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To fright the fouls of fearful adversaries,—
5 He capers nimbly in a lady's chamber,
To the lafcivious pleafing of a lute.

But I,—that am not fhap'd for sportive tricks,
Nor made to court an amorous looking-glafs;
I, that am rudely ftamp'd, and want love's ma-
jefty,

To ftrut before a wanton ambling nymph;
I, that am curtail'd of this fair proportion,

So, in Jarvis Markham's English Arcadia, 1607:

66

-armed in a black armour, curiously damask'd with interwinding wreaths of cyprefs and ewe, his barbe upon his horse, all of black abrofetta, cut in broken hoopes upon curled cypress." Again, in the 2d Part of K. Edward IV. by Heywood, 1626: “With barbed horse, and valiant armed foot."

Barbed, however, may be no more than a corruption of barded. Equus bardatus, in the Latin of the middle ages, was a horse adorned with military trappings. I have met with the word barded many times in our ancient chronicles and romances. An inftance or two may fuffice. "They mounted him furely upon a good and mighty courfer, well barded, &c."

Hift. of Helyas Knight of the Swanne, bl. I. no date. Again, in Hall's Chronicle, King Henry VIII. p. 45:

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--appereilled in ryche armure, on a barded courfer &c." Again, in the Miracles of Mofes, by Drayton :

"There floats the bard iteed with his rider drown'd,
"Whofe foot in his caparifon is caft."

Again, in Warner's Albion's England, B. VIII. chap. 38:
"For whether that he trots, or turns, or bounds his
barded fteed."

Again, in Barrett's Alvearie, or Quadruple Dictionary, 1580: "Bardes or trappers of horses. Phalera, Lat."

66

Again, Holinfhed fpeaking of the preparations for the battle of Agincourt: " to the intent that if the barded horses ran fiercely upon them, &c" Again, p. 8oz, he fays, that bards and trappers had the fame meaning.

It is obferved in the Turkish Spy, that the German cuiraffiers, though armed and barbed, man and horfe, were not able to ftand against the French cavalry. STEEVENS.

s He capers] War capers. This is poetical, though a little harsh; if it be York that capers, the antecedent is at fuch a distance, that it is almost forgotten. JOHNSON.

B 3

Cheat

• Cheated of feature by diffembling nature,
Deform'd, unfinifh'd, fent before my time
Into this breathing world, fcarce half made up,
And that fo lamely and unfashionably,
That dogs bark at me, as I halt by them ;-
Why I, in this weak piping time of peace,
Have no delight to pafs away the time;
Unless to spy my fhadow in the fun,
And defcant on mine own deformity 7:
And therefore,-fince I cannot prove a lover,
To entertain thefe fair well-fpoken days,-
I am determined to prove a villain,

I

And hate the idle pleafures of these days.
Plots have I laid, inductions dangerous,
By drunken prophefies, libels, and dreams,
To fet my brother Clarence, and the king,
In deadly hate the one against the other :

Cheated of feature by diffembling nature,] By diffembling is not meant bypocritical nature, that pretends one thing and does another but nature that puts together things of a diffimilar kind, as a brave foul and a deformed body. WARBURTON.

:

Diffembling is here put very licentiously for fraudful, deceitful. JOHNSON.

And defcant on mine own deformity:] Defcant is a term in mufic, fignifying in general that kind of harmony wherein one part is broken and formed into a kind of paraphrase on the other. The propriety and elegance of the above figure, without fuch an idea of the nature of defcant, could not be difcerned.

Sir J. HAWKINS.

And therefore, fince I cannot prove a lover,] Shakespeare very diligently inculcates, that the wickednefs of Richard proceeded from his deformity, from the envy that rofe at the comparison of his own perfon with others, and which incited him to disturb the pleasures that he could not partake. JOHNSON.

I

And hate the idle pleasures-] Perhaps we might read:

And bate the idle pleasures

JOHNSON.

inductions dangerous,] Preparations for mifchief. The induction is preparatory to the action of the play. JOHNSON. Mariton has put this line, with little variation, into the mouth of Fame:

66 Plots ha' yout laid? inductions dangerous ?"

STEEVENS,

And

2.

And, if king Edward be as true and juft,

As I am fubtle, falfe, and treacherous,
This day should Clarence clofely be mew'd up;
About a prophefy, which fays-that G

Of Edward's heirs the murderer fhall be.

Dive, thoughts, down to my foul! here Clarence

comes.

Enter Clarence guarded, and Brakenbury.

