Queen Mary and Harold by Alfred Lord Tennyson
page 52 of 333 (15%)
page 52 of 333 (15%)
![]() | ![]() |
|
WYATT. Open the window, Knyvett; The mine is fired, and I will speak to them. Men of Kent; England of England; you that have kept your old customs upright, while all the rest of England bow'd theirs to the Norman, the cause that hath brought us together is not the cause of a county or a shire, but of this England, in whose crown our Kent is the fairest jewel. Philip shall not wed Mary; and ye have called me to be your leader. I know Spain. I have been there with my father; I have seen them in their own land; have marked the haughtiness of their nobles; the cruelty of their priests. If this man marry our Queen, however the Council and the Commons may fence round his power with restriction, he will be King, King of England, my masters; and the Queen, and the laws, and the people, his slaves. What? shall we have Spain on the throne and in the parliament; Spain in the pulpit and on the law-bench; Spain in all the great offices of state; Spain in our ships, in our forts, in our houses, in our beds? CROWD. No! no! no Spain! WILLIAM. No Spain in our beds--that were worse than all. I have been there with old Sir Thomas, and the beds I know. I hate Spain. A PEASANT. But, Sir Thomas, must we levy war against the Queen's Grace? WYATT. No, my friend; war _for_ the Queen's Grace--to save her from herself and Philip--war against Spain. And think not we shall be alone--thousands will flock to us. The Council, the Court itself, is |
|