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The emptier ever dancing in the air,
The other down, unseen, and full of water:
That bucket down, and full of tears, am I,
Drinking my griefs, whilst you mount up on high.
BOLING. I thought you had been willing to resign.
K. RICH. My crown, I am; but still my griefs
are mine:

You may my glories and my state depose,
But not my griefs; still am I king of those.

BOLING. Part of your cares you give me with your

crown.

K. RICH. Your cares set up, do not pluck my cares down.

My care is loss of care, by old care done';
Your care is gain of care, by new care won :
The cares I give, I have, though given away;
They tend the crown, yet still with me they stay.
BOLING. Are you contented to resign the crown?
K. RICH. Ay, no ;-no, ay ;—for I must nothing

be;

Therefore no, no, for I resign to thee.
Now mark me, how I will undo myself:-
I give this heavy weight from off my head,
And this unwieldy scepter from my hand,
The pride of kingly sway from out my heart;
With mine own tears I wash away my balm
With mine own hands I give away my crown,
With mine own tongue deny my sacred state,

9 The EMPTIER ever dancing-] This is a comparison not easily accommodated to the subject, nor very naturally introduced. The best part is this line, in which he makes the usurper the empty bucket. JOHNSON.

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My care is loss of care, by old care done;] Shakspeare often obscures his meaning by playing with sounds. Richard seems to say here, that "his cares are not made less by the increase of Bolingbroke's cares; for this reason, that "his care is the loss of care," his grief is, that his regal cares are at an end, by the cessation of the care to which he had been accustomed. JOHNSON.

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my balm,] The oil of consecration. He has mentioned it before. JOHNSON.

With mine own breath release all duty's rites * : All pomp and majesty I do forswear;

My manors, rents, revenues, I forego;

My acts, decrees, and statutes, I deny :
God pardon all oaths, that are broke to me!
God keep all vows unbroke, that swear to thee!
Make me, that nothing have, with nothing griev'd;
And thou with all pleas'd, that hast all achiev'd!
Long may'st thou live in Richard's seat to sit,
And soon lie Richard in an earthy pit!

God save king Henry, unking'd Richard says,
And send him many years of sunshine days!—
What more remains?

NORTH.

No more, but that you read [Offering a paper. These accusations, and these grievous crimes, Committed by your person, and your followers, Against the state and profit of this land; That, by confessing them, the souls of men May deem that you are worthily depos'd.

K. RICH. Must I do so? and must I ravel out My weav'd up follies? Gentle Northumberland, If thy offences were upon record,

Would it not shame thee in so fair a troop,
To read a lecture of them? If thou would'st3,
There should'st thou find one heinous article,
Containing the deposing of a king,

And cracking the strong warrant of an oath,-
Mark'd with a blot, damn'd in the book of heaven :-
Nay, all of you, that stand and look upon*,
Whilst that my wretchedness doth bait myself,—

* So quarto; folio, duteous oaths. So quarto; folio, are made. If thou would'st,] That is, if thou wouldst read over a list of thy own deeds. JOHNSON.

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4 Nay, ALL of you, that stand and look upon,] So the quarto 1608, except that it omits the word all, which I have restored from

the folio. The folio reads-look upon me. To "look upon " is frequently used by our author, for" to be a looker on."

MALONE.

Though some of you, with Pilate, wash your hands,
Showing an outward pity; yet you Pilates
Have here deliver'd me to my sour cross,
And water cannot wash away your sin.

NORTH. My lord, dispatch; read o'er these articles.

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K. RICH. Mine eyes are full of tears, I cannot see : And yet salt water blinds them not so much, But they can see a sort of traitors here. Nay, if I turn mine eyes upon myself, I find myself a traitor with the rest: For I have given here my soul's consent, To undeck the pompous body of a king; Make glory base; and sovereignty, a slave; Proud majesty, a subject; state, a peasant. NORTH. My lord,

K. RICH. No lord of thine, thou haught, insulting man,

Nor no man's lord; I have no name, no title,-
No, not that name was given me at the font7,-
But 'tis usurp❜d:-Alack the heavy day,

That I have worn so many winters out,
And know not now what name to call myself!
O, that I were a mockery king of snow,
Standing before the sun of Bolingbroke,
To melt myself away in water drops !-

Good king,-great king,-(and yet not greatly good,)

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So, in King Richard III. :

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WARBURTON.

