# Richard III (1927) Yale/Notes

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NOTES
I. i. 1. winter . . . 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, 1461. See Holinshed, iii. 660. There is also a quibble on 'son' and 'sun.' The early texts all have 'son'; modern editors adopt the emendation 'sun.'
I. i. 12. He capers. I.e. War, first personified as a rough soldier, now 'capers.'
I. i. 15. amorous. A looking-glass that reflects a face fond of itself (Schmidt). Cf. however, 'lascivious pleasing of a lute' (13); that is, as Furness suggests, the looking-glass and the lute may be interpreted as active agents.
I. i. 19. feature. Denoted the whole exterior personal appearance (Wright).
dissembling. Fraudful, deceitful (Johnson). There is some disagreement with this interpretation.
I. i. 24. weak piping time of peace. I.e. because in times of peace the loud, stirring strains of martial music are no longer heard. Cf. Much Ado About Nothing, II. iii. 13–15: 'I have known, when there was no music with him but the drum and fife; and now had he rather hear the tabor and the pipe.'
I. i. 29. fair well-spoken days. Cf. Twelfth Night, II. iv. 6: 'Of these most brisk and giddy-paced times'; Timon of Athens, IV. iii. 495: 'Strange times, that weep with laughing, not with weeping.'
I. i. 30. I am determined to prove a villain. It is perhaps possible, as Charles Lamb suggests, that Richard uses villain here in the sense of 'churl' as opposed to 'courtier,' and not in our modern sense of 'wicked man.' On the other hand, cf. 3 Henry VI, V. vi. 78, 79: 'Then, since the heavens have shap'd my ​body so, Let hell make crook'd my mind to answer it.' Lamb's suggestion is unnecessarily apologetic.
I. i. 33. By drunken prophecies. I.e. by inventing prophecies for drunken men to spread abroad.
I. i. 36. true and just. I.e. and therefore the less likely to entertain any suspicion (Wright).
I. i. 39, 40. About a prophecy, which says that G Of Edward's heirs the murtherer shall be. '[Clarence's death] rose of a foolish prophesie, which was, that, after K. Edward, one should reigne, whose first letter of his name should be a G.' Holinshed, iii. 703. Halle, 326.
I. i. 43. His majesty. An anachronism. The title used by Edward IV was 'most high and mighty prince' (Bradley).
I. i. 55. cross-row. Christ-cross-row. The alphabet was so called from the figure of the cross formerly prefixed to it (Murray: N.E.D.).
I. i. 65. tempers. The reading of the Folio is 'That tempts him to this harsh extremity.' Most recent editors prefer here the reading of the Quarto. On the other hand Qq. 5–8 agree with the Folio in reading 'tempts.' 'Harsh' is found only in the Folio.
I. i. 67. Anthony Woodville, Earl Rivers, eldest brother to the Queen of Edward IV, appointed goverror to the Prince of Wales. See note on II. i. 68.
I. i. 72. night-walking heralds. Ironical description of the messengers busied with the king's illicit business (Furness).
I. i. 73. Mistress Shore. Jane Shore was famous as the mistress of Edward IV. She was the daughter of a Cheapside mercer and the wife of a goldsmith in Lombard Street. She died in poverty c. 1527. See the tragedy by Nicholas Rowe, Jane Shore.
I. i. 75. Lord Hastings was for her delivery. The Quarto reads 'Lord Hastings was to her for his de​livery.' The Quarto reading here is more obvious, but feebler.
I. i. 81. The jealous o'erworn widow. Elizabeth Woodville was born in 1437, so that her age at this time would be at least about forty. She had been married before she became Edward's wife, a fact which seems to intensify Richard's hate. Cf. line 92 below, which does not confirm the accusation of jealousy.
I. i. 88. an 't. Pope's modernization has been followed in preference to the 'and' of the early editions.
I. i. 106. abjects. 'outcasts,' the more usual sense, is perhaps the meaning here. Cf. also Henry VIII. I. i. 126, 127: 'and his eye revil'd Me, as his abject object.'
I. i. 109. widow. The word is used contemptuously, as in 81 above. I.e. the Widow Grey, whom King Edward IV has taken to wife.
I. i. 115. lie for you. With probably a quibble on the other meaning of 'lie.'
I. i. 133. play. The reading of the Quarto is 'prey.'
I. i. 138. Saint John. Quarto, 'Saint Paul.' Elsewhere in the play Richard's favorite oath is by Saint Paul.
I. ii. 1. Anne. The historical Lady Anne did not attend Henry VI's funeral; and the dialogue between her and Richard is Shakespeare's invention. 'The dead corps, on the Ascension euen [May 22, 1471], was conueied with billes and glaues pompouslie . . . from the Tower to the church of saint Paule, and there, laid on a beire or coffen bare faced, the same in presence of the beholders did bleed: where it rested the space of one whole daie. From thense he was caried to the Blackfriers . . .: and, on the next daie after, it was conueied in a boat . . . vnto the monas​terie of Chertseie. . . .' Holinshed, iii. 690. Richard married Anne in 1472.
I. ii. 19. wolves. The reading of the Quarto is 'adders,' which some editors hold to be more consistent with the meaning of the passage.
I. ii. 29. Chertsey is in Surrey.
I. ii. 56. Open their congeal'd mouths and bleed afresh. Referring to the belief that a murdered body will bleed afresh in the presence of the murderer. See note on I. ii. 1. above.
I. ii. 76. crimes. The reading of the Quarto is 'evils.' Many editors adopt the Quarto reading to maintain the parallelism of lines 75–77 and 78–80.
I. ii. 78. diffus'd. The Quarto reading of this line is 'defus'd infection of a man'; F1, 'defus'd infection of man'; F3, F4, 'diffus'd infection of a man.' There have been many conjectures concerning the exact meaning of 'defus'd.' See, however, King Lear, I. iv. 2: 'That can my speech diffuse'; and Merry Wives of Windsor, IV. iv. 56: 'With some diffused song.'
I. ii. 92. slain by Edward's hand. Cf. 3 Henry VI, V. v. 38–40 in which the killing is portrayed; Holinshed, iii. 688.
I. ii. 103. hedge-hog. Applied to Richard because of its hump-backed appearance, with a pun on Richard's heraldic emblem, the boar (hog).
I. ii. 148. poison on a fouler toad. Toads were believed to be venomous.
I. ii. 151. basilisks. Fabulous reptiles, also called cockatrices, alleged to be hatched by a serpent from a cock's eggs; ancient authors stated that their hissing drove away all other serpents, and that their breath, or even their look, was fatal (Murray. N.E.D.).
I. ii. 158. Rutland. For an account of his murder see 3 Henry VI, I. iii.
I. ii. 213. Crosby House fronted on Bishopsgate Street Within. It was built by Sir John Crosby in ​1466, and later Richard, when lord protector, was lodged there.
I. ii. 228. White-Friars. According to Holinshed the body was conveyed to Blackfriars. See note on I. ii. 1 above.
I. ii. 229, 230. Cf. Titus Andronicus, II. i. 82, 83: 'She is a woman, therefore may be woo'd; She is a woman, therefore may be won.'
