Richard III (21 page)

O thou, whose captain I
account
¹¹²
myself,

Look on my forces with a
gracious
¹¹³
eye:

Put in their hands thy bruising
irons
¹¹⁴
of wrath,

That they may crush down with a heavy fall

Th’usurping helmets of our adversaries!

Make us thy ministers of chastisement,

That we may praise thee in thy victory!

To thee I do commend my
watchful
¹¹⁹
soul,

Ere I let fall the windows of mine eyes:

Sleeping and waking, O, defend me still!

GHOST OF PRINCE EDWARD
    Let me sit heavy on thy soul tomorrow!

Think how thou stab’st me in my prime of youth

At Tewkesbury:
despair
¹²⁴
therefore, and die!—

Be cheerful, Richmond, for the wrongèd souls

Of butchered princes fight in thy behalf.

King Henry’s
issue
¹²⁷
, Richmond, comforts thee.

GHOST OF KING HENRY VI
    When I was mortal, my
anointed
¹²⁸
body

By thee was
punchèd
¹²⁹
full of holes;

Think on the
Tower
¹³⁰
and me: despair and die!

Harry the Sixth bids thee despair and die!—

Virtuous and holy, be thou conqueror!

Harry, that prophesied thou shouldst be king,

Doth comfort thee in sleep: live and flourish!

GHOST OF CLARENCE
    Let me sit heavy in thy soul tomorrow!

I, that was
washed
to death with
fulsome
¹³⁶
wine,

Poor Clarence, by thy guile betrayed to death!

Tomorrow in the battle think on me,

And
fall
thy
edgeless
¹³⁹
sword: despair and die!—

Thou offspring of the House of Lancaster,

The wrongèd heirs of York do pray for thee.

Good angels guard thy
battle!
¹⁴²
Live and flourish!

GHOST OF RIVERS
    Let me sit heavy in thy soul tomorrow,

Rivers that died at Pomfret: despair and die!

GHOST OF GREY
    Think upon Grey, and let thy soul despair!

GHOST OF VAUGHAN
    Think upon Vaughan, and, with guilty fear,

Let fall thy lance: despair and die!

ALL
    Awake, and think our wrongs in Richard’s bosom

Will conquer him! Awake, and win the day!

GHOST OF HASTINGS
    Bloody and guilty, guiltily awake

And in a bloody battle end thy days!

Think on Lord Hastings: despair and die!

Quiet untroubled soul, awake, awake!

Arm, fight, and conquer, for fair England’s sake!

GHOSTS OF PRINCES
    Dream on thy cousins smothered in the Tower:

Let us be
laid
¹⁵⁶
within thy bosom, Richard,

And weigh thee down to ruin, shame, and death!

Thy nephews’ souls bid thee despair and die!—

Sleep, Richmond, sleep in peace and wake in joy:

Good angels guard thee from the boar’s
annoy!
¹⁶⁰

Live and beget a happy race of kings!

Edward’s unhappy sons do bid thee flourish.

GHOST OF ANNE
    Richard, thy wife, that wretched Anne thy wife,

That never slept a
quiet
¹⁶⁴
hour with thee,

Now fills thy sleep with perturbations.

Tomorrow in the battle think on me,

And fall thy edgeless sword: despair and die!—

To Richmond

Thou quiet soul, sleep thou a quiet sleep:

Dream of success and happy victory!

Thy adversary’s wife doth pray for thee.

GHOST OF BUCKINGHAM
    The first was I that helped thee to the crown:

The last was I that felt thy tyranny.

O, in the battle think on Buckingham,

And die in terror of thy guiltiness!

Dream on, dream on, of bloody deeds and death:

Fainting
, despair; despairing,
yield
¹⁷⁶
thy breath!—

To Richmond

I died for hope ere I could lend thee aid;

But cheer thy heart, and be thou not dismayed:

God and good angels fight on Richmond’s side,

And
Richard
¹⁸⁰
fall in height of all his pride.

RICHARD
    Give me another horse! Bind up my wounds!

Have mercy, Jesu! —
Soft
¹⁸²
, I did but dream.

O coward conscience, how dost thou afflict me!

The
lights burn blue.
¹⁸⁴
It is not dead midnight.

Cold fearful
drops
¹⁸⁵
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.

Then fly. What, from myself? Great reason why:

Lest I revenge. What? Myself upon myself?

Alack, I love myself.
Wherefore?
¹⁹¹
For any good

That I myself have done unto myself?

O no! Alas, I rather hate myself

For hateful deeds committed by myself!

I am a villain: yet I lie, I am not.

Fool, of thyself speak well: fool, do not flatter.

My conscience hath a thousand
several
¹⁹⁷
tongues,

And every tongue
brings in
¹⁹⁸
a several tale,

And every tale condemns me for a villain.

