Chapter 55 of 56 · 3985 words · ~20 min read

Part 55

[fec139] Ghost of R.] King. Q1 Q2. Riu. the rest. ¶ _on_] _in_ Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4. _one_ Q7.

[fec143] _lance_] _hurtless lance_ Capell. _pointless lance_ Collier (Collier MS.). ¶ _despair_] _Richard, despair_ Pope.

[fec144] _Richard’s_] Q1 Ff Q8. _Ri._ Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5. _Ric._ Q6. _Rich._ Q7.

[fec145] _Will_] _Wel_ Q1. ¶ _him_] Qq F1. om. F2 F3 F4. ¶ Hastings.] Q1 Q2. L. Hastings, the other Quartos. Lord Hastings. Ff. See note (XXIV).

[fec146] _guiltily_] Qq F1. _guilty_ F2 F3 F4.

[fec148] _despair_] _and despair_ Pope. _so despair_ Collier (Collier MS.).

[fec149] _Quiet...awake!_] One line in Qq. Two in Ff.

[fec151] _Dream...Tower:_] One line in Qq. Two in Ff.

[fec152] _lead_] Q1. _laid_ or _layd_ the rest.

[fec153] _thee_] _the_ Q6 F3.

[fec154] _souls bid_] Qq F4. _soule bids_ F1 F2 F3.

[fec155] _Sleep...joy;_] One line in Qq. Two in Ff.

[fec158] Lady Anne.] Q1 Q2. Queene Anne, the other Quartos. Anne, his Wife. Ff.

[fec159] _Richard...wife,_] One line in Qq. Two in Ff.

[fec161] _perturbations_] _preturbations_ Q1.

[fec162], fec163: _To-morrow...die!_] Spurious; the true lines being lost. Lettsom conj.

[fec163] _edgeless sword_] _powerless arm_ Collier (Collier MS.).

[fec164] _Thou...sleep:_] One line in Qq. Two in Ff.

[fec166] Enter the Ghost...] Enter the Ghosts... F2.

[fec167] _The first...crown;_] One line in Qq. Two in Ff.

[fec168] _thy_] _the_ Q7.

[fec173] _I...aid:_] One line in Qq. Two in Ff. ¶ _for hope_] _for holpe_ Theobald conj. _forsoke_ Hanmer. _forholpe_ Steevens conj. _fore-done_ Tyrwhitt conj. _sore hope!_ Jackson conj.

[fec176] _falls_] Qq. _fall_ Ff. ¶ [The Ghosts vanish.] Rowe. om. Qq Ff. ¶ King...dream.] Richard starteth up out of a dreame. Qq (starteth out Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6. started out of his Q7 Q8). Richard starts out of his dreame. Ff.

[fec179] _coward_] See note (XXV).

[fec180] _It is now_] Q1. _It is not_ the rest. _Is it not_ Rowe (ed. 2).

[fec181] _stand_] _stands_ Q5.

[fec182]–fec203: _What do I...to myself?_] Ritson would put this passage in the margin. ¶ fec182: _What do I fear? myself?_] Q1. _What do I feare my selfe?_ Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6 Q7 Q8. _What? do I feare my selfe?_ Ff.

[fec183] _Richard...am I_] omitted by Pope. ¶ _I am I_] _I and I_ Q1.

[fec185]–fec192: _Then fly...flatter._] Put in the margin by Pope. ¶ fec185: _fly._] _flie,_ Qq. _flye;_ F1. _flye?_ F2 F3 F4. ¶ _reason why:_] _reason why,_ Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6 Q7 Q8. _reason whie?_ Q1. _reason why?_ Q2. _reason: why?_ Ff.

[fec186] _What,_] _What_ Qq. _What?_ Ff. om. Capell. ¶ _upon_] _on_ Pope.

[fec187] _Alack_] om. Pope.

[fec188] _I_] om. Q6 Q7 Q8. ¶ _have_] _hath_ Q7 Q8.

[fec191] _yet_] _yea_ Q8.

[fec192] _speak well: fool_] _speak--well Fool_ Rowe (ed. 1).

[fec196] _Perjury, perjury_] _Perjurie, perjurie_ Q1 Q2. _Perjurie_ (once only) the rest. _Perjury, foul perjury_ Collier (Collier MS.). ¶ _the_] om. Pope.

[fec199] _Throng_] Q1 Q2. _Throng all_ the rest. ¶ _bar] barrr_ Q6. _boare_ Q8. ¶ _crying all_] _all crying_ Pope.

