1    Here pitch our tents, even here in Bosworth field.
2    My Lord of Surrey, why look you so sad?

3    My heart is ten times lighter than my looks.

4    My Lord of Norfolk,--

5    Here, most gracious liege.

6    Norfolk, we must have knocks; ha! must we not?

7    We must both give and take, my gracious lord.

8    Up with my tent there! here will I lie tonight;
9    But where to-morrow? Well, all's one for that.
10   Who hath descried the number of the foe?

11   Six or seven thousand is their utmost power.

12   Why, our battalion trebles that account:
13   Besides, the king's name is a tower of strength,
14   Which they upon the adverse party want.
15   Up with my tent there! Valiant gentlemen,
16   Let us survey the vantage of the field
17   Call for some men of sound direction
18   Let's want no discipline, make no delay,
19   For, lords, to-morrow is a busy day.

20   The weary sun hath made a golden set,
21   And by the bright track of his fiery car,
22   Gives signal, of a goodly day to-morrow.
23   Sir William Brandon, you shall bear my standard.
24   Give me some ink and paper in my tent
25   I'll draw the form and model of our battle,
26   Limit each leader to his several charge,
27   And part in just proportion our small strength.
28   My Lord of Oxford, you, Sir William Brandon,
29   And you, Sir Walter Herbert, stay with me.
30   The Earl of Pembroke keeps his regiment:
31   Good Captain Blunt, bear my good night to him
32   And by the second hour in the morning
33   Desire the earl to see me in my tent:
34   Yet one thing more, good Blunt, before thou go'st,
35   Where is Lord Stanley quarter'd, dost thou know?

36   Unless I have mista'en his colours much,
37   Which well I am assured I have not done,
38   His regiment lies half a mile at least
39   South from the mighty power of the king.

40   If without peril it be possible,
41   Good Captain Blunt, bear my good-night to him,
42   And give him from me this most needful scroll.

43   Upon my life, my lord, I'll under-take it;
44   And so, God give you quiet rest to-night!

45   Good night, good Captain Blunt. Come gentlemen,
46   Let us consult upon to-morrow's business
47   In to our tent; the air is raw and cold.

48   What is't o'clock?

49   It's supper-time, my lord;
50   It's nine o'clock.

51   I will not sup to-night.
52   Give me some ink and paper.
53   What, is my beaver easier than it was?
54   And all my armour laid into my tent?

55   If is, my liege; and all things are in readiness.

56   Good Norfolk, hie thee to thy charge;
57   Use careful watch, choose trusty sentinels.

58   I go, my lord.

59   Stir with the lark to-morrow, gentle Norfolk.

60   I warrant you, my lord.

61   Catesby!

62   My lord?

63   Send out a pursuivant at arms
64   To Stanley's regiment; bid him bring his power
65   Before sunrising, lest his son George fall
66   Into the blind cave of eternal night.
Exit CATESBY
67   Fill me a bowl of wine. Give me a watch.
68   Saddle white Surrey for the field to-morrow.
69   Look that my staves be sound, and not too heavy.
70   Ratcliff!

71   My lord?

72   Saw'st thou the melancholy Lord Northumberland?

73   Thomas the Earl of Surrey, and himself,
74   Much about cock-shut time, from troop to troop
75   Went through the army, cheering up the soldiers.

76   So, I am satisfied. Give me a bowl of wine:
77   I have not that alacrity of spirit,
78   Nor cheer of mind, that I was wont to have.
79   Set it down. Is ink and paper ready?

80   It is, my lord.

81   Bid my guard watch; leave me.
82   Ratcliff, about the mid of night come to my tent
83   And help to arm me. Leave me, I say.

84   Fortune and victory sit on thy helm!

85   All comfort that the dark night can afford
86   Be to thy person, noble father-in-law!
87   Tell me, how fares our loving mother?

