DESCRIPTION OF THE MISERABLE STATE OF THE ENGLISH ARMY. Yon island carrions, desperate of their bones, Ill-favour'dly become the morning field: Their ragged curtains* poorly are let loose, And our air shakes them passing scornfully. Big Mars seems bankrupt in their beggar'd host, And faintly through a rusty beaver peeps. Their horsemen sit like fixed candlesticks, With torch-staves in their hand: and their poor jades Lob down their heads, dropping the hides and hips; The gum down-roping from their pale-dead eyes; And in their pale dull mouths the grimmal bit Lies foul with chew'd grass, still and motionless; And their executors, the knavish crows, Fly o'er them all, impatient for their hour. KING HENRY'S SPEECH BEFORE THE BATTLE OF AGINCOURT. He that outlives this day, and comes safe home, Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam'd, And rouse him at the name of Crispian. He, that shall live this day, and see old age, Will yearly on the vigil feast his friends, And say-to-morrow is Saint Crispian: Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars, And say, these wounds I had on Crispian's day. Old men forget: yet all shall be forgot, But he'll remember, with advantages, What feats he did that day: Then shall our names, Familiar in their mouths as household words,Harry the king, Bedford, and Exeter, Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloster,- . Be in their flowing cups freshly remember'd. DESCRIPTION OF THE DUKE OF YORK'S DEATH. He smil❜d me in the face, raught✶ me his hand, And, with a feeble gripe, says,-Dear my lord, Commend my service to my sovereign. So did he turn, and over Suffolk's neck He threw his wounded arm, and kiss'd his lips; The pretty and sweet manner of it forc'd But all my mother came into mine eyes, ACT V. THE MISERIES OF WAR. Her vine, the merry cheerer of the heart, * Reached. And as our vineyards, fallows, meads, and hedges, Defective in their natures, grow to wildness. KING HENRY VI. PART I. ACT I. GLORY. GLORY is like a circle in the water, ACT V. MARRIAGE. Marriage is a matter of more worth For what is wedlock forced, but a hell, KING HENRY VI. PART II. A RESOLVED AND AMBITIOUS WOMAN. FOLLOW I must, I cannot go before, While Gloster bears this base and humble mind. Were I a man, a duke, and next of blood, * By the discretional agency of another. I would remove these tedious stumbling-blocks, ACT II. GOD'S GOODNESS EVER TO BE REMEMbered. Let never day nor night unhallow'd pass, But still remember what the Lord hath done. THE DUCHESS OF GLOSTER'S REMONSTRANCE TO HER HUSBAND, WHEN DOING PENANCE. back; For, whilst I think I am thy married wife, And, thou a prince, protector of this land, Methinks, I should not thus be led along, Mail'd up in shame*, with papers on my And follow'd with a rabble, that rejoice To see my tears, and hear my deep-fett groans. The ruthless flint doth cut my tender feet; And, when I start, the envious people laugh, And bid me be advised how I tread. ACT III. SILENT RESENTMENT DEEPEST. Smooth runs the water, where the brook is deep; And in his simple show he harbours treason. A GUILTY COUNTENANCE. Upon thy eyeballs murderous tyranny Sits in grim majesty, to fright the world. DESCRIPTION OF A MURDERED PERSON. See, how the blood is settled in his face! *Wrapped up in disgrace; alluding to the sheet of penance. + Deep-fetched. Oft have I seen a timely parted ghost", But, see, his face is black, and full of blood; The least of all these signs were probable. A GOOD CONSCIENCE. What stronger breast-plate than a heart untainted? Thrice is he arm'd, that hath his quarrel just; And he but naked, though lock'd up in steel, Whose conscience with injustice is corrupted. REMORSELESS HATRED. A plague upon them! Wherefore should I curse them? Would curses kill, as doth the mandrake's groan, A body become inanimate in the common course of nature; to which violence has not brought a timeless end. |