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: I will lead forth my soldiers to the plain, 291 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 this foot and horse. They thus directed, we will follow [side In the main battle, whose puissance on either 301 [He sheweth him a paper. K. Rich. [Reads]Jockey of Norfolk, be not too bold, For Dickon thy master is bought and sold.' Go, gentleman, every man unto his charge: souls: Conscience is but a word that cowards use, Devised at first to keep the strong in awe: 310 Our strong arms be our conscience, swords our law. March on, join bravely, let us to't pell-mell; They would restrain the one, distain the other. If we be conquer'd, let men conquer us, Have in their own land beaten, bobb'd, and thump'd, And in 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 yoemen ! Draw, archers, draw your arrows to the head! Spur your proud horses hard, and ride in blood; 340 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 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 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! 350 Upon them! victory sits on our helms. [Exeunt. SCENE IV. Another part of the field. Alarum: excursions. Enter NORFOLK and forces fighting; to him CATESBY, Cate. Rescue, my Lord of Norfolk, rescue rescue! The king enacts more wonders than a man, 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, 10 And I will stand the hazard of the die : SCENE V. Another part of the field. Alarum. Enter RICHARD and RICHMOND ; they fight. RICHARD is slain. Retreat and flourish. Re-enter RICHMOND, DERBY bearing the crown, with divers other Lords. Richm. God and your arms be praised, victorious friends; The day is ours, the bloody dog is dead. Lo, here, this long-usurped royalty Richm. Great God of heaven, say Amen to all! But, tell me, is young George Stanley living? Der. 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? Richm. Inter their bodies as becomes ther births: Proclaim a pardon to the soldiers fled The brother blindly shed the brother's blood, 30 O, now, let Richmond and Elizabeth, With smiling plenty and fair prosperous days! 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 a (TWO DATES ARE ASSIGNED TO IT, 1591 AND 1596-97.) INTRODUCTION. The story of the unhappy lovers of Verona, as a supposed historical occurrence, is referred to the year 1303; but no account of it exists of an earlier date than that of Luigi da Porto, about 1530. The story quickly acquired a European celebrity. Published by Bandello in his collection of Italian novels in 1554, it was translated into French in 1559 by Pierre Boisteau, and in three years more touched English soil. Arthur Brooke in 1562 produced his long metrical version, founded upon Boisteau's novel, and a pure translation of Boisteau's work appeared in Paynter's Palace of Pleasure in 1567. We have here reached Shakespeare's sources: Paynter he probably consulted; in nearly all essentials he follows the Romeus and Juliet of Brooke. The precise date of Shakespeare's play is uncertain. In 1597 it was published in quarto," as it hath been often (with great applause) plaid publiquely by the right Honorab.e the Lord of Hunsdon his servants." Now the Lord Chamberlain, Henry Lord Hunsdon, died July 22, 1596; his son, George Lord Hunsdon, was appointed Chamberlain in April, 1597. Before July, 1596, or after April, 1597, the theatrical company would have been styled by the more honorable designation, the Lord Chamberlain's servants;" but during the interval they would have been described as on the title-page of the quarto. The Nurse's mention of the earthquake (Act I Sc. III., L. 23), ""Tis since the earthquake now eleven years," has been referred to as giving the date 1591, a memorable earthquake, felt in London, having occurred in 1580; but, while professing an infallibly accurate recollection, the old woman blunders sadly bout her dates, so that even if an actual English earthquake were alluded to, the point of the jest may have been in the inaccuracy of the reference. The internal evidence favors the opinion that this tragedy was an early work of the poet, and tha it was subsequently revised and enlarged. There is much rhyme, and much of this is in the form f alternate rhyme; the forced playing upon words, and the overstrained conceits point to an arly date. We may perhaps accept the opinion that the pla, was begun, and in part written, as early as 1591, and that it assumed its final form about 1597. Apart from its intrinsic beauty, Romeo and Juliet is of deep interes when viewed as Shakespeare's first tragedy, and as a work