And,noble Dauphin,albeit we swear A voluntary zeal and an unurged faith To your proceedings;yet believe me,prince,I am not glad that such a sore of time Should seek a plaster by contemn'd revolt,And heal the inveterate canker of one wound By making many.O,it grieves my soul,That I must draw this metal from my side To be a widow-maker!O,and there Where honourable rescue and defence Cries out upon the name of Salisbury!
But such is the infection of the time,That,for the health and physic of our right,We cannot deal but with the very hand Of stern injustice and confused wrong.
And is't not pity,O my grieved friends,That we,the sons and children of this isle,Were born to see so sad an hour as this;Wherein we step after a stranger march Upon her gentle bosom,and fill up Her enemies'ranks,--I must withdraw and weep Upon the spot of this enforced cause,--To grace the gentry of a land remote,And follow unacquainted colours here?
What,here?O nation,that thou couldst remove!
That Neptune's arms,who clippeth thee about,Would bear thee from the knowledge of thyself,And grapple thee unto a pagan shore;Where these two Christian armies might combine The blood of malice in a vein of league,And not to spend it so unneighbourly!LEWIS A noble temper dost thou show in this;And great affections wrestling in thy bosom Doth make an earthquake of nobility.
O,what a noble combat hast thou fought Between compulsion and a brave respect!
Let me wipe off this honourable dew,That silverly doth progress on thy cheeks:
My heart hath melted at a lady's tears,Being an ordinary inundation;But this effusion of such manly drops,This shower,blown up by tempest of the soul,Startles mine eyes,and makes me more amazed Than had I seen the vaulty top of heaven Figured quite o'er with burning meteors.