Perjury in the high’st degree,

Murder, stern murder, in the direst degree,

All several sins, all
used in each degree
²⁰²
,

Throng all to
th’bar
²⁰³
, crying all, ‘Guilty! Guilty!’

I shall despair. There is no
creature
²⁰⁴
loves me;

And if I die, no soul shall pity me.

Nay, wherefore should they, since that I myself

Find in myself no pity to myself?

Methought the souls of all that I had murdered

Came to my tent, and every one did
threat
²⁰⁹

Tomorrow’s vengeance on the head of Richard.

RATCLIFFE
    My lord?

RICHARD
    Who’s there?

RATCLIFFE
    Ratcliffe, my lord, ’tis I. The early village cock

Hath twice done salutation to the morn.

Your friends are up and buckle on their armour.

RICHARD
    O Ratcliffe, I fear, I fear—

RATCLIFFE
    Nay, good my lord, be not afraid of
shadows.
²¹⁷

RICHARD
    By the apostle Paul, shadows tonight

Have struck more terror to the soul of Richard

Than can the substance of ten thousand soldiers

Armèd in
proof
²²¹
, and led by shallow Richmond.

’Tis not yet near day. Come, go with me:

Under our tents I’ll play the eavesdropper,

To hear if any mean to
shrink from
²²⁴
me.

LORDS
    Good morrow, Richmond!

RICHMOND
    
Cry mercy
, lords and
watchful
²²⁶
gentlemen,

That you have
ta’en
²²⁷
a tardy sluggard here.

LORDS
    How have you slept, my lord?

RICHMOND
    The sweetest sleep, and fairest-boding dreams

That ever entered in a drowsy head,

Have I since your departure had, my lords.

Methought their souls, whose bodies Richard murdered,

Came to my tent and
cried on
²³³
victory:

I promise you my heart is very
jocund
²³⁴

In the remembrance of so fair a dream.

How far into the morning is it, lords?

LORDS
    Upon the stroke of four.

RICHMOND
    Why, then ’tis time to arm and give direction.—

More than I have
said
²³⁹
, loving countrymen,

The
leisure
and
enforcement
²⁴⁰
of the time

Forbids to dwell upon. Yet remember this:

God and our good cause fight upon our side,

The prayers of holy saints and wrongèd souls,

Like high-reared
bulwarks
²⁴⁴
, stand before our faces,

Richard
except
²⁴⁵
, those whom we fight against

Had rather have us win than him they follow:

For what is he they follow? Truly, gentlemen,

A bloody tyrant and a homicide:

One
raised
in blood, and one in blood
established
²⁴⁹
;

One that
made means
²⁵⁰
to come by what he hath,

And slaughtered those that were the means to help him:

A base foul
stone
, made precious by the
foil
²⁵²

Of England’s
chair
, where he is
falsely
²⁵³
set:

One that hath ever been God’s enemy.

Then if you fight against God’s enemy,

God will in justice
ward
²⁵⁶
you as his soldiers:

If you do swear to put a tyrant down,

You sleep in peace, the tyrant being slain:

If you do fight against your country’s foes,

Your country’s
fat
shall pay your pains the
hire
²⁶⁰
:

If you do fight in safeguard of your wives,

Your wives shall welcome home the conquerors:

If you do free your children from the sword,

Your children’s children
quits
it in your
age.
²⁶⁴

Then, in the name of God and all these rights,

Advance your standards
²⁶⁶
, draw your willing swords.

For me,
the ransom of my bold attempt
²⁶⁷

Shall be this cold corpse on the earth’s cold face:

But if I
thrive
²⁶⁹
, the gain of my attempt

The least of you shall share his part thereof.

Sound drums and trumpets boldly and cheerfully.

God and
Saint George
²⁷²
, Richmond and victory!

RICHARD
    What said Northumberland as
touching
²⁷³
Richmond?

RATCLIFFE
    That he was never trainèd up in arms.

RICHARD
    He said the truth: and what said Surrey then?

RATCLIFFE
    He smiled and said, ‘The better for our purpose.’

RICHARD
    He was in the right, and so indeed it is.

Tell
the clock there. Give me a
calendar.
²⁷⁸

Who saw the sun today?

RATCLIFFE
    Not I, my lord.

RICHARD
    Then he disdains to shine, for by the
book
²⁸¹

He should have
braved
the east
²⁸²
an hour ago

A
black
²⁸³
day will it be to somebody. Ratcliffe!

RATCLIFFE
    My lord?

RICHARD
    The sun will not be seen today:

The sky doth frown and
lour
²⁸⁶
upon our army.

I would these dewy tears were
from
²⁸⁷
the ground.

Not shine today? Why, what is that to me

More than to Richmond? For the selfsame heaven

That frowns on me looks
sadly
²⁹⁰
upon him.