Shakespeare
staging the world

My father was born in 1906 and like many people of his generation, he was someone who I will always consider to be a real English gentleman. He was patriotic in a quiet unassuming way. I remember him quoting the following:

'This royal throne of kings, this sceptred isle,
This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars,
This other Eden, demi-paradise,
This fortress built by Nature for herself
Against infection and the hand of war,
This happy breed of men, this little world,
This precious stone set in the silver sea,
Which serves it in the office of a wall
Or as a moat defensive to a house,
Against the envy of less happier lands,--
This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England.'

This passage will always remind me of my father.

Clare Ward, London