Life and Death of King Richard the Chird.

"THIS (says Dr. Johnson) is one of the most ce- throne. To forward his wicked designs, he inlebrated of our author's performances; yet I fuses a deadly hatred for each other into the know not whether it has not happened to him minds of Edward and Clarence; and, on a preas to others, to be praised most, when praise is tended prophetic rumour being spread, that G not most deserved. That this play has scenes should murder his heirs, the king imprisons noble in themselves, and very well contrived to his brother George, Duke of Clarence, in the strike in the exhibition, cannot be denied. But Tower. After feigning sorrow for Edward's some parts are trifling, others shocking, and cruelty, and undertaking, in order to disguise some improbable." In this opinion, though his secret purpose, to move the king in ClaMason disallows the latter part, Malone en- rence's behalf, laying the blame on the queen tirely agrees, adding, "from the many allu- and her family, Richard employs two mursions to it in books of that age, and the great derers for a large reward to assassinate Clarence number of editions it passed through, I suspect in the Tower, which they accomplish ere the it was more often represented and more admired remission of his sentence, which the king had than any of our author's tragedies." He thought pronounced, could reach him. The king soon its popularity might arise through its being after this dies, and his son Edward is brought patronized by the queen, who was pleased at from Ludlow to be crowned in London. Glouseeing Heary VII. placed in the only favour-cester, with Buckingham and others in his able light in which he could be exhibited, and favour, had followed Lord Rivers and Grey, the the great detestation in which King Richard's brother and son of the queen (they having gone character was held by those whose great-grand- with a small retinue to conduct the prince), fathers might have lived in his day. With and had sent them, together with Sir Thomas both these commentators Steevens cordially Vaughan, prisoners to Pomfret Castle. The agrees; "Yet perhaps (says he) they have queen, on hearing this, flies with Richard, the overlooked one cause of the success of this young Duke of York, to the sanctuary. By the tragedy. The part of Richard is, perhaps, be- advice of his uncle, the Duke of Gloucester, yond all others variegated, and consequently the prince with his brother, the Duke of York favourable to a judicious performer. It com- (who had been taken by force from his mother), prehends, indeed, a trait of almost every species retires to the Tower, to await, as he was led to of character on the stage,-the hero, the lover, suppose, his coronation. Gloucester then, by the statesman, the buffoon, the hypocrite, the fraud, cruelty, and hypocrisy, hastens to obtain hardened and repenting sinner, &c. No wonder, his object, favoured by the Duke of Buckingthen, that the discriminating powers of a Bar-ham and others. Lords Rivers, Grey, and Sir bage, a Garrick, and a Henderson, should at different periods have given it a popularity beyond other dramas of the same author." So there may be added (with all his faults and bad taste) the efforts of Kean in our own days. But Steevens observes in conclusion, that its success with a modern audience must in a measure be attributed to Cibber's judicious reformation of some scenes. It appears that several dramas had been written on this subject before Shakspeare attempted it. One, called The Legend of King Richard III., by Francis Seagers, was printed in editions of the Mirrour for Magistrates, 1559, 1575, and 1587; but Malone thinks Shakspeare was not indebted to it. Steevens says, that Shakspeare's was first entered at Stationers' Hall, Oct. 20, 1597, by Andrew Wise, under the title of The Tragedie of King Richard the Third, with the Death of the Duke of Clarence. According to Theobald, it embraces a period of eight years, commencing with the imprisonment of Clarence, A.D. 1577, and ending with the death of Richard at Bosworth field, which battle was fought, August 22, 1485; but in this he was mistaken, for it embraces, as Malone justly observes, a period of fourteen years, beginning with the murder of Henry VI.(related in scene ii.) which, according to the received account, happened May 21, 1471. Malone imagined it to have been written in the year it was first published.

THE PLOT.

