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Fool, of thyself speak well:-Fool, do not flatter.
My conscience hath a thousand several tongues,
And every tongue brings in a several tale,
And every tale condemns me for a villain.
Perjury, perjury, in the high'st degree;
Murder, stern murder, in the dir'st degree;
All several sins, all us'd in each degree,
Throng to the bar, crying all,--Guilty! guilty!
I shall despair.-There is no creature loves me;
And, if I die, no soul will 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 murder'd
Came to my tent: and every one did threat
To-morrow's vengeance on the head of Richard.

Rat. My lord,

Enter Ratcliff.

K. Rich. Who's there?

(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, ward2 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 quits 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;

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Rat. Ratcliff, my lord; 'tis I. The early village God, and Saint George! Richmond, and victory!

cock

Hath twice done salutation to the morn;
Your friends are up, and buckle on their armour.
K. Rich. O, Ratcliff, I have dream'd a fearful
dream!

What thinkest thou? will our friends prove all true?
Rat. No doubt, my lord.
K. Rich.
Ratcliff, I fear, I fear,-
Rat. Nay, good my lord, be not afraid of shadows.
K. Rich. By the apostle Paul, shadows to-night
Have struck more terror to the soul of Richard,
Than can the substance of ten thousand soldiers,
Armed in proof, and led by shallow Richmond.
It is not yet near day. Come, go with me;
Under our tents I'll play the eaves-dropper,
To hear, if any mean to shrink from me.

[Exeunt King Richard and Ratcliff.

Richmond wakes. Enter Oxford and others.
Lords. Good morrow, Richmond.
Richm. 'Cry mercy, lords, and watchful gentle-

men,

That you have ta'en a tardy sluggard here.

Lords. How have you slept, my lord?
Richm. The sweetest sleep, and fairest-boding

dreams,

That ever enter'd in a drowsy head,
Have I since your departure had, my lords.
Methought, their souls, whose bodies Richard mur-
der'd,

Came to my tent, and cried-On! victory!
I promise you, my heart is very jocund
In the remembrance of so fair a dream.
How far into the morning is it, lords?
Lords. Upon the stroke of four.
Richm. Why, then 'tis time to arm, and give di-
rection. He advances to the troops.
More than I have said, loving countrymen,
The leisure and enforcement of the time
Forbids to dwell on: Yet remember this,-
God, and our good cause, fight upon our side;
The prayers of holy saints, and wronged souls,
Like high-rear'd bulwarks, stand before our faces;
Richard except, 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 rais'd in blood, and one in blood establish'd;
One that made means to come by what he hath,
And slaughter'd those that were the means to help
him;

A base foul stone, made precious by the foil

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[Exeunt. Re-enter King Richard, Ratcliff, attendants, and forces.

K. Rich. What said Northumberland, as touching Richmond?

Rat. That he was never trained up in arms.
K. Rich. He said the truth: And what said
Surrey then?

Rat. He smil'd and said, the better for our pur

pose.

K. Rich. He was i'the right; and so, indeed, it is. [Clock strikes. Tell the clock there.-Give me a calendar.Who saw the sun to-day?

Rat.
Not I, my lord.
K. Rich. Then he disdains to shine; for, by the

book,

He should have brav'd4 the east an hour ago:
A black day will it be to somebody.-
Ratcliff,-

Rat. My lord? K. Rich.

The sun will not be seen to-day; The sky doth frown and lour upon our army. Not shine to-day! Why, what is that to me, I would, these dewy tears were from the ground. More than to Richmond? for the self-same heaven, That frowns on me, looks sadly upon him.

Enter Norfolk.

Nor. Arm, arm, my lord; the foe vaunts in the field.

K. Rich. 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 placed in the midst :
John duke of Norfolk, Thomas earl of Surrey,
Shall have the leading of this foot and horse.
They thus directed, we ourself will follow
In the main battle; whose puissance on either side
Shall be well winged with our chiefest horse.
This, and Saint George to boot!--What think'st
thou, Norfolk?

Nor. A good direction, warlike sovereign.
This found I on my tent this morning.

[Giving a scroll. K. Rich. Jocky of Norfolk, be not too bold, [Reads. For Dickons thy master is bought and sold.

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A thing devised 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's to't pell-mell;
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 Bretagnes, and base lackey peasants,
Whom their o'er-cloy'd country vomits forth
To desperate ventures and assur'd destruction.
You sleeping safe, they bring you to 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 Bretagne at our mother's cost?
A milk-sop, 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 over-weening 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 conquer'd, let men conquer us,
And not these bastard Bretagnes; whom our fathers
Have in their own land beaten, bobb'd, and thump'd,
And, on record, 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 !?

