And full as oft came Edward to my side, Richard cried, "Charge! and give no foot of ground!" And cried, "A crown, or else a glorious tomb! waves. A Father's Passion on the Murder of a favorite Child. O tiger's heart, wrapp'd in a woman's hide! How couldst thou drain the life-blood of the To bid the father wipe his eyes withal, [child, And yet be seen to bear a woman's face? Women are soft, mild, pitiful, and flexible; Thou stern, obdurate, flinty, rough, remorseless. That face of his the hungry cannibals Would not have touch'd, would not have stain'd with blood; But you are more inhuman, more inexorableO, ten times more, than tigers of Hyrcania. See, ruthless queen, a hapless father's tears: This cloth thou dipp'dst in blood of my sweet boy, And I with tears do wash the blood away. Keep thou the napkin, and go boast of this: And, if thou tell'st the heavy story right, Upon my soul the hearers will shed tears; Yea, even my foes will shed fast-falling tears, And say, "Alas, it was a piteous deed!" The Duke of York in Battle. Methought, he bore him in the thickest troop, As doth a lion in a herd of neat; Or as a bear, encompass'd round with dogs, Who having pinch'd a few, and made them cry, The rest stand all aloof, and bark at him. The Blessings of a Shepherd's Life. O God! methinks it were a happy life, To be no better than a homely swain; To carve out dials quaintly, point by point, To sit upon a hill, as I do now, Thereby to see the minutes how they run: How many make the hour full complete, How many hours bring about the day, How many days will finish up the year, How many years a mortal man may live: When this is known, then to divide the times: hours must I tend my flock; So many So many hours must I take my rest; So many hours must I contemplate; So many hours must I sport myself; So many days my ewes have been with young; weeks ere the So many months ere I shall sheer the fleece; fools will yean; poor So minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, and So many years, Pass'd over to the end they were created, Mob. Look, as I blow this feather from my face, And as the air blows it to me again, Obeying with my wind when I do blow, And yielding to another when it blows, Commanded always by the greater gust; Such is the lightness of you common men. A Simile on ambitious Thoughts. Saying-he'll lade it dry to have his way. womb, And, for I should not deal in her soft laws, Gloucester's Dissimulation. And wet my cheeks with artificial tears; Henry VI. on his own Lenity. I have not stopp'd mine ears to their demands, Nor posted off their suits with slow delays; My pity hath been balm to heal their wounds, My mildness hath allay'd their swelling griefs, My mercy dried their water-flowing tears. I have not been desirous of their wealth, Nor much oppress'd them with great subsidies, Nor forward of revenge, tho' they much err'd. The Earl of Warwick's dying Speech. Ah, who is nigh? Come to me, friend or foe, And tell me who is victor, York or Warwick ? Why ask I that? My mangled body shows; My blood, my want of strength, my sick heart That I must yield my body to the earth, [shows And, by my fall, the conquest to my foe. Thus yields the cedar to the axe's edge, Whose arms gave shelter to the princely eagle, Under whose shade the ramping lion slept; Whose top-branch overpeer'd Jove's spreading [wind. And kept low shrubs from winter's powerful These eyes, that now are dimm'd with death's black veil, tree, Have been as piercing as the mid-day sun, should say, My tears gainsay; for every word I speak, Omens on the Birth of Richard III. Dogs howl'd, and hideous tempests shook down trees; The raven rook'd her on the chimney's top, And chattering pies in dismal discord sung: Thy mother felt more than a mother's pain, And yet brought forth less than a mother's To wit-an indigest, deformed lump, [hope; Not like the fruit of such a goodly tree. [born, Teeth had'st thou in thy head when thou wast To signify-thou cam'st to bite the world: And, if the rest be true which I have heard, Thou cam'st "into the world with thy legs forward." Action to be carried on with Resolution. -If I am Traduc'd by ignorant tongues, which neither My faculties, nor person, yet will be [know The chronicles of my doing-let me say, 'Tis but the fate of place, and the rough brake That virtue must go through. We must not Our necessary actions, in the fear [stint To cope which ever, malicious censurers; As rav'nous fishes, do a vessel follow That is new-trimm'd; but benefit no further Than vainly longing. What we oft do best, By sick interpreters, once weak ones, is Not For our best act. ours, or not allow'd; what worst, as oft Hitting a grosser quality, is cried up If we shall stand still, In fear our motion will be mock'd or carp'd at, We should take root here where we sit, or sit State-statues only. New Customs. New customs, Though they be never so ridiculous, Longer than I have time to tell his years! This from a dying man receive as certain : Where you are liberal of your loves and counsels, [friends, Be sure you be not loose: for those you make And give your hearts to, when they once per ceive The least rub in your fortunes, fall away That when the greatest stroke of fortune falls, The Blessings of a low Station. Queen Catharine's Speech to her Husband. In what have I offended you? What cause I have been to you a true and humble wife, -You are meck and humble mouth'd; You sign your place and calling, in full seeming With meekness and humility: but your heart Is cramm'd with arrogancy, spleen, and pride. You have, by fortune, and his highness' famounted, Gone slightly o'er low steps; and now are Where