Imatges de pàgina
PDF
EPUB

Enter another Messenger.

4. Mess. Sir Thomas Lovel and Lord Marquis Dorset,

520

'Tis said, my liege, in Yorkshire are in arms.
But this good comfort bring I to your Highness,
The Breton navy is dispers'd by tempest.
Richmond, in Dorsetshire, sent out a boat
Unto the shore, to ask those on the banks
If they were his assistants, yea or no;
Who answer'd him, they came from Buckingham
Upon his party. He, mistrusting them,

525

Hois'd sail and made his course again for Brittany. K. Rich. 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.

Re-enter Catesby.

Cate. My liege, the Duke of Buckingham is taken;

That is the best news.

mond

530

That the Earl of Rich

535

Is with a mighty power landed at Milford, Is colder news, but yet they must be told. K. Rich. 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

Flourish.

[Lord Derby's house.]

Enter Derby and Sir Christopher [Urswick].

540

Exeunt.

Der. 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.

5

But, tell me, where is princely Richmond now? Chris. At Pembroke, or at Ha'rford-west, in Wales. 10 Der. What men of name resort to him?

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

15

20

[Gives letter, and] exeunt.

ACT FIFTH

SCENE I

[Salisbury. An open place]

Enter [the Sheriff, and] Buckingham, with halberds, led to execution.

Buck. Will not King Richard let me speak with him? Sher. No, my good lord; therefore be patient.

Buck. 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?

Sher. It is [my lord].

10

Buck. 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 and his wife's allies;
This is the day wherein I wish'd to fall

By the false faith of him whom most I trusted;

15

20

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.
Now Margaret's curse falls heavy on my neck:
"When he," quoth she, "shall split thy heart with

sorrow,

Remember Margaret was a prophetess."

26

Come, lead me, officers, to the block of shame;
Wrong hath but wrong, and blame the due of
blame.
Exeunt.

SCENE II

[The camp near Tamworth]

Enter Richmond, Oxford, Blunt, Herbert, and others, with drum and colours.

Richm. 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.
Oxf. Every man's conscience is a thousand men,
To fight against this guilty homicide.

10

15

Herb. I doubt not but his friends will turn to us. Blunt. He hath no friends but what are friends for fear,

20

Which in his dearest need will fly from him. Richm. 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, the Earl of Surrey, Ratcliff [and others].

K. Rich. Here pitch our tent, even here in Bosworth field. My Lord of Surrey, why look you so sad?

« AnteriorContinua »