The scene opens in London, with a soliloquy by Richard Duke of Gloucester, who, unable to enjoy it, is devising means to disturb that peace which followed his brother's accession to the

Thomas Vaughan, are put to death in their prison, and this being told to the Marquess of Hastings (who was hostile to the kindred of the queen, through whom he had been formerly imprisoned in the Tower), serves as a prelude to their sounding him with respect to the choice of Gloster for their king; he, however, stedfastly refuses to forsake the son of the late king, and for this he is speedily dispatched : high treason is given out as being the cause of so hasty a deed. Buckingham's first attempt to gain a people's favour for his master, is made by submitting, that both the deceased king and the prince his son were illegitimate, which is unavailing: but afterwards the citizens, headed by the Lord Mayor, coming to Baynard's Castle, find Gloster engaged in prayer, between two bishops, from which Buckingham takes opportunity to expatiate upon his piety, in opposition to the licentious mode of living adopted by his brother Edward, together with other artful words, till at last they give their voice in favour of Gloster; and Buckingham, uninterrupted, salutes him with the title of King of England. Being now seated on the throne, his first care is to rid himself of the two princes in the Tower. Buckingham hesitates to obey his king in this: but Richard finds a willing executioner in Tyrrel, who, on the promise of advancement, smothers the innocent objects of the king's envy. Further to secure his usurped power, he conceals the son, and meanly marries the daughter of Clarence; then murders his wife Anne, widow of Edward, Prince of Wales. and daughter of Warwick, and is upon the point of marrying Elizabeth, daughter of the queen (widow of Edward IV.), when he is called away

to meet Richmond, a descendant of the house which increases as ne marches through the of Lancaster, who had been residing in Bretagne. country, until he arrives near Leicester. Here Him, Dorset, son of the queen, had incited to Richard comes up with him. On the night dethrone the tyrant, and take upon himself the previous to the battle of Bosworth Field, the government. Buckingham, who had been pro- ghosts of those whom he had murdered appear mised the earldom of Hereford, with all the to Richard, and foretell his downfall. On the moveable property of the late king, as the re-morrow he is killed by Richmond, who then ward of his services in placing Richard on the proceeds to London, in order to receive the throne, on being refused, raises some forces in crown, and to establish his right by marrying Wales, to join Richmond; but these being dis- Elizabeth, daughter of the widow of Edward persed by sudden floods, he is taken prisoner, IV., thus uniting the long-divided houses of and executed at Salisbury. Richmond, landing York and Lancaster. at Milford Haven, collects a formidable army,

King Benry the Gighth.

In this drama, Steevens observes, "Shakspeare has deviated from history in placing the death of Queen Katharine before the birth of Elizabeth, for in fact Katharine did not die till 1526." It embraces a period of twelve years, beginning with the twelfth of Henry's reign, 1521, and ending with the christening of Elizabeth in 1533. Malone believed it was written A.D.

1601.

THE PLOT.

was captivated. Under pretence of there being no likelihood of his having any male issue by his present queen, a divorce is decreed, and to Katharine is allotted the title of Princess Dowager. The king, without the knowledge of Wolsey, privately marries Anne Bullen; whilst he, fearful of such an event, writes to the pope to delay the judgment of the divorce, for that the king was (he said) entangled in affections towards "a creature of the queen's." This letter miscarries, and falls into the hands of the king. Awakened by this, as well as by seeing an inventory of the immense property which Wolsey had amassed, in order to obtain, at some future period, the popedom, and incited by the jealousy of the nobles, he discards his favourite, and elects others in his room. Wolsey, full of grief and repentance, dies in the abbey of Leicester. Then follows the hatred and accusations in council of Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester, against Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury: the former supports his charges on the ground of Cranmer's spreading new doctrines, and thereby creating mischief amongst the people. Upon being admitted to an hearing, however, Gardiner is, in some degree, silenced by the accused showing the king's seal, and, shortly afterwards, the king himself