[fec200] _shall_] _will_ Pope. ¶ _creature_] _creatuees_ F2. _creatures_ F3.

[fec202], fec203: _Nay...myself?_] Put in the margin by Pope. ¶ fec202: _Nay,_] Ff. _And_ Qq.

[fec204]–fec206: _Methought...Richard._] See note (XXVI). ¶ fec204: _had_] Q1 Ff. om. Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6. _have_ Q7 Q8.

[fec205] _Came_] _Came all_ Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6. ¶ _one_] _on_ Q4.

[fec208] _’Zounds! who is_] Qq. _Who’s_ Ff.

[fec209] _Ratcliff_] om. Q7 Q8. ¶ _’tis I_] om. Pope.

[fec210] _twice_] _thrice_ Q7 Q8.

[fec212]–fec214: K. Rich. _O Ratcliff...my lord._] Qq. Omitted in Ff.

[fec213] _thinkest_] Capell. _thinkst_ Qq.

[fec214] _O_] om. Pope. ¶ _O...fear_] _O Ratcliff, I have dream’d a fearful dream._ Collier MS.

[fec219] _Armed_] _Arm’d all_ Cibber’s version.

[fec220] _It is_] Pope. _Tis_ or _’Tis_ Qq Ff. ¶ fec220, fec221: _me;...tents_] _me,...tents_ Qq F1 (_me,...tents,_ Q8). _me,...tents;_ F2 F3 F4.

[fec221] _eaves-dropper_] F4. _ease dropper_ Q1. _ewse dropper_ Q2. _ewse-dropper_ Q3. _eawse-dropper_ Q4. _ewese-dropper_ Q5 Q6 Q7 Q8. _ease-dropper_ F1 F2 F3.

[fec222] _see_] Q1 Q2. _heare_ the rest. ¶ _mean to shrink_] Qq F1 F2 (_means to shrinke_ Q4). _man shrink_ F3 F4. ¶ [Exeunt.] Qq. Exeunt Richard & Ratliffe. Ff. ¶ Enter...] Ff. Enter the Lordes to Richmond. Qq. Richmond wakes. Enter Oxford, and Others, to him. Capell.

[fec223] SCENE V. Pope (ed. 1). SCENE IV. Pope, ed. 2 (a misprint). SCENE VI. Warburton.

[fec224] _Cry mercy_] Qq F1. _Cry you mercy_ F2 F3 F4. _I cry you mercy_ Pope.

[fec225] _a_] om. Q4.

[fec227] _The...dreams_] One line in Qq. Two in Ff. ¶ _fairest-boding_] Theobald. _fairest boding_ Qq. _fairest boading_ Ff.

[fec230] _bodies_] _body_ Q7 Q8.

[fec231] _cried on victory_] Qq Ff. _cried out Victory_ Pope. _cried On! Victory_ Warburton.

[fec232] _soul_] Qq. _heart_ Ff.

[fec234] _morning_] _mourning_ Q8.

[fec236] [arms, and comes forth. Capell. ¶ His Oration...] Qq Ff. To his Troops; who now gather about the Tent. Capell.

[fec239] _upon_] _on_ Pope.

[fec242] _high-rear’d_] _high read_ Q4.

[fec243] _Richard except,_] _Richard, except_ Q1 Q2.

[fec248] _what_] _that_ Q7 Q8.

[fec249] _slaughter’d_] Ff. _slandered_ Q4. _slaughtered_ the rest.

[fec250] _foil_] _foile_ Q1 Q2. _soile_ Q3 Q4 Q5. _soyle_ Q6 F1 F2 Q7 Q8 F3. _soyl_ F4.

[fec254] _ward_] _reward_ Q8.

[fec255] _do_] om. Q6 Q7 Q8. ¶ _sweat_] _sweate_ Q1 Q2. _sweare_ the rest.

[fec258] _fat_] _fate_ Long MS.

[fec259] _do_] _stoe_ F2.

[fec262] _quit_] Pope. _quits_ Qq Ff.

[fec267] _attempt_] _attempt--_ Seymour conj.

[fec269] _trumpets_] _trumpet_ F2. ¶ _boldly and_] _boldly_ Pope. _bold_ Staunton.

[fec270] [Exeunt.] Shouts, &c. and Exeunt. Capell. om. QqFf. ¶ Re-enter...] Re-enter Richard, and Ratcliffe; Attendants, and Forces, with them. Capell. Enter King Richard, Rat. &c. Qq. Enter King Richard, Ratcliffe, and Catesby. Ff.

