Let him come! let him come.
Here's to him, sink or swim! [_Drinks_.
SECOND THANE. God sink him!
FIRST THANE. Cannot hands which had the strength
To shove that stranded iceberg off our shores,
And send the shatter'd North again to sea,
Scuttle his cockle-shell? What's Brunanburg
To Stamford-bridge? a war-crash, and so hard,
So loud, that, by St. Dunstan, old St. Thor--
By God, we thought him dead--but our old Thor
Heard his own thunder again, and woke and came
Among us again, and mark'd the sons of those
Who made this Britain England, break the North:
Mark'd how the war-axe swang,
Heard how the war-horn sang,
Mark'd how the spear-head sprang,
Heard how the shield-wall rang,
Iron on iron clang,
Anvil on hammer bang--
SECOND THANE. Hammer on anvil, hammer on anvil. Old dog,
Thou art drunk, old dog!
FIRST THANE. Too drunk to fight with thee!
SECOND THANE. Fight thou with thine own double, not with me,
Keep that for Norman William!
FIRST THANE. Down with William!
THIRD THANE. The washerwoman's brat!
FOURTH THANE. The tanner's bastard!
FIFTH THANE.
The Falaise byblow!
[_Enter a_ THANE, _from Pevensey, spattered with mud_.
HAROLD. Ay, but what late guest,
As haggard as a fast of forty days,
And caked and plaster'd with a hundred mires,
Hath stumbled on our cups?
THANE _from Pevensey_.
Pages:
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216
217
218
219
220
221
222
223
224
225
226
227
228
229
230
231
232