EXPEDITION.

Come, I have learn'd, that fearful commenting, Is leaden fervitor to dull delay;

Delay leads impotent and fnail pac'd beggary.
Then fiery expedition be my wing,
Jove's mercury, and herald for a king.

C

SCENE IV. Queen Margaret's Exprobation. I call'd thee then poor fhadow, painted queen, One heav'd on high, to be hurl'd down below: A mother only mock'd with two fair babes; A dream of what thou waft; a garish flag, To be the aim of ev'ry dang'rous fhot; A fign of dignity, a breath, a bubble; A queen in jest, only to fill the scene. Where is thy husband now, where be thy brothers? Where be thy children? wherein dost thou joy? Who fues and kneels, and fays, God fave the queen? Where be the bending peers, that flatter'd thee? Where be the thronging troops, that follow'd thee? Decline all this, and fee what now thou art. For happy wife, a most distress'd widow ; For joyful mother, one that wails the name ; For one being fu'd to, one that humbly sues ; For queen, a very caitiff crown'd with care; For one that fcorn'd at me, now fcorn'd of me; For one being fear'd of all, (8) now fearing one;

For

Come, &c.] The favourite apopthegm of Alexander was Mnder avaßaλλoperos: nothing is to be delay'd; and Cefar, his great rival, in Lucan's Pharfa ia fays,

Tolle moras, femper nocuit differe parati.

Hence dull delays, they harm the cause in hand. (8) Now fearing one.] It is very poffible to understand and

give

For one commanding all, obey'd of none.
Thus hath the course of justice wheel'd about,,
And left thee but a very prey to time;
Having no more but thought of what thou wert,
To torture thee the more, being what thou art.

SCENE V. His Mother's Character of King Richard.

Tetchy and wayward was thy infancy;

Thy school days frightful, desp'rate, wild and furious; Thy prime of manhood, daring, bold and venturous; Thy age confirm'd, proud, fubtle, fly and bloody.

ACT V. SCENE II.

HOPE.

True hope is fwift, and flies with swallows wings; Kings it makes gods; and meaner creatures kings.

SCENE III. A fine Evening.

The weary fun hath made a golden fet, And, by the bright tract of his fiery car, Gives fignal of a goodly day to-morrow.

The filent hours fteal on,

And flaky darkness breaks within the east

91

give fenfe to this, as it is now read but I should apprehend the author wrote,

For one being fear'd of all, now fearing all :

and this correction not only the next line, but the whole manner of the fpeech, as well as the fuperior elegance given to the paffage, fem to confirm.

K 2

Richmond's

Richmond's Prayer.

O thou! whofe captain I account myself,
Look on my forces with a gracious eye:
Put in their hands thy bruifing irons of wrath,
That they may crush down with a heavy fall
Th' ufurping helmets of our adversaries!
Make us thy minifters of chastisement,
That we may praise thee in thy victory.
To thee I do commend my watchful soul,
Ere I let fall the windows of mine eyes:
Sleeping and waking, oh, defend me still !

SCENE V. Richard starting out of his Dream.

Give me another horse-bind up my wounds.
Have mercy, Jesu -Soft, I did but dream.
O coward confcience!-how doft thou afflict me?
The light burns blue-is it not dead mid-night?
Cold fearful drops ftand on my trembling flesh.
What do I fear my elf?

SCENE VII.

CONSCIENCE.

Confcience is but a word that cowards ufe, Devis'd at first to keep the strong in awe.

Richard before the Battle.

A thousand hearts are great within my bofom,
Advance our ftandards fet upon our foes;
Our ancient word of courage, fair St. George,
Inspire us with the spleen of fiery dragons,
Upon them! (9) victory fits on our helms !

(9) Victory, &c.] The image here is fine and noble : Milton defcribing Satan, fpeaks thus fublimely,

His ftature reach'd the skies, and on his creft,
Sat horror plum'd!

And in another place, he fays,

At his right hand victory
Sat eagle-winged.

B. 6. v. 762,

SCENE

SCENE VIII. Alarum. Enter King Richard, K. Richard. A horfe! a horfe! my kingdom for a horse !

Cates. Withdraw, my lord, I'll help you to a horse.

K. Richard. Slave, I have fet my life upon a caft, And I will ftand the hazard of the dye;

I think there be fix Richmond's in the field;
Five have I flain to day instead of him.
A horfe! a horfe! my kingdom for a horfe!

L

OVE is a fmoke rais'd with the fume of fighs, Being purg'd, a fire sparkling in lovers ayes, Being vex'd, a fea nourish'd with lovers tears; What is it elfe? a madness most discreet, A choaking gall, and a preferving fweet!

SCENE V. On Dreams.

O then I fee queen mab hath been with you.
She it the (1) fancy's midwife, and she comes
In fhape no bigger than an agat-ftone
On the fore-finger of an alderman,
Drawn with a team of little atomies,
Athwart mens nofes as they lie afleep:
Her waggon-fpokes made of long spinners legs 1
The cover, of the wings of grafhoppers;
The traces, of the fmallest fpider's web;

(1) Fancy's, &c.] This has been read Fairies, but Mr. War burton alter'd it, to Fancy the lines following,

91 & ad

Which are the children of an idle brain
Begot of nothing but vain phantasy,

evidently prove the truth of the Reading. Befide, as he is the queen of the Fairies, it would rather be beneath her dignity to be their midwife too. The word shape is ufed in the next line very licentiously for farm, fize, or magnitude.

På gu

The