A bleeding head, where they begun, Did fright the architects to run; And yet in that the State Foresaw its happy fate!
And now the Irish are ashamed To see themselves in one year tamed; So much one man can do
That does both act and know.
They can affirm his praises best, And have, though overcome, confest How good he is, how just And fit for highest trust;
Nor yet grown stiffer with command, But still in the Republic's hand— How fit he is to sway
That can so well obey!
He to the Commons' feet presents A kingdom for his first year's rents, And (what he may) forbears His fame, to make it theirs :
And has his sword and spoils ungirt To lay them at the Public's skirt. So when the falcon high
Falls heavy from the sky,
She, having killed, no more doth search But on the next green bough to perch, Where, when he first does lure, The falconer has her sure.
-What may not then our Isle presume While victory his crest does plume? What may not others fear
If thus he crowns each year?
As Cæsar he, ere long, to Gaul, To Italy an Hannibal,
And to all States not free
Shall climacteric be.
The Pict no shelter now shall find Within his parti-coloured mind, But from this valour sad Shrink underneath the plaid-
Happy, if in the tufted brake The English hunter him mistake, Nor lay his hounds in near
The Caledonian deer.
But thou, the War's and Fortune's son, March indefatigably on,
And for the last effect
Still keep the sword erect :
Besides the force it has to fright The spirits of the shady night, The same arts that did gain A power, must it maintain.
ENGLAND ARMING FOR WAR
(Henry the Fifth.)
Now all the youth of England are on fire, And silken dalliance in the wardrobe lies: Now thrive the armourers, and honour's thought Reigns solely in the breast of every man : They sell the pasture now to buy the horse, Following the mirror of all Christian kings, With winged heels, as English Mercuries.
For now sits Expectation in the air, And hides a sword from hilts unto the point With crowns imperial, crowns and coronets, Promised to Harry and his followers. The French, advised by good intelligence Of this most dreadful preparation, Shake in their fear and with pale policy Seek to divert the English purposes.
Oh England! model to thy inward greatness,
Like little body with a mighty heart,
What mightst thou do, that honour would thee do, Were all thy children kind and natural !
TO LUCASTA, ON GOING TO THE WARS
TELL me not, Sweet, I am unkind That, from the nunnery
Of thy chaste breast and quiet mind, To war and arms I fly.
True, a new mistress now I chase, The first foe in the field; And with a stronger faith embrace A sword, a horse, a shield.
Yet this inconstancy is such As you too shall adore ;
I could not love thee, Dear, so much, Loved I not honour more.
SAINT CRISPIN'S DAY
(Henry the Fifth.)
IF we are marked to die, we are enow To do our country loss; and if to live, The fewer men the greater share of honour. God's will! I pray thee wish not one man more. By Jove, I am not covetous for gold,
Nor care I who doth feed upon my cost; It yearns me not if men my garments wear ; Such outward things dwell not in my desires : But if it be a sin to covet honour,
I am the most offending soul alive.
No, faith, my coz, wish not a man from England. God's peace! I would not lose so great an honour As one man more, methinks, would share from me For the best hope I have. Oh do not wish one more !
Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my
That he which hath no stomach to this fight, Let him depart; his passport shall be made And crowns for convoy put into his purse : We would not die in that man's company That fears his fellowship to die with us. This day is called the feast of Crispian : He that outlives this day, and comes safe home, Will stand a tip-toe when this day is named, 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 neighbours, And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian.' Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars, And say, 'These wounds I had on Crispin'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 his mouth as household words, Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter,
Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester, Be in their flowing cups freshly remembered. This story shall the good man teach his son ; And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by, From this day to the ending of the world, But we in it shall be remembered,
We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; For he to-day that sheds his blood with me Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile, This day shall gentle his condition :
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.
KING HENRY'S PRAYER
(Henry the Fifth.)
OH God of battles, steel my soldiers' hearts! Possess them not with fear; take from them now The sense of reckoning, if the opposed numbers Pluck their hearts from them. Not to-day, oh Lord, Oh not to-day, think not upon the fault My father made in compassing the crown! I Richard's body have interrèd new ;
And on it have bestowed more contrite tears Than from it issued forced drops of blood. Five hundred poor I have in yearly pay,
Who twice a-day their withered hands hold up Toward heaven, to pardon blood; and I have built
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