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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 !—
Quiet, untroubled soul, awake, awake!

[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!
Thy nephews' souls bid thee despair, and die.-
Sleep, Richmond, sleep in peace, and wake in joy ;
Good angels guard thee from the boar's annoy !
Live, and beget a happy race of kings !
Edward's unhappy sons do bid thee flourish.

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:
O, in the battle think on Buckingham,
And die in terror of thy guiltiness!

[To K. RICH.

Dream on, dream on, of bloody deeds and death;
Fainting, despair; despairing, yield thy breath !-
I died for hope, ere I could lend thee aid: [7% RICHM
But cheer thy heart, and be thou not dismay'd:

God, and good angels fight on Richmond's side;
And Richard falls in height of all his pride.

[The Ghosts vanish. K. RICHARD starts out of his dream.. K.Rich. Give me another horse,'-bind up my wounds,

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Have mercy, Jesu !-Soft; I did but dream.—
O coward conscience, how dost thou afflict me!
The lights burn blue.-It is now dead midnight.
Cold fearful drops stand on my trembling flesh
What do I fear? myself? there's none else by :
Richard loves Richard; that is, I am I.

Is there a murderer here? No ;-Yes; I am :
Then fly,-What, from myself? Great reason: Why?
Lest I revenge. What? Myself on myself?

I love myself. Wherefore? for any good,
That I myself have done unto myself?
O, no; alas, I rather hate myself,

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.
My conscience hath a thousand several tongues,
And every tongue brings in a several tale.
And every tale condemns me for a villain.
Perjury, perjury, in the high'st degree,
Murder, stern murder, in the dir'st degree ;
All several sins, all us'd in each degree,
Throng to the bar, crying all,-Guilty! guilty!
I shall despair. There is no creature loves me ;
And, if I die, no soul will pity me :-

Nay, wherefore should they? since that I myself
Find in myself no pity to myself.

Methought, the souls of all that I had murder'd
Came to my tent and every one did threat
To-morrow's vengeance on the head of Richard.
Enter RATCLIFF.

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.
K.Rich. By the apostle Paul, shadows to-night
Have struck more terror to the soul of Richard,
Than can the substance of ten thousand soldiers,'
Armed in proof, and led by shallow Richmond.
It is not yet near day. Come, go with me ;
Under our tents I'll play the eaves-dropper,
To hear, if any mean to shrink from me.

[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
Came to my tent, and cry'd-On! victory!

I promise you, my heart is very jocund
In the remembrance of so fair a dream.
How far into the morning is it, lords?
Lords. Upon the stroke of four.

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
Forbids to dwell on : Yet remember this,-
God, and our good cause, fight upon our side;
The prayers of holy saints, and wronged souls,
Like high-rear'd bulwarks, stand before our faces;
Richard except, those, whom we fight against,
Had rather have us win, than him they follow.
For what is he they follow? truly, gentlemen,
A bloody tyrant, and a homicide;

One rais'd in blood, and one in blood establish'd ;

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One that made means to come by what he hath, 3
And slaughter'd those that were the means to help him;
A base foul stone, made precious by the foil

Of England's chair, where he is falsely set ;4
One that hath ever been God's enemy:
Then, if you fight against God's enemy,
God will, in justice, ward you as his soldiers;
If you do sweat to put a tyrant down,
You sleep in peace, the tyrant being slain;
If you do fight against your country's foes,
Your country's fat shall pay your pains the hire;
If you do fight in safeguard of your wives,
Your wives shall welcome home the conquerors;
If you do free your children from the sword,
Your childrens' children quit it in your age.
Then, in the name of God, and all these rights,
Advance your standards, draw your willing swords :
For me, the ransom of my bold attempt

Shall be this cold corpse on the earth's cold face ;
But if I thrive, the gain of my attempt

The least of you shall share his part thereof.
Sound, drums and trumpets, boldly and cheerfully ;
God, and saint George! Richmond, and victory! [Exe.

Re-enter King RICHARD, RATCLIFF, Attendants and Forces.
K.Rich. What said Northumberland, as touching
Richmond?

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.
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 !5-What think'st thou,
Norfolk?

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:
Let not our babbling dreams affright our souls ;6
Conscience is but a word that cowards use,
Devis'd 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 inferr'd?
Remember whom you are to cope withal ;
A sort of vagabonds, rascals, and run-aways,
A scum of Bretagnes, and base lackey peasants,
Whom their o'er-cloyed country vomits forth

[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.

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