I. ii. 242. three months since. Tewkesbury was fought on May 4; Henry was buried on May 23, 1471.
I. iii. 12. the trust of Richard Gloucester. '. . . the duke of Glocester bare him in open sight so reuerentlie to the prince . . . that at the councell next assembled he was made the onelie man, chosen and thought most meet to be protector of the king and his realme; so that (were it destinie or were it follie) the lambe was betaken to the woolfe to keepe.' Holinshed, iii. 716. More, 22/31. The historical date of Richard's appointment is April or May, 1483.
I. iii. 15. determin'd, not concluded yet. I.e. it has been decided on, but has not yet been made official.
I. iii. 16 S. d. Derby. Thomas, Lord Stanley, was not created Earl of Derby until 1485. Shakespeare has either confused this Lord Stanley with Sir William Stanley, or thought Thomas, Lord Stanley, later the Earl of Derby, two different men. In the Folio he is called Stanley during the third, fourth, and fifth acts.
I. iii. 20. Countess Richmond. Margaret Beaufort, daughter of the Duke of Somerset. She married in 1455 Edmund Tudor, Earl of Richmond. She married next Lord Henry Stafford, and her third husband was Thomas, Lord Stanley. See preceding note.
I. iii. 114–116. The Folio omits 114; the Quarto, 116.
I. iii. 121. Ere you were queen, ay, or your husband king. Edward became king in 1460 when Richard was ​eight years old. The 2d and 3d parts of Henry VI similarly give him a prominent part in Edward's early struggles.
I. iii. 128. factious for the house of Lancaster. Cf. 3 Henry VI, III. ii. 6, in which it is stated that Sir John Grey died 'in quarrel of the house of York.' The statement of Richard that Sir John was a Lancastrian is historically correct.
I. iii. 130. Margaret's battle. Margaret was victorious at St. Albans in the battle of Bernard's Heath on Feb. 17, 1461. Some editors, however, believe that 'battle' here has the meaning of 'army.'
I. iii. 160–162. The structure of these lines is confused. They may be paraphrased as follows: Which of you who looks at me does not tremble, if not because, as subjects, you bow before your queen, then since, as rebels, you quake before the sovereign you have deposed?
I. iii. 167. Margaret fled into France in 1464 after the battle of Hexham. Edward issued a proclamation forbidding her to return. On April 14, 1471, she landed at Weymouth. After the battle of Tewkesbury she was confined in the Tower until 1475. In 1476 she again went to France, after which time she did not return to England. She died in 1482. The historical time of the present scene is 1488, hence her introduction here is dramatic fiction.
I. iii. 174. The curse my noble father laid on thee. Cf. 3 Henry VI, I. iv. 164–166: 'There, take the crown, and with the crown my curse, And in thy need such comfort come to thee As now I reap at thy too cruel hand!'
I. iii. 187. Northumberland. Sir Henry Percy, third Earl of Northumberland, killed at Towton, 1461. Cf. 3 Henry VI, I. iv. 150–151; 169–174.
I. iii. 228. elvish-mark'd. A disfigurement given by the elves to a child at birth.
​I. iii. 228. rooting hog. Richard's badge was a white boar. In the second year of Richard's reign, 1484, William Collingborne published the couplet:
'The Cat, the Rat, and Louell our dog, Rule all England vnder an hog.
Meaning by the hog, the dreadfull wild boare, which was the kings cognisance.' Holinshed, iii. 746. Halle, 398. Collingborne was executed for this indiscretion.
I. iii. 256. Your fire-new stamp of honour is scarce current. The figure of speech is from the art of coining or minting money. 'Fire-new' = newly coined. Dorset's title was granted him on April 18, 1475 (Stow, 713. Holinshed, iii. 702). He had therefore held this title for about eight years.
I. iii. 277. My charity is outrage, life my shame. Le. outrage is the only charity shown me, and my life is my shame.
I. iii. 285, 286. curses never pass The lips of those that breathe them in the air. A possible reference to an old belief that curses to be efficacious should be uttered within walls. More probably the meaning is: 'curses never take effect outside the lips of those who utter them' (Tawney).
I. iii. 321. The Quarto reading is 'you my noble Lord.' Capell's emendation 'you, my noble lords' is accepted by many editors.
I. iii. 333. Dorset. In the Quarto the name appears as Vaughan. Spedding remarked (p. 85) that he could see no reason for the change. Pickersgill in reply (p. 11) points out that later it is upon Rivers, Vaughan, and Grey that Richard's vengeance falls. Nearly all editors accept the reading 'Vaughan.'
I. iii. 353. millstones. Probably a proverbial expression. Cf. Troilus and Cressida, I. ii. 156: 'Hecuba laughed that her eyes ran o'er.'—'With millstones.'
I. iv. S. d. In the Quarto Brakenbury and the ​Keeper are the same person. In the Folio Brakenbury does not enter until after line 75. It is possible that the Quarto text represents an acting version in which an extra character was omitted for economical reasons.
I. iv. 10. Burgundy. Clarence, when a child, had resided under Burgundian protection at Utrecht, the Netherlands being then a part of the domains of the Dukes of Burgundy.
I. iv. 45. melancholy flood. I.e. the river Styx, across which Charon, the 'sour ferryman,' conveys in his boat the souls of the newly dead into 'the kingdom of perpetual night,' i.e. Hades.
I. iv. 49. father-in-law. Clarence married Isabel Neville, the elder daughter of Warwick.
I. iv. 50. What scourge for perjury. Cf. 3 Henry VI, V. i. 106.
I. iv. 53. A shadow like an angel. I.e. the ghost of Edward, Prince of Wales, son of Henry VI.
I. iv. 56. That stabb'd me in the field by Tewkesbury. Cf. 3 Henry VI, V. v. 40, in which the killing is portrayed.
I. iv. 160. costard. A species of large apple. The term was a vulgar colloquialism for the head.
I. iv. 163. sop. A grim jest of the murderer. It was the custom to sop bread in wine. Probably there is also implied a quibble on 'milk-sop.'
I. iv. 199. This line is omitted in the Folio. The preceding half line in the Quarto is 'to have redemption.' Probably the Folio omits the line in accordance with the statute of 1606 against blasphemy.
I. iv. 230. gallant-springing. I.e. blooming Plantagenet; a prince in the spring of life (Johnson).
I. iv. 252. snow in harvest. Cf. Proverbs, xxvi, 1: 'As snow in summer, and as rain in harvest, so honour is not seemly for a fool.'
I. iv. 280. malmsey-butt. '. . . the duke was cast ​into the Tower, and therewith adiudged for a traitor, and priuilie drowned in a butt of malmesie, the eleuenth of March, in the beginning of the seuententh yeare of the kings reigne.' Holinshed, iii. 708. The earlier portion of this scene is Shakespeare's invention.
I. i.v 282. Pilate. Cf. Richard II, IV. i. 239: 'Though some of you with Pilate wash your hands.'
II. i. 2. united league. 'But [King Edward], in his last sicknesse, when he perceiued his naturall strength so sore infeebled, that he despaired all recouerie . . . called some of them before him that were at variance, and in especiall the lord marquesse Dorset, the queenes sonne by hir first husband. So did he also William the lord Hastings.' The lords, Holinshed then tells us, 'ech forgaue other, and ioined their hands togither; when (as it after appeared by their deeds) their hearts were farre asunder.' Holinshed, iii. 713, 714. More, 8/15.
