莎士比亞的作品裏有19處出現了香脂。現將這些相關段落整理出來並翻譯成中文：
第一處：曆史劇《理查二世》（Richard II）第一幕第一場：貴族波林勃洛克（Bolingbroke）和毛勃雷（Mowbray）在理查二世麵前互相指摘對方。波林勃洛克說毛勃雷貪汙軍餉，還設計謀害葛羅斯特公爵（理查二世的叔叔）等。毛勃雷為自己辯護，認為不存在貪汙一說，因為那筆錢是國王欠他的。他摸棱兩可地稱自己失職，未能好好地保護葛羅斯特（事實上查理二世正是殺死親叔叔的幕後主使）。毛勃雷隻痛快地承認自己曾經密謀反對當今國王，但他早已後悔了。兩人激烈爭吵，甚至扔下手套（gage）準備決鬥。波林勃洛克的父親岡特的約翰（John Gaunt，查理二世的叔叔）勸兒子放棄決鬥，理查二世也給毛勃雷下了同樣的命令。毛勃雷義憤難平，對國王說：“尊敬的陛下，我願意撲倒在您的腳下。您可以支配我的生命，但不能強迫我接受恥辱。為您盡忠效命是我的職責所在，可是即使死神住在我的墳墓之上，您也不能讓我的美好聲譽受到玷汙。我在這兒遭到莫名其妙的羞辱和彈劾，誹謗者有毒的長矛刺穿了我的靈魂，沒有香膏能夠醫治，隻有他那吐著毒瘴的心頭的血液才可為我療傷。”
（THOMAS MOWBRAY
Myself I throw, dread sovereign, at thy foot.
My life thou shalt command, but not my shame:
The one my duty owes; but my fair name,
Despite of death that lives upon my grave,
To dark dishonour’s use thou shalt not have.
I am disgraced, impeach’d and baffled here,
Pierced to the soul with slander’s venom’d spear,
The which no balm can cure but his heart-blood
Which breathed this poison.）
毛勃雷告訴查理二世，隻有殺死波林勃洛克，用“他那吐著毒瘴的心頭的血液”才能恢複自己的名譽。
第二處：曆史劇《理查二世》第三幕第二場：理查二世和他的士兵來到了威爾士海岸的哈勒奇城堡。他高興地向大地祈禱，希望大地不要相助叛亂分子，而是用蟾蜍、蜘蛛和蝰蛇毒死他們，或讓他們在刺蕁麻叢中穿行。公爵奧默樂（Aumerle）擔心波林勃洛克的勢力正變得越來越強大，理查二世反駁道：“賢弟，你真令人沮喪！你不知道當明視一切的天眼隱藏在地球的背後，照亮著下方的世界時，盜賊們會在黑暗中四處橫行，燒殺搶掠無惡不作。可是當太陽從地球的下麵升起，照亮東邊的鬆樹稍，光線穿過每一個罪惡的孔洞，那些謀殺、叛國和可憎的罪惡，失去了黑夜的庇護，就會無所遁形，顫顫發抖。所以這個竊賊，這個叛徒，波林勃洛克，在黑夜中肆意狂歡，而我們在地球的另一端漫遊，會看見我們從東方的寶座上升起，他的叛國之舉會讓他臉紅羞愧，無法忍受白日的景象，隻能為自己的罪惡簌簌發抖。洶湧的怒海中所有的水都不能洗掉一個受膏的君王身上的香膏，凡人的呼吸無法罷黜上帝揀選的代表。每一個在波林勃洛克的威壓下舉起利刃挑戰我們的黃金王冠的士兵，上帝為了他的查理會在天堂派一位光榮的天使，當天使參戰時，弱小的凡人必定失敗，因為上天仍然捍衛正義的一方。”
（KING RICHARD II
Discomfortable cousin! know’st thou not
That when the searching eye of heaven is hid,
Behind the globe, that lights the lower world,
Then thieves and robbers range abroad unseen
In murders and in outrage, boldly here;
But when from under this terrestrial ball
He fires the proud tops of the eastern pines
And darts his light through every guilty hole,
Then murders, treasons and detested sins,
The cloak of night being pluck’d from off their backs,
Stand bare and naked, trembling at themselves?
So when this thief, this traitor, Bolingbroke,
Who all this while hath revell’d in the night
Whilst we were wandering with the antipodes,
Shall see us rising in our throne, the east,
His treasons will sit blushing in his face,
Not able to endure the sight of day,
But self-affrighted tremble at his sin.
