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.
K. Rich. Jocky of Norfolk, be not too bold,
For Dickon thy master is bought and sold.
A thing devised by the enemy.
[Giving a scroll. [Reads.
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 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
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 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 famish'd beggars, weary of their lives;
Who, but for dreaming on this fond exploit,
For want of means, poor rats, had hang3d themselves:
If we be conquer'd, let men conquer us,
And not these bastard Bretagnes; whom our fathers
Have in their own land beaten, bobb'd, and thump'd,
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.
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! §
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 pass'd 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!
Upon them! Victory sits on our helms.
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;
His horse is slain, and all on foot he fights,
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:
A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse!
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 pluck'd 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?
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 frown'd upon their enmity!-
What traitor hears me, and says not,-Amen ?
England hath long been mad, and scarr'd herself;
The brother blindly shed the brother's blood,
The father rashly slaughter'd his own son,
The son, compell'd, 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 reducet 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 stopp'd, peace lives again;
That she may long live here, God say-Amen.
KING HENRY THE EIGHTH.
CARDINAL WOLSEY.
CARDINAL CAMPEIUS.
CAPUCIUS, Ambassador from the
Emperor Charles V.
CRANMER, Archbishop of Canter-
bury.
DUKE OF NORFOLK.
DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM.
DUKE OF SUFFOLK.
EARL OF SURREY.
LORD CHAMBERLAIN.
LORD CHANCELLOR.
GARDINER, Bishop of Winchester.
BISHOP OF LINCOLN.
LORD ABERGAVENNY.
LORD SANDS.
SIR HENRY GUILDFORD.
SIR THOMAS LOVELL.
SIR ANTHONY DENNY.
SIR NICHOLAS VAUX.
SECRETARIES to Wolsey.
CROMWELL, Servant to Wolsey.
GRIFFITH, Gentleman-Usher to
Queen Katharine.
THREE OTHER GENTLEMEN.
DOCTOR BUTTS, Physician to the
King.
GARTER, King at Arms.
SURVEYOR to the Duke of Buck-
ingham.
BRANDON, and a Sergeant at Arms.
DOOR-KEEPER of the Council-
Chamber.
PORTER, and his Man.
PAGE to Gardiner.
A CRIER.
QUEEN KATHARINE, Wife to
King Henry; afterwards divorced.
ANNE BULLEN, her Maid of Ho-
nour; afterwards Queen.
AN OLD LADY, Friend to Anne
Bullen.
PATIENCE, Woman to Queen Ka-
tharine.
Several LORDS and LADIES in the Dumb Shows; WOMEN attending upon the Queen; SPIRITS which appear to her; SCRIBES, OFFICERS, GUARDS, and other AT
SCENE, chiefly in London and Westminster; once at Kimbolton.
I COME no more to make you laugh; things now,
That bear a weighty and a serious brow,
Sad, high, and working, full of state and woe,
Such noble scenes as draw the eye to flow,
We now present. Those that can pity, here
May, if they think it well, let fall a tear;
The subject will deserve it. Such, as give
Their money out of hope they may believe,
May here find truth too. Those, that come to see
Only a show or two, and so agree,
The play may pass; if they be still, and willing,
I'll undertake, may see away their shilling
Richly in two short hours. Only they,
That come to hear a merry, bawdy play,
A noise of targets; or to see a fellow
In a long motley coat, guarded* with yellow,
Will be deceived; for, gentle hearers, know,
To rank our chosen truth with such a show
As foot and fight is, beside forfeiting
Our own brains, and the opinion that we bring,
(To make that only true we now intend,†)
Will leave us never an understanding friend.
Therefore, for goodness' sake, and as you are known
The first and happiest hearers of the town,
Be sad, as we would make ye: Think, ye see
The very persons of our noble story,
As they were living; think, you see them great,
And follow'd with the general throng, and sweat,
Of thousand friends; then, in a moment, see
How soon this mightiness meets misery!
And, if you can be merry then, I'll say,
A man may weep upon his wedding day.
SCENE I-London. An Ante-chamber in Palace.
Enter the Duke of NORFOLK, at one door; at the other, the Duke of BUCKINGHAM, and the LORD ABERGAVENNY.
Buck. Good morrow, and well met. How have you done, Since last we saw in France ?
Nor. I thank your grace:
Healthful; and ever since a fresh admirer
Of what I saw there,
Buck. An untimely ague
Stay'd me a prisoner in my chamber, when
Those suns of glory, those two lights of men,‡
Met in the vale of Arde.
Nor. "Twixt Guynes and Arde: §
I was then present, saw them salute on horseback;
Beheld them, when they lighted, how they clung
In their embracement, as they grew together;
Henry VIII. and Francis I.
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