SCENE II. The camp near Tamworth. The Life and Death of Richard the Third  Shakespeare homepage  |  Richard III  | Act 5, Scene 2 

 Previous scene  |  Next scene  SCENE II. The camp near Tamworth. 

 Enter RICHMOND, OXFORD, BLUNT, HERBERT, and others, with drum and colours  RICHMOND  Fellows in arms, and my most loving friends, 

 Bruised 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 fly to us. 

 BLUNT  He hath no friends but who are friends for fear. 

 Which in his greatest need will shrink 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  Shakespeare homepage  |  Richard III  | Act 5, Scene 2 

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