II. i. 7. Rivers and Hastings. The Folio has 'Dorset and Rivers,' but these two were nephew and uncle, both belonging to the queen's party. Line 25 below shows that the reading of the Quarto is, in this instance, the correct one. See also note on l. 68 below.
II. i. 11. So thrive I, as I truly swear the like. I.e. May my fortune be in accordance with the truth of my oath. See also line 16 and line 24 below.
II. i. 14, 15. award Either of you to be the other's end. I.e. cause each to die by the other's agency [either of you to suffer the other's end]. A prophetic warning. See III. iii. 14.
II. i. 66. Of you, and you, Lord Rivers, and of Dorset. The Quarto reading is: 'Of you, Lord Rivers, and Lord Grey, of you.' It is Grey later who is associated in death with Rivers.
II. i. 68. Lord Woodville, and Lord Scales. The ​Quarto omits this line. Woodville was the Lord Rivers addressed in line 66, and he was also Lord Scales in right of his wife, the heir and daughter of Lord Scales. Shakespeare was apparently misled into thinking Rivers three separate persons by the passage in Halle, 347: 'The gouernance of this younge Prince was committed too lord Antony Wooduile erle Ryuers and lord Scales, brother to the quene.' He was unaware that one person bore all three of these titles. See also Holinshed, iii. 714, a passage possible to misinterpret in the same way. See note on II. ii. 149.
II. i. 69–72. Cf. Milton's Eikonoklastes (1649), chap. 1, in which, in illustrating that 'the deepest policy of a tyrant hath been ever to counterfeit religious,' Milton states that the poets 'have been in this point so mindful of decorum, as to put never more pious words in the mouth of any person, than of a tyrant. I shall not instance an abstruse author . . ., but one whom we well know was the closest companion of these his [i.e., King Charles'] solitudes, William Shakespeare; who introduces the person of Richard the Third, speaking in as high a strain of piety and mortification as is uttered in any passage of this book [Eikon Basilike], and sometimes to the same sense and purpose with some words in this place: "I intended," saith he, "not only to oblige my friends, but my enemies."'
II. i. 104. give pardon to a slave. '. . . although king Edward were consenting to his death, yet he much did both lament his infortunate chance, & repent his sudden execution: insomuch that, when anie person sued to him for the pardon of malefactors condemned to death, he would accustomablie saie, & openlie speake: "Oh infortunate brother, for whose life not one would make sute!"' Holinshed, iii. 703. Halle, 362.
II. i. 113. Oxford. John de Vere, thirteenth Earl ​of Oxford (1443–1513) fled to France before the battle of Tewkesbury was fought. Cf., however, 3 Henry VI, V.v.2.
II. ii. 6. Castaways. Persons lost or abandoned by Providence. Cf. 1 Corinthians|I Corinthians]], ix, 17: 'I myself should be a castaway.'
II. ii. 24. For 'pitied me' the Quarto reads 'hugd me in his arme.'
II. ii. 40. Edward. The Duchess and her grandchildren speak of Clarence's death (February, 1478) as recent. Queen Elizabeth next enters distracted with grief for the loss of King Edward (April 9, 1483).
II. ii. 70. The precise meaning of this passage has been disputed. The general sense is as follows: Elizabeth says that so great have been her griefs that her eyes may be compared to the sea, governed by the influence of the moon, which receives back from the rivers the moisture which it gives forth.
II. ii. 80. The mother of these griefs. I.e. by her years and position, the chief mourner of all.
II. ii. 117. broken rancour. The structure of this passage is confused, but the general meaning clear. It may be paraphrased as follows: 'Your late quarrels, which, swollen high, had broken out in rancor, are now knit and joined together, and this healing of your quarrels must be preserved and cherished.'
II. ii. 120. little train. '. . . the duke of Glocester, vnderstandirg that the lords, which at that time were about the king, intended to bring him vp to his coronation accompanied with such power of their freends, that it should be hard for him to bring his purpose to passe, without the gathering and great assemblie of people and in maner of open warre, whereof the end (he wist) was doubtfull; and in which, the king being on their side, his part should haue the face and name of a rebellion: he secretlie therfore by diuers means caused the queene to be persuaded and brought in ​the mind, that it neither were need, and also should be ieopardous, the king to come vp strong.' Holinshed, iii. 714. More, 14/6.
II. ii. 121. Ludlow. 'As soone as the king was departed, the noble prince his sonne drew toward London; which at the time of his decease kept his houshold at Ludlow in Wales. . . .' Holinshed, iii. 714. More, 12/6.
II. ii. 149. queen's proud kindred. 'To the gouernance and ordering of this yoong prince, at his sending thither, was there appointed sir Anthonie Wooduile, lord Riuers, and brother vnto the queene; a right honourable man, as valiant of hand as politike in counsell, Adioined were vnto him other of the same partie; and in effect euerie one as he was neerest of kin vnto the queene, so was he planted next about the prince. That drift by the queene now vnwiselie deuised, whereby hir bloud might of youth be rooted into the princes fauour, the duke of Glocester turned vnto their destruction; and vpon that ground set the foundation of all his vnhappie building.' Holinshed, iii. 714. More, 12/6.
II. iii. 4. seldom comes the better. A proverbial saying. '. . . began there, here and there abouts, some maner of muttering among the people, as though all should not long be well, though they neither wist what they feared, nor wherefore: were it, that, before such great things, mens hearts of a secret instinct of nature misgiue them; as the sea without wind swelleth of himselfe sometime before a tempest. . . .' Holinshed, iii. 721. More, 43/19.
II. iii. 11. Woe to that land that's govern'd by a child. Cf. Ecclesiastes, x, 16: 'Woe to thee, O land, when thy king is a child.'
II. iii. 17. nine months. Henry VI was proclaimed king at Paris in October, 1422, when he was about ​a year old. His coronation at Paris did not take place until 1430, when he was about nine years old.
II. iv. 1. Stony-Stratford. The Quarto reverses the order of the towns, putting Northampton first. The Prince was on his way from Ludlow to London. Stony-Stratford is nearer London than Northampton. The Folio reading, as pointed out by Pickersgill, is in accordance with Halle's Chronicle. The Prince was taken back to Northampton. See also Holinshed, iii. 715/1/48. More, 16/20; 18/7.
II. iv. 28. he could gnaw a crust at two hours old. Cf. 3 Henry VI, V. vi. 53, 54: 'Teeth hadst thou in thy head when thou wast born, To signify thou cams 't to bite the world.'
II. iv. 37. Pitchers have ears. A proverbial saying, 'small pitchers have great ears.' Cf. Taming of the Shrew, IV. iv. 52: 'Pitchers have ears. . . .'
II. iv. 37. S. d. The Quarto assigns the part of the Messenger to Dorset, probably to avoid the introduction of another actor. The reception of the Messenger and the tone of his speeches indicate that the Folio is here correct.
II. iv. 54. map. Possibly this word is here used in an astrological sense meaning a horoscope of future events.
II. iv. 66. we will to sanctuary. Certain buildings belonging to ecclesiastical foundations, as well as churches, were privileged for criminals and other persons in danger of their lives. '[Queen Elizabeth] in great fright & heauinesse, bewailing hir childes reigne, hir freends mischance, and hir owne infortune, damning the time that euer she dissuaded the gathering of power about the king, gat hir selfe in all the hast possible with hir yoonger sonne and hir daughters out of the palace of Westminster, (in which she then laie,) into the sanctuarie; lodging hir selfe and hir companie ​there in the abbats place.' Holinshed, iii. 715. More, 19/1.
