Immaculate devotion, holy thoughts, I tender not thy beauteous princely daughter! Plead what I will be, not what I have been ; Q.Eliz. Shall I be tempted of the devil thus ? K.Rich. But in your daughter's womb I bury them : Q.Eliz. Shall I go win my daughter to thy will? K.Rich. Bear her my true love's kiss, and so farewel. Enter RATCLIFF; CATESBY following. Rat. Most mighty sovereign, on the western coast Throng many doubtful hollow-hearted friends, K.Ric.Some light-foot friend post to the duke of Norfolk; -Ratcliff, thyself,- -or Catesby; where is he?6 Cate. Here, my good lord. [5] Such was the real character of this queen dowager, who would have married her daughter to king Richard, and did all in her power to alienate the Marquis of Dorset, her son, from the Eari of Richmond. STEEV. [6] Richard's precipitation and confusion is in this scene very happily rep. resented by inconsistent orders, and sudden variations of opinion. JOHNS. K.Rich. Catesby, fly to the duke. Cate. I will, my lord, with all convenient haste. Why stay'st thou here, and go'st not to the duke? K.Rich. O,true, good Catesby ;-Bid him levy straight Cate. I go. [Exit. Rat. What, may it please you, shall I do at Salisbury? K. Rich. Why, what would'st thou do there, before I go? Rat. Your highness told me, I should post before. K.Rich. My mind is chang'd. Enter STANLEY. -Stanley, what news with you? Stan. None good, my liege, to please you with the hearing; Nor none so bad, but well may be reported. K.Rich. Heyday, a riddle! neither good nor bad! When thou may'st tell thy tale the nearest way? Stan. Richmond is on the seas. K.Rich. There let him sink, and be the seas on him ! White-liver'd runagate, what doth he there ? Stan. I know not, mighty sovereign, but by guess. Stan. Stirr'd up by Dorset, Buckingham, and Morton, He makes for England, here to claim the crown. K.Rich. Is the chair empty? is the sword unsway'd ? Is the king dead? the empire unpossess'd? What heir of York is there alive, but we ? And who is England's king, but great York's heir? Stan. Unless for that, my liege, I cannot guess. Stan. No, mighty liege; therefore mistrust me not. K. Rich. Where is thy power then, to beat him back? Where be thy tenants, and thy followers? Are they not now upon the western shore, Safe conducting the rebels from their ships? Stan. No, my good lord, my friends are in the north. K.Rich. Cold friends to me: what do they in the north, When they should serve their sovereign in the west? Stan. They have not been commanded, mighty king: Pleaseth your majesty to give me leave, I'll muster up my friends; and meet your grace, Where, and what time, your majesty shall please. K.Rich. Ay, ay, thou would'st be gone to join with Richmond: I will not trust you, sir. Stan. Most mighty sovereign, You have no cause to hold my friendship doubtful ; K. Ric. Well,go, muster men. But hear you leave behind Stan. So deal with him, as I prove true to you. [Exit. Enter a Messenger. Mes. My gracious sovereign, now in Devonshire, Sir Edward Courtney, and the haughty prelate, With many more confederates, are in arms. Enter another Messenger. 2 Mes. In Kent, my liege, the Guilfords are in arms; And every hour more competitors? Flock to the rebels, and their power grows strong. 3 Mes. My lord, the army of great BuckinghamK.Rich. Out on ye, owls! nothing but songs of death? [He strikes him. There, take thou that, till thou bring better news. 3 Mes. The news I have to tell your majesty, Is,-that, by sudden floods and fall of waters, Buckingham's army is dispers'd and scattered ; And he himself wander'd away alone, No man knows whither. K.Rich. O, I cry you mercy : There is my purse, to cure that blow of thine. 3 Mes. Such proclamation hath been made, my liege, Enter another Messenger. 4 Mes. Sir Thomas Lovel, and lord marquis Dorset, 'Tis said, my liege, in Yorkshire are in arms. But this good comfort bring I to your highness,— The Bretagne navy is dispers'd by tempest: Richmond, in Dorsetshire, sent out a boat Unto the shore, to ask those on the banks, If they were his assistants, yea, or no ; Who answer'd him, they came from Buckingham Hois'd sail, and made his course again for Bretagne.8 Yet to beat down these rebels here at home. Enter CATESBY. Cate. My liege, the duke of Buckingham is taken, That is the best news; That the earl of Richmond Is with a mighty power landed at Milford, Is colder news, but yet they must be told. K.Ric. Away towards Salisbury; while we reason here, A royal battle might be won and lost : Some one take order, Buckingham be brought To Salisbury ;-the rest march on with me. [Exeunt. SCENE V. A Room in Lord STANLEY's House. Enter STANLEY, and Sir CHRISTOPHER URSWICK. Stan. Sir Christopher, tell Richmond this from me :— That, in the sty of this most bloody boar, My son George Stanley is frank'd up in hold; The fear of that withholds my present aid. [8] Henry Tudor Earl of Richmond, the eldest son of Edmund of Hadham Earl of Richmond, (who was half-brother to King Henry VI.) by Margaret, the only daughter of John the first duke of Somerset, who was grandson to John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster, was carried by his uncle Jasper Earl of Pembroke immediately after the battle of Tewksbury into Britany, where he was kept in a kind of honourable custody by the Duke of Bretagne, and where he remained till the year 1484, when he made his escape and fled for protection to the French court. Being considered at that time as nearest in blood to King Henry VI. all the Lancastrian party looked up to him even in the life-time of King Edward IV. who was extremely jealous of him; and after Richard usurped the throne, they with more confidence supported Richmond's claim. The claim of Henry Duke of Buckingham was in some respects inferior to that of Richmond; for he was descended by his mother from Edmund the second Duke of Somerset, the younger brother of Duke John; by his father from Thomas Duke of Gloster, the younger brother of John of Gaunt: but whatever priority the Earl of Richmond might claim by his mother, he could not plead any title through his father, who in fact had no Lancastrian blood whatsoever nor was his maternal title of the pur est kind, for John the first Earl of Somerset was an illegitimate son of John of Gaunt. MAL. But, tell me, where is princely Richmond now? Chris. At Pembroke, or at Ha'rford-west, in Wales. Chris. Sir Walter Herbert, a renowned soldier ; Stan. Well,hie thee to thy lord; commend me to him; Tell him, the queen hath heartily consented He shall espouse Elizabeth her daughter. ACT V. "SCENE I.-Salisbury. An open Place. Enter the Sheriff, and Guard, with BUCKINGHAM, led to execution. Buckingham. WILL not king Richard let me speak with him? 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, 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 ; [1] This scene should, in my opinion, be added to the foregoing Act, so the fourth Act will have a more full and striking conclusion and the fifth Act will comprise the business of the important day, which put an end to the competition of York and Lancaster. JOHNS. 33 VOL. V. |