A fearful battle render'd you in music: 44
Turn him to any cause of policy,
The Gordian knot of it he will unloose,
Familiar as his garter; that, when he speaks,
The air, a charter'd libertine, is still, 48
And the mute wonder lurketh in men's ears,
To steal his sweet and honey'd sentences;
So that the art and practic part of life
Must be the mistress to this theoric: 52
Which is a wonder how his Grace should glean it,
Since his addiction was to courses vain;
His companies unletter'd, rude, and shallow;
His hours fill'd up with riots, banquets, sports; 56
And never noted in him any study,
Any retirement, any sequestration
From open haunts and popularity.
Ely. The strawberry grows underneath the nettle,
And wholesome berries thrive and ripen best 61
Neighbour'd by fruit of baser quality:
And so the prince obscur'd his contemplation
Under the veil of wildness; which, no doubt, 64
Grew like the summer grass, fastest by night,
Unseen, yet crescive in his faculty.
Cant. It must be so; for miracles are ceas'd;
And therefore we must needs admit the means
How things are perfected.
Ely.But, my good lord, 69
How now for mitigation of this bill
Urg'd by the commons? Doth his majesty
Incline to it, or no?
45 cause of policy: political question
46 Gordian knot; cf. n.
47 that: so that
48 charter'd: privileged
51 art; cf. n.
practic: practical
52 theoric: theory
55 companies: companions
57 never noted: there was never noted
58 sequestration: withdrawal
59 popularity: low company
63 contemplation: thoughtful nature
66 crescive in his faculty: increasing by its own power
