I. 1. CLARENCE.

But as I can learn

He hearkens after prophecies and dreams;
And from the cross-row plucks the letter G ;
And says, a wizard told him, that "by G
His issue disinherited should be."

Edward had the reputation of being much addicted to this kind of prognostication. Thus in that remarkable contemporary poem, entitled by its author The most pleasant Song of Lady Bessy, Lady Bessy being the Lady Elizabeth of this play, eldest daughter of King Edward, speaking of her father says,

King Edward, that was my father dear,

On whose estate God have mercy,

In Westminster as he did stand

On a certain day in a study,

A Book of Reason he had in his hand,
And so sore his study he did apply
That his tender tears fell on the ground,

All men might see that stood him by :

She represents him as having afterwards in private given her the book,

Here is a book of reason; keep it well,

As you will have the love of me,
Neither to any creature do it tell,
Nor let no living lord it see,
Except it be to the lord Stanley,
The which I love full heartily.

For there shall never son of my body begotten

That shall be crowned after me;

But you shall be queen and wear the crown,

So doth express the prophecy.

It appears that other of the children of Richard Duke of York had the same propensity. For Mr. Heywood, to whom we are indebted for having first printed this very curious poem, which has an historical value, containing one or two facts peculiar to itself, and having every claim to be

received as authentic, observes in a note that Margaret Duchess of Burgundy dealt, like her mother, in the forbidden art.

I. 1. GLOSTER.

That good man of worship

Anthony Woodevile.

This is said in the same spirit in which just before Gloster had spoken of the Queen as "My Lady Grey, his wife;" "man of worship" being a phrase used of persons of the middle class of gentry. Woodvile was at that time Earl Rivers and a knight of the garter.

In judging of the propriety of the Poet having represented the princes of the house of Plantagenet speaking thus of the Woodviles, we should consider whether there is historical evidence that they were accustomed to do so. Perhaps there is. If not, it ought to be remembered that, whatever his father may have been, the mother of Woodvile was of the house of Luxemburgh, Jaquetta, Duchess of Bedford.

I. 2. ANNE.

Vouchsafe, diffused infection of a man.

This is one of the passages on which nothing that can be regarded as at all satisfactory has been said by the commentators; it is therefore of some importance to observe that in the first folio the line stands thus:

Vouchsafe (defus'd infection of man)

which is not remarked in the notes. "Thou, that diffusest infection wherever thou mixest with thy kind," is perhaps as good an explanation as has yet been offered.

VOL. II.

I. 3. GREY.

Here come the lords of Buckingham and STANLEY.

G

I. 3. Q. Elizabeth.

The countess Richmond, good my lord of STANLEY,
To your good prayer will scarcely say-Amen.
Yet, STANLEY, notwithstanding she's your wife.

I. 3. Q. ELIZABETH.

Saw you the King to-day, my lord of STANLEY?

In all these passages where we have "Stanley," the original copies read "Derby." Theobald made this injudicious alteration. It is quite true that Lord Stanley was not made Earl of Derby till some years after the time of this scene; but it is equally true that he had never the designation which Theobald has given him of Lord of Stanley, but, as we now speak, Lord Stanley, a family name. So that, to escape one impropriety, which is that of the author, we fall into another, which is that of an editor, to the injury of the cadence of the lines, as any one may satisfy himself who will read these passages, substituting "Derby," which the Poet undoubtedly wrote, for "Stanley," which the editors have given us. We have before stated that Shakespeare had not the easy means which we possess of obtaining accurate information concerning dignities.

I. 3.

DORSET.-It touches you, my lord, as much as me.

GLOSTER.-Ay, and much more.

But I was born so high,
Our aiery buildeth in the cedar's top,

And dallies with the wind, and scorns the sun.

The effect of this splendid passage is greatly injured by what is called the regulation of the modern editors. In the first line of what Gloster says there should be a colon at "high," and the word "But" should not be printed with a capital letter.

Ay, and much more: but I was born so high:

Our aiery, &c.

Gloster had called on Dorset to notice the remark of

Margaret on the dangers to which those are exposed who are on an eminence. Dorset retorts that it suits Gloster as well as himself. Gloster admits that, and, reflecting on the meaner descent of Dorset, observes that he " was born so high;" whatever elevation he had was his by birth, not as Dorset's by the will of the sovereign. The two lines that follow are only an expansion of the same sentiment. According to the present regulation, we must understand him to say that he was born so high that their aiery buildeth, &c., which enfeebles the passage greatly.

I. 3. Q. Margaret.

Sin, Death, and Hell have set their marks on him.

Sir William Blackstone thinks this the origin of Milton's famous allegory. Mr. Holt White suggests another origin in Latimer's Sermons. Mr. Malone follows with an approbation of Blackstone's suggestion. To me it appears that there is nothing here which can be assumed to have suggested such an allegory as the one alluded to; and also that the real origin of the allegory is so plainly in the Epistle of Saint James, I. 15, as to preclude further inquiry,

I. 4.

Enter Clarence and Brakenbury.

In all the modern editions the dialogue in this celebrated scene is represented as being held between Clarence and Brakenbury, and not as in the folios between Clarence and a keeper, which is the better arrangement, as is apparent from two considerations :-First, that it is improbable Brakenbury, who was the Lieutenant of the Tower, should pass the night in the sleeping room of his prisoner; and, secondly, when Brakenbury makes those reflections on the miseries of royalty while Clarence is asleep, they have no relation to the dream and the perturbed state of the mind of

Clarence of which the dream was indicative. They suit a person entering the cell where Clarence sleeps after having related his dream to another, as Brakenbury is represented to have done in the folios, but not a person who had been listening to the deeply affecting words of Clarence. The remarks also interposed by the person whom Clarence is addressing are more those of an uncultivated person such as the keeper than of one like Brakenbury. I should certainly wish to see the arrangement of the folios brought back, as more worthy of Shakespeare and more just to the reader.

It will be found, on comparing the quartos and the folios, that they vary in several particulars besides this wide and important variation; and that the modern text is an eclectic text made out of both. In one place there are four lines not in the quartos.

This is one of the scenes in which the poet is supposed to have been most successful. In one part he is eminently so ; in what part is he not? but the part to which I particularly allude is the opening of the dream.

Methought that I had broken from the Tower,

And was embark'd to cross to Burgundy :

And in my company my brother Gloster,

Who from the cabin tempted me to walk

Upon the hatches: thence we look'd towards England,

And cited up a thousand heavy times,

During the wars of York and Lancaster,

That had befall'n us.

The lines call up the scene described.

At least I can

never read them without having the image before me of the two illustrious brothers pacing the deck, and seeming to hear their august colloquy; and without at the same time being reminded of the wars in which they had lost father and brother and many other near relations; and of their own recorded and unrecorded adventures,―their wanderings in woods and fells, and their sufferings and escapes in the