Edward here charged Queen Margaret with wearing the crown of England and with having dominated the king to pass a law blotting out his title to the crown.

Sec. 306. Lady Grey's suit for husband's lands.— "K. Edw. This lady's husband, Sir John Grey, was slain, His lands then seiz'd on by the conqueror: Her suit is now, to repossess those lands; Which we, in justice, cannot well deny." The widow Grey's claim was in the nature of that enforced by the old common law writ, Cui in vita, which was a writ of entry that lay for a widow against a person who was in possession of her land by claim derived from her husband in his lifetime. But the Poet presents her claim as derived from her husband, as it was "his lands" that the conqueror had confiscated, not hers. However, her suit, was to "reposses those lands" and Edward, whether impressed with the comeliness of the widow or the strength of her claim, was not inclined to resist her title to the lands.

"L. Grey. And that is more than I will yield unto.
I know, I am too mean to be your queen,
And yet too good to be your concubine."

Lady Grey is made by the Poet, by these lines, to refuse to acquire her lands, at the expense of her chastity. A concubine, in the law, is a woman who cohabits with a man, as his wife, without being married. Among the ancients, concubinage was a species of marriage, and was the only marriage which those who did not enjoy the jus con nubii, could contract. While recognized by law, as a natural marriage, by the ancients, the status gave no

13' Henry VI, Act III, Scene II.

26 Coke, 8, 9.

33' Henry VI, Act III, Scene II.

1 Bishop's Cr. Proc. 1106; 1 Brown's Civ. Law, 80.

lawful rights, such as those which resulted from the civil marriage and the law permitting such natural marriages was repealed by the constitution of the Emperor Leo, in the year 886.1

Sec. 308. Richard III' an embryonic criminal.—

"Glo.

love foreswore me in my mother's womb:
And, for I should not deal in her soft laws,
She did corrupt frail nature with some bribe,
To shrink mine arm up like a wither'd shrub;
To make an envious mountain on my back,
Where sits deformity to mock my body;
To shape my legs of an unequal size;
To disproportion me in every part,
Like to a chaos or an unlick'd bear-whelp,
That carries no impression like the dam.
And am I then a man to be belov'd?

O monstrous fault to harbor such a thought:
Then, since this earth affords no joy to me,
But to command, to check, to o'erbear such
As are of better person than myself,

I'll make my heaven-to dream upon the crown;
And, whiles I live, to account this world but hell,
Until my misshap'd trunk, that bears this head,
Be round impaled with a glorious crown.”2

Shakespeare here lets Richard himself present his deformity as an explanation of his criminal aims in life. Can it be possible that Shakespeare understood and thus attempted to account for his criminality, because of the malformation of the man, when in an embryonic condition? The science of criminology teaches that this is one of the causes of criminals and the Poet in presenting this explanation of Richard's character, offered an explanation consistent therewith. Upon this subject August Goll observes: "Embryology teaches us that creatures may be born so deformed as to seem to possess no resemblance to human beings, while a more minute examination discloses them to be in possession of the identical organs which

1 Code Justinian; Bouvier's Law Dictionary. 23' Henry VI, Act III, Scene II.

Icharacterize normal men; but owing to some peculiar sickly conditions the cells have not been able to develop normally-some pressure displaced them, prevented their functions, and caused malformations to such a degree that a hideous monstrosity was the result which otherwise might have had a free and harmonious development."

1 Goll's Criminal Types, in Shakespeare, pp. 167, 168. Elsewhere this author observes, of this character, as presented by the Poet: "It is the genesis of his evil courses that calls for examination; it is the psychological reason for the coming into life of such a monster, the spiritual understanding of the origin of the infinite darkness which shrouds his heart, a darkness which the human eye vainly tries to pierce so long as it has not succeeded in getting at the cause of the darkness itself-this is the point of importance in Richard III." Idem. p. 167.

Queen Margaret thus asks after Richard, in 3' Henry VI: "Q. Mar. .. where is that devil's butcher, Hard-favor'd Richard? Richard, where art thou? Thou art not here: Murder is thy alms-deed; Petitioners for blood thou ne'er put'st back." (Act V, Scene V.)

