The Dramatic Works and Poems of William Shakespeare

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. 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;
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 againt 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,
Advance your standards, draw your willing
swords;

For me, 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 cheer-
fully:

God, and Saint George! Richmond, and victory! [Exeunt. 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? [purpose. better for our and so, indeed, [Clock strikes.

Rat. He smil'd and said, the K. Rich. He was i' the right; it is.

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
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 runaways,
A scum of Bretagnes, and base lackey peasants,
Whom their o'ercloyed 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?
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 overweening 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 hang'd them-
If we be conquer'd, let men conquer us, [selves
And not these bastard Bretagnes; whom our
fathers
[thump'd,

Have in their own land beaten, bobb'd and
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.
[Drum afar off.

Tell the clock there.-Give me the calendar.-Fight, gentlemen of England! fight, bold yeo. Who saw the sun to-day?

Bat.

Not I, my lord.

K. Rich. Then he disdains to shine; for, by the book,

Ile should have brav'd the east an hour ago: A black day will it be to somebody.Kateliff,

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 toRichmond? 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. [my horseK. Rich. Come, bustle, bustle;-Caparison 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, Cons sting equally of horse and foot;

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. [power? What says Lord Stanley? will he bring his Mess. My lord, he doth deny to come. [head. K. Rich. Off instantly with his son George's 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.

[Exeunt.

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!
[horse.
Cate. Withdraw, my lord, I'll help you to a
K. Bich. 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!
[Exeunt.
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 prais'd, vic-
torious 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. [all!
Richm. Great God of heaven, say, amen to
But,tell me first, is young George Stanley living?
Stan. He is, my lord, and safe in Leicester
town;

Stan. John Duke of Norfolk, Walter Lord
Ferrers,

Sir Robert Brakenbury, and Sir William Bran-
don.
[births.
Richm. Inter their bodies as becomes their
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-fac'd
peace,

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!

Let them live to taste this land's increase,
That would with treason wound this fair land's
[us, peace!

Whither, if it please you, we may now withdraw Now civil wounds are stopp'd, peace lives again; Richm. What men of name are slain on either That she may long live here, God say-Amen. side ?

[Exeunt

King Benry the Eighth.

KING HENRY THE EIGHTH.

Persons Represented.

CARDINAL WOLSEY. CARDINAL CAMPEIUS.
CAPUCIUS, Ambassador from the Emp. Charles V.
CRANMER, Archbishop of Canterbury.
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.

SIE HENRY GUILDFORD. SIR THOMAS LOVELL.
SIR ANTHONY DENNY. SIR NICHOLAS VAUX.
Secretaries to Wolsey.

CROMWELL, Servant to Wolsey.

GRIFFITH, Gentleman Usher to Queen Katherine.
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, after-
wards divorced.

ANNE BULLEN, her Maid of Honour; afterwards
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 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 Le deceived: for, gentle hearers, know,

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;
Which had they, what four thron'd ones could
Such a compounded one? [have weigh'd
Buck.
All the whole time

I was my chamber's prisoner.

Nor.
Then you lost
The view of earthly glory: Men might say,
Till this time, pomp was single: but now mar-
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
[challeng'd
(For as they phrase them) by their heralds
The noble spirits to arms, they did perform
Beyond thought's compass; that former fabu-

suns

lous story,

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

Buck.

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

Nor. Surely, sir, 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 For high feats done to the crown; neither allied To eminent assistants, but, spider-like, 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
Pierce into that; but I can see his pride [eye
Peep through each part of him: Whence has he
If not from hell, the devil is a niggard; [that?
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
Of all the gentry; for the most part such, [file
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 By this so sicken'd their estates, that never They shall abound as formerly. O, many Have broke their backs with laying manors on them

Buck.

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 affect, 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 I advise your shunning. [that rock,
Enter CARDINAL WOLSEY, (the purse borne before
him), certain of the Guard, and two Secretaries
with papers. The CARDINAL in his passage fixeth
his eye on BUCKINGHAM, and BUCKINGHAM on
him, both full of disdain.

Wol. The duke of Buckingham's surveyor? Where's his examination? ha? 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 Shall lessen his big look. [Buckingham [Exeunt WOLSEY and Train. Buck. This butcher's cur is venom-mouth'd, and I [best Have not the power to muzzle him; therefore, Not wake him in his slumber. A beggar's book Out-worths a noble's blood.

Buck. To the king I'll say't; and make my
vouch as strong

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 ponip 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
Did break i' the rinsing.
[glass
Nor.
'Faith, and so it did.
Buck. Pray, give me favour, sir. This cun-
ning 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

cardinal

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,
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 menaced 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,

Nor. What, are you chaf'd? Ere it was ask'd:-but when the way was made, Ask God for temperance; that's the appliance And pav'd with gold, the emperor thus desir'd;Which your disease requires. [only, That he would please to alter the king's course, Buck. I read in his looks And break the foresaid peace. Let the king know Matter against me: and his eye revil'd (As soon he shall by me), that thus the cardinal Me, as his abject object: at this instant Does buy and sell his honour as he pleases, He bores me with some trick: He's gone to And for his own advantage. I'll follow, and outstare him. [the king; Nor. Nor. Stay, my lord, And let your reason with your choler question What'tis you go about: To climb steep hills, Requires slow pace at first: Anger is like A full hot horse; who, being allow'd his way,

To hear this of him; and
Something mistaken in 't.

Buck.

