brought up myself, they that I weened would have most surely served me, even those fail me, and at my commandment will do nothing for me. Sir, quoth the page, there lieth one in the palet chamber without, that I dare well say, to do your grace pleasure, the thing were right hard that he would refuse: meaning by this James Tyrrel." "James Tyrrel devised that they should be murthered in their beds, and no blood shed: to the execution whereof he appointed Miles Forest, one of the four that before kept them, a fellow flesh bred in murther beforetime; and to him he joined one John Dighton, his own horsekeeper, a big, broad, square, and strong knave. Then all the other being removed from them, this Miles Forest and John Dighton about midnight, the sely children lying in their beds, came into the chamber, and suddenly lapped them up amongst the clothes, and so bewrapped them and entangled them, keeping down by force the feather-bed and pillows hard unto their mouths, that within a while they smothered and stifled them; and their breaths failing, they gave up to God their innocent souls into the joys of heaven, leaving to the tormentors their bodies dead in the bed; which after the wretches perceived, first by the struggling with the pangs of death, and after long lying still, to be thoroughly dead, they laid the bodies out upon the bed, and fetched James Tyrrel to see them; which when he saw them perfectly dead, he caused the murtherers to bury them at the stair foot, meetly deep in the ground, under a great heap of stones. "Then rode James Tyrrel in great haste to King Richard, and showed him all the manner of the murther; who gave him great thanks, and, as men say, there made him knight." It forms no part of our duty to enter into the inquiry whether the narrative of More is supported by other authorities; nor, further, whether the bones which were found in the reign of Charles II. were those of the unfortunate princes. Tradition represents the event to have taken place in what is still called "The Bloody Tower." Upon these old legends little historical reliance can be placed; but they still belong to the province of poetry. The remarkable scene (Scene Iv.) between Richard and the widow of Edward IV. has its foundation in the following narrative of Hall : "There came into his ungracious mind a thing not only detestable to be spoken of in the remembrance of man, but much more cruel and abominable to be put in execution: for when he resolved in his wavering mind how great a fountain of mischief toward him should spring if the Earl of Richmond should be advanced to the marriage of his niece, (which thing he heard say by the rumour of the people that no small number of wise and witty personages enterprised to compass and bring to conclusion,) he clearly determined to reconcile to his favour his brother's wife, Queen Elizabeth, either by fair words or liberal promises, firmly believing, her favour once obtained, that she would not stick to commit and lovingly credit to him the rule aud governance both of her and her daughters; and so by that means the Earl of Richmond of the affinity of his niece should be utterly defrauded and beguiled. And if no ingenious remedy could be otherwise invented to save the innumerable mischiefs which were even at hand and like to fall, if it should happen Queen Anne his wife to depart out of this present world, then he himself would rather take to wife his cousin and niece the Lady Elizabeth, than for lack of that affinity the whole realm should run to ruin, as who said, that if he once fell from his estate and dignity the ruin of the realm must needs, shortly ensue and follow. Wherefore he sent to the queen, being in sanctuary, divers and often messages, which first should excuse and purge him of all things before against her attempted or procured, and after should so largely promise promotions innumerable and benefits, not only to her, but also to her son Lord Thomas Marquis Dorset, that they should bring her, if it were possible, into some wanhope, or, as some men say, into a fool's paradise. The messengers, being men both of wit and gravity, so persuaded the queen with great and pregnant reasons, then with fair and large promises, that she began somewhat to relent and to give to them no deaf ear, insomuch that she faithfully promised to submit and yield herself fully and frankly to the king's will and pleasure." "Amongst the noblemen whom he most mistrusted, these were the principal:-Thomas Lord Stanley, Sir William Stanley his brother, Gilbert Talbot, and vi hundred other, of whose purposes although King Richard were ignorant, yet he gave neither confidence nor credence to any one of them, and least of all to the Lord Stanley, because he was joined in matrimony with the Lady Margaret, mother to the Earl of Richmond, as afterward apparently ye may perceive. For when the said Lord Stanley would have departed into his country to visit his family, and to recreate and refresh his spirits (as he openly said), but the truth was to the intent to be in a perfect readiness to