[fec271] SCENE VI. Pope (ed. 1). SCENE VII. Pope (ed. 2).

[fec275] _in the_] _i’ th’_ Pope. ¶ [The clock striketh.] Qq. Clocke strikes. Ff (Clockes F2).

[fec276], fec277: _Tell...to-day?_] As in Pope. As two lines in QqFf, ending _there...to day?_

[fec279] _braved_] _brac’d_ Jackson conj.

[fec280] _will it_] _it will_ Rowe (ed. 2). ¶ fec280, fec281: _somebody. Ratcliff!_] _somebody.--Ratcliff,--_ Capell. _some bodie Rat._ Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6. _somebody. Ratcliffe._ Ff. _some body,_ Q7. _some body._ Q8.

[fec281] _Ratcliff_] Put in a separate line first by Johnson.

[fec288] _vaunts_] _vants_ Q4.

[fec293] _shall be drawn out all_] _battel shall be drawn_ Hanmer. ¶ _out all_] Q1. The rest omit.

[fec297] _this_] Q1 Q2. _the_ the rest.

[fec298] _we_] _we our self_ Pope. ¶ _follow_] _follow them_ Collier (Collier MS.).

[fec299] _whose puissance_] _which_ Pope.

[fec301] _This...Norfolk_] One line in Qq. Two in Ff. ¶ _boot_] _bootes_ Q1 Q2. ¶ _think’st_] _think_ Rowe (ed. 2). ¶ _Norfolk_] _Norffolke_ Q1. _Nor._ Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5. _not_ Q6 Q7 Q8. _Norfolke_ Ff.

[fec303] _This_] _This paper_ Pope. ¶ [He sheweth...] Qq. om. Ff. Giving a Scrowl. Rowe.

[fec304] K. Rich. [Reads] Capell. Reads. Rowe. om. QqFf. ¶ _too_] Capell. _to_ Q6 Q7 Q8. _so_ the rest.

[fec306] _A thing_] Capell. King. _A thing_ QqFf. ¶ [throws it away. Capell.

[fec307] _every man unto_] Qq. _every man to_ Ff. _go each man to_ Pope.

[fec308]–fec311: _Let not...law_] Spoken aside, Mason conj.

[fec309] _Conscience is but_] Q1 Q2. _For conscience is_ Ff. _Conscience is_ the rest.

[fec311] _conscience_] _consciences_ Q7. ¶ _swords_] _our swords_ Q7 Q8.

[fec312] _to ’t_] F4. _too ’t_ F1 F2 F3. _to it_ Q1 Q2 Q8. _too it_ Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6 Q7.

[fec314] [His oration...] Qq. Omitted in Ff. turning to his Troops. Capell.

[fec315] _whom_] _who_ Q7 Q8. ¶ _to cope_] _in cope_ Q7 Q8.

[fec316] _rascals, and_] _rascals,_ F2 F3 F4. _of rascals,_ Pope.

[fec317] _Bretons_] Capell. _Brittains_ Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5. _Brittaines_ Q6 F1 F2 Q7 Q8. _Britains_ F3 F4. _Britons_ Pope.

[fec319] _ventures and assured_] Capell. _adventures and assured_ Qq Ff. _adventures and_ Pope.

[fec320] _to you_] Q1. _you to_ the rest.

[fec322] _restrain_] _distrain_ Hanmer (Warburton).

[fec324] _Bretagne_] Hanmer. _Brittaine_ Qq. _Britaine_ F1 F2. _Britain_ F3 F4. ¶ _our mother’s_] _his mother’s_ Pope, ed. 2 (Theobald). _our brother’s_ Capell.

[fec325] _milk-sop_] F3 F4. _milkesopt_ Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5. _milkesope_ Q6. _milke-sop_ F1 F2 Q7 Q8.

[fec332] _conquer’d_] Rowe. _conquered_ Qq Ff.

[fec333] _these_] _those_ Rowe. ¶ _bastard Bretons_] Capell. _bastard Brittains_ or _Brittaines_ Qq. _bastard Britaines_ F1. _bastard Brittaines_ F2. _bastard-Britains_ F3 F4. _bastard-Britons_ Pope.

[fec335] _in record_] Q1 Q2. _on record_ the rest. ¶ _heirs_] _heire_ Q7.

[fec336] _lands_] _land_ Q8.

[fec337] _Ravish...drum_] One line in Qq. Two in Ff. ¶ [Drum...] Ff. Omitted in Qq. ¶ _their_] _there_ Q7 Q8.