King Henry, before his murder by Richard, in the Tower, thus upbraids him, for the murder of his son, the Prince:

"K. Hen. Thy mother felt more than a mother's pain, And yet brought forth less than a mother's hope;

To-wit, an indigest deformed lump,

Not like the fruit of such a goodly tree.

Teeth had'st thou in thy head, when thou wast born,
To signify, thou cam'st to bite the world:

And, if the rest be true, which I have heard," etc.

(3' Henry VI, Act V, Scene VI.)

And Richard himself, then soliloquizes, as follows:
"Glo.
I, that have neither pity, love nor fear,
Indeed, 'tis true, that Henry told me of;
For I have often heard my mother say,

I came into the world with my legs forward:
Had I not reason, think ye, to make haste,
And seek their ruin, that usurp'd our right?
The midwife wonder'd; and the women cried
O, Jesus bless us, he is born with teeth:
And so I was; which plainly signifies-
That I should snarl and bite and play the dog."

(3' Henry VI, Act V, Scene VI.)

Sec. 309. Richard's morbid vanity.

"Glo.

yet, I know not, how to get the crown, For many lives stand between me and home; And I,-like one lost in a thorny wood,

That rents the thorns and is rent with the thorns,
Seeking a way, and straying from the way;
Not knowing how to find the open air,
But toiling desperately to find it out,-
Torment myself to catch the English crown:
And from that torment I will free myself,
Or hew my way out, with a bloody axe.'

In seeking a cause for his criminal nature, as if the Poet understood the deep science of criminology, Shakespeare here presents the natural morbid vanity of the deformed person, as one of the reasons for the criminal inclinations of Richard III. Upon this phase of the subject the scientific criminologist observes: "Who does not know the morbid vanity from which deformed natures suffer? Their abnormal vanity continually occupies them with the thought of self, which is thereby pushed so unduly to the front that they are, as it were, hypnotized by it, and are blinded to the proper proportions of things. If their bodily defects make them exceptions, they will, also, be exceptional in winning great distinctions. They want to go far, to see others bend before them, then they may be reconciled to their misfortune. They yearn after outward recognition, positions of honour, power and influence; they wish to hear themselves talked of, they wish to enjoy the incense of others, to receive marked demonstrations of regard."2

Sec. 310. Crime the basis of Richard's character.

"Glo.

smile;

Why, I can smile, and murder while I

And cry, content, to that which grieves my heart;
And wet my cheeks with artificial tears,

13' Henry VI, Act III, Scene II.

'Goll's Criminal Types in Shakespeare, pp. 193, 194.

And frame my face to all occasions.

I'll drown more sailors than the mermaid shall;
I'll slay more gazers than the basilisk;
I'll play the orator as well as nestor,
Deceive more slily than Ulysses could,
And, like a Sinon, take another Troy:
I can add colors to the chameleon;
Change shapes, with Proteus, for advantages,
And set the murd'rous Machiavel to school.
Can I do this, and cannot get a crown?

Tut: were it further off, I'll pluck it down."

Commenting upon this criminal nature of the man, Richard, as portrayed by the Poet, the criminal expert, Goll said: "Richard III is the 'criminal by instinct' of the first water. Solely animated by his own personal ambition, thirst for power, and the crown, without a spark of altruistic motive, without a thought at his succession of realizing any high aims, he attains his object by cunning, lying, impudence, or hypocrisy, and, chiefest by a series of the blackest crimes. No act of his is the result of momentary moods, impetuous emotions; everything is the necessary consequence of cold, clear calculation."2

Sec. 311. Elizabeth's plea of sanctuary.

"Queen Elizab. I'll hence forthwith unto the sanctuary, To save at least the heir of Edward's right. There shall I rest secure from force and fraud."

13' Henry VI, Act III, Scene II.

2 Goll's Criminal Types in Shakespeare, pp. 165, 166.

Speaking elsewhere of the splendid portrayal of the criminal by instinct which this character affords criminal science, Goll observes: ". . . in every case, he substitutes for the rights of all, his own rights; and in these 'own rights' he includes everything which his personal lusts and desires urge him to obtain. . . . this right is the fixed foundation of his mind; it shows its effect everywhere, at all times and in all directions, as soon as an impulse to action makes itself felt in him." Idem. p. 161.

3' Henry VI, Act IV, Scene IV.