Doth comfort thee in thy sleep; Live, and flou- Cold fearful drops stand on my trembling flesh. rish!

What do I fear? myself? there's none else by:
Richard loves Richard: that is, I am I.

The Ghost of Clarence rises.
Ghost. Let me sit heavy on thy soul to-morrow!
[To King Richard.
I, that was wash'd to death with fulsome wine,Lest I revenge. What? Myself on myself?
Poor Clarence, by thy guile betray'd to death!" I love myself. Wherefore ? for any good,
To-morrow in the battle think on me,
That I myself have done unto myself?
And fall thy edgeless sword; Despair, and die !-O, no: alas, I rather hate myself,
Thou offspring of the house of Lancaster,
[To Richmond.
The wronged heirs of York do pray for thee;
Good angels guard thy battle! Live, and flourish!
The Ghosts of Rivers, Grey, and Vaughan, rise.
Riv. Let me sit heavy on thy soul to-morrow,
To King Richard.
Rivers, that died at Pomfret! Despair, and die!
Grey. Think upon Grey, and let thy soul de-
spair!
[To King Richard.
Vaugh. Think upon Vaughan; and, with guilty
fear,

Is there a murderer here? No;-Yes; I am :
Then fly,-What, from myself! Great reason:
Why ?

Let fall thy lance! Despair, and die!

[To King Richard.
All. Awake! and think, our wrongs in Rich-
ard's bosom
To Richmond.
Will conquer him ;-awake, and win the day!

The Ghost of Hastings rises.
Ghost. Bloody and guilty, guiltily awake;
To King Richard.

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!
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,-
K. Rich. Who's there?

Rat. Ratcliff, my lord; 'tis I. The early vil.
lage cock

And in a bloody battle end thy days!
Think on Lord Hastings; and despair, and die!-Hath twice done salutation to the morn:
Quiet untroubled soul, awake, awake! Your friends are up, and buckle on their armour.
To Richmond. K. Rich. O, Ratcliff, I have dream'd a fearful
Arm, fight, and conquer, for fair England's sake! dream!

The Ghosts of 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 Richmond.
Dream of success and happy victory;
Thy adversary's wife doth pray for thee.

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.
[Exeunt King Richard und Ratcliff.
Enter Oxford and others.
Lords. Good morrow, Richmond.
Richm. 'Cry mercy, lords, and watchful gen-
tlemen,

Richmond wakes.

!-That you have ta'en a tardy sluggard here.
Lords. How have you slept, my lord?
Richm. The sweetest sleep, and fairest-boding
dreams,

The Ghost of Buckingham rises.
Ghost. The first was 1, that help'd thee to the
crown;
[To King Richard.
The last was I that felt thy tyranny:
O, in the battle think on Buckingham,
And die in terror of thy guiltiness!
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;
[To Richmond.
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. King Richard
starts out of his dream.
K. Rich. Give me another horse,-bind up my
wounds,-

Have mercy, Jesu !-Soft; I did but dream.

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 cried-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
direction. [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. O coward conscience, how dost thou afflict me!-For what is he they follow 7 truly, gentlemen, The lights burn blue.-It is now dead midnight. A bloody tyrant, and a homicide;

One rais'd in blood, and one in blood establish'd; A thing devised by the enemy.-
One that made means to come by what he hath,
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;
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 children's children quit it in your age.
Then, in the name of God, and all these rights,
Advince your standards, draw your willing

swords:

For ne, the ransome 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
fully;

Go, gentlemen, every man unto his charge:
Let not our babbling dreams affright our souls;
Conscience is but a word that cowards use,
Devis'd at first to keep the strong in awe;
Our strong arins 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 runaways,
A scum of Bretagnes, and base lackey peasants,
Whom their o'er-cloyed country vomits forth
To desperate ventures and assur'd destruction.
You sleeping safe, they bring you to unrest;
You having lands and bless'd 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 7
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; cheer-Lash hence these over-weening rags of France, These famish'd beggars, weary of their lives; God, and Saint George! Richmond, and victory! Who, but for dreaming on this fond exploit, For want of means, poor rats, had hang'd them selves : If we be conquer'd, let men conquer us, And not these bastard Bretagnes; whom our fathers

[Exeunt. Re-enter King Richard, Ratcliff, Attendants and

Forces.

