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His wit set down, to make his valour live:

So young so wise, they say, do ne'er live long.

in which he conceals under a proverb, his design of hastening the Prince's death. Johnson.

The Prince having caught some part of the former line, asks Richard what he says, who, in order to deceive him, preserves in his reply, the latter words of the line, but substitutes other words at the beginning of it, of a different import from those he had uttered. This is the equivocation that Gloster really made use of, though it does not correspond with his own description of it:

I moralize-two meanings in one word.

Word is not here taken in its literal sense, but means a saying, a short sentence, as motto does in Italian, and bon-mot in French. -So, in Jonson's Every Man out of his Humour, Puntarvolo says:

"Let the word be, Not without mustard; thy crest is rare."

M. Mason. From the following stage direction, in an old dramatick piece, entituled, Histriomastix, or The Player Whipt, 1610, it appears, that the Vice and Iniquity were sometimes distinct personages:

"Enter a roaring devil, with the Vice on his back, Iniquity in one hand, and Juventus in the other."

The devil likewise makes the distinction in his first speech: "Ho, ho, ho! these babes mine are all,

"The Vice, Iniquitie, and Child Prodigal.”

The following part of this note was obligingly communicated by the Rev. Mr. Bowle, of Idmestone near Salisbury. I know no writer who gives so complete an account of this obsolete character, as archbishop Harsnet, in his Declaration of Popish Impostures, p. 114, Lond. 1603: "It was a pretty part (he tells us) in the old church-playes, when the nimble Vice would skip up nimbly like a jackanapes into the devil's necke, and ride the devil a course, and belabour him with his wooden dagger, till he made him roare, whereat the people would laugh to see the devil so vice-haunted." Steevens.

Dr. Warburton has endeavoured to support his capricious and violent alteration of the text by a very long note, which in my apprehension carries neither conviction, nor information with it.

The Vice, Iniquity, cannot with propriety, be said to moralize in general; but in the old Moralities he, like Richard, did often "moralize two meanings in one word.”

Our author has again used moralize as a verb active in his Rape of Lucrece:

"Nor could she moralize his wanton sight,

"More than his eyes were open to the light."

In which passage it means, "to interpret or investigate the latent meaning of his wanton looks," as in the present passage, it signifies either to extract the double and latent meaning of one word or sentence, or to couch two meanings under one word or sentence. So moral is used by our author in Much Ado about

Death makes no conquest of this conqueror;"
For now he lives in fame, though not in life.—
I'll tell you what, my cousin Buckingham.
Buck. What, my gracious lord?
Prince. An if I live until I be a man,
I'll win our ancient right in France again,
Or die a soldier, as I liv'd a king.

Glo. Short summers lightly1 have a forward spring.

[Aside.

Nothing, for a secret meaning: "There is some moral in this Benedictus." See Vol. IV, p. 254, n. 2; and Vol. IX, p. 375, n. 2. The word which Richard uses in a double sense is live, which in his former speech he had used literally, and in the present is used metaphorically. Mr. Mason conceives, because what we now call a motto, was formerly denominated the mot or word, that word may here signify a whole sentence. But the argument is defective. Though in tournaments the motto on a knight's shield was formerly called The word, it never at any period was called "One word."

The Vice of the old moralities was a buffoon character, [See Cotgrave's Dict. "Badin, A foole or Vice in a play-Mime, A vice, foole, jester, &c. in a play."] whose chief employment was to make the audience laugh, and one of the modes by which he effected his purpose was by double meanings, or playing upon words. In these moral representations, Fraud, INIQUITY, Covetousness, Luxury, Gluttony, Vanity, &c. were frequently introduced. Mr. Upton in a dissertation which, on account of its length, is annexed at the end of this play, has shown, from Ben Jonson's Staple of News, and The Devil's an Ass, that Iniquity was sometimes the Vice of the Moralities. Mr. Steevens's note in the foregoing page, shows, that he was not always so.

The formal Vice perhaps means, the shrewd, the sensible Vice. -In The Comedy of Errors, " a formal man" seems to mean, one in his senses; a rational man. Again, in Twelfth Night, Vol. III, p. 239, n. 2: " this is evident to any formal capacity." Malone. of this conqueror;] For this reading we are indebted to Mr. Theobald, who derived it from the original edition in 1597. All the subsequent ancient copies read corruptly-of his conqueror. Malone.

9

1—

lightly-] Commonly, in ordinary course. Johnson. So, in the old Proverb: "There's lightning lightly before thunder." See Ray's Proverbs, p. 130, edit. 3d.

Again, in Penny-wise and Pound-foolish, &c.-"Misfortunes seldome walke alone; and so when blessings doe knocke at a man's dore, they lightly are not without followers and fellowes."

Again, Holinshed, p. 725, concerning one of King Edward's concubines: "one whom no one could get out of the church lightly to any place, but it were to his bed."

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Enter YORK, HASTINGS, and the Cardinal.

Buck. Now, in good time, here comes the duke of York.

Prince. Richard of York! how fares our loving brother?
York. Well, my dread lord;2 so must I call you now.
Prince. Ay, brother; to our grief, as it is yours:
Too late he died,3 that might have kept that title,
Which by his death hath lost much majesty.

Glo. How fares our cousin, noble lord of York?
York. I thank you, gentle uncle. O, my lord,
You said, that idle weeds are fast in growth:
The prince my brother hath outgrown me far.
Glo. He hath, my lord.

York.

And therefore is he idle?

Glo. O, my fair cousin, I must not say so.

