RICHMOND wakes.-Enter OXFORD and others. Lords. Good morrow, Richmond.

Richm. 'Cry mercy, lords, and watchful g. ntlemen,
That you have ta'en a tardy sluggard here.
Lords. How have you slept, my lord?
Richm. The sweetest sleep, and fairest-boding
dreams,

That ever entered in a drowsy head,
Have I since your departure bad, my lords.

thy wife,

That never slept a quiet hour with thee,
Now fills thy sleep with perturbations:
To-morrow in the battle think on me,

And fall thy edgeless sword; Despair, and die !—
Thou, quiet soul, sleep thou a quiet sleep;
[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 helped 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 guiltmess!
Dream on, dream on, of bloody deeds and deathr;
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, fight 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.—
O coward conscience, how dost thou afflict me!-
The lights burn blue.-It is now dead midnight.
Cold fearful drops stand on my trembling flesh.
What do I fear? myself? there's none else by:
Richard loves Richard; that is, I am I.

Is there a murderer here? No ;-Yes; I am :
Then fly.-What, from myself? Great

Why?

Lest I revenge. What? Myself on myself!
I love myself. Wherefore? for any good,
That I myself have done unto myself?
O, no: alas, I rather hate myself,
For hateful deeds committed by myself.
I am a villain: Yet I lie, I am not.

reason:

Fool, of thy self speak well:-Fool, do not flatter,
My conscience hath a thousand several tongues,
And every tongue brings in a several tale,
And every tale condemns me for a villain.
Perjury, perjury, in the highest degree;
Murder, stern murder, in the direst degree;
All several sins, all used in each degree,
Throng to the bar, crying all,-Guilty! guilty!
I shall despair.-There is no creature loves me ;
And, if I die, no soul will pity me:

Nay, wherefore should they? Since that I myself
Find in myself no pity to myself.

Methought, the souls of all that I had murder'd
Came to my tent; and every one did threat
To-morrow's vengeance on the head of Richard.

Rat. My lord,

Enter RATCLIFF.

K. Rich. Who's there?

murdered,

Came to my tent, and cried-On! Victory!
I promise you, my heart is very jocund
In the remembrance of so fair a dream..
How far into the morning is it, lords?
Lords. Upon the stroke of four.

Richm. Why, then 'tis time to arm and give di
rection.- [He advances to the Troops.
More than I have said, loving countrymen,
The leisure and enforcement of the time
Forbids to dwell on: Yet remember this,-
God, and our good cause, fight upon our side;
The prayers of holy saints, and wronged souls,
Like high reared bulwarks, stand before our faces;
Richard except, those, whom we fight against,
Had rather have us win, than him they follow.
For what is he they follow? Truly, gentlemen,
A bloody tyrant, and a homicide:
One raised in blood, and one in blood establish'd;
One that made means to come by what he hath,
And slaughtered those that were the means to help
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,
God will, in justice, ward you as his soldiers;
If you do sweat to put a tyrant down,
You sleep in peace, the tyrant being slain;
If you do fight against your country's foes,
Your country's fat shall pay your pains the hire;
If you do fight in safeguard of your wives,
Your wives shall welcome home the conquerors;
If you do free your children from the sword,
Your children's children quit it in your age.
Then, in the name of God, and all these rights,
Advance your standards, draw your willing swords:
For me, the ransome of my bold attempt
Shall be this cold corpse on the earth's cold face;
But if I thrive, the gain of my attempt
The least of you shall share his part thereof.
Sound, drums and trumpets, boldly and cheerfully;
God, and Saint George! Richmond, and victory!

[Exeunt Re-enter King RICHARD, RATCLIFF, Attendants, and

Forces.

Rat. Not I, my lord.

cock

Hath twice done salutation to the morn;
Your friends are up, and buckle on their armour.
K. Rich. O, Ratcliff, I have dream'd a fearful
dream!-

What thinkest thou? Will our friends prove all true?

Rat. No doubt, my lord.

K. Rich. Ratcliff, I fear, I fear,

Rat. Nay, good my lord, be not afraid of shadows

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.

Ratcliff,

Rat. My lord?

