"How youngly he began to serve his country how long continued." is a comment made by Brutus in reference to Coriolanus in William Shakepeare's play Coriolanus.
It is etched on a monument honoring John Fox Burgoyne.
The 1877 sculpture of Burgoyne is by Sir Edgar Boehm and the inscription on the plinth reads:
"John Fox Burgoyne
Field-Marshall
C.C.B.
Born 1782 - Died 1871
Erected by his brother officers of
Royal Engineers
How youngly he began to serve his country how long continued.
Coriolanus"
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The complete passage from Brutus is:
BRUTUS
Ay, spare us not. Say we read lectures to you.
How youngly he began to serve his country,
How long continued, and what stock he springs of,
The noble house o' the Marcians, from whence came
That Ancus Marcius, Numa's daughter's son,
Who, after great Hostilius, here was king;
Of the same house Publius and Quintus were,
That our beat water brought by conduits hither;
And [Censorinus,] nobly named so,
Twice being [by the people chosen] censor,
Was his great ancestor."
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