But in these cases
_We still have judgment here._ We but teach
Bloody inventions, which, being taught, return
To plague the inventors. Thus even-handed justice
Commends the ingredients of our poisoned chalice
To our own lips."
We are told that he excelled in the part of Richard III. Did he not
remember the tent scene--
"My conscience hath a thousand several tongues,
And every tongue brings in a several tale,
And every tale condemns me for a villain--
Perjury, perjury, in the highest degree,
Murder, stern murder, in the darkest degree;
All several sins, all used in each degree,
Throng to the bar, crying all--Guilty! guilty!
I shall despair. There is no creature loves me;
And, if I die, no soul will pity me."
He has murdered the Lord's Anointed, and vengeance shall pursue him.
Tell me not, in deprecation of this sentiment "Vengeance is mine, I
will repay saith the Lord." Human justice has its work and must
follow the assassin, if need be, to the very gates of hell! It is
God's edict that he who causelessly takes any human life, "By men
shall his blood be shed"--how much more when it is such a life! [FN#1]
[FN#1] Since the MS. of this discourse was given the printer, the
assassin has met his retribution. Hunted like a wild beast to his
lair, he was surrounded by his pursuers, forsaken by his accomplice,
the barn to which he had fled fired, then shot to death, lingering
several hours in intense suffering and his remains consigned to
impenetrable obscurity.
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