THE scene opens in London, with a dialogue between the Dukes of Norfolk and Buckingham, in which the latter expresses his detestation of the pride and power of Cardinal Wolsey, who has raised himself, by his own arts, to a rank inferior only to that of the king himself. Wolsey, conscious of the enmity entertained towards him, takes opportunity (aided by a discarded surveyor, and other menials of the duke) to accuse Buckingham, and finally to obtain his condemnation, as a traitor: which heightens the hatred of the other nobles against him. The people, also, complain of the heavy burdens which are laid upon them in consequence of a splendid tournament made by the instrumentality of Wolsey, on occasion of a peace being concluded with France. The cardinal is aiming at the divorce of Queen Kath-enters, and commands a reconciliation: and arine, which he endeavours to effect, in revenge for the King of Spain having refused him the archbishopric of Toledo. This proposal King Henry listens to, having seen, at an entertainment given by the cardinal, Anne Bullen, maid of honour to the queen, with whose charms he

then appoints Cranmer godfather to his daughter by Anne Bullen: and the play concludes by that prelate's prophecy of the blessings which should be spread through the land, in the prosperous reign of the future Queen Elizabeth.

Troilus and Cressida.

The comic characters seem to have been the favourites of the writer; they are of the superficial kind, and exhibit more of manners than of nature; but they are copiously filled and powerfully impressed. Shakspeare has in his story followed, for the greater part, the old book of Caxton, which was then very popular; but the character of Thersites, of which it makes no mention, is a proof that this play was written after Chapman had published his ver

THIS play (says Dr. Johnson) is more correctly written than most of Shakspeare's compositions, but it is not one of those in which either the extent of his views, or elevation of his fancy, is fully displayed. As the story abounded with materials, he has exerted little invention; but he has diversified his characters with great variety, and preserved them with great exactness. His vicious characters disgust but cannot corrupt, for both Cressida and Pandarus are detested and contemned.sion of Homer."

and recommending him to Cressida, who, although she loves Troilus, hides her passion for a while. The Greeks had already besieged Troy for seven years, in order to revenge the abduction of Helen by Paris, wife of Menelaus when, as they are sitting in council, a challenge is brought from Hector by Eneas, to any of the Grecians who will dare to meet him on the morrow. Soon after this, Troilus and Cressida vow eternal fidelity, to the great joy of the uncle; but Calchas, a Trojan priest, and father of Cressida, having left his countrymen, to take part with the Greeks, demands, as a recompense for his services, the liberation of Antenor, a Trojan commander, who had been taken prisoner. This is granted on condition of his daughter Cressida being sent in exchange. Calchas agrees to this, and Diomedes is sent to Troy, taking with him Antenor, and bearing word at the same time that Ajax accepts the challenge of Hector. Achilles had long refused to join the Grecian army, having a quarrel with Agamemnon; but, on hearing that Ajax is about to fight Hector, he expresses a wish that, the Grecian tents. The engagement between the two heroes gives opportunity for the display of Hector's generosity for in a short time their arms are by his wish laid down, and he embraces Ajax, regarding him not as his enemy, but as his cousin-german. Hector is, according to the desire of Achilles, invited to the Grecian camp: here, unarmed, he is viewed by that insolent warrior, and is provoked by him to give a challenge for a meeting on the following day. Achilles proposes to enervate Hector with wine at a banquet, so that he may be an easier prey, at the approaching combat. Here, also, Troilus sees Cressida in her father's tent, bestowing on Diomedes the sleeve which he had given her as a pledge of their love, before she was taken from Troy. He vows revenge upon his rival, and on the morrow engages with him in single fight. Hector, against the earnest wish of his wife and parents, and in opposition to the ill-boding prophecies of his sister, Cassandra, seeks the field of battle, where, after slaying a multitude of enemies, he is killed at the close of the day by Achilles and his myrmidons.