[fec338] _Fight_] Q1 Q2 Q8. _Right_ the rest. ¶ _bold_] Q1. _boldly_ the rest.

[fec339] _your_] _you_ Q7.

[fec341] Enter......] Ff. Omitted in Qq.

[fec343] _come_] _come to you_ Capell.

[fec344] _Off_] _Off instantly_ Hanmer.

[fec351] _on_] _one_ Q7. ¶ _helms_] _helmes_ Q1 Q2 Q4 Q8. _helpes_ Q3 Q5 Q6 F1 F2 Q7. _helps_ F3 F4. ¶ [Exeunt.] Rowe. om. Qq. Ff. Drums, and Exeunt. Capell.

[fed001] SCENE IV.] Capell. SCENE VII. Pope (ed. 1). SCENE VIII. Pope (ed. 2). Scene continued in Ff. ¶ Another...] Capell. ¶ Alarum: excursions] Qq Ff. ¶ Enter Norfolk......] Capell. Enter Catesby. Qq Ff. ¶ fed001: _Rescue...rescue_] One line in Qq. Two in Ff.

[fed003] _Daring an opposite_] _Daring and opposite_ Q8. _A daring opposite_ Warburton conj.

[fed006] Alarums...] Ff. om. Qq. ¶ Enter...] Enter Richard. Qq Ff.

[fed010] _die_] _day_ Qq.

[fed013] [Exeunt.] Theobald. om. Qq Ff.

[fee001] SCENE V.] Dyce. Ff, Pope, Capell, &c. continue the Scene. ¶ Another part...] Dyce. ¶ Alarum. Enter...... Re-enter Richmond......] Alarum. Enter...... Enter Richmond...... Ff. Alarum, Enter Richard and Richmond, they fight, Richard is slain then retrait being sounded. Enter Richmond, Darby, bearing the Crowne, with other Lords Qq (Lords, &c. Q1). See note (XXVII). ¶ fee001: _God...friends_] One line in Qq. Two in Ff. ¶ _arms_] _arme_ Q7.

[fee002] _dog_] _hog_ Anon, apud Rann conj.

[fee003], &c.: Der.] Stan. Pope. ¶ fee003, fee004: _Courageous...royalty_] As in Qq. As three lines in Ff, ending _Richmond...Loe...Royalties_.

[fee004] _this...royalty_] Q1. _this...roialties_ Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6 Q7 Q8. _these...royalties_ Ff.

[fee007] _enjoy it_] Q1 Q2. The rest omit. ¶ _make much_] _make use_ Rowe.

[fee009] _tell me_] _tell me first_ Pope. _tell me pray_ Keightley conj. ¶ _young_] _your son_ Capell.

[fee011] _if it please you_] Qq (_ift_ Q8). _if you please_ Ff. _if you so please_ Pope. ¶ _if...now_] _if you please we will withdraw us now_ Keightley conj. ¶ _now_] Qq. om. Ff.

[fee012] _name_] Qq F1 F2. _note_ F3 F4.

[fee013], fee014: _John...Brandon_] As prose in Qq. ¶ fee013: Der.] Ff. om. Qq. ¶ _Walter_] Ff Q6 Q7 Q8. _Water_ Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5. _Walter the_ Pope. ¶ _Ferrers_] Capell. _Ferris_ Qq Ff.

[fee014] _Brakenbury_] F4. _Brookenbury_ Q1 Q2. _Brokenbury_ the rest. ¶ _and_] om. Pope.

[fee015] _becomes_] Rowe. _become_ Qq Ff.

[fee020] _Smile heaven_] _Smile, heaven,_ Anon. conj. ¶ fee020, fee021: _heaven...have_] Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 F1 F2 F3. _heaven...hath_ Q6 Q7 Q8 F4. _heavens...have_ S. Walker conj.

[fee025] _rashly_] _madly_ Capell.

[fee026] _son....butcher....the_] _sonnes...butcher...the_ F2. _sons...butcher...the_ F3. _sons...butchers...the_ F4. _sons...butchers...their_ Johnson. ¶ _sire_] _father_ Q8.

[fee027], fee028: _All...division_] Put in the margin by Pope. ¶ fee027: _this_] _that_ Rann (Johnson conj.). ¶ fee027, fee028: _Lancaster, Divided_] _Lancaster. Divided_ Grant White.

[fee028] _Divided in their_] _Did usher in. Their_ Anon. conj. ¶ _division,_] Rann (Johnson conj.). _division._ Qq Ff.

