SPEECHES. HAROLD'S SPEECH, BEFORE THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS. 129 SEE, valiant war-friends, yonder be the first, the last, and all The agents of our enemies, they henceforth cannot call Supplies; for weeds at Normandy by this in porches grow*: Then conquer these would conquer you, and dread no further foe. They are no stouter than the brute, whom we did hence exile: Nor stronger than the sturdy Danes, our victory erewhile: * for weeds at Normandy by this in porches grow:] Meaning, that they had so exhausted their country (Normandy) by the forces they had drafted from it already, that its cities were left desolate and uninhabited. The expression is awkward; but the idea is forcible, and not unlike what Thomson says of the effects of the plague: Empty the streets, with uncouth verdure clad; Into the worst of deserts sudden turn'd The cheerful haunt of men. Summer, 1. 1060. Not Saxony could once contain, or scarce the world beside, Our fathers, who did sway by sword where listed them to bide: Then do not ye degenerate, take courage by descent, And by their burials, not abode, their force and flight pre vent. Ye have in hand your country's cause, a conquest they pre tend, Which (were ye not the same ye be) even cowards would de fend. I grant that part of us are fled and linked to the foe, fail) The Norman bastard, Albion true, did, could, or can prevail. But to be self-false in this isle a self-foe ever is, Yet wot I, never traitor did his treason's stipend miss. Shrink who will shrink, let armour's weight press down the burd'ned earth, My foes, with wond'ring eyes shall see I over-prize my death. But since ye all (for all, I hope, alike affected be, Your wives, your children, lives, and land, from servitude to free) * Yea pardon hath he to depart, &c.] Thus Henry the Fifth to his soldiers : don't wish one more: Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host, Let him depart. SHAKSPEARE. Are armed both in show and zeal, then gloriously contend, To win and wear the home-brought spoils, of victory the end. Let not the Skinner's daughter son possess what he pretends, He lives to die a noble death that life for freedom spends. DUKE WILLIAM'S SPEECH. To live upon or lie within this is my ground or grave* ye, Or Turchus, son of Troilus, in Scythian Fazo bred ye. this is my ground or grave.] See the speech of Alric in Claudian, on invading Italy: Hanc ego vel victor regno, vel morte tenebo De Bell. Gent. 530. For Norman and the Saxon blood conjoining, as it may, From that consorted seed the crown shall never pass away. Before us are our armed foes, behind us are the seas, On either side the foe hath holds of succour and for ease: But that advantage shall return their disadvantage thus, If Yea, even your courages divine a conquest not to fail. vail, A people brave, a terrene heaven, both objects worth your wars, Shall be the prizes of your prow'ss, and mount your fame to stars. Let not a traitor's perjur'd son extrude us from our right: Albion's England, by W. Warner, NORFOLK'S SOLILOQUY, BEFORE THE BATTLE OF BOSWORTH. If all the camp prove traitors to my lord, Dare any tongue, since York spread forth his light, Rosworth Field, by Sir John Beaumont, |