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Animal Rights History Timeline » [1450-1660] Renaissance » William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare

Henry VI, Part Two

(Act 3, Scene 1, Lines 202-220.)

[1597] William Shakespeare, Henry VI, Part Two, in The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, edited by W. J. Craig (London: Oxford University Press: 1914; Online at Bartleby.com, 2000).

K. Hen. Ay, Margaret; my heart is drown'd with grief,
Whose flood begins to flow within mine eyes,
My body round engirt with misery,
For what's more miserable than discontent?
Ah! uncle Humphrey, in thy face I see
The map of honour, truth, and loyalty;
And yet, good Humphrey, is the hour to come
That e'er I prov'd thee false, or fear'd thy faith.
What low'ring star now envies thy estate,
That these great lords, and Margaret our queen,
Do seek subversion of thy harmless life?
Thou never didst them wrong, nor no man wrong;
And as the butcher takes away the calf,
And binds the wretch, and beats it when it strays,
Bearing it to the bloody slaughter-house,
Even so, remorseless, have they borne him hence;
And as the dam runs lowing up and down,
Looking the way her harmless young one went,
And can do nought but wail her darling's loss.