I vainly thought that my small services might have
outweighed my rash errors--that if it were remembered that I
pressed to the van in an assault, it would not be forgotten that
I was ever the last in the retreat--that, if I elevated my banner
upon conquered fields of battle, it was all the advantage that I
sought, while others were dividing the spoil. I may have called
the conquered city by my name, but it was to others that I
yielded the dominion. If I have been headstrong in urging bold
counsels, I have not, methinks, spared my own blood or my
people's in carrying them into as bold execution; or if I have,
in the hurry of march or battle, assumed a command over the
soldiers of others, such have been ever treated as my own when my
wealth purchased the provisions and medicines which their own
sovereigns could not procure. But it shames me to remind you of
what all but myself seem to have forgotten. Let us rather look
forward to our future measures; and believe me, brethren," he
continued, his face kindling with eagerness, "you shall not find
the pride, or the wrath, or the ambition of Richard a stumbling-block of offence in the path to which
religion and glory summon
you as with the trumpet of an archangel.
Pages:
414
415
416
417
418
419
420
421
422
423
424
425
426
427
428
429
430
431
432
433
434
435
436
437
438