III. i. S. d. Cardinal. According to More, 25/28 (Holinshed's authority), the Cardinal who undertook the mission of bringing the Duke of York out of sauctuary was Rotherham, Archbishop of York. In Halle, 352, the Cardinal of Act III, sc. i, is Bourchier, Archbishop of Canterbury. Critics are divided in opinion as to whether Shakespeare intended to present more than one personage.
III. i. 16. '"What my brother marquesse hath donne I cannot saie, but in good faith I dare well answer for mine vncle Riuers and my brother here, that they be innocent of anie such matter."' Holinshed, iii. 715. More, 17/31.
III. i. 17 S. d. 'When the king approched neere to the citie, Edmund Shaw, goldsmith, then maior, with William White, and Iohn Matthew, shiriffes, and all the other aldermen in scarlet, with fiue hundred horsse of the citizens, in violet, receiued him reuerentlie at Harnesie; and riding from thence accompanied him into the citie, which he entered the fourth daie of Maie, the first and last yeare of his reigne.' Holinshed, iii. 716. More, 22/24.
III. i. 36. pluck him perforce. Richard, after advising that 'my lord cardinall' be sent to fetch the Duke of York out of sanctuary, added, 'And if she be percase so obstinate, and so preciselie set vpon hir owne will . . . then shall we, by mine aduise, by the kings anthoritie, fetch him out of that prison. . . .' Holinshed. iii. 717. More, 24/25.
III. i. 40, 41. God [in heaven] forbid We should infringe the holy privilege Of blessed sanctuary. 'God forbid that anie man should, for anie thing earthlie, enterprise to breake the immunitie & libertie of the sacred sanctuarie. . . .' Holinshed, iii. 717. More, ​26/16. See also Holinshed, iii. 718, for the substance of the arguments used by Buckingham in ii. 48–56: Cf. 'And verilie, I haue often heard of sanctuarie men, but I neuer heard earst of sanctuarie children.' Holinshed, supra.
III. i. 46. Weigh it but with the grossness of this age. The meaning seems to be that the present age is not one to stand on the mere technicalities of a situation when the person seeking sanctuary has no reason to claim it.
III. i. 56. children. Buckingham sets up the presumption that children could not commit crimes, and, therefore, could have no reason to seek sanctuary. See note on line 40 above.
III. i. 65. the Tower. The Duke of York left sanctuary on June 16, 1483. Excerpta Historica, 16, 17. Edward V was already in the Tower on May 19. Grants, viii. 15. Shakespeare follows the account in Holinshed, iii. 721. More, 41/2.
III. i. 69. Did Julius Cæsar build that place. The Tower is traditionally said to have been built by Julius Cæsar. The Norman Keep is to-day sometimes called Cesar's Tower, although its official name is The White Tower, and it was built by William the Conqueror circa 1078. See Stow, Survey, ed. Morley, p. 73.
III. i. 79. So wise so young, they say, do never live long. A proverbial saying. 'They be of short life who are of wit so pregnant' (Timothy Bright: A Treatise of Melancholie, 1586).
III. i. 82. the formal Vice, Iniquity. A reference to the old morality plays in which the Vice (comic demon) was sometimes called Iniquity. Richard says that he will speak equivocally, like the Vice of the old play, and thus to one word give a double meaning. Fame may live long, but one person of whom he is thinking will not.
​III. i. 97. dear. This is probably a misprint for 'dread,' the reading of the Quarto.
III. i. 131. you should bear me on your shoulders. The boy clearly is referring to Richard's deformity. Court jesters sometimes carried apes on their shoulders, and travelling showmen often led about with them at country fairs a bear and an ape, the ape on the bear's back. The speech, therefore, as Buckingham points out, is far from complimentary, in whatever sense the reference to the ape is meant. Cf. Much Ado about Nothing, II. i. 42–44: 'I will even take sixpence in earnest of the bear-ward, and lead his apes into hell.' See also Autolycus' description of his imaginary robber, Winter's Tale, IV. ii. 101.
III. i. 141. The Quarto completes the line by reading 'needs will have it so.'
III. i. 150. S. d. Sennet. A set flourish of trumpets, used to mark a royal progress.
III. i. 170. as it were far off, sound thou Lord Hastings. '. . . the protector and the duke of Buckingham made verie good semblance vnto the lord Hastings. . . . And vndoubtedlie the protector loued him well, and loth was to haue lost him, sauing for feare least his life should haue quailed their purpose. For which cause he mooued Catesbie to prooue with some words cast out a farre off, whether he could thinke it possible to win the lord Hastings vnto their part.' Holinshed, iii. 722. More, 45/3.
III. i. 185. Mistress Shore. She became the mistress of Lord Hastings after the death of Edward IV.
III. i. 195, 196. The earldom of Hereford, and all the moveables Whereof the king my brother was possess'd. '. . . it was agreed that . . . the protector should grant him the quiet possession of the earldome of Hereford, which he claimed as his inheritance. . . . Besides these requests of the duke, the protector, of his owne mind, promised him a great quantitie of ​the kings treasure, and of his household stuffe.' Holinshed, iii. 721. More, 42/30.
III. ii. 5. stroke of four. Dramatically, the next day after the action of the last scene. Historically, midnight of June 12–13, 1483.
III. ii. 20. separated council. 'But the protector and the duke, after that they had sent the lord cardinall, the archbishop of Yorke, then lord chancellor, the bishop of Elie, the lord Stanleie, and the lord Hastings, then lord chamberleine, with manie other noble men, to common & deuise about the coronation in one place, as fast were they in an other place, contriuing the contrarie, and to make the protector king.' Holinshed, iii. 721. More, 43/6. Hastings' trust in Catesby and the latter's betrayal of the lord is described in Holinshed, iii. 722, and More, 44/8.
III. ii. 26. his dreams. '. . . the selfe night next before his death, the lord Stanleie sent a trustie messenger vnto him [Hastings] at midnight in all the hast, requiring him to rise and ride awaie with him, for he was disposed viterlie no longer to bide, he had so fearfull a dreame; in which him thought that a boare with his tuskes so rased them both by the heads, that the bloud ran about both their shoulders.' Holinshed, iii. 723. More, 48/19. Further, in the same passage, Hastings chides the messenger for his master's faith in dreams.
III. ii. 70. his head upon the bridge. London Bridge, where the heads of traitors were exposed on a tower.
III. ii. 88. the day is spent. The scene opens at four in the morning. The meaning, therefore, is that it is growing late, not that the day is over.
III. ii. 98. now we meet. 'Vpon the verie Tower wharfe, so neare the place where his head was off soone after, there met he [the lord Hastings] with one Hastings, a purseuant of his owne name, And, at their ​meeting in that place, he was put in remembrance of another time, in which it had happened them before to meet in like manner togither in the same place. At which time the lord chamberleine had beene accused vnto king Edward by the lord Riuers, the queenes brother. . . .' See also the rest of the passage. Holinshed, iii. 723. More, 50/9.
