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Beneath the personal force of this rash mar,
Who forty summers since hung at the breast
A playful weakling; whom the heat unnerves;
The north-wind pierces; and the hand of death
May, in a moment, change, to clay as vile

As that of the scourged slave whose chains it severs ?
No! 'tis our weakness gasping, or the shows
Of outward strength that builds up tyranny,
And makes it look so glorious :-If we shrink
Faint-hearted from the reckoning of our span
Of mortal days, we pamper the fond wish
For long duration in a line of kings:

If the rich pageantry of thoughts must fade,
All unsubstantial as the regal hues

Of eve which purpled them, our cunning frailty
Must robe a living image with their pomp,
And wreathe a diadem around its brow,
In which our sunny fantasies may live
Empearled, and gleam, in fatal splendor, far
On after ages.
We must look within

For that which makes us slaves ;-on sympathies
Which find no kindred objects in the plain

Of common life-affections that aspire
In air too thin-and fancy's dewy film
Floating for rest: for even such delicate threads,
Gathered by fate's engrossing hand, supply
The eternal spindle whence she weaves the bond
Of cable strength in which our nature struggles!
Ctes. Go, talk to others, if thou wilt;-to me
All argument, save that of steel, is idle.

Medon. No more ;-let 's to the council--there, my son, Tell thy great message nobly; and for thee,

Poor orphaned youth, be sure the gods are just! [Exeunt.]

Ex. CCXLI.-SCENE FROM KING JOHN-ACT II.

SHAKSPEARE.

KING JOHN, KING PHILIP, and CITIZENS OF ANGIERS.

K. John. You men of Angiers, and my loving subjects,K. Phi. You loving men of Angiers, Arthur's subjects, Our trumpet called you to this gentle parle.

K. John. For our advantage;-Therefore hear us first.
These flags of France, that are advanced here
Before the eye and prospect of our town,
Have hither march'd to your endamagement:
The cannons have their bowels full of wrath;
And ready mounted are they to spit forth
Their iron indignation 'gainst your walls:
All preparation for a bloody siege,

And merciless proceeding by these French,
Confront your city's eyes, your winking gates;
And, but for our approach, those sleeping stones
That as a waist do girdle you about,
By the compulsion of their ordinance
By this time from their fixed beds of lime
Had been dishabited, and wide havoc made
For bloody power to rush upon your peace.
But, on the sight of us, your lawful king,—
Who painfully with much expedient march,
Have brought a countercheck before your gates,
To save unscratch'd your city's threaten'd cheeks,—
Behold, the French, amazed, vouchsafe a parle :
And now, instead of bullets wrapp'd in fire,
To make a shaking fever in your walls,
They shout but calm words, folded up in smoke,
To make a faithless error in your ears:
Which trust accordingly, kind citizens,
And let us in, your king; whose labor'd spirits,
For-wearied in this action of swift speed,

Crave harborage within your city walls.

K. Phi. When I have said, make answer to us both: Lo, in this right hand, whose protection

Is most divinely vow'd upon the right

Of him it holds, stands young Plantagenet;
Son to the elder brother of this man,

And king o'er him, and all that he enjoys:

For this down-trodden equity, we tread

In warlike march these greens before your town,
Being no further enemy to you,

Than the constraint of hospitable zeal,
In the relief of this oppressed child,
Religiously provokes. Be pleased then
To pay that duty, which you truly owe,

To him that owes it; namely, this young prince,
And then our arms,-like to a muzzled bear,

Save in aspect, have all offence seal'd up;
Our cannon's malice vainly shall be spent
Against the invulnerable clouds of heaven;
And, with a blessed and unvex'd retire,'
With unhack'd swords, and helmets all unbruis'd,
We will bear home that lusty blood again,
Which here we came to spout against your town,
And leave your children, wives, and you in peace.
But if you fondly pass our proffer'd offer,
'Tis not the roundure of your old-faced walls
Can hide you from our messengers of war:
Though all these English, and their discipline,
Were harbor'd in their rude circumference.
Then, tell us, shall our city call us lord,
In that behalf which we have challenged it?
Or shall we give the signal to our rage,
And stalk in blood to our possession?

1st Cit. In brief, we are the king of England's subjects;

For him, and in his right we hold this town.

K. John. Acknowledge then the king, and let me in.

1st Cit. That can we not: but he that proves the king,

To him will we prove loyal; till that time,

Have we ramm'd up our gates against the world.

