KING RICHARD III. William Shakespeare

So deal with him as I prove true to you.

       [Exit.]

       [Enter a MESSENGER.]

       MESSENGER

       My gracious sovereign, now in Devonshire,

       As I by friends am well advértisèd,

       Sir Edward Courtney, and the haughty prelate,

       Bishop of Exeter, his elder brother,

       With many more confederates, are in arms.

       [Enter a second MESSENGER.]

       SECOND MESSENGER

       In Kent, my liege, the Guilfords are in arms;

       And every hour more competitors

       Flock to the rebels, and their power grows strong.

       [Enter a third MESSENGER.]

       THIRD MESSENGER

       My lord, the army of great Buckingham,—

       KING RICHARD

       Out on you, owls! Nothing but songs of death?

       [He strikes him.]

       There, take thou that till thou bring better news.

       THIRD MESSENGER

       The news I have to tell your majesty

       Is, that by sudden floods and fall of waters,

       Buckingham’s army is dispers’d and scatter’d;

       And he himself wander’d away alone,

       No man knows whither.

       KING RICHARD

       I cry you mercy:

       There is my purse to cure that blow of thine.

       Hath any well-advisèd friend proclaim’d

       Reward to him that brings the traitor in?

       THIRD MESSENGER

       Such proclamation hath been made, my liege.

       [Enter a fourth MESSENGER.]

       FOURTH MESSENGER

       Sir Thomas Lovel and Lord Marquis Dorset,

       ‘Tis said, my liege, in Yorkshire are in arms.

       But this good comfort bring I to your highness,—

       The Britagne navy is dispers’d by tempest:

       Richmond, in Dorsetshire, sent out a boat

       Unto the shore, to ask those on the banks

       If they were his assistants, yea or no;

       Who answer’d him they came from Buckingham

       Upon his party. He, mistrusting them,

       Hois’d sail, and made his course again for Britagne.

       KING RICHARD

       March on, march on, since we are up in arms;

       If not to fight with foreign enemies,

       Yet to beat down these rebels here at home.

       [Re-enter CATESBY.]

       CATESBY

       My liege, the Duke of Buckingham is taken,—

       That is the best news: that the Earl of Richmond

       Is with a mighty power landed at Milford

       Is colder tidings, yet they must be told.

       KING RICHARD

       Away towards Salisbury! while we reason here

       A royal battle might be won and lost:—

       Some one take order Buckingham be brought

       To Salisbury; the rest march on with me.

       [Flourish. Exeunt.]

      SCENE V. A Room in Lord Stanley’s house

       [Enter STANLEY and SIR CHRISTOPHER URSWICK.]

       STANLEY

       Sir Christopher, tell Richmond this from me:—

       That in the sty of the most deadly boar

       My son George Stanley is frank’d up in hold:

       If I revolt, off goes young George’s head;

       The fear of that holds off my present aid.

       So, get thee gone: commend me to thy lord;

       Withal say that the queen hath heartily consented

       He should espouse Elizabeth her daughter.

       But tell me, where is princely Richmond now?

       CHRISTOPHER

       At Pembroke, or at Ha’rford-west in Wales.

       STANLEY

       What men of name resort to him?

       CHRISTOPHER

       Sir Walter Herbert, a renownèd soldier;

       Sir Gilbert Talbot, Sir William Stanley;

       Oxford, redoubted Pembroke, Sir James Blunt,

       And Rice ap Thomas, with a valiant crew;

       And many other of great name and worth:

       And towards London do they bend their power,

       If by the way they be not fought withal.

       STANLEY

       Well, hie thee to thy lord; I kiss his hand;

       My letter will resolve him of my mind.

       Farewell.

       [Gives papers to SIR CHRISTOPHER. Exeunt.]

       ACT V

       Table of Contents

      SCENE I. Salisbury. An open place

       [Enter the Sheriff and Guard, with BUCKINGHAM, led to execution.]

       BUCKINGHAM

       Will not King Richard let me speak with him?

       SHERIFF

       No, my good lord; therefore be patient.

       BUCKINGHAM

       Hastings, and Edward’s children, Grey, and Rivers,

       Holy King Henry, and thy fair son Edward,

       Vaughan, and all that have miscarried

       By underhand corrupted foul injustice,—

       If that your moody discontented souls

       Do through the clouds behold this present hour,

       Even for revenge mock my destruction!—

       This is All-Souls’ day, fellow, is it not?

       SHERIFF

       It is, my lord.

       BUCKINGHAM

       Why, then All-Souls’ day is my body’s doomsday.

       This is the day which in King Edward’s time

       I wish’d might fall on me, when I was found

       False to his children and his wife’s allies;

       This is the day wherein I wish’d to fall

       By the false faith of him whom most I trusted;

       This, this All-Souls’ day to my fearful soul

       Is the determin’d respite of my wrongs: