FullReads

[NOTE:
138-40 Rolling…depths 1870;
Rolling like painted clouds before the wind
Some are
Like curved shells, dyed by the azure depths 1824.]

SECOND CITIZEN:
Ay, there they are– 150
Nobles, and sons of nobles, patentees,
Monopolists, and stewards of this poor farm,
On whose lean sheep sit the prophetic crows,
Here is the pomp that strips the houseless orphan,
Here is the pride that breaks the desolate heart. 155
These are the lilies glorious as Solomon,
Who toil not, neither do they spin,–unless
It be the webs they catch poor rogues withal.
Here is the surfeit which to them who earn
The niggard wages of the earth, scarce leaves 160
The tithe that will support them till they crawl
Back to her cold hard bosom. Here is health
Followed by grim disease, glory by shame,
Waste by lame famine, wealth by squalid want,
And England’s sin by England’s punishment. 165
And, as the effect pursues the cause foregone,
Lo, giving substance to my words, behold
At once the sign and the thing signified–
A troop of cripples, beggars, and lean outcasts,
Horsed upon stumbling jades, carted with dung, 170
Dragged for a day from cellars and low cabins
And rotten hiding-holes, to point the moral
Of this presentment, and bring up the rear
Of painted pomp with misery!

[NOTES:
162 her 1870; its 1824.
170 jades 1870; shapes 1824.
173 presentment 1870; presentiment 1824.]

THE YOUTH:
‘Tis but
The anti-masque, and serves as discords do 175
In sweetest music. Who would love May flowers
If they succeeded not to Winter’s flaw;
Or day unchanged by night; or joy itself
Without the touch of sorrow?

SECOND CITIZEN:
I and thou-

A MARSHALSMAN:
Place, give place! 180

[NOTE:
179, 180 I…place! 1870; omitted 1824.]

SCENE 2

A CHAMBER IN WHITEHALL.
ENTER THE KING, QUEEN, LAUD, LORD STRAFTORD,
LORD COTTINGTON, AND OTHER LORDS; ARCHY;
ALSO ST. JOHN, WITH SOME GENTLEMEN OF THE INNS OF COURT.

 

 KING:
 

 Thanks, gentlemen. I heartily accept
 

 This token of your service: your gay masque
 

 Was performed gallantly. And it shows well
 

 When subjects twine such flowers of [observance?]
 

 With the sharp thorns that deck the English crown.   5
 

 A gentle heart enjoys what it confers,
 

 Even as it suffers that which it inflicts,
 

 Though Justice guides the stroke.
 

 Accept my hearty thanks.
 

[NOTE:
3-9 And…thanks 1870; omitted 1824.]

QUEEN:
And gentlemen,
Call your poor Queen your debtor. Your quaint pageant 10
Rose on me like the figures of past years,
Treading their still path back to infancy,
More beautiful and mild as they draw nearer
The quiet cradle. I could have almost wept
To think I was in Paris, where these shows 15
Are well devised–such as I was ere yet
My young heart shared a portion of the burthen,
The careful weight, of this great monarchy.
There, gentlemen, between the sovereign’s pleasure
And that which it regards, no clamour lifts 20
Its proud interposition.
In Paris ribald censurers dare not move
Their poisonous tongues against these sinless sports;
And HIS smile
Warms those who bask in it, as ours would do 25
If … Take my heart’s thanks: add them, gentlemen,
To those good words which, were he King of France,
My royal lord would turn to golden deeds.