88   I, by attorney, bless thee from thy mother
89   Who prays continually for Richmond's good:
90   So much for that. The silent hours steal on,
91   And flaky darkness breaks within the east.
92   In brief,--for so the season bids us be,--
93   Prepare thy battle early in the morning,
94   And put thy fortune to the arbitrement
95   Of bloody strokes and mortal-staring war.
96   I, as I may--that which I would I cannot,--
97   With best advantage will deceive the time,
98   And aid thee in this doubtful shock of arms:
99   But on thy side I may not be too forward
100  Lest, being seen, thy brother, tender George,
101  Be executed in his father's sight.
102  Farewell: the leisure and the fearful time
103  Cuts off the ceremonious vows of love
104  And ample interchange of sweet discourse,
105  Which so long sunder'd friends should dwell upon:
106  God give us leisure for these rites of love!
107  Once more, adieu: be valiant, and speed well!

108  Good lords, conduct him to his regiment:
109  I'll strive, with troubled thoughts, to take a nap,
110  Lest leaden slumber peise me down to-morrow,
111  When I should mount with wings of victory:
112  Once more, good night, kind lords and gentlemen.
Exeunt all but RICHMOND
113  O Thou, whose captain I account myself,
114  Look on my forces with a gracious eye;
115  Put in their hands thy bruising irons of wrath,
116  That they may crush down with a heavy fall
117  The usurping helmets of our adversaries!
118  Make us thy ministers of chastisement,
119  That we may praise thee in the victory!
120  To thee I do commend my watchful soul,
121  Ere I let fall the windows of mine eyes:
122  Sleeping and waking, O, defend me still!

To KING RICHARD III
123  Let me sit heavy on thy soul to-morrow!
124  Think, how thou stab'dst me in my prime of youth
125  At Tewksbury: despair, therefore, and die!
To RICHMOND
126  Be cheerful, Richmond; for the wronged souls
127  Of butcher'd princes fight in thy behalf
128  King Henry's issue, Richmond, comforts thee.

To KING RICHARD III
129  When I was mortal, my anointed body
130  By thee was punched full of deadly holes
131  Think on the Tower and me: despair, and die!
132  Harry the Sixth bids thee despair, and die!
To RICHMOND
133  Virtuous and holy, be thou conqueror!
134  Harry, that prophesied thou shouldst be king,
135  Doth comfort thee in thy sleep: live, and flourish!

To KING RICHARD III
136  Let me sit heavy on thy soul to-morrow!
137  I, that was wash'd to death with fulsome wine,
138  Poor Clarence, by thy guile betrayed to death!
139  To-morrow in the battle think on me,
140  And fall thy edgeless sword: despair, and die!--
To RICHMOND
141  Thou offspring of the house of Lancaster
142  The wronged heirs of York do pray for thee
143  Good angels guard thy battle! live, and flourish!

To KING RICHARD III
144  Let me sit heavy on thy soul to-morrow,
145  Rivers. that died at Pomfret! despair, and die!

To KING RICHARD III
146  Think upon Grey, and let thy soul despair!

To KING RICHARD III
147  Think upon Vaughan, and, with guilty fear,
148  Let fall thy lance: despair, and die!

To RICHMOND
149  Awake, and think our wrongs in Richard's bosom
150  Will conquer him! awake, and win the day!

To KING RICHARD III
151  Bloody and guilty, guiltily awake,
152  And in a bloody battle end thy days!
153  Think on Lord Hastings: despair, and die!
To RICHMOND
154  Quiet untroubled soul, awake, awake!
155  Arm, fight, and conquer, for fair England's sake!

To KING RICHARD III
156  Dream on thy cousins smother'd in the Tower:
157  Let us be led within thy bosom, Richard,
158  And weigh thee down to ruin, shame, and death!
159  Thy nephews' souls bid thee despair and die!
To RICHMOND
160  Sleep, Richmond, sleep in peace, and wake in joy;
161  Good angels guard thee from the boar's annoy!
162  Live, and beget a happy race of kings!
163  Edward's unhappy sons do bid thee flourish.

To KING RICHARD III
164  Richard, thy wife, that wretched Anne thy wife,
165  That never slept a quiet hour with thee,
166  Now fills thy sleep with perturbations
167  To-morrow in the battle think on me,
168  And fall thy edgeless sword: despair, and die!
To RICHMOND
169  Thou quiet soul, sleep thou a quiet sleep
170  Dream of success and happy victory!
171  Thy adversary's wife doth pray for thee.

