1 K. Rich. Well go, muster thy men. But, hear you, leave behind Your fon, George Stanley: look your heart be firm, Or else his head's assurance is but frail. Stanl. So deal with him, as I prove true to you. [Exit Stanley Enter a Messenger. Mef. My gracious sovereign, now in Devonshire, As I by friends am well advertisfed, Sir Edward Courtney, and the haughty prelate, Bishop of Exeter, his elder brother, With many more confederates, are in arms. Enter another Messenger. 1 2 Mes. In Kent, my liege, the Guildfords are in -arms; And every hour 3 more competitors Enter another Messenger. 3 Meff. My lord, the army of great BuckinghamK. Rich. Out on ye, owls! nothing but fongs of [He strikes him. death? There, take thou that, 'till thou bring better news. K. Rich. Oh, I cry you mercy: 3 Mes. Such proclamation hath been made, my liege. 3-more competitors] That is, more opponents. JOHNSON. Enter Enter another Messenger.. 4 Mes. Sir Thomas Lovel, and lord marquis Dorset, 'Tis faid, my liege, in Yorkshire are in arms. But this good comfort bring I to your highness, The Bretagne navy is difpers'd by tempeft:.. Richmond, in Dorsetshire, fent out a boat Unto the shore, to ask those on the banks, If they were his assistants, yea, or no; Who answered him, they came from Buckingham Upon his party: he, mistrusting them, Hois'd fail, and made his course again for Bretagne. K. Rich. March on, march on, fince we are up in arms; If not to fight with foreign enemies, Enter Catesby. : Cates. My liege, the duke of Buckingham is taken, That is the best news; That the earl of Richmond Is with a mighty power landed at Milford, Is colder news, but yet it must be told. K. Rich. Away towards Salisbury; while we rea " fon here, A royal battle might be won and loft : Some one take order, Buckingham be brought To Salisbury; -the rest march on with me. [Exeunt. SCENEV. Enter Lord Stanley, and Sir Christopher Urswick. Stanl. + Sir Christopher, tell Richmond this from me: That, Sir Christopher, tell Richmond this from me:-] The perfon, who is called fir Chriftopher here, and who has been stiled so in the Dra 1 That, in the stye of this most bloody boar, Stanl. Well, hie thee to thy lord; commend me Tell him, the queen hath heartily consented [Exeunt. Dramatis Persone of all the impressions, I find by the chronicles to have been Christopher Urswick, a bachelor in divinity; and chaplain to the countess of Richmond, who had intermarried with the lord Stanley. This priest, the history tells us, frequently went backwards and forwards, unsuspected, on messages betwixt the countess of Richmond, and her husband, and the young earl of Richmond, whilst he was preparing to make his defcent on England. THEOBALD. Dr. Johnfon has observed, that Sir was anciently a title affumed by graduates. This the late Mr. Guthrie disputes; and fays, it was a title fold by the pope's legates, &c. that his holiness might be on the fame footing with the king. STEEVENS. In the Scornfull Lady of Fletcher, Welford says to Sir Roger, the curate, "I acknowledge you to be your art's master." “ I am but a bachelor of art, fir," replies fir Roger. Mr. Guthrie would have done well to have informed us, how fir Roger could poffibly have bought his title of the pope's nuncio; when, as Abigail tells us, he had only "twenty nobles de claro, besides his pigges in poffe." FARMER. Perhaps, after all, this title was originally derived from fire, father. Chaucer, and all our ancient poets, bestow it on the clergy. STEEVENS. ACT ACT V. SCENE I. Salisbury. Enter the Sheriff, with Buckingham, led to execution. Buck. Will not king Richard let me speak with - him? Sher. No, my good lord; therefore be patient. Buck. Hastings, and Edward's children, Rivers, Grey, Holy king Henry, and thy fair fon Edward, Sher. It is, my lord. Buck. Why, then All-Soul's day is my body's doomsday: This is the day, which, in king Edward's time, 1 s Will not king Richard let me speak with him?] The reason why the duke of Buckingham solicited an interview with the king, is explained in K. Henry VIII. act I: -I would have play'd The part my father meant to act upon The ufurper Richard; who, being at Salisbury, Made fuit to come in his presence; which, if granted, As he made semblance of his duty, would Have put his knife into him. STEEVENS. See also Hall's Chronicle, Richard III. fo. 16. EDITOR. VOL. VII. L Is 6 * Is the determin'd respite of my wrongs. SCENE II. Tamworth, on the borders of Leicestershire. A camp.. Enter Henry Earl of Richmond, Earl of Oxford, Sir James Blunt, Sir Walter Herbert, and others, with drum and colours. Richm. Fellows in arms, and my most loving friends, Bruis'd underneath the yoke of tyranny, 1 * Is the determin'd respite of my wrongs.) Hanmer has rightly explained it, the time to which the punishment of his wrongs was refpited. Wrongs in this line means wrongs done, or injurious practices. JOHNSON. blame the due of blame.] This scene should, in my opinion, be added to the foregoing act, so the fourth act will have a more full and striking conclufion, and the fifth act will comprise the business of the important day, which put an end to the competition of York and Lancaster. Some of the quarto editions are not divided into acts, and it is probable, that this and many other plays were left by the author in one unbroken continuity, and afterwards diftributed by chance, or what feems to have been a guide very little better, by the judgment or caprice of the first editors. JOHNSON. Thus |