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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. SCENE IV-Another part of the field. Alarum: Excursions. Enter Norfolk, and forces; to him Catesby.

Cate. 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.

K. Rich. A horse! a horse! my kingdom for a

horse!

Cate. Withdraw, my lord, I'll help you to a horse.

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K. Rich. 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! [Exe. Alarums. Enter King Richard and Richmond; and exeunt fighting. Retreat, and flourish. Then enter Richmond, Stanley, bearing the crown, with divers other Lords, and forces. Richm. God, and your arms, be prais'd, victorious friends;

The day is ours, the bloody dog is dead.

Stan. Courageous Richmond, well hast thou acquit thee!

Lo, here, this long-usurped 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.

Richm. Great God of heaven, say, Amen, to all :But, tell me first, is young George Stanley living? Stan. He is, my lord, and safe in Leicester town; Whither, if it please you, we may now withdraw us. Richm. What men of name are slain on either side?

Stan. John duke of Norfolk, Walter lord Ferrers, Sir Robert Brakenbury, and sir William Brandon. Richm. 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 with the red :Smile heaven upon this fair conjunction, That long hath frown'd upon their enmity!What traitor hears me, and says not,-Amen? England hath long been mad, and scarr'd herself; The brother blindly shed the brother's blood, The father rashly slaughter'd his own son, The son, compell'd, been butcher to the sire; All this divided York and Lancaster, Divided, in their dire division.O, now, let Richmond and Elizabeth, The true succeeders of each royal house, By God's fair ordinance conjoin together! And let their heirs (God, if thy will be so,) Enrich the time to come with smooth-fac'd peace, With smiling plenty, and fair prosperous days! Abate the edge of traitors, gracious Lord, That would reduce these bloody days again, And make poor England weep in streams of blood! Let them not live to taste this land's increase, That would with treason wound this fair land's peace!

Now civil wounds are stopp'd, peace lives again; That she may long live here, God say-Amen. [Exeunt.

This is one of the most celebrated of our author's performances; yet I know not whether it has not happened to him as to others, to be praised most, when praise is not most deserved. That this play has scenes noble in themselves, and very well contrived to strike in the exhibition, cannot be denied. But some parts are trifling, others shocking, and some improbable. JOHNSON.

KING HENRY VIII.

King Henry the Eighth.

PERSONS REPRESENTED.

Cardinal Wolsey. Cardinal Campeius.
Capucius, ambassador from the emperor
Charles V.

Cranmer, archbishop of Canterbury.
Duke of Norfolk. Duke of Buckingham.
Duke of Suffolk. Earl of Surrey.
Lord Chamberlain. Lord Chancellor.
Gardiner, bishop of Winchester.

Bishop of Lincoln. Lord Abergavenny. Lord

Sands.

Sir Henry Guildford. Sir Thomas Lovell. Sir Anthony Denny. Sir Nicholas Vaux. Secretaries to Wolsey.

Cromwell, servant to Wolsey.

Griffith, gentleman-usher to queen Katharine.
Three other Gentlemen.

Doctor Butts, physician to the king.
Garter,king at arms.

Surveyor to the duke of Buckingham.
Brandon, and a Serjeant at arms.

Door-keeper of the council-chamber. Porter, and his Man.

Page to Gardiner. A Crier.

Queen Katharine, wife to king Henry, afterwards divorced.

Anne Bullen, her maid of honour; afterwards queen.

An old lady, friend to Anne Bullen.
Patience, woman to queen Katharine.

Several Lords and Ladies in the dumb shows; Women attending upon the queen; Spirits, which appear to her; Scribes, Officers, Guards, and other Attendants.

Scene, chiefly in London and Westminster; once, at Kimbolton.

PROLOGUE.

I COME no more to make you laugh; things

now,

That bear a weighty and a serious brow,
Sad, high, and working, full of state and wo,
Such noble scenes as draw the eye to flow,
We now present. Those that can pity, here
May, if they think it well, let fall a tear;
The subject will deserve it. Such, as give
Their money out of hope they may believe,
May here find truth too. Those, that come to see
Only a show or two, and so agree,

The play may pass; if they be still, and willing,
I'll undertake, may see away their shilling
Richly in two short hours. Only they,
That come to hear a merry, bawdy play,
A noise of targets; or to see a fellow
In a long motley coat, guarded with yellow,
Will be deceiv'd: for, gentle hearers, know,
To rank our chosen truth with such a show
As fool and fight is, beside forfeiting
Our own brains, and the opinion that we bring
(To make that only true we now intend,2)
Will leave us never an understanding friend.
Therefore, for goodness' sake, and as you are
known

The first and happiest hearers of the town,
Be sad, as we would make ye: Think, ye see
The very persons of our noble story,

As they were living; think, you see them great,
And follow'd with the general throng, and sweat,
Of thousand friends; then, in a moment, see
How soon this mightiness meets misery!
And, if you can be merry then, I'll say,
A man may weep upon his wedding-day.
(1) Laced.
(2) Pretend.