York. Then is he more beholden to you, than I.
Glo. He may command me, as my sovereign;

But you

have power in me, as in a kinsman.

York. I pray you, uncle, then, give me this dagger.* Glo. My dagger, little cousin? with all my heart. Prince. A beggar, brother?

York. Of my kind uncle, that I know will give; And, being but a toy, which is no grief to give.5

Again, in Ben Jonson's Cynthia's Revels:

"He is not lightly within to his mercer." Steevens.

Short summers lightly have a forward spring.] That is, short sum, mers are usually preceded by a forward spring; or in other words, and more appositely to Gloster's latent meaning, a premature spring is usually followed by a short summer. Malone.

2

dread lord;] The original of this epithet applied to kings has been much disputed. In some of our old statutes the king is called Rex metuendissimus. Johnson.

3 Too late he died,] i. e. too lately, the loss is too fresh in our memory. Warburton.

So, in our author's Rape of Lucrece:

66

I did give that life,

"Which she too early, and too late hath spill'd."

Again, in King Henry V:

"The mercy that was quick in us but late," &c. Malone.

I pray you, uncle, then, give me this dagger.] Then was added, by Sir Thomas Hanmer, for the sake of metre.

Steevens.

5 And, being but a toy, which is no grief to give.] The reading of

the quartos is-gift. The first folio reads:

And, being but a toy, which is no grief to give.

Glo. A greater gift than that I'll give my cousin. York. A greater gift! O, that's the sword to it? Glo. Ay, gentle cousin, were it light enough. York. O then, I see, you'll part but with light gifts; In weightier things you'll say a beggar, nay. Glo. It is too weighty for your grace to wear. York. I weigh it lightly, were it heavier.

6

Glo. What, would you have my weapon, little lord? York. I would, that I might thank you as you call me. Glo. How?

York. Little.

Prince. My lord of York will still be cross in talk;— Uncle, your grace knows how to bear with him.

York. You mean, to bear me, not to bear with me:Uncle, my brother mocks both you and me; Because that I am little, like an ape,7

This reading, made a little more metrical, has been followed, I think, erroneously, by all the editors. Johnson.

The quarto 1612 reads:

no grief

Steevens.

which is no grief to give.] Which to give, or the gift of which, induces no regret. Thus the authentick copies, the quarto, 1598, and the first folio. A quarto of no authority changed grief to gift, and the editor of the second folio capriciously altered the line thus: "And being a toy, it is no grief to give." Malone.

6 I weigh it lightly, &c.] i. e. I should still esteem it but a trifling gift, were it heavier. But the Oxford editor reads:

I'd weigh it lightly,

i. e. I could manage it though it were heavier. Warburton. Dr. Warburton is right. So, in Love's Labour's Lost, Act V, sc. ii: "You weigh me not,-O that's you care not for me."

Steevens.

7 Because that I am little, like an ape,] The reproach seems to consist in this: at country shows it was common to set the monkey on the back of some other animal, as a bear. The Duke therefore in calling himself ape, calls his uncle bear. Johnson.

To this custom there seems to be an allusion in Ben Jonson's Masque of Gypsies:

"A gypsy in his shape,

"More calls the beholder,

"Than the fellow with the ape,

"Or the ape on his shoulder.”

Again, in The First Part of the Eighth liberall Science, entituled Are Adulandi &c. devised and compiled by Ulpian Fulwel, 1576: "thou hast an excellent back to carry my lord's ape.

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See likewise Hogarth's Humours of an Election, plate IV.

He thinks that you should bear me on your shoulders. Buck. With what a sharp-provided wit he reasons To mitigate the scorn he gives his uncle,

He prettily and aptly taunts himself:

So cunning, and so young, is wonderful.

8

Glo. My gracious lord, will 't please you pass along? Myself, and my good cousin Buckingham,

Will to your mother; to entreat of her,

To meet you at the Tower, and welcome you.
York. What, will you go unto the Tower, my lord?
Prince. My lord protector needs will have it so.
York. I shall not sleep in quiet at the Tower.
Glo. Why, sir, what should you fear?9*

York. Marry, my uncle Clarence' angry ghost;
My grandam told me, he was murder'd there.
Prince. I fear no uncles dead.

Glo. Nor none that live, I hope.

Prince. An if they live, I hope, I need not fear. But come, my lord, and, with a heavy heart,

York also alludes to the protuberance on Gloster's back, which was commodious for carrying burdens, as it supplied the place of a porter's knot. Steevens.

I do not believe that the reproach is what Johnson supposes, or that York meant to call his uncle a bear. He merely alludes to Richard's deformity, his high shoulder, or hump-back, as it is called. That was the scorn he meant to give his uncle. In the third Act of the Third Part of King Henry VI, the same thought occurs to Richard himself, where describing his own figure, he

says:

"To make an envious mountain on my back,

"Where sits deformity, to mock my body." M. Mason. 8 My gracious lord,] For the insertion of the word gracious, I am answerable. Gloster has already used the same address. The defect of the metre shows that a word was omitted at the press. Malone.

9 Why, sir, &c.] The word-sir, was added by Sir Thomas Hanmer. Without it this half line is harsh, and quite unmetrical. Steevens.

*The addition of Sir by Mr. Hanmer may render this line more pleasing to the delicate ear of Mr. Steevens, but his sense of propriety should have rejected it as an unwarrantable and unnecessary interpolation. He certainly had no authority for sinking the title of his grace, and had he paid any attention to the language of Gloseer, when he addresses the duke of York, he could not have committed an error so gross. Am. Ed.

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