K. Rich. He was i'the right; and so, indeed, it is.

[Clock strikes.

Tell the clock there.-Give me a calendar.-
Who saw the sun to-day?

Rat.

Not I, my lord.

K. Rich. Then he disdains to shine; for, by the book, He should have braved the east an hour ago :

A black day will it be to somebody.—

Ratcliff,

Rat. My lord?

K. Rich.

The sun will not be seen to-day; The sky doth frown and lower 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. 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,
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 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 scroll.

Baret's definition of brave, is "to look aloft and go gayly, desiring to

have the preeminence."

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 affright 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 inferred?
Remember whom you are to cope withal ;-
A sort of vagabonds, rascals, and runaways,
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 blessed with beauteous wives,
They would restrain 2 the one, distain the other.
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 famished beggars, weary of their lives;
Who, but for dreaming on this fond exploit,
For want of means, poor rats, had hanged themselves:
If we be conquered, let men conquer us,

And not these bastard Bretagnes; whom our fathers

1 Company.

2 To restrain is to abridge, to diminish, to withhold from.

3 Thus Holinshed:-"You see further, how a company of traitors, thieves, outlaws, and runagates, be aiders and partakers of this feate and enterprise. And to begin with the earl of Richmond, captaine of this rebellion, he is a Welsh milksop, brought up by my moother's means and mine, like a captive in a close cage in the court of Francis duke of Britaine," p. 756. Holinshed copied this verbatim from Hall, edit. 1548, fol. 54; but his printer has given us, by accident, the word moother instead of brother; as it is in the original, and ought to be in Shakspeare. In the first edition of Holinshed the word is rightly printed brother. So that this circumstance not only shows that the Poet follows Holinshed, but points out the edition used by him.

Have in their own land beaten, bobbed, and thumped,
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 passed the marsh;1 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!
Upon them! Victory sits on our helms.

[Exeunt.

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;

2

His horse is slain, and all on foot he fights,

1. There was a large marsh in Bosworth plain between the two armies. Henry passed it, and made such a disposition of his forces that it served to protect his right wing. By this movement he gained also another point, that his men should engage with the sun behind them, and in the faces of his enemies; a matter of great consequence when bows and arrows were in use.

2 i. e. daringly opposing himself to every danger.

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 :-1

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 arms, 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 plucked 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?

1 Richard, according to Polydore Virgil, 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 Cheny, 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 at that instant sir William Stanley, with three thousand men, joined Richmond's army, and the royal forces fled with great precipitation.

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 with the red.-
Smile Heaven upon this fair conjunction,
That long hath frowned upon their enmity!-
What traitor hears me, and says not,-Amen?
England hath long been mad, and scarred herself;
The brother blindly shed the brother's blood,
The father rashly slaughtered his own son,
The son, compelled, 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 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 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 stopped, Peace lives again;
That she may long live here, God say-Amen.

1 i. e. diminish, or take away.

[Exeunt.

2 To reduce is to bring back; an obsolete sense of the word.