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my

watchful foul,

To thee I do commend
Ere I let fall the windows of mine eyes;
Sleeping and waking, oh, defend me ftil!!

SCENE V.

[Sleeps.

Between the Tents of Richard and Richmond:
They fleeping.

'

Enter the Ghost of Prince Edward, Son to Henry

Ghoft.

L

the Sixth.

ET me fit heavy on thy foul to-morrow!
[To K. Rich.
Think, how thou ftab'ft me in the prime of youth
At Tewksbury; therefore defpair and die...
-Be cheerful, Richmond; for the wronged fouls

[To Richm.

Of butcher'd Princes fight in thy behalf;
King Henry's iffue, Richmond, comforts thee.

Enter the Ghoft of Henry the Sixth.
Ghoft. When I was mortal, my anointed body
[To K. Rich.
By thee was punched full of deadly holes;
Think on the Tower, and me; defpair, and die.
Henry the Sixth bids thee despair, and die.

-Virtuous and holy, be thou Conqueror. [To Richm
Harry that prophefy'd thou fhouldst be King,

*

Doth comfort thee in fleep; live thou and flourish.

Enter the Ghost of Clarence.

Ghoft. Let me fet heavy on thy foul to-morrow!

[To K. Rich.

I, that was wash'd to death in fulfom wine,
Poor Clarence, by thy guile betray'd to death.
To-morrow in the battle think on me,

This prophecy, to which in one of the parts of Henry the

this allufion is made, was uttered fixth.

And

And fall thy edgeless fword; defpair and die.
-Thou offspring of the House of Lancaster,

[To Richm.

The wronged heirs of York do pray for thee;
Good angels guard thy battle! live, and flourish.

Enter the Ghofts of Rivers, Gray, and Vaughan.
Riv. Let me fit heavy on thy foul to-morrow!

[To K. Rich. Rivers, that dy'd at Pomfret. Defpair, and die. Gray. Think upon Gray, and let thy foul despair.

[To K. Rich. Vaugh. Think upon Vaughan, and with guilty fear Let fall thy lance! Richard, despair and die.

[To K. Rich. All. Awake! and think, our wrongs in Richard's

bofom

Will conquer him,-Awake, and win the day.

[To Richm.

Enter the Ghost of Lord Haftings.

Ghoft. Bloody and guilty, guiltily awake;

[To K. Richa

And in a bloody battle end thy days.

Think on Lord Haftings; and defpair and die.

-Quiet, untroubled foul, awake, awake! [To Richm. Arm, fight, and conquer, for fair England's fake.

Enter the Ghofts of the two young Princes.

Ghofts. Dream on thy coufins fmother'd in the

Tower.

"Let us be lead within thy bofom, Richard,

[To K. Rich. And

5 Let us be laid within thy Bo- poor feeble Reading, I have refom, Richard.] This is a ftored from the elder Quarto,

ри

And weigh thee down to ruin, fhame, and death.
Thy Nephews' fouls bid thee despair and die.
-Sleep, Richmond, fleep in peace; and wake in joy.

[To Richm

annoy !

Good angels guard thee from the boar's
Live, and beget a happy race of Kings-
Edward's unhappy fons do bid thee flourish.

Enter the Ghost of Anne, his wife.

Ghoft. Richard, thy wife, that wretched Anne thy

wife,

[To K. Rich.

That never slept a quiet hour with thee,
Now fills thy fleep with perturbations.
To-morrow in the battle think on me,
And fall thy edgelefs fword: defpair and die.
-Thou, quiet foul, deep thou a quiet fleep,

Dream of fuccefs and happy victory,
Thy adverfary's wife doth pray for thee.

[To Richm

Enter the Ghost of Buckin gham.

Ghoft. The first was I, that help'd thee to the Crown,

The laft was I, that felt thy tyranny.
O, in the battle think of Buckingham,
And die in terror of thy guiltinefs.

[To K. Rich.

