K. RICH. Send out a pursuivant at arms To Stanley's regiment: bid him bring his power Into the blind cave of eternal night. -- [To CATESBY. Fill me a bowl of wine.-Give me a watch! RAT. My lord? K. RICH. Saw'st thou the melancholy lord Northumberland? RAT. Thomas the earl of Surrey, and himself, Much about cock-shut time, from troop to troop, I have not that alacrity of spirit, Give me a bowl of wine: Nor cheer of mind, that I was wont to have. RAT. It is, my lord. K. RICH. Bid my guard watch; leave me. [K. RICHARD retires into his tent. and CATESBY. Exeunt RATCLIFF RICHMOND's tent opens, and discovers him and his Officers, &c. Enter STANLEY. STAN. Fortune and victory sit on thy helm! RICHM. All comfort that the dark night can afford Be to thy person, noble father-in-law! Tell me how fares our noble mother? STAN. I, by attorney, bless thee from thy mother, So much for that. The silent hours steal on, And aid thee in this doubtful shock of arms: Farewell: The leisure and the fearful time [Exeunt Lords, &c., with STANLEY [Sleeps. The Ghost of PRINCE EDWARD, son to HENRY THE SIXTH, rises between the two tents. GHOST. Let me sit heavy on thy soul to-morrow! [To KING RICHARD. Think, how thou stabb'dst me in my prime of youth At Tewksbury: Despair therefore, and die! Be cheerful, Richmond; for the wronged souls The Ghost of KING HENRY THE SIXTH rises. [TO KING RICHARD. By thee was punched full of deadly holes: The Ghost of CLARENCE rises. [TO RICHMOND. GHOST. Let me sit heavy on thy soul to-morrow! [To KING RICHARD. I, that was wash'd to death with fulsome wine, And fall thy edgeless sword: Despair, and die!— Thou offspring of the house of Lancaster, [To RICHMOND. The wronged heirs of York do pray for thee; Good angels guard thy battle! Live, and flourish! The Ghosts of RIVERS, GREY, and Vaughan rise. RIV. Let me sit heavy on thy soul to-morrow, [TO KING RICHARD. Rivers, that died at Pomfret! Despair, and die! [TO KING RICHARD. Will conquer him;-awake, and win the day! The Ghost of HASTINGS rises. [TO RICHMOND. GHOST. Bloody and guilty, guiltily awake, [TO KING RICHARD. And in a bloody battle end thy days! Think on lord Hastings; and despair, and die!— [TO RICHMOND. The Ghosts of the two young Princes rise. GHOSTS. Dream on thy cousins smother'd in the Tower. Let us be laid within thy bosom, Richard, And weigh thee down to ruin, shame, and death! The Ghost of QUEEN ANNE rises. GHOST. Richard, thy wife, that wretched Anne thy wife, That never slept a quiet hour with thee, Now fills thy sleep with perturbations: To-morrow in the battle think on me, And fall thy edgeless sword: Despair, and die! Thou, quiet soul, sleep thou a quiet sleep; [To RICHMOND. Dream of success and happy victory; Thy adversary's wife doth pray for thee. The Ghost of BUCKINGHAM rises. GHOST. The first was I that help'd thee to the crown; The last was I that felt thy tyranny: [TO KING RICHARD. Dream on, dream on, of bloody deeds and death! I died for hope, ere I could lend thee aid: [TO RICHMOND. But cheer thy heart, and be thou not dismay'd: [The Ghosts vanish. KING RICHARD starts out of K. RICH. Give me another horse,-bind up my wounds,— Have mercy, Jesu!-Soft; I did but dream. O coward conscience, how dost thou afflict me! Cold fearful drops stand on my trembling flesh. Is there a murtherer here? No;-Yes; I am: 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. Nay, wherefore should they? since that I myself Methought, the souls of all that I had murther'd RAT. My lord! Enter RATCLIFF. K. RICH. Who's there? RAT. Ratcliff, my lord; 't is I. The early village 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, |