[To his Soldiers.] What shall I say more than I have inferr'd ? 24 Remember whom you are to cope withal;

A sort 25 of vagabonds, rascals, and runaways,

A scum of Bretagnes, and base lacquey peasants,
Whom their o'er-cloyèd country vomits forth
To desperate ventures and assured destruction.
You sleeping safe, they bring to you unrest;
You having lands, and bless'd with beauteous wives,
They would distrain 26 the one, distain the other.
And who doth lead them but a paltry fellow,
Long kept in Bretagne at our mother's cost ?27
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 overweening 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,

24 Here again we have inferr'd for brought forward or alleged. 25 Sort here means crew, pack, or set. So in 2 Henry VI., iii. 2: "He was the lord ambassador sent from a sort of tinkers to the King." And in A Midsummer-Night's Dream, iii. 2, Puck describes Bottom as the shallowest thickskin of that barren sort"; referring to the "crew of patches' who are getting up the interlude of Pyramus and Thisbe.

26 Distrain is here used in its old sense of lawless seizure. See vol. viii. page 23, note 12.

27 This should be "at our brother's cost." Richmond was in fact held in a sort of honourable custody at the Duke of Bretagne's Court, his means being supplied by Charles, Duke of Burgundy, who was Richard's brotherin-law. Hall gives the matter thus: "And to begyn with the earle of Richmond Captaine of this rebellion, he is a Welsh mylkesoppe, a man of small courage, and of lesse experience in marcyall acts and feates of warr, brought up by my brothers meanes and myne like a captive in a close cage in the court of Frances duke of Britaine." Holinshed copied Hall's account, but in Holinshed's second edition "moothers meanes got misprinted for "brothers meanes"; and hence the Poet's mistake.

"

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? [Drum afar off.] Hark! I hear their drum.

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! 28.

Enter a Messenger.

What says Lord Stanley? will he bring his power?
Mess. My lord, he doth deny to come.
K. Rich. Off with his son George's head!
Nor. My lord, the enemy is past the marsh:
After the battle let George Stanley die.

K. Rich. A thousand hearts are great within
Advance our standards, set upon our foes;
Our ancient word of courage, fair Saint George,
Inspire us with the spleen of fiery dragons!
Upon them! Victory sits on our helms.

28 Fright the skies with the shivers of your lances.

29

my

bosom:

[Exeunt.

29 Betweene both armies there was a great marish, which the earle of Richmond left on his right hand; for this intent, that it should be on that side a defense for his part, and in so dooing he had the sunne at his backe, and in the faces of his enimies. When king Richard saw the earles companie was passed the marish, he did command with all hast to set upon them.-HOLINSHED.

Cate. Rescue, my Lord of Norfolk, rescue, rescue!

The King enacts more wonders than a man,

Daring an opposite to every danger : 1

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!

Alarums. 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.2

A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse!

[Exeunt.

1 The Poet repeatedly uses opposite for opponent or adversary. So that 'daring an opposite to every danger" probably means offering himself as an opponent in every danger, or, which comes to the same thing, challenging every dangerous antagonist to fight with him.

2 Shakespeare employs this incident with historical propriety in The First Part of King Henry IV. He had here also good ground for his poetical exaggeration. Richard, according to the Chronicles, was determined if possible to engage with Richmond in single combat. For this purpose he rode furiously to that quarter of the field where the Earl was; attacked his standard bearer, Sir William Brandon, and killed him; then assaulted Sir John Cheney, whom he overthrew. Having thus at length cleared his way to his antagonist, he engaged in single combat with him, and probably would have been victorious, but that at that instant Sir William Stanley with three thousand men joined Richmond's army, and the royal forces fled with great precipitation. Richard was soon afterwards overpowered by numbers, and fell, fighting bravely to the last.

Alarums. Enter, from opposite sides, King RICHARD and RICHMOND; they fight, and exeunt fighting. Retreat and flourish. Then re-enter RICHMOND, with STANLEY bearing the crown, and divers other Lords, and Forces.

Richm. God and your arms be praised, victorious friends; The day is ours, the bloody dog is dead.

Stan. Courageous Richmond, well hast thou acquit3 thee. Lo, here, this long-usurpèd 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 now, is young George Stanley living?
Stan. He is, my lord, and safe in Leicester town;
Whither, if 't 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 Brakenbury, 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 and 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,

3 Acquit for acquitted. See page 179, note 14, and page 213, note 2.

The son, compell'd, been butcher to the sire:
All this divided York and Lancaster,
O, now let Richmond and Elizabeth,
The true succeeders of each royal House, -
Divided in their dire division,—

By God's fair ordinance conjoin together!
And let their heirs-God, if Thy will 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 5 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 stopp'd, peace lives again :
That she may long live here, God say Amen!

i. I:

[Exeunt.

4 Abate here means make dull, like rebate. So, in Love's Labours Lost, That honour which shall 'bate his scythe's keen edge." Also, in the novel of Pericles, 1608: "Absence abates that edge that presence whets." And Florio: "Spontare,- to abate the edge or point of any thing or wea

pon, to blunt, to unpoint."

5 Reduce, again, in the Latin sense of bring back. See page 191, note 10.