Richard III (22 page)

NORFOLK
    Arm, arm, my lord: the foe
vaunts
²⁹¹
in the field.

RICHARD
    Come, bustle, bustle.
Caparison
²⁹²
my horse.

Call up Lord Stanley, bid him bring his power.

I will lead forth my soldiers to the plain,

And thus my battle shall be orderèd:

My
foreward
shall be
drawn
²⁹⁶
in length,

Consisting equally of
horse and foot
²⁹⁷
:

Our archers shall be placèd in the midst;

John Duke of Norfolk, Thomas Earl of Surrey,

Shall have the leading of the foot and horse.

They thus
directed
³⁰¹
, we will follow

In the main battle, whose
puissance
³⁰²
on either side

Shall be well
wingèd
with our
chiefest
³⁰³
horse.

This, and Saint George
to boot!
³⁰⁴
What think’st thou, Norfolk?

NORFOLK
    A good direction, warlike sovereign.

This found I on my tent this morning:

‘
Jockey
³⁰⁷
of Norfolk, be not so bold,

For
Dickon
thy master is
bought and sold.
³⁰⁸
’

RICHARD
    A thing devisèd by the enemy.

Go, gentleman, every man to his charge

Let not our babbling dreams affright our souls:

For conscience is a word that cowards use,

Devised at first to keep the strong in awe.

Our strong arms be our conscience, swords our law.

March on,
join
bravely, let us to’t
pell-mell
³¹⁵
:

If not to heaven, then hand in hand to hell.—

What shall I say more than I have
inferred?
³¹⁷

Remember whom you are to
cope
³¹⁸
withal:

A
sort
³¹⁹
of vagabonds, rascals and runaways,

A scum of Bretons and base lackey peasants,

Whom their
o’er-cloyèd
³²¹
country vomits forth

To desperate adventures and assured destruction.

You sleeping safe, they bring you to unrest:

You having lands, and blest with beauteous wives,

They would
restrain
the one,
distain
³²⁵
the other.

And who doth lead them but a paltry
fellow
³²⁶
,

Long kept in
Bretagne
at our
mother’s
³²⁷
cost?

A
milksop
³²⁸
, one that never in his life

Felt so much cold as
over-shoes in snow?
³²⁹

Let’s
whip these stragglers
³³⁰
o’er the seas again,

Lash hence
these
overweening
rags
³³¹
of France,

These famished beggars, weary of their lives,

Who,
but
for dreaming on this
fond exploit
³³³
,

For
want
³³⁴
of means, poor rats, had hanged themselves.

If we be conquered, let men conquer us,

And not these bastard Bretons, whom our fathers

Have in their own
land
beaten,
bobbed and thumped
³³⁷
,

And
on record
, left them
the heirs of shame.
³³⁸

Shall these enjoy our lands?
Lie
³³⁹
with our wives?

Ravish
³⁴⁰
our daughters?

Drum afar off

                         Hark! I hear their drum.

Fight, gentlemen of England! Fight boldly,
yeomen!
³⁴¹

Draw, archers, draw your arrows to the head!

Spur your
proud
horses hard, and ride in
blood
³⁴³
:

Amaze
the
welkin
with your
broken
³⁴⁴
staves!

What says Lord Stanley? Will he bring his power?

MESSENGER
    My lord, he doth
deny
³⁴⁶
to come.

RICHARD
    Off with his son George’s head!

NORFOLK
    My lord, the enemy is
past the marsh
³⁴⁸

After the battle let George Stanley die.

RICHARD
    A thousand hearts are
great
³⁵⁰
within my bosom.

Advance our standards, set upon our foes.

Our ancient
word of courage
³⁵²
, fair Saint George,

Inspire us with the
spleen
of fiery
dragons!
³⁵³

Upon them! Victory sits on our helms.

CATESBY
    Rescue, my lord of Norfolk, rescue, rescue!

