And I resign my gage. My dear, dear lord, Mine honour is my life; both grow in one: K. Rich. Cousin, throw down your gage: begin. do you Boling. O! God defend my soul from such deep Shall I seem crest-fall'n in my father's sight? And spit it bleeding in his high disgrace, Where shame doth harbour, even in Mowbray's face. [Exit GAUNT. K. Rich. We were not born to sue, but to com mand: Which since we cannot do to make you friends, 50! God defend my soul from such DEEP sin.] So all the quarto editions : the folio, 1623, substitutes heaven for "God," and foul for "deep." The change seems to have been merely arbitrary. Or with pale beggar-FEAR-] So the quarto, 1597, and the first folio: the other quartos have "beggar-face." 7 Since we cannot ATONE you, we shall see ] "Atone" is reconcile or at one you. See Vol. iii. p. 96, note 4. "We shall see" is the preferable reading of the 4to, 1597. Justice design the victor's chivalry.— [Exeunt. SCENE II. The Same. A Room in the Duke of LANCASTER'S Palace. Enter GAUNT, and Duchess of GLOSTER. Gaunt. Alas! the part I had in Gloster's blood' Duch. Finds brotherhood in thee no sharper spur? 8 Justice DESIGN the victor's chivalry.] To "design" was used in Shakespeare's time in its etymological sense, from the Lat. designo, to mark out, or point out. Pope injudiciously altered the word to decide. Alas! the part I had in GLOSTER's blood] In all the quarto editions, prior to the folio, 1623, it stands " Woodstock's blood." Mr. Amyot has furnished me with the following note :-" He was born at Woodstock, and was always called Thomas of Woodstock by the historians, till Richard II. first created him Earl of Buckingham, and afterwards (according to Dugdale and Sandford) Duke of Gloster in the 9th year of his reign." 1 Who when THEY SEE the hours ripe on earth,] So all the ancient copies, quarto and folio, which the moderns have needlessly altered to he sees. Gaunt uses "heaven" as a plural noun. One flourishing branch of his most royal root, Is hack'd down, and his summer leaves all faded', By envy's hand, and murder's bloody axe. Ah! Gaunt, his blood was thine: that bed, that womb, That metal, that self-mould, that fashion'd thee, Made him a man; and though thou liv'st, and breath'st, Yet art thou slain in him. Thou dost consent Gaunt. God's is the quarrel; for God's substitute3, His deputy anointed in his sight, Hath caus'd his death; the which, if wrongfully, An angry arm against his minister. Duch. Where then, alas! may I complain myself? Gaunt. To God, the widow's champion and defence. 2 Is hack'd down, and his summer leaves all FADED,] All the quarto editions have "faded," and the folio vaded. They were in fact the same word. Some modern editors have said that "all the old copies have raded, while the modern editors read faded." They could not have looked at one of the old quarto editions, or they would have seen the inaccuracy of the assertion. 3 GOD's is the quarrel; for God's substitute,] So the quarto editions. The folio, 1623, has heaven's in both instances. Three lines lower, all the copies, folio and quarto, read, "Let heaven revenge," &c. but farther on, "To God, the widow's champion," is the reading of the quartos, and "To heaven" that of the folio. These changes were, of course, made in consequence of the statute, 3 Jac. I. c. 21, but the original words of Shakespeare were nevertheless preserved in all the 4to. impressions. Duch. Why then, I will.-Farewell, old Gaunt*. Our cousin Hereford and fell Mowbray fight. Be Mowbray's sins so heavy in his bosom, Not with the empty hollowness, but weight: I shall remember more. Bid him-O! what?- And what hear there for welcome, but my groans? Why then, I will.-Farewell, old Gaunt.] Sir T. Hanmer, Steevens, and Ritson, consider this line defective, inasmuch as it has only eight syllables. All the old copies, folio and quarto, are uniform in giving it as in our text, and probably Shakespeare meant so to leave it. The time is amply made up by the pause after "Why then, I will," before the Duchess continues "Farewell, old Gaunt." Shakespeare has many lines of eight syllables. 5 And what HEAR there for welcome, but my groans?] Malone made a singular error with respect to the word "hear in this line he asserted, that in the first edition of this play, in 1597, it stands cheer, and "hear" in all the subsequent impressions, adding, "this passage furnishes an evident proof of the value of first editions, and also shows at how very early a period the revisers of Shakespeare's pieces began to tamper with his text," &c. The fact is, that the Therefore commend me; let him not come there, [Exeunt. SCENE III. Gosford Green, near Coventry. Lists set out, and a Throne. Heralds, &c., attending. Enter the Lord Marshal, and AUMERLE. Mar. My lord Aumerle, is Harry Hereford arm'd? Aum. Yea, at all points, and longs to enter in. Mar. The duke of Norfolk, sprightfully and bold, Stays but the summons of the appellant's trumpet, Aum. Why then, the champions are prepar'd, and stay For nothing but his majesty's approach. Flourish. Enter King RICHARD, who takes his seat on his Throne; GAUNT, BUSHY, BAGOT, GREEN, and others, who take their places. A Trumpet is sounded, and answered by another Trumpet within. Then enter NORFOLK in armour, preceded by a Herald. K. Rich. Marshal, demand of yonder champion To swear him in the justice of his cause. Mar. In God's name, and the king's, say who thou art, And why thou com'st thus knightly clad in arms: word is "hear" in all the editions, quarto and folio, and that cheer has been substituted in the text against every authority. Those who have followed Malone's reading have adopted his blunder, by placing confidence in the accuracy of his collation, and by not taking the trouble, or by not having the opportunity of making a new collation. Malone does not appear to have possessed a copy of the first edition of "Richard II." |