III. ii. 108. Sir John. Sir, a title formerly applied to priests and curates in general. The 'sir' has reference to the degree of bachelor of arts, being the usual English equivalent of the Latin dominus. Sir John was a common nickname for priests.
III. ii. 112. talking with a priest. In Holinshed it is not Buckingham but a knight who is sent by Richard to accompany Hastings to the council. The knight finds Hastings in Tower Street, talking with a priest. '"What, my lord, I pray you come on, whereto talke you so long with that priest? you haue no need of a priest yet."' Holinshed, iii. 723. More, 49/26.
III. ii. 114. shriving. Here used equivocally. Its religious meaning includes confessing and doing penance; its legal sense, imposing an obligation or penalty.
III. iii. S. d. The historical date of Rivers' execution could not have been earlier than June 23, 1483, for he made his will on that day. Excerpta Historica, 246, ed. 1831. Hastings was executed on June 13. Shakespeare assigns, dramatically, the execution of these two lords to the same day, June 13. In this he follows Holinshed, iii. 725, and More, 55/25.
III. iii. 11. Richard ite Second here was hack'd to death. Cf. Richard II, V. v. 106–112.
III. iii. 14. Margaret's curse. Margaret did not, as a matter of fact, 'exclaim on' Grey, but on Rivers, Dorset, and Hastings. See I. iii. 220–224.
III. iv. 26. cue. Words preceding each speech, ​learned by an actor when studying his part, to enable him to speak at the proper moment for his lines.
III. iv. 32. good strawberries. '[Richard] said vnto the bishop of Elie: "My lord, you haue verie good strawberies at your garden in Holborn, I require you let vs haue a messe of them." "Gladlie, my lord" (quoth he) "would God I had some better thing as readie to your pleasure as that."' Holinshed, iii. 722. More, 45/24.
III. iv. 58 S. d. 'And soone . . . he returned into the chamber amongst them, all changed, with a woonderfull soure angrie countenance, knitting the browes, frowning, and fretting and gnawing on his lips . . . thus he began: "What were they worthie to haue that compasse and imagine the destruction of me, being so neere of bloud vnto the king, and protector of his roiall person and his realm? . . . Ye shall all see in what wise that sorceresse [the queene], and that other witch of hir councell, Shores wife, . . . by their sorcerie and witchcraft, wasted my bodie."' Holinshed, iii. 722. More, 45/24.
III. iv. 69. blasted sapling. Cf. 3 Henry VI, III. ii. 155, 156: 'She did corrupt frail nature with some bribe, To shrink mine arm up like a wither'd shrub.'
III. iv. 74. If. '[Hastings] said: "Certeinlie, my lord, if they haue so heinouslie doone, they be worthie heinous punishment." "What" (quoth the protector) "thou seruest me, I weene, with 'ifs' and with 'ands': I tell thee they haue so doone, and that I will make good on thy bodie, traitor! . . . for, by saint Paule" (quoth he) "I will not to dinner till I see thy head off!"' Holinshed, iii. 722. More, 45/24.
III. iv. 84. my foot-cloth horse did stumble. The foot-cloth was a large, richly ornamented cloth laid over the back of a horse, and hanging down to the ground on each side. It was an old belief that the stumbling of a rider's horse was an omen of some ​great misfortune. 'Certeine is it also, that in riding towards the Tower, the same morning in which he was beheaded, his horsse twise or thrise stumbled with him, almost to the falling.' Holinshed, iii. 723. More, 49/18.
III. iv. 98. air of your good looks. I.e. favorable breeze of your good outward appearance (See 'air,' Murray, N.E.D.).
III. iv. 99. drunken sailor on a mast. Cf. Proverbs, xxiii, 34: 'Yea, thou shalt be as he . . . that lieth upon the top of a mast.' The figure is repeated in 2 Henry IV, III. i. 18–25.
III. v. 40. Turks. Elizabethan writers often used this term as a synonym for infidel. See Prayer Book, third collect for Good Friday: 'Turks, Infidels and Hereticks.'
III. v. 49, 50. The Quarto assigns these two lines to the Mayor.
III. v. 68. too late of our intent. I.e. too late to learn in advance of our purpose.
III. v. 75. a citizen. For an account of Richard's reference see Boswell-Stone, Shakespeare's Holinshed, p. 375, note 2. The story is quoted by Halle and likewise is to be found in Grafton, ii. 107.
III. v. 78. sign. Richard means that the citizen's shop was designated by a signboard with a crown painted on it.
III. v. 84. thus far come near my person. I.e. thus far make intimate reference to me myself.
III. v. 97. Baynard's Castle. On the Thames between Blackfriars and London Bridge. In Shakespeare's time the castle belonged to William Herbert, the Earl of Pembroke.
III. v. 102. Doctor Shaw. 'Iohn Shaw, clearke, brother to the maior.' Holinshed, iii. 725.
III. v. 103. Friar Penker. 'frier Penker, prouinciall of the Augustine Friers.' Holinshed, iii. 725.
​III. vii. 5. Lady Lucy. The pre-contract was said to have been with Elizabeth Lucy, who was one of Edward's mistresses. '[Buckingham tells the citizens how Dr. Shaw] groundlie made open vnto you, the children of King Edward the fourth were neuer lawfullie begotten; forsomuch as the king (leauing his verie wife dame Elizabeth Lucie) was neuer lawfullie maried vnto the queene their mother. . . .' Holinshed, iii. 729. More, 70/21. Buckingham also declared that 'the king's greedie appetite was insatiable, and euerie where ouer all the realme intollerable.' Holinshed, iii. 729. Buckingham likewise makes references to the things spoken of by Doctor Shaw 'as 'twere far off.'
III. vii. 6. contract by deputy. See 3 Henry VI, III. iii. 49 ff. for an account of this. The lady was Bona, daughter of the Duke of Savoy, and sister of the french queen.
III. vii. 15. victories. Richard commanded an expedition against Scotland in 1482, advancing as far as Edinburgh. Berwick was captured and ceded to England when peace was concluded.
III. vii. 25. statues. 'When the duke had said, and looked that the people, whome he hoped that the maior had framed before, should, after this proposition made, haue cried, "King Richard, king Richard!" all was husht and mute, and not one word answered therevnto. . . .' Holinshed, 730. More, 72/16. Holinshed further describes Buckingham's efforts in substance as Shakespeare represents in this scene.
III. vii. 44–245. The historical time of the rest of this scene is June 25, 1483, the day after Buckingham's speech at the Guildhall. Shakespeare makes one dramatic day of the whole scene. More's order of events places Shaw's sermon on June 15 and Buckingham's speech on June 17. For an account of the Lord Mayor and his reception by Richard, see Holinshed, ​iii. 731, and More, 74/27. There is no historical authority for Richard's refusal of an audience on the ground of preoccupation with 'holy Exercise.'
III. vii. 50. maid's part. I.e. with reference to the proverbial saying 'A Woman's nay doth stand for naught.' See Two Gentlemen of Verona, I. ii. 53, 54: 'Since maids, in modesty, say "No" to that Which they would have the profferer construe "Ay."'
III. vii. 140–172. Richard's reply is mainly Shakespeare's invention save for lines 148–150 and line 171, which are based on Holinshed, iii. 731; More, 75/20.