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Made Britain, India: every man, that stood,
Show'd like a mine. Their dwarfish pages were
As cherubins, all gilt: the madams too,
Not us'd to toil, did almost sweat to bear
The pride upon them, that their very labour
Was to them as a painting: now this mask
Was cry'd incomparable; and the ensuing, night
Made it a fool, and beggar. The two kings,
Equal in lustre, were now best, now worst,
As presence did present them; him in eye,
Still him in praise: and, being present both,
'Twas said, they saw but one; and no discerner
Durst wag his tongue in censure. When these suns
(For so they phrase them,) by their heralds chal-
leng'd

The noble spirits to arms, they did perform Beyond thought's compass; that former fabulous story,

Being now seen possible enough, got credit,
That Bevis2 was believ'd.

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Who did guide,
I mean, who set the body and the limbs
Of this great sport together, as you guess?

Nor. One, certes,3 that promises no element In such a business.

Buck.

I pray you, who, my lord? Nor. All this was order'd by the good discretion Of the right reverend cardinal of York. Buck. The devil speed him! no man's pie is freed From his ambitious finger. What had he To do in these fierces vanities? I wonder, That such a keech can with his very bulk Take up the rays o'the beneficial sun, And keep it from the earth.

Nor. Surely, sir, There's in him stuff that puts him to these ends: For, being not propp'd by ancestry (whose grace Chalks successors their way,) nor call'd upon For high feats done to the crown; neither allied To eminent assistants, but, spider-like, Out of his self-drawing web, he gives us note, The force of his own merit makes his way; A gift that heaven gives for him, which buys A place next to the king.

I cannot tell

Aber. What heaven hath given him, let some graver eye Pierce into that; but I can see his pride Peep through each part of him: Whence has he

that?

If not from hell, the devil is a niggard;

Or has given all before, and he begins A new hell in himself.

Why the devil,

Buck. Upon this French going-out, took he upon him, Without the privity o'the king, to appoint Who should attend on him? He makes up the file Of all the gentry; for the most part such Too, whom as great a charge as little honour He meant to lay upon: and his own letter,8 The honourable board of council out, Must fetch him in he papers.

(1) In opinion, which was most noble. (2) Sir Bevis, an old romance.

(3) Certainly. (4) Practice.

(6) Lump of fat.

(5) Proud.

(7) List.

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Nor. For France hath flaw'd the league, and hath attach'd Our merchants' goods at Bourdeaux.

Aber.

The ambassador is silenc'd?

Nor.

Is it therefore

Marry, is't.

Aber. A proper title of a peace; and purchas'd At a superfluous rate!

Buck.

Why, all this business Our reverend cardinal carried.9 Nor.

'Like it your grace,

The state takes notice of the private difference
Betwixt you and the cardinal. I advise you,
(And take it from a heart that wishes towards you
Honour and plenteous safety,) that you read
The cardinal's malice and his potency
Together: to consider further, that
What his high hatred would effect, wants not
A minister in his power: You know his nature,
That he's revengeful; and I know, his sword
Hath a sharp edge: it's long, and, it may be said,
It reaches far; and where 'twill not extend,
Thither he darts it. Bosom up my counsel,
You'll find it wholesome. Lo, where comes that
rock,

That I advise your shunning.

Enter Cardinal Wolsey (the purse borne before him,) certain of the guard, and two Secretaries with papers. The Cardinal in his passage

fixeth his eye on Buckingham, and Buckingham on him, both full of disdain.

Wol. The duke of Buckingham's surveyor, ha? Where's his examination?

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Scene 11.

king;

KING HENRY VIII.

Does buy and sell his honour as he pleases,
He bores! me with some trick: He's gone to thell (As soon he shall by me,) that thus the cardinal
And for his own advantage.
Nor.

I'll follow, and out-stare him.

Stay, my lord,
Nor.
And let your reason with your choler question
What 'tis you go about: To climb steep hills,
Requires slow pace at first: Anger is like
A full-hot horse; who being allow'd his way,
Self-mettle tires him. Not a man in England
Can advise me like you: be to yourself
As you would to your friend.
I'll to the king;
Buck.
And from a mouth of honour quite cry down
This Ipswich fellow's insolence; or proclaim,
There's difference in no persons.

Nor.