pow'rs are your retainers: and your words, vors, Domestics to you, serve your will, as't please King Henry's Character of Queen Catharine. On her own Merit. Have I liv'd thus long (let me speak myself, Still met the king? lov'd him next Heaven? Been, out of fondness, superstitious to him? The hearts of princes kiss obedience, So much they love it: but to stubborn spirits They swell and grow as terrible as storms. Horror, its outward Effects. -Some strange commotion Is in his brain: he bites his lip, and starts; Stops on a sudden, looks upon the ground, Then lays his finger on his temple: straight Springs out into fast gait; then stops again, Strikes his breast hard; and anon he casts His eye against the moon: in most strange posWe've seen him set himself. [tures Firm Allegiance. -Though perils did [and Abound as thick as thought could make 'em, Appear in forms more horrid; yet my duty, As doth a rock against the chiding flood, Should the approach of this wild river break, And stand unshaken yours. Anger, its external Effects. What sudden anger's this? How have I reap'd He parted frowning from me, as if ruin [it? Leap'd from his eyes: so looks the chafed lion [him; Upon the daring huntsman that has gall'd Then makes him nothing. Falling Greatness. -Nay, then farewell! [greatness; I have touch'd the highest point of all my And, from that full meridian of my glory, I haste now to my setting. I shall fall, Like a bright exhalation in the evening, And no man see me more. The Vicissitudes of Life. So farewell to the little good you bear me. Farewell, a long farewell, to all my greatness! This is the state of man: To-day he puts forth The tender leaves of hope, to-morrow blos[him : soms, And bears his blushing honors thick upon Vain pomp and glory of this world, I hate ye! Cardinal Wolsey's Speech to Cromwell. well; And, when I am forgotten, as I shall be, And sleep in dull cold marble, where no mention [thee; Of me must more be heard, say then, I taught Say, Wolsey, that once rode the waves of glory, And sounded all the depths and shoals of ho nor, Found thee a way, out of his wreck, to rise in; Corruption wins not more than honesty. Thou fall'st a blessed martyr. Serve the king; There take an inventory of all I have, Applause. Such a noise arose As the shrouds make at sea in a stiff tempest, As loud, and to as many tunes: Hats, cloaks, (Doublets, I think) flew up; and had their faces [joy Been loose, this day they had been lost. Such I never saw before. Great-bellied women, That had not half a week to go, like rams In the old time of war, would shake the press, And make 'em reel before 'em. No man living Could say, "this is my wife," there; all were So strangely in one piece. [woven Pursued him still; and three nights after this, So may he rest; his faults lie gently on him! Men's evil manners live in brass; their virtues Griff. Noble Madam, We write in water. summer. And though he were unsatisfied in getting Unwilling to out-live the good he did it: Inhumanity. 'Tis a cruelty, Cardinal Wolsey's Death. At last, with easy roads, he came to Leicester, To load a falling man.Lodg'd in the abbey; where the rev'rend abbot, With all his convent, honorably receiv'd him; To whom he gave these words: "O father abbot, An old man, broken with the storms of state, Is come to lay his weary bones among ye: Give him a little earth for charity!" So went to bed: where eagerly his sickness Archbishop Cranmer's Prophecy. -Let me speak, Sir, For Heav'n now bids me; and the words I utter Let none think flattery, for they'll find them [her!) This royal infant (Heaven still move about Though in a cradle, yet now promises truth. Upon this land a thousand, thousand blessings, | That mould up such a mighty piece as this, Her foes shake like a field of beaten corn, grows with her. Good In her days every man shall eat in safety, Under his own vine, what he plants; and sing The merry songs of peace to all his neighbours. God shall be truly known: and those about her From her shall read the perfect ways of honor, And by those claim their greatness, not by blood. And talking of the Alps and Apennines, A Description of England. Even till that England, hedg'd in with the main, Description of an English Army. Rash, inconsiderate, fiery voluntaries, Nor shall this peace sleep with her; but, as when Who, from the sacred ashes of her honor, terror, That were the servants to this chosen infant, And, like a mountain cedar, reach his branches § 26. THE LIFE AND DEATH OF SHAKSPEARE. KING JOHN. New Titles. "GooD-den, Sir Richard-God a' mercy fellow," And if his name be George, I'll call him Peter: For new-made honor doth forget men's names; "Tis too respective and too sociable For your conversion. Now your travellerHe and his tooth-pick at my worship's mess: And when my knightly stomach is suffic'd, Why then I suck my teeth, and catechise My picked man of countries:-My dear Sir, (Thus leaning on mine elbow, I begin) "I shall beseech you"-that is question now; And then comes answer like an A B C book; "O Sir," says answer, "at your best command, "At your employment, at your service, Sir: No, Sir," says question, "I, sweet Sir, at yours.' And so, ere answer knows what question would, (Saving in dialogue of compliment; With ladies' faces, and fierce dragons' spleens- By how much unexpected, by so much A Boaster. What cracker is this same, that deafs our ears With this abundance of superfluous breath? Description of Victory, by the French. You men of Angiers, open wide your gates, And let young Arthur, Duke of Bretagne, in; Who, by the hand of France, this day hath made [ther, Much work for tears in many an English mo- |