K. John. Doth not the crown of England prove the king? And, if not that, I bring you witness,

Twice fifteen thousand hearts of England's breed,—

1st Cit. Till you compound whose right is worthiest,

We, for the worthiest, hold the right from both.

K. John. Then God forgive the sin of all those souls, That to their everlasting residence,

Before the dew of evening fall shall fleet,

In dreadful trial of our kingdom's king!

K. Phi. Amen! Amen!-Mount, chevaliers, to arms!

Ex. CCXLIL-SCENE FROM KING RICHARD II.

SHAKSPEARE.

KING RICHARD, BOLINGBROKE, and NORFOLK. Boling. First, (Heaven be the record to my speech!) In the devotion of a subject's love,

Tendering the precious safety of my prince,

And free from misbegotten hate,

Come I appellant to this princely presence.-
Now, Thomas Mowbray, do I turn to thee,
And mark my greeting well; for what I speak,
My body shall make good upon this earth,
Or my divine soul answer it in heaven;—
Thou art a traitor, and a miscreant;
Too good to be so, and too bad to live:
Once more, the more to aggravate the note,

With a foul traitor's name stuff I thy throat;

And wish, (so please my sovereign,) ere I move,

What my tongue speaks, my right-drawn sword may prove. Nor. Let not my cold words here accuse my zeal :

'Tis not the trial of a woman's war,

The bitter clamor of two eager tongues

Can arbitrate this cause betwixt us twain:

The blood is hot that must be cooled for this;
Yet can I not of such tame patience boast,
As to be hushed, and naught at all to say:
First, the fair reverence of your highness curbs me
From giving reins and spurs to my free speech;
Which else would post, until it had returned
These terms of treason doubled down his throat.
Setting aside his high blood's royalty,
And let him be no kinsman to my liege,

I do defy him, and I spit at him;

Call him a slanderous coward, and a villain :
Which to maintain, I would allow him odds;
And meet him, were I tied to run afoot
Even to the frozen ridges of the Alps,
Or any other ground inhabitable
Wherever Englishman durst set his foot.
Meantime, let this defend my loyalty,-
By all my hopes, most falsely doth he lie.

Boling. Pale, trembling coward, there I throw my gage, Disclaiming here the kindred of a king;

And lay aside my high blood's royalty,

Which fear, not reverence, makes thee to except.
If guilty dread hath left thee so much strength
As to take up mine honor's pawn, then stoop:
By that and all the rights of knighthood, else,
Will I make good against thee, arm to arm,
What I have spoke, or thou canst worse devise.

Nor. I take it up; and, by that sword I swear,
Which gently laid my knighthood on my shoulder,

I'll answer thee in any fair degree,

Or chivalrous design of knightly trial;

And when I mount, alive may I not light,

If I be traitor, or unjustly fight!

K. Rich. What doth our cousin lay to Mowbray's charge? It must be great, that can inherit us

So much as of a thought of ill in him

Boling. Look,-what I speak my life shall prove it true;—That Mowbray hath received eight thousand nobles,

In name of lendings for your highness' soldiers;
The which he hath detained for lewd employments,
Like a false traitor and injurious villain.
Besides I say, and will in battle prove,-
Or here, or elsewhere, to the furthest verge
That ever was surveyed by English eye,—
That all the treasons, for these eighteen years
Complotted and contrived in this land,

Fetch from false Mowbray their first head and spring.
Further I say, and further will maintain
Upon his bad life,—to make all this good,-

That he did plot the duke of Gloster's death;
Suggest his soon-believing adversaries;

And, consequently, like a traitor coward,

Sluiced out his innocent soul through streams of blood:
Which blood, like sacrificing Abel's, cries,

Even from the tongueless caverns of the earth,
To me for justice, and rough chastisement;
And by the glorious worth of my descent,
This arm shall do it, or this life be spent.

K. Rich. How high a pitch his resolution soars!
Thomas of Norfolk, what sayest thou to this?
Nor. Oh! let my sovereign turn away his face,
And bid his ears a little while be deaf,

Till I have told this slander of his blood,

How God, and good men, hate so foul a liar.

K. Rich. Mowbray, impartial are our eyes and ears.
Were he my brother, nay, my kingdom's heir,
(As he is but my father's brother's son,)
Now by my scepter's awe I make a vow,
Such neighbor nearness to our sacred blood
Should nothing privilege him, nor partialize
The unstopping firmness of my upright soul;
He is our subject, Mowbray, so art thou;
Free speech, and fearless, I to thee allow.

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