THE BALLAD OF THE KAISER'S MERCY.
(In brief.)
"The sovereign'st thing on earth
Was parmaceti, for an inward bruise."
Henry the Fourth, Part I., Act i., Sc. 3.
A quarrel, anything but pretty,
Cannot be healed by parmaceti.
But honour, bruisèd in the leg,
Finds sovereign solace in an egg.