Page 184 - Shakespeare - Vol. 2

But thou dost swear only to be forsworn,
And most forsworn, to keep what thou dost swear.
Therefore thy later vows against thy first
Is in thyself rebellion to thyself;

And better conquest never canst thou make [290]
Than arm thy constant and thy nobler parts
Against these giddy loose suggestions:
Upon which better part our prayers come in,

If thou vouchsafe them. But if not, then know
The peril of our curses light on thee [295]
So heavy as thou shalt not shake them off,
But in despair die under their black weight.

AUSTRIA
Rebellion, flat rebellion!

BASTARD
Will’t not be?
Will not a calve’s-skin stop that mouth of thine?

LEWIS
Father, to arms!

BLANCHE
Upon thy wedding-day? [300]
Against the blood that thou hast married?

What, shall our feast be kept with slaughter’d men?
Shall braying trumpets and loud churlish drums,
Clamours of hell, be measures to our pomp?
O husband, hear me! ay, alack, how new [305]

Is “husband” in my mouth! even for that name,
Which till this time my tongue did ne’er pronounce,
Upon my knee I beg, go not to arms
Against mine uncle.

CONSTANCE

O, upon my knee,