What do I fear? Myself? There 's none else by: Is there a murderer here? No;-Yes, 'I am: My conscience hath a 'thousand several tongues, I shall despair! There is no creature 'loves me; Nay, wherefore 'should they, since that I myself Rat. Ratcliff, my lord. The early village-cock Your friends are up, and buckle-on their armour. To-morrow's vengeance on the head of Richard. Rat. Nay, good my lord, be not afraid of 'shadows. K. Rich. Ratcliff, I fear! I fear!-shadows to-night Have struck more terror to the soul of Richard, Than can the 'substance of ten-'thousand soldiers, Armed all in proof, and led by shallow Richmond. . . It is not yet near day. .. Come, go with me; Under our tents I 'll play the eaves-dropper, To hear if any mean to shrink from me. [Exeunt. Richmond awakes, as Oxford and other Officers enter his tent. Lords. Good morrow, Richmond! Have you slept, my lord? Richm. The sweetest sleep, and fairest-boding dreams! Methought 'their souls, whose bodies Richard murdered, Came to my tent, and cried, "On! victory!"- Lords. Upon the stroke of four. Richm. Why, then 't is time to arm and give direction.— The leisure and enforcement of the time Advance your standards, draw your willing swords! Shall be this cold corpse on the earth's cold face; Heaven, and Saint George! Richmond, and victory! [Exeunt. The night having passed, and its visions being dispelled, we return to King Richard; who is visiting the tents, and anxious for the battle he inquires: K. Rich. 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 braved the east an hour ago: A 'black day will it be to somebody. Not shine 'to-day! Why, what is that to 'me More than to 'Richmond? for the selfsame heaven Norfolk, with a paper in his hand, enters. Nor. Arm, arm, my lord; the foe vaunts in the field. Our archers in the midst.—What think'st thou, Nor- This Nor. A good direction, warlike sovereign.- Go, gentlemen, every man unto his charge: Let not our babbling 'dreams affright our souls: Devised at first to keep the strong in awe : Giving Our strong arms be 'our conscience, 'swords our law. * Almanac, calendar. † O. R. sort. And not these bastard Bretons; whom our fathers Have in their 'own land beaten. [] Hark! their drum. Drum afar off. Fight, gentlemen of England! Fight, bold 'yeomen!Draw, 'archers, draw your arrows to the head!— Spur 'your proud horses hard, and ride in blood! Amaze the welkin* with 'your broken staves! [Meneng What says Lord Stanley? 'will he bring his power? Mess. My lord, he doth 'deny to come. K. Rich. Off with his son George's head! Nor. My lord, the enemy is past the marsh: 'After the battle let George Stanley die. Enter a Messenger. K. Rich. A 'thousand hearts are great within my bosom: In another part of the field Catesby is heard: [Exeunt K. Rich. A horse! a horse! my 'kingdom for a horse! And I will stand the 'hazard of the die : I think there be 'six Richmonds in the field; A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse. [Exeunt. Alarum. Enter Richard and Richmond; they fight. Richard is slain. Retreat and flourish. Re-enter Richmond, Stanley bearing the crown, with divers other Lords. Richm. Heaven, and your arms, be praised! The day is ours! Stan. Courageous Richmond, well hast thou acquit thee. Have I plucked off, to grace 'thy brows withal : Richm. Great God of heaven, say Thou Amen to all! . . Venturing an opposition. * Sky. Richard was slain on a field called Redmore (near Market-Bosworth in Leicestershire) August 21, 1485. Stan. He is, my lord, and safe in Leicester town; That in submission will return to us : We will unite the White Rose and the Red: [Exeunt END OF KING RICHARD III. *This marriage, combining the claims of York and Lancaster, and commencing the Tudor dynasty, terminated the Great Civil War and three hundred and thirty years of Plantagenet sway. KING HENRY VIII. The play of Henry the Eighth, supposed to have been written either before the death of Queen Elizabeth (in 1603) or shortly after the accession of King James the First--although not published until 1623, was apparently very popular during the close of Shakespeare's career. A previous play on the same subject by Samuel Rowley, and bearing the quaint title of "When you see me, you know me," had been published in 1605; and about 1613, Shakespeare's play was first produced under the title of "All is True:" during its performance, the old Globe theatre was burnt down." In the following Spring, however, a new theatre was built, and reopened with this play, now re-named Henry the Eighth. Rowley's play was chiefly comedy; Shakespeare's is dignified and religious; "Sad, high, and working, full of state and woe." The panegyrics on the dead Queen and the living King (who hated each other) support the opinion that the play may have been performed at an earlier date, and revived in 1613, with costly decorations, and a new Prologue and Epilogue. This composition closes the series of Shakespeare's English Historical Plays. This play is so far unlike others of the series, that it owes nothing to any dramatic predecessor, but everything to the Poet's knowledge of the past: it introduces a great many passages (almost verbally repeated,) from the "Chronicles" of Holinshed from Cavendish's "Life of Wolsey "-and from Fox's "Acts and Monuments of Christian Martyrs." The fall of Wolsey was undoubtedly due to his opposition to the King's marriage with Anne Bullen,' but Shakespeare ascribes the circumstance to the accidental enclosure of a letter, (on the subject of the divorce from Queen Katharine,) which, intended for the Pope, had been inadvertently placed in a packet to the King. This incident does not in fact belong to Wolsey; but to one of his contemporaries, Ruthal, Bishop of Durham, who, by a similar mistake, forwarded to Wolsey a schedule of all his private wealth. 66 The character of Queen Katharine is beautifully, yet royally, depicted: and the reference to her young daughter-the bloody" Mary of history-is simple and touching. The Queen is introduced as taking an active part in State affairs—thus paving the way, as it were, for the resentment of the Cardinal. Her trial is distinguished by her noble, womanly, wifely, and forcible objections to her English Court of Justice; and her downfall is dignified by a calm confidence of right, and by the unwavering support of a truly Christian spirit. The character of her rival, Queen Anne Bullen, is also favourably depicted a perfect pattern of that " excelling nature," in whose eyes (a later poet curiously says) "Gospel light first dawned." It must be remembered that this play may have been written dur a The old "Globe" theatre-a circular, thatched, wooden building-was burnt to The ground in July, 1613. b Now usually printed Boleyn. c Thomas Gray (1716-1771). |