Page:Henry V (1918) Yale.djvu/24

12  'If that you will France win,

Then with Scotland first begin':

For once the eagle England being in prey,

To her unguarded nest the weasel Scot

Comes sneaking and so sucks her princely eggs,

Playing the mouse in absence of the cat,

To tear and havoc more than she can eat.

Exe. It follows then the cat must stay at home:

Yet that is but a crush'd necessity;

Since we have locks to safeguard necessaries

And pretty traps to catch the petty thieves.

While that the armed hand doth fight abroad,

The advised head defends itself at home:

For government, though high and low and lower,

Put into parts, doth keep in one consent,

Congreeing in a full and natural close,

Like music.

Cant.Therefore doth heaven divide

The state of man in divers functions,

Setting endeavour in continual motion;

To which is fixed, as an aim or butt,

Obedience: for so work the honey-bees,

Creatures that by a rule in nature teach

The act of order to a peopled kingdom.

They have a king and officers of sorts;

Where some, like magistrates, correct at home,

Others, like merchants, venture trade abroad,

Others, like, soldiers, armed in their stings,

Make boot upon the summer's velvet buds;

Which pillage they with merry march bring home

To the tent-royal of their emperor:

 169 in prey: in search of prey

175 crush'd: forced

181 parts: used in the musical sense

consent: harmony

182 Congreeing: agreeing

close: cadence

190 sorts: different ranks

194 Make boot upon: plunder 