King Richard.

I will not sup to-night.-
Give me some ink and paper.-
What, is my beaver easier than it was,
And all my armour laid into my tent?

Catesby,

It is, my liege; and all things are in readiness.
King Richard.

Good Norfolk, hie thee to thy charge.
Use careful watch; choose trusty sentinels.
Norfolk.

I go, my lord.

King Richard.

But on thy side I may not be too forward,
Lest, being seen, thy brother, tender George,
Be executed in his father's sight.

Farewell. The leisure and the fearful time
Cuts off the ceremonious vows of love,
And ample interchange of sweet discourse,
Which so long sunder'd friends should dwell
upon.

God give us leisure for these rites of love!
Once more, adieu.-Be valiant, and speed well!
Richmond.

Good lords, conduct him to his regiment.
I'll strive, with troubled thoughts, to take a nap;
Lest leaden slumber peise me down to-morrow,

Stir with the lark to-morrow, gentle Norfolk. When I should mount with wings of victory.

King Richard

Once more, good night, kind lords, and gentle-
men. [Exeunt Lords, &c. with Stanley.
O! Thou, whose captain I account myself,
Look on my forces with a gracious eye;
Put in their hands thy bruising irons of wrath,
That they may crush down with a heavy fall
Th' usurping helmets of our adversaries!
Make us thy ministers of chastisement,
That we may praise thee in thy victory!
To thee I do commend my watchful soul,
Ere I let fall the windows of mine eyes:
Sleeping and waking, O! defend me still!

[Sleeps.

The Ghost of Prince Edward, Son to Henry
the Sixth, rises between the two Tents.
Ghost.

Let me sit heavy on thy soul to-morrow!
To King Richard.

Saw'st thou the melancholy lord Northumber- Think, how thou stab'dst me in my prime of

land?

I, by attorney, bless thee from thy mother,
Who prays continually for Richmond's good:
So much for that.-The silent hours steal on,
And flaky darkness breaks within the east.
In brief, for so the season bids us be,
Prepare thy battle early in the morning;
And put thy fortune to the arbitrement
Of bloody strokes, and mortal-staring war.
1. as I may, (that which I would I cannot)
With best advantage will deceive the time,
And aid thee in this doubtful shock of arms:

youth

At Tewksbury: despair, therefore, and die.-
Of butcher'd princes fight in thy behalf:
Be cheerful, Richmond; for the wronged souls
King Henry's issue, Richmond, comforts thee.

The Ghost of King Henry the Sixth rises.
Ghost.

When I was mortal, my anointed body
[To King Richard.
By thee was punched full of deadly holes.
Think on the Tower, and me: despair, and die;
Harry the sixth bids thee despair and die.-
Virtuous and holy, be thou conqueror !
To Richmond.
Harry that prophesy'd thou should'st be king,
Doth comfort thee in 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 l'aughan, rise.
Rivers,

Let me sit heavy on thy soul to-morrow!
[To King Richard.
Rivers, that died at Pomfret. Despair, and die.
Grev.

Think upon Grey, and let thy soul despair.
[To King Richard.
Vaughan.

The prayers of holy saints, and wronged souls,
Like high-rear'd 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 rais'd in blood, and one in blood establish'd;
One that made means to come by what he hath,
And slaughter'd 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 ransom 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 cheer-
fully;

God, and Saint George! Richmond, and victory!
[Exeunt.

Re-enter King Richard, Ratcliff, Attendants,

and Forces. King Richard.

Call up lord Stanley, bid him bring his power.
I will lead forth my soldiers to the plain,
And thus my battle shall be ordered.
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 the foot and horse.
They thus directed, we will follow [side
In the main battle; whose puissance on either
Shall be well winged with our chiefest horse.
This, and Saint George to boot!-What think'st
thou, Norfolk

"Jocky of Norfolk, be not too bold,
For Dickon thy master is bought and sold."
A thing devised by the enemy.-

Go, gentlemen; every man to his charge.
Let not our babbling dreams affright our souls;
For conscience is a word that cowards use,
Devis'd at first to keep the strong in awe: [law.
Our strong arms be our conscience, swords our
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 whom 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 adventures and assur'd destruction.
You sleeping safe, they bring you to unrest;
You having lands, and bless'd with beauteous
wives,

What said Northumberland, as touching Rich- They would restrain the one, distain the other. mond?

Ratcliff.

King Richard.

And who doth lead them, but a paltry fellow,
Long kept in Bretagne 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 them.
selves.

If we be conquer'd, let men conquer us,
And not these bastard Bretagnes; whom our
fathers
[thump'd,
Have in their own land beaten, bobb'd, and
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 yeo-
men!

Draw, archers, draw your arrows to the head;
Spur your proud horses hard, and ride in blood:
Amaze the welkin with your broken staves !—

A thousand hearts are great within my bosom. Come, bustle, bustle.-Caparison my horse. Advance our standards! set upon our foes! Our

What

Ed - wld have
Smid.

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 deceiv'd; for, gentle hearers, know,
To rank our chosen truth with such a show
As fool and fight is, beside forfeiting

How soon this mightiness meets misery:
And, if you can be merry then, I'll say,
A man may weep upon his wedding day.

I thank your grace,

Our own brains, and the opinion that we bring, Healthful; and ever since a fresh admirer

To make that only true we now intend,
Will leave us never an understanding friend.
Therefore, for goodness' sake, and as you are
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,

As they were living; think, you see them great,

Of what I saw there.

Buckingham.

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 Andren.

Norfolk.

'Twixt Guynes and Arde: And follow'd with the general throng, and sweat I was then present, saw them salute on horse

Of thousand friends; then, in a moment, see

back;