How we cite our quotes: (Chapter.Paragraph)
Quote #4
My good old blameless mother strove to earn bread by nursing the sick; one of these died, the doctors knew not how, so my mother was burned for a witch whilst my babes looked on and wailed. English law!—up, all, with your cups! now all together and with a cheer!—drink to the merciful English law that delivered her from the English hell! (17.37)
Things are so bad that this thief is thankful his mother was burnt as a witch. Even that, in his view, is better than actually being alive in England.
Quote #5
"Reflect, sire—your laws are the wholesome breath of your own royalty; shall their source resist them, yet require the branches to respect them? Apparently, one of these laws has been broken; when the king is on his throne again, can it ever grieve him to remember that when he was seemingly a private person he loyally sunk the king in the citizen and submitted to its authority?" (23.5)
This is Miles Hendon talking to Prince Edward after he has been accused of stealing a pig. Edward doesn't even want to go to court, but Miles convinces him that it's for the best. Do you think it's important for rulers to follow the same laws as their subjects? Why or why not?
Quote #6
"By advantage taken of one in fault, in dire peril, and at thy mercy, thou hast seized goods worth above thirteen pence ha'penny, paying but a trifle for the same; and this, in the eye of the law, is constructive barratry, misprision of treason, malfeasance in office, ad hominem expurgatis in statu quo—and the penalty is death by the halter, without ransom, commutation, or benefit of clergy." (24.20)
Miles is a pretty good liar, isn't he? It seems that there are so many petty, specific, and ridiculous laws in 16th-century England that the guy who buys the pig actually believes in Miles's made-up law. How can a legal system work if it's so all over the place and arbitrary?