Be advis'd;
Heat not a furnace for your foe so hot
That it do singe yourself: We may outrun,
By violent swiftness, that which we run at,
And lose by over-running. Know you not,
The fire, that mounts the liquor till it run o'er,
In seeming to augment it, wastes it? Be advis'd:
I say again, there is no English soul
More stronger to direct you than yourself;
If with the sap of reason you would quench,
Or but allay, the fire of passion.

Buck.

Sir,

I am thankful to you; and I'll go along
By your prescription:-but this top-proud fellow,
(Whom from the flow of gall I name not, but
From sincere motions,) by intelligence,
And proofs as clear as founts in July, when
We see each grain of gravel, I do know
To be corrupt and treasonous.
Say not, treasonous.
Nor.
Buck. To the king I'll say't; and make my vouch
as strong

As shore of rock. Attend. This holy fox,
Or wolf, or both (for he is equal ravenous,
As he is subtle; and as prone to mischief,
As able to perform it: his mind and place
Infecting one another, yea, reciprocally,)
Only to show his pomp as well in France
As here at home, suggests? the king our master
To this last costly treaty, the interview,
That swallow'd so much treasure, and like a glass
Did break i'the rinsing.

Nor.

'Faith, and so it did.

Buck. Pray, give me favour, sir. This cunning

cardinal

The articles o'the combination drew,
As himself pleas'd; and they were ratified,
As he cried, Thus let be: to as much end,
As give a crutch to the dead: But our count-cardinal
Has done this, and 'tis well; for worthy Wolsey,
Who cannot err, he did it. Now this follows
(Which, as I take it, is a kind of puppy

To the old dam, treason,)-Charles the emperor,
Under pretence to see the queen his aunt
(For 'twas, indeed, his colour; but he came
To whisper Wolsey,) here makes visitation :
His fears were, that the interview, betwixt
England and France, might, through their amity,
Breed him some prejudice; for from this league
Peep'd harms that menac'd him: He privily
Deals with our cardinal; and, as I trow,-
Which I do well; for, I am sure, the emperor
Paid ere he promis'd; whereby his suit was granted,
Ere it was ask'd;-but when the way was made,
And pav'd with gold, the emperor thus desir'd;-
That he would please to alter the king's course,
And break the foresaid peace. Let the king know,

(1) Stabs. (2) Excites. (3) Unfair stratagem.

I am sorry

To hear this of him; and could wish, he were
Something mistaken in't.

Buck.

No, not a syllable,

I do pronounce him in that very shape,
He shall appear in proof.

Enter Brandon; a Serjeant at Arms before him,
and two or three of the guards.

Bran. Your office, serjeant; execute it.
Serj.

My lord the duke of Buckingham, and earl
Of Hereford, Stafford, and Northampton, I
Arrest thee of high treason, in the name
Of our most sovereign king.
Buck.

Sir,

Lo you, my lord,
The net has fall'n upon me; I shall perish
Under device and practice.3

I am sorry
Bran.
To see you ta'en from liberty, to look on
The business present: 'Tis his highness' pleasure
You shall to the Tower.
It will help me nothing,
Buck.
To plead mine innocence; for that die is on me,
Which makes my whitest part black. The will
of Heaven

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Be done in this and all things!--I obey.-
you well.
my lord Aberga'ny, fare
Bran. Nay, he must bear you company :-The
[To Abergavenny.
king
Is pleas'd, you shall to the Tower, till you know
As the duke said,
How he determines further.
Aber.
The will of heaven be done, and the king's pleasure
By me obey'd.
Bran.

Here is a warrant from
The king, to attach lord Montacute; and the bodies
Of the duke's confessor, John de la Court,
One Gilbert Peck, his chancellor,-

So, so;

Buck.
These are the limbs of the plot: no more, I hope.
Bran. A monk o'the Chartreux.

Buck.

Bran.

O, Nicholas Hopkins?

He.

Buck. My surveyor is false; the o'er-great car-
dinal

Hath show'd him gold: my life is spann'd already :
poor Buckingham;
I am the shadow of
Whose figure even this instant cloud puts on,
By dark'ning my clear sun.-My lord, farewell.
[Exeunt.
SCENE II-The council-chamber. Cornets.
Enter King Henry, Cardinal Wolsey, the Lords
of the Council, Sir Thomas Lovell, Officers, and
Assistants. The King enters, leaning on the
Cardinal's shoulder.

K. Hen. My life itself, and the best heart of it,
Thanks you for this great care: I stood i'the lever
Of a full-charg'd confederacy, and give thanks
To you that chok'd it.-Let be call'd before us
That gentleman of Buckingham's: in person
I'll hear him his confessions justify;

And point by point the treasons of his master
He shall again relate.

Council take their several places. The Cardinal The King takes his state. The Lords of the places himself under the King's feet, on his right side.

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