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 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.

tion.

Richm. Why, then 'tis time to arm, and give direc-
[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;

5 One that made means-] To make means was, in Shakspeare's time, often used in an unfavourable sense, and signified-to come at any thing by indirect practices. Steevens.

6 by the foil

Of England's chair,] It is plain that foil cannot here mean that of which the obscurity recommends the brightness of the diamond. It must mean the leaf (feuille) or thin plate of metal in which the stone is set. Johnson.

Nothing has been, or is still more common, than to put a bright-coloured foil under a cloudy or low-prized stone. The same allusion is common to many writers. So, in a Song published in England's Helicon,, 1614:

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!

[Exeunt.

"False stones by foiles have many one abus'd." Steevens. England's chair means England's throne. Set is used equivocally. Malone.

7

8

quit] i. e. requite. So, in Antony and Cleopatra: "To let a fellow who will take rewards,

"And say, God quit you!" Steevens.

the ransom of my bold attempt -] The fine paid by me in atonement for my rashness shall be my dead corse. Johnson. So, in Henry V, p. 297, Vol IX:

"My ransome is this frail and worthless trunk;" Am. Ed. 9 God, and Saint George!] Saint George was the common cry of the English soldiers when they charged the enemy. The author of the old Arte of Warre, printed in the latter end of Queen Elizabeth's reign, formally enjoins the use of this cry among his military laws, p. 84:

Item, that all souldiers entring into battaile, assault, skir mish, or other faction of armes, shall have for their common cry and word, Saint George, forward, or upon them, saint George, whereby the souldiour is much comforted, and the enemy dismaied by calling to minde the ancient valour of England, which with that name has so often been victorious; and therefore he, who upon any sinister zeale, shall maliciously omit so fortunate a name, shall be severely punished for his obstinate erroneous heart, and perverse mind."

Hence too the humour of the following lines in Marston's ner

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 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 east1 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,

vous but neglected satires, entitled The Scourge of Villainie, printed in 1599, Lib. III, Sat. viii:

"A pox upon 't that Bacchis' name should be

"The watch-word given to the souldierie.

"Goe troupe to field, mount thy obscured fame,

"Cry out Saint George, invoke thy mistresse' name;
"Thy Mistresse and Saint George," &c.

In Beaumont and Fletcher's Knight of the Burning Pestle, that admirable and early ridicule of romance-writing, where the champion Ralph is going to attack the Barber, or the huge giant Barboroso, the burlesque is heightened, when, with much solemnity, and as if a real heroick encounter had been going forward, he cries out, "Saint George! set on before, march squire and page.' Act III, sc. i. And afterwards, when the the engagement begins, Ralph says, "St. George for me:" and Barbaroso, " Garagantua for me." T. Warton.

1- brav'd the east -] i. e. made it splendid. So, Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew, says to the Tailor: " thou hast braved many men [i. e. invested them with finery] brave not me.” The common signification of the verb-to brave, will, in my apprehension, hardly suit the passage before us; for with what propriety can the sun be said to challenge or set the East at defiance? Steevens.

.

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.

ranks My foreward shall be drawn out"all"in length,2
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 follow3

In the main battle; whose puissance on either side
Shall be well winged with our chiefest horse.

This, and Saint George to boot!4-What think'st thou,
Norfolk?

Nor. A good direction, warlike sovereign.-
This found I on my tent this morning.5

[Giving a Scrowl.

2 My foreward shall be drawn out all in length,] So Holinshed: "King Richard havyng all things in a readiness went forth with the army out of his tentes, and began to set his men in aray: first the forward set forth a marvellous length, both of horsemen and also of footemen,-and to the formost part of all the bowmen as a strong fortresse for them that came after; and over this John duke of Norfolk was head captain. After him followed the king with a mighty sort of men." Malone.

3 we ourself will follow-] The word-ourself, was judiciously supplied by Sir Thomas Hanmer, to complete the verse. Steevens.

4 This, and Saint George to boot!] That is, this is the order of our battle, which promises success; and over and above this, is the protection of our patron saint. Johnson.

To boot is (as I conceive) to help, and not over and above.

Hawkins.

Mr. Hawkins is certainly right. So, in King Richard II:

"Mine innocence, and Saint George to thrive."

The old English phrase was, Saint George to borrow. So, in A Dialogue, &c. by Dr. William Bulleyne, 1564: "Maister and maistres, come into this vallie,-untill this storme be past: Saincte George to borrowe, mercifull God, who did ever see the like" Signat, K. 7, b. Malone.

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;
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.

5 This found I in my tent this morning] Sir Thomas Hanmer supplies the deficiency in the metre of this line, by reading: This paper found I &c. Steevens,

6

be not too bold,] The quarto, 1598, and the folio, readso bold. But it was certainly an error of the press: for in both Hall and Holinshed, the words are given as in the text. Malone.

7- Dickon thy master &c.] Diccon is the ancient vulgar familiarization of Richard. In Gammer Gurton's Needle, 1575, Diccon is the name of the Bedlam -In the words-bought and sold, I believe, there is somewhat proverbial. So, in The Comedy of Errors: "It would make a man as mad as a buck, to be so bought. and sold." Again, in King John:

"Fly, noble English, you are bought and sold."

Again, in Troilus and Cressida, with an addition that throws more light on the phrase: " Thou art bought and sold among those of any wit, like a Barbarian slave." Steevens.

Again, in Mortimeriados, a poem, by Michael Drayton, no date : "Is this the kindness that thou offerest me? "And in thy country am I bought and sold?"

Again, in Skelton's Colin Clout, 1568:

"How prelacy is sold and bought,
"And come up of nought."

Again, in Bacon's History of King Henry VII: " all the news ran upon the duke of Yorke, that he had been entertained in Ireland, bought and sold in France," &c -The expression seems to have signified that some foul play has been used. The foul play alluded to here, was Stanley's desertion.

Malone.

8 Let not our babbling dreams &c.] I suspect these six lines to be an interpolation; but if Shakspeare was really guilty of them in his first draught, he probably intended to leave them out when he substituted the much more proper harangue that follows.

Tyrwhitt. 9 Conscience is but a word] So the quarto, 1598. But being accidentally omitted in a later quarto, the editor of the folio supplied the omission by reading-For conscience is a word, &c

Malone.

1 If not to heaven, then hand in hand to hell.] So, in Macbeth,