BARDOLPH. I cannot thin's, my lord, your son is dead, MORT. I'm sorry I should force you to believe That which I would to Heav'n I had not seen. But these mine eyes saw him in bloody state, Rend'ring faint quittance, wearied and out-breath'd, To Henry Monmouth; whose swift wrath beat dowif The never-daunted Percy to the earth,
From whence, with life, he never, more sprung up. In few; his death (whose spirit lent a fire Ev'n to the dullest peasant in his camp) Being bruited once, took fire and heat away From the best temper'd courage in his troops. For from his metal was his party steel'd; Which once in him rebated, all the rest Turn'd on themselves, like dull and heavy lead. And as the thing that's heavy in itself, Upon enforcement, flies with greatest speed; So did our men, heavy in Hotspur's loss,
Lend to this weight such lightness with their fear, That arrows fled not swifter toward their aim, Than did our soldiers, aiming at their safety, Fly from the field.
Then was the noble Wor'ster Too soon ta'en prisoner: and that furious Scot,, The bloody Douglas, whose well-labouring sword. Had three times slain th' appearance of the king, 'Gan yail his stomach, and did grace the shame Of those that turn'd their backs; and in his flight, Stumbling in fear, was took. The sum of all Is, that the king hath won; and hath sent out A speedy pow'r t' encounter you, my lord, Under the conduct of young Lancaster
And Westmoreland. This is the news at full.
NORTH. For this I shall have time enough to mours.
In poison there is physic: and this news,
That would, had I been well, have made me sick, Being sick, hath, in some measure, made me well. And as the wretch, whose fever-weakened joints, Like strengthless hinges, buckle under life, Impatient of his fit, breaks like a fire
Out of his keeper's arms; ev'n so my limbs,
Weaken'd with grief, being now enrag'd with grief,
Are thrice themselves. Hence therefore, thou nice crutch;
A scaly gauntlet now with joints of steel
Must glove this hand. And hence, thou sickly quoif,
Thou art a guard too wanton for the head, Which princes, flush'd with conquest, aim to hit. Now bind my brows with iron, and approach The rugged'st hour that time and spight dare bring To frown upon th' enrag'd Northumberland! Let heav'n kiss earth! Now let not Nature's hand Keep the wild flood confin'd; let order die, And let this world no longer be a stage To feed contention in a ling'ring act: But let one spirit of the first-born Cain Reign in all bosoms, that each heart being set On bloody courses, the rude scene may end, And darkness be the burier of the dead!
HYMN to CYNTHIA.
(B. JONSON)
QUEEN, and huntress, chaste and fair, Now the Sun is laid to sleep;
Seated in thy silver chair, State in wonted manner keep: Hesperus intreats thy light, Goddess, excellently bright. Earth, let not thy envious shade Dare itself to interpose; Cynthia's shining orb was made Heaven to cheer, when day did close; Bless us then with wished sight, Goddess, excellently bright.
Lay thy bow of pearl apart,
And thy crystal-shining quiver;
Give unto the flying hart
Space to breathe, how short soever: Thou that mak'st a day of night, Goddess, excellently bright.
THESE, as they change, ALMIGHTY FATHER, these, Are but the varied God. The rolling year Is full of thee., Forth in the pleasing Spring Thy beauty walks, thy tenderness and love. Wide flush the fields, the softening air is balm;
Echo the mountains round; the forest smiles; And every sense, and every heart is joy. Then comes thy Glory in the Summer-months, With light and heat refulgent. Then thy sun Shoots full perfection thro' the swelling year: And oft thy voice in dreadful thunder speaks; And oft at dawn, deep noon, or falling eve, By brooks and groves, in hollow-whispering gales. Thy bounty shines in Autumn unconfin'd, And spreads a common feast for all that lives. In Winter awful Thou! with clouds and storms Around thee thrown, tempest o'er tempest roll'd, Majestic darkness! on the whirlwind's wing, Riding sublime, thou bid'st the world adore, And humblest Nature with thy northern blast. Mysterious round! what skill, what force divine, Deep-felt, in these appear! a simple train, Yet so delightful mix'd, with such kind art, Such beauty and beneficence combin'd; Shade, unperceiv'd, so softening into shade; And all so form ng an harmonious whole; That, as they still succeed, they ravish still. But wandering oft, with brute unconscious gaze, Man marks not thee, marks not the mighty hand, That, ever busy, wheels the silent spheres ; Works in the secret deep; shoots, steaming, thence The fair profusion that o'erspreads the Spring: Flings from the sun direct the flaming day; Feeds ev'ry creature; hurls the tempest forth, And, as on Earth this grateful change revolves, With transport touches all the springs of life. Nature, attend! join every living soul, Beneath the spacious temple of the sky, In adoration join; and, ardent, raise
One general song! To him, ye vocal gales,
Breathe soft, whose Spirit in your freshness breathes:
Oh talk of him in solitary glooms!
