Графични страници
PDF файл
ePub

DRUMS.

Strike up the drums: and let the tongue of war Plead for our interest.

[blocks in formation]

An echo with the clamour of thy drum,
And even at hand a drum is ready brac'd,
That shall reverberate all as loud as thine;
Sound but another, and another shall,
As loud as thine, rattle the welkin's* ear,'
And mock the deep-mouth'd thunder.

APPROACH OF DEATH.

It is too late; the life of all his blood Is touch'd corruptibly; and his pure brain [house,) (Which some suppose the soul's frail dwellingDoth, by the idle comments that it makes, Foretell the ending of mortality.

MADNESS OCCASIONED BY POISON.

Ay, marry, now my soul hath elbow room;
It would not out at windows, nor at doors.
There is so hot a summer in my-bosom,
That all my bowels crumble up to dust:
I am a scribbled form, drawn with a pen
Upon a parchment; and against this fire
Do I shrink up,

Poison'd,-ill fare:--dead, forsook, cast off:
And none of you will bid the winter come,
To thrust his icy fingers in my maw;

Nor let my kingdom's rivers take their course
Through my burn'd bosom; nor entreat the north
To make his bleak winds kiss my parched lips
And comfort me with cold.

ENGLAND INVINCIBLE IF UNANIMOUS.

England never did (nor never shall)
Lie at the proud foot of a conqueror,
But when it first did help to wound itself.
Now these her princes are come home again,
ome the three corners of the world in arms,

*Sky.

And we shall shock them: Nought shall make us

rue,

If England to itself do rest but true.

KING RICHARD II.

ACT I.

REPUTATION.

· THE purest treasure mortal times afford,
Is-spotless reputation; that away,
Men are but gilded loam, or painted clay.

COWARDICE.

That which in mean men we entitle-patience, Is pale cold cowardice in noble breasts.

CONSOLATION UNDER BANISHMENT.

All places that the eye of heaven visits,
Are to a wise man ports and happy havens:
Teach thy necessity to reason thus;
There is no virtue like necessity.

Think not, the king did banish thee;
But thou the king: Wo doth the heavier sit,
Where it perceives it is but faintly borne.
Go, say-I sent thee forth to purchase honour,
And not-the king exil'd thee: or suppose,
Devouring pestilence hangs in our air,
And thou art flying to a fresher clime.
Look, what thy soul holds dear, imagine it
To lie that way thou go'st, not whence thou com❜st,
Suppose the singing birds, musicians;

The grass whereon thou tread'st, the presence* strew'd;

The flowers, fair ladies; and thy steps, no more
Than a delightful measure, or a dance:

For gnarlingt

sorrow hath less power to bite The man that mocks at it, and sets it light.

*Presence chamber at court.

+ Growling.

And fits the mounting spirits, like myself:
For he is a bastard to the time,

That doth not smack of observation.

ACT II.

DESCRIPTION OF ENGLAND.

That pale, that white-fac'd shore,

Whose foot spurns back the ocean's roaring tides,
And coops from other lands her islanders,
Even till that England, hedg'd in with the main,
That water-walled bulwark, still secure
And confident from foreign purposes,
Even till that utmost corner of the west
Salute thee for her king.

DESCRIPTION OF AN ENGLISH ARMY.

His marches are expedient* to this town,
His forces strong, his soldiers confident.
With him along is come the mother-queen,
An Ate,† stirring him to blood and strife;
With her her niece, the lady Blanch of Spain;
With them a bastard of the king deceas'd:
And all the unsettled humors of the land,-
Rash, inconsiderate, fiery voluntaries,

With ladies' faces, and fierce dragons' spleens,—
Have sold their fortunes at their native homes,
Bearing their birthrights proudly on their backs,
To make a hazard of new fortunes here.
In brief, a braver choice of dauntless spirits,
Than now the English bottoms have waft o'er,
Did never float upon the swelling tide,
To do offence and scatht in Christendom.
The interruption of their churlish drums
Cuts off more circumstance: they are at hand.

COURAGE.

By how much unexpected, by so much We must awake endeavour for defence: For courage mounteth with occasion.

* Immediate, expeditious. ↑ The Goddess of Revenge.

+ Mischief.

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 Much work for tears in many an English mother, Whose sons lie scatter'd on the bleeding ground: Many a widow's husband grovelling lies, Coldly embracing the discolour'd earth; And victory, with little loss, doth play Upon the dancing banners of the French; Which are at hand, triumphantly display'd To enter conquerors.

VICTORY DESCRIBED BY THE ENGLISH.

Rejoice, you men of Angiers, ring your bells;
King John, your king and England's, doth approach,
Commander of this hot malicious day!

Their armours, that march'd hence so silver bright,
Hither return all gilt with Frenchman's blood;
There stuck no plume in any English crest,
That is removed by a staff of France;
Our colours do return in those same hands
That did display them when we first march'd forth:
And, like a jolly troop of huntsmen, come
Our lusty English, all with purpled hands,
Died in the dying slaughter of their foes.

A COMPLETE LADY.

If lusty love should go in quest of beauty,
Where should he find it fairer than in Blanch?
If zealous* love should go in search of virtue,
Where should he find it purer than in Blanch?
If love ambitious sought a match of birth,
Whose veins bound richer blood than lady Blanch?

POWERFUL EFFECTS OF SELF-INTEREST.

Roundedt in the ear

With that same purpose-changer, that sly devil,

[blocks in formation]

That broker, that still breaks the pate of faith;
That daily break-vow; he that wins of all,
Of kings, of beggars, old men, young men, maids;-
Who having no external thing to lose

But the word maid,-cheats the poor maid of that; That smooth-faced gentleman, tickling commodity,

Commodity, the bias of the world:

The world, who of itself is peised† well,
Made to run even, upon even ground;
Till this advantage, this vile drawing bias,
This sway of motion, this commodity,
Makes it take head from all indifferency,
From all direction, purpose, course, intent:
And this same bias, &c.

ACT III.

A WOMAN'S FEARS.

Thou shalt be punish'd for thus frightening me, For I am sick, and capable‡ of fears;

Oppress'd with wrongs, and therefore full of fears; A widow, husbandless, subject to fears;

A woman naturally born to fears;

And though thou now confess, thou didst but jest,
With my vex'd spirits I cannot take a truce,
But they will quake and tremble all this day.

TOKENS OF GRIEF.

What dost thou mean by shaking of thy head? Why dost thou look so sadly on my son? What means that hand upon that breast of thine? Why holds thine eye that lamentable rheum, Like a proud river peering§ o'er his bounds? Be these sad signs confirmers of thy words? Then speak again; not all thy former tale, But this one word, whether thy tale be true.

*Interest.

+ Susceptible.

† Poised, balanced.
§ Appearing.

« ПредишнаНапред »