K. Rich. I am satisfied. Give me a bowl of By thee was punched full of deadly holes : wine : Think on the Tower and me; Despair, and die; I have not that alacrity of spirit, Nor cheer of mind that I was wont to have.- K. Rich. Bid my guard watch; leave me. [King RICHARD retires into his Tent. Exeunt RATCLIFF and CATESBY. Harry the sixth bids thee despair and die.Virtuous and holy, be thou conqueror ! [To RICHMOND Harry, that prophesy'd thou should'st be king, Doth comfort thee in thy sleep: Live and flourish ! The GHOST of CLARENCE rises. Ghost. Let me sit heavy on thy soul tomorrow! [To King RICHARD. RICHMOND'S Tent opens, and discovers him, I, that was wash'd to death with fulsome and his officers, &c. Enter STANLEY. Stan. Fortune and victory sit on thy helm ! Richm. All comfort that the dark night can afford, Be to thy person, noble father-in-law ! bless thee from thy Who prays continually for Richmond's good; upon; God give us leisure for these rites of love! well! wine, Poor Clarence, by thy guile betray'd to death! To-morrow in the battle think on me, And fall thy edgeless sword; Despair and die ! The GHOST of HASTINGS rises. Ghost. Bloody and guilty, guiltily awake; [To King RICHARD. Richm. Good lords, conduct him to his regi-And in a bloody battle end thy days! ment; The GHOST of Prince EDWARD, son to HENRY the sixth, rises between the two tents. Ghost. Let me sit heavy on thy soul to-morrow ! [To King RICHARD. Think, how thou stab'dst me in my prime of youth At Tewksbury; Despair therefore, and die!- Of butcher'd princes fight in thy behalf: body Think on lord Hastings; and despair and die ! Quiet untroubled soul, awake, awake! [To RICHMOND. Aim, 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 ruín, shame, and death! Thy nephews' couls bid thee despair, and die.Sleep, Richmond, sleep in peace, and wake in joy; Good angels guard thee from the boar's annoy! Live, and beget a happy race of kings! Edward's unhappy sons do bid thee flourish. wretched The GHOST of Queen ANNE rises. Ghost. Richard, thy wife, that 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, And fall thy edgeless sword; Despair, and die! Thou, quiet soul, sleep thou a quiet sleep; [To RICHMOND 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; Fainting, despair; desparing, yield thy breath!- side; And Richard falls in height of all his pride. K. Rich. Give me auother horse,-bind up Have mercy, Jesu !-Soft; I did but dream.- me! The lights burn blue.-It is now dead night. midCold fearful drops stand on my trembling flesh. What do I fear? myself? there's none else by: Richard loves Richard; that is, I am I. Is there a murderer here? No?-Yes; I am : Lest I revenge, What? Myself on myself? fatter. do Richm. 'Cry mercy, lords, and watchful gen- That you have ta'en a tardy sluggard here. That ever enter'd in a drowsy head, Came to my tent, and cried-On! victory! Richm. Why, then 'tis time to arm, and give The prayers of holy saints, and wronged souls, Richard except, those whom we fight against One rais'd in blood, and one in blood esta- One that made means to come by what he hath, not And slaughter'd those that were the means to What thinkest thou? will our friends prove all true? Rat. No doubt, my lord. K. Rich. Ratcliff, I fear, I fear, Rat. Nay, good my lord, be not afraid of shadows. K. Rich. By the apostle Paul, shadows tonight Have struck more terror to the soul of Richard, Armed in proof, and led by shallow Richmond. [Exeunt King RICHARD, and RATCLIFF. RICHMOND wakes. Enter OXFORD and others. Lords. Good morrow, Richmond. help him: A base foul stone, made precious by the foil If you do sweat to put a tyrant down, If you do fight in safeguard of your wives, querors; If you do free your children from the sword, Advance your standards, draw your willing For me, the ransom of my bold attempt But, if I thrive, the gain of my attempt Re-enter King RICHARD, RATCLIFF, atten- K. Rich. What said Northumberland, as touch- Rat. That he was never trained up in arms. Rat. He smil'd, and said the it is. better for our K. Rich. He was i'the right; and so, indeed, [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, 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: My foreward shall be drawn out all in length, Our archers shall be placed in the midst : 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.- Conscience is but a word that cowards use, law. March on, join bravely, let us to't pell-mell; Whom their o'er-cloyed country vomits forth wives, They would restrain the one, distain the other. whip these stragglers o'er the 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 themselves : 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 And I will stand the hazard of the die : 1 think there he 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, victorious friends; The day is ours, the bloody dog is dead. Lo, here, this long-usurped royalty, 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, The brother blindly shed the brother's blood, 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 and 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 tragedy:") 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. CRANMER, Archbishop of Canterbury. BISHOP OF LINCOLN.-LORD ABERGAVENNY. SIR HENRY GUILDFORD.-SIR THOMAS LO- DOCTOR BUTTS, Physician to the King 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; SCENE-chiefly in London and Westminster; once, at Kimbolton. PROLOGUE. Will be deceiv'd: for, gentle hearers, know, 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, see Only a show or two, and so agree, The play may pass; if they be still, and willing, • Laced. Our own brains, and the opinion that we (To make that only true we now intend, ⚫) known The first and happiest hearers of the town, see The very persons of our noble story, Of thousand friends; then, in a moment see • Pretend, |