* That carries no impression like the dam. And am I then a man to be belov'd?

O, monstrous fault, to harbour such a thought! * Then, since this earth affords no joy to me, * But to command, to check, to o'erbear such * As are of better person than myself,

* I'll make my heaven-to dream upon the crown; * And, whiles I live, to account this world but hell, * Until my misshap'd trunk that bears this head, * Be round impaled with a glorious crown.3 * And yet I know not how to get the crown, * For many lives stand between me and home: * And I, like one lost in a thorny wood,

* That rents the thorns, and is rent with the thorns;

shapeless lumps of animated flesh, which she licks into the form of bears. It is now well known that the whelps of the bear are produced in the same state with those of other creatures.

2

- to o'erbear such

JOHNSON.

As are of better person than myself, Richard speaks here the language of nature. Whoever is stigmatized with deformity has a constant source of envy in his mind, and would counterbalance by some other superiority those advantages which he feels himself to want. Bacon remarks that the deformed are commonly daring; and it is almost proverbially observed that they are ill-natured. The truth is, that the deformed, like all other men, are displeased with inferiority, and endeavour to gain ground by good or bad means, as they are virtuous or corrupt.

* Until my misshap'd trunk that bears this head,

JOHNSON.

Be round impaled &c.] A transposition seems to be necessary:

"Until my head, that this misshap'd trunk bears." Otherwise the trunk that bears the head is to be encircled with

the crown, and not the head itself. STEEVENS.

Sir T. Hanmer reads as Mr. Steevens recommends. I believe

our author is answerable for this inaccuracy. MALONE.

* Seeking a way, and straying from the way;

* Not knowing how to find the open air,

* But toiling desperately to find it out,

* Torment myself to catch the English crown:

* And from that torment I will free myself,

* Or hew my way out with a bloody axe.

Why, I can smile, and murder while I smile;

And cry, content, to that which grieves my heart;

* And wet my cheeks with artificial tears,

* And frame my face to all occasions.

* I'll drown more sailors than the mermaid shall;

* I'll slay more gazers than the basilisk;

* I'll play the orator as well as Nestor,

* Deceive more slily than Ulysses could, * And, like a Sinon, take another Troy: I can add colours to the cameleon;

• Change shapes, with Proteus, for advantages, ' And set the murd'rous Machiavel to school.4

- impaled-] i. e. encircled. So, in Heywood's Rape of Lucrece, 1630:

"Tear off the crown that yet empales his temples."

STEEVENS.

* And set the murd'rous Machiavel to school.] As this is an anachronism, and the old quarto reads:

66

And set the aspiring Catiline to school-."

I don't know why it should not be preferred. WARBURTON. This is not the first proof I have met with, that Shakspeare, in his attempts to familiarize ideas, has diminished their propriety. STEEVENS.

Catiline first occurred to the author of the old play, who was probably a scholar; and Machiavel, who is mentioned in various books of our author's age, as the great exemplar of profound politicians, naturally was substituted by Shakspeare in his room. See this play, P. I. Act V. sc. iv:

"Alençon! that notorious Machiavel!"

In King Edward II. Marlowe, who was probably the author of The True Tragedie of Richarde Duke of Yorke, in like manner introduces Catiline:

Can I do this, and cannot get a crown?
'Tut! were it further off, I'll pluck it down.

SCENE III.

France. A Room in the Palace.

[Exit.

Flourish. Enter LEWIS the French King, and Lady BONA, attended; the King takes his State. Then enter Queen MARGARET, Prince EDWARD her Son, and the Earl of OXFORD.

K. LEW. Fair queen of England, worthy Margaret, [Rising. 'Sit down with us; it ill befits thy state, And birth, that thou should'st stand, while Lewis

doth sit.

* Q. MAR. No, mighty king of France; 'now

Margaret

" Spencer, the father of that wanton Spencer,
"That like the lawless Catiline of Rome,

"Revell'd in England's wealth and treasury." MALONE.

Fair queen of England, &c.] Thus the folio. The quartos give the following:

"Welcome, queen Margaret, to the court of France.
"It fits not Lewis to sit whilst thou dost stand,
"Sit by my side; and here I vow to thee,
"Thou shalt have aid to re-possess thy right,
" And beat proud Edward from his usurped seat,
"And place king Henry in his former rule."

STEEVENS.

See the notes referred to in p. 74, n. 3. MALONE.

* No, mighty king of France; &c.]

the quartos only supply the following:

Instead of this speech

"Queen. I humbly thank your royal majesty, " And pray the God of heaven to bless thy state,

" Great king of France, that thus regard'st our wrongs."

STEEVENS.

* Must strike her sail, and learn a while to serve, * Where kings command. I was, I must confess, * Great Albion's queen in former golden days: * But now mischance hath trod my title down, * And with dishonour laid me on the ground; * Where I must take like seat unto my fortune, * And to my humble seat conform myself.

* K. LEW. Why, say, fair queen, whence springs this deep despair?

* Q. MAR. From such a cause as fills mine eyes with tears,

* And stops my tongue, while heart is drown'd in

cares.

* K. LEW. Whate'er it be, be thou still like thy

self,

* And sit thee by our side: yield not thy neck [Seats her by him.

* To fortune's yoke, but let thy dauntless mind * Still ride in triumph over all mischance. * Be plain, queen Margaret, and tell thy grief; * It shall be eas'd, if France can yield relief.

* Q. MAR. Those gracious words revive my

drooping thoughts,

* And give my tongue-tied sorrows leave to speak.

* Now, therefore, be it known to noble Lewis,

* That Henry, sole possessor of my love,

* Is, of a king, become a banish'd man,

* And forc'd to live in Scotland a forlorn ;

* While proud ambitious Edward, duke of York,

* Usurps the regal title, and the seat

* Of England's true-anointed lawful king.

* This is the cause, that I, poor Margaret,

* With this myson, prince Edward, Henry's heir,* Am come to crave thy just and lawful aid;

'And, if thou fail us, all our hope is done :

* Scotland hath will to help, but cannot help; * Our people and our peers are both misled, * Our treasure seiz'd, our soldiers put to flight, * And, as thou see'st, ourselves in heavy plight.

* K. LEW. Renowned queen, with patience calm the storm,

* While we bethink a means to break it off.

* Q. MAR. The more we stay, the stronger grows our foe.

* K. LEW. The more I stay, the more I'll succour thee.

* Q. MAR. O, but impatience waiteth on true

sorrow:

* And see, where comes the breeder of my sorrow.

Enter WARWICK," attended.

"K. LEW. What's he, approacheth boldly to our presence?

7 Enter Warwick,] This nobleman's embassy and commission, the insult he receives by the King's hasty marriage, and his consequent resolution to avenge it, with the capture, imprisonment, and escape of the King, Shakspeare, it is true, found in Hall and Holinshed; but later, as well as earlier writers, of better authority, incline us to discredit the whole; and to refer the rupture between the King and his political creator, to causes which have not reached posterity, or to that jealousy and ingratitude so natural, perhaps, to those who are under great obligations too great to be discharged. Beneficia, (says Tacitus,) ed usque læta sunt, dum videntur exsolvi posse : übi multum antevenêre, pro gratiâ odium redditur.

There needs no other proof how little our common histories are to be depended upon than this fabulous story of Warwick and the Lady Bona. The King was privately marr married to Lady Elizabeth Widville, in 1463, and in February 1465, Warwick actually stood sponsor to the Princess Elizabeth their first child. What secretly displeased him was: 1. the King's marrying one of the Queen's sisters to the Duke of Buckingham; 2. his con