CARDINAL WOLSEY :... I have ventur'd,
Like little wanton boys that swim on bladders,
This many summers in a sea of glory;
But far beyond my depth: my high-blown pride
At length broke under me; and now has left me,
Weary and old with service, to the mercy
Of a rude stream, that must for ever hide me.
Vain pomp and glory of this world, I hate ye!
I feel my heart new open'd. O, how wretched
Is that poor man that hangs on princes' favours!
There is, betwixt that smile we would aspire to,
That sweet aspect of princes, and their ruin,

Rebellion lay in his way, and he found it. V, i

I know you all, and will awhile uphold
The unyoked humor of your idleness.

Yet herein will I imitate the sun,
Who doth permit the base contagious clouds
To smother up his beauty from the world,
That when he please again to be himself,
Being wanted, he may be more wondered at
By breaking through the foul and ugly mists
Of vapors that did seem to strangle him I, ii

If all the year were playing holidays,
To sport would be as tedious as to work;
But when they seldom come, they wished-for come,

glendower:At my nativity
The front of heaven was full of fiery shapes,
Of burning cressets, and at my birth
The frame and huge foundation of the earth
Shak'd like a coward.
hotspur:Why, so it would have done
At the same season, if your mother's cat
Had but kitten'd, though yourself had never been born.
glendower:I say the earth did shake when I was born.
hotspur:And I say the earth was not of my mind,
If you suppose as fearing you it shook.
glendower:The heavens were all on fire, the earth did tremble.

Persons
King Edward
The Black Prince
Queen Philippa
Duke of Clarence
Sir John Chandos
Sir Thomas Dagworth
Sir Walter Manny
Lord Audley
Lord Percy
Bishop
William, Dagworth's Man
Peter Blunt, a common Soldier

Scene [I]

The Coast of France, King Edward and Nobles.
The Army.

King: O thou, to whose fury the nations are
But as dust! maintain thy servant's right.
Without thine aid, the twisted mail, and spear,

OR, THE BRITISH WORTHY

PROLOGUE

SPOKEN BY MR. BETTERTON

Sure there 's a dearth of wit in this dull town,
When silly plays so savorly go down;
As, when clipp'd money passes, 't is a sign
A nation is not over-stock'd with coin.
Happy is he who, in his own defense,
Can write just level to your humble sense:
Who higher than your pitch can never go;
And, doubtless, he must creep, who writes below.
So have I seen, in hall of knight, or lord,

SINGER and tailor am I —
Doubled the joys that I know —
Proud of my lilt to the sky,
Proud of the house that I sew —
Over and under, so weave I my music — so weave I the house that I sew.

Sing to your fledglings again,
Mother, O lift up your head!
Evil that plagued us is slain,
Death in the garden lies dead.
Terror that hid in the roses is impotent — flung on the dung-hill and dead!

Who hath delivered us, who?
Tell me his nest and his name.
Rikki, the valiant, the true,

At the hole where he went in
Red-Eye called to Wrinkle-Skin.
Hear what little Red-Eye saith:
" Nag, come up and dance with death! "

Eye to eye and head to head,
( Keep the measure, Nag .)
This shall end when one is dead;
( At thy pleasure, Nag .)

Turn for turn and twist for twist —
( Run and hide thee, Nag .
Hah! The hooded Death has missed!
( Woe betide thee, Nag! )
Rikki-Tikki-Tavi .

THE JUNGLE BOOKS

Now Chil the Kite brings home the night
That Mang the Bat sets free —
The herds are shut in byre and hut,
For loosed till dawn are we.
This is the hour of pride and power,
Talon and tush and claw.
Oh, hear the call! — Good hunting all
That keep the Jungle Law!
Mowgli's Brothers .

ELEPHANTS OF THE GUN-TEAMS

W E LENT to Alexander the strength of Hercules,
The wisdom of our foreheads, the cunning of our knees.
We bowed our necks to service — they ne'er were loosed again, —
Make way there, way for the ten-foot teams
Of the Forty-Pounder train!

GUN-BULLOCKS

Those heroes in their harnesses avoid a cannon-ball,
And what they know of powder upsets them one and all;
Then we come into action and tug the guns again, —
Make way there, way for the twenty yoke
Of the Forty-Pounder train!