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Hast. On what occasion, God he knows, not I,

The queen your mother, and your brother York, Have taken sanctuary: The tender prince Would fain have come with me to meet your

grace,

But by his mother was perforce witheld.

Buck. Fie! what an indirect and peevish

course

Is this of hers !-Lord cardinal, will your grace

Persuade the queen to send the duke of York
Unto his princely brother presently?
If she deny, lord Hastings, go with him,
And from her jealous arms pluck him perforce.
Card. My lord of Buckingham, if my weak
oratory

Can from his mother win the duke of York,
Anon expect him here: But if she be obdurate
To mild entreaties, God in heaven forbid
We should infringe the holy privilege
Of blessed sanctuary! not for all this land
Would I be guilty of so great a sin.

Buck. You are too senseless-obstinate, my lord,

Too ceremonious and traditional :

Weigh it but with the grossness of this age,
You break not sanctuary in seizing him.
The benefit thereof is always granted

To those whose dealings have deserved the place,

And those who have the wit to claim the place:

This prince hath neither claim'd it, nor deserv'd it;

And therefore, in mine opinion, cannot have it:
Then, taking him from thence, that is not there,
You break no privilege nor charter there.
Oft have I heard of sanctuary men;
But sanctuary children ne'er till now.

Card. My lord, you shall o'er-rule my mind

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Your highness shall repose you at the Tower : Then where you please, and shall be thought most fit

For your best health and recreation.

Prince. I do not like the Tower, of any place:

Did Julius Cæsar build that place, my lord ?

Glo. He did, my gracious lord, begin that

place;

Which, since, succeeding ages have re-edified. Prince. Is it upon record? or else reported Successively from age to age, he built it?

Buck. Upon record, my gracious lord. Prince. But say, my lord, it were not registered;

Methinks, the truth should live from age to age, As 't were retail'd" to all posterity,

Even to the general all-ending day.

Glo. So wise so young, they say, do never live long.

Prince. What say you, uncle?

с

[Aside.

Glo. I say, without characters, fame lives

long.

Thus, like the formal Vice Iniquity,2

I moralize two meanings in one word.} [4side.

Prince. That Julius Cæsar was a famous man: With what his valour did enrich his wit, His wit set down to make his valour live: Death makes no conquest of this conqueror; For now he lives in fame, though not in life.I'll tell you what, my cousin Buckingham. Buck. What, my gracious lord?

Prince. An if I live until I be a man, I'll win our ancient right in France again, Or die a soldier, as I liv'd a king. Glo. Short summers lightly have a forward spring. [Aside.

0

a Where is understood here; if it were repeated there would be no difficulty in the construction of the sentence. b Retail'd. In the fourth act this verb is again used with the same meaning:

"To whom I will retail my conquest won." Retail and detail, according to Tooke, are both derived from tale-the past participle of the Anglo Saxon verb tell-an, to tell. The tale is something told, as in the well-known pas. sage in Milton's 'L'Allegro: '

"And every shepherd tells his tale."

This is not tells his story-but counts over the number of his sheep as he lets them out of their fold, in the earliest hour of the morning. So to retail is to tell over again; and the word became applied to small tradings, because to sell by tale is to sell by numeration, and the retail was the repetition of the numeration. In Lord Berners' 'Froissart' we find merchandize "taled and retaled." The truth "retail'd to all posterity" is the truth retold to all posterity.

c Without characters-without the help of letters.

d The equivocation which Richard uses consists in the repetition of the words "live long," which the Prince has caught, but with a different "meaning." He has moralized "two meanings" by retaining the same conclusion of his sentence, or "word." For an Illustration of "the formal Vice Iniquity," see the end of this Act. • Lightly-commonly.

L

Enter YORK, HASTINGS, and the CARDINAL. Buck. Now, in good time, here comes the duke of York.

Prince. Richard of York! how fares our noble a brother?

York. Well, my dreadb lord; so must I call

you now.

Prince. Ay, brother; to our grief, as it is yours:

Too late he died, that might have kept that title,

Which by his death hath lost much majesty.

Glo. How fares our cousin, noble lord of York?

