Quotes from Verence
'I think I shall ride out on the chase. And you can come too.’
‘My lord, I cannot ride!’
For the first time that morning Lord Felmet smiled.
‘Capital!’ he said. ‘We will give you a horse that can’t be ridden. Ha. Ha.' (WS)
'I’d like to know if I could compare you to a summer’s day. Because - well, June 12th was quite nice ...' (WS)
'Don’t you want to die nobly for a just cause?’
‘I’d much rather live quietly for one.' (WS)
Verence II was the most amiable monarch in the history of Lancre. His subjects regarded him with the sort of good-natured contempt that is the fate of all those who work quietly and conscientiously for the public good. (LL)
He had in fact been raised to be a Fool, a man whose job it was to caper and tell jokes and have custard poured down his trousers. This had naturally given him a grave and solemn approach to life and a grim determination never to laugh at anything ever again, especially in the presence of custard. (LL)
... Verence being a king, was allowed a gyrfalcon, whatever the hell that was, any earls in the vicinity could fly a peregrine, and priests were allowed sparrowhawks. Commoners were just about allowed a stick to throw*.
Magrat found herself wondering what Nanny Ogg would be allowed – a small chicken on a spring probably.There was no specific falcon for a witch but, as a queen, the Lancre rules of falconry allowed her to fly the wowhawk or Lappet-faced Worrier. It was small and shortsighted and preferred to walk everywhere. It fainted at the sight of blood. And about twenty wowhawks could kill a pigeon, if it was a sick pigeon. She’d spent an hour with one on her wrist. It had wheezed at her, and eventually it had dozed off upside down.
*If it wasn’t a big stick. (LL)
He’d tried to introduce Ephebian democracy to Lancre, giving the vote to everyone, or at least everyone “who be of good report and who be male and hath forty years and owneth a hosue worth more than three and a half goats a year,”because there’s no sense in being stupid about things and giving the vote to people who were poor or criminal or insane or female, who’d only use it irresponsibly. (LL)
'But they’re witches. I don’t like to ask them questions.’
‘Why not?’
‘They might give me answers. And then what would I do?' (LL)
Verence suddenly looked like a man who had been expecting a frontal attack and suddenly finds nasty things happening behind him. (LL)
It was just that she had preferred him when he’d been a Fool. There’s something about a man who tinkles gently as he moves. (LL)
... Verence would rather cut his own leg off than put a witch in prison, since it’d save trouble in the long run and probably be less painful. (LL)
Distillation of alcohol was illegal in Lancre. On the other hand, King Verence had long ago given up any idea of stopping a witch doing something she wanted to do, so merely required Nanny Ogg to keep her still somewhere it wasn’t obvious. She thoroughly approved of the prohibition, since this gave her an unchallenged market for her own product, known wherever men fell backwards into a ditch as ‘suicider'. (Ma)
Verence was technically an absolute ruler and would continue to be so provided he didn’t make the mistake of repeatedly asking Lancrestrians to do anything they didn’t want to do. (CJ)
The people of Lancre wouldn’t dream of living in anything other than a monarchy. They’d done so for thousands of years and knew that it worked. But they’d also found that it didn’t do to pay too much attention to what the King wanted, because there was bound to be another king along in forty years or so and he’d be certain to want something different and so they’d have gone to all that trouble for nothing. In the meantime, his job as they saw it was to mostly stay in the palace, practice the waving, have enough sense to face the right way on coins and let them get on with the ploughing, sowing, growing and harvesting. It was, as they saw it, a social contract. They did what they always did, and he let them. (CJ)
‘My lord, I cannot ride!’
For the first time that morning Lord Felmet smiled.
‘Capital!’ he said. ‘We will give you a horse that can’t be ridden. Ha. Ha.' (WS)
'I’d like to know if I could compare you to a summer’s day. Because - well, June 12th was quite nice ...' (WS)
'Don’t you want to die nobly for a just cause?’
‘I’d much rather live quietly for one.' (WS)
Verence II was the most amiable monarch in the history of Lancre. His subjects regarded him with the sort of good-natured contempt that is the fate of all those who work quietly and conscientiously for the public good. (LL)
He had in fact been raised to be a Fool, a man whose job it was to caper and tell jokes and have custard poured down his trousers. This had naturally given him a grave and solemn approach to life and a grim determination never to laugh at anything ever again, especially in the presence of custard. (LL)
... Verence being a king, was allowed a gyrfalcon, whatever the hell that was, any earls in the vicinity could fly a peregrine, and priests were allowed sparrowhawks. Commoners were just about allowed a stick to throw*.
Magrat found herself wondering what Nanny Ogg would be allowed – a small chicken on a spring probably.There was no specific falcon for a witch but, as a queen, the Lancre rules of falconry allowed her to fly the wowhawk or Lappet-faced Worrier. It was small and shortsighted and preferred to walk everywhere. It fainted at the sight of blood. And about twenty wowhawks could kill a pigeon, if it was a sick pigeon. She’d spent an hour with one on her wrist. It had wheezed at her, and eventually it had dozed off upside down.
*If it wasn’t a big stick. (LL)
He’d tried to introduce Ephebian democracy to Lancre, giving the vote to everyone, or at least everyone “who be of good report and who be male and hath forty years and owneth a hosue worth more than three and a half goats a year,”because there’s no sense in being stupid about things and giving the vote to people who were poor or criminal or insane or female, who’d only use it irresponsibly. (LL)
'But they’re witches. I don’t like to ask them questions.’
‘Why not?’
‘They might give me answers. And then what would I do?' (LL)
Verence suddenly looked like a man who had been expecting a frontal attack and suddenly finds nasty things happening behind him. (LL)
It was just that she had preferred him when he’d been a Fool. There’s something about a man who tinkles gently as he moves. (LL)
... Verence would rather cut his own leg off than put a witch in prison, since it’d save trouble in the long run and probably be less painful. (LL)
Distillation of alcohol was illegal in Lancre. On the other hand, King Verence had long ago given up any idea of stopping a witch doing something she wanted to do, so merely required Nanny Ogg to keep her still somewhere it wasn’t obvious. She thoroughly approved of the prohibition, since this gave her an unchallenged market for her own product, known wherever men fell backwards into a ditch as ‘suicider'. (Ma)
Verence was technically an absolute ruler and would continue to be so provided he didn’t make the mistake of repeatedly asking Lancrestrians to do anything they didn’t want to do. (CJ)
The people of Lancre wouldn’t dream of living in anything other than a monarchy. They’d done so for thousands of years and knew that it worked. But they’d also found that it didn’t do to pay too much attention to what the King wanted, because there was bound to be another king along in forty years or so and he’d be certain to want something different and so they’d have gone to all that trouble for nothing. In the meantime, his job as they saw it was to mostly stay in the palace, practice the waving, have enough sense to face the right way on coins and let them get on with the ploughing, sowing, growing and harvesting. It was, as they saw it, a social contract. They did what they always did, and he let them. (CJ)