A Child's History of England.129

He was, by this time, dreaded and hated by all classes of his subjects. His nobles deserted every day to Henry's side; he dared not call another Parliament, lest [唯恐] his crimes should be denounced there; and for want of money, he was obliged to get Benevolences from the citizens, which exasperated them all against him. It was said too, that, being stricken by his conscience, he dreamed frightful dreams, and started up in the night-time, wild with terror and remorse. Active to the last, through all this, he issued vigorous proclamations against Henry of Richmond and all his followers, when he heard that they were coming against him with a Fleet from France; and took the field as fierce and savage as a wild boar - the animal represented on his shield.

take the field: 上场比赛，本例是上战场。

Henry of Richmond landed with six thousand men at Milford Haven, and came on against King Richard, then encamped at Leicester with an army twice as great, through North Wales. On Bosworth Field the two armies met; and Richard, looking along Henry's ranks [横列], and seeing them crowded with the English nobles who had abandoned him, turned pale when he beheld the powerful Lord Stanley and his son (whom he had tried hard to retain) among them. But, he was as brave as he was wicked, and plunged into the thickest of the fight. He was riding hither and thither [here and there], laying about him [放到他周围的人] in all directions, when he observed the Earl of Northumberland - one of his few great allies - to stand inactive, and the main body of his troops to hesitate. At the same moment, his desperate glance caught Henry of Richmond among a little group of his knights. Riding hard at him, and crying 'Treason!' he killed his standard-bearer, fiercely unhorsed another gentleman, and aimed a powerful stroke at Henry himself, to cut him down. But, Sir William Stanley parried [挡开] it as it fell, and before Richard could raise his arm again, he was borne down [bear down - move quickly] in a press [crowd] of numbers [大量], unhorsed, and killed. Lord Stanley picked up the crown, all bruised and trampled [踩坏], and stained with blood, and put it upon Richmond's head, amid loud and rejoicing cries of 'Long live King Henry!'

That night, a horse was led up to the church of the Grey Friars at Leicester; across whose back was tied, like some worthless sack, a naked body brought there for burial. It was the body of the last of the Plantagenet line, King Richard the Third, usurper and murderer, slain at the battle of Bosworth Field in the thirty-second year of his age, after a reign of two years.

六级/考研单词: dread, noble, dare, parliament, lest, denounce, oblige, conscience, terror, issue, vigor, fleet, fierce, savage, shield, haven, rank, abandon, potent, wicked, plunge, hesitate, glance, knight, stroke, bruise, stain, amid, loud, rejoice, gray, sack, naked, tertiary, reign