my watchful foul, To thee I do commend SCENE V. [Sleeps. Between the Tents of Richard and Richmond: ' Enter the Ghost of Prince Edward, Son to Henry Ghoft. L the Sixth. ET me fit heavy on thy foul to-morrow! [To Richm. Of butcher'd Princes fight in thy behalf; Enter the Ghoft of Henry the Sixth. -Virtuous and holy, be thou Conqueror. [To Richm * Doth comfort thee in fleep; live thou and flourish. Enter the Ghost of Clarence. Ghoft. Let me fet heavy on thy foul to-morrow! [To K. Rich. I, that was wash'd to death in fulfom wine, This prophecy, to which in one of the parts of Henry the this allufion is made, was uttered fixth. And And fall thy edgeless fword; defpair and die. [To Richm. The wronged heirs of York do pray for thee; Enter the Ghofts of Rivers, Gray, and Vaughan. [To K. Rich. Rivers, that dy'd at Pomfret. Defpair, and die. Gray. Think upon Gray, and let thy foul despair. [To K. Rich. Vaugh. Think upon Vaughan, and with guilty fear Let fall thy lance! Richard, despair and die. [To K. Rich. All. Awake! and think, our wrongs in Richard's bofom Will conquer him,-Awake, and win the day. [To Richm. Enter the Ghost of Lord Haftings. Ghoft. Bloody and guilty, guiltily awake; [To K. Richa And in a bloody battle end thy days. Think on Lord Haftings; and defpair and die. -Quiet, untroubled foul, awake, awake! [To Richm. Arm, fight, and conquer, for fair England's fake. Enter the Ghofts of the two young Princes. Ghofts. Dream on thy coufins fmother'd in the Tower. "Let us be lead within thy bofom, Richard, [To K. Rich. And 5 Let us be laid within thy Bo- poor feeble Reading, I have refom, Richard.] This is a ftored from the elder Quarto, ри And weigh thee down to ruin, fhame, and death. [To Richm annoy ! Good angels guard thee from the boar's Enter the Ghost of Anne, his wife. Ghoft. Richard, thy wife, that wretched Anne thy wife, [To K. Rich. That never slept a quiet hour with thee, Dream of fuccefs and happy victory, [To Richm Enter the Ghost of Buckin gham. Ghoft. The first was I, that help'd thee to the Crown, The laft was I, that felt thy tyranny. [To K. Rich. Dream on, dream on, of bloody deeds and death; published in 1597, which Mr. Pope does not pretend to have feen; Let us be Lead within thy Bofom, Richard. This correfponds with what is [To Richm But But cheer thy heart, and be thou not difmay'd; [The Ghofts vanish. [K. Richard Starts out of his dream. K. Rich. Give me another horfe-bind up my wounds Have mercy, Jefu-foft, I did but dream. for wishing well to you. But Mr. Theobald, with great fagacity, conjectured bolpe or aid; which gave the line this fine fenfe, I died for giving the aid before I could give thee aid. WARBURTON. Hanmer reads, I died forfoke, and fupports his conjecture thus. This, as appears from hiftory, was the cafe of the Duke of Buckingham: that being ftopt with his army upon the banks of Severn by great deluges of rain he was deferted by his foldiers, who being in great diftrefs, half famished for want of victuals, and deftitute of pay, difbanded themfelves and fled. HANMER. 7 Give me another horje.] There is in this, as in many of our authour's fpeeches of paffion, fomething verytrifling, and fomething very striking. Richard's debate, whether he should quarrel with himself, is too long continued, but the fubfequent exaggeration of his crime is truly tragical. VOL. V. 8 O coward Confcience!] This is extremely fine. The speaker had entirely got the better of his Confcience, and banished it from all his waking thoughts. But it takes advantage of his fleep, and frights him in his dreams. With greater elegance therefore he is made to call it coward Confcience, which dares not encounter him while he is himself awake, and his faculties entire; bnt takes advantage of reafon being off its guard, and the powers of the foul diffolved in fleep. But the Players, amongst their other innumerable absurdities in the reprefentation of this Tragedy, make Richard fay, inftead of O coward Confcience, O tyrant ConScience! whereby not only a great beauty is loft, but a great blunder committed. For Richard had entirely got the better of his Confcience; which could on no account, therefore, be faid to play the tyrant with him. Left I revenge. What myself on myself? Alas, I rather hate myself, For hateful deeds committed by my Self. Fool, of thyfelf fpeak well-Fool, do not flatter. Murder, ftern murder in the dir'ft degree, Nay, wherefore fhould they? fince that I myself *Methought, the fouls of all that I had murder'd Rat. My Lord. Enter Ratcliff. K. Rich. Who's there? Rat. Ratcliff, my Lord. The early village-cock Hath twice done falutation to the morn; Your friends are up, and buckle on their armour. Rat. Nay, good my Lord, be not afraid of fhadows. K. Rich. By the Apostle Paul, fhadows to night Have ftruck more terror to the foul of Richard, Than can the fubftancce of ten thoufand foldiers Methought, the fouls, &c.] Thefe lines ftand with so little propriety at the end of this fpeech, that I cannot but fuf pe&t them to be misplaced. Where then hall they be infertcd? Perhaps after thefe words, Fool do not flatter. |