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Notes and Questions

In what part of the castle does this conversation take place? What tells you?

Where are Marmion's followers during this time? Where are Douglas's soldiers and servants? What lines tell you? Notice how simply Marmion reminds Douglas of the claim he had upon hospitality, while in Scotland. Lines 9 to 12. Note the claims that have always been allowed the stranger: "And stranger is a holy name, Guidance and rest and food and fire,

In vain he never must require." What part of Marmion's claim does Douglas recognize? Which lines show this?

What claim does Marmion make

for one "who does England's

"pitch of pride'' "flush of rage"

"'ire"

"'unmeet''

message''?

What do we call one "who does England's message'' at Washington?

Is this Marmion's personal pride

or pride of country (patriotism)? Read the lines in which Marmion 's

personal pride shows itself in resentment of Douglas's insults. What does Douglas forget when he threatens Marmion? Line 69. Which man appears to greater ad vantage in this scene? "train❞—procession. "'plain"-complain. "Tantal'lon"-Douglas's castle. "warder''-guard. "peer-equal.

"peer"-a nobleman.

"Saint Bride'-a saint belong. ing to the house of Douglas. "rowel"-wheel of a spur.

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IS THERE, for honest poverty,
That hangs his head, and a' that?
The coward-slave, we pass him by;
We dare be poor for a' that!

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40

That man to man, the warld o'er

Shall brothers be for a' that.

HELPS TO STUDY

Biographical: Robert Burns was born in Ayrshire, Scotland, in 1759. His life was short and full of poverty and privation; but he saw poetry in all the commonplace occurrences of every-day life. His sympathy went out to all human kind and, as the above selection shows, he had a high regard for the real worth of man.

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MERCHANT OF VENICE, ACT IV., SCENE I.

THE quality of mercy is not strained;
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath; it is twice blessed;

5

10

15

It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes.
'Tis mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown;
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty,

Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings:
But mercy is above the sceptred sway:

It is enthronéd in the hearts of kings,

It is an attribute of God himself:

And earthly power doth then show likest God's,
When mercy seasons justice. Therefore,

Jew, though justice be thy plea, consider this,-
That, in the course of justice, none of us
Should see salvation; we do pray for mercy;
And that same prayer doth teach us all to render
The deeds of mercy.

HELPS TO STUDY

Biographical and Historical: William Shakespeare, the greatest of English poets, indeed one of the greatest of the world's poets, was born in 1564 at Stratford-on-Avon. As a young man of twenty-two, after his marriage with Anne Hathaway, he went up to London, where he became connected with theaters, first, tradition says, by holding horses at the doors. The next twenty years he spent in London as an actor, and in writing poems and plays, later becoming a shareholder as well as an actor. The last ten years of his life were spent at Stratford, where he died at the age of fifty-two. This was the time of Queen Elizabeth and is known as the Elizabethan Age. It was the age richest in genius of all kinds, but especially in the creation of dramatic literature.

In the foregoing selection, Portia, disguised as a lawyer, makes this famous speech in pleading the cause of Antonio against Shylock.

Notes

"strained"-restrained

"shows-is the emblem of

Words and Phrases for Discussion.

"temporal power" "sceptered sway”

"Earthly power doth then show likest God's
When mercy seasons justice"

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2. THE SEVEN AGES OF MAN

AS YOU LIKE IT, ACT II, SCENE 7.

ALL the world's a stage,

And all the men and women merely players:
They have their exits and their entrances;
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first, the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms;
Then the whining school-boy, with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress' eye-brow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation

Even in the cannon's mouth. And then the Justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lined,--

With eyes severe, and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part.

The sixth age shifts

Into the lean and slippered pantaloon,

With spectacles on nose, and pouch on side;
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness, and mere oblivion,

Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

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