To KING RICHARD III
172  The last was I that helped thee to the crown;
173  The last was I that felt thy tyranny:
174  O, in the battle think on Buckingham,
175  And die in terror of thy guiltiness!
176  Dream on, dream on, of bloody deeds and death:
177  Fainting, despair; despairing, yield thy breath!
To RICHMOND
178  I died for hope ere I could lend thee aid:
179  But cheer thy heart, and be thou not dismay'd:
180  God and good angel fight on Richmond's side;
181  And Richard falls in height of all his pride.

182  Give me another horse: bind up my wounds.
183  Have mercy, Jesu!--Soft! I did but dream.
184  O coward conscience, how dost thou afflict me!
185  The lights burn blue. It is now dead midnight.
186  Cold fearful drops stand on my trembling flesh.
187  What do I fear? myself? there's none else by:
188  Richard loves Richard; that is, I am I.
189  Is there a murderer here? No. Yes, I am:
190  Then fly. What, from myself? Great reason why:
191  Lest I revenge. What, myself upon myself?
192  Alack. I love myself. Wherefore? for any good
193  That I myself have done unto myself?
194  O, no! alas, I rather hate myself
195  For hateful deeds committed by myself!
196  I am a villain: yet I lie. I am not.
197  Fool, of thyself speak well: fool, do not flatter.
198  My conscience hath a thousand several tongues,
199  And every tongue brings in a several tale,
200  And every tale condemns me for a villain.
201  Perjury, perjury, in the high'st degree
202  Murder, stem murder, in the direst degree;
203  All several sins, all used in each degree,
204  Throng to the bar, crying all, Guilty! guilty!
205  I shall despair. There is no creature loves me;
206  And if I die, no soul shall pity me:
207  Nay, wherefore should they, since that I myself
208  Find in myself no pity to myself?
209  Methought the souls of all that I had murder'd
210  Came to my tent; and every one did threat
211  To-morrow's vengeance on the head of Richard.

212  My lord!

213  'Zounds! who is there?

214  Ratcliff, my lord; 'tis I. The early village-cock
215  Hath twice done salutation to the morn;
216  Your friends are up, and buckle on their armour.

217  O Ratcliff, I have dream'd a fearful dream!
218  What thinkest thou, will our friends prove all true?

219  No doubt, my lord.

220  O Ratcliff, I fear, I fear,--

221  Nay, good my lord, be not afraid of shadows.

222  By the apostle Paul, shadows to-night
223  Have struck more terror to the soul of Richard
224  Than can the substance of ten thousand soldiers
225  Armed in proof, and led by shallow Richmond.
226  It is not yet near day. Come, go with me;
227  Under our tents I'll play the eaves-dropper,
228  To see if any mean to shrink from me.

229  Good morrow, Richmond!

230  Cry mercy, lords and watchful gentlemen,
231  That you have ta'en a tardy sluggard here.

232  How have you slept, my lord?

233  The sweetest sleep, and fairest-boding dreams
234  That ever enter'd in a drowsy head,
235  Have I since your departure had, my lords.
236  Methought their souls, whose bodies Richard murder'd,
237  Came to my tent, and cried on victory:
238  I promise you, my soul is very jocund
239  In the remembrance of so fair a dream.
240  How far into the morning is it, lords?

241  Upon the stroke of four.

242  Why, then 'tis time to arm and give direction.
His oration to his soldiers
243  More than I have said, loving countrymen,
244  The leisure and enforcement of the time
245  Forbids to dwell upon: yet remember this,
246  God and our good cause fight upon our side;
247  The prayers of holy saints and wronged souls,
248  Like high-rear'd bulwarks, stand before our faces;
249  Richard except, those whom we fight against
250  Had rather have us win than him they follow:
251  For what is he they follow? truly, gentlemen,
252  A bloody tyrant and a homicide;
253  One raised in blood, and one in blood establish'd;
254  One that made means to come by what he hath,
255  And slaughter'd those that were the means to help him;
256  Abase foul stone, made precious by the foil
257  Of England's chair, where he is falsely set;
258  One that hath ever been God's enemy:
259  Then, if you fight against God's enemy,
260  God will in justice ward you as his soldiers;
261  If you do sweat to put a tyrant down,
262  You sleep in peace, the tyrant being slain;
263  If you do fight against your country's foes,
264  Your country's fat shall pay your pains the hire;
265  If you do fight in safeguard of your wives,
266  Your wives shall welcome home the conquerors;
267  If you do free your children from the sword,
268  Your children's children quit it in your age.
269  Then, in the name of God and all these rights,
270  Advance your standards, draw your willing swords.
271  For me, the ransom of my bold attempt
272  Shall be this cold corpse on the earth's cold face;
273  But if I thrive, the gain of my attempt
274  The least of you shall share his part thereof.
275  Sound drums and trumpets boldly and cheerfully;
276  God and Saint George! Richmond and victory!