III. vii. 165. And much I need to help you, were there need. 'I want much of the ability requisite to give you help, if help were needed' (Johnson); 'And much I ought to help you if you need help' (The Cowden-Clarkes). Dr. Johnson's paraphrase seems the more satisfactory.
III. vii. 171. happy stars. A reference to the pseudo-science of astrology, meaning 'favorable conjunction of planets in his horoscope.'
III. vii. 179. a witness. [The Duchess of York] openlie obiected against his mariage, (as it were in discharge of hir conscience,) that the king was sure to dame Elizabeth Lucie and hir husband before God.' Holinshed, iii. 727. More, 61/31. For the rest of this scene, see Holinshed, iii. 731, More, 77/11.
III. vii. 187. pitch. A technical term from falconry meaning the highest point in the flight of a falcon.
III. vii. 188. bigamy. A statute in 4 Edw. I defined one aspect of bigamy as the marrying of a widow. Note that in the play Richard himself is guilty of 'bigamy,' if this definition be followed.
IV. i. 32. crowned. The coronation was held in Westminster Abbey on July 6, 1483.
IV. i. 42. Richmond. Dorset went with Queen Elizabeth into sanctuary at Westminster (Polydore ​Vergil, 540), and left it to join the rebellion raised by Buckingham in October, 1483 (Holinshed, iii. 743). After Buckingham's capture, Dorset succeeded in escaping by sea and 'arriued safelie in the duchie of Britaine.' Holinshed, iii. 743. Halle, 394.
IV. i. 54. cockatrice. See note on 'basilisk', I. ii. 150.
IV. i. 85. Warwick. Warwick was killed fighting on the Lancastrian side in the battle of Barnet, where Richard was one of the Yorkist generals.
IV. i. 95. Eighty odd. The Duchess of York was born in 1415, and therefore was only sixty-eight in 1483.
IV. ii. 8. play the touch. The touchstone was a black jasper from India used by Italian goldsmiths in testing the genuineness of gold (King). There are many references to touchstones in Elizabethan literature. Cf. 1 Henry IV, IV. iv. 10: 'To-morrow . . . is a day Wherein the fortune of ten thousand men Must bide the touch.'
IV. ii. 40. His name, my lord, is Tyrrell. '"Sir" (quoth his page) "there lieth one on your pallet without, that I dare well saie, to doo your grace pleasure, the thing were right hard that he would refuse.” Meaning this by sir Iames Tirrell. . . .' Holinshed, iii. 734. More, 81/15. In the same passage Holinshed records that when Richard broached the matter to Sir James 'he found him nothing strange.'
IV. ii. 51. grievous sick. '[Richard] procured a common rumor (but he would not haue the author knowne) to be published and spred abroad among the common people, that the queene was dead; to the intent that she, taking some conceit of this strange fame, should fall into some sudden sicknesse or greeuous maladie. . . .' Holinshed, iii. 751. Halle, 407.
IV. ii. 60. brother's daughter. Stow gives March ​16, 1485, as the date of Anne's death. '[ Richard] intended shortlie to marie the ladie Elizabeth, his brothers daughter.' Holinshed, iii. 751. Halle, 407.
IV. ii. 91. wife. In 1484, according to Holinshed, there was surprise that the Lord Stanley had not been arrested as a reputed enemy of Richard, for Margaret, Stanley's wife, was mother to the Earl of Richmond. Holinshed, iii. 746. Halle, 398.
IV. ii. 95. prophesy. This prophecy will be found in Holinshed, iii. 678.
IV. ii. 98–115. This passage occurs only in the Quarto.
IV. ii. 104. Rougemont. Richard visited Exeter in November, 1483. 'And during his abode here he went about the citie, & viewed the seat of the same, & at length he came to the castell; and, when he vnderstood that it was called Rugemont, suddenlie he fell into a dumpe, and (as one astonied) said: "Well, I see my daies he not long." He spake this of a prophesie told him, that, when he came once to Richmond, he should not long live after. . . .' Holinshed, iii. 746.
IV. ii. 113. Jack. The figure which in old clocks struck the hour upon the bell. The word came to be a nickname for a busybody (Wright). Cf. Richard II, V. v. 60: 'his Jack o' the clock.'
IV. ii. 116. resolve. 'And, suerlie, the occasion of their variance is of diuerse men diuerslie reported. Some haue I heard say, that the duke [Buckingham], a little before his [Richard's] coronation, among other things, required of the protector the erle of Herefords lands, to the which he pretended himself iust inheritor. . . . [Richard] reiected the dukes request with manie spitefull and minatorie words.' Holinshed, iii. 736. More, 86/29.
IV. ii. 121. Brecknock. A castle and property in Wales belonging to the Duke of Buckingham.
IV. iii. 6. flesh'd. A term derived from hunting. ​Hounds were said to be fleshed when they ate of the first game which they killed. See note on lines 9, 10 below.
IV. iii. 9, 10. Dighton . . . Forrest. '. . . sir Iames Tirrell deuised, that they should be murthered in their beds. To the execution whereof, he appointed Miles Forrest, one of the foure that kept them, a fellow fleshed in murther before time. To him he ioined one Iohn Dighton, his owne horssekeeper, a big, broad square, and strong knaue.' Holinshed, iii. 735. More, 83/23. The qualms of the murderers are Shakespeare's own additions. According to Holinshed, in the same passage, Sir James would not admit to Richard that he knew the princes had been buried in 'so vile a corner' as under 'the stair foot, beneath a heap of stones.' See l. 30.
IV. iii. 36. pent up. Edward Plantagenet, Earl of Warwick, son of George Duke of Clarence 'had beene kept in prison within the Tower almost from his tender yeares.' Holinshed, iii. 787. Halle, 490.
IV. iii. 37. daughter. Margaret Plantagenet, Countess of Salisbury, Clarence's daughter, was born August, 1473, and therefore was about twelve years old at Richard's death. Shakespeare has perhaps confused her with her first cousin. It was, according to Holinshed, the Lady Cicely, sister of Elizabeth, Richard's niece, that Richard planned to marry to a man of 'an vnknowne linage and familie.' Holinshed, iii. 752. Halle, 409.
IV. iii. 38. Abraham's bosom. Cf. St. Luke, xvi, 22: 'And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. . . .'
IV. iii. 40. Britaine. Richmond was in exile in Brittany.
IV. iii. 43. S. d. Ratcliff. The Quarto reading is 'Catesby,' and this has been generally accepted by subsequent editors.
​IV. iii. 46. Morton. '. . . sailed into Flanders, where he did the earle of Richmond good seruice.' Holinshed, iii. 741. Halle, 390.
IV. iii. 48. power. The date of the beginning of Buckingham's revolt is October 18, 1483, according to the attainder of Buckingham, Rotuli Parliamentorum, vi, 245. For an account of Buckingham's march with his Welshmen, cf. Holinshed, iii. 743, Halle, 394.
IV. iii. 55. Jove's Mercury. Mercury was the messenger who carried the commands of Jove.
IV. iv. 6. to France. Actually, Margaret went to France in 1476, after which time she did not again return to England. See note, I. iii. 167.
IV. iv. 15. right for right. Justice answering to the claims of justice (Johnson).
IV. iv. 28. abstract. Cf. Hamlet, II. ii. 555: 'for they are the abstracts and brief chronicles of the time.'
IV. iv. 52, 53. These two lines are reversed in the Quarto, which makes a rather better sequence, though either can be defended. The Folio printer's eye may have been confused by three consecutive lines beginning with 'That.'