K. Rich. The sun will not be seen to-day; The sky doth frown and lour upon our army. I would, these dewy tears were from the ground. Not shine to-day! Why, what is that to me, More than to Richmond? For the self-same heaven, That frowns on me, looks sadly upon him. Enter NORFOLK.

Nor. Arm, arm, my lord; the foe vaunts in the

field.

My foreward shall be drawn out all in length,
Consisting equally of horse and foot;
Our archers shall be placed in the midst:
John duke of Norfolk, Thomas earl of Surrey,
Shall have the leading of this foot and horse.
They thus directed, we ourself will follow
In the main battle: whose puissance on either side
Shall be well winged with our chiefest horse.
This, and Saint George to boot!-What think'st
thou, Norfolk?

Nor. A good direction, warlike sovereign.-
This found I on my tent this morning,

[Giving a Scrowl. K. Rich. Jocky of Norfolk, be not too bold, [Reads. For Dickon thy master is bought and sold. A thing devised by the enemy.

Go, gentlemen, every man unto his charge:
Let not our babbling dreams afflight our souls;
Conscience is but a word that cowards use,
Devised at first to keep the strong in awe;
Our strong arms be our conscience, swords our law.
March on, join bravely, let us to't pell-mell;
If not to heaven, then hand in hand to hell.-
What shall I say, more than I have inferr'd?
Remember who you are to cope withal ;-
A sort of vagabonds, rascals, and run-aways,
A scum of Bretagnes, and base lackey peasants,
Whom their o'er-cloyed country vomits forth
To desperate ventures and assured destruction.
You sleeping safe, they bring you to unrest;
You having lands, and bless'd with beauteous wives,
They would restrain the one, distain the other.
And who doth lead them, but a paltry fellow,
Long kept in Bretague at our mother's cost?
A milk-sop, one that never in his life
Felt so much cold as over shoes in snow?
Let's whip these stragglers o'er the seas again;
Lash hence these over-weening rags of France,
These famish'd beggars, weary of their lives;
Who, but for dreaming on this fond exploit,
For want of means, poor rats, had hang'd themselves:
If we be conquer'd, let men conquer us,
And not these bastard Bretagnes; whom our fathers
Have in their own land beaten, bobb'd, and thump'd,
And, on record, left them the heirs of shame.
Shall these enjoy our lands? Lie with our wives?
Ravish our daughters ?-Hark, I hear their drum.
[Drum afar off.
Fight, gentlemen of England! Fight, bold yeomen!
Draw, archers, draw your arrows to the head!
Spur your proud horses hard, and ride in blood;
Amaze the welkin with your broken staves!—
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.

Nor. My lord, the enemy is pass'd the marsh; After the battle let George Stanley die.

K. Rich. A thousand hearts are great within my

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; Five have I slain to-day, instead of him :A horse! a horse! My kingdom for a horse!

[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 armis, be praised, victorious friends;

The day is ours, the bloody dog is dead.

Stan. Courageous Richmond, well hast thou acquit thee!

Lo, here, this long-usurped royalty,

From the dead temples of this bloody wretch
Have I pluck'd off, to grace thy brows withal;
Wear it, enjoy it, and make much of it.

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, Waiter lord Ferrers,
Sir Robert Brakenbury, and Sir William Brandon.
Richm. Inter their bodies as becomes their birth.
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;
All this divided York and Lancaster,
Divided, in their dire division.-

O, now, let Richmond and Elizabeth,
The true succeeders of each royal house,
By God's fair ordinance conjoin together!
And let their heirs, (God, if thy with be so,)
Enrich the time to come with smooth-faced peace,
With smiling plenty, and fair prosperous days!
Abate the edge of traitors, gracious Lord,
That would reduce these bloody days again,
And make poor England weep in streams of blood!
Let them not live to taste this land's increase,
That would with treason wound this fair land's
peace!

Now civil wounds are s.opp'd, peace lives again;
That she may long live here, God say-Amen!
[Exeunt.

KING HENRY THE EIGHTH.

V.

PROLOGUE.

