SIXTH DAY. 177 



of old houses in these faded and defaced 

 escutcheons ! Gules has lost its florid hue. 

 Azure no longer looks ethereal. Sable has 

 rusted like an old and laid up blade. Or 

 glitters in patches only, a fit type of the 

 tinsel of this life " bracteata felicitas !" 

 There is something inexpressibly solemn 

 in the contemplation of " this pomp and 

 circumstance " on the very margin of the 

 grave. What will it avail in the great 

 account, when plumes and shaven crowns, 

 the warrior and the monk, the simple 

 ploughman and the sage, the high-born 

 beauty and the lowly country wench, shall 

 be regarded without distinction ; when 

 heraldry shall cover no foul spot, and 

 that red hand, that right red hand, 

 the boast and ornament of many a proud 

 escutcheon, shall be held tremblingly 

 up to plead before the judge of all the 

 world ! 



[SIMON enters.] 



N 