Fork. I thank you, gentle uncle. O, my lord, You said, that idle weeds are fast in growth: The prince my brother hath outgrown me far. Glo. He hath, my lord. York. And therefore is he idle? Glo. O, my fair cousin, I must not say so. York. Then he is more beholden to you than I. Glo. He may command me, as my sovereign; But you have power in me, as in a kinsman. York. I pray you, uncle,a give me this dag.

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Prince. My lord of York will still be cross in talk;

Uncle, your grace knows how to bear with him. York. You mean, to bear me, not to bear with

me:

Uncle, my brother mocks both you and me;
Because that I am little, like an ape,

He thinks that you should bear me on your shoulders.

Buck. With what a sharp-provided wit he reasons!

To mitigate the scorn he gives his uncle,
He prettily and aptly taunts himself:
So cunning, and so young, is wonderful.

Glo. My lord," will 't please you pass along?
Myself, and my good cousin Buckingham,
Will to your mother, to entreat of her
To meet you at the Tower, and welcome you.
York. What, will you go unto the Tower, my
lord?

Prince. My lord protector needs will have it

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To make William lord Hastings of our mind,
For the instalment of this noble duke
In the seat royal of this famous isle?

Cate. Ho, for his father's sake, so loves the prince,

That he will not be won to aught against him. Buck. What think'st thou then of Stanley? will not he?

Cate. He will do all in all as Hastings doth. Buck. Well then, no more but this: Go,

gentle Catesby,

And, as it were far off, sound thou lord Hastings
How he doth stand affected to our purpose;
And summon him to-morrow to the Tower,
To sit about the coronation."

If thou dost find him tractable to us,
Encourage him, and tell him all our reasons:
If he be leaden, icy, cold, unwilling,
Be thou so too; and so break off the talk,
And give us notice of his inclination :
For we to-morrow hold divided councils,
Wherein thyself shalt highly be employed.

Glo. Commend me to lord William: tell him,
Catesby,

His ancient knot of dangerous adversaries
To-morrow are let blood at Pomfret-castle;
And bid my lord,b for joy of this good news,
Give mistress Shore one gentle kiss the more.
Buck. Good Catesby, go, effect this business
soundly.

Cute. My good lords both, with all the heed
I can.

Glo. Shall we hear from you, Catesby, ere we sleep ?

Cate. You shall, my lord.

Glo. At Crosby-house there shall you find us both.3 [Exit CATESBY.

Buck. Now, my lord, what shall we do, if we perceive

Lord Hastings will not yield to our complots? Glo. Chop off his head ;-something we will determine:

And, look, when I am king, claim thou of me The earldom of Hereford, and all the moveables Whereof the king my brother was possess❜d.

Buck. I'll claim that promise at your grace's hand.

Glo. And look to have it yielded with all kind

ness.

These two lines are not in the quartos. bLord, in the folio; in the quartos, friend.

This is the reading of the folio. That of the quartos is— "Chop off his head, man;-somewhat we will do."

It is difficult not to have a leaning to the text of the quartos, (the received one,) with which we have so long been familiar; but, on the other hand, it is impossible to believe that the correction came from any hand but that of the author.

HISTORIES.--VOL. II.

T

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If

sure,

you will presently take horse with him, And with all speed post with him toward the north,

To shun the danger that his soul divines.

Hast. Go, fellow, go, return unto thy lord:
Bid him not fear the separated councils :
His honour and myself are at the one,
And at the other is my good friend Catesby;
Where nothing can proceed that toucheth us
Whereof I shall not have intelligence.

Tell him, his fears are shallow, without instance:
And, for his dreams, I wonder he's so simple b
To trust the mockery of unquiet slumbers:
To fly the boar, before the boar pursues,
Were to incense the boar to follow us,
And make pursuit where he did mean no chase.

