William Shakespeare - KING RICHARD III

Of England’s chair, where he is falsely set;

One that hath ever been God’s enemy.

Then, if you fight against God’s enemy,

God will, in justice, ward you as His soldiers;

If you do sweat 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;

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 quit it in your age.

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

Advance your standards, draw your willing swords.

For me, the ransom of my bold attempt

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

But if I thrive, 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! Richmond and victory!

[Exeunt.]

[Re-enter KING RICHARD, RATCLIFF, Attendants, and Forces.]

KING RICHARD

What said Northumberland as touching Richmond?

RATCLIFF

That he was never trainèd up in arms.

KING RICHARD

He said the truth; and what said Surrey then?

RATCLIFF

He smil’d, and said, “the better for our purpose.”

KING RICHARD

He was in the right; and so indeed it is.

[Clock strikes.]

Tell the clock there.—Give me a calendar.—

Who saw the sun to-day?

RATCLIFF

Not I, my lord.

KING RICHARD

Then he disdains to shine; for by the book

He should have brav’d the east an hour ago:

A black day will it be to somebody.—

Ratcliff,—

RATCLIFF

My lord?

KING RICHARD

The sun will not be seen to-day;

The sky doth frown and lower upon our army.

I would these dewy tears were from the ground.

Not shine to-day! Why, what is that to me

More than to Richmond? for the selfsame heaven

That frowns on me looks sadly upon him.

[Enter NORFOLK.]

NORFOLK

Arm, arm, my lord; the foe vaunts in the field.

KING RICHARD

Come, bustle, bustle; caparison 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 ordered:—

My foreward shall be drawn out all in length,

Consisting equally of horse and foot;

Our archers shall be placèd in the midst:

John Duke of Norfolk, Thomas Earl of Surrey,

Shall have the leading of this foot and horse.

They thus directed, we will follow

In the main battle; whose puissance on either side

Shall be well wingèd with our chiefest horse.

This, and Saint George to boot!—What think’st thou,

Norfolk?

NORFOLK

A good direction, warlike sovereign.—

This found I on my tent this morning.

[Giving a scroll.]

KING RICHARD

[Reads.] “Jockey of Norfolk, be not too bold,

For Dickon thy master is bought and sold.”

A thing devisèd by the enemy.—

Go, gentlemen, every man unto his charge:

Let not our babbling dreams affright our souls;

Conscience is but a word that cowards use,

Devis’d 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 pellmell;

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

What shall I say more than I have inferr’d?

Remember whom you are to cope withal;—

A sort of vagabonds, rascals, and runaways,

A scum of Britagnes, and base lackey peasants,

Whom their o’er-cloyed country vomits forth

To desperate adventures and assur’d destruction.

You sleeping safe, they bring to you unrest;

You having lands, and bless’d with beauteous wives,

They would restrain the one, distain the other.

And who doth lead them but a paltry fellow,

Long kept in Britagne at our mother’s cost?

A milksop, one that never in his life

Felt so much cold as over shoes in snow?

Let’s whip these stragglers o’er the seas again;

Lash hence these overweening rags of France,

These famish’d beggars, weary of their lives;

Who, but for dreaming on this fond exploit,

For want of means, poor rats, had hang’d themselves:

If we be conquered, let men conquer us,

And not these bastard Britagnes, whom our fathers

Have in their own land beaten, bobb’d, and thump’d,

And, on recórd, left them the heirs of shame.

Shall these enjoy our lands? lie with our wives,

Ravish our daughters?—Hark! I hear 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!

[Enter a MESSENGER.]

What says Lord Stanley? will he bring his power?

MESSENGER

My lord, he doth deny to come.

KING RICHARD

Off with his son George’s head!

NORFOLK

My lord, the enemy is pass’d the marsh:

After the battle let George Stanley die.

KING RICHARD

A thousand hearts are great within my bosom:

Advance our standards, set upon our foes;

Our ancient word of courage, fair Saint George,

Inspire us with the spleen of fiery dragons!

Upon them! Victory sits on our helms.

[Exeunt.]

[Alarum; excursions. Enter NORFOLK and forces; to him CATESBY.]

CATESBY

Rescue, my Lord of Norfolk, rescue, rescue!

The king enacts more wonders than a man,

Daring an opposite 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!

[Alarum. Enter KING RICHARD.]

KING RICHARD

A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse!

CATESBY

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

KING RICHARD

Slave, I have set my life upon a cast,

And I will stand the hazard of the die:

I think there be six Richmonds in the field:

Five have I slain to-day instead of him.—

A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a horse!

[Exeunt.]

[Alarums. Enter, from opposite sides, KING RICHARD and RICHMOND; and exeunt fighting. Retreat and flourish. Then re-enter RICHMOND, with STANLEY bearing the crown, and divers other Lords and Forces.]

RICHMOND

God and your arms be prais’d, victorious friends;

The day is ours, the bloody dog is dead.

STANLEY

Courageous Richmond, well hast thou acquit thee!

Lo, here, this long-usurpèd royalty

From the dead temples of this bloody wretch

Have I pluck’d off, to grace thy brows withal.

Wear it, enjoy it, and make much of it.

RICHMOND

Great God of heaven, say Amen to all!—

But, tell me is young George Stanley living?

STANLEY

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

Whither, if it please you, we may now withdraw us.

RICHMOND

What men of name are slain on either side?

STANLEY

John Duke of Norfolk, Walter Lord Ferrers,

Sir Robert Brakenbury, and Sir William Brandon.

RICHMOND

Inter their bodies as becomes their births:

Proclaim a pardon to the soldiers fled

That in submission will return to us:

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

We will unite the white rose and the red:—

Smile heaven upon this fair conjunction,

That long have frown’d upon their emnity!

What traitor hears me, and says not Amen?