The Last of the Barons — Volume 05 by Baron Edward Bulwer Lytton Lytton
page 31 of 34 (91%)
page 31 of 34 (91%)
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bear the vast weight of the giant earl in his ponderous mail. But his
surprise ceased when the earl pointed out to him the immense strength of the steed's ample loins, the sinewy cleanness, the iron muscle, of the stag-like legs, the bull-like breadth of chest, and the swelling power of the shining neck. "And after all," added the earl, "both in man and beast, the spirit and the race, not the stature and the bulk, bring the prize. Mort Dieu, Richard! it often shames me of mine own thews and broad breast, --I had been more vain of laurels had I been shorter by the head!" "Nevertheless," said young George of Montagu, with a page's pertness, "I had rather have thine inches than Prince Richard's, and thy broad breast than his grace's short neck." The Duke of Gloucester turned as if a snake had stung him. He gave but one glance to the speaker, but that glance lived forever in the boy's remembrance, and the young Montagu turned pale and trembled, even before he heard the earl's stern rebuke. "Young magpies chatter, boy,--young eagles in silence measure the space between the eyry and the sun!" The boy hung his head, and would have slunk off, but Richard detained him with a gentle hand. "My fair young cousin," said he, "thy words gall no sore, and if ever thou and I charge side by side into the foeman's ranks, thou shalt comprehend what thy uncle designed to say, --how, in the hour of strait and need, we measure men's stature not by the body but the soul!" |
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