Where, o'er the rock, the scarcely waving pine Fills the brown shade with a religious awe. And ye, whose bolder note is heard afar,
Who shake th' astonish'd world, lift high to heaven Th' impetuous song, and say from whom you rage. His praise, ye brooks, attune, ye trembling rills; And let me catch it as I muse along is boo
Ye headlong torrents, rapid and profound Ye softer floods, that lead the humid maze Along the vale; and thou, majestic train, A secret world of wonders in thyself, Sound his stupendous praise: whose greater voice Or bids you roar, or bids your roarings fall.
Soft roll your incense, herbs, and fruits, and flowers, In mingled clouds to him, whose sun exalts, Whose breath perfumes you, and whose pencil paints. Ye forests bend, ye harvests wave, to him; Breathe your still song into the reaper's Heart, As home he goes beneath the joyous moon. Ye that keep watch in heaven, as earth asleep Unconscious lies, effuse your mildest beams, Ye constellations, while your angels strike, Amid the spangled sky, the silver lyre. Great source of day! best image here below Of thy Creator, ever pouring wide,
From world to world, the vital ocean round, On Nature write with every beam 'his praise. The thunder rolls: be hush'd the prostrate world; While cloud to cloud returns the solemn hymn. Bleat out afresh, ye hills: ye mossy rocks, Retain the sound: the broad responsive lowe, Ye valleys, raise; for the Great Shepherd reigns; And his suffering kingdom yet will come. Ye woodlands all, awake: a boundless song Burst from the groves! and when the restless day, Expiring, lays the warbling world asleep, Sweetest of birds! sweet I hilomela, chann The listening shades, and teach the night his praise. Ye chief, for whom the whole creation smiles; At once the head, the heart, and tongue of all, Crown the great hymn! in swarming cities vast, Assembled men, to the deep organ join
The long-resounding voice, oft breaking clear, At solemn pauses, thro' the swelling base; And, as each mingling flame increases each, In one united order fise to heaven Or if you rather choose the rural shade, And find a fane in every sacred grove; There let the shepherd's flute, the virgin's lay The prompting seraph, and the poet's lyre, Still sing the God of Seasons as they re
For me, when I forget the darling theme, Whether the blossom blows, the summer ray Russets the plain, inspiring Autumn gleams, Or Winter rises in the blackening east; Be my tongue mute, my fancy paint no more, And, dead to joy, forget my heart to beat!
Should fate command me to the farthest verge Of the green earth, to distant barbarous climes, Rivers unknown to song; where first the sun Gilds Indian mountains, or his setting beam Flames on th' Atlantic isles; 'tis nought to me: Since GOD is ever present, ever felt,
In the void waste as in the city full;
And where HE vital spreads there must be joy. When even at last the solemn hour shall come, And wing my mystic flight to future worlds, I cheerful will obey; there, with new powers, Will rising wonders sing: I cannot go, Where UNIVERSAL LOVE not smiles around, Sustaining all yon orbs, and all their suns : From seeming Evil still educing Good, And Better thence again, and Better still, In infinite progression.-
Myself in HIM, in LIGHT INEFFABLE!
Come then, expressive Silence! muse His praise,
DEO OPT. MAX.
FATHER of All! in ev'ry age,
In ev'ry clime ador'd,
By Saint, by Savage, and by Sage, Jehovah, Jove, or Lord!
Thou Great First Cause, least understood, Who all my sense confin'd, To know but this, that Thou art good, And that myself am blind;
Yet gave me in this dark estate, To see the good from ill; And binding nature fast in fate. Left free the human will.
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