“When strangers and foreigners
reside among you in your land,
do not mistreat them.
The strangers and foreigners
residing among you
must be treated as your native-born.
Love them as yourself,
for you were strangers and foreigners
in Egypt.
I am the LORD your God.”
(Leviticus 19:33-34)
Sir Thomas More (1603-4) is an unpublished Elizabethan play and a dramatic biography based on events in the life of Thomas More who rose to become the Lord Chancellor of England during the reign of Henry VIII. The play was probably written by Anthony Munday and Henry Chettle and was subsequently revised by several writers. “The Stranger’s Case” speech (delivered by More in the play) is preserved in a three-page hand-written revision now widely attributed to William Shakespeare. It is the only existing piece of writing believed to be in Shakespeare’s own hand.
More delivers the speech at St Martin-in-the-Fields located at Trafalgar Square. St Martin’s was and continues to be a prominent public space in London known for hosting protests and demonstrations. In this speech, More urges the protesters to think of themselves as immigrants and strangers.
Here is Sir Ian McKellan reading “The Stranger’s Case”
xxxxxGrant them removed, and grant that this your noise
xxxxxHath chid down all the majesty of England;
xxxxxImagine that you see the wretched strangers,
xxxxxTheir babies at their backs and their poor luggage,
xxxxxPlodding to the ports and coasts for transportation,
xxxxxAnd that you sit as kings in your desires,
xxxxxAuthority quite silent by your brawl,
xxxxxAnd you in ruff of your opinions clothed;
xxxxxWhat had you got? I’ll tell you: you had taught
xxxxxHow insolence and strong hand should prevail,
xxxxxHow order should be quelled; and by this pattern
xxxxxNot one of you should live an agèd man,
xxxxxFor other ruffians, as their fancies wrought,
xxxxxWith self same hand, self reasons, and self right,
xxxxxWould shark on you, and men like ravenous fishes
xxxxxWould feed on one another…
xxxxxO, desperate as you are,
xxxxxWash your foul minds with tears, and those same hands,
xxxxxThat you like rebels lift against the peace,
xxxxxLift up for peace, and your unreverent knees,
xxxxxMake them your feet to kneel to be forgiven!
xxxxxYou’ll put down strangers,
xxxxxKill them, cut their throats, possess their houses,
xxxxxAnd lead the majesty of law in line,
xxxxxTo slip him like a hound. Say now the king,
xxxxx(As he is clement if th’offender mourn)
xxxxxShould so much come too short of your great trespass
xxxxxAs but to banish you, whither would you go?
xxxxxWhat country, by the nature of your error,
xxxxxShould give you harbor? Go you to France or Flanders,
xxxxxTo any German province, to Spain or Portugal,
xxxxxNay, anywhere that not adheres to England,
xxxxxWhy, you must needs be strangers: would you be pleased
xxxxxTo find a nation of such barbarous temper,
xxxxxThat, breaking out in hideous violence,
xxxxxWould not afford you an abode on earth,
xxxxxWhet their detested knives against your throats,
xxxxxSpurn you like dogs, and like as if that God
xxxxxOwed not nor made not you, nor that the elements
xxxxxWere not all appropriate to your comforts,
xxxxxBut chartered unto them, what would you think
xxxxxTo be thus used? This is the strangers’ case;
xxxxxAnd this your mountainish inhumanity.
