Page images
PDF
EPUB
[blocks in formation]

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 :

Our

Call up lord Stanley, bid him bring his power : Advance our standards, set upon our foes;
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

ancient word of courage, fair Saint
George,
Inspire us with the spleen of fiery dragons!
Upon them! Victory sits ou our helins.

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 scroll. 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.-
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 pea-
sants,

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?
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

again;

seas

Lash hence these over-weening rags of France,
These famish'd beggars, weary of their lives;
ho, but for dreaming on this fond exploit,
or want of means, poor rats, had hang'd them-
selves:

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?

[blocks in formation]

[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,
Rescue, fair lord, or else the day is lost!
Seeking for Richmond in the throat of death:

Alarum. Enter King RICHARD.

R. 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,

1 think there be six Richmonds in the field;
And I will stand the hazard of the dic:
Five have I slain to day, instead of him :-
A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse;

[Exeunt.

[blocks in formation]

Richm. God and your arms be prais'd, victo-
rious friends;

The day is ours, the bloody dog is dead.
Stan. Courageous Richinond, 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 liv
ing?

Stan. He is, my lord, and safe in Leicester

town;

Whither, if it please you, we may now withdraw us.

Rich. What men of name are slain on
either side?

Stan. John duke of Norfolk, Walter lord
Ferrers,

Sir Robert Brakenbury, and Sir William Bran
don.

Richm. Inter their bodies as becomes their

births.

Proclaim a pardon to the soldiers fled,
That in submission will return to us;

Fright the skies with the shivers of your laneta

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 bath frown'd upon their enmity !—
What traitor bears me, and says not,-Amen?
England hath long been mad, and scarr'd her-
self;

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.-
Oh! 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 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 VIII.

LITERARY AND HISTORICAL NOTICE.

THIS historical play was probably written in the year 1601. It comprises a period of twelve years, com mencing in the 12th of Henry's reign, (1521) and terminating with the baptism of Elizabeth, 1533. It has always been an easy medium for the display of pageantry aud splendour; cousequently a great favourite with the generality of audiences. Its most powerfully drawn characters are the Queen and the Cardinal. The dying moments of the former (Act IV. Sc. 2.) are pourtrayed with a mingled majesty and pathos, scarce ly ever equalled by any other poet (Dr. Johnson numbers it, indeed, amongst "the greatest efforts of tra gedy") and the exquisite soliloquy of the latter, at the time of his degradation, would evince the superiority of Shakspeare's genius, had he never written another line. It is a fine philosophical picture of fallen ambition, brought to reflection by a merited reverse of fortune: the assimilation of human great. ness to the vegetation of a fruit tree, with the puerility of venturing upon " a sea of troubles," for burden. some and perishable acquisitions, affords a charming specimen of imaginative colouring and didactic morality. Yet this is one of the parts which, according to the Doctor," may be easily conceived, and easily written." Perhaps Shakspeare found it otherwise.

DRAMATIS PERSONE.

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.-EARL OF SURREY.
LORD CHAMBERLAIN.-LORD CHANCELLOR.

GARDINER, Bishop of Winchester.

BISHOP OF LINCOLN.-LORD ABERGAVENNY.
LORD SANDS.

SIR HENRY GUILDFORD.-SIR THOMAS LO-
VELL.

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; afterwards Queen.

AN OLD LADY, Friend to Anne Bullen.

SIR ANTHONY DENNY.-SIR NICHOLAS VAUX. PATIENCE, Woman to Queen Katharine. SECRETARIES to Wolsey.

CROMWELL, Servant to Wolsey.

GRIFFITH, Gentleman-Usher to Queen Ka

tharine.

THREE OTHER GENTLEMEN.

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.

Will be deceiv'd: for, gentle hearers, know,
To rank our chosen truth with such a show

I COME no more to make you laugh; things As foot and fight is, beside forfeiting

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, inay 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,

• Laced.

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, anu 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.

• Pretend.

[graphic][graphic][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][graphic][graphic][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][graphic][graphic][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small][merged small]
« PreviousContinue »