IV. iv. 52. galled eyes. So too in Hamlet, I. ii. 155: 'Ere yet the salt of most unrighteous tears Had left the flushing in her galled eyes. . . .'
IV. iv. 85. index . . . pageant. The 'index' was the written prologue sometimes distributed to the audience to explain the allegory in the 'pageant' or dumb-show (pantomimic action) to follow. The reference of course is to the representation of a play with a dumb-show. The 'index' here is said to have promised a happier conclusion than afterwards came to pass (Stevens; Wright).
IV. iv. 88–90. These lines are obviously confused in the arrangement of the Quarto. For the Quarto reading, see list of variants, Appendix C.
​IV. iv. 105. Cf. Love's Labour's Lost, IV. iii. 384; 'And justice always whirls in equal measure.'
IV. iv. 128. intestate. The Folio reading is 'intestine.' There seems little doubt that 'intestine' is either a misprint or an attempted correction arising from a misunderstanding of the manuscript. The reading of the Quarto has, therefore, been adopted in this text.
IV. iv. 148. This line is omitted in the Quarto, and the query concerning Hastings is added to the preceding line of the Queen.
IV. iv. 176. Humphrey Hour. No satisfactory explanation of this apparent sarcasm of Richard's has yet been made. Those who lacked the price of a meal were said to dine with Duke Humphrey, but how the saying is meant to be applied here is not clear.
IV. iv. 204. Elizabeth. '[Richard] would rather take to wife his cousine and neece the ladie Elizabeth, than for lacke of that affinitie the whole realme should run to ruine. . . . Wherefore he sent to the queene (being in sanctuarie) diuerse and often messengers, which . . . should so largelie promise promotions innumerable, and benefits, not onelie to hir, but also to hir sonne lord Thomas, Marquesse Dorset. . . .' Holinshed, 750. Halle, 406. The passage further describes how the queen 'began somewhat to relent.'
IV. iv. 216. opposite. According to the pseudo-science of astrology the 'opposition' of beneficent stars neutralised their good effects, turning them to evil aspects.
IV. iv. 226. Cf. Hamlet, II. i. 66: 'By indirections find directions out.'
IV. iv. 236–239. so thrive . . . I.e. May the success of my enterprise be as assured, as are my good intents toward you and yours in the future.
IV. iv. 251. Lethe. A river of the Greek under​world whose waters produced forgetfulness in the souls who drank of it.
IV. iv. 276. Cf. 3 Henry VI, I. iv. 79–83, and I. iii. 178 above.
IV. iv. 284. conveyance. Cf. 3 Henry VI, III. iii. 160: 'Thy sly conveyance and thy lord's false love.'
IV. iv. 289. Richard repeats the argument he used to Anne in I. ii. 115–124.
IV. iv. 312. Dorset. Shakespeare ignores historical time here. Dorset first joined with Buckingham. That expedition failed in October, 1483. He then went abroad and joined Richmond, who set out on his successful expedition in August, 1485. (See, also, IV. i. 41, 42, and IV. ii. 48, 49 above.)
IV. iv. 324. love. Theobald's emendation 'loan' has been generally accepted by modern editors.
IV. iv. 333. Cf. Richard's earlier references: 'The deep-revolving, witty Buckingham,' IV. ii. 42; 'High-reaching Buckingham,' IV. ii. 31.
IV. iv. 347. king's King forbids. The reference is to marriage within forbidden degrees of kinship. Cf. Leviticus, xviii, 14: ‘Thou shalt not uncover the nakedness of thy father's brother, thou shalt not approach to his wife. . . .'
IV. iv. 365, 366. The Folio transposes these two lines. 366 is omitted in the Quartos from 2 through 8. It is probable, therefore, that in editing the Folio text an error occurred in the insertion of the missing line. The expression to 'harp on a string' was a common one.
IV. iv. 367. George. An anachronism. The image of St. George on horseback, tilting at the dragon, was added to the collar of the badge of the Garter by Henry VIII (Ashmole).
IV. iv. 375. In the Quarto this line follows 'thy life hath it dishonour'd.'
IV. iv. 378. God. As elsewhere in the Folio text, ​the oaths have been modified to conform to the statute against blasphemy. The Folio here substitutes 'Heaven' for 'God.'
IV. iv. 381. brothers. Earl Rivers is the only brother of Elizabeth introduced in the present play.
IV. iv. 397. The Folio here reads 'repast.' Editors are agreed in regarding this as a misprint for the 'o'erpast' of the Quarto.
IV. iv. 401. This line is omitted in the Quarto.
IV. iv. 418. found. Many editors adopt the Quarto reading 'peevish-fond.'
IV. iv. 425. Steevens notes here a reference to the fable of the phoenix.
IV. iv. 439. hull. Literally, to float or be driven by the force of the wind or current on the hull alone; to drift to the wind with sails furled; to lie a-hull (Murray, N.E.D.).
IV. iv. 441. Norfolk. On hearing of Richmond's landing, Richard 'sent to Iohn duke of Norffolke, . . . and to other of his especiall & trustie friends of the nobilitie, . . . willing them to muster and view all their seruants and tenants, . . . and with them to repaire to his presence with all speed and diligence.' Holinshed, iii. 754. Halle, 412.
IV. iv. 445. Ratcliff. The Folio reading 'Catesby' (for Ratcliff) here is regarded by editors either as a misprint or an oversight.
Salisbury. Richmond was off the southwestern coast, close to Dorset. At Salisbury Richard would be able to prevent a junction with Buckingham's forces coming from Wales. '[Richard] tooke his iournie toward Salisburie, to the intent that in his iournie he might set on the dukes [Buckingham's] armie. . . .' Holinshed, iii. 743. Halle, 394.
IV. iv. 477. Welshman. On his father's side. Richmond's father was the son of Owen Tudor and Katherine, widow of Henry V.
​IV. iv. 479. '[Richard] most mistrusted . . . Thomas lord Stanleie . . . For when the said lord Stanleie would haue departed into his countrie . . . the king in no wise would suffer him to depart, before he had left as an hostage in the court George Stanleie, lord Strange, his first begotten sonne and heire.' Holinshed, iii. 751. Halle, 408.
IV. iv. 501. Sir Edward Courtney. Sir Edward Courtenay of Haccombe. He was created Earl of Devon on Henry VII's accession. For an account of these risings, see Holinshed, iii. 743. Halle, 393.
IV. iv. 502. Bishop of Exeter. Shakespeare followed More's error in calling Peter Courtenay, Bishop of Exeter, brother of Sir Edward. Peter was the son of Sir Philip Courtenay of Powderham. The Bishop was the cousin of Sir Edward.
IV. iv. 504. the Guildfords. The Guildfords were a distinguished family seated at Hempstead, near Cranbrook, Kent.
IV. iv. 508. owls! nothing but songs of death. According to Pliny the cry of the screech-owl always betokened 'some heavy news.'
IV. iv. 513. 'By this floud the passages were so closed, that neither the duke could come ouer Severn to his adherents or they to him. . . . The duke (being thus left almost post alone) was of necessitie compelled to flie. . . .' Holinshed, iii. 743. Halle, 394. On October 28, 1483, Richard 'made proclamation, that what person could shew and reueale where the duke of Buckingham was, should be highlie rewarded. . . .' Holinshed, iii. 744. Halle, 394.
