OF KING RICHARD III. WITH EXPLANATORY AND ILLUSTRATIVE NOTES AND NUMEROUS EXTRACTS FROM THE HISTORY ON WHICH THE PLAY IS FOUNDED. Adapted for Scholastic or Private Study. BIBLIO VIA BY THE REV. JOHN HUNTER, M.A. Instructor of Candidates for the Civil Service and other Public Examinations; and Malone. I. 100. LONDON: LONG MANS, GREEN, AND CO. PREFACE. FIVE quarto editions of this tragedy preceded its appearance in the folio collection of 1623. The first of these was in 1597, and was entitled-- The Tragedy of King Richard the Third. Containing his treacherous Plots against his brother Clarence: the pittiefull Murther of his innocent Nephewes his tyrannical Usurpation: with the whole course of his detested Life and most deserved Death. As it hath been lately acted by the Right honourable the Lord Chamberlaine his servants. London, Printed by Valentine Sims, for Andrew Wise, dwelling in Paules Church-yard, at the sign of the Angell, 1597.' The succeeding quarto editions anterior to the folio bear the respective dates 1598, 1602, 1605, and 1613. A play, probably earlier than Shakspeare's, was published in 1594, entitled 'The True Tragedy of Richard the Third but of this composition Shakspeare appears to have made no use: he seems to have derived all his material from the old chronicles. 'In this play,' says Malone, 'the variations between the original copy in quarto and the folio are more numerous than, I believe, in any other of our author's pieces. The alterations, it is highly probable, were made, not by Shakspeare, but by the players, many of them being very injudicious.' We agree, however, with Staunton in supposing that those passages which are found only in the folio, such as the long speech of Richard in Act IV. Scene 4, (p. 114), formed original portions of the text, and that they were omitted in representation to accelerate the action. J REMARKS OF VARIOUS AUTHORS 6 ON SHAKSPEARE'S RICHARD THE THIRD.' 'THE part of Richard the Third has become highly celebrated in England from its having been filled by excellent performers, and this has naturally had an influence on the admiration of the piece itself, for many readers of Shakspeare stand in want of good interpreters of the poet to understand him properly. This admiration is certainly in every respect well founded, though I cannot help thinking there is an injustice in considering the three parts of Henry the Sixth as of little value compared with Richard the Third. These four plays were undoubtedly composed in succession, as is proved by the style and the spirit in the handling of the subject: the last is definitely announced in the one which precedes it, and is also full of references to it: the same views run through the series; in a word, the whole make together only one single work. Even the deep characterisation of Richard is by no means the exclusive property of the piece which bears his name: his character is very distinctly drawn in the two last parts of Henry the Sixth; nay, even his first speeches lead us already to form the most unfavourable anticipations of his future conduct. He lowers obliquely like a dark thunder-cloud on the horizon, which gradually approaches nearer and nearer, and first pours out the devastating elements with which it is charged when it hangs over the heads of mortals. Two of Richard's most significant soliloquies which enable us to draw the most important |