William Shakespeare: The Life and Death of King Richard III

ACT V. 2. SCENE II. Plain near Tamworth.

[Enter with drum and colours, RICHMOND, OXFORD, SIR JAMES BLUNT,
SIR WALTER HERBERT, and others, with Forces, marching.]

RICHMOND.
Fellows in arms, and my most loving friends,
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 usurping boar,
That spoil'd your summer fields and fruitful vines,
Swills your warm blood like wash, and makes his trough
In your embowell'd bosoms,--this foul swine
Lies now even in the centre of this isle,
Near to the town of Leicester, as we learn:
From Tamworth thither is but one day's march.
In God's name cheerly on, courageous friends,
To reap the harvest of perpetual peace
By this one bloody trial of sharp war.

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

HERBERT.
I doubt not but his friends will turn to us.

BLUNT.
He hath no friends but what are friends for fear,
Which in his dearest need will fly from him.

RICHMOND.
All for our vantage. Then in God's name, march:
True hope is swift, and flies with swallow's wings;
Kings it makes gods, and meaner creatures kings.

[Exeunt.]