23, 1471, when Henry's corse was conveyed to Chertsey (p. 345, n. 2, below). Henry died on May 21 or 22 (p. 340, n. 3, above); but, even if we assume that May 21 was the date of his death, we can hardly refer the closing scene of 3 Henry VI. to the same day. The Tragedy of Richard the Third ends with the battle of Bosworth, fought on August 22, 1485.1 Act I. sc. i.-Richard enters and soliloquizes. Two serious obstacles may, he trusts, soon be removed from his path. Plots haue I laide, Inductions dangerous, By drunken Prophesies, Libels, and Dreames, To set my Brother Clarence and the King In deadly hate, the one against the other.-11. 32-35. News (11. 136, 137) that The King is sickly, weake, and melancholly, leads to further anticipations (11. 145-152): He cannot liue, I hope; and must not dye Till George be pack'd with post-horse vp to Heauen. Ile in, to vrge his hatred more to Clarence, 148 Clarence hath not another day to liue : Which done, God take King Edward to his mercy, 152 "Some wise men" weened that Richard's lieved that covertly [Hol. iii. 712/2/28. More, 6/29.] drift, couertlie conueied, [Some belacked not in helping foorth his brother of Clarence to his death : Richard which he resisted openlie, howbeit somewhat (as men deemed) Clarence's more faintlie than he that were hartilie minded to his wealth. And they, that thus deeme, thinke that he long time in king Edwards life forethought to be king; in case that the king his brother (whose life he looked that euill diet should shorten) should that on May 26 he was at Greenwich, on May 27 at Greenwich and Westminster, and on May 28 at Greenwich again.-0. B. May 27, then, is a date in accordance with the testimony of the Croyland continuator, who, as he tells us himself (Cont. Croyl., 557, sidenote), was in 1471 or 1472 a member of the Council. Clarence was attainted by the Parliament which met at Westminster on January 16, 1478.-Rot. Parl., vi. 167/1; 193-195. 1 Fab., ii. 672. Edward perceived "that there was little hope of recouerie in the cunning of his physicians" (Hol. iii. 708/2/35. Not in Halle). 3 Cp. what Richard says of Edward (I. i. 139, 140): "O, he hath kept an euill diet long." death, and had long looked for ward to Edward.] succeeding [The "G" prophecy.] Prophesies diuelish fantasies. and her happen to deceasse (as in deed he did) while his children were yoong. And they deeme, that for this intent he was glad of his brothers death the duke of Clarence, whose life must needs haue hindered him so intending; whether the same duke of Clarence had kept him true to his nephue the yoong king, or enterprised to be king himselfe. If expectation fail not, This day should Clarence closely be mew'd vp, About a Prophesie, which sayes that G Of Edwards heyres the murtherer shall be.-11. 38-40. And Clarence, entering on his road to the Tower, informs Richard from the Crosse-row pluckes the letter G, And, for my name of George begins with G, It followes in his thought that I am he. Rumour declared that Clarence's death 56 [Hol. iii. 703/1/46. Halle, 326.] rose of a foolish prophesie, which was, that, after K. Edward, one should reigne, whose first letter of his name should be a G. Wherewith the king and queene were sore troubled, and began to conceiue a greeuous grudge against this duke, and could not be in quiet till they had brought him to his end. And, as the diuell is woont to incumber the minds of men which delite in such diuelish fantasies, they said afterward, that that prophesie lost not his effect, when, after king Edward, Glocester vsurped his kingdome. Richard accuses Queen Elizabeth of having sent Clarence to the Tower (11. 62-65). Another rumoured cause of Clarence's death was his projected marriage to Mary Duchess of Burgundy, heiress of Charles the Bold. [Hol. iii. 703/1/61. Halle, 326.] Which marriage king Edward (enuieng the prosperitie of his brother) both gainesaid and dis [The Queen turbed, and thereby old malice reuiued betwixt them: which the queene and hir bloud (euer mistrusting, and priuilie barking at the kings linage) ceassed not to increase. kindred hated Edward's lineage.] However, [Hol. iii. 712/1/46. More, 5/13.] ... were it by the queene and lords of hir bloud, which highlie maligned the kings kinred, (as women commonlie, not of malice, but of nature, hate them whome their husbands loue,) or were it a proud appetite of the duke himselfe, intending to be king; at the least wise heinous treason was there laid to his charge: I do not find that Hastings-who enters (1. 121) after his release from the Tower-either actually suffered imprisonment through the enmity of Queen Elizabeth and Rivers, or regained his liberty by petitioning Mistress Shore (11. 66-77). But the Queen disliked Hastings, and he was once in great peril owing to the accusation of Rivers. See p. 366 below. Act I. sc. ii.- "Enter the Coarse of Henrie the sixt with Halberds to guard it, Lady Anne being the Mourner." The bier is set down for a while till Lady Anne says (11. 29, 30): Come now towards Chertsey with your holy Lode, Taken from Paules to be interred there; Soon after Richard enters she cries to the guards (11. 55, 56) : Oh, Gentlemen, see, see! dead Henries wounds Holinshed (iii. 690/2/73) gives the following account of Henry's funeral, and the bleeding of the corpse: [Hol. iii. 690/2/73.] The dead corps, on the Ascension euen [May 22, 1471], was conueied with billes and glaucs pompouslie (if [p. 691] you will call that a funerall pompe) from the Tower to the church of saint Paule, and there, laid on a beire or coffen bare faced, the same in presence of the beholders did bleed:1 where it rested the space of one whole daie. From thense he was caried to the Blackfriers, and bled there likewise: and, on the next daie 2 after, it was conueied in a boat, without priest or clerke, torch or taper, singing or saieng, vnto the monasterie of Chertseie, distant from London fifteene miles, and there was it first buried: ... The historical Lady Anne did not attend Henry VI.'s funeral; and the dialogue between her and Richard (ll. 46-225) is imaginary. She 1 This excerpt was partly derived from Halle (303), but he does not mention the bleeding of Henry's corpse. 