I come no more to make you laugh; things now,
That bear a weighty and a serious brow,
Sad, high, and working, full of state and woe,
Such noble scenes as draw the eye to flow,
We now present. Those that can pity, here
May, if they think it well, let fall a tear;
The subject will deserve it. Such, as give
Their money out of hope they may believe,
May here find truth too. Those, that come to see
Only a show or two, and so agree,

The play may pass; if they be still, and willing,
I'll undertake, may see away their shilling
Richly in two short hours. Only they,
That come to hear a merry, bawdy play,
A noise of targets; or, to see a fellow
In a long motley coat, guarded with yellow,
Will be deceived: for, gentle hearers, know,
To rank our chosen truth with such a show
As fool and fight is, besides forfeiting
Our own brains, and the opinion that we bring,
(To make that only true we now intend,)
Will leave us never an understanding friend.
Therefore, for goodness' sake, and as you

known

The first and happiest hearers of the town, Be sad, as we would make ye: think, ye see The very persons of our noble story,

are

As they were living; think, you see them great,
And follow'd with the general throng, and sweat,
Of thousand friends; then, in a moment, see
How soon this mightiness meets misery!
And, if you can be merry then, I'll say,
A man may weep upon his wedding day.

ACT I.

SCENE 1.- 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?

Nor. I thank your grace:

Beaithful; and ever since a fresh admirer
Of what I saw there.

Buck. An untimely ague

Stay'd me a prisoner in my chamber, when
Those suns of glory, those two lights of men,
Met in the vale of Arde.

Nor. Twixt Guynes and 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 throned ones could have weigh'd
Such a compounded one?

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, till the last
Made former wonders it's: 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,
Shew'd like a mine. Their dwarfish pages were
As cherubins, all gilt: the madams too,
Not used to toil, did almost sweat to bear
The pride upon them, that their very labour
Was to them as a painting now this mask
Was cried 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

you

Honour and plenteous safety,) that you read
The cardmar's malice and his potency
Together: to consider further, that
What his high hatred would effect, wants not
A minister in his power: you know his nature,
That he's revengefui; and I know, his sword
Hath a sharp edge: it's long, and, it may be said,
It reaches far; and where 'twill not extend,
Thither he darts it. Bosom up my counsel,
You'll find it wholesome. Lo, where comes that
rock,

That I advise your shunning.

Enter Cardinal WOLSEY, (the Purse borne before him,) certain of the Guard, and two SECRETARIES with Papers.-The Cardinal in his Passage fizeth kis 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
Buckingham

Shall lessen this big look.

[Exeunt Wolsey and Train. Buck. This butcher's cur is venom-mouth'd,

and I

Nor. Be advised;

Heat not a furnace for your foe so hot
That it do singe yourself: we may outrun,
By violent swiftness, that which we run at,
And lose by over-running. Know you not,
The fire, that mounts the liquor till it run o'er,
In seeming to augment it, wastes it? Be advised:
I say again, there is no English soul

More stronger to direct you than yourself;
If with the sap of reason you would quench,
Or but allay, the fire of passion.

Buck. Sir,

I am thankful to you; and I'll go along

By your prescription :-But this top-proud fellow, (Whom from the flow of gall I name not, but From sincere motions,) by intelligence,

And proofs as clear as founts in July, when
We see each grain of gravel, I do know
To be corrupt and treasonous.

Nor. Say not, treasonous.

Buck. To the king I'll say 't; and make my
Vouch as strong

As shore of rock. Attend. This holy fox,
Or wolf, or both, (for he is equal ravenous,
As he is subtle; and as prone to mischief,
As able to perform it: his mind and place
Infecting one another, yea, reciprocally,)
Only to shew his pomp as well in France

As here at home, suggests the king our master
To this last costly treaty, the interview,
That swallow'd so much treasure, and like a glass
Did break i' the rinsing.

Nor. 'Faith, and so it did.

Buck. Pray, give me favour, Sir. This cunning

cardinal

Has done this, and 'tis well; for worthy Wolsey,
Who cannot err, he did it. Now this follows,
(Which, as I take it, is a kind of puppy
To the old dam, treason.)-Charles the emperor,
Under the pretence to see the queen his aunt,
(For 'twas, indeed, his colour; but he came
To whisper Wolsey,) here makes visitation
His fears were, that the interview, betwixt

• Excites.