Give sorrow leave awhile to tutor me 5 To this submission. Yet I well remember none. God save the King! Will no man say, amen? 10 15 York. To do that office of thine own good will Which tired majesty did make thee offer, The resignation of thy state and crown To Henry Bolingbroke. King Richard. Give me the crown. Here, cousin, seize the crown; Here cousin, 20 25 On this side my hand and on that side thine. King Richard. My crown, I am; but still my griefs are mine. You may my glories and my state depose, But not my griefs; still am I king of those. 30 Bolingbroke. Part of your cares you give me with your crown. King Richard. Your cares set up do not pluck my cares down. My care is loss of care, by old care done; 35 24. owes] has. The cares I give I have, though given away; King Richard. Ay, no; no, ay; for I must nothing be; Therefore no no, for I resign to thee. Now mark me how I will undo myself: 40 45 50 I give this heavy weight from off my head, 60 W. SHAKESPEARE (from Richard II). 46. balm] the sacred oil. THE RED HARLAW (1411) The battle of the Harlaw settled whether the Gaelic or the Saxon race should be predominant in Scotland. The weak rule of the early Stuarts had led to such a state of anarchy in the country that the Highlanders thought Scotland would be an easy prey. Donald, Lord of the Isles, enforced his claim to the earldom of Ross by ravaging the North with an army of Highlanders and Islesmen. He was opposed by Alexander Earl of Mar at the head of the Northern nobility and gentry of Saxon and Norman descent, for once united against the common peril. The battle was indecisive, but Donald had to retire and renounce his claims to Ross; so that all the advantages of the field were gained by the Saxons. [See Scott's Antiquary.] Now haud your tongue, baith wife and carle, And I will sing of Glenallan's Earl That fought on the red Harlaw. The cronach 's cried on Bennachie, 5 And doun the Don and a', And hieland and lawland may mournfu' be They hae bridled a hundred black, They saddled a hundred milk-white steeds, 10 With a chafron of steel on each horse's head, They hadna ridden a mile, a mile, When Donald came branking down the brae 15 5. cronach] coronach, death-wail. 15. branking] prancing. II. chafron] frontlet. Their tartans they were waving wide, The great Earl in his stirrups stood, Now here a knight that's stout and good 20 'What would'st thou do, my squire so gay, 25 That rides beside my reyne, Were ye Glenallan's Earl the day, 'To turn the rein were sin and shame, To fight were wond'rous peril; What would ye do now, Roland Cheyne, 30 'Were I Glenallan's Earl this tide, And ye were Roland Cheyne, The spur should be in my horse's side, 'If they hae twenty thousand blades, Yet they hae but their tartan plaids, 'My horse shall ride through ranks sae rude, Ás through the moorland fern, Then ne'er let the gentle Norman blude 44. kerne] foot-soldier. SIR W. SCOTT. 35 40 HENRY V IN FRANCE (1415) After reducing Harfleur, Henry V's purpose was to march on Paris. But he had underestimated the resistance of northern France, and with his army much weakened he was forced to fall back on Calais, and at Agincourt to fight his way through the French in order to secure his retreat. CHORUS O! FOR a Muse of fire, that would ascend Suppose within the girdle of these walls 10 15 20 |