2 Henry's body was conveyed to Chertsey on Ascension Day (May 23).— Fab., ii. 662, and a London chronicle (Bibl. Čotton. Vitell. A. xvi. fol. 133, ro) cited in Warkw., xii. Hol. was wrong if the words " where it rested daie after" mean that the body was conveyed to Chertsey on May 24. next [Anne, Warwick's younger daughter, married Richard in 1472.1 From Holinshed (iii. 751/1/45) Shakspere might have learnt that she was [Hol. iii. 751/1/45. Halle, 407.] the same Anne, one of the daughters of the earle of Warwike, which, (as you haue heard married first before,) at the request of Lewes the French king, was maried to prince Edward, sonne to king Henrie the sixt. to Prince Edward.] Richard's entreaty that she would go to Crosby Place, and receive a visit from him there (11. 213-217), was perhaps suggested by the mention (Hol. iii. 721/2/70) of his having "kept his houshold," as Protector, at " Crosbies in Bishops gates street." A slip of the pen, or a compositor's error, may account for Richard's order that the body be taken to White-Friars, not to Chertsey (11. 226, 227). We have seen (p. 345 above) how Henry's corpse, after its removal from St. Pauls, rested at Black-Friars,2 and was thence conveyed to Chertsey. Act I. sc. iii.-Queen Elizabeth tells Rivers (11. 11-13) that her son's minority Is put vnto the trust of Richard Glouster, Qu. It is determin'd, not concluded yet : 12 16 Edward died on April 9, 1483,3 and Richard was appointed Protector before the middle of May in the same year.4 When-on May 4, 14835-Edward V. entered London, [Hol. iii. 716/2/53. More, 22/31.] the duke of Glocester bare him in open sight so reuerentlie to the prince, with all semblance of lowlinesse, that, from the great obloquie in which he was so late before, he was suddenlie fallen in so great trust, that at the councell next assembled he was made the onelie man, chosen and 1 In a letter written on February 17, 1472, Sir John Paston reports Clarence to have said "that he [Richard] may weell have my Ladye [Anne] hys [Clarence's] suster in lawe, butt they schall parte no lyvelod."-Paston, iii. 38. A petition for the reversal of the attainder of John Lord Neville was presented to the Parliament which met at Westminster on October 6, 1472, and was prorogued on November 30, 1472. This petition contains a salvo that nothing asked for shall be prejudicial to "Richard Duke of Gloucestr' and Anne Duches of Gloucestr his wyfe."-Rot. Parl., vi. 25/1. It appears, therefore, that Richard and Anne must have been married on some date between February 17 and November 30, 1472. 2 Halle (303) does not mention the deposit of Henry's body at Blackfriars. 3 Cont. Croyl., 564. In commissions of the peace, dated May 14, he is styled Protector of England. Rot. Pat. Edw. V. in dorso (cited in Grants of Edward V., ed. J. G. Nichols, xiii., xxxi.). If the entry on the Patent Roll can be trusted, he was Protector on April 21.-Gairdner's Life of Richard III., ed. 2, p. 69. 5 Fab., 668. thought most meet to be protector of the king and his realme; 80 that (were it destinie or were it follie) the lambe was betaken to the woolfe to keepe. The ensuing dialogue (11. 17-319) is fictitious. Margaret-who is one of the speakers-left England soon after November 13, 1475, and died on August 25, 1482.1 But as this scene cannot be historically dated before April 9, 1483, there is point in the rebuke (11. 255-256) which she is made to give Dorset, who pronounced her to be "lunaticke." Peace, Master Marquesse, you are malapert! Your fire-new stampe of Honor is scarce currant. Barely eight years had elapsed since Edward-on April 18, 14752_ The duke of Glocester made pro tector. Grey created [Hol. iii. 702/2/8.] created the lord Thomas, marquesse Dorset, [Thomas before dinner; and so in the habit of a marquesse aboue the habit Marquess of his knighthood he began the table of knights in saint Edwards chamber. She calls Richard a "rooting Hogge" (1. 228). In the second year of Richard's reign (1484), William Collingborne published the couplet: [Hol. iii. 746/2/10. Halle, 398.] The Cat, the Rat, and Louell our dog, Dorset.] boar Richard's cognisance Meaning by the hog, the dreadfull wild boare, which was the [The wild kings cognisance. But, bicause the first line ended in dog, the metrician could not (obseruing the regiments of meeter) end the second verse in boare, but called the boare an hog. Although, as I have said, the dialogue of this scene is fictitious, Shakspere may have taken a hint for it from the following passage, in which Richard is accused of fomenting strife between the two factions at Court. The writer has been speaking of a man named Pottier, who, on hearing of Edward's death, straightway inferred that Richard would be King. [Hol. iii. 712/2/68. More, 7/26.] And forsomuch as he [Richard] 1 The date of Margaret's death is taken from Anselme, i. 232. Cp. Baudier's History of the Calamities of Margaret of Anjou Queen of England, 1737, pp. 191, 192. As to the date of Margaret's departure from England, see p. 341, n. 2, above. I take this date from Stow (713), Hol.'s authority for the passage in which Grey's elevation to the dignity of marquess is recorded. called a hog.] |