What do I fear? myself? there's none else by: Left I revenge. What? Myfelf on myself? Fool, of thyself speak well :-Fool, do not flatter. Nay, wherefore fhould they? fince that I myself Methought, the fouls of all that I had murder'd 4 2 that is, I am 1.] Thus the quarto, 1598, and the folio. The quarto, 1597, reads-I and I. I am not fure that it is not right. MALONE. 3 I love myfelf.] The old copies redundantly read-Alack, I love, &c. STEEVENS. 4 Methought, the fouls &c.] These lines ftand with fo little propriety at the end of this fpeech, that I cannot but fufpect them to be misplaced. Where then thall they be inserted? Perhaps after these words: "Fool, do not flatter." JOHNSON. I agree with Johnson in fuppofing that this and the two fol. lowing lines have been mifplaced, but I differ from him with respect to their juft fituation.-The place, in my opinion, in Came to my tent: and every one did threat Enter RATCLIFF. RAT. My lord, K. RICH. Who's there? RAT. Ratcliff, my lord; 'tis I.5 The early village cock which they might be introduced with the most propriety, is just ten lines further on, after the words Ratcliff, I fear, I fear,— Methought," &c. And then Ratcliff's reply 66 Nay, good my lord, be not afraid of shadows." would be natural; whereas as the text is now regulated, Ratcliff bids him not to be afraid of shadows, without knowing that he had been haunted by them; unless we suppose that the idea of fhadows is included in what Richard calls a frightful dream. M. MASON. Cold fearful drops stand on my trembling flesh. Methought, the fouls of all that I had murder'd-], Either the two and twenty intermediate lines are not Shakspeare's, or are fo unworthy of him, that it were to be withed they could with propriety be degraded to the margin. I wonder that Dr. Johnfon, who thought the fubfequent lines misplaced, did not perceive that their connection with the preceding part of the fpeech, ending at-trembling flesh, was interrupted folely by this apparent interpolation, which is in the highest degree childish and unnatural. RITSON. I rather fuppofe these lines (though genuine) to have been croffed out of the ftage manufcript by Shakspeare himself, and afterwards reftored by the original but tastelefs editor of his play. Burbage, the first performer of Richard, might, for obvious reafons, have requested their difmiffion; or the poet discovering how aukwardly they ftood, might, "without a prompter," have difcarded them. STEEVENS. 5 -'tis I.] Surely, thefe two fyllables, ferving only to derange the metre, fhould be omitted; or we ought to read: My lord, 'tis I. The early village-cock-." STEEVENS. Hath twice done falutation to the morn; Your friends are up, and buckle on their armour. K. RICH. O, Ratcliff, I have dream'd a fearful dream! What thinkeft thou? will our friends prove all true? RAT. No doubt, my lord. K. RICH. Ratcliff, I fear, I fear,— RAT. Nay, good my lord, be not afraid of fha dows. K. RICH. By the apoftle Paul, fhadows to-night Have ftruck more terror to the foul of Richard, Than can the fubftance of ten thousand foldiers, Armed in proof, and led by fhallow Richmond. It is not yet near day. Come, go with me; Under our tents I'll play the eaves-dropper, To hear, if any mean to fhrink from me. [Exeunt King RICHARD and RATCLIFF. RICHMOND wakes. Enter OXFORD and Others. LORDS. Good morrow, Richmond. RICHM. 'Cry mercy, lords, and watchful gentle That men, you have ta'en a tardy fluggard here. LORDS. How have you flept, my lord? RICHM. The fweeteft fleep, and faireft-boding dreams, That ever enter'd in a drowsy head, 60, Ratcliff &c] This and the two following lines are omitted in the folio. Yet Ratcliff is there permitted to say"be not afraid of fhadows," though Richard's dream has not been mentioned: an additional proof of what has been already fuggefted in p. 490, n. 1. Malone. Have I fince your departure had, my lords. Methought, their fouls, whofe bodies Richard murder'd, Came to my tent, and cried-On! victory! RICHM. Why, then 'tis time to arm, and give [He advances to the Troops. More than I have faid, loving countrymen, The leifure and enforcement of the time Forbids to dwell on : Yet remember this,-God, and our good caufe, fight upon our fide; The prayers of holy faints, and wronged fouls, Like high-rear'd bulwarks, stand before our faces; Richard except, thofe, whom we fight againft, Had rather have us win, than him they follow. For what is he they follow? truly, gentlemen, A bloody tyrant, and a homicide; One rais'd in blood, and one in blood establish'd; A bafe foul ftone, made precious by the foil 7 One that made means -] To make means was, in Shakfpeare's time, often used in an unfavourable fenfe, and fignified -to come at any thing by indirect practices. STEEVENS. 8 by the foil Of England's chair,] It is plain that foil cannot here mean that of which the obfcurity recommends the brightness of the diamond. It muft mean the leaf (feuille) or thin plate of metal in which the ftone is fet. JOHNSON. Nothing has been, or is ftill more common, than to put a One that hath ever been God's enemy: You fleep in peace, the tyrant being slain; bright-coloured foil under a cloudy or low-prized stone. The fame allufion is common to many writers. So, in a Song pub. lifhed in England's Helicon, 1614: "Falfe ftones by foiles have many one abus'd." STEEVENS. England's chair means England's throne. Set is used equivocally. MALONE. 9 I quit-] i. e. requite. So, in Antony and Cleopatra: "To let a fellow who will take rewards, "And fay, God quit you!—" STEEVENS. the ranfom of my bold attempt-] The fine paid by me in atonement for my rashness shall be my dead corse. JOHNSON. 2 God, and Saint George!] Saint George was the common cry of the English foldiers when they charged the enemy. The author of the old Arte of Warre, printed in the latter end of Queen Elizabeth's reign, formally enjoins the use of this cry among his military laws, p. 84: " Item, that all fouldiers entring into battaile, affault, skirmish, or other faction of armes, fhall have for their common cry and, |
