en service sweat for duty, nor for meed!
Thou art not for the fashion of these times,
When none will sweat but for promotion."

Outside the ranks of domestic servants we find a few cases of honorable
poverty in Shakespeare. In the play just quoted, Corin, the old
shepherd, says:

"Sir, I am a true laborer; I earn that I eat, get that I
wear; owe no man hate, envy no man's happiness; glad of
other men's good, content with my harm; and the greatest of
my pride is to see my ewes graze and my lambs suck."
(As You Like It, Act 3, Sc. 2.)

in short, an ideal proletarian from the point of view of the aristocrat.

The "Winter's Tale" can boast of another good shepherd (Act 3, Sc. 3),
but he savors a little of burlesque. "Macbeth" has several humble
worthies. There is a good old man in the second act (Sc. 2), and a good
messenger in the fourth (Sc. 2). King Duncan praises highly the sergeant
who brings the news of Macbeth's victory, and uses language to him such
as Shakespeare's yeomen are not accustomed to hear (Act 1, Sc. 2). And
in "Antony and Cleopatra" we make the acquaintance of several exemplary
common soldiers. Shakespeare puts flattering words into the mouth of
Henry V. when he addresses the troops before Agincourt:

"For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile
This day shall gentle his condition."
(Act 4, Sc. 4.)

And at Harfleur he is even more complaisant:

"And you, good yeomen,
Whose limbs were made in England, shew us here
The metal of your pasture; let us swear
That you are worth your breeding; which I doubt not,
For there is none of you so mean and base
That hath not noble luster in your eyes." (Act 3, Sc. 1.)

The rank and file always fare well before a battle.

"Oh, it's 'Tommy this' and 'Tommy that' an' 'Tommy, go away';
But it's 'Thank you, Mr. Atkins,' when the band begins to play."

I should like to add some instances from Shakespeare's works of serious
and estimable behavior on the part of individuals representing the lower
classes, or of considerate treatment of them on the part of their
"betters," but I have been unable to find any, and the meager list must
end here.

But to return to Tommy Atkins. He is no longer Mr. Atkins after the
battle. Montjoy, the French herald, comes to the English king under a
flag of truce and asks that they