Not all the water in the rough rude sea
Can wash the balm off from an anointed king;
The breath of worldly men cannot depose
The deputy elected by the Lord:
For every man that Bolingbroke hath press’d
To lift shrewd steel against our golden crown,
God for his Richard hath in heavenly pay
A glorious angel: then, if angels fight,
Weak men must fall, for heaven still guards the right.）
盲目自大的理查二世認為：上帝賦予了他統治英格蘭的權利，所以上帝會保護他。
第三處：曆史劇《理查二世》第三幕第二場：波林勃洛克逼迫理查二世交出王權，理查陷入了漫長的自言自語中：“是，不；不，是；因為我是一個無用的人，所以，不，不，一切悉聽尊便。現在，看好了，我怎樣把自己變成一個廢人。從我的頭上卸下這重壓，從我的手中放下這粗笨的權杖，從我的心頭丟棄這君王的驕傲。我用自己的眼淚洗去了我的香膏，用自己的雙手放棄了我的王冠，用自己的舌頭否認了我的神聖地位，用自己的呼吸免除了所有的職責儀式。我摒絕一切浮華與尊嚴，放棄我的莊園、租金、收入，撤銷我的法令、裁定、法律，願上帝赦免所有對我毀棄的誓言！願上帝保佑一切對你所做的盟約永不遭背叛！讓我這個一無所有的人為一無所有而悲哀，讓你這個得到一切的人為享有一切而開心！願你坐在理查的寶位上萬壽無疆，願理查早早長眠於墳坑中！上帝保佑亨利國王，失去王位的理查這樣說，送給他許多年陽光燦爛的日子！還有其他的事情嗎？”
（KING RICHARD II
Ay, no; no, ay; for I must nothing be;
Therefore no no, for I resign to thee.
Now mark me, how I will undo myself;
I give this heavy weight from off my head
And this unwieldy sceptre from my hand,
The pride of kingly sway from out my heart;
With mine own tears I wash away my balm,
With mine own hands I give away my crown,
With mine own tongue deny my sacred state,
With mine own breath release all duty’s rites:
All pomp and majesty I do forswear;
My manors, rents, revenues I forego;
My acts, decrees, and statutes I deny:
God pardon all oaths that are broke to me!
God keep all vows unbroke that swear to thee!
Make me, that nothing have, with nothing grieved,
And thou with all pleased, that hast all achieved!
Long mayst thou live in Richard’s seat to sit,
And soon lie Richard in an earthly pit!
God save King Harry, unking’d Richard says,
And send him many years of sunshine days!
What more remains?）
理查二世不是一個合格的君王，更像一位感傷的詩人。
第四處：《亨利五世》（Henry V）第四幕第一場，阿金庫爾（Agincourt）的英軍陣地。亨利五世穿著借來的披風，扮成士兵進入軍營，與三位兵哥聊天。當士兵們退下後，他來了一段精彩的長篇獨白：“的確，法國人可以用二十比一的法國人頭（注：crown指的是法國錢幣）下賭注，來打敗我們，因為他們的‘人頭’就長在他們的肩上。可是英國人割法國‘人頭’也不算叛國，明天國王就要親自操刀呢。（士兵們下）要國王負責！讓我們把我們的生命、靈魂、我們的債務、我們細心的妻子、我們的孩子以及我們的罪惡全都交給國王負責吧。哦，伴隨著尊榮而來的艱難責任聽憑每個蠢人的胡說亂議，他能感受到的隻有自己的痛苦。做了國王，就得放棄普通人享受的無限生活樂趣。除了排場，除了盛大的排場，國王能享受到的，還有什麽是普通百姓享受不到的？你又算什麽呢，你偶像式的排場？你又是什麽樣的神明，比你的崇拜者遭受更多的苦難？你收到什麽租金？帶來什麽進賬？哦，排場，向我顯示你的價值！你為什麽被人崇拜呢？除了地位、階層和儀式之外，你還有其他能激發別人敬畏之情的東西嗎？你叫人恐懼，卻比那幫誠惶誠恐的人更不快樂。你經常喝的是有毒的奉承，而不是甜蜜的尊敬。喔，偉大的尊榮呀，你試著生一場病，吩咐你的排場來治愈你吧！你認為由諂媚鼓吹出來的頭銜可以退去滾燙的高燒嗎？鞠躬作揖會治愈病痛嗎？當你命令乞丐雙膝跪下時，能同時命令他把健康奉獻給你嗎？不，你是妄自尊大的幻夢啊，善於戲弄國王的好眠。我是一個國王，早已看穿了你，我明白不是香膏、權杖、金球，不是劍、錘矛、王冠、由金線和珍珠織成的王袍、加在王號前頭的花哨頭銜、他高踞的寶座，或者拍打著這個世界的陸岸的華麗盛典的浪潮，不，不是所有這些，這些無比輝煌的排場，能讓你睡在禦榻上，和一個卑賤的奴隸睡得一樣香甜。一個奴隸用辛苦勞動掙來的麵包塞飽了肚子，空著腦子，上床去睡覺，就再也看不見從地獄裏產生的可怕的黑夜。他倒是像一個伺候太陽神的小廝，從日出到日落，在烈日下流著汗，整個晚上睡在至福樂土，第二天天一亮，又爬起來替太陽神把駿馬套上了車。年複一年，他就幹著這辛苦營生，直到進入了墳墓。除了排場，如此一個可憐蟲，日出而作，日入而息，卻比國王過得好。那個奴隸享受著國家的太平，愚鈍的大腦從不為此操心，做君王的夙興夜寐為了維護這和平景象，卻是那鄉野村夫得到了最大的好處。”
（KING HENRY
Indeed, the French may lay twenty French
