Enter RATCLIYF.

Rat. My lord, -
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 Ratclif. RICHMOND wakes. Enter OXFORD and Others. Lords. Good morrow, Richmond.

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

Lords. How have you slept, my lord ?
Richm. The sweetest sleep, and fairest-boding
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 cry'd--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 direc-
tion.--

[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 establishd;
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
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, 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 ;
If you do free your children from the sword,
Your children's children quit 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; God, and saint Georges!! 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. K. Rich. He said the truth : And what said Surrey

then ? Rat. He smild and said, the better for our purpose. 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 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. Nar. 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 scrowl. K. Rich. Jocky of Norfolk, be not too bold, (reads.

For Dickon 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 infer'd ? Remember whom you are to cope withal ;A sort of vagabonds, rascals, and run-aways, A scum of Bretagnes, and base lackey peasants, Whom their o'er-cloyed 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,