For raging wind blows up incessant showers, 145 'Gainst thee, fell Clifford, and thee, false Frenchwoman. North. Beshrew me, but his passions move me so / 150 That hardly can I check my eyes from tears. York. That face of his the hungry cannibals Would not have touch'd, would not have stain'd with blood; O, ten times more than tigers of Hyrcania. 155 See, ruthless queen, a hapless father's tears: This cloth thou dipp'dst in blood of my sweet boy, tears] 135, 136. Beshrew 152-155. That face. Could not Hyrcania] 137-140. That face 160 · passions Would Arcadia Q. 156-166. See, ruthless . . . And I . do wash . . . of this . . tell'st . . . And poure forthe fountaines of incessant teares? " (Daphnaida, st. 36, 1591). Quarto has "a storme of teares." 152. cannibals] Again in Othello, 1. iii. 143. See note in this edition. 153. Would . blood] The second folio reads "Would not have stayn'd the roses just with blood after "toucht," dividing the lines differently. This variation has caused many conjectural readings, all departing from the original texts. 154. inexorable] Again in Romeo and Juliet, and (as a modern reading of inexecrable") in Merchant of Venice. The word is in Puttenham : "An inexorable and unfaithful mistress" (Arber, p. 226). 155. tigers of Hyrcania] "the Hyrcan tiger" occurs in Macbeth, III. iv. IOI, and "the Hyrcanian beast" in Hamlet, 11. ii. 472. Also in Selimus (Grosart's Greene, xiv. 239) : "But thou wast borne in desart Caucasus, And the Hircanian tygres gaue thee sucke." Earlier than these is Sylvester's Du Bartas: "African Panthers, Hyrcan Tigres fierce, Cleonian Lions, and Pannonian Bears " (The Sixth Day of the First Week, p. 123, 1591). And earlier in Timothie Kendall, Flowers of Epigrammes, 1577: “A Tiger of the Hyrcan stocke" (rept. p. 20). Eden pointed out the confusion_between Hyrcania and Herecynia. The Caspian Sea was known as Hyrcanum. See Richard Eden's Of the North-east Frostie Seas, 1555 (Hakluyt Soc. 1852). Chiefly from Paulus Jovius. The Quarto reading is an odd misprint. Upon my soul, the hearers will shed tears; Yea, even my foes will shed fast-falling tears, And say "Alas! it was a piteous deed." There, take the crown, and with the crown my curse, And in thy need such comfort come to thee 165 Hard-hearted Clifford, take me from the world; I should not for my life but weep with him, Q. Mar. What, weeping-ripe, my Lord Northumberland ? And that will quickly dry thy melting tears. 170 Clif. Here's for my oath; here's for my father's death. 175 [Stabbing him. Q. Mar. And here's to right our gentle-hearted king. [Stabbing him. York. Open thy gate of mercy, gracious God! right. Yea And loe. There, take [Dies. too cruel hand !] 141-151. See ruthlesse I wash. of that.. tell .. well... I (Ay) · Here, take. two cruell hands Q. 167, 168. Hard-hearted . . . heads] 152, 153. Hard-harted 169-171. Had . . . soul] 154-156. Had heads Q. he bin.... ... his hart Q. here's Thee gates of foorth to meet with thee towne of York. Exeunt Omnes Q. [Stabbing Stabbing . . . Dies] omitted Q, Ff. Richard III. 1. ii. 155-166 on these lines, and note in this edition. The standers-by, at the story, 66 wet their cheeks like trees bedash'd with rain." 169. slaughter-man] See Part I. III. iii. 75 (note). In Q. It occurs in A Manifest Detection of the ... use of Dice-play (Percy reprint, p. 8), 1532 (?): "Go to; say on; lo! how gentle lambs are led to the slaughterman's fold." 171. inly] inward. Occurs again Two Gentlemen of Verona, 11. vii. 18. Elsewhere an adverb. But the distinction is not a sound one. 171. Sorrow gripes his soul] Recalls a line in The First Part of Contention, Q. Mar. Off with his head, and set it on York gates: So York may overlook the town of York. not to speake." Earliest in Contention, and due to Shakespeare. Greene has the phrase in Selimus. 