[fee032] _their_] Q1 Q2 Q8. _thy_ the rest. ¶ _thy_] _they_ Q5 Q6 Q7 Q8.

[fee033] _smooth-faced_] _smooth-fac’d_ Ff. _smooth-faste_ Q1 Q2 Q3 Q5. _smooth-fast_ Q4. _smooth-fac’t_ Q6 Q7 Q8.

[fee034] _days_] _day_ Rowe (ed. 1).

[fee035] _Abate_] _Rebate_ Collier (Collier MS.).

[fee041] _here_] Q8 Ff. _heare_ the rest. ¶ [Exeunt.] Ff. om. Qq.

NOTES TO KING RICHARD III.

NOTE I.

The first and second Folios give the title of this play as follows: ‘The Tragedy of Richard the Third: with the Landing of Earle Richmond, and the Battell at Bosworth Field.’ The third and fourth Folios give the same except that for ‘Earle Richmond,’ they have ‘the Earl of Richmond.’ The running title in all is: ‘The Life and Death of Richard the Third.’

The Acts and Scenes are marked throughout in the Folios, but not in the Quartos.

NOTE II.

I. 1. 98–100. Pope reconstructed the whole passage thus:

‘What, fellow? nought to do with mistress _Shore?_ I tell you Sir, he that doth naught with her, Excepting one, were best to do it secretly.’

Steevens rejecting the word ‘alone,’ as an interpolation would arrange the last and the following lines thus:

‘Were best to do it secretly. _Bra._ What one My lord? _Glou._ Her husband, knave:--Wouldst thou betray me?’

Capell also had omitted ‘alone,’ but made an Alexandrine by continuing the line to ‘my lord.’

NOTE III.

I. 3. 16. Theobald substitutes ‘Stanley’ for ‘Derby’ throughout, observing, ‘This is a blunder of inadvertence, which has run thro’ the whole chain of impressions. It could not well be original in Shakespeare, who was most minutely acquainted with his history and the intermarriages of the nobility...Thomas Lord Stanley was not created Earl of Derby till after the accession of that prince (i.e. Henry VII.); and, accordingly, afterwards in the fourth and fifth Acts of this play, before the battel of Bosworth-field, he is every where call’d Lord Stanley. This sufficiently justifies the change I have made in his title.’

This statement is not quite correct. He is called ‘Derby’ (the word being, of course, variously spelt) throughout the first and second Acts. He is called ‘Lord Stanley’ for the first time in Act III.

## Scene 2. In Act III. Scene 4 he is called ‘Derby’ in the stage

directions and ‘Stanley’ in the text. He is ‘Stanley’ in Act IV.

## Scene 1. In Act IV. Scenes 2 and 3, we find in the Folio ‘Stanley’

both in the stage directions and the text. In the Quarto it is ‘Derby,’ in the stage directions, the name not occurring in the text. In Act IV. Scene 4, he is called ‘Derby’ in the stage directions. In Act V. Scene 2, Richmond speaks of him as ‘my father Stanley,’ and in the next scene he is called ‘Derby’ in the stage directions, and ‘Stanley’ in the text.

The error must have been due to the author, who would not have written ‘my lord of Stanley,’ and therefore we have retained ‘Derby’ wherever both Quarto and Folio agree in reading it. ‘An editor,’ says Mr Grant White, ‘is not justifiable in substituting what his author should have written for what he did write.’

NOTE IV.

I. 3. 322. In Capell’s copy of the seventh Quarto an old MS. corrector has converted ‘we come’ into ‘welcome.’

NOTE V.

I. 4. 75. After this line which is assigned to ‘_Keep._’ like the foregoing lines, the Folios insert the stage direction, ‘Enter Brackenbury the Lieutenant,’ and then prefix ‘_Bra._’ to the next line, as if Brackenbury and the keeper had been two different persons, instead of being identical as they are in the Quartos. Pope restored the reading of the Quartos. Mr Grant White defends the stage directions of the Folios thus: ‘It was a violation of all propriety to make Sir Robert Brakenbury, Lieutenant of the Tower, go about with a bunch of ponderous keys at his girdle or in his hand. These keys were evidently carried by the keeper, a higher sort of gaoler, but a person of rank much inferior to that of Brakenbury, the commander of the Tower. The stage direction and the prefixes of the quarto are probably the result of the limited number of actors in Shakespeare’s company when the play was first produced, which caused the easily merged parts of the _Keeper_ and _Brakenbury_ to be assigned to one performer.’

