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Files
in
their
hands
,
and
hammers
at
their
side
;
And
nails
for
loosen
'd
spears
,
and
thongs
for
shields
provide
.
The
yeomen
guard
the
streets
in
seemly
bands
;
And
clowns
come
crowding
on
,
with
cudgels
in
their
hands
.
Palamon
and
Arcite
The
condition
of
the
English
nation
was
at
this
time
sufficiently
miserable
.
King
Richard
was
absent
a
prisoner
,
and
in
the
power
of
the
perfidious
and
cruel
Duke
of
Austria
.
Even
the
very
place
of
his
captivity
was
uncertain
,
and
his
fate
but
very
imperfectly
known
to
the
generality
of
his
subjects
,
who
were
,
in
the
meantime
,
a
prey
to
every
species
of
subaltern
oppression
.
Prince
John
,
in
league
with
Philip
of
France
,
Coeur-de-Lion
's
mortal
enemy
,
was
using
every
species
of
influence
with
the
Duke
of
Austria
,
to
prolong
the
captivity
of
his
brother
Richard
,
to
whom
he
stood
indebted
for
so
many
favours
.
In
the
meantime
,
he
was
strengthening
his
own
faction
in
the
kingdom
,
of
which
he
proposed
to
dispute
the
succession
,
in
case
of
the
King
's
death
,
with
the
legitimate
heir
,
Arthur
Duke
of
Brittany
,
son
of
Geoffrey
Plantagenet
,
the
elder
brother
of
John
.
This
usurpation
,
it
is
well
known
,
he
afterwards
effected
.
His
own
character
being
light
,
profligate
,
and
perfidious
,
John
easily
attached
to
his
person
and
faction
,
not
only
all
who
had
reason
to
dread
the
resentment
of
Richard
for
criminal
proceedings
during
his
absence
,
but
also
the
numerous
class
of
"
lawless
resolutes
,
"
whom
the
crusades
had
turned
back
on
their
country
,
accomplished
in
the
vices
of
the
East
,
impoverished
in
substance
,
and
hardened
in
character
,
and
who
placed
their
hopes
of
harvest
in
civil
commotion
.
To
these
causes
of
public
distress
and
apprehension
,
must
be
added
,
the
multitude
of
outlaws
,
who
,
driven
to
despair
by
the
oppression
of
the
feudal
nobility
,
and
the
severe
exercise
of
the
forest
laws
,
banded
together
in
large
gangs
,
and
,
keeping
possession
of
the
forests
and
the
wastes
,
set
at
defiance
the
justice
and
magistracy
of
the
country
.
The
nobles
themselves
,
each
fortified
within
his
own
castle
,
and
playing
the
petty
sovereign
over
his
own
dominions
,
were
the
leaders
of
bands
scarce
less
lawless
and
oppressive
than
those
of
the
avowed
depredators
.
To
maintain
these
retainers
,
and
to
support
the
extravagance
and
magnificence
which
their
pride
induced
them
to
affect
,
the
nobility
borrowed
sums
of
money
from
the
Jews
at
the
most
usurious
interest
,
which
gnawed
into
their
estates
like
consuming
cankers
,
scarce
to
be
cured
unless
when
circumstances
gave
them
an
opportunity
of
getting
free
,
by
exercising
upon
their
creditors
some
act
of
unprincipled
violence
.
Under
the
various
burdens
imposed
by
this
unhappy
state
of
affairs
,
the
people
of
England
suffered
deeply
for
the
present
,
and
had
yet
more
dreadful
cause
to
fear
for
the
future
.
To
augment
their
misery
,
a
contagious
disorder
of
a
dangerous
nature
spread
through
the
land
;
and
,
rendered
more
virulent
by
the
uncleanness
,
the
indifferent
food
,
and
the
wretched
lodging
of
the
lower
classes
,
swept
off
many
whose
fate
the
survivors
were
tempted
to
envy
,
as
exempting
them
from
the
evils
which
were
to
come
.
Yet
amid
these
accumulated
distresses
,
the
poor
as
well
as
the
rich
,
the
vulgar
as
well
as
the
noble
,
in
the
event
of
a
tournament
,
which
was
the
grand
spectacle
of
that
age
,
felt
as
much
interested
as
the
half-starved
citizen
of
Madrid
,
who
has
not
a
real
left
to
buy
provisions
for
his
family
,
feels
in
the
issue
of
a
bull-feast
.
Neither
duty
nor
infirmity
could
keep
youth
or
age
from
such
exhibitions
.
The
Passage
of
Arms
,
as
it
was
called
,
which
was
to
take
place
at
Ashby
,
in
the
county
of
Leicester
,
as
champions
of
the
first
renown
were
to
take
the
field
in
the
presence
of
Prince
John
himself
,
who
was
expected
to
grace
the
lists
,
had
attracted
universal
attention
,
and
an
immense
confluence
of
persons
of
all
ranks
hastened
upon
the
appointed
morning
to
the
place
of
combat
.
