Rat. Make haste, the hour of death is now expir'd. Riv. Come, Grey,-come, Vaughan, -let us here Buckingham, Stanley, Hastings, Bishop of Ely, Catesby, Lovel, with others, at a table, : Haft. Now, noble peers, the cause why we are met Is-to determine of the coronation: In God's name, fpeak, when is the royal day? Buck. Are all things ready for that royal time? Stanl. 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 foonest know his mind. Buck. Weknow each other's faces: for ourhearts,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. Haft. I thank his grace, I know he loves me well; But, for his purpose in the coronation, I have not founded him, nor he deliver'd His gracious pleasure any way therein : But you, my noble lord, may name the time; And in the duke's behalf I'll give my voice, Which, I prefume, he'll take in gentle part. Enter Glofter. Ely. In happy time, here comes the duke himself. Glo. My noble lords and cousins, all good morrow: G4 I have I have been long a fleeper; but, I trust, Glo. Than my lord Hastings, no man might be bolder; His lordship knows me well, and loves me well. Glo. Cousin of Buckingham, a word with you. * Had you not come upon your cue) This expression is borrowed from the theatre. The cue, queue, or tail of a speech, confifts of the last words, which are the token for an entrance or answer. To come on the cue, therefore, is to come at the proper time. JOHNSON. s-I saw good ftrawberries] The reason why the bishop was dispatched on this errand, is not clearer in Holinshed and Hall, from whom Shakspeare adopted the circumstance, than in this scene, where it is introduced. Nothing seems to have happened which might not have been transacted with equal security in the prefence of the reverend cultivator of these straw berries, whose complaisance is likewise recorded by the author of the Latin play on the same subject, in the Museum: Elienfis antiftes venis? fenem quies, Nil tibi claudetur hortus quod meus This circumstance of asking for the strawberries, however, may have been mentioned by the hiftorians merely to shew the unusual affability and good humour which the dissembling Gloster affected at the very time when he had determined on the death of Hastings. STEEVENS. That That he will lose his head, ere give confent, Buck. Withdraw yourself awhile, I'll go with you. Stanl. We have not yet set down this day of tri- To-morrow, in my judgment, is too fudden; Re-enter Bishop of Ely. Ely. Where is my lord protector? I have fent For these strawberries. Haft. His grace looks chearfully and smooth this morning; There's fome conceit or other likes him well. When he doth bid good morrow with fuch spirit. I think, there's ne'er a man in Christendom, Can lesser hide his love, or hate, than he; For by his face straight shall you know his heart. Stanl. What of his heart perceive you in his face,. By any likelihood he shew'd to-day? Haft. Marry, that with no man here he is offended; For, were he, he had shewn it in his looks. Re-enter Gloster, and Buckingham. Glo. I pray you all, tell me what they deserve, That do confpire my death with devilish plots • There's some conceit or other likes him well, When he doth bid good morrow with fuch spirit.] Conceit is thought. So, in Pericles, Prince of Tyre, 1609: 7 "Here is a thing, too young for such a place, "Who, if it had conceit, would die." MALONE. _ likelihood - Semblance; appearance. JOHNSON. So, in another of our author's plays: -poor likelihoods, and modern feemings. STEEVENS. Of Of damned witchcraft; and that have prevail'd Haft. The tender love I bear your grace, my lord, Glo. Then be your eyes the witness of their evil, Look how I am bewitch'd; behold, mine arm Is, like a blasted sapling, wither'd up: And this is Edward's wife, that monstrous witch, Conforted with that harlot, strumpet Shore, That by their witchcraft thus have marked me. Haft. If they have done this deed, my noble lord, Glo. If thou protector of this damned strumpet, Talk'st thou to me of ifs?-Thou art a traitor :-م Off with his head:- now, by faint Paul I swear, I will not dine until I see the fame. 9 Lovel, and Catesby, look, that it be done; 8 If! &c.] For this circumftance fee Holinshed, Hall, and The Mirror of Magistrates. FARMER. 9 Lovel, and Catesby, look, that it be done;] In former copies : Lovel, and Ratcliff, look, that it be done. The scene is here in the Tower; and lord Haftings was cut off on that very day, when Rivers, Grey, and Vaughan fuffered at Pomfret. How then could Ratcliff be both in Yorkshire and the Tower? In the scene preceding this, we find him conducting those gentlemen to the block. In the old quarto, we find it, Exeunt: Manet Catesby with Hastings. And in the next scene, before the Tower walls, we find Lovel and Catesby come back from the execution, bringing the head of Hastings. THEOBALD. Mr. Theobald should have added, that, in the old quarto, no names are mentioned in Richard's speech. He only says" fome fee it done." Nor, in that edition, does Lovel appear in the next scene; but only Catesby, bringing the head of Hastings. The confufion feems to have arifen, when it was thought neceffary, that Catesby should be employed to fetch the mayor, who, in the quarto, is made to come without having been fent for. As fome other perfon was then wanted to bring the head of Hastings, the poet, or the players, appointed Lovel and Ratcliff to that office, without reflecting that the latter was engaged in another service on the fame day at Pomfret. TYRWHITT. The 3 The rest, that love me, rise, and follow me. [Exeunt Council, with Richard and Buckingham. Haft. Woe, woe, for England! not a whit for me; For I, too fond, might have prevented this: Stanley did dream, the boar did rase his helm; But I disdain'd it, and did scorn to fly. Three times to-day my foot-cloth horse did stumble, And started, when he look'd upon the Tower, As loth to bear me to the flaughter-house. O, now I need the priest that spake to me: I now repent I told the pursuivant, As too triumphing, how mine enemies To-day at Pomfret bloodily were butcher'd, And I myself fecure in grace and favour. O, Margaret, Margaret, now thy heavy curse Is lighted on poor Hastings' wretched head. Cates. Difpatch, my lord, the duke would be as dinner; * The reft, that love me, rife, and follow me.] So, in The Battle of Alcazar, 1594: "And they that love my honour, follow me." MALONE. 2 Three times to-day my foot-cloth horse did stumble, &c.] So, in the Legend of Lord Hastings, by M. D. My palfrey, in the plainest paved street, Thrice bow'd his bones, thrice kneeled on the floor, To stumble was anciently esteem'd a bad omen. So, in the Honeft The housings of a horse, and sometimes a horse himself, were anciently denominated a foot-cloth. So, in Ben Jonson's play called The Cafe is Altered : "I'll go on my foot-cloth, I'll turn gentleman.". Again, in A fair Quarrel, by Middleton, 1617: - thou shalt have a physician, "The best that gold can fetch upon his foot-cloth." Again, in Ram-Alley, or Merry Tricks, 1610: " Whether my well-greas'd tumbling foot-cloth nag STEEVENS. Make |