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This fortress, built by nature for herself
Against infection, and the hand of war ;
This happy breed of men, this little world;
This precious stone set in the silver sea,
Which serves it in the office of a wall,
Or as a moat defensive to a house,
Against the envy of less happier lands;

This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England,
This nurse, this teeming womb of royal kings,
Fear'd by their breed, and famous by their birth,
Renowned for their deeds as far from home
(For Christian service, and true 'chivalry),
As is the 'sepulchre in stubborn Jewry,

Of the world's "ransom, blessed Mary's Son :
This land of such dear souls, this dear, dear land,
Dear for her reputation through the world
Is now leased out (I die pronouncing it),
Like to a tenement, or "pelting farm :
England, bound in with the triumphant sea,
Whose rocky shore beats back the envious siege
Of watery Neptune, is now bound in with shame,
With inky blots, and rotten parchment bonds
That England, that was wont to conquer others,
Hath made a shameful conquest of itself:
O, would the scandal vanish with my life,
How happy then were my ensuing death!

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s;

last, remain; endure. 2undeaf, take away deafness from; cause to hear. lascivious metres, loose, impure songs. where will, etc., where the will rebels against the notices of the understanding. whose way, etc., who is determined to have his own way. demi, half. 7 moat, a ditch drawn round a house or castle for the purpose of defence. chivalry, the services of knights on horseback. sepulchre, etc., the Holy Sepulchre in Judæa. The Crusaders went to free the Holy Sepulchre from the Turks, who defended the Holy Land with great stubbornness for some years. ransom, Jesus Christ, who was given as a ransom for our sins. "pelting, petty; paltry. 12 Neptune, the god of the sea.

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SCENE FROM KING RICHARD III.

[George, Duke of Clarence, was arrested on a charge of treason by his brother, the Duke of Gloucester, who was aiming at the throne, and lodged in the Tower. He relates a dream,

which he had the night before, to Sir Robert Brakenbury, lieutenant of the Tower.]

SCENE: London.-A Room in the Tower.

Enter CLARENCE and BRAKENBURY.

Brak. Why looks your grace so heavily to-day?
Clar. O, I have passed a miserable night,
So full of fearful dreams, of ugly sights,
That, as I am a Christian faithful man,
I would not spend another such a night,
Though 'twere to buy a world of happy days;
So full of dismal terror was the time.

Brak. What was your dream, my lord? I pray you tell me.
Clar. Methought, that I had broken from the Tower,

And was embark'd to cross to Burgundy,

And, in my company, my brother Gloster :

Who from my cabin tempted me to walk

Upon the hatches; thence we look'd toward England,
And 2 cited up a thousand heavy times,

During the wars of York and Lancaster,
That had befallen us. As we paced along

Upon the giddy footing of the hatches,

Methought that Gloster stumbled; and, in falling,
Struck me, that thought to stay him, overboard,
Into the tumbling billows of the main.

O Lord! methought, what pain it was to drown!
What dreadful noise of waters in mine ears!
What sights of ugly death within mine eyes !
Methought, I saw a thousand fearful wrecks;
A thousand men, that fishes gnaw'd upon;

Wedges of gold, great anchors, heaps of pearl,
Inestimable stones, 3 unvalued jewels,

All scatter'd in the bottom of the sea:

Some lay in dead men's skulls; and in those holes
Where eyes did once inhabit, there were crept
(As 'twere in scorn of eyes) reflecting gems,
That woo'd the slimy bottom of the deep,
And mock'd the dead bones that lay scatter'd by.
Brak. Had you such leisure in the time of death,
To gaze upon the secrets of the deep?

Clar. Methought I had, and often did I strive
To yield the ghost; but still the envious flood
Kept in my soul, and would not let it forth
To seek the empty, vast, and wand'ring air;
But smother'd it within my panting bulk,
Which almost burst to cast it in the sea.

