Who answer'd him, they came from Buckingham

Upon his party: he, mistrusting them,

Hois'd sail and made his course again for Bretagne.

King Richard. March on, march on, since we are up in

arms;

If not to fight with foreign enemies,

Yet to beat down these rebels here at home.

Enter CATESBY.

Catesby. My liege, the Duke of Buckingham is taken; That is the best news: that the Earl of Richmond

Is with a mighty power landed at Milford

Is colder news, but yet they must be told.

530

King Richard. Away towards Salisbury! while we reason here

A royal battle might be won and lost.—

Some one take order Buckingham be brought

To Salisbury; the rest march on with me.

SCENE V. Lord Stanley's House.

[Exeunt.

Enter STANLEY and SIR CHRISTOPHER URSWICK.

Stanley. Sir Christopher, tell Richmond this from me,That in the sty of the most deadly boar

My son George Stanley is frank'd up in hold:

If I revolt, off goes young George's head;

The fear of that holds off my present aid.
So, get thee gone; commend me to thy lord.
Withal, say that the queen hath heartily consented
He should espouse Elizabeth her daughter.
But, tell me, where is princely Richmond now?

Christopher. At Pembroke, or at Hertford West, in Wales.
Stanley. What men of name resort to him?

Christopher. Sir Walter Herbert, a renowned soldier; Sir Gilbert Talbot, Sir William Stanley;

Oxford, redoubted Pembroke, Sir James Blunt,
And Rice ap Thomas, with a valiant crew,
And many other of great name and worth:
And towards London do they bend their power,
If by the way they be not fought withal.

Stanley. Well, hie thee to thy lord; I kiss his hand :
My letter will resolve him of my mind.
Farewell.

20

[Exeunt.

SCENE I. Salisbury. An open Place.

Enter the Sheriff and Guard, with BUCKINGHAM, led to execution.

Buckingham. Will not King Richard let me speak with him?

Sheriff. No, my good lord; therefore be patient.

Buckingham. Hastings, and Edward's children, Grey, and Rivers,

Holy King Henry, and thy fair son Edward,
Vaughan, and all that have miscarried
By underhand corrupted foul injustice,
If that your moody discontented souls

Do through the clouds behold this present hour,
Even for revenge mock my destruction !—

This is All-Souls' day, fellow, is it not?

Sheriff. It is.

IC

Buckingham. Why, then All Souls' day is my body's doomsday.

This is the day which, in King Edward's time,

I wish'd might fall on me when I was found
False to his children or his wife's allies;
This is the day wherein I wish'd to fall

By the false faith of him whom most I trusted;
This, this All-Souls' day to my fearful soul
Is the determin'd respite of my wrongs.
That high All-Seer which I dallied with
Hath turn'd my feigned prayer on my head,
And given in earnest what I begg'd in jest.
Thus doth he force the swords of wicked men

To turn their own points in their masters' bosoms;
Thus Margaret's curse falls heavy on my neck:

'When he,' quoth she, 'shall split thy heart with sorrow,
Remember Margaret was a prophetess.'-

Come, lead me, officers, to the block of shame;

Wrong hath but wrong, and blame the due of blame.

20

29

[Exeunt Buckingham and Officers.

SCENE II. A Plain near Tamworth.

Enter RICHMOnd, Oxford, Blunt, HerbeRT, and others, with drum and colours.

Richmond. Fellows in arms, and my most loving friends, Bruis'd underneath the yoke of tyranny,

Thus far into the bowels of the land

Have we march'd on without impediment;
And here receive we from our father Stanley
Lines of fair comfort and encouragement.

The wretched, bloody, and usurping boar,

That spoil'd your summer fields and fruitful vines,
Swills your warm blood like wash, and makes his trough

In your embowell'd bosoms,-this foul swine

Is now even in the centre of this isle,

Near to the town of Leicester, as we learn ;
From Tamworth thither is but one day's march.
In God's name, cheerly on, courageous friends,
To reap the harvest of perpetual peace

By this one bloody trial of sharp war.

Oxford. Every man's conscience is a thousand men,

To fight against this guilty homicide.

Herbert. I doubt not but his friends will turn to us.

10

Blunt. He hath no friends but what are friends for

fear,

Which in his dearest need will fly from him.

20

Richmond. All for our vantage. Then, in God's name, march.

True hope is swift, and flies with swallow's wings;

Kings it makes gods, and meaner creatures kings. [Exeunt.

SCENE III. Bosworth Field.

Enter KING RICHARD in arms, with NORFOLK, SURREY, and others.

King Richard. Here pitch our tents, even here in Bos

worth field.—

My Lord of Surrey, why look you so sad?

Surrey. My heart is ten times lighter than my looks.

King Richard. My Lord of Norfolk,

Norfolk.

Here, most gracious liege.