Trusting my honor, on your lives, I charge you,
Let none attempt to harm him.

Ball.

The faith of courts

Is but a weak dependence. You are honest;
And better is it even to die the victim

Of credulous honesty, than live preserved

By the cold policy that still suspects.

Enter KING, WALWORTH, PHILPOT, etc.

King. I would speak to thee, Wat Tyler; bid the mob Retire awhile.

Piers. Nay, do not go alone:

Let me attend you.

Tyler.

Wherefore should I fear?

Am I not armed with a just cause? Retire,
And I will boldly plead the cause of Freedom.
Advances.

King. Tyler, why have you killed my officer,
And led my honest subjects from their homes,
Thus to rebel against the Lord's anointed?
Tyler. Because they were oppressed.
King.

Was this the way

To remedy the ill? You should have tried
By milder means, -petitioned at the throne,
The throne will always listen to petitions.
Tyler.

King of England,

Petitioning for pity is most weak,—
The sovereign people ought to demand justice.
I lead them to rebel against the Lord's anointed,
Because his ministers have made him odious;
His yoke is heavy, and his burden grievous.

Why do we carry on this fatal war,

To force upon the French a king they hate,

Tearing our young men from their peaceful homes,
Forcing his hard-earned fruits from the honest peasant,
Distressing us to desolate our neighbors ?
Why is this ruinous poll-tax imposed,

But to support your court's extravagance,
And your mad title to the crown of France ?
Shall we sit tamely down beneath these evils
Petitioning for pity?

King of England,

Why are we sold like cattle in your markets,
Deprived of every privilege of man?

Must we lie tamely at our tyrant's feet,

And, like your spaniels, lick the hand that beats us?
You sit at ease in your gay palaces!

The costly banquet courts your appetite;

Sweet music soothes your slumbers: we, the while,
Scarce by hard toil can earn a little food,

And sleep scarce sheltered from the cold night wind;
While your wild projects wrest the little from us
Which might have cheered the wintry hour of age.

The Parliament forever asks more money;
We toil and sweat for money for your taxes:
Where is the benefit, what good reap we

From all the counsels of your government?

Think you that we should quarrel with the French?
What boots to us your victories, your glory?

We pay, we fight, you profit at your ease.
Do you not claim the country as your own?
Do you not call the venison of the forest,
The birds of heaven, your own?-prohibiting us,
Even though in want of food, to seize the prey
Which nature offers? King! is all this just?
Think you we do not feel the wrongs we suffer?

The hour of retribution is at hand,

And tyrants tremble. Mark me, King of England !

Walworth (comes behind him, and stabs him). Insolent rebel, threatening the king!

Piers. Vengeance! Vengeance!

Hob. Seize the king!

King. I must be bold. (Advancing). My friends and loving subjects,

I will grant you all you ask; you shall be free,
The tax shall be repealed,—all, all you wish.
Your leader menaced me; he deserved his fate.
Quiet your angers. On my royal word,
Your grievances shall all be done away;
Your vassalage abolished; a free pardon

Allowed to all: So help me God, it shall be.

Ball. Revenge, my brethren, beseems not Christians. Send us these terms, signed with your seal of state. We will await in peace. Deceive us not,

Act justly, so to excuse your late foul deed.

King. The charter shall be drawn out; on mine honor All shall be justly done.

Southey.

LESSON XLIX.

SUDDEN CHANGE OF FORTUNE.

1. When Alexander the Great,* on his march to Phenicia, advanced to the city of Sidon, the people at once

* Alexander the Great, King of Macedon, and founder of the Macedonian Empire, was born in 356 B. C. He died at Babylon 323 B. C.

+ Phenicia, a country bordering on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea.

opened the gates to him, and received him with gladness, for they had been for some time under the rule of Strato, a king placed over them by the Persians. Him Alexander immediately dethroned and commanded He phæs'ti on, one of his favorite generals, to place upon the throne any one of the Sidonians whom he should judge worthy of so exalted a station.

2. It happened that the favorite was quartered at the house of two brothers, who were young, and who belonged to the. most distinguished family in the city. To these he offered the crown; but they refused it, telling him, that, according to the laws of their country, no person could ascend the throne unless he were of the royal blood.

3. Hephæstion greatly admired this magnanimity, which could contemn what others often strove to obtain by fire and sword. Continue," said he to them, "in this way of thinking; for it is, indeed, far more glorious to refuse a diadem than to wear it. However, name to me some person of the royal family, who will remember, when he is king, that it was you who set the crown upon his head."

4. The brothers, observing that several persons, through excessive ambition, aspired to this high station, and to obtain it, paid a servile court to Alexander's favorites, declared that they did not know any person more worthy of the diadem than one Abdolon'ymus, descended, though at a great distance, from the royal line, but who at the same time was so poor that he was obliged to get his bread by daily labor in a garden near the city. His honesty and integrity had reduced him, as well as many more, to such extreme poverty.

5. The two brothers went immediately in search of Abdolonymus, bearing with them the royal garments, and they found him weeding his garden. They then saluted him as king, and one of them addressed him thus: "You must now change your tatters for the dress I have brought you. Put away that mean

and contemptible habit in which you have grown old; assume the sentiments and demeanor of a prince; but when you are seated on the throne, continue to cherish the virtue which has made you worthy of it. And when you shall have ascended it, and by that means become the supreme arbiter of life and death over all the citizens, be sure never to forget the condition in which, or rather for which, you were elected.

6. Abdolonymus at first looked upon the whole as a dream; and, unable to guess what it meant, asked if they were not ashamed to ridicule him in that manner. Even after they had seriously protested that they were in earnest, he seemed to be afraid they were making him the subject of their diversion.

7. At last, becoming impatient at his resistance to their wishes, they themselves washed him, and threw over his shoulders a purple robe richly embroidered with gold. They then conducted him, still fearful and in doubt, to the royal palace, and formally placed the crown upon his head.

8. The news of this strange event soon spread over the whole city. Most of the inhabitants were overjoyed at it; but some murmured, especially the rich, who, despising the former abject state of Abdolonymus, could not forbear showing their resentment upon that account in the king's court. Alexander commanded the newly elected prince to be sent for, and, after surveying him attentively a long time, spoke thus: "Thy air and mien do not contradict what is related of thy extraction; but I should be glad to know with what frame of mind thou didst bear thy poverty."

9. "Would," replied Abdolonymus, "that I may bear this crown with equal patience. These hands have procured me all I desired; and while I possessed nothing, I wanted nothing." This answer gave Alexander a high idea of the virtue and good sense of the newly appointed king, so that he at once confirmed his election, and presented him not