Sir Peter Harpdon's End
49
Sir Peter
Come now, and talk
This weighty matter out; there—we've no stone
To mend our walls with,—neither brick nor stone.
John Curzon
There is a quarry, sir, some ten miles off.
Sir Peter
We are not strong enough to send ten men
Ten miles to fetch us stone enough to build,
In three hours' time they would be taken or slain,
The cursed Frenchmen ride abroad so thick.
John Curzon
But we can send some villaynes to get stone.
Sir Peter
Alas! John, that we cannot bring them back.
They would go off to Clisson or Sanxere,
And tell them we were weak in walls and men,
Then down go we; for, look you, times are changed,
And now no longer does the country shake
At sound of English names; our captains fade
From off our muster-rolls. At Lusac bridge
I dare say you may even yet see the hole
That Chandos beat in dying; far in Spain
Pembroke is prisoner; Phelton prisoner here;
Manny lies buried in the Charterhouse;
Oliver Clisson turn'd these years agone;
The Captal died in prison; and, over all,
