George, Duke of Clarence, brother of King Edward IV., died in the Tower of London in 1478. Shakspere adopts the rumour that the Duke of Gloucester assisted the murderers in despatching his unfortunate brother; some alleged that he was the sole executioner.
METHOUGHT that I had broken from the Tower,
And was embarked to cross to Burgundy;
And in my company my brother Gloster:
Who from my cabin tempted me to walk
Upon the hatches; thence we looked toward England,
And cited up a thousand heavy times,
During the wars of York and Lancaster,
That had befallen us. As we paced along
Upon the giddy footing of the hatches,
Methought that Gloster stumbled; and, in falling,
Struck me, that thought to stay him, overboard,
Into the tumbling billows of the main.
O then methought what pain it was to drown!
What dreadful noise of water in mine ears!
What sights of ugly death within mine eyes!
Methought I saw a thousand fearful wrecks;
A thousand men that fishes gnawed upon;
Wedges of gold, great anchors, heaps of pearl,
Inestimable stones, unvalued jewels,
All scattered in the bottom of the sea.
Some lay in dead men's skulls; and in those holes
Where eyes did once inhabit, there were crept,
As 'twere in scorn of eyes, reflecting gems,
That wooed the slimy bottom of the deep,
And mocked the dead bones that lay scattered by.
And often did I strive
To yield the ghost: but still the envious flood
Kept in my soul, and would not let it forth
To seek the empty, vast, and wandering air;
But smothered it within my panting bulk,
Which almost burst to belch it in the sea.
-My dream was lengthened after life;
Oh, then began the tempest of my soul!
I passed, methought, the melancholy flood
With that grim ferryman which poets write of,
Unto the kingdom of perpetual night.
The first that there did greet my stranger-soul
Was my great father-in-law, renowned Warwick;
Who cried aloud,-" What scourge for perjury
Can this dark monarchy afford false Clarence?"
And so he vanished. Then came wandering by
A shadow like an angel, with bright hair
Dabbled in blood; and he shrieked out aloud,—
"Clarence is come, false, fleeting, perjured Clarence,
That stabbed me in the field by Tewkesbury ;-
Seize on him, furies, take him to your torment!"
With that, methought, a legion of foul fiends
Environed me, and howléd in mine ears
Such hideous cries, that with the very noise
I trembling waked, and, for a season after,
Could not believe but that I was in hell;
Such terrible impression made my dream.
Oh, Brackenbury, I have done these things,—
That now give evidence against my soul,-
For Edward's sake; and see how he requites me! -
O Heaven! if my deep prayers cannot appease thee,
But thou wilt be avenged on my misdeeds,
Yet execute thy wrath on me alone :
O spare my guiltless wife and my poor children!—
I pray thee, gentle keeper, stay by me;
My soul is heavy, and I fain would sleep.
XI.-CASSIUS ROUSING BRUTUS AGAINST CÆSAR.
Cas. Well; honour is the subject of my story.
I cannot tell what you and other men
Think of this life; but, for my single self,
I had as lief not be, as live to be
In awe of such a thing as I myself.
I was born free as Cæsar; so were you:
We both have fed as well; and we can both
Endure the winter's cold as well as he.
For once, upon a raw and gusty day,
The troubled Tiber chafing with his shores,
Cæsar said to me: "Darest thou, Cassius, now
Leap in with me into this angry flood,
And swim to yonder point?" Upon the word,
Accoutr❜d as I was, I plunged in,
And bade him follow: so, indeed, he did.
The torrent roared; and we did buffet it
With lusty sinews; throwing it aside,
And stemming it with hearts of controversy.
But ere we could arrive the point proposed,
Cæsar cried,—" Help me, Cassius, or I sink !”
I, as Æneas, our great ancestor,
Did from the flames of Troy upon his shoulder
The old Anchises bear, so, from the waves of Tiber,
Did I the tired Cæsar. And this man
Is now become a god; and Cassius is
A wretched creature, and must bend his body,
If Cæsar carelessly but nod on him!
He had a fever when he was in Spain,
And, when the fit was on him, I did mark
How he did shake: 'tis true, this god did shake:
His coward lips did from their colour fly;
And that same eye, whose bend doth awe the world,
Did lose his lustre : I did hear him groan;
Ay, and that tongue of his, that bade the Romans
Mark him, and write his speeches in their books,
Alas! it cried," Give me some drink, Titinius,"
As a sick girl. Ye gods! it doth amaze me,
A man of such a feeble temper should
So get the start of the majestic world,
And bear the palm alone.
Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world
Like a Colossus; and we petty men
Walk under his huge legs, and peep about
To find ourselves dishonourable graves.
Men, at some time, are masters of their fates:
The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
But in ourselves, that we are underlings.
Brutus, and Cæsar! What should be in that Cæsar?
Why should that name be sounded more than yours?
Write them together; yours is as fair a name :
Sound them; it doth become the mouth as well:
Weigh them; it is as heavy: conjure with them;
Brutus will start a spirit as soon as Cæsar.
Now, in the names of all the gods at once,
Upon what meat doth this our Cæsar feed,
That he is grown so great? Age, thou art shamed!
Rome, thou hast lost the breed of noble bloods!
When went there by an age, since the great flood,
But it was famed with more than with one man?
When could they say, till now, that talked of Rome,
That her wide walks compassed but one man?
Now is it Rome, indeed, and room enough,
When there is in it but one only man?
Oh! you and I have heard our fathers say,
There was a Brutus once, that would have brooked
The eternal devil to keep his state in Rome,
As easily as a king.
XII.-SCENE FROM WILLIAM TELL.
(KNOWLES.)
Mr. James Sheridan Knowles was born in Cork in 1794.
dramatic works, Virginius, The Hunchback, William Tell, &c., &c.
GESLER, TELL, and ALBERT: VERNER, SARNEM, and SOLDIERS.
Behold the Governor. Down! DOWN! and beg
For mercy!
Gesler. Does he hear?-Thy name?
It matters not to keep it from thee now:
My name is TELL.
Muhlenberg Branch,
Circulating
Ges. What! he so famed 'bove all his countrymen
For guiding o'er the stormy lake the boat!
And such a master of his bow, 'tis said
His arrows never miss!-(Aside.) Indeed!-I'll take
Exquisite vengeance:-Mark! I'll spare thy life,
The boy's, too. Both of you are free,—on one
Condition.
Tell. Name the trial you
Would have me make. (Tell looks on Albert.)
Ges. You look upon your boy,
As though, instinctively, you guessed it.
Tell. Look
Upon my boy!—What mean you? Look upon
My boy, as though I guessed it! Guessed the trial
You'd have me make! Guessed it
Instinctively! You do not mean—no-no—
You would not have me make a trial of
My skill upon my child! Impossible!
I do not guess your meaning.
Ges. Thou dost hear the choice I give,-
Such trial of the skill thou'rt master of,
Or death to both of you, not otherwise
To be escaped.
(GESLER signs to his officers, who proceed to take off TELL'S chains, TELL all the while unconscious of what they do.)
Tell. With his own hand!
Murder his child with his own hand!
The hand I've led him, when an infant, by!
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