179, 180. Off with his head... York]" After this victory by ye Quene and her parte obteyned, she caused the erle of Salisbury, with all the other prisoners, to bee sent to Pomfret and 180 [Flourish. Exeunt. there to be behedded, and sent all their heddes, and the dukes head of Yorke, to be set upon poles, ouer the gate of the citie of Yorke in despite of them and their lignage " (Hall, p. 251, ed. 1809). See II. i. 65. And see extract at II. v. 125 for more about York's head. ACT II SCENE I.-A Plain near Mortimer's Cross in A March. Enter EDWARD, RICHARD, and their power. Edw. I wonder how our princely father 'scaped, Or whether he be 'scaped away or no From Clifford's and Northumberland's pursuit. Rich. I cannot joy until I be resolv'd Where our right valiant father is become. A March] Ff; omitted Q. with drum and Souldiers Q. 8. How . 5 ΙΟ Enter. .] Ff; Enter Edward and Richard, 1-7. I wonder how good escape] omitted Q. sad?] 1, 2. Edw. After this dangerous fight and haplesse warre How doth my noble brother Richard fare? Q. 9, 10. Rich. I cannot become] 3, 4. Rich. I cannot . . is become Q. 1. I wonder . . .] When Shakespeare wrote a new opening for the older one, in this scene, as he frequently does in these two plays, he perhaps forgot the almost identical first line of the first Act-which was in Q. 4-6. Had he Had he Or had he] The repetition of the initial words in poetical lines was carried to great excess at this time and earlier. In this play see Act ii., Scene v., where (as here) it is part of the finished play, not the Quarto version. For examples see Hawes' Pastime of Pleasure (1509), p. 102, reprint, where fourteen lines have same beginnings. Gascoigne's Steel Glas is loaded with the trick. Spenser abounds in iterations and repetitions, but in a more measured manner, and with due regard to eloquence. ... is I saw him in the battle range about, And watch'd him how he singled Clifford forth. As doth a lion in a herd of neat ; Or as a bear, encompass'd round with dogs, II-14. I saw him . . . As doth . . see him beare himselfe, As doth . enemies] omitted Q. 19, 20. in a midst So fled son] 7, 8. So fled. our valiant... pride.. Dazzle suns? Q. To winne renowne did wondrous feats of armes (Spanish Tragedy, 1. iii. 61). The passage in Marlowe, in Tamburlaine, Part II. III. ii. (Dyce, 56, a) :— 66 run desperate through the thickest throngs, Dreadless of blows;" and in Iv. i. (61, a) : "he himself amidst the thickest troops, Beats down our foes." So did he fly amongst them here "A heirde of Neate" occurs in Gold- 15 20 neat] 5, 6. How often did I neat Q. my war-like 15-18. Or as a sonne. Three sonnes appeare glorious sun; How . . love. Edw. how glorious sun, Dasell ... 20. prize] "pride" of Quartos is preferable. But compare "prize" (privilege) above, I. iv. 59. 21-24. the morning. . . prancing to his love] A variously put metaphor. See Psalm xix. 4, 5, and Faerie Queene, I. v. 2, where the "golden orientall gate" occurs: "And Phoebus, fresh as brydegroome to his mate, Came dauncing forth." And Peele, David and Bethsabe (473, a), where Dyce gives the reference to Spenser, as Jortin does on Faerie Queene to the Psalm, a reference given much earlier by Sylvester (1621 ed. p. 85) in a marginal note to the lines in Fourth Day of the First Week of Du Bartas (1591):— "Thou seem'st (O Titan) like a Bride-groome brave, Who from his chamber early issuing out In rich array," etc. |