The king enacts more wonders than
a man
³⁵⁶
,

Daring an opposite
³⁵⁷
to every danger:

His horse is slain, and all on foot he fights,

Seeking for Richmond in the throat of death.

Rescue, fair lord, or else the day is lost!

RICHARD
    A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!

CATESBY
    Withdraw, my lord: I’ll help you to a horse.

RICHARD
    Slave, I have
set my life upon a cast
³⁶³
,

And I will
stand
the
hazard
of the
die.
³⁶⁴

I think there be
six Richmonds
³⁶⁵
in the field:

Five have I slain today instead of him.

A horse! A horse! My kingdom for a horse!

RICHMOND
    God and your arms be praised, victorious friends!

The day is ours, the bloody dog is dead.

DERBY
    Courageous Richmond, well hast thou
acquit thee.
³⁷⁰

Lo, here, these long-usurpèd
royalties
³⁷¹

From the dead temples of this bloody wretch

Have I plucked off, to grace thy brows withal:

Wear it and make much of it.

RICHMOND
    Great God of heaven, say ‘Amen’ to all!

But, tell me, is young George Stanley living?

DERBY
    He is, my lord, and safe in Leicester town,

Whither, if you please, we may withdraw us.

RICHMOND
    What men of
name
³⁷⁹
are slain on either side?

DERBY
    John Duke of Norfolk, Walter Lord Ferris,

Sir Robert Brackenbury, and Sir William Brandon.

RICHMOND
    Inter their bodies as
become their births
³⁸²
:

Proclaim a pardon to the soldiers fled

That in submission will return to us:

And then, as we have
ta’en the sacrament
³⁸⁵
,

We will
unite the white rose and the red.
³⁸⁶

Smile heaven upon this fair
conjunction
³⁸⁷
,

That long have frowned upon their enmity!

What traitor hears me and says not ‘Amen’?

England hath long been mad, and scarred herself;

The brother blindly shed the brother’s blood,

The father rashly slaughtered his own son,

The son, compelled, been butcher to the
sire
³⁹³
:

All this divided York and Lancaster,

Divided in their dire division.

O, now let Richmond and Elizabeth,

The true
succeeders
³⁹⁷
of each royal house,

By God’s fair
ordinance
³⁹⁸
conjoin together.

And let thy heirs — God, if thy will be so —

Enrich the time to come with smooth-faced peace,

With smiling plenty and fair prosperous days!

Abate
the
edge
⁴⁰²
of traitors, gracious Lord,

That would
reduce
⁴⁰³
these bloody days again,

And make poor England weep in streams of blood;

Let them not live to taste this land’s
increase
⁴⁰⁵

That would with treason wound this fair land’s peace.

Now civil wounds are
stopped
⁴⁰⁷
, peace lives again:

That she may long live here, God say ‘Amen’!

Following 4.2.103:

BUCKINGHAM
My lord!

RICHARD
How chance the
prophet
²
could not at that time

Have told me, I being
by
, that I should kill
him
³
?

BUCKINGHAM
My lord, your promise for the earldom,—

RICHARD
Richmond! When last I was at
Exeter
⁵
,

The mayor in courtesy showed me the castle,

And called it
Rougemont
⁷
: at which name I started,

Because a
bard
⁸
of Ireland told me once

I should not live long after I saw Richmond.

BUCKINGHAM
My lord!

RICHARD
Ay, what’s o’clock?

BUCKINGHAM
I am thus bold to put your grace in mind

Of what you promised me.

RICHARD
Well, but what’s o’clock?

BUCKINGHAM
Upon the stroke of ten.

RICHARD
Well, let it strike.

BUCKINGHAM
Why let it strike?

RICHARD
Because that, like a
Jack
, thou
keep’st the stroke
¹⁸

Betwixt thy begging and my
meditation
¹⁹
.

I am not in the giving vein today.

Following 5.3.212:

RICHARD
O Ratcliffe, I have dreamed a fearful dream!

What thinkest thou, will our friends prove all
true?
²²

RATCLIFFE
No doubt, my lord.