Page:Richard III (1927) Yale.djvu/169

Richard the Third 26/16. See also Holinshed, iii. 718, for the substance of the arguments used by Buckingham in ii. 48–56: Cf. 'And verilie, I haue often heard of sanctuarie men, but I neuer heard earst of sanctuarie children.' Holinshed, supra.

Weigh it but with the grossness of this age. The meaning seems to be that the present age is not one to stand on the mere technicalities of a situation when the person seeking sanctuary has no reason to claim it.

children. Buckingham sets up the presumption that children could not commit crimes, and, therefore, could have no reason to seek sanctuary. See note on line 40 above.

the Tower. The Duke of York left sanctuary on June 16, 1483. Excerpta Historica, 16, 17. Edward V was already in the Tower on May 19. Grants, viii. 15. Shakespeare follows the account in Holinshed, iii. 721. More, 41/2.

Did Julius Cæsar build that place. The Tower is traditionally said to have been built by Julius Cæsar. The Norman Keep is to-day sometimes called Cesar's Tower, although its official name is The White Tower, and it was built by William the Conqueror circa 1078. See Stow, Survey, ed. Morley, p. 73.

So wise so young, they say, do never live long. A proverbial saying. 'They be of short life who are of wit so pregnant' (Timothy Bright: A Treatise of Melancholie, 1586).

the formal Vice, Iniquity. A reference to the old morality plays in which the Vice (comic demon) was sometimes called Iniquity. Richard says that he will speak equivocally, like the Vice of the old play, and thus to one word give a double meaning. Fame may live long, but one person of whom he is thinking will not.