Buck. Hastings, and Edward's children, Rivers,

Grey,

Holy King Henry, and thy fair son Edward,
Vaughan, and all that have miscarried
By underhand corrupted foul injustice;
If that your moody discontented souls
Do through the clouds behold this present hour,
Even for revenge mock my destruction!
This is All-Souls' day, fellows, is it not?
Sher. It is, my lord.

Buck. Why, then All-Souls' day is my body's
doomsday.

This is the day, which, in King Edward's time,
I wish'd might fall on me, when I was found
False to his children, or his wife's allies:
This is the day, wherein I wish'd to fall
By the false faith of him whom most I trusted;
This, this, All-Souls' day to my fearful soul,
Is the determin'd respite of my wrongs3.
That high All-seer which I dallied with,
Hath turned my feigned prayer on my head,
And given in earnest what I begg'd in jest.
Thus doth he force the swords of wicked men
To turn their own points on their masters' bosoms:
Thus Margaret's curse falls heavy on my neck,-
When he, quoth she, shall split thy heart with sorrow,
Remember Margaret was a prophetess.-
Come, sirs, convey me to the block of shame;
Wrong hath but wrong, and blame the due of blame1.
[Exeunt BUCKINGHAM, &c.

3 The time to which the punishment of his injurious practices or the wrongs done by him was respited.

4 Johnson thinks this scene should be added to the fourth act, which would give it a more full and striking conclusion. In the original quarto copy, 1597, this play is not divided into acts and scenes: Malone suggests that the short scene between Stanley and Sir Christopher may have been the opening of the fifth act.

SCENE II. Plain near Tamworth.

Enter, with drum and colours, RICHMONd, Ox-
FORD1, SIR JAMES BLUNT2, SIR WALTER
HERBERT, and Others, with Forces, marching.
Richm. Fellows in arms, and my most loving
friends,

Bruis'd underneath the yoke of tyranny,
Thus far into the bowels of the land

Have we march'd on without impediment;
And here receive we from our father Stanley
Lines of fair comfort and encouragement.
The wretched, bloody, and usurping boar,

That spoil'd your summer fields, and fruitful vines, Swills your warm blood like wash, and makes his trough

In

your embowell'd bosoms, this foul swine Lies now even in the centre of this isle,

Near to the town of Leicester, as we learn:
From Tamworth thither, is but one day's march.
In God's name, cheerly on, courageous friends,
To reap the harvest of perpetual peace
By this one bloody trial of sharp war.

Oxf. Every man's conscience is a thousand
swords 3,

To fight against that bloody homicide.

Herb. I doubt not, but his friends will turn to us. Blunt. He hath no friends, but who are friends for fear;

Which, in his dearest need, will fly from him.

1 John de Vere, earl of Oxford, a zealous Lancastrian, who, after a long confinement in Hammes Castle, in Picardy, escaped in 1484, and joined Richmond at Paris. He commanded the archers at the battle of Bosworth.

2 Sir James Blunt had been captain of the Castle of Hammes, and assisted Oxford in his escape.

3 Alluding to the proverb, Conscientiæ mille testes.'

Richm. All for our vantage.

name, march:

Then, in God's

True hope is swift, and flies with swallow's wings, Kings it makes gods, and meaner creatures kings. [Exeunt.

SCENE III. Bosworth Field.

Enter KING RICHARD, and Forces; the DUKE of NORFOLK, EARL of SURREY, and Others.

K. Rich. Here pitch our tents, even here in Bosworth field.

My lord of Surrey, why look you so sad?

Sur. My heart is ten times lighter than my looks. K. Rich. My lord of Norfolk,

Nor.

Here, most gracious liege. K. Rich. Norfolk, we must have knocks: Ha!

must we not?

Nor. We must both give and take, my loving lord. K. Rich. Up with my tent: Here will I lie to-night1; [Soldiers begin to set up the King's tent. But where, to-morrow?-Well, all's one for thatWho hath descried the number of the traitors?

Nor. Six or seven thousand is their utmost power. K. Rich. Why, our battalia trebles that account 2: Besides, the king's name is a tower of strength, Which they upon the adverse faction want. Up with the tent.--Come, noble gentlemen, Let us survey the vantage of the ground;Call for some men of sound direction 3:

1 Richard is reported not to have slept in his tent on the night before the battle, but in the town of Leicester.

2 Richmond's forces are said to have been only five thousand; and Richard's army consisted of about twelve thousand. But Lord Stanley lay at a small distance with three thousand men, and Richard may be supposed to have reckoned on them as his friends, though the event proved otherwise.

3 i. e. tried judgment, military skill.

Let's want no discipline, make no delay;
For, lords, to-morrow is a busy day.

[Exeunt.

Enter, on the other side of the Field, RICHMOND, SIR WILLIAM BRANDON, OXFORD, and other Lords. Some of the Soldiers pitch RICHMOND'S Tent.

my

standard.

Richm. The weary sun hath made a golden set,
And, by the bright track of his fiery car,
Gives token of a goodly day to-morrow.—
Sir William Brandon, you shall bear
Give me some ink and paper in my tent;-
I'll draw the form and model of our battle,
Limit each leader to his several charge,
And part in just proportion our small power.
My lord of Oxford, you, Sir William Brandon,-
And you, Sir Walter Herbert, stay with me:
The earl of Pembroke keeps his regiment;-
Good Captain Blunt, bear my good night to him,
And by the second hour in the morning
Desire the earl to see me in my tent:

Yet one thing more, good captain, do for me;
Where is Lord Stanley quarter'd, do you know?
Blunt. Unless I have mista'en his colours much
(Which, well I am assur'd, I have not done),
His regiment lies half a mile at least
South from the mighty power of the king.

Richm. If without peril it be possible,
Sweet Blunt, make some good means 6

with him,

to speak

And give him from me this most needful note.

4 Appoint.

'I'll make so bold to call,
For 'tis my limited service.'

5 Remains with.

Macbeth.

6 i. e. contrive, take some pains or earnest measures. Thus in The Two Gentlemen of Verona :

"To make such means for her as thou hast done.'

Blunt. Upon my life, my lord, I'll undertake it; And so, God give you quiet rest to night!

Richm. Good night, good captain Blunt. Come,

gentlemen,

Let us consult upon to-morrow's business;

In to my tent, the air is raw and cold.

[They withdraw into the Tent.

Enter, to his Tent, KING RICHARD, NORFolk, RATCLIFF, and CATESBY.

K. Rich. What is't o'clock?

Cate.

It's nine o'clock.

K. Rich.

It's supper time, my lord:

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?

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

K. Rich. Good Norfolk, hie thee to thy charge; Use careful watch, choose trusty sentinels. Nor. I go, my lord.

K. Rich. Stir with the lark to-morrow, gentle

Norfolk.

Nor. I warrant you, my

K. Rich. Ratcliff,

Rat. My lord?

K. Rich.

Send out a pursuivant at arms

To Stanley's regiment; bid him bring his power
Before sun-rising, lest his son George fall
Into the blind cave of eternal night.—

Fill me a bowl of wine.-Give me a watch7:

[TO CATESBY.

7 By a watch is most probably meant a watch-light. The nature of which will appear from the following note of Sir Francis Kinaston upon Chaucer's Troilus and Cressida, in the very VOL. VII.