Malone informs us, that Dryden and Pope both declared the story of Troilus and Cressida was originally written by Lollius, historiographer of Urbino, in Italy, an old Lombard actor, of whom Gascoigne speaks in Dan Bartholomewe, his first triumph: the first "declares it to have been written in Latin verse, and that Chaucer translated it. Chaucer made the loves of Troilus and Cressida famous, which very probably might have been Shakspeare's inducement to try their fortune on the stage. Shakspeare received the greatest part of his materials for the structure of this play from the Troye Book of Lydgate, who was little more than a translator of Guido of Columpna, who was of Messina in Sicily. Guido wrote his History of Troy in Latin, after Dietys Cretensis; and Dares Phrygius, in 1287, is often referred to as an authority by our chronicler, Grafton. His work was published at Cologne, in 1477, again 1480; and at Strasburgh 1486, and 1489. "Before this play," says Pope," of Troilus and Cressida, printed in 1609, is a bookseller's preface, showing that first impression to have been before the play had been acted, and that it was without Shak-after the combat, Hector should be invited to speare's knowledge." "We may learn from this preface," observes Steevens, "that the original proprietors of Shakspeare's plays thought it to their interest to keep them unprinted." See I. Heywood's preface to the English Traveller, 1633. Dryden thought this to have been one of Shakspeare's first plays; but, from the before-named preface and the number of observations, both moral and politic, with which it abounds, Pope thought it one of his last. Farmer found it in one copy of the first folio, and Steevens in at least twenty. The first adds, "it entirely differs from the copy in the second folio." "Lydgate's Troye Booke," says Steevens, "was printed by Pynson, 1513." In the books of the Stationers' Company, anno 1581, is entered "a proper ballad, dialogue-wise, between Troilus and Cressida." Again, Feb. 7, 1602: "the booke of Troilus and Cressida, as it is acted by my Lord Chamberlain's men.' The first is in the name of Edward White, the second in that of M. Roberts. It was again entered Jan. 28, 1608, by Richard Bonian and Henry Whalley, "a booke called the History of Troilus and Cressida." According to Malone, the entry in 1608 and 9 was made by the booksellers, for whom this play was published in 1609. He conceived it to have been written A.D. 1602.

THE PLOT.

The scene opens in Troy, with a dialogue between Pandarus, the uncle of Cressida, and Troilus, son of Priam, her lover. Pandarus busies himself in fanning the flame of Troilus,

MORAL.

In this play, we have before us the folly of nation warring against nation without sufficient cause, and the misery they thereby entail upon each other; and, in the despicable conduct of Achilles and other heroes, both Trojan and Grecian, we learn, that they are but human, and, like other men, have their frailties.

Timon of Athens.

"THIS play of Timon," says Dr. Johnson, "is between a painter, a poet, a jeweller, a mera domestic tragedy, and therefore strongly fas-chant, and others, who meet together in Timon's tens on the attention of the reader. In the plan hall, each for the purpose of disposing of some there is not much art, but the incidents are article, for which he expects a liberal price at natural, and the characters various and exact." the hands of Timon, who is courted and flattered by all, except Apemantus, a churlish philosopher, on account of his extravagant liberality The scene opens at Athens, with a dialogue and bounty. The philosopher loses no oppor

THE PLOT.

to forego hostilities, and promise thereupon to grant whatever he demands. He consents, and insists on the sacrifice of his own and Timon's enemies. At the instant the senators descend to open the gates to Alcibiades, a soldier arrives with the news of Timon's death; and an impression of his fanciful epitaph, which being read by Alcibiades, the whole concludes with his regrets for his noble friend, and entry into the city.

MORAL.

tunity of ridiculing and upbraiding Timon's | senators hold a parley with him, entreat him riotous mode of living, and predicting its speedy and ruinous termination. Awakened at length by Flavius, his steward, to a sense of his circumscribed and decreasing means, and harassed by his clamorous creditors, Timon resolves to try the sincerity of those friends who had so often been the objects of his bounty, by borrowing money of them, and is chagrined to find himself refused by all, under various excuses. Timon, frantic with rage at their ingratitude, in order to revenge himself, invites them to a banquet at his house, where, being seated, the dishes are uncovered, and found to contain nothing but warm water, which he throws in their faces, and then, with upbraidings, drives them from his doors; retiring himself to the woods, where he becomes a miserable misanthrope. At the same time Alcibiades, an Athenian general and the friend of Timon, is banished, for opposing the will of the senate, in the conviction of a man for manslaughter. Alcibiades marches against Athens with a strong force, in order to revenge his wrongs: whilst two senators are dispatched to seek Timon, who had before done the state some service, to oppose Alcibiades. Timon refuses the service, and determines on ending his days in solitude. Meanwhile, Alcibiades arrives before Athens, from the walls of which the

