Be cheerful, Richmond; for the wronged souls [To RICHMOND. Harry, that prophesied thou shouldst be king, Doth comfort thee in thy sleep; Live, and flourish! The Ghost of CLARENCE rises. Ghost. Let me sit heavy on thy soul to-morrow! [TO KING RICHARD. I, that was wash'd to death with fulsome wine, Poor Clarence, by thy guile betray'd to death!' To-morrow in the battle think on me, And fall thy edgeless sword; Despair, and die!Thou offspring of the house of Lancaster, [TO RICHMOND. The wronged heirs of York do pray for thee; Good angels guard thy battle! Live, and flourish! The Ghosts of RIVERS, GREY, and VAUGHAN, rise. Riv. Let me sit heavy on thy soul to-morrow, [To KING RICHARD. Rivers, that died at Pomfret! Despair, and die! Grey. Think upon Grey, and let thy soul despair! [TO KING RICHARD. Vaugh. Think upon Vaughan; and, with guilty fear, Let fall thy lance! Despair, and die!- [To KING RICHARD. All. Awake! and think, our wrongs in Richard's bosom [TO RICHMOND. Will conquer him;-Awake, and win the day! The Ghost of HASTINGS rises. Ghost. Bloody and guilty, guiltily awake; [TO KING RICHARD. And in a bloody battle end thy days! Think on lord Hastings; and despair, and die!Quiet untroubled soul, awake, awake! [To RICHMOND. Arm, fight, and conquer, for fair England's sake! The Ghosts of the two young Princes rise. Ghosts. Dream on thy cousins smother'd in the Tower; Let us be lead within thy bosom, Richard, The Ghost of QUEEN ANNE rises. O coward conscience, how dost thou afflict me:- Is there a murderer here? No;-Yes; I am: Lest I revenge. What? Myself on myself? I am a villain: Yet I lie, I am not. Methought, the souls of all that I had murder'd K. Rich. By the apostle Paul, shadows to-night Have struck more terror to the soul of Richard, Than can the substance of ten thousand soldiers, Armed in proof, and led by shallow Richmond. It is not yet near day. Come, go with me; Under our tents I'll play the eaves-dropper, To hear, if any mean to shrink from me. [Exeunt KING RICHARD and RATCLIFF. RICHMOND wakes. Enter OXFORD and others. Lords. Good morrow. Richmond. Richm. 'Cry mercy, lords, and watchful gentle men, That you have ta'en a tardy sluggard here. Ghost. Richard, thy wife, that wretched Anne, That ever enter'd in a drowsy head, thy wife, That never slept a quiet hour with thee, And fall thy edgeless sword; Despair, and die !--- [To RICHMOND. Dream of success and happy victory; Thy adversary's wife doth pray for thee. The Ghost of BUCKINGHAM rises. Ghost. The first was I, that help'd thee to the crown; [To KING RICHARD. The last was I, that felt thy tyranny: O, in the battle think on Buckingham, And die in terror of thy guiltiness! Dream on, dream on, of bloody deeds and death; Fainting, despair; despairing, yield thy breath!I died for hope, ere I could lend thee aid: [To RICHMOND. But cheer thy heart, and be thou not dismay'd: God, and good angels, tight on Richmond's side; And Richard falls in height of all his pride. [The Ghosts vanish. KING RICHARD starts out of his Dream. K. Rich. Give me another horse,-bind up my wounds, Have mercy, Jesu!--Soft; I did but dream. Have I since your departure had, my lords. Methought, their souls, whose bodies Richard mur der'd, Came to my tent, and cried-On! victory! I promise you, my heart is very jocund One rais'd in blood, and one in blood establish'd; him; A base foul stone, made precious by the foil Of England's chair, where he is falsely set; One that hath ever been God's enemy: Then, if you fight against God's enemy, K. Rich. What said Northumberland, as touching Richmond? Rat. That he was never trained up in arms. K. Rich. He said the truth: And what said Surrey then? Rat. He smil'd and said, the better for our purpose. K. Rich. He was i' the right; and so, indeed, it is. [Clock strikes. Tell the clock there.-Give me a calendar.Who saw the sun to-day? Rat. Not I, my lord. And who doth lead them, but a paltry fellow, If we be conquer'd, let men conquer us, And not these bastard Bretagnes; whom our fathers Enter a Messenger. What says lord Stanley! will he bring his power? Mess. My lord, he doth deny to come. K. Rich. Off instantly with his son George's head. After the battle let George Stanley die. Nor. My lord, the enemy is pass'd the marsh; K. Rich. A thousand hearts are great within my bosom: Advance our standards, set upon our foes; Our ancient word of courage, fair Saint George, Inspire us with the spleen of fiery dragons! R. Rich. Then he disdains to shine; for, by the Upon them! Victory sits on our helms. [Exeunt. book, He should have brav'd the east an hour ago: Rat. My lord? Enter NORFOLK. Nor. Arm, arm, my lord; the foe vaunts in the field. K. Rich. Come, bustle, bustle;-Caparison my horse; Call up lord Stanley, bid him bring his power: My foreward shall be drawn out all in length, In the main battle; whose puissance on either side Nor. A good direction, warlike sovereign.