Dream on, dream on, of bloody deeds and death;
Fainting, defpair; defpairing, yield thy breath.
-I dy'd for hope, ere I could lend thee aid;

published in 1597, which Mr. Pope does not pretend to have feen;

Let us be Lead within thy Bofom, Richard.

This correfponds with what is

[To Richm But

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But cheer thy heart, and be thou not difmay'd;
God and good angels fight on Richmond's fide,
And Richard fall in height of all his pride.

[The Ghofts vanish. [K. Richard Starts out of his dream. K. Rich. Give me another horfe-bind up my wounds

Have mercy, Jefu-foft, I did but dream.
O coward Confcience, how doft thou afflict me?
The lights burn blue-is it not dead midnight?
Cold fearful drops ftand on my trembling flesh.
What do I fear myself? there's none else by;
Richard loves Richard; that is, I am I.
Is there a murd'rer here? no-yes, I am.
Then fly-what, from myself? Great reafon; why?

for wishing well to you. But Mr. Theobald, with great fagacity, conjectured bolpe or aid; which gave the line this fine fenfe, I died for giving the aid before I could give thee aid.

WARBURTON. Hanmer reads, I died forfoke, and fupports his conjecture thus. This, as appears from hiftory, was the cafe of the Duke of Buckingham: that being ftopt with his army upon the banks of Severn by great deluges of rain he was deferted by his foldiers, who being in great diftrefs, half famished for want of victuals, and deftitute of pay, difbanded themfelves and fled. HANMER. 7 Give me another horje.] There is in this, as in many of our authour's fpeeches of paffion, fomething verytrifling, and fomething very striking. Richard's debate, whether he should quarrel with himself, is too long continued, but the fubfequent exaggeration of his crime is truly tragical.

VOL. V.

8 O coward Confcience!] This is extremely fine. The speaker had entirely got the better of his Confcience, and banished it from all his waking thoughts. But it takes advantage of his fleep, and frights him in his dreams. With greater elegance therefore he is made to call it coward Confcience, which dares not encounter him while he is himself awake, and his faculties entire; bnt takes advantage of reafon being off its guard, and the powers of the foul diffolved in fleep. But the Players, amongst their other innumerable absurdities in the reprefentation of this Tragedy, make Richard fay, inftead of O coward Confcience, O tyrant ConScience! whereby not only a great beauty is loft, but a great blunder committed. For Richard had entirely got the better of his Confcience; which could on no account, therefore, be faid to play the tyrant with him.

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Left I revenge. What myself on myself?
I love myself. Wherefore? for any good,
That I myself have done unto myfelf?
O, no.

Alas, I rather hate myself,

For hateful deeds committed by my Self.
I am a villain; yet I lye, I am not.

Fool, of thyfelf fpeak well-Fool, do not flatter.
My confcience hath a thousand fev'ral tongues,
And every tongue brings in a fev'ral Tale,
And ev'ry Tale condemns me for a villain.
Perjury, perjury in high'ft degree,

Murder, ftern murder in the dir'ft degree,
All feveral fins, all us'd in each degree,
Throng to the bar, all crying, guilty! guilty!
I fhall defpair-there is no creature loves me :
And if I die, no foul fhall pity me.

Nay, wherefore fhould they? fince that I myself
Find in myself no pity to myself.

*Methought, the fouls 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. The early village-cock Hath twice done falutation to the morn;

Your friends are up, and buckle on their armour.
K. Rich. Ratcliff, I fear, I fear-

Rat. Nay, good my Lord, be not afraid of fhadows.

K. Rich. By the Apostle Paul, fhadows to night Have ftruck more terror to the foul of Richard, Than can the fubftancce of ten thoufand foldiers

Methought, the fouls, &c.] Thefe lines ftand with so little propriety at the end of this fpeech, that I cannot but fuf

pe&t them to be misplaced. Where then hall they be infertcd? Perhaps after thefe words, Fool do not flatter.

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