Brother, good day: What means this armed guard, That waits upon your grace

Clar. His majesty,

Tendering my perfon's fafety, hath appointed
This conduct to convey me to the Tower.
Glo. Upon what cause?

Cla. Because my name is-George.

Glo. Alack, my lord, that fault is none of yours; He fhould, for that, commit your godfathers: O, belike, his majesty hath fome intent,

That you should be new chriften'd in the Tower.
But what's the matter, Clarence ? may I know?
Clar. Yea, Richard, when I know; for, I proteft,
As yet I do not: But, as I can learn,

He hearkens after prophefies, and dreams;
And from the cross-row plucks the letter G,
And fays a wizard told him, that by G
His iffue difinherited fhould be;

And, for my name of George begins with G3,
It follows in his thought, that I am he ;

2

-Edward be as true and juft,] i, e, as open-hearted and free from deceit. WARBURTON.

The meaning is only this; if Edward keeps his word.

JOHNSON.

3 And, for my name of George begins with G, &c.] So, in Nicols's Tragical Life and Death of Richard III:

66

By that blind riddle of the letter G,

66 George loft his life; it took effect in me." STEEVENS.

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These, as I learn, and fuch like toys as these 4,
Have mov'd his highness to commit me now.

Glo. Why, this it is, when men are rul'd by

women:

'Tis not the king, that fends you to the Tower;
My lady Grey his wife, Clarence, 'tis fhe,
That tempts him to this harsh extremity.
Was it not fhe, and that good man of worship,
Anthony Woodeville, her brother there,
That made him fend lord Haftings to the Tower;
From whence this prefent day he is deliver'd?
We are not fafe, Clarence, we are not safe.

Clar. By heaven, I think, there is no man fecure,
But the queen's kindred, and night-walking heralds
That trudge betwixt the king and mistress Shore.
Heard you not, what an humble fuppliant
Lord Haftings was to her for his delivery?
Glo. Humbly complaining to her deity
Got my lord chamberlain his liberty.
I'll tell you what,-I think, it is our way,
If we will keep in favour with the king,
To be her men, and wear her livery :
"The jealous o'er-worn widow, and herself,
Since that our brother dubb'd them gentlewomen,
Are mighty goffips in this monarchy.

Brak. I befeech your graces both to pardon me ;

His majefty hath ftraitly given in charge,

That no man fhall have private conference,

Of what degree foever, with his brother.

Glo. Even fo? an please your worship, Brakenbury, You may partake of any thing we say :

We speak no treafon, man;-We say, the king
Is wife, and virtuous; and his noble queen

4-toys-] Fancies, freaks of imagination. JOHNSON. 5 Humbly complaining &c.] I think these two lines might be better given to Clarence. JOHNSON.

The jealous o'er-worn widow, and herfelf,] That is, the queen and Shore. JOHNSON.

Well

Well ftruck in years 7; fair, and not jealous :-
We say, that Shore's wife hath a pretty foot,
A cherry lip, a bonny eye, a paffing pleafing tongue;
That the queen's kindred are made gentle-folks:
How fay you, fir? can you deny all this?

Brak. With this, my lord, myself have nought to do.

Glo. Naught to do with mistress Shore? I tell thee, fellow,

He that doth naught with her, excepting one,
Were beft to do it fecretly, alone.

Brak. What one, my lord?

Glo. Her husband, knave :-Would'ft thou betray me?

Brak. I beseech your grace to pardon me; and, withal,

Forbear your conference with the noble duke.

Clar. We know thy charge, Brakenbury, and will obey.

Gle. We are the queen's abjects, and must obey. Brother, farewel: I will unto the king; And whatfoe'er you will employ me in,Were it, to call king Edward's widow-fifter ',I will

7 Well struck in years;] This odd expreffion in our language was preceded by one as uncouth though of a fimilar kind.

"Well fhot in years he feem'd &c.] Spenfer's F. Queen, B. V. c. vi: The meaning of neither is very obvious; but as Mr. Warton has obferved in his Effay on the Faery Queen, by an imperceptible progreffion from one kindred fenfe to another, words at length obtain a meaning entirely foreign to their original etymology. STEEVENS.

the queen's abjects- -] That is, not the queen's Subjects, whom she might protect, but her abjects, whom she drives away. JOHNSON.

9 Were it to call king Edward's widow-fifter,] This is a very covert and fubtle manner of infinuating treafon. The natural expreffion would have been, avere it to call king Edward's wife, fifter. I will folicit for you, though it fhould be at the expence of fo much degradation and conftraint, as to own the low-born wife of King Edward for a fifter. But by flipping, as it were

cafually,

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