great misfortune. 'Certeine is it also, that in riding towards the Tower, the same morning in which he was beheaded, his horsse twise or thrise stumbled with him, almost to the falling.' Holinshed, iii. 723. More, 49/18.
III. iv. 98. air of your good looks. I.e. favorable breeze of your good outward appearance (See 'air,' Murray, N.E.D.).
III. iv. 99. drunken sailor on a mast. Cf. Proverbs, xxiii, 34: 'Yea, thou shalt be as he . . . that lieth upon the top of a mast.' The figure is repeated in 2 Henry IV, III. i. 18–25.
III. v. 40. Turks. Elizabethan writers often used this term as a synonym for infidel. See Prayer Book, third collect for Good Friday: 'Turks, Infidels and Hereticks.'
III. v. 49, 50. The Quarto assigns these two lines to the Mayor.
III. v. 68. too late of our intent. I.e. too late to learn in advance of our purpose.
III. v. 75. a citizen. For an account of Richard's reference see Boswell-Stone, Shakespeare's Holinshed, p. 375, note 2. The story is quoted by Halle and likewise is to be found in Grafton, ii. 107.
III. v. 78. sign. Richard means that the citizen's shop was designated by a signboard with a crown painted on it.
III. v. 84. thus far come near my person. I.e. thus far make intimate reference to me myself.
III. v. 97. Baynard's Castle. On the Thames between Blackfriars and London Bridge. In Shakespeare's time the castle belonged to William Herbert, the Earl of Pembroke.
III. v. 102. Doctor Shaw. 'Iohn Shaw, clearke, brother to the maior.' Holinshed, iii. 725.
III. v. 103. Friar Penker. 'frier Penker, prouinciall of the Augustine Friers.' Holinshed, iii. 725.