But Clarence was no common prisoner, and there would be no degradation in Brakenbury’s acting in person as keeper to a prince of the blood, at a time when even menial offices were rendered by gentlemen of good birth not only to royal personages but also to others. We may observe--though this is of little weight--that the corrector has omitted to provide for the _exit_ of the Keeper.

On the whole we have decided to adhere to the Quartos, as they undoubtedly give what Shakespeare originally wrote, and the alteration found in the Folios is not of such obvious propriety that we should unhesitatingly attribute it to the hand of the author.

NOTE VI.

I. 4. 110. The speeches in this part of the scene, which are obviously prose, are printed in the Quartos and Folios as lines of verse of various lengths.

NOTE VII.

I. 4. 255–264. This passage, including the lines immediately preceding, stands thus in the first Quarto, which is followed by the rest, substantially:

‘_2_ What shall we doe? _Cla._ Relent, and saue your soules. _1_ Relent, tis cowardly and womanish. _Cla._ Not to relent, is beastly, sauage, diuelish, My friend, I spie some pitty in thy lookes: Oh if thy eye be not a flatterer, Come thou on my side, and intreat for me, A begging Prince, what begger pitties not?’

It is thus amplified in the Folios:

‘_2_ What shall we do? _Clar._ Relent, and saue your soules: Which of you, if you were a Princes Sonne, Being pent from Liberty, as I am now, If two such murtherers as your selues came to you, Would not intreat for life, as you would begge Were you in my distresse. _1_ Relent? no: ’Tis cowardly and womanish. _Cla._ Not to relent, is beastly, sauage, diuellish: My Friend, I spy some pitty in thy lookes: O, if thine eye be not a Flatterer, Come thou on my side, and intreate for mee, A begging Prince, what begger pitties not. _2_ Looke behind you, my Lord.’

Pope adopted the reading of the Quartos, rejecting the last line ‘a begging...not?’ He was followed by Hanmer and Capell. Theobald followed the Folios, reading _for life? Ah! you...distress._ Johnson, who gives in his text the arrangement which Warburton had borrowed from Theobald, says, in a note: ‘I cannot but suspect that the lines, which Mr Pope observed not to be in the old edition, are now misplaced, and should be inserted here, somewhat after this manner.

“_Clar._ A begging...pities not? _Vil._ A begging prince! _Clar._ Which of you if you were a prince’s son, &c.”

Upon this provocation the villain naturally strikes him.’

The arrangement which we have adopted was first suggested by Tyrwhitt and introduced into the text by Steevens, 1793. It involves a rather violent transposition, but we see no better remedy. As the lines omitted in the Quarto have all the appearance of being Shakespeare’s own, we cannot leave them out of the text. We think, however, that they are out of their right place in the Folio, and that the transposition suggested by Johnson does not yield a satisfactory sense.

Mr Grant White says: ‘Mr Knight, Mr Collier, Mr Verplanck, and Mr Hudson follow the Folio; the last only attaining a tolerable sense, by supposing _Clarence’s_ question, as it appears in the folio, to end at “would not intreat for life,” and the _Murderer_ to interrupt him in the beginning of a new sentence, thus:--

‘Which of you, &c........ Would not entreat for life? As you would beg, Were you in my distress,-- _1 Murd._ Relent!’ &c.--

presuming, I suppose, the Duke to be about to say, ‘As you would beg, &c., _so I beg_,’ &c. I am unable to look so far into _Clarence’s_ intentions as to decide upon the merits of this reading.’

The punctuation proposed by Mr Hudson had suggested itself independently to Mr Spedding. The chief objection however to the reading of the Folio still remains, viz. the awkwardness of the murderer’s taking up Clarence’s word ‘Relent’ after so long an interval. If, as we suppose, Shakespeare wrote those additional lines in the margin of his original MS., nothing is more likely than that a copyist should have misplaced them. In IV. 3, 52, 53, two lines undoubtedly added by Shakespeare are thus misplaced in the Folio:

‘That reignes in gauled eyes of weeping soules: That excellent grand Tyrant of the earth.’

Similarly in Act II. Scene 1, the line

‘Of you Lord Wooduill, and Lord Scales of you,’

which the corrector intended to follow 66, is placed in the Folio after 67. We have not introduced this line into the text, because Shakespeare would not have introduced it after line 66 as it stands in the Quarto, nor have altered that line as it is altered in the Folio.

See also IV. 4, 100–104, where, in correcting one mistake of transposition, another has been made.