K. Rich. What said Northumberland, as touch-
ing Richmond 7

Rat. That he was never trained up in arms.
K. Rich. He said the truth: And what said
Surrey then?

Have in their own land beaten, bobb'd, and thump'd,

And, on record, left them the heirs of shame. Shall these enjoy our lanas 7 lie with our wives? Rat. He smil'd, and said, the better for our pur-Ravish our daughters ?-Hark, I hear their drum. pose.

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 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;
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 hea-

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 scrawl. K. Rich. Jocky of Norfolk, be not too bold, For Dickon thy master is bought and sold. [reads.

[Drum afar off. Fight, gentlemen of England I fight, bold yeo

men!

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.

After the battle let George Stanley die.
Nor. My lord, the enemy is pass'd the Marsh;

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;

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!

[Exeuna

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,

Alarum. 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 prais'd, victo-That long hath frown'd upon their enmity: rious friends;

The day is ours, the bloody dog is dead.

What traitor hears me, and says not,-Amen?
England hath long been mad, and scarr'd herself;

Stan. Courageous Richmond, well hast thou The brother blindly shed the brother's blood, 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!

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'd-fac'd
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!

peace,

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.
[Exeunt

KING HENRY THE EIGHTH..

PERSONS REPRESENTED.

KING HENRY THE EIGHTH.
CARDINAL WOLSEY.

CARDINAL CAMPEIUS.

CAPUCIUS, Ambassador from the Emperor
Charles V.

CRANMER, Archbishop of Canterbury.
DUKE OF NORFOLK.

DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM.

DUKE OF SUFFOLK.

LORD CHAMBERLAIN.

EARL OF SURREY.

LORD CHANCELLOR.

GARDINER, Bishop of Winchester.

BISHOP OF LINCOLN.

LORD ABERGAVENNY. LORD SANDS.

SIR HENRY GUILFORD.

SIR THOMAS LOVELL.

SIR ANTHONY DENNY.

SIR NICHOLAS VAUX.

Secretaries to Wolsey.

CROMWELL, Servant to Wolsey.

IGRIFFITH, Gentleman Usher to Queen Kath.

arine.

Three other Gentlemen.

DOCTOR BUTTS, Physician to the King.
Garter, King at Arms.

Surveyor to the Duke of Buckingham.

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 Honour; af terwards Queen.

An old Lady, Friend to Anne Bullen. PATIENCE, Woman to Queen Katharine. Several Lords and Ladies in the Dumb Shows Women attending upon the Queen; Spirits, which appear to her; Scribes, Officers, Guards, and other Attendants.

SCENE-chiefly in London and Westminster: once, at Kimbolton.

PROLOGUE.

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 wo,
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 ont 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
lu a long motley coat, guarded with yellow,

Will be deceived: for, gentle hearers, know,
To rank our chosen truth with such a show
As fool 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 ar
known

The first and happiest hearers of the town,
Be sad, as we would make you: 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

An unumely 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;
Which had they, what four thron'd ones could
have weigh'd

Such a compounded one?

Buck.

I was my chamber's prisoner.
Nor.

All the whole time

Then you lost

There's in him stuff that puts him to these ends;
For, being not propp'd by ancestry, (whose grace
Chalks successors their way,) nor call'd upon
To eminent assistants, but, spider-like,
For high feats done to the crown; neither allied
Out of his self-drawing web, he gives us note
The force of his own merit makes his way;
A gift that heaven gives for him, which buys,
A place next to the king.
Aber.
I cannot tell
What heaven hath given him, let some graver eye
Pierce into that; but I can see his pride
Peep through each part of him: Whence has he
that 7

If not from hell, the devil is a niggard;
Or has given all before, and he begins
A new hell in himself.
Buck.