Brak. Awaked you not with this sore agony ? Clar. O, no, my dream was lengthen'd after life; O, then began the tempest to my soul !

I pass'd, methought, the melancholy flood,
With that grim 'ferryman which poets write of,
Unto the kingdom of perpetual night.

The first that there did greet my stranger soul,
Was my great father-in-law, renowned Warwick;
Who cried aloud,--What scourge for perjury
Can this dark monarchy afford false Clarence?
And so he vanish'd: Then came wand'ring by

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A shadow like an angel, with bright hair

Dabbled in blood: and he shriek'd out aloud,--
Clarence is come, false, fleeting, perjured Clarence,—
That stabb'd me in the field of Tewkesbury ;—
Seize on him, furies, take him to your torments!—
With that, methought, a legion of foul fiends
Environ'd me, and howlèd in mine ears
Such hideous cries, that, with the very noise,
I trembling waked, and, for a season after,
Could not believe but that I was in hell;
Such terrible impression made my dream.

Brak. No marvel, lord, though it affrighted you;
I am afraid, methinks, to hear you tell it.

Clar. O, Brakenbury, I have done these things,-
That now give evidence against my soul,-
For Edward's sake; and, see, how he requites me!-
O God! if my deep prayers cannot appease Thee,
But Thou wilt be avenged on my misdeeds,

Yet execute thy wrath on me alone :

O, spare my guiltless wife, and my poor children !--

I pray thee, gentle keeper, stay by me ;

My soul is heavy, and I fain would sleep.

Brak. I will, my lord; God give your grace good rest !—

(Clarence reposes himself on a chair.)

Sorrow breaks seasons and reposing hours,

Makes the night morning, and the noontide night.
Princes have but their titles for their glories,

An outward honour for an inward toil;

And, for unfelt imaginations,

They often feel a world of restless cares:

So that, between their titles, and low name,
There's nothing differs but the outward fame.

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1hatches, frame of cross-bars forming the passage from one deck to another. cited up, called to remembrance. unvalued, very precious; beyond price. ferryman, Charon. In ancient fables he is represented as carrying the souls of the departed across a river in his boat to the abodes of the dead. 5 Warwick, the Earl of Warwick, the famous "King-maker," who fell on the field of Barnet, 1471. shadow, the ghost of Edward, son of Henry VI., who is said to have been murdered by Clarence and Gloucester after the Battle of Tewkesbury.

SCENE FROM KING HENRY IV.

[Henry V. has just succeeded to the crown on the death of his father. He had hitherto been known chiefly for the wildness of his life; and the grave counsellors of Henry IV. were afraid that they would suffer under the new sovereign. Judge Gascoigne in particular had reason to apprehend danger from the wrath of Henry V., whom he had once been obliged, in the execution of his duty, to commit to prison.] SCENE: Westminster.-A room in the Palace.

Enter KING HENRY V.

Ch. Just. Good morrow; and Heaven save your majesty ! King. This new and gorgeous garment, majesty,

Sits not so easy on me as you think.

Brothers, you mix your sadness with some fear;
This is the English, not the Turkish court;
Not 'Amurath an Amurath succeeds,

But Harry Harry: Yet be sad, good brothers,
For, to speak truth, it very well becomes you ;
Sorrow so royally in you appears,

That I will deeply put the fashion on,

And wear it in my heart. Why, then, be sad;
But entertain no more of it, good brothers,
Than a joint burden laid upon us all.
For me, by Heaven, I bid you be assured,
I'll be your father and your brother too;
Let me but bear your love, I'll bear your cares.
Yet weep, that Harry's dead; and so will I :
But Harry lives, that shall convert those tears,
3 By number, into hours of happiness.

Princes. We hope no other from your majesty.
King. You all look strangely on me ;-and you most;
(To the Chief Justice.)

You are, I think, assured I love you not.

Ch. Just. I am assured, if I be measured rightly,

Your majesty hath no just cause to hate me.