So the folio. The quartos,

"Cannot thy master sleep these tedious nights?"

b Appears, in the folio; the quartos, should seem.

c Self, in the folio; the quartos, lordship.

d This is the reading of the folio. That of the quartos

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"And then he sends you word

He dreamt to night the boar had rased his helm."
Kept, in the folio; the quartos, held.

f So the folio; the quartos, presently, you will.

g The folio, without; the quartos, wanting. The word instance signifies here, as in other passages of Shakspere, example, fact in proof, corroboration. So in the Merry Wives of Windsor, "My desires had instance and argument to commend themselves."

h Simple, in the folio; the quartos, fond.

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Cate. Many good morrows to my noble lord! Hast. Good morrow, Catesby; you are early stirring :

What news, what news, in this our tottering state?

Cate. It is a reeling world, indeed, my lord; And I believe will never stand upright, Till Richard wear the garland of the realm. Hast. How! wear the garland! dost thou mean the crown?

Cate. Ay, my good lord.

Hast. I'll have this crown of mine cut from
my shoulders

Before I'll see the crown so foul misplac'd.
But can'st thou guess that he doth aim at it?
Cate. Ay, on my life; and hopes to find you
forward

Upon his party, for the gain thereof :
And, thereupon, he sends you this good news,—
That, this same very day, your enemies,
The kindred of the queen, must die at Pomfret.

Hast. Indeed, I am no mourner for that news,
Because they have been still my adversaries:
But, that I'll give my voice on Richard's side,
To bar my master's heirs in true descent,
God knows, I will not do it, to the death.

Cate. God keep your lordship in that gracious mind!

Hast. But I shall laugh at this a twelve-
month hence,

That they which brought me in my master's hate,
I live to look upon their tragedy.
Well, Catesby, cre a fortnight make me older,
I'll send some packing that yet think not on't.
Cate. 'Tis a vile thing to die, my gracious
lord,

When men are unprepar'd and look not for it. Hust. O monstrous, monstrous! and so falls it out

With Rivers, Vaughan, Grey: and so 't will do With some men else, who think themselves as safe

As thou and I; who, as thou know'st, are dear To princely Richard, and to Buckingham.

Cute. The princes both make high account of you,

For they account his head upon the bridge.

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[Aside.

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Rat. Despatch; the limit of your lives is out. Riv. O Pomfret, Pomfret! O thou bloody prison,

Fatal and ominous to noble peers!
Within the guilty closure of thy walls
Richard the Second here was hack'd to death:
And, for more slander to thy dismal seat,
We give to thee our guiltless blood to drink.
Grey. Now Margaret's curse is fallen upon
our heads,

When she exclaim'd on Hastings, you, and I,
For standing by when Richard stabb'd her son.
Riv. Then curs'd she Richard, then curs'd she

Buckingham,

Then curs'd she Hastings :-0, remember, God,
To hear her prayer for them, as now for us!
And for my sister, and her princely sons,
Be satisfied, dear God, with our true blood,
Which, as thou know'st, unjustly must be spilt!
Rat. Make haste, the hour of death is ex-
piate."

Riv. Come, Grey,-come Vaughan,—let us here embrace:

Farewell, until we meet again in heaven.

[Exeunt.

SCENE IV.-London. A Room in the Tower BUCKINGHAM, STANLEY, HASTINGS, the BISHOP OF ELY, RATCLIFF, LOVEL, and others, sitting at a table: officers of the council attending. Hast. Now, noble peers, the cause why we

are met

Is, to determine of the coronation :
In God's name, speak, when is the royal day?
Buck. Are all things ready for that royal time?
Stan. They are; and wants but nomination.
Ely. To-morrow then I judge a happy day.
Buck. Who knows the lord protector's mind
herein?

Who is most inward with the noble duke?

Ely. Your grace, we think, should soonest know his mind.

Buck. We know each other's faces: for our hearts,

He knows no more of mine than I of yours;
Nor I of his, my lord, than you of mine:
Lord Hastings, you and he are near in love.

a Expiate. This word does not occur in the quartos. The second folio reads, "the hour of death is now expired." However forced the meaning of expiate may be, Shakspere has used it in his 22nd Sonnet, in a similar manner :"My glass shall not persuade me I am old,

So long as youth and thou are of one date; But when in thee time's furrows I behold, Then look I death my days should expiate." Expirate was the reading of Steevens.

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