I sprinkle, not thy forehead with water, but thy lips with wine,
and baptize thee MARIAN."
"Here is a pretty conspiracy," exclaimed the baron.
"Why, you villanous friar, think you to nickname and marry
my daughter before my face with impunity?"
"Even so, bold baron," said the friar; "we are strongest here.
Say you, might overcomes right? I say no. There is no right but might:
and to say that might overcomes right is to say that right overcomes itself:
an absurdity most palpable. Your right was the stronger in Arlingford,
and ours is the stronger in Sherwood. Your right was right as long
as you could maintain it; so is ours. So is King Richard's, with
all deference be it spoken; and so is King Saladin's; and their two
mights are now committed in bloody fray, and that which overcomes
will be right, just as long as it lasts, and as far as it reaches.
And now if any of you know any just impediment----"
"Fire and fury," said the baron.
"Fire and fury," said the friar, "are modes of that might which
constitutes right, and are just impediments to any thing against which
they can be brought to bear. They are our good allies upon occasion,
and would declare for us now if you should put them to the test."
"Father," said Matilda, "you know the terms of our compact:
from the moment you restrained my liberty, you renounced your
claim to all but compulsory obedience.
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