Lord Haftings will not yield to our complots?

GLO. Chop off his head, man;-somewhat we will do:7

And, look, when I am king, claim thou of me The earldom of Hereford, and all the moveables Whereof the king my brother was poffefs'd.

BUCK. I'll claim that promise at your grace's hand.

GLO. And look to have it yielded with all kind

nefs.

Come, let us fup betimes; that afterwards

We may digeft our complots in fome form.

SCENE II.8

Before Lord Haftings' House.

Enter a Meffenger.

[Exeunt.

7

HAST. [Within.] What is't o'clock ?

MESS. Upon the stroke of four.

will do:] The folio reads-will determine. STEevens. 8 Scene II. Every material circumftance in the following fcene is taken from Holinfhed's Chronicle, except that it is a knight with whom Haftings converses, instead of Buckingham.

STEEVENS.

Enter HASTINGS.

HAST. Cannot thy mafter fleep the tedious nights? MESS. So it fhould feem by that I have to fay. Firft, he commends him to your noble lordship. HAST. And then,

MESS. And then he fends you word, he dreamt To-night the boar had rased off his helm :9 Befides, he fays, there are two councils held; And that may be determin'd at the one,

Which may make you and him to rue at the other. Therefore he fends to know your lordship's pleafure,

If presently, you will take horse with him,
And with all speed poft with him toward the north,
To fhun the danger that his foul divines.

9 the boar had rafed off his helm :] This term rased or rashed, is always given to describe the violence inflicted by a boar.

So, in King Lear, 4to. edit:

"In his anointed flesh rash boarish fangs." Again, in Warner's Albion's England, 1602, B. VII. ch. xxxvi: ha, cur, avaunt, the bore fo rafe thy hide!" By the boar, throughout this scene, is meant Glofter, who was called the boar, or the hog, from his having a boar for his cognizance, and one of the fupporters of his coat of arms.

STEEVENS.

So Holinfhed, after Hall and Sir Thomas More: "The felfe night next before his death the lorde Stanley sent a truftie secret meffenger unto him at midnight in all hafte, requiring him to rife and ride away with him, for he was difpofed utterlie no longer to byde, he had so fearful a dreame, in which him thought that a boare with his tutkes fo rafed them both by the heades that the bloud ran about both their fhoulders. And forafmuch as the Protector gave the boare for his cognizance, this dreame made fo fearful an impreflion in his heart, that he was thoroughly determined no longer to tarie, but had his horse readie, if the lord Haftings would go with him," &c. MALONE.

HAST. Go, fellow, go, return unto thy lord; Bid him not fear the feparated councils:

I

His honour, and myself, are at the one;

And, at the other, is my good friend Catesby;"
Where nothing can proceed, that toucheth us,
Whereof I shall not have intelligence.

Tell him, his fears are fhallow, wanting inftance :3
And for his dreams-I wonder, he's fo fond 4
To truft the mockery of unquiet flumbers:
To fly the boar, before the boar pursues,
Were to incenfe the boar to follow us,
And make pursuit, where he did mean no chase.
Go, bid thy mafter rife and come to me;

1 His honour,] This was the ufual address to noblemen in Shakspeare's time. MALONE.

66

See note on Timon of Athens, A&t I. fc. i. where the fame addrefs occurs: All happiness to your honour!" STEEVENS. 2 And, at the other, is my good friend Catesby; &c.] So, in the Legend of Lord Haftings, Mirrour for Magiftrates, 1575: "I fear'd the end; my Catesby being there

3

"Discharg'd all doubts; him hold I moft entyre."

MALONE.

wanting inftance:] That is, wanting fome example or act of malevolence, by which they may be juftified or which, perhaps, is nearer to the true meaning, wanting any immediate ground or reafon. JOHNSON.

This is the reading of the quarto, except that it has-inftancie. MALONE.

The folio reads without inftance. STEEVENS. Inftance feems to mean, Symptom or prognoftick. We find the word used in a fimilar fenfe, in The Comedy of Errors, where Egeon, defcribing his fhipwreck, fays:

"A league from Epidamnum had we fail'd,

"Before the always wind-obeying deep

"Gave any tragick inftance of our harm." M. Mason.

fo fond-] i. e. fo weak, filly. Thus, in King Lear: "I am a very foolish, fond old man." STEEVENS.

.

And we will both together to the Tower,
Where, he fhall fee, the boar will ufe us kindly.
MESS. I'll go, my lord, and tell him what you
[Exit.

fay.

Enter CATESBY.

CATE. Many good morrows to my noble lord! HAST. Good morrow, Catesby; you are early

ftirring:

What news, what news, in this our tottering ftate?
CATE. It is a reeling world, indeed, my lord;
And, I believe, will never ftand upright,
Till Richard wear the garland of the realm.

HAST. HOW! wear the garland? doft thou mean the crown?

CATE. Ay, my good lord.

HAST. I'll have this crown of mine cut from

fhoulders,

Before I'll fee the crown fo foul mifplac'd.

But canft thou guess that he doth aim at it?

my

CATE. Ay, on my life; and hopes to find you forward

Upon his party, for the gain thereof:

And, thereupon, he fends you this good news,That, this fame very day, your enemies,

The kindred of the queen, muft die at Pomfret.

HAST. Indeed, I am no mourner for that news, Because they have been ftill my adverfaries : But, that I'll give my voice on Richard's fide, To bar my mafter's heirs in true defcent, God knows, I will not do it, to the death.

CATE. God keep your lordship in that gracious mind!

HAST. But I shall laugh at this a twelve-month

hence,

That they, who brought me in my master's hate,
I live to look upon their tragedy.

Well, Catesby, ere a fortnight make me older,
I'll fend fome packing, that yet think not on't.

CATE. 'Tis a vile thing to die, my gracious lord, When men are unprepar'd, and look not for it. HAST. O monftrous, monftrous! and fo falls it

out

With Rivers, Vaughan, Grey: and fo 'twill do With fome men elfe, who think themselves as fafe As thou, and I; who, as thou know'ft, are dear To princely Richard, and to Buckingham.

CATE. The princes both make high account of you,

For they account his head upon the bridge. [Afide. HAST. I know, they do; and I have well deferv'd

it.

Enter STANLEY.

Come on, come on, where is your boar-fpear, man? Fear you the boar, and go fo unprovided?

STAN. My lord, good morrow; and good morrow,5 Catefby:

You may jeft on, but, by the holy rood,"

S

and good morrow,] And was fupplied by Sir Thomas Hanmer, to affift the measure. STEEVENS.

6

the holy rood,] i. e. the crofs. So, in the old mystery of Candlemas-Day, 1512:

"Whan hir swete fone fhall on a rood deye."

Again, in Spenfer's Fairy Queen, B. VI. c. vi: