The Life And Death Of Richard Yea And Nay Volume 91, Maurice Hewlett [beautiful books to read .TXT] 📗

'The King Died In Peace, My Lord,' She Said, 'And I Have Peace Because

Of That.'

'Thy Children Shall Call Thee Blessed, My Beloved, As I Call Thee.'

'The Prophecy Of The Leper Was Not Fulfilled, Sir,' Says Jehane.

Ah,' Replied The Old Man Of Musse, All These Things Are In The Hands Of

The Supreme Disposer, Who With His Forefinger Points Us The Determined

Road.'

Then Jehane Went In To Her Children, And Other Duties Which Her Station

Required Of Her.

Epilogue Of The Abbot Milo

'When I Consider,' Writes The Abbot Milo On His Last Page, 'That I Have

Lived To See The Deaths Of Three Kings Of England, Wearers Of The

Broom-Switch, And Of The Manner Of Those Deaths, I Am Led To Admire The

Wonderful Ordering Of Almighty God, Who Accorded To Each Of Them An End

Illustrative Of His Doings In The World, And So Wrote, As It Were, In

Blood For Our Learning. King Henry Produced Strife, King Richard Induced

Strife, And King John Deduced It. King Henry Died Cursing And Accursed;

King Richard Forgiving And Forgiven; King John Blaspheming, And Not Held

Worthy Of Reproof. The First Did Evil, Meaning Evilly; The Second Evil,

Meaning Well; The Third Was Evil. So The First Was Wretched In Death,

The Second Pitiful, The Third Shameful. The First Loved A Few, The

Second Loved One, The Third None. So The Death Of The First Was Gain To

A Few, That Of The Second To One, That Of The Third To None; For He That

Loves Not, Neither Can He Hate: He Is Negligible In The End. But Observe

Now, The Chief Woe Of These Kings Of The House Of Anjou Was That They

Hurt Whom They Loved More Than Whom They Hated.

'King Henry Was A Great Prince, Who Did Evil To Many Both In His Life

And Death. My Dear Master, Lord, And Friend Might Have Been A Greater,

Had Not His Head Gone Counter To His Heart, His Generosity Not Been

Tripped Up By His Pride. So Generous As He Was, All The World Might Have

Loved Him, As One Loved Him; And Yet So Arrogant Of Mind That The Very

Largess He Bestowed Had A Sting Beneath It, As Though He Scorned To Give

Less To Creatures That Lacked So Much. All His Faults And Most Of His

Griefs Sprang From This Rending Apart Of His Nature. His Heart Cried

Yea! To A Noble Motion. Then Came His Haughty Head To Suggest Trickery,

And Bid Him Say Nay! To The Heart's Urgency.

'He Was A Religious Man, A Pious Man, The Hottest Fighter With The

Coolest Judgment Of Any I Have Ever Known; A Great Lover Of One Woman.

He Might Have Been A Happy Man If She Had Been Let Have Her Way. But He

Thwarted Her, He Played With Her Whole-Heart Love, Blew Hot And Cold;

Neither Let Her Alone Nor Clove To Her Through All. So She Had To Pay.

And Of Him, My Friend And King Howsoever, I Say From The Bottom Of My

Soul, If His Death Did Not Benefit Poor Jehane, Then It Is A Happy Thing

For A Woman To Go Bleeding In The Side. But I Know That She Was

Fortunate In His Death, And Believe That He Was Also. For He Had Space

For Reparation, Died With His Lovers About Him, Having Been Saved In

Time From A Great Disgrace. And It Is A Very Wise Man Who Reports: _Illi

Mors Gravis Incubat, Qui Notus Nimis Omnibus, Ignotus Moritur Sibi_. But

King Richard Knew Himself In Those Last Keen Hours, And (As We Believe)

'God Be Good To Him Where He Is! They Say That When He Died, That Same

Day His Soul Was Solved From Purgatorial Fires (By Reason, One May

Suppose, Of His Glorious Captaincy Of The Armies Of The Cross), And He

Drawn Up To Heaven In A Flamy Cloud. I Know Nothing Certainly Of This,

Which Was Not Revealed To Me; But My Prayer Is That He May Be Now With

Hannibal And Judas Maccabæus And Charles The Great Emperor; And By This

Time Of Writing (If There Be No Offence In It) With Jehane To Sit Upon

His Knee.

'Upon Whose Two Souls, Jesu, Have Mercy!'

Explicit

Publication Date: 05-09-2014

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