King Richard III. continued.]

And thus I clothe my naked villany

With old odd ends, stol'n out of holy writ,
And seem a saint, when most I play the Devil.
Act i. Sc. 3.

O, I have pass'd a miserable night,
So full of fearful dreams, of ugly sights,
That, as I am a Christian faithful man,
I would not spend another such a night,
Though 't were to buy a world of happy days.
Act i. Sc. 4.

O Lord, methought, what pain it was to drown!
What dreadful noise of water in mine ears!
What sights of ugly death within mine eyes!
Methought I saw a thousand fearful wracks;
A thousand men that fishes gnaw'd upon;
Wedges of gold, great anchors, heaps of pearl,
Inestimable stones, unvalued jewels,

All scattered in the bottom of the sea :

Some lay in dead men's skulls; and in those holes Where eyes did once inhabit, there were crept, As 't were in scorn of eyes, reflecting gems.

Act i. Sc. 4.

So wise so young, they say, do ne'er live long.

Off with his head !2

Act iii. Sc I.

Act iii. Sc. 4.

Lives like a drunken sailor on a mast;

Ready with every nod to tumble down.

1 'stol'n forth,' White, Knight.

2 Cf. Cibber, p. 248.

Act iii. Sc. 4.

[King Richard III. continued.

Even in the afternoon of her best days.

Act iii. Sc. 7.

Thou troublest me: I am not in the vein.

Act iv. Sc. 2.

Their lips were four red roses on a stalk.

The sons of Edward sleep in Abraham's bosom.

Act iv. Sc. 3.

Act iv. Sc. 3.

Let not the heavens hear these tell-tale women

Rail on the Lord's anointed.

Act iv. Sc. 4.

Tetchy and wayward.

Act iv. Sc. 4.

An honest tale speeds best, being plainly told.

Act iv. Sc. 4.

Thus far into the bowels of the land
Have we march'd on without impediment.

Act v. Sc. 2.

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

Act v. Sc. 2.

The king's name is a tower of strength.1

Act v. Sc. 3.

O, coward conscience, how dost thou afflict me!
Act v. Sc. 3.

My conscience hath a thousand several tongues,
And every tongue brings in a several tale,
And every tale condemns me for a villain.

Act v. Sc. 3.

1 The name of the Lord is a strong tower.

Prov. xviii 10.

King Richard III. continued.]

By the apostle Paul, shadows to-night

Have struck more terror to the soul of Richard Than can the substance of ten thousand soldiers.

A horse! a horse! My kingdom for a horse!

Act v. Sc. 4.

I have set my life upon a cast,

And I will stand the hazard of the die.

I think there be six Richmonds in the field.

I swear, 't is better to be lowly born,
And range with humble livers in content,
Than to be perk'd up in a glist'ring grief,
And wear a golden sorrow.

1 Cf. Cibber, p. 249.

Act ii. Sc. 3.

2 Cf. Spenser, Faerie Queene, Book i. Ch. i. St. 37, and Massinger A New Way to Pay Old Debts, Act iv. Sc. 2.

[King Henry VIII. continued

And then to breakfast, with

What appetite you have.

Act iii. Sc. 2.

I have touch'd the highest point of all my great

ness,

And from that full meridian of my glory,

I haste now to my setting: I shall fall
Like a bright exhalation in the evening,
And no man see me more.

Press not a falling man too far.

Act iii. Sc. 2.

Act iii. Sc. 2.

Farewell, a long farewell, to all my greatness! This is the state of man: to-day he puts forth The tender leaves of hope, to-morrow blossoms, And bears his blushing honours thick upon him: The third day, comes a frost, a killing frost.

Act iii. Sc. 2.

Vain pomp, and glory of this world, I hate ye;
I feel my heart new open'd. O, how wretched
Is that poor man, that hangs on princes' favours!
There is betwixt that smile we would aspire to,
That sweet aspect of princes and their ruin,
More pangs
and fears than wars or women have;
And when he falls, he falls like Lucifer,

Never to hope again.

And sleep in dull, cold marble.

Act iii. Sc. 2.

Act iii. Sc. 2.

Say, Wolsey, that once trod the ways of glory, And sounded all the depths and shoals of honour.

Act iii. Sc. 2.

I charge thee, fling away ambition :

By that sin fell the angels.

Act iii. Sc. 2.

King Henry VIII. continued.]

Love thyself last: cherish those hearts that hate

thee,

Corruption wins not more than honesty.

Still in thy right hand carry gentle peace,
To silence envious tongues: be just, and fear not.
Let all the ends thou aim'st at be thy country's,
Thy God's, and truth's.
Act iii. Sc. 2.

Had I but serv'd my God with half the zeal
I serv'd my king, he would not in mine age
Have left me naked to mine enemies.

Act iii. Sc. 2.

An old man, broken with the storms of state,
Is come to lay his weary bones among ye;
Give him a little earth for charity! Act iv. Sc. 2.

He gave his honours to the world again,
His blessed part to Heaven, and slept in peace.

So

may he rest his faults lie gently on him.

Act iv. Sc. 2.

Act iv. Sc. 2.

He was a man

Act iv. Sc. 2.

Of an unbounded stomach.

Men's evil manners live in brass; their virtues We write in water.1

Act iv. Sc. 2.

1 For men use, if they have an evil tourne, to write it in marble: and whoso doth us a good tourne we write Sir Thomas More, Richard III.

it in duste.

L'injure se grave en metal

Et le bienfait s'escrit en l'onde.

Jean Bertaut (1570-1611), Carey's French Poets.