The Works of William Shakespeare [Cambridge Edition] [Vol. 5 of 9] · William Shakespeare
NOTE XIX.
IV. 4, 365, 366. The first Quarto alone preserves the proper order of the lines here. Its words are: ‘_King._ Harpe not one that string Madam that is past. _Qu._ Harpe on it still shall I till hartstrings breake.’ The second Quarto omits the first line and gives the second to the King, thus: ‘_King._ Harpe on it still shal I, till hartstrings breake. _King._ Now by my George &c.’ The third follows the second in omitting the first line, but it continues the second to the Queen. All the remaining Quartos read with the third. The Folios give both lines, but in reverse order, thus: ..............‘graves, Harpe on it still shall I, till heart-strings breake. _Rich._ Harpe not on that string Madam, that is past. Now by my George &c.’ IV. 4. 444. We have here followed the reading of the Quartos, in preference to that of the Folios, in which the passage stands as follows: ‘_Rich._ _Catesby,_ flye to the Duke. _Cat._ I will, my Lord, with all convenient haste. _Rich._ _Catesby_ come hither, poste to Salisbury:’ This seems to show that the text of the Quartos has been amended in the Folios by no very skilful hand. Rowe endeavoured to amend the passage by reading in the last line ‘Ratcliff, come hither,’ and in this has been followed by most succeeding editors.
‘_Blunt._ Vpon my life my Lord, Ile vndertake it. _Rich._ Farewell good Blunt. Give me some inke, and paper, in my tent, Ile draw the forme, and modle of our battel, Limit each leader to his seuerall charge, And part in iust proportion our small strength, Come, let vs consult vpon to morrowes busines, In to our tent, the aire is rawe and cold.’ As the Quartos omit entirely lines 27, 28 and 43, we have followed the arrangement of the Folios. V. 3. 145. In the first and second Quartos the Ghosts of the two young Princes enter and speak before the Ghost of Hastings. The Folios and the other Quartos make the Ghost of Hastings enter first. As a chronological order is observed in the appearance of the other Ghosts we have thought it best in this case to follow the latter authorities. This discrepancy between the two earliest editions and the rest seems to have escaped the notice of Capell and of all other editors. V. 3. 179. Warburton says: The players, among their other innumerable absurdities, in the representation of this tragedy, make Richard say instead of ‘O coward conscience,’ ‘O _tyrant_ conscience!’ He refers to Colley Cibber’s adaptation of Shakespeare’s play: ‘The Tragical History of King Richard III. Altered from Shakespear. By Colley Cibber Esq.’
Text from Project Gutenberg, public domain in the United States.