Britain ... - Blue-Lite

THE DEVOTED ONE. [Act III,
Crimson her vulture-beak. Living shalt thou
Be as the damned; and dead, be living still
In utter darkness, anguish, and despair !
EDRIC.
Hence, foul-tongued
And forest bear, thy old and meet compeers.
Thou seed of vipers,
That crawling from thy slime into the sun
Of courtly favour, by its warmth art swelled
To serpent growth ;
Despise thy venomed fangs.
GODWIN.
ruffian ! herd thee with the wolf
but I, of noble blood,
Seed of a peasant,
First-born of forest serfs and lackland slaves,
Talk'st thou of noble blood ?
I know thy birth, thou honourable miscreant !
By every crime that yet hath found a name
Hast thou to greatness risen. Thou a Duke r
A slave ! the vilest slave that ever stretched
His houseless, leprous carcass on a dunghill !
Go hang thyself ! thou art too base to die
By any brave man's sword. By Heaven, thy blood
Would e'en disgrace the knife of an assassin.
EDRIC.
What is it makes me to this upstart cower ?
He deals with fiends, and casts enchantment on me.
Know'st thou the law for him who dares defame ?
GODWIN.
What reck I of the law, now made an Earl ?
I am above the law, like other courtiers.
EDRIC.
Til have thy tongue cut out. Such is the law
[Aside.