277  What said Northumberland as touching Richmond?

278  That he was never trained up in arms.

279  He said the truth: and what said Surrey then?

280  He smiled and said 'The better for our purpose.'

281  He was in the right; and so indeed it is.
Clock striketh
282  Ten the clock there. Give me a calendar.
283  Who saw the sun to-day?

284  Not I, my lord.

285  Then he disdains to shine; for by the book
286  He should have braved the east an hour ago
287  A black day will it be to somebody. Ratcliff!

288  My lord?

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

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

296  Come, bustle, bustle; caparison my horse.
297  Call up Lord Stanley, bid him bring his power:
298  I will lead forth my soldiers to the plain,
299  And thus my battle shall be ordered:
300  My foreward shall be drawn out all in length,
301  Consisting equally of horse and foot;
302  Our archers shall be placed in the midst
303  John Duke of Norfolk, Thomas Earl of Surrey,
304  Shall have the leading of this foot and horse.
305  They thus directed, we will follow
306  In the main battle, whose puissance on either side
307  Shall be well winged with our chiefest horse.
308  This, and Saint George to boot! What think'st thou, Norfolk?

309  A good direction, warlike sovereign.
310  This found I on my tent this morning.

Reads
311  'Jockey of Norfolk, be not too bold,
312  For Dickon thy master is bought and sold.'
313  A thing devised by the enemy.
314  Go, gentleman, every man unto his charge
315  Let not our babbling dreams affright our souls:
316  Conscience is but a word that cowards use,
317  Devised at first to keep the strong in awe:
318  Our strong arms be our conscience, swords our law.
319  March on, join bravely, let us to't pell-mell
320  If not to heaven, then hand in hand to hell.
His oration to his Army
321  What shall I say more than I have inferr'd?
322  Remember whom you are to cope withal;
323  A sort of vagabonds, rascals, and runaways,
324  A scum of Bretons, and base lackey peasants,
325  Whom their o'er-cloyed country vomits forth
326  To desperate ventures and assured destruction.
327  You sleeping safe, they bring to you unrest;
328  You having lands, and blest with beauteous wives,
329  They would restrain the one, distain the other.
330  And who doth lead them but a paltry fellow,
331  Long kept in Bretagne at our mother's cost?
332  A milk-sop, one that never in his life
333  Felt so much cold as over shoes in snow?
334  Let's whip these stragglers o'er the seas again;
335  Lash hence these overweening rags of France,
336  These famish'd beggars, weary of their lives;
337  Who, but for dreaming on this fond exploit,
338  For want of means, poor rats, had hang'd themselves:
339  If we be conquer'd, let men conquer us,
340  And not these bastard Bretons; whom our fathers
341  Have in their own land beaten, bobb'd, and thump'd,
342  And in record, left them the heirs of shame.
343  Shall these enjoy our lands? lie with our wives?
344  Ravish our daughters?
Drum afar off
345  Hark! I hear their drum.
346  Fight, gentlemen of England! fight, bold yoemen!
347  Draw, archers, draw your arrows to the head!
348  Spur your proud horses hard, and ride in blood;
349  Amaze the welkin with your broken staves!
Enter a Messenger
350  What says Lord Stanley? will he bring his power?

351  My lord, he doth deny to come.

352  Off with his son George's head!

353  My lord, the enemy is past the marsh
354  After the battle let George Stanley die.

355  A thousand hearts are great within my bosom:
356  Advance our standards, set upon our foes
357  Our ancient word of courage, fair Saint George,
358  Inspire us with the spleen of fiery dragons!
359  Upon them! victory sits on our helms.