A Book of English Prose | Page 3

all this I myself am causer; for
Sir Launcelot and his blood, through their prowess, held all your
cankered enemies in subjection and danger. And now," said Sir
Gawaine, "ye shall miss Sir Launcelot. But alas! I would not accord
with him; and therefore," said Sir Gawaine, "I pray you, fair uncle, that
I may have paper, pen, and ink, that I may write unto Sir Launcelot a
letter with mine own hands." And when paper and ink was brought, Sir
Gawaine was set up weakly by King Arthur, for he had been shriven a
little before; and he wrote thus unto Sir Launcelot: "Flower of all noble
knights that ever I heard of or saw in my days, I, Sir Gawaine, King
Lot's son of Orkney, sister's son unto the noble King Arthur, send unto
thee greeting, and let thee have knowledge, that the tenth day of May I
was smitten upon the old wound which thou gavest me before the city
of Benwick, and through the same wound that thou gavest me I am
come unto my death day, and I will that all the world wit that I Sir
Gawaine, Knight of the Round Table, sought my death, and not through
thy deserving, {3} but it was mine own seeking; wherefore I beseech
thee, Sir Launcelot, for to return again unto this realm and see my tomb,

or pray some prayer more or less for my soul. And that same day that I
wrote this letter, I was hurt to the death in the same wound the which I
had of thy hands, Sir Launcelot, for of a more nobler man might I not
be slain. Also, Sir Launcelot, for all the love that ever was between us,
make no tarrying, but come over the sea in all the haste that thou mayst
with thy noble knights, and rescue that noble king that made thee
knight, that is my lord and uncle King Arthur, for he is full straitly
bestood with a false traitor, which is my half-brother Sir Mordred, and
he hath let crown himself king, and he would have wedded my lady
Queen Guenevere, and so had he done, if she had not put herself in the
Tower of London. And so the tenth day of May last past, my lord and
uncle King Arthur and we all landed upon them at Dover, and there we
put that false traitor Sir Mordred to flight. And there it misfortuned me
for to be stricken upon thy stroke. And the date of this letter was
written but two hours and a half before my death, written with mine
own hand, and so subscribed with part of my heart-blood. And I require
thee, as thou art the most famost knight of the world, that thou wilt see
my tomb." And then Sir Gawaine wept, and also King Arthur wept; and
then they swooned both. And when they awaked both, the king made
Sir Gawaine to receive his Saviour. And then Sir Gawaine prayed the
king to send for Sir Launcelot, and to cherish him above all other
knights. And so at the hour of noon Sir Gawaine betook his soul into
the {4} hands of our Lord God. And then the king let bury him in a
chapel within the castle of Dover; and there yet unto this day all men
may see the skull of Sir Gawaine, and the same wound is seen that Sir
Launcelot gave him in battle. Then it was told to King Arthur that Sir
Mordred had pight a new field upon Barendown. And on the morrow
the king rode thither to him, and there was a great battle between them,
and much people were slain on both parts. But at the last King Arthur's
party stood best, and Sir Mordred and his party fled into Canterbury.
(Morte Darthur.)

ELIZABETH, QUEEN OF ENGLAND
1533-1603

THE QUEEN'S SPEECH TO HER LAST PARLIAMENT,
NOVEMBER 30, 1601
Mr Speaker,--We perceive your coming is to present thanks unto us.
Know I accept them with no less joy than your loves can desire to offer
such a present, and do more esteem it than any treasure or riches; for
those we know how to prize, but loyalty, love, and thanks, I account
them invaluable; and though God hath raised me high, yet this I
account the glory of my crown, that I have reigned with your loves.
This makes that I do not so much rejoice that God hath made me to be a
queen, as to be a queen over so thankful a people, and to be the means
under God to conserve you in safety, and {5} preserve you from danger,
yea to be the instrument to deliver you from dishonour, from shame
and from infamy, to