crowns to one they will beat us, for they bear
them on their shoulders. But it is no English
treason to cut French crowns, and tomorrow
the king himself will be a clipper.
（Exeunt soldiers ）
Upon the king! Let us our lives, our souls, our
debts, our careful wives, our children, and
our sins lay on the king!
We must bear all. O hard condition,
Twin-born with greatness, subject to the breath
Of every fool, whose sense no more can feel
But his own wringing. What infinite heart’s ease
Must kings neglect that private men enjoy?
And what have kings that privates have not too,
Save ceremony, save general ceremony?
And what art thou, thou idol ceremony?
What kind of god art thou, that suffer’st more
Of mortal griefs than do thy worshippers?
What are thy rents? What are thy comings in?
O ceremony, show me but thy worth!
What is thy soul of adoration?
Art thou aught else but place, degree, and form,
Creating awe and fear in other men,
Wherein thou art less happy, being feared,
Than they in fearing?
What drink’st thou oft, instead of homage sweet,
But poisoned flattery? Oh, be sick, great greatness,
And bid thy ceremony give thee cure!
Think’st thou the fiery fever will go out
With titles blown from adulation?
Will it give place to flexure and low bending?
Canst thou, when thou command’st the beggar’s knee,
Command the health of it? No, thou proud dream,
That play’st so subtly with a king’s repose.
I am a king that find thee, and I know
'Tis not the balm, the scepter, and the ball,
The sword, the mace, the crown imperial,
The intertissued robe of gold and pearl,
The farcèd title running 'fore the king,
The throne he sits on, nor the tide of pomp
That beats upon the high shore of this world.
No, not all these, thrice-gorgeous ceremony,
Not all these, laid in bed majestical,
Can sleep so soundly as the wretched slave,
Who, with a body filled and vacant mind,
Gets him to rest, crammed with distressful bread;
Never sees horrid night, the child of hell,
But, like a lackey, from the rise to set
Sweats in the eye of Phoebus, and all night
Sleeps in Elysium; next day after dawn,
Doth rise and help Hyperion to his horse,
And follows so the ever-running year
With profitable labor to his grave.
And, but for ceremony, such a wretch,
Winding up days with toil and nights with sleep,
Had the forehand and vantage of a king.
The slave, a member of the country’s peace,
Enjoys it, but in gross brain little wots
What watch the king keeps to maintain the peace,
Whose hours the peasant best advantages.）
（注：Elysium，至福樂土，最初是從冥府範圍分離出來，眾神所挑選的人，如正直有道德的人和英雄偉人，死後可以在那裏受到庇護並快樂地生活。
Hyperion：許珀裏翁，希臘神話中提坦巨人之一，是大地女神蓋婭和天王烏拉諾斯之子，太陽神之父，第一代太陽神）
英明的亨利五世道出了明君“高處不勝寒”的煩惱，他認為除了排場，做君王還不如普通百姓過得好。
在亨利五世的率領下，由步兵弓箭手為主力的英軍擊潰了由大批貴族組成的法國精銳部隊，這就是英法百年戰爭中著名的以少勝多的阿金庫爾戰役。這場戰役成為了英國長弓手最輝煌的勝利，也是一場在戰爭史有重要影響的戰役 — 以弓箭手作為主力對抗重裝騎士的勝利。