receive the Earl of Richmond at his first arrival in England, the king in no wise would suffer him to depart before that he had left as an hostage in the court George Stanley, Lord Strange, his first-begotten son and heir." This appears the foundation of the spirited scene The suspicions of Richard increased as his dangers between Stanley and Richard. thickened around him. Hall says: Buck. Will not king Richard let me speak False to his children, and his wife's allies: with him? Sher. No, my good lord: therefore be patient. Buck. Hastings, and Edward's children, Grey, and Rivers, Holy king Henry, and thy fair son Edward, Do through the clouds behold this present hour, This is the day wherein I wish'd to fall Thus Margaret's curse falls heavy on my neck, 'When he,' quoth she, shall split thy heart with sorrow, Remember Margaret was a prophetess.'--- blame. [Exeunt BUCKINGHAM, &c. SCENE II.-Plain near Tamworth. Enter, with drum and colours, RICHMOND, OxFORD, Sir JAMES BLUNT, Sir WALTER HERBERT, and others, with Forces, marching. Richm. Fellows in arms, and my most loving friends, Bruis'd underneath the yoke of tyranny, Swills your warm blood like wash, and makes his trough In your embowell'd bosoms, this foul swine To fight against this bloody homicide. Herb. I doubt not but his friends will turn to us. Blunt. He hath no friends but what are friends for fear; Which, in his dearest need, will fly from him. Richm. All for our vantage. Then, in God's name, march: Sur. My heart is ten times lighter than my looks. K. Rich. My lord of Norfolk! Here, most gracious liege. K. Rich. Norfolk, we must have knocks: Ha! must we not? Nor. We must both give and take, my loving lord. K. Rich. Up with my tent: Here will I lie to night; [Soldiers begin to set up the KING's tent. But where, to-morrow ?-Well, all's one for that.- Who hath descried the number of the traitors? Nor. Six or seven thousand is their utmost power. K. Rich. Why, our battalia trebles that account: Besides, the king's name is a tower of strength, Enter, on the other side of the field, RICHMOND, tent. Richm. The weary sun hath made a golden set, And, by the bright track of his fiery car, | And part in just proportion our small power. My lord of Oxford, you, sir William Brandon, And you, sir Walter Herbert, stay with me: True hope is swift, and flies with swallow's The earl of Pembroke keeps his regiment; b Good captain Blunt, bear my good night to him, Lack, in the folio; the quartos, want. b Keeps his regiment. The word regiment is several times used in this scene, in the sense of a body of men, under the command (regiment) of a particular captain. For example, "His regiment lies half a mile at least And, South from the mighty power of the king." "Good lords, conduct him to his regiment." Regiment is here used in the secondary meaning of the word. We have the primary meaning in Antony and Cleopatra :— "And gives his potent regiment to a trull." Blunt. Unless I have mista'en his colours much, (Which well I am assur'd I have not done,) Richm. If without peril it be possible, Sweet Blunt, make some good means to speak with him, And give him from me this most needful note. Blunt. Upon my life, my lord, I'll undertake it; And so, God give you quiet rest to-night! Richm. Good night, good captain Blunt. Let us consult upon to-morrow's business; [They withdraw into the tent. Enter, to his tent, KING RICHARD, NORFOLK, RATCLIFF, and CATESBY. K. Rich. What is 't o'clock? a Much about cock-shut time, from troop to troop, Went through the army cheering up the soldiers. K. Rich. So, I am satisfied. Give me a bowl of wine: I have not that alacrity of spirit, Nor cheer of mind that I was wont to have. K. Rich. Bid my guard watch; leave me. Ratcliff, about the mid of night come to my tent, And help to arm me.-Leave me, I say. [KING RICHARD retires into his tent. Exeunt RATCLIFF and CATESBY. RICHMOND'S tent opens, and discovers him and his Officers, &c. Enter STANLEY. Stan. Fortune and victory sit on thy helm! Richm. All comfort that the dark night can afford Be to thy person, noble father-in-law ! Stan. I, by attorney, bless thee from thy mother, Who prays continually for Richmond's good: K. Rich. Stir with the lark to-morrow, gentle I, as I may, (that which I would I cannot,) With best advantage will deceive the time, God give us leisure for these rites of love! a Cock-shut. In Ben Jonson's The Satyr,' we have"Kiss him in the cock-shut light." Whalley explains this expression as equivalent with twilight, and says it is derived from the name of a net, a cockshut, which is used in the twilight. Gifford adopts the explanation, and adds, "the commentators on Shakspeare have trifled egregiously over this simple expression." This is true. They have two pages of controversy about the net. We have great doubt, however, whether a common epithet is thus formed from a technical word. We incline to think that cock-shut time is equivalent to cock-roost time-the hour at which the cock goes to rest. As morning is cock-crow, evening may by a parallel image be cock-shut. |