Why the devil,

Upon this French going-out, took he upon him,
Without the privity o' the king, to appoint
Who should attend on him? He makes up the file
Of all the gentry; for the most part such
Too, whom as great a charge as little honour
He meant to lay upon; and his own letter,
The honourable board of council out,
Must fetch him in the papers.
Aber.

I do know
Kinsmen of mine, three at the least, that have
The view of earthly glory: Men might say, By this so sicken'd their estates, that never
Till this time, pomp was single: but now mar-They shall abound as formerly.
ried

To one above itself. Each following day
Became the next day's master, till the last
Made former wonders it's: To-day, the French,
All clinquant, all in gold, like heathen gods,
Shone down the English: and, to-morrow, they
Made Britain, India: every man, that stood,
Show'd like a mine. Their dwarfish pages were
As cherubims, all gilt: the madams too,
Not us'd to toil, did almost sweat to bear
The pride upon them, that their very labour
Was to them as a painting: now this mask
Was cry'd incomparable; and the ensuing night
Made it a fool and beggar. These two kings,
Equal in lustre, were now best, now worst,
As presence did present them; him in eye,
Still him in praise: and, being present both,
"Twas said, they saw but one; and no discerner
Durst wag his tongue in censure. When these

suns

Buck.

O, many
Have broke their backs with laying manners on
them

For this great journey. What did this vanity,
But minister communication of
A most poor issue

Nor.

Grievingly I think,
The peace between the French and us not values
The cost that did conclude it.
Buck.
Every man,
After the hideous storm that follow'd, was
A thing inspir'd: and, not consulting, broke
Into a general prophecy,-That this tempest,
Dashing the garment of this peace, aboded
The sudden breach on't.

Nor.

Which is budded out;
For France hath flaw'd the league, and hath
attach'd
Our merchants' goods at Bourdeaux.
Aber.

(For so they phrase them) by their heralds chal-The ambassador is silenc'd?
leng'd

The noble spirits to arms, they did perform
Beyond thought's compass; that former fabu-

lous story,

Being now seen possible enough, got credit,
That Bevis was believ'd.

Nor. As I belong to worship, and affect In honour honesty, the tract of every thing Would by a good discourser lose some life, Which action's self was tongue to.

All was

royal;
To the disposing of it nought rebell'd,
Order gave each thing view; the office did
Distinctly his full function.
Buck.

Who did guide,
I mean, who set the body and the limbs
Of this great sport together, as you guess?
Nor. One, certes, that promises, no element
In such a business.
Buck.
I pray you, who, my lord?
Nor. All this was order'd by the good discretion
Of the right reverend cardinal of York.

Buck. The devil speed him! no man's pie is,
free'd

From his ambitious finger. What had he
To do in these fierce vanities? I wonder,
That such a keech can with his very bulk,
Take up the rays o' the beneficial sun,
And keep it from the earth.

NOT.

Surely, sir,

Our reverend cardinal carried.
Nor.
Like it your grace,
The state takes notice of the private difference
Betwixt you and the cardinal. I advise you
(And take it from a heart that wishes towards
you

Honour and plenteous safety,) that you read
The cardinal's malice and his potency
Together: to consider further, that

What his high hatred would effect, wants not
A minister in his power: You know his nature,
That he's revengeful; and I know, his sword
Hath a sharp edge: it's long, and, it may be
said,

It reaches far; and where 'twill not extend,
Thither he darts it. Bosom up my counsel,
You'll find it wholesome. Lo, where comes that
rock,

That I advise your shunning.

Enter Cardinal Wolsey, (the purse borne before
him,) certain of the Guard, and two Secreta.
ries with papers. The Cardinal in his pass-
age fixeth his eye on Buckingham, and Buck-
ingham on him, both full of disdain.
Wol. The duke of Buckingham's surveyor ? ha?
Where's his examination?

1 Secr.

Here, so please you.
Wol. Is he in person ready?
1 Secr.
Ay, please your grace.
Wol. Well, we shall then know more; and
Buckingham

Shall lessen his big look.

