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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Maid Marian by Thomas Love Peacock: themselves on the occasion, and proceeded, with staff and cudgel,
to crack each other's skulls for the good of the king and the earl.
One tall friar alone was untouched by the panic of his brethren,
and stood steadfastly watching the combat with his arms a-kembo,
the colossal emblem of an unarmed neutrality.
At length, through the midst of the internal confusion, the earl,
by the help of his good sword, the staunch valour of his men,
and the blessing of the Virgin, fought his way to the chapel-gate--
his bowmen closed him in--he vaulted into his saddle, clapped spurs to
his horse, rallied his men on the first eminence, and exchanged his sword
for a bow and arrow, with which he did old execution among the pursuers,
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