"A sort of vagabonds, rascals, and runaways."

STEEVENS.

haught,] i. e. haughty. So, in King Richard III. :
"And the queen's sons and brothers, haught and proud."
STEEVENS.

7 No, not that name was given me at the font,] How that name which was given him at the font could be usurped, I do not understand. Perhaps Shakspeare meant to shew that imagination, dwelling long on its own misfortunes, represents them as greater than they really are. ANONYMOUS.

An if my word be sterling yet in England,
Let it command a mirror hither straight;
That it may show me what a face I have,
Since it is bankrupt of his majesty 9.

BOLING. Go some of you and fetch a lookingglass. [Exit an Attendant. NORTH. Read o'er this paper, while the glass doth come.

K. RICH. Fiend! thou torment'st me ere I come to hell.

BOLING. Urge it no more, my lord Northumber

land.

NORTH. The commons will not then be satisfied. K. RICH. They shall be satisfied: I'll read enough, When I do see the very book indeed

Where all my sins are writ, and that's—myself. Re-enter Attendant with a Glass.

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Give me the glass, and therein will I read *
No deeper wrinkles yet? Hath sorrow struck
So many blows upon this face of mine,

And made no deeper wounds?-O, flattering glass,
Like to my followers in prosperity,

Thou dost beguile me! Was this face the face†, That every day under his household roof

Did keep ten thousand men1? Was this the face, That, like the sun, did make beholders wink?

* Quarto omits, and therein will I read.

+ Quarto, Was this the face.

Quarto omits this line and the four preceding words.

8 of HIS majesty.] i. e. of its majesty. Our poet, and the writers of his time, frequently used the personal for the neutral pronoun. MALONE.

the very BOOK indeed

WHERE ALL MY sins are wRIT,] This phrase is from the 139th Psalm, v. 15: “ and in thy book were all my members

written." STEEVENS.

'Did KEEP ten thousand men ?] Shakspeare is here not quite accurate. Our old chronicles only say "that to his household came every day, to meate, ten thousand men." MALONE.

Was this the face, that fac'd so many follies,
And was at last out-fac'd by Bolingbroke?
A brittle glory shineth in this face :

As brittle as the glory is the face;

[Dashes the Glass against the ground.

For there it is, crack'd in a hundred shivers.-
Mark, silent king, the moral of this sport,-
How soon my sorrow hath destroy'd my face.
BOLING. The shadow of your sorrow hath de-
stroy'd

The shadow of your face.

K. RICH.

Say that again. The shadow of my sorrow? Ha! let's see:very true, my grief lies all within ;

'Tis

And these external manners of lament 2

Are merely shadows to the unseen grief,

That swells with silence in the tortur'd soul;

There lies the substance *: and I thank thee, king,
For thy great bounty, that not only giv'st
Me cause to wail, but teachest me the way
How to lament the cause. I'll beg one boon,
And then begone and trouble you no more.
Shall I obtain it?

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BOLING.

Name it, fair cousin.

K. RICH. Fair cousin! I am greater than a king3:

* Quarto omits, There lies the substance.

+ Quarto omits, For thy great bounty.
‡ Quarto omits, Shall 1 obtain it?

my grief lies all within;

And these external manners of lament, &c.] So, in Hamlet: "But I have that within which passeth show;

"These but the trappings and the suits of woe."

The old copies read laments. MALONE.

3 Fair cousin? I am greater than a king :] So the folio. The quarto 1608, reads:

"Fair coose, why? I am greater than a king.” The modern editors:

"Fair cousin? Why, I am greater than a king."

BOSWELL.

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