ACT V. SCENE I.

Salisbury.

Enter the Sheriff, with Buckingham, led to execution.

Buck. Will not king Richard let me speak with him 5?

Sher. No, my good lord; therefore be patient.
Buck. Haftings, and Edward's children, Rivers,
Grey,

Holy king Henry, and thy fair fon Edward,
Vaughan, and all that have mifcarried
By underhand corrupted foul injustice;
If that your moody difcontented fouls
Do through the clouds behold this prefent hour,
Even for revenge mock my destruction!-
This is All-Souls' day, fellows, is it not?

Sher. It is, my lord.

Buck. 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
Falfe to his children, or his wife's allies:
This is the day, wherein I wish'd to fall
By the false faith of him whom moft I trusted;
This, this All-Souls' day to my fearful foul,

Will not king Richard let me speak with him?] The reafon why the duke of Buckingham folicited an interview with the king, is explained in K. Henry VIII. act I:

-I would have play'd

The part my father meant to act upon

The ufurper Richard; who, being at Salisbury,

Made fuit to come in his prefence; which, if granted,

As he made femblance of bis duty, would

Have put his knife into him. STEEVENS,

Is

• Is the determin'd refpite of my wrongs.
That high All-feer whom I dally'd with,
Hath turn'd my feigned prayer on my head,
And given in earneft what I begg’d in jest.
Thus doth he force the fwords of wicked men
To turn their own points on their masters' bofoms:
Thus Margaret's curfe falls heavy on my neck,-
When be, quoth fhe, fhall fplit thy heart with forrow,
Remember Margaret was a prophetess.-

Come, firs, convey me to the block of fhame; Wrong hath but wrong, and 7 blame the due of blame. [Exeunt Buckingham, &c.

SCENE II.

Tamworth, on the borders of Leicestershire. A camp.

Enter Henry Earl of Richmond, Earl of Oxford, Sir James Blunt, Sir Walter Herbert, and others, with drum and colours.

Richm. Fellows in arms, and my most loving friends,

Is the determin'd refpite of my wrongs.] This is nonfenfe, we fhould read:

refpect of my wrongs, i. e. requital. WARBURTON.

Hanmer had rightly explained it, the time to which the punishment of his wrongs was refpited.

Wrongs in this line means wrongs done, or injurious practices.

JOHNSON.

7 -blame the due of blame.] This fcene fhould, in my opimion, be added to the foregoing act, fo the fourth act will have a more full and striking conclufion, and the fifth act will comprise the business of the important day, which put an end to the competition of York and Lancaster. Some of the editions are quarto not divided into acts, and it is probable, that this and many other plays were left by the author in one unbroken continuity, and afterwards diftributed by chance, or what seems to have been a guide very little better, by the judgment or caprice of the first editors.

JOHNSON.

Bruis'd

Bruis'd underneath the yoke of tyranny,
Thus far into the bowels of the land
Have we march'd on without impediment;
And here receive we from our father Stanley
Lines of fair comfort and encouragement.
The wretched, bloody, and ufurping boar,

That spoil'd your fummer fields, and fruitful vines, Swills your warm blood like wash, and makes his trough

In your embowell'd bofoms,-this foul fwine
Lies now even in the centre of this ifle,

Near to the town of Leicester, as we learn:
From Tamworth thither, is but one day's march.
In God's name, chearly on, courageous friends,
To reap the harveft of perpetual peace

By this one bloody trial of fharp war.

Oxf. Every man's confcience is a thousand swords, To fight against that bloody homicide.

Herb. I doubt not, but his friends will turn to us. Blunt. He hath no friends, but who are friends for

fear;

Which, in his dearest need, will fly from him. Richm. All for our vantage. Then, in God's name, march:

8 embowell'd bofoms,-] Exenterated; ripped up: alluding, perhaps, to the Promethean vulture; or, more probably, to the fentence pronounced in the English courts against traitors, by which they are condemned to be hanged, drawn, that is, embowelled, and quartered. JOHNSON.

Drawn, in the fentence pronounced upon traitors only, fignifies to be drawn by the heels or on a hurdle from the prifon to the place of execution. So, Dr. Johnfon has properly expounded it in Measure for Measure, act II. So, Holinshed in the year 1569, and Stowe's Chronicle, edit. 1614, p. p. 162, 171, 418, 763, 766. Sometimes our hiftorians ufe a colloquial inaccuracy of expreffion in writing, hanged, drawn, and quarter'd; but they often exprefs it-drawn, hanged, and quartered; and fometimes they add-bowelled, or his bowels taken out, which would be tautology, if the fame thing was implied in the word drawn.

TOLLET.

True

True hope is swift, and flies with fwallow's wings; Kings it makes gods, and meaner creatures kings. [Exeunt.

SCENE III.

Bofworth Field.

Enter King Richard in arms, with the Duke of Norfolk, Earl of Surrey, and others.

K. Rich. Here pitch our tent, even here in Bofworth field.

My lord of Surrey, why look you fo fad?

Surr. My heart is ten times lighter than my looks. K. Rich. My lord of Norfolk,

Nor. Here, moft gracious liege.

K. Rich. Norfolk, we must have knocks; Ha! muft we not?

Nor. We muft both give and take, my loving lord.

K. Rich. Up with my tent: Here will I lie to-night; But where, to-morrow ?-Well, all's one for that.Who hath defcry'd the number of the traitors?

Nor. Six or feven thousand is their utmost power. K. Rich. Why, our battalia trebles that account: Befides, the king's name is a tower of ftrength, Which they upon the adverse faction want.Up with the tent.-Come, noble gentlemen, Let us furvey the vantage of the ground;Call for fome men of 9 found direction :Let's want no difcipline, make no delay; For, lords, to-morrow is a bufy day.

[Exeunt.

9 found direction :-] True judgment; tried military skill.

JOHNSON.

Enter

Enter on the other fide of the field, Richmond, Sir
William Brandon, Oxford, Dorfet, &c.

Richm. The weary fun hath made a golden fet,
And, by the bright track of his fiery car,
Gives token of a goodly day to-morrow.

Sir William Brandon, you fhall bear my standard.-
'Give me some ink and paper in my tent ;—
I'll draw the form and model of our battle,
Limit each leader to his feveral charge,

And part in juft proportion our small power.
My lord of Oxford,-you, fir William Brandon,-
And you, fir Walter Herbert, ftay with me :-
The earl of Pembroke keeps his regiment ;-
Good captain Blunt, bear my good night to him,
And by the fecond hour in the morning
Defire the earl to fee me in my tent :-
Yet one thing more, good captain, do for me;
Where is lord Stanley quarter'd, do you know?
Blunt. Unless I have mifta'en his colours much,
(Which, well I am affur'd, I have not done)
His regiment lies half a mile at least
South from the mighty power of the king.
Richm. If without peril it be poffible,

Sweet Blunt, make fome good means to fpeak with him,

And give him from me this most needful note. Blunt. Upon my life, my lord, I'll undertake it;

Give me fome ink and paper-] I have placed thefe lines here as they stand in the first editions: the rest place them three speeches before, after the words Sir William Brandon, you shall bear my fandard; interrupting what there follows; The earl of Pembroke, &c. I think them more naturally introduced here, when he is retiring to his tent; and confidering what he has to do that night. POPE.

I have followed the folio, which, of this play, is by far the most correct copy. I do not find myself much influenced by Mr. Pope's remark. STEEVENS.

And