which probably occupied hi thoughts, from time to time, during a series of years. It is a young man's tragedy, in whic Youth and Love are brought face to face with Hatred and Death. The scene is essentially Italian: the burning noon of July in the Italian city nflame the blood of the street quarrelers; he voluptuous moonlit nights are only lik a softer day. And the characters are Italian, with their yrical arder, their southern impetuosity of passion, and the southern forms and olor of their speech. Romeo's nature is prone to enthusiastic feeling, and, as it were, vaguely trembling in the direction of love before he sees Juliet; to meet her gives form and fixit, to his vague emotion. To Juliet-a girl of fourteen-love comes as a thing previously unknown; it is at once terrible and blissful; she rises, through love, and sorrow, and trial, from child into a heroic woman. After Shakespeare has exalted their enthusiastic joy and rapture to the highest point, he suddenly casts it down. Romeo is at first completely unmanned; but Juliet exhibits a noble fortitude and self-com. mand. Mercutio and the Nurse are almost creations of Shakespeare. Brooke had described Mercutio as "a lion among maidens," and speaks of his "ice-cold hand;" but it was the dramatist who drew at full length the figure of this brilliant being, who though with wit running beyond what is becoming, and effervescent animal spirits, yet acts as a guardian of Romeo, and is always a gallant gentleman. He dies forcing a jest through his bodily anguish, but he dies on Romeo's behalf: the scene darkens as his figure disappears. The action is accelerated by Shakespeare to the utmost, the four or five months of Brooke's poem being reduced to as many days. On Sunday the lovers meet, next day they are made one in marriage, on Tuesday morning at dawn they part, and they are finally re-united in the tomb on the night of Thursday. Shakespeare does not close the tragedy with Juliet's death: as he has shown in the first scene the hatred of the houses through the comic quarrel of the servants, thereby introducing the causes which produce the tragic issue, so in the last scene he shows us the houses sorrowfully reconciled over the dead bodies of a son and daughter. SCENE I. Verona. A public place. Enter SAMPSON and GREGORY, of the house of Capulet, armed with swords and bucklers. Sam. Gregory, o' my word, we'll not carry coals. Gre. No, for then we should be colliers. Sam. I mean, an we be in choler, we'll draw. Gre. Ay, while you live, draw your neck out o' the collar. Sam. I strike quickly, being moved. Gre. But thou art not quickly moved to strike. Sam. A dog of the house of Montague moves me. 10 Gre. To move is to stir; and to be valiant is to stand therefore, if thou art moved, thou runn'st away. Sam. A dog of that house shall move me to stand I will take the wall of any man or maid of Montague's. Gre. That shows thee a weak slave; for the weakest goes to the wall. Sam. True; and therefore women, being the weaker vessels, are ever thrust to the wall: therefore I will push Montague's men from the wall, and thrust his maids to the wall. Gre. The quarrel is between our masters and us their men. Sam. 'Tis all one, I will show myself a tyrant when I have fough. with the men, I will be cruel with the maids, and cut off their heads. 29 Gre. The heads of the maids? Sam. Ay, the heads of the maids, or their maidenheads; take it in what sense thou wilt. Gre. They must take it in sense that feel it. Sam. Me they shall feel while I am able to stand and 'tis known I am a pretty piece of flesh. Gre. 'Tis well thou art not fish if thou hadst, thou hadst been poor John. Draw thy tool; here comes two of the house of the Montagues. Sam. My naked weapon is out: quarrel, I will back thee. Gre. How! turn thy back and run? Sam. Fear me not. Gre. No, marry; I fear thee! 40 Sam. Let us take the law of our sides; let them begin. Gre. I will frown as I pass by, and let them take it as they list. Sam. Nay, as they dare. I will bite my thumb at them; which is a disgrace to them, if they bear it. Enter ABRAHAM and BALTHASAR. Abr. Do you bite your thumb at us, sir? Sam. I do bite my thumb, sir. 50 Abr. Do you bite your thumb at us, sir? Sam. [Aside to Gre.] Is the law of our side, if I say ay? Gre. No. ground, And hear the sentence of your moved prince. If ever you disturb our streets again, 109 Peer'd forth the golden window of the east, seen, 140 With tears augmenting the fresh morning's Mon. I neither know it nor can learn of him. 150 Ben. Have you importuned him by any means? Mon. Both by myself and many other friends: |