More than I have said, loving countrymen,
The leisure and enforcement of the time
Forbids to dwell on: yet remember this,-
Heaven and our good cause fight upon our side;
The prayers of holy saints and wrongèd 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 is an enemy to heaven.

Then, if you fight against such enemy,

Heaven will, in justice, ward you as his soldiers ;
If you do fight to put a tyrant down,

You sleep in peace, the tyrant being slain;

Then, in the name of heaven and all your rights,

Advance your standards, draw your willing swords.
For me, the ransom of my bold attempt

Shall be this cold corse 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.

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.

Tell the clock there.-Give me a calendar.

Who saw the sun to-day?

Rat.

[Clock strikes.

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 lower 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 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:

My forward 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 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 scroll.

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

A thing devised by the enemy.

Go, gentlemen, every man to 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;-
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 assur'd destruction.
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 hang'd themselves:
If we be conquer'd, let men conquer us,

And not these dastard Bretagnes; whom our fathers

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

And, on record, left them the heirs of shame. [Drum afar off. 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!

Enter a Messenger.

What says lord Stanley? will he bring his power?
Mess. My lord, he doth deny to come.

K. Kich. Off 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.

[Exeunt.

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 from opposite sides KING RICHARD and RICHMOND; they fight, and exeunt fighting. Retreat and flourish. Then re-enter RICHMOND, with STANLEY bearing the crown, and divers other Lords, and forces.

Richm. Heaven and your arms be prais'd, victorious friends; The day is ours, the bloody Richard's 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. But, tell me, is young George Stanley living? Stan. He is, my lord, and safe in Leicester town; Whither, if you please, we may 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:

Now we'll unite the white rose and 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 heaven's fair ordinance conjoin together!
And let their heirs (heaven, 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, heaven say amen!

[Exeunt.

THE HISTORY OF

KING HENRY VIII.

THE History of King Henry VIII. closes the series of Shakspeare's "Chronicle Plays." It comprises a period of twelve years, commencing in 1521, and ending with the christening of Elizabeth, in 1533. Shakspeare has deviated from the truth of history by placing the birth of Queen Elizabeth after Queen Katharine's death, which latter event did not take place until 1536. One great merit of this History, however, is its faithful and powerful delineation of the characters of Queen Katharine and Cardinal Wolsey. The poet has drawn his materials in these po”. traitures from the most authentic sources. The very language, at times, of these personages is literally rendered in the dialogue, as found in the Life of Wolsey by his secretary, Cavendish-and in the chronicles of Holinshed, Stowe, and Hall. Henry VIII., however, is not given with the same historic fidelity. The more repulsive features of his character are softened, in compliment perhaps, to Queen Elizabeth, or rather to her memory; we yet have a very graphic picture of "bluff King Hal." He stands boldly out in the group of leading characters-and contrasts admirably with the noble-minded Katharine, and the ambitious Wolsey. The play is deeply interesting in a historical point of view, forming, as it does, a picture of the immediate causes which led to the establishment of Protestantism in the British dominions, as the religion of the State.

PERSONS REPRESENTED.

KING HENRY THE EIGHTH.

CARDINAL Wolsey.

CARDINAL Campeius.

CAPUCIUS, Embassador from the Emperor, CHARLES V.

CRANMER, Archbishop of Canterbury.

DUKE OF Norfolk.

EARL OF SURREY.

DUKE OF SUFFOLK.

DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM.

LORD CHAMBERLAIN.

LORD CHANcellor.