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?

Rat. Ratcliff, my lord; 'tis 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, 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 murder'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 23 to come by what he hath,

23 Vide note on p. 144. Made means here is used as in the passage there cited from The Two Gentlemen of Verona, and signifies made such interest, used such disingenuous measures.

And slaughter'd those that were the means to help

him;

A base foul stone, made precious by the foil
Of England's chair 24, 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;
you do free your children from the sword,

If
Your children's children quit 25 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

26

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 27! Richmond, and victory!

[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.

24 England's chair is the throne. The allusion is to the practice of setting gems of little worth, with a bright coloured foil under them. Thus in a Song in England's Helicon:

False stones by foiles have many one abus'd.'

25 Requite.

26 i. e. the fine paid by me in atonement for my rashness.

27 Saint George was the common cry of the English soldiers when they charged the enemy.

K. Rich. He said the truth: And what said Sur

rey 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'd 28 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. 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 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;

28 Steevens's notion is a strange one, that brav'd here means made it splendid or fine. The common signification of the old verb to brave was not what he states it to be- to challenge or set at defiance;' but to look aloft, and go gaily, desiring to have the preeminence.' This is old Baret's definition, which explains the text better than Mr. Steevens has done.

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 29 !—What think'st
thou, Norfolk?

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

[Giving a scrowl.
K. Rich. Jocky of Norfolk, be not too bold, [reads.
For Dickon 30 thy master is bought and sold.
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 us 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 withal;-
cope
A sort 31 of vagabonds, rascals, and runaways,
A scum of Bretagnes, and base lackey peasants,
Whom their o'er-cloyed country vomits forth
To desperate adventures and assur'd destruction.
You sleeping safe, they bring you to unrest;
You having lands, and bless'd with beauteous wives,

29 i. e. this, and superadd to this, Saint George on our side.' The phrase, like Saint George to borrow, which Holinshed puts into the mouth of Richard before the battle, is a kind of invocation to the saint to act as protector; Saint George to borrow meaning Saint George be our pledge or security. See Richardson's Philological Inquiries, 4to. 1815, p. 65.

30 Dickon is the ancient familiarization of Richard. 31 Company.

VOL. VII.

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