Ratcliff, about the mid of night, come to my tent [King RICHARD retires into his tent to sleep. Exeunt RATCLIFF and CATESBY. RICHMOND'S tent opens, and discovers him and his Officers, &c. Enter STANLEY. Stan. Fortune and victory sit on thy helm ! Tell me, I pray, how fares our loving mother? Stan. I, by attorney, bless thee from thy mother, Which so long sunder'd friends should dwell upon. God give us leisure for these rites of love! [Sleeps. The Ghost of Prince EDWARD, Son to HENRY VI, rises between the two tents. Ghost. Let me sit heavy on thy soul to-morrow! [To King RICHARD. Think, how thou stabb'dst me in my prime of youth At Tewkesbury: despair, therefore, and die.— Be cheerful, Richmond; for the wronged souls [To RICHMOND. Of butcher'd princes fight in thy behalf: The Ghost of King HENRY VI rises. Ghost. When I was mortal, my anointed body [To King RICHARD. By thee was punched full of deadly holes. Think on the Tower, and me: despair and die; Harry the Sixth bids thee despair and die. Virtuous and holy, be thou conqueror! [To RICHMOND. Harry, that prophesied thou shouldst be king, Doth comfort thee in sleep: live, and flourish. 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, And fall thy edgeless sword. Despair, and die. Thou offspring of the house of Lancaster, [To RICHM 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. Rivers, that died at Pomfret. [To King RICHARD. Despair, and die. [To King RICHARD. Grey. Think upon Grey, and let thy soul despair. Vaugh. Think upon Vaughan, and with guilty fear Let fall thy pointless lance.2 Despair, and die. [To King RICHARD. 2 Let fall thy POINTLESS lance.] This absolutely necessary epithet is derived from the Corr. fol. 1632. All. Awake! and think our wrongs in Richard's bosom [To RICHMOND. Will conquer him.-Awake, and win the day! The Ghost of HASTINGS rises.3 Ghost. Bloody and guilty, guiltily awake; And in a bloody battle end thy days. [To King RICHARD. Think on lord Hastings: so, despair, and die.— Quiet untroubled soul, awake, awake! [To RICHMOND. Arm, fight, and conquer, for fair England's sake. 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. Sleep, Richmond, sleep in peace, and wake in joy ; 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, The Ghost of Hastings rises.] In the 4tos. the ghosts of the two young princes enter before the ghost of Hastings. And fall thy powerless arm. Despair, and die. Thou, quiet soul, sleep thou a quiet sleep; [To RICHM. Dream of success and happy victory: Thy adversary's wife doth pray for thee. The Ghost of BUCKINGHAM rises. Ghost. The first was I 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, Dream on, dream on, of bloody deeds and death: I died for hope ere I could lend thee aid: [To RICHM. But cheer thy heart, and be thou not dismay'd: God and good angels fight on Richmond's side; And Richard fall in height of all his pride. [The Ghosts vanish. King RICHARD starts from his couch. K.Rich. Give me another horse!—bind up my wounds!— Have mercy, Jesu!-Soft! I did but dream.— O, coward conscience, how dost thou afflict me!- Is there a murderer here? No;-yes; I am : • And fall thy POWERLESS ARM.] So the Corr. fol. 1632, instead of "thy edgeless sword", an expression already used by the ghost of Clarence, and here carelessly repeated. |