LIFE AND DEATH OF KING RICHARD III. ACT I. SCENE I.-London. A Street. Enter GLOSTER. Gloster. Now is the winter of our discontent Made glorious summer by this sun of York'; In the deep bosom of the ocean bury'd. Now are our brows bound with victorious wreaths; 1 this sun of York ;] Alluding to the cognizance of Edward IV. which was a sun, in memory of the three suns, which are said to have appeared at the battle which he gained over the Lancastrians at Mortimer's Cross. 2 delightful measures.] A measure was, strictly speaking, a court dance of a stately turn, though the word is sometimes employed to express dances in general. And now, instead of mounting barbed steeds 3, But I,—that am not shap'd for sportive tricks, And hate the idle pleasures of these days. 3 manner. barbed steeds,] i. e. steeds caparisoned in a warlike Barbed, however, may be no more than a corruption of barded. Equus bardatus, in the Latin of the middle ages, was a horse adorned with military trappings. 4 Ile capers -] War capers. This is poetical, though a little harsh; if it be York that capers, the antecedent is at such a distance, that it is almost forgotten. 5 Cheated of feature by dissembling nature,] By dissembling is not meant hypocritical nature, that pretends one thing, and does another but nature that puts together things of a dissimilar kind, as a brave soul and a deformed body. Feature is used here, as in other pieces of the same age, for beauty in general. 6 And therefore,-since I cannot prove a lover,] Shakspeare very diligently inculcates, that the wickedness of Richard proceeded from his deformity, from the envy that rose at the comparison of his own person with others, and which incited him to disturb the pleasures that he could not partake. JOHNSON. Plots have I laid, inductions dangerous', This day should Clarence closely be mew'd up; Of Edward's heirs the murderer shall be. Dive, thoughts, down to my soul! here Clarence comes. Enter CLARENCE, guarded, and BRAKENBURY. Brother, good day: What means this armed guard Clar. His majesty, Tendering my person's safety, hath appointed This conduct to convey me to the Tower. Glo. Upon what cause? Clar. Because my name is-Gcorge. He hearkens after prophecies, and dreams; 8 Have mov'd his highness to commit me now. 7 inductions dangerous,] Preparations for mischief. induction is preparatory to the action of the play. 8 toys] Fancies, freaks of imagination. The Glo. Why, this it is, when men are rul'd by wo men: 'Tis not the king, that sends you to the Tower; My lady Grey, his wife, Clarence, 'tis she, That tempers him to this extremity. Was it not she, and that good man of worship, That made him send lord Hastings to the Tower; Clar. By heaven, I think, there is no man secure, The jealous o'er-worn widow, and herself', Brak. I beseech your graces both to pardon me; Glo. Even so? an please your worship, Brakenbury, You may partake of any thing we say: We speak no treason, man ;-We say, the king A bonny eye, a passing pleasing tongue; The jealous o'er-worn widow, and herself,] queen and Shore. That is, the † And the queen's kindred are made gentlefolks: How say you, sir? can you deny all this? Brak. With this, my lord, myself have nought to do. Glo. Naught to do with mistress Shore? I tell thee, fellow, He that doth naught with her, excepting one, Brak. What one, my lord? Glo. Her husband, knave:-Would'st thou betray me? Brak. I beseech your grace to pardon me; and withal, Forbear your conference with the noble duke. Clar. We know thy charge, Brakenbury, and will obey. Glo. We are the queen's abjects', and must obey. Brother, farewell: I will unto the king; And whatsoe'er you will employ me in,— Were it, to call king Edward's widow-sister,— Mean time, this deep disgrace in brotherhood, Clar. I know, it pleaseth neither of us well. Mean time, have patience. Clar. I must perforce; farewell. [Exeunt CLARENCE, BRAKENBURY, and Guard. Glo. Go, tread the path that thou shalt ne'er return, Simple, plain Clarence!-I do love thee so, That I will shortly send thy soul to heaven, If heaven will take the present at our hands. But who comes here? the new-deliver'd Hastings? + "And that the queen's," &c.-MALONE. 1 the queen's abjects,] The most servile of her subjects, who must of course obey all her commands. 2 lie for you:] i. e. be imprisoned in your stead. To lie was anciently to reside, as appears by many instances in these volumes. |