You have no cause to hold my friendship doubtful:
♦ I never was nor never will be false.
495 K. Rich. Well,
Go muster men; but, hear you, leave behind
♦ Your son, George Stanley: look your faith be firm,
Or else his head’s assurance is but frail.
♦ Stan. So deal with him as I prove true to you. [Exit.
Enter a Messenger.
500 Mess. My gracious sovereign, now in Devonshire,
As I by friends am well advertised,
♦ Sir Edward Courtney, and the haughty prelate
♦ Bishop of Exeter, his brother there,
♦ With many moe confederates, are in arms.
Enter another Messenger.
505 Sec. Mess. My liege, in Kent, the Guildfords are in arms;
♦ And every hour more competitors
♦ Flock to their aid, and still their power increaseth.
Enter another Messenger.
♦ Third Mess. My lord, the army of the Duke of Buckingham—
♦ K. Rich. Out on you, owls! nothing but songs of death? [He striketh him.
510 Take that, until thou bring me better news.
♦ Third Mess. The news I have to tell your majesty
Is, that by sudden floods and fall of waters,
Buckingham’s army is dispersed and scatter’d;
And he himself wander’d away alone,
No man knows whither.
515 K. Rich.   I cry thee mercy:
♦ There is my purse to cure that blow of thine.
♦ Hath any well-advised friend proclaim’d
♦ Reward to him that brings the traitor in?
♦ Third Mess. Such proclamation hath been made, my liege.
Enter another Messenger.
520 Fourth Mess. Sir Thomas Lovel and Lord Marquis Dorset,
♦ ’Tis said, my liege, in Yorkshire are in arms.
♦ Yet this good comfort bring I to your grace,
♦ The Breton navy is dispersed by tempest:
♦ Richmond, in Dorsetshire, sent out a boat
525 Unto the shore, to ask those on the banks
If they were his assistants, yea or no;
♦ Who answer’d him, they came from Buckingham
Upon his party: he, mistrusting them,
♦ Hoised sail and made away for Brittany.
530 K. Rich. March on, march on, since we are up in arms;
If not to fight with foreign enemies,
♦ Yet to beat down these rebels here at home.
Re-enter Catesby.
Cate. My liege, the Duke of Buckingham is taken;
♦ That is the best news: that the Earl of Richmond
535 Is with a mighty power landed at Milford,
♦ Is colder tidings, yet they must be told.
K. Rich. Away towards Salisbury! while we reason here,
A royal battle might be won and lost:
Some one take order Buckingham be brought
540 To Salisbury; the rest march on with me. [Flourish. Exeunt.