

My foreward fhall be drawn out all in length,4

3

66

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brav'd the eaft] i. e. made it fplendid. So, Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew, fays to the Tailor: -thou haft braved many men [i. e. invested them with finery] brave not me." The common fignification of the verb-to brave, will, in my apprehenfion, hardly fuit the paffage before us; for with what propriety can the fun be said to challenge or fet the East at defiance? STEEVENS.

4 My foreward shall be drawn out all in length,] So Holinfhed: 66 King Richard havyng all things in a readiness went forth with the army out of his tentes, and began to fet his men in array firft the forward fet forth a marvellous length, both of horsemen and also of footemen,-and to the formoft part of all VOL. XIV.

LI

Confifting equally of horfe and foot;
Our archers fhall be placed in the midft:
John duke of Norfolk, Thomas earl of Surrey,
Shall have the leading of this foot and horfe.
They thus directed, we ourself will follow 5
In the main battle; whofe puiffance on either fide
Shall be well winged with our chiefest horse.
This, and Saint George to boot!-What think'st
thou, Norfolk ?

NOR. A good direction, warlike fovereign.—
This found I on my tent this morning."

[Giving a Scrowl.

K. RICH. Jocky of Norfolk, be not too bold,s

[Reads.

For Dickon thy mafter 9 is bought and

fold.

the bowmen as a strong fortreffe for them that came after; and over this John duke of Norfolk was head captain. After him followed the king with a mighty fort of men.' MALONE.

5 we ourself will follow-] The word-ourself, was judicioufly fupplied by Sir Thomas Hanmer, to complete the verfe. STEEVENS.

This, and Saint George to boot!] That is, this is the order of our battle, which promises fuccefs; and over and above this, is the protection of our patron faint. JOHNSON.

To boot is (as I conceive) to help, and not over and above.

HAWKINS.

Mr. Hawkins is certainly right. So, in King Richard II: "Mine innocence, and Saint George to thrive."

The old English phrafe was, Saint George to borrow. So, in A Dialogue, &c. by Dr. William Bulleyne, 1564: "Maister and maiftres, come into this vallie,-untill this storme be past: Saincte George to borrowe, mercifull God, who did ever see the like?" Signat. K. 7. b. MALONE.

7 This found I on my tent this morning.] Sir Thomas Hanmer fupplies the deficiency in the metre of this line, by reading: This paper found I &c. STEEVENS.

8

be not too bold,] The quarto, 1598, and the folio, read

A thing devised by the enemy.

Go, gentlemen, every man unto his charge: Let not our babbling dreams' affright our fouls; Confcience is but a word that cowards ufe, Devis'd at first to keep the strong in awe ;

Our strong arms be our confcience, fwords our law.

fo bold. But it was certainly an error of the prefs: for in both Hall and Holinfhed, the words are given as in the text.

MALONE.

Dickon thy mafter &c.] Dickon is the ancient vulgar familiarization of Richard. In Gammer Gurton's Needle, 1575, Diccon is the name of the Bedlam.-In the words-bought and fold, I believe, there is fomewhat proverbial. So, in The Comedy of Errors: "It would make a man as mad as a buck, to be so bought and fold." Again, in King John:

"Fly, noble English, you are bought and fold."

Again, in Troilus and Creffida, with an addition that throws more light on the phrafe: "Thou art bought and fold among those of any wit, like a Barbarian flave." STEEVENS.

Again, in Mortimeriados, a poem, by Michael Drayton, no date :

"Is this the kindnes that thou offereft me?

"And in thy country am I bought and fold ?"

Again, in Skelton's Colin Clout, 1568:

"How prelacy is fold and bought,

"And come up of nought."

Again, in Bacon's Hiftory of King Henry VII: "all the news ran upon the duke of Yorke, that he had been entertained in Ireland, bought and fold in France," &c.-The expreffion feems to have fignified that fome foul play has been used. The foul play alluded to here, was Stanley's defertion. MALONE.

Let not our babbling dreams &c.] I fufpect these fix lines to be an interpolation; but if Shakspeare was really guilty of them in his firft draught, he probably intended to leave them out when he fubftituted the much more proper harangue that follows. TYRWHITT.

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Confcience is but a word-] So the quarto, 1598. But being accidentally omitted in a later quarto, the editor of the folio fupplied the omiffion by reading-For confcience is a word, &c. MALONE.

March on, join bravely, let us to't pell-mell;
If not to heaven, then hand in hand to hell.3.
What shall I fay more than I have infer'd ?
Remember whom you are to cope withal ;-
A fort of vagabonds,+ rafcals, and run-aways,
A fcum of Bretagnes, and bafe lackey peasants,
Whom their o'er-cloyed country vomits forth
To defperate ventures 5 and affur'd deftruction.
You sleeping safe, they bring you to unrest t;
You having lands, and bless'd with beauteous wives,
They would restrain the one, diftain the other.
And who doth lead them, but a paltry fellow,
Long kept in Bretagne at our mother's coft ?7

3 If not to heaven, then hand in hand to hell.] So, in Macbeth: "That fummons thee to heaven, or to hell."

Again, in King Henry VI. P. II:

"If not in heaven, you'll furely fup in hell.”

STEEVENS.

A fort of vagabonds,] A fort, that is, a company, a collection. See note on A Midfummer-Night's Dream, Vol. IV. p. 408, n. 2. JOHNSON.

5 -ventures] Old copies-adventures. STEEVEns.

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• They would reftrain the one,] i. e. they would lay restrictions on the poffeffion of your lands; impofe conditions on the proprietors of them. Dr. Warburton for reftrain fubftituted distrain, which has been adopted by all the fubfequent editors. "To diftrain," fays he, "is to feixe upon;" but to diftrain is not to feize generally, but to feize goods, cattle, &c. for non-payment of rent, or for the purpose of enforcing the process of courts. The reftrictions likely to be impofed by a conquering enemy on lands, are impofts, contributions, &c. or abfolute confifcation."And if he [Henry Earl of Richmond] should atchieve his false intent and purpose," (fays Richard in his circular letter sent to the Sheriffs of the feveral counties in England on this occafion; Pafton Letters, II. 321,) every man's life, livelihood, and goods, fhall be in his hands, liberty, and difpofition."

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MALONE.

7 Long kept in Bretagne at our mother's coft ?] This is fpoen by Richard, of Henry Earl of Richmond: but they were

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