Rivers, that died at Pomfret! Despair, and die! Grey. Think upon Grey, and let thy soul despair! [To K. RICH. Vaugh. Think upon Vaughan; and, with guilty fear, Let fall thy lance! Despair, and die !- [To K. RICH. All. Awake! and think, our wrongs in Richard's [To RICHM. bosom Will conquer him ;-awake, and win the day! The Ghost of HASTINGS rises. Ghost. Bloody and guilty,guiltily awake; [To K.RICH.. And in a bloody battle end thy days! Think on lord Hastings; and despair, and die !— [To RICHM. Arm, fight, and conquer, for fair England's sake! The Ghosts o the two young Princes rise. Ghosts. Dream on thy cousins smother'd in the Tower; Let us be lead within thy bosom, Richard, And weigh thee down to ruin, shame, and death! The Ghost of Queen ANNE rises. Ghost.Richard, thy wife, that wretched Anne thy wife, That never slept a quiet hour with thee, Now fills thy sleep with perturbations: To-morrow in the battle think on me, And fall thy edgeless sword; Despair, and die !Thou, quiet soul, sleep thou a quiet sleep; [To RICHM. Dream of success and happy victory; Thy adversary's wife doth pray for thee. The Ghost of BUCKINGHAM rises. Ghost. The first was I, that help'd thee to the crown ; The last was I that felt thy tyranny: [To K. RICH. Dream on, dream on, of bloody deeds and death; God, and good angels fight on Richmond's side; [The Ghosts vanish. K. RICHARD starts out of his dream.. K.Rich. Give me another horse,'-bind up my wounds, Have mercy, Jesu !-Soft; I did but dream.— Is there a murderer here? No ;-Yes; I am : I love myself. Wherefore? for any good, For hateful deeds committed by myself. I am a villain: Yet I lie, I am not.. Fool, of thyself speak well :-Fool, do not flatter. Nay, wherefore should they? since that I myself Methought, the souls of all that I had murder'd Rat. My lord, [1] There is in this, as in many of our author's speeches of passion, something very trifling, and something very striking. Richard's debate, whether he should quarrel with himself is too long continued, but the subsequent exaggeration of his crimes is truly tragical, JOHNS. [2] These lines stand with so little propriery at the end of this speech, that I cannot but suspect them misplaced. Where then shall they be inserted? Perhaps after these words, Fool, do not flatter." JOHNS.-Either the two and twenty immediate lines are not Shakspeare's, or are so anworthy of him, that it were to be wished they could with propriety be degraded to the margin. I wonder that Dr. Johnson, who thought the subsequent lines misplaced, did not perceive that their connection with the preceding part of the speech, ending at-trembling flesh, was interrupted solely by this apparent interpolation, which is in the highest degree childish and unnatural. RITSON. K.Rich. Who's there? Rat. Ratcliff, my lord, 'tis I. The early village cock Hath twice done salutation to the morn; Your friends are up, and buckle on their armour. K. Rich. O, Ratcliff, I have dream'd a fearful dream!--What thinkest thou? will our friends prove all true? Rat. No doubt, my lord. K.Rich. Ratcliff, I fear, I fear, Rat. Nay, good my lord, be not afraid of shadows. [Exe. King RICH. and RATC. RICHMOND wakes. Enter OXFORD and others. Lords. Good morrow, Richmond. Richm. 'Cry mercy, lords, and watchful gentlemen, That you have ta'en a tardy sluggard here. Lords. How have you slept, my lord? Richm. The sweetest sleep,and fairest-boding dreams, That ever enter'd in a drowsy head, Have I since your departure had, my lords. Methought, their souls, whose bodies Richard murder'd I promise you, my heart is very jocund Richm. Why, then 'tis time to arm, and give direc tion. [He advances to the Troops. -More than I have said, loving countrymen, 'The leisure and enforcement of the time One rais'd in blood, and one in blood establish'd ; One that made means to come by what he hath, 3 Of England's chair, where he is falsely set ;4 Shall be this cold corpse on the earth's cold face ; The least of you shall share his part thereof. Re-enter King RICHARD, RATCLIFF, Attendants and Forces. Rat. That he was never trained up in arms. K.Rich.He said the truth: and what said Surrey then? Rat. He smil'd and said, the better for our purpose. K.Rich. He was i'the right; and so, indeed, it is. [Clock strikes. Tell the clock there.-Give me a kalendar.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 brav'd 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; [3] To make means was, in Shakspeare's time, often used in an unfavourable sense, and signified-to come at any thing by indirect practices. STE. [4] Nothing has been, or is still more common, than to put a bright.coloured foil under a low.prized stone. The same allusion is common to marly writers. STEEV. The sky doth frown and lour upon our army. I would, these dewy tears were from the ground. 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, Our archers shall be placed in the midst : In the main battle; whose puissance on either side This, and Saint George to boot !5-What think'st thou, Nor. A good direction, warlike sovereign. This found I on my tent this morning. [Giving a Scrowl. 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: [5] That is, this is the order of our battle, which promises success; and over and above this, is the protection of our patron saint. JOHNS. [6] I suspect these six lines to be an interpolation; but if Shakspear e was really guilty of them in his first draught, be probably intended to leave them -out when he substituted the much more proper harangue that follows. TYRWHITT, [7] A sort, that is, a company, a collection. JOHNS. |