- SCENE IV. Another Part of the Field. Alarum: Excursions. Enter NORFOLK, and Forces; to him CATESBY. Cate. Rescue, my lord of Norfolk, rescue, rescue! The king enacts more wonders than a man Daring an opposite to every danger: His horse is slain, and all on foot he fights, Seeking for Richmond in the throat of death: Rescue, fair lord, or else the day is lost! Alarum. Enter KING RICHARD. K. Rich. A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse! Cate. Withdraw, my lord, I'll help you to a horse. K. Rich. Slave, I have set my life upon a cast, And I will stand the hazard of the die: I think there be six Richmonds in the field; [Exeunt. Alarums. Enter KING RICHARD and RICHMOND; and exeunt fighting. Retreat, and Flourish. Then enter RICHMOND, STANLEY bearing the Crown, with divers other Lords, and Forces. Richm. God, and your arms, be prais'd, victorious friends; The day is ours, the bloody dog is dead. Richm. Great God of heaven, say, amen, to all:But, tell me first, is young George Stanley living? Stan. He is, my lord, and safe in Leicester town, Whither, if it please you, we may now withdraw us Richm. What men of name are slain on either side? Stan. John duke of Norfolk, Walter lord Ferrers Sir Robert Brackenbury, and sir William Brandon Richm. Inter their bodies as becomes their births Proclaim a pardon to the soldiers fled, That in submission will return to us; And, then, as we have ta'en the sacrament, We will unite the white rose with the red: Smile heaven upon this fair conjunction, That long hath frown'd upon their enmity!What traitor hears me, and says not-Amen? England hath long been mad, and scarr'd herself; The brother blindly shed the brother's blood, The father rashly slaughter'd his own son, The son, compell'd, been butcher to the sire; O, now, let Richmond and Elizabeth, With smiling plenty, and fair prosperous days! Abate the edge of traitors, gracious Lord, Let them not live to taste this land's increase, That would with treason wound this fair land's peace! Now civil wounds are stopp'd, peace lives again: That she may long live here, God say-Amen. [Exeunt. I come no more to make you laugh; things now, The play may pass; if they be still and willing, Richly in two short hours. Only they, That come to hear a merry, bawdy play, In a long motley coat, guarded with yellow, Will be deceiv'd; for, gentle hearers, know, As they were living; think you see them great, ACT I. SCENE I.-London. An Ante-chamber in the Palace. Enter the DUKE OF NORFOLK, at one door; at the other the DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM, and the LORD ABERGAVENNY. Buck. Good morrow, and well met. How have you done, Since last we saw in France? 1 Laced. Buck. An untimely ague Stay'd me a prisoner in my chamber, when Met in the vale of Arde. Those suns of glory, those two lights of men,3 Nor. 'Twixt Guynes and the Arde: I was then present, saw them salute on horseback; Beheld them, when they lighted, how they clung In their embracement, as they grew together; Which had they, what four thron'd ones could have weigh'd Such a compounded one? Pretend. Henry VIII. and Francis I., king of France Buck. All the whole time. I was my chamber's prisoner. Nor. Then you lost The view of earthly glory: Men might say, Till this time, pomp was single; but now married To one above itself. Each following day Became the next day's master, fill the last Made former wonders its: To-day, the French, All clinquant, all in gold, like heathen gods, Shone down the English: and, to-morrow, they Made Britain, India: every man that stood, Show'd like a mine. Their dwarfish pages were As cherubim, all gilt: the madams too, Not used to toil, did almost sweat to bear The pride upon them, that their very labor Was to them as a painting: now this mask Was cry'd incomparable; and the ensuing night Made it a fool, and beggar. The two kings, Equal in lustre, were now best, now worst, As presence did present them; him in eye, Still him in praise: and, being present both, 'Twas said, they saw but one; and no discerner Durst wag his tongue in censure. When these suns (For so they phrase them) by their heralds challenged The noble spirits to arms, they did perform Beyond thought's compass; that former fabulous story, Being now seen possible enough, got credit, O, you go far. Buck. Who did guide, Buck. Buck. The devil speed him! no man's pie is free'd From his ambitious finger. What had he Surely, sir, Nor. There's in him stuff that puts him to these ends: For, being not propp'd by ancestry, (whose grace Chalks successors their way,) nor call'd upon For high feats done to the crown; neither allied To eminent assistance, but, spider-like, Out of his self-drawing web, he gives us note, The force of his own merit makes his way; A gift that heaven gives for him, which buys A place next to the king. Aber. I cannot tell What heaven hath given him, let some graver eye Pierce into that; but I can see his pride Peep through each part of him: Whence has he that? If not from hell, the devil is a niggard; Buck. Why the devil, Upon this French going-out, took he upon him, Without the privity o' the king, to appoint Who should attend on him? He makes up the file Nor. Is it therefore Marry, is't. Aber. A proper title of a peace; and purchas'd Why, all this business 'Like it, your grace, Enter CARDINAL WOLSEY, (the Purse borne before him,) certain of the Guard, and two Secretaries with Papers. The CARDINAL in his passage fixeth his eye on BUCKINGHAM, and BUCKINGHAM on him, both full of disdain. Wol. The duke of Buckingham's surveyor ? ha? Where's his examination? 1 Secr. Here, so please you. Wol. Is he in person ready? 1 Secr. Ay, please your grace. Wol. Well, we shall then know more; and Buck ingham Shall lessen this big look. Exeunt WOLSEY, and Train. Buck. This butcher's cur3 is venom-mouth'd, and I I read in his Looks Matter against me; and his eye revil'd Me, as his abject object: at this instant He bores me with some trick: He's gone to the king; I'll follow, and out-stare him. Nor. Nor. Be advis'd: Heat not a furnace for your foe so hot Wolsey was the son of a butcher. S zd. abs. |