IV. iv. 522. tempest. Richmond sailed Oct. 12, 1483, and the same night the great storm arose that dispersed his fleet. The first ill-fated expedition is described in Holinshed, iii. 744. Halle, 396.
​IV. iv. 532. Buckingham was taken at Shrewsbury in October, 1483.
IV. iv. 534. landed. Richmond, on his second expedition, landed at Milford Haven in August, 1485. Shakespeare has condensed, therefore, the history of two years in this scene.
IV. v. 4. If I revolt. 'For the lord Stanleie was afraid, least, if he should seeme openlie to be a fautor or aider to the earle his sonne in law, before the day of the battell, that king Richard, (which yet vtterlie did not put him in diffidence and mistrust,) would put to some cruell death his sonne and heire apparant. . . .' Holinshed, iii. 753. Halle, 411.
IV. v. 12–15. Sir Walter Herbert, created by Edward IV Baron Herbert; Sir Gilbert Talbot, uncle to the young Earl of Shrewsbury; Sir William Stanley, the brother of Richmond's step-father; redoubted Pembroke, Jasper Tudor, Richmond's uncle; Oxford and Sir James Blunt had come from France with Richmond; Rhys ap Thomas, a valiant Welsh leader from Carmarthenshire.
V. i. 10. All-Souls' day. '[Buckingham] vpon All soules daie, without arreignment or iudgement . . . was at Salisburie, in the open market place, on a new scaffold, beheaded and put to death.' Holinshed, iii. 744. Halle, 395.
V. i. 13. Cf. II. i. 32–40.
V. i. 19. determin'd . . . wrongs. I.e. the fixed period to which the punishment of my wrong-doing is postponed (Wright).
V. i. 25. Cf. I. iii. 299–303.
V. ii. 8. Cf. Psalm lxxx: 'The wild boar out of the field doth root it [the vine] up: and the wild beasts of the field devour it.'
​V. ii. 20. friends for fear. 'Diuerse other noble personages, which inwardlie hated king Richard woorse than a tode or a serpent, did likewise resort to him with all their power and strength, wishing and working his destruction. . . . Holinshed, iii. 745. Halle, 413.
V. iii. S. d. Earl of Surrey. This character is omitted in the quartos.
V. iii. 11. battalia. '[Richmond's] whole number exceeded not fiue thousand men, beside the power of the Stanleies, wherof three thousand were in the field. . . .' Holinshed, iii. 755. Halle, 414.
V. iii. 12. tower. Cf. Proverbs, xviii, 10: 'The name of the Lord is a strong tower.'
V. iii. 18 S. d. Dorset. He was not at Bosworth Field, having been left behind in France by Richmond.
V. iii. 63. watch. It is possible that 'watch' means here, as Doctor Johnson suggested, a watch-light or candle.
V. iii. 96. tender George. Shakespeare seems to have been unaware that George Stanley was at this time a grown man. 'The child' of the chronicles is the same use of the word as in the ballad quoted in King Lear, III. iv. 187, meaning 'young nobleman.'
V. iii. 111. bruising irons of wrath. Cf. Psalm ii, 9: 'Thou shalt bruise them with a rod of iron.'
V. iii. 119. Richard's dream. 'The fame went, that he had the same night a dreadfull and terrible dreame: for it seemed to him being asleepe, that he did see diuerse images like terrible diuels, which pulled and haled him, not suffering him to take anie quiet or rest. . . .' Holinshed, iii. 755. Halle, 414.
V. iii. 144. lance. Some editors emend this line by the insertion of an adjective such as Collier's 'pointless' before 'lance.' As any such emendation rests ​upon no valid authority. the line should remain as it stands in the text.
V. iii. 153. laid. Many editors prefer the reading 'lead' of the first Quarto. In all the Folios, however, and in the quartos from 2 through 8 the reading is 'laid' or 'layd.'
V. iii. 174. for hope. Wright's paraphrase 'I died as regards hope' is probably correct, since it is confirmed by a passage in Greene's James IV, V. vi. (Dyce ed., p. 217). Steevens suggested 'I died for hoping to give you aid, before I could actually give it.'
V. iii. 180. coward conscience. Cf. Hamlet, III. i. 83: 'Thus conscience does make cowards of us all.'
V. iii. 181. lights burn blue. There was an old superstition to the effect that spirits signified their presence by causing lights to become dim or to burn blue. Cf. Julius Cæsar, IV. iii. 274: (at entrance of Ghost of Cesar) 'How ill this taper burns!'
now. The 'not' of the Folio is probably a misprint. Cf. Hamlet, III. ii. 413: ''Tis now the very witching time of night, When churchyards yawn, and hell itself breathes out Contagion to this world.'
V. iii. 183. The punctuation of the line in the Quarto deserves consideration: 'What do I feare? my selfe?'
V. iii. 202. shall. The Quarto reading 'will' has been generally accepted.
V. iii. 213–215. These lines are omitted in the Folio, by 'an accident of the press,' according to Spedding.
V. iii. 222. eaves-dropper. The Folio 'ease-dropper' appears to be a misprint, although the same reading occurs in the quartos. The fourth Folio is the first text to make the emendation 'eaves-dropper.'
V. iii. 232. cried on. An idiomatic expression. Cf. Hamlet, V. ii. 378: 'This quarry cries on havoc'; ​Othello, V. i. 47: 'whose noise is this that cries on murther?'
V. iii. 238. For the substance of this oration, see Holinshed, iii. 757, 758. Halle, 417.
V. iii. 256. swear. The Quarto 'sweat' is probably correct.
V. iii. 305. Jockey. This couplet is in Holinshed, iii. 759, with the difference of 'Iacke' for 'Jockey.'
V. iii. 315. For the substance of Richard's oration, see Holinshed, iii. 756, and Halle, 415.
V. iii. 345. 'When king Richard was come to Bosworth, he sent a purseuant to the lord Stanleie, commanding him to aduance forward with his companie, and to come to his presence; which thing if he refused to doo, he sware, by Christes passion that he would strike off his sonnes head before he dined.' Holinshed, iii. 760. Halle, 420.
V. iii. 346. marsh. 'Betweene both armies there was a great marish then . . . which the earle of Richmond left on his right hand; for this intent, that it should be on that side a defense for his part, and in so dooing he had the sunne at his backe, and in the faces of his enimies. When king Richard saw the earles companie was passed the marish, he did command with all hast to set vpon them.' Holinshed, iii. 758. Halle, 418.
V. iv. 7. This line was imitated and parodied by several of Shakespeare's contemporaries. See Appendix B.
V. iv. 11. six Richmonds. It was not uncommon for a leader to have several of his knights dress like him. Cf. 1 Henry IV, V. iii. 1–28.
V. iv. 17. royalty. The word is in the plural in the Folio.
V. iv. 27. Brandon. Sir William Brandon was not slain at Bosworth.
​V. iv. 38, 39. Cf. 3 Henry VI, II. v. Among the characters introduced are 'a Son that hath killed his Father' and 'a Father that hath killed his Son.'
V. iv. 45. their, The reading of the Quarto. Folio, 'they.'