THE DIVINE RIGHT OF KINGS

NOT

OT all the water in the rough rude sea
Can wash the balm off from an an-
nointed king;

The breath of worldly men cannot depose
The deputy elected by the Lord.

King Richard II. Act III, Sc. 2.

FOR well we know, no hand of blood and

bone

Can gripe the sacred handle of our sceptre,
Unless he do profane, steal, or usurp.

A

King Richard II. Act III, Sc. 3.

SUBSTITUTE shines brightly as
king,

Until a king be by; and then his state
Empties itself, as doth an inland brook
Into the main of waters.

God's
Deputy

Rebellion

The Merchant of Venice. Act V, Sc. 1.

d'Arc

Saw

Divine Protection

Un

knowing Princes are still Princely

HERE'S such divinity doth hedge a king,
That treason can but peep to what it

would,

Acts little of his will.

TH

HOU divine Nature, how thyself thou
blazon'st

In these two princely boys! They are as gentle
As zephyrs blowing below the violet,

Not wagging his sweet head; and yet as
rough,

Their royal blood enchaf'd, as the rud'st
wind

That by the top doth take the mountain pine,
And make him stoop to the vale. 'Tis wonder
That an invisible instinct should frame them
To royalty unlearn'd, honour untaught,
Civility not seen from other, valour

That wildly grows in them, but yields a crop
As if it had been sow'd.

Cymbeline. Act IV, Sc. 2.

HEAVENLY PORTENTS

HEN beggars die, there are no comets

WH

seen;

The heavens themselves blaze forth the death

of princes. Julius Cæsar. Act II, Sc. 2.

ΤΗ

HE heavens themselves, the planets and
this centre

Observe degree, priority and place,
Insisture, course, proportion, season, form,
Office and custom, in all line of order;
And therefore is the glorious planet Sol
In noble eminence enthron'd and spher'd
Amidst the other; whose medicinable eye
Corrects the ill aspects of planets evil,
And posts, like the commandment of a
king,

Sans check to good and bad. But when the
planets

In evil mixture to disorder wander,

What plagues and what portents! what mutiny!

What raging of the sea! shaking of earth!

Death's
Heralds

Rebellion in the Heavens

The
Philos-

opher
Undis-
mayed

Commotion in the winds! Frights, changes,

horrors,

Divert and crack, rend and deracinate
The unity and married calm of states
Quite from their fixture!

Troilus and Cressida. Act I, Sc. 3.

HEY miracles are past; and we have

THE

say

our philosophical persons, to make modern and familiar, things supernatural and causeless. Hence is it that we make trifles of terrors, ensconcing ourselves into seeming knowledge, when we should submit ourselves to an unknown fear.

All's Well That Ends Well. Act II, Sc. 3.

Death's Irony

THE KING AS HUMAN

ITHIN the hollow crown

WIT

That rounds the mortal temples of a
king

Keeps Death his court, and there the antic sits.
Scoffing his state and grinning at his pomp,
Allowing him a breath, a little scene,

To monarchize, be fear'd and kill with looks,
Infusing him with self and vain conceit,
As if this flesh which walls about our life
Were brass impregnable; and humour'd thus
Comes at the last and with a little pin
Bores through his castle wall, and—farewell
king! King Richard II. Act III, Sc. 2.

An outward honour for an inward toil;
And, for unfelt imaginations,

They often feel a world of restless cares,
So that, between their titles and low name,
There's nothing differs but the outward fame.
Richard III. Act I, Sc. 4.

O

SLEEP, O gentle sleep,

Nature's soft nurse, how have I frighted

thee,

That thou wilt no more weigh my eyelids down,

And steep my senses in forgetfulness?

Why rather, Sleep, liest thou in smoky cribs,

The
Plight
of
Princes

King and

Peasant