And, having dropped the expected bag, pass on.
He whistles as he goes, light-hearted wretch!
Cold and yet cheerful: messenger of grief
Perhaps to thousands, and of joy to some;
To him indifferent whether grief or joy.
Houses in ashes, and the fall of stocks,
Births, deaths, and marriages, epistles wet
With tears, that trickled down the writer's cheeks
Fast as the periods from his fluent quill,
Or charged with amorous sighs of absent swains,
Or nymphs responsive, equally affect
His horse and him, unconscious of them all.
But O the important budget! ushered in
With such heart-shaking music, who can say
What are its tidings? have our troops awaked?
Or do they still, as if with opium drugged,
Snore to the murmurs of the Atlantic wave ?
Is India free? and does she wear her plumed
And jewelled turban with a smile of peace,
Or do we grind her still? The grand debate,
The popular harangue, the tart reply,
The logic, and the wisdom, and the wit,
And the loud laugh-I long to know them all;
I burn to set the imprisoned wranglers free,
And give them voice and utterance once again.
Now stir the fire, and close the shutters fast,
Let fall the curtains, wheel the sofa round,
And while the bubbling and loud-hissing urn
Throws up a steamy column, and the cups,
That cheer but not inebriate, wait on each,
So let us welcome peaceful evening in.
Not such his evening who, with shining face,
Sweats in the crowded theatre, and squeezed
And bored with elbow-points through both his sides,
Out-scolds the ranting actor on the stage:
Nor his who patient stands till his feet throb,
And his head thumps, to feed upon the breath
Of patriots, bursting with heroic rage,
Or placemen, all tranquility and smiles.
HOME AND CLASS WORK.
Learn the spellings and meanings at the top of the page; and write sentences containing these words.
Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.
I come to bury Cæsar, not to praise him.
The evil that men do lives after them,
The good is oft interréd with their bones-
So let it be with Cæsar. The noble Brutus
Hath told you Cæsar was ambitious;
If it were so, it was a grievous fault;
And grievously hath Cæsar answer'd it.
1 Antony-is a friend to Cæsar, whom Brutus, as a Republican, had slain for his alleged oppression of liberty: Cassius and Casca are other conspirators against Cæsar. Brutus was subsequently obliged to flee, and committed suicide at Philippi.
2 Answered it-Acquitted it by his death-paid the debt with his life; or suffered for it.
Julius Cæsar, the conqueror of Pompey at Pharsalia, and the great Roman general who overran Gaul and Britain, was murdered by a band of Republican conspirators who thought Cæsar was dangerous to public liberty. These conspirators included Brutus, Mark Antony, Casca, Cassius, and others. For a brief while they held sway after the death of the man they had murdered, but were soon forced to flee, and finally came to a violent death themselves.
Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest
(For Brutus is an honourable man,
So are they all—all honourable men),
Come I to speak of Cæsar's funeral.
He was my friend, faithful and just to me:
But Brutus says he was ambitious,
And Brutus is an honourable man.
He hath brought many captives home to Rome,
Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill;
Did this in Cæsar seem ambitious?
When that the poor have cried, Cæsar hath wept;
Ambition should be made of sterner stuff:
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious,
And Brutus is an honourable man.
You all did see that, on the Lupercal1,
I thrice presented him a kingly crown,
Which he did thrice refuse. Was this ambition?
Yet Brutus says he was ambitious,
And, sure, he is an honourable man.
I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke,
But here I am to speak what I do know.
You all did love him once, not without cause;
What cause withholds you then to mourn for him?
O judgment! thou art fled to brutish beasts,
And men have lost their reason. Bear with me;
My heart is in the coffin there with Cæsar,
And I must pause till it come back to me.
If you have tears, prepare to shed them now.
You all do know this mantle: I remember
The first time ever Cæsar put it on;
'Twas on a summer's evening, in his tent,
1 Lupercal-A feast held on the 15th February, instituted by the Roman shepherds.
That day he overcame the Nervii :1
Look! in this place ran Cassius' dagger through;
See, what a rent the envious Casca made-
Through this the well-belovéd Brutus stabb’d;
And, as he pluck'd his curséd steel away,
Mark how the blood of Cæsar follow'd it!
As rushing out of doors, to be resolv'd
If Brutus so unkindly knock'd, or no:
For Brutus, as you know, was Cæsar's angel.
Judge, O ye gods! how dearly Cæsar lov'd him!
This was the most unkindest cut of all;
For when the noble Cæsar saw him stab,
Ingratitude, more strong than traitor's arms,
Quite vanquish'd him; then burst his mighty heart;
And in his mantle muffling up his face,
Even at the base of Pompey's statue,
Which all the while ran blood, great Cæsar fell!
O what a fall was there, my countrymen:
Then I, and you, and all of us fell down,
Whilst bloody treason flourished over us.
O, now you weep; and I perceive you feel
The dint of pity; these are gracious drops.
Kind souls! what! weep you when you but behold
Our Cæsar's vesture wounded? Look you here!
Here is himself, marred, as you see, by traitors.
Good friends, sweet friends, let me not stir you up
To any sudden flood of mutiny:
They that have done this deed are honourable!
What private griefs they have, alas! I know not,
That made them do it; they are wise and honourable;
1 Nervii-The most warlike of the Gauls: they attacked the great Roman general, but were defeated
2 Pompey-Former rival to Cæsar; he was murdered in Egypt after fleeing from his defeat at Pharsalia.
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