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well many others. And that Gloster was at the Tower, was not astonishing at all because the Tower was the royal residence where the court generally resided when staying at London. So his mere presence is no proof yet of his guilt. Of the later writers Rous is the first that openly accuses Richard of the deed, saying:“he killed by others, or, as many believe, with his own hand, that most sacred man, King Henry VI.“ But Rous, who wrote for Henry VII., is not quite trust- worthy. Fabian, who wrote about 20 years after Richard's untimely end, says,“that of the death of the prince divers tales were told, but the most eommon fame went that he was killed with a dagger by the hand of Richard of Gloucester“. And this common fame can certainly not be considered as a proof of his guilt. Polydore Virgil, too, says, that the common report implicated the Duke of Gloster, and Comines accuses him of the murder“if what was told me’ be true“. After all this it appears that the murder of Henry is imputed to Richard more upon vague reports than upon any sufficient ground, and, moreover, it seems difficult to explain why Richard should have committed so foul a deed from which he could not derive any advantage for himself. Edward, and even Clarence were much more interested in it. According to Shakespeare, to be sure, Richard is concerned in the death because Henry stands between him, and the crown, but in reality there is no proof whatever, not even any probability that Richard should have begun to covet the crown as early as King Henry's death.(Pauli, Aufsätze, Oechelhäuser, Essay.)

In the opening scene of Richard III. Shakespeare makes Richard once more reveal his diabolical designs. First of all his brother Clarence is to be got rid of, and he hopes to succeed in it by means of his brother Edward:

Plots have I laid, inductions dangerous, By drunken prophecies, libels, and dreams,

To set my brother Clarence and the King

In deadly hate the one against the other:

And, if King Edward be as true and just

As I am subtle, false, and treacherous,

This day should Clarence closely be mew'd up,

About a prophecy, which says, that G

Of Edward's heirs the murderer shall be.(Rich. III. I. 1.) And he has not been mistaken, he has succeeded in raising King Edward'’s suspicion against Clarence, for whilst he is still soliloquizing, Clarence arrives being led to prison by Brakenbury. Richard pretends to be extremely sorry of his dear brother's misfortune which nobody has caused, he guesses, but the queen and her party. But he will do all in his power to set Clarence free:

your imprisomment shall not be long

rn deliver you or else lie for you:

Meantime, have patience.(Iid.) And when poor Clarence, who is deeply touched by Richard'’s brotherly affection, has hardly turned his back, Richard gives vent to his real feelings:

Go, tread the path that thou shalt né'er return,

Simple, plain Clarence! I do love thee so,

That I will shortly send thy soul to heaven,

If heaven will take the present at our hands.(Ibid.)