My lord , I 'll tell you : that self bill is urg 'd , Which in the eleventh year of the last king 's reign Was like , and had indeed against us pass 'd , But that the scambling and unquiet time Did push it out of farther question . It must be thought on . If it pass against us , We lose the better half of our possession ; For all the temporal lands , which men devout By testament have given to the Church , Would they strip from us ; being valu 'd thus : As much as would maintain , to the King 's honour , Full fifteen earls and fifteen hundred knights , Six thousand and two hundred good esquires ; And , to relief of lazars and weak age , Of indigent faint souls , past corporal toil , A hundred almshouses right well suppli 'd ; And to the coffers of the King beside , A thousand pounds by the year . Thus runs the bill . ‘ Twould drink the cup and all . The King is full of grace and fair regard . The courses of his youth promis 'd it not . The breath no sooner left his father 's body , But that his wildness , mortifi 'd in him , Seem 'd to die too ; yea , at that very moment Consideration like an angel came And whipp 'd the offending Adam out of him , Leaving his body as a paradise To envelope and contain celestial spirits . Never was such a sudden scholar made ; Never came reformation in a flood With such a heady currance , scouring faults ; Nor never Hydra-headed wilfulness So soon did lose his seat , and all at once , As in this king . Hear him but reason in divinity , And , all-admiring , with an inward wish You would desire the King were made a prelate ; Hear him debate of commonwealth affairs , You would say it hath been all in all his study ; List his discourse of war , and you shall hear A fearful battle rend'red you in music ; 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 , 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 : 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 , And never noted in him any study , Any retirement , any sequestration From open haunts and popularity . It must be so ; for miracles are ceas 'd , And therefore we must needs admit the means How things are perfected . He seems indifferent , Or rather swaying more upon our part Than cherishing the exhibiters against us ; For I have made an offer to his Majesty , Upon our spiritual convocation And in regard of causes now in hand , Which I have open 'd to his Grace at large , As touching France , to give a greater sum Than ever at one time the clergy yet Did to his predecessors part withal . With good acceptance of his Majesty ; Save that there was not time enough to hear , As I perceiv 'd his Grace would fain have done , The severals and unhidden passages Of his true titles to some certain dukedoms , And generally to the crown and seat of France Deriv 'd from Edward , his great-grandfather . The French ambassador upon that instant Crav 'd audience ; and the hour , I think , is come To give him hearing . Is it four o'clock ? Then go we in , to know his embassy ; Which I could with a ready guess declare , Before the Frenchman speak a word of it . God and his angels guard your sacred throne And make you long become it ! Then hear me , gracious sovereign , and you peers , That owe yourselves , your lives , and services To this imperial throne . There is no bar To make against your Highness ’ claim to France But this , which they produce from Pharamond : “ In terram Salicam mulieres ne succedant , ” “ No woman shall succeed in Salique land ; ” Which Salique land the French unjustly gloze To be the realm of France , and Pharamond The founder of this law and female bar . Yet their own authors faithfully affirm That the land Salique is in Germany , Between the floods of Sala and of Elbe ; Where Charles the Great , having subdu 'd the Saxons , There left behind and settled certain French ; Who , holding in disdain the German women For some dishonest manners of their life , Establish 'd then this law , to wit , no female Should be inheritrix in Salique land ; Which Salique , as I said , ‘ twixt Elbe and Sala , Is at this day in Germany call 'd Meisen . Then doth it well appear the Salique law Was not devised for the realm of France ; Nor did the French possess the Salique land Until four hundred one and twenty years After defunction of King Pharamond , Idly suppos 'd the founder of this law , Who died within the year of our redemption Four hundred twenty-six ; and Charles the Great Subdu 'd the Saxons , and did seat the French Beyond the river Sala , in the year Eight hundred five . Besides , their writers say , King Pepin , which deposed Childeric , Did , as heir general , being descended Of Blithild , which was daughter to King Clothair , Make claim and title to the crown of France . Hugh Capet also , who usurp 'd the crown Of Charles the Duke of Lorraine , sole heir male Of the true line and stock of Charles the Great , To find his title with some shows of truth , Though , in pure truth , it was corrupt and naught , Convey 'd himself as the heir to the Lady Lingare , Daughter to Charlemain , who was the son To Lewis the Emperor , and Lewis the son Of Charles the Great . Also , King Lewis the Tenth , Who was sole heir to the usurper Capet , Could not keep quiet in his conscience , Wearing the crown of France , till satisfied That fair Queen Isabel , his grandmother , Was lineal of the Lady Ermengare , Daughter to Charles , the foresaid Duke of Lorraine ; By the which marriage the line of Charles the Great Was re-united to the crown of France . So that , as clear as is the summer 's sun , King Pepin 's title and Hugh Capet 's claim , King Lewis his satisfaction , all appear To hold in right and title of the female . So do the kings of France unto this day , Howbeit they would hold up this Salique law To bar your Highness claiming from the female , And rather choose to hide them in a net Than amply to imbar their crooked titles Usurp 'd from you and your progenitors . The sin upon my head , dread sovereign ! For in the book of Numbers is it writ , When the man dies , let the inheritance Descend unto the daughter . Gracious lord , Stand for your own ! Unwind your bloody flag ! Look back into your mighty ancestors ! Go , my dread lord , to your great-grandsire 's tomb , From whom you claim ; invoke his warlike spirit , And your great-uncle 's , Edward the Black Prince , Who on the French ground play 'd a tragedy , Making defeat on the full power of France , Whiles his most mighty father on a hill Stood smiling to behold his lion 's whelp Forage in blood of French nobility . O noble English , that could entertain With half their forces the full pride of France And let another half stand laughing by , All out of work and cold for action ! O , let their bodies follow , my dear liege , With blood and sword and fire to win your right ; In aid whereof we of the spiritualty Will raise your Highness such a mighty sum As never did the clergy at one time Bring in to any of your ancestors . They of those marches , gracious sovereign , Shall be a wall sufficient to defend Our inland from the pilfering borderers . She hath been then more fear 'd than harm 'd , my liege ; For hear her but exampl 'd by herself : When all her chivalry hath been in France , And she a mourning widow of her nobles , She hath herself not only well defended But taken and impounded as a stray The King of Scots ; whom she did send to France To fill King Edward 's fame with prisoner kings , And make her chronicle as rich with praise As is the ooze and bottom of the sea With sunken wreck and sumless treasuries . Therefore doth heaven divide The state of man in divers functions , Setting endeavour in continual motion , To which is fixed , as an aim or butt , Obedience ; for so work the honey-bees , Creatures that by a rule in nature teach The act of order to a peopled kingdom . They have a king and officers of sorts , Where some , like magistrates , correct at home , Others like merchants , venture trade abroad , Others , like soldiers , armed in their stings , Make boot upon the summer 's velvet buds , Which pillage they with merry march bring home To the tent-royal of their emperor ; Who , busied in his majesty , surveys The singing masons building roofs of gold , The civil citizens kneading up the honey , The poor mechanic porters crowding in Their heavy burdens at his narrow gate , The sad-eyed justice , with his surly hum , Delivering o'er to executors pale The lazy yawning drone . I this infer , That many things , having full reference To one consent , may work contrariously . As many arrows , loosed several ways , Come to one mark ; as many ways meet in one town ; As many fresh streams meet in one salt sea ; As many lines close in the dial 's centre ; So many a thousand actions , once afoot , End in one purpose , and be all well borne Without defeat . Therefore to France , my liege ! Divide your happy England into four , Whereof take you one quarter into France , And you withal shall make all Gallia shake . If we , with thrice such powers left at home , Cannot defend our own doors from the dog , Let us be worried and our nation lose The name of hardiness and policy .