I am sorry could wish, he were

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

Self-mettle tires him. Not a man in England Enter BRANDON; a Sergeant at Arms before him,

Can advise me like you: be to yourself
As you would to your friend.
Buck.
I'll to the king;
And from a mouth of honour quite cry down
This Ipswich fellow's insolence; or proclaim,
There's difference in no persons.

Nor.

Be advis'd;
Heat not a furnace for your foe so hot
That it do singe yourself: We may outrun,
By violent swiftness, that which we run at,
And lose by overrunning. Know you not,
The fire, that mounts the liquor till it run o'er,
In seeming to augment it, wastes it? Be advis'd:
I say again, there is no English soul
More stronger to direct you than yourself;
If with the sap of reason you would quench,
Or but allay, the fire of passion.

and two or three of the Guard.

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

Sir.
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.
Lo, you, my lord,
The net has fall'n upon me; I shall perish
Under device and practice.

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

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

The will of heaven be done, and the king's | And lack of other means, in desperate manner
By me obey'd.
[pleasure Daring the event to the teeth, are all in uproar,
Bran.
And Danger serves among them.
K. Hen.

Here is a warrant from

The king, to attach Lord Montacute, and the bodies

Of the duke's confessor, John de la Car,
One Gilbert Peck his chancellor,—

Buck.

So, so; These are the limbs of the plot: no more, I hope. Bran. A monk o' the Chartreux.

Buck. Bran.

O, Nicholas Hopkins? He. Buck. My surveyor is false, the o'ergreat cardinal

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

I am the shadow of poor Buckingham;
Whose figure even this instant cloud put on,
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 LOVELL, Officers, and Attendants. The King enters, leaning on the Cardinal's shoulder.

K. Hen, My life itself, and the best heart of it, Thanks you for this great care: I stood i'the level Of a full charg'd confederacy, and give thanks To you that chok'd it.-Let be call'd before us That gentleman of Buckingham's: in person I'll hear him his confessions justify; And point by point the treasons of his master He shall again relate.

Wol.

Taxation!
Wherein? and what taxation?-My lord Car-
You that are blam'd for it alike with us, [dinal,
Know you of this taxation?
Please you, sir,
I know but of a single part, in aught
Pertains to the state; and front but in that file
Where others tell steps with me.
Q. Kath.
No, my lord,
You know no more than others: but you frame
Things, that are known alike; which are not
wholesome
[must

To those which would not know them, and yet
Perforce be their acquaintance. These exactions,
Whereof my sovereign would have note, they are
Most pestilent to the hearing; and, to bear them,
The back is sacrifice to the load. They say,
They are devis'd by you; or else you suffer
Too hard an exclamation.
Still exaction!
The nature of it? In what kind, let's know
Is this exaction?

K. Hen.

Q. Kath.
I am much too venturous
In tempting of your patience; but am bolden'd
Under your promis'd pardon. The subject's grier
Comes through commissions, which compel from
each

The sixth part of his substance, to be levied
Without delay: and the pretence for this
Is nam'd, your wars in France: This makes
bold mouths:
[freeze
Tongues spit their duties out, and cold hearts
Allegiance in them; their curses now [pass,
Live where their prayers did; and it's come to

That tractable obedience is a slave

The King takes his state. The Lords of the Council take their several places. The Cardinal places himself under the King's feet, on his right side. A noise within, crying, Room for the Queen. En-To each incensed will. I would, your highness ter the Queen, ushered by the DUKES OF NOR- Would give it quick consideration, for FOLK and SUFFOLK: she kneels. The King riseth There is no primer business. from his state, takes her up, kisses, and placeth her by him.

Q. Kath. I am solicited, not by a few, And those of true condition, that your subjects Are in great grievance: there have been commissions [heart Sent down among them, which have flaw'd the Of all their loyalties:-wherein, although, My good lord cardinal, they vent reproaches Most bitterly on you, as putter on

Of these exactions, yet the king our master
(Whose honour heaven shield from soil!) even
he escapes not

Language unmannerly, yea, such which breaks
The sides of loyalty, and almost appears
In loud rebellion.

Nor.
Not almost appears,
It doth appear; for, upon these taxations,
The clothiers all, not able to maintain
The many to them 'longing, have put off
The spinsters, carders, fullers, weavers, who
Unfit for other life, compell'd by hunger

K. Hen.

This is against our pleasure. Wol.

By my life,

And for me,
I have no farther gone in this, than by
A single voice; and that not pass'd me, but
By learned approbation of the judges. If I am
Traduc'd by ignorant tongues, which neither
My faculties, nor person, yet will be [know
The chronicles of my doing,-let me say,
'Tis but the fate of place, and the rough brake
That virtue must go through. We must not stint
Our necessary actions, in the fear

To cope malicious censurers; which ever,
As ravenous fishes, do a vessel follow
That is new trimm'd; but benefit no further
Than vainly longing. What we oft do best,
By sick interpreters, once weak ones, is
Not ours, or not allow'd; what worst, as oft,
Hitting a grosser quality, is cried up
For our best act. If we shall stand still,
In fear, our motion will be mock'd or carp'd at.
We should take root here where we sit, or sit
State statues only.

K. Hen.
Things done well,
And with a care, exempt themselves from fear:
Things done without example, in their issue
Are to be fear'd. Have you a precedent
Of this commission? I believe, not any.
We must not rend our subjects from our laws,
And stick them in our will. Sixth part of each?
A trembling contribution! Why, we take,
From every tree, lop, bark, and part of the

timber;

And, though we leave it with a root, thus hack'd,

« Previous Continue »

Books