-
Posts
11,920 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
40
Rich's Achievements
Single Status Update
-
The famous 'This England' speech from Shakespeare's Richard II is much beloved by demented flagwavers:
"This precious stone set in the silver sea,
Which serves it in the office of a wall,
Or as a moat defensive to a house,
Against the envy of less happier lands,
This blessed plot, this earth, this realm,
This England."How many of them know that the speech continues thus:
"This dear dear land is now leased out
Like to a tenement or pelting farm:
England, bound in with the triumphant sea
Is now bound in with shame,
With inky blots and rotten parchment bonds:
That England, that was wont to conquer others,
Hath made a shameful conquest of itself."Shakespeare knew.