[Exeunt Wolsey and Train. Buck. This butcher's cur is venom-mouth'd, and I

Have not the power to muzzle him; therefore, best

Not wake him in his slumber. A beggar's

book

Out-worths a noble's blood.
Nor.

What, are you chaf'd ? Ask God for temperance; that's the appliance only,

Which your disease requires.
Buck.

Under pretence to see the queen his aunt,
(For 'twas, indeed, his colour; but he came
To whisper Wolsey,) here makes visitation:
His fears were, that the interview, betwixt
England and France, might through their amity,
Breed him some prejudice; for from this league
Peep'd harms that menac'd him: He privily
Deals with our cardinal; and, as I trow,
Which I do well; for, I am sure, the emperor
Paid ere he promis'd; whereby his suit was
granted,

Ere it was ask'd ;-but when the way was
made,

And pav'd with gold, the emperor thus desir'd ;-
That he would please to alter the king's course,
And break the foresaid peace. Let the king
know,

(As soon he shall by me,) that thus the cardinal
I read in his looks Does buy and sell his honour as he pleases,
And for his own advantage.

Matter against me: and his eye revil'd
Me, as his abject object: at this instant

Nor.

I am sorry

He bores me with some trick: He's gone to the To hear this of him; and could wisn, he were king;

As shore of rock. Attend. This holy fox,
Or wolf, or both, (for he is equal ravenous,
As he is subtle; and as prone to mischief,
As able to perform it: his mind and place
Infecting one another, yea reciprocally,)
Only to show his pomp as well in France
As here at home, suggests the king our master
To this last costly treaty, the interview,

That swallow'd so much treasure, and like a
glass

Did break i'the rinsing.
NOT.

'Faith, and so it did. Buck. Pray, give me favour, sir. This cunning cardinal

The articles o'the combination drew,
As himself pleas'd; and they were ratified,
As he cried, Thus let be: to as much end,

As give a crutch to the dead: But our count car.
dinal

Has done this, and 'tis well: for worthy Wolsey,
Who cannot err, he did it. Now this follows
(Which, as I take it, is a kind of puppy
To the old dam treason,)-Charles the emperor,

Something mistaken in't.
Buck.

No, not a syllable;
I do pronounce him in that very shape,
He shall appear in proof.

Enter Brandon; a Sergeant at Arms before him,
and two or three of the Guard.

Bran. Your office, sergeant; execute it.
Serg.

My lord the duke of Buckingham, and earl
Of Hereford, Stafford, and Northampton, I
Arrest thee of high treason, in the name
Of our most sovereign king.
Buck.

The net has fall'n upon me;
Under device and practice.
Bran.

I

Sir,

Lo, you, my lord, shall perish

I am sorry

To see you ta'en from liberty, to look on
The business present. "Tis his highness' pleasure,
You shall to the Tower.
Buck.
It will help me nothing,
To plead mine innocence; for that dye is on me,
Which makes my whitest part black. The wiil
of heaven

Be done in this and all things!-1 obey.-
O my lord Aberga'ny, fare you well.
Bran. Nay, he must bear you company :-
[To Abergavenny.
Is pleas'd, you shall to the Tower, till you know
How he determines further.

The king

Aber.
As the duke said,
The will of heaven be done, and the king's
pleasure

By me obey'd.
Bran.

Here is a warrant from

These are the limbs of the plot: no more, I
hope.

Bran. A monk o' the Chartreux.
O, Nicholas Hopkins?

Buck.

Bran.

He. Buck. My surveyor is false, the o'ergreat car dinal

Hath show'd him gold: my life is spann'd
already :

I am the shadow of poor Buckingham ;
Whose figure even this instant cloud puts out,
By dark'ning my clear sun. My lord, farewell.
[Exeunt

SCENE II. The Council Chamber.
Cornets. Enter King Henry, Cardinal Wolsey,
the Lords of the Council, Sir Thomas Lovel,
Officers, and Attendants. The King enters
leaning on the Cardinal's shoulder.
K. Hen. My life itself, and the best heart of it,