The catastrophe of this play exhibits a very powerful warning in the fate of Timon, who, instead of improving from his former folly, falls into an equally dangerous extreme. In his early life we are taught, that ostentatious liberality, though it scatters bounty, confers no benefits, though it buys flattery, secures not friendship. In his latter days, we are instructed not to seek in corroding solitude, that peace of mind which the conviction of his own errors, and those of the parasites that surrounded him, ought to have told him, was to be found in the society of good and just men; and, in the concessions made to Alcibiades by the senators, we behold the folly of states decreeing punishments which they have not the power to execute.

Coriolanus.

POPE observes, in his comments, "The whole history of this piece is exactly followed, and many of the principal speeches exactly, from the Life of Coriolanus, by Plutarch."

It embraces a period of about four years, beginning with the secession to the Mons Sacer (the sacred mountain), in the year of Rome 262, and ending with the death of Coriolanus, A. Ú. C. 266. Malone conjectured it to have

been written A.D. 1609.

THE PLOT

they revoke their decree. Coriolanus resists the injustice of their proceedings, and is, at last, banished as a traitor. Inflamed by the ingratitude of his country, he determineз upon joining the Volscians, who are again preparing at Antium to invade the Roman territories. He is hospitably received by his inveterate enemy and rival in arms, Aufidius, general of the Volscians, with whom he is joined in the command of the invading army. His countrymen, in the utmost consternation, in vain send the friends he most loved, to sue The scene opens in Rome, where, on account for peace; he remains inflexible, until his wife of a dearth, a mutiny is raised by the people, Virgilia, his mother Volumnia, and his son, under plea of provisions not being dealt out dressed in mourning garments, kneel before fairly to them. Tribunes are then chosen by him, and subdue him by the voice of nature. them, who favour the enmity already existing, He then prevails upon the Volscians to depart among the multitude, against Caius Marcius, home, having made an advantageous peace who is hated for his noble ambition and his with the Romans, and returns himself to Anunbending demeanour towards the people, which tium, with the Volscian army. Tullius Aufithey represent as pride, to his prejudice with dius, pretending to be indignant at the peace the populace. During these troubles, news is which Coriolanus has made with Rome, forms brought that the Volscians are in arms, and a conspiracy against his life and honour; and, Marcius is sent, with two other generals, having first hired three assassins for the puragainst them: he soon returns victorious, and, pose, he accuses Coriolanus, before the nobles from his bravery in sacking the city of Coriol, at Antinm, of treachery. He nobly defends he is surnamed Coriolanus. And, as a further his reputation, but, in the midst of the uproar acknowledgment of his merits, the senators to which Aufidius moves the citizens, he and and nobility appoint him consul, and, by the the murderers fall upon Coriolanus with their advice of the people, he is confirmed in that drawn swords and kill him; which he afterdignity; but, moved by the envy of the tri-wards excuses as the effect of passion. bunes (Sicinius Vilutus, and Junius Brutus),

Julins Cæsar.

"Or this tragedy (says Dr. Johnson) many | particular passages deserve regard, and the contention and reconcilement of Brutus and Cassius is universally celebrated; but I never have been strongly agitated in perusing it, and think it somewhat cold and unaffecting, compared with some other of Shakspeare's plays; his adherence to the real story and to Roman manners seems to have impeded the natural vigour of his genius."

Malone believed this piece to have been produced A. D. 1607.

Antony and Cleopatra.

MALONE imagined this piece to have been length, adjusted by his marriage with Octavia, written A.D. 1606.