Thou rather, with thy sharp and sulphurous bolt,
Split'st the unwedgeable and gnarled oak
Than the soft myrtle :-But man, proud man!
Drest in a little brief authority;
Most ignorant of what he's most assured,
His glassy essence-like an angy ape,
Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven,
As make the angels weep; who, with our spleens,
Would all themselves laugh mortal.
This remarkable passage is found in the Second Act of the Comedy of Measure for Measure. It is uttered by Isabella, and forms a portion of that eloquent plea for her brother's life, which she prefers to the grave, severe Angelo.
MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM.'
Is all the counsel that we too have shared,
The sisters' vows, the hours that we have spent,
When we have chid the hasty-footed time
For parting us,—O, and is it all forgot?
All school-day's friendship, childhood innocence ?
We, Hermia, like two artificial gods,
Have with our needles created both one flower,
Both on one sampler, sitting on one cushion,
Both warbling of one song, both in one key;
As if our hands, our sides, voices, and minds,
Had been incorporate. So we grew together,
Like to a double cherry, seeming parted,
But yet a union in partition;
Two lovely berries moulded in one stem;
So, with two seeming bodies, but one heart;
Two of the first, like coats in heraldry,
Due but to one, and crowned with one crest.
And will you rend our ancient love asunder,
To join with men in scorning your poor friend?
It is not friendly, 'tis not maidenly:
Our sex, as well as I, may chide you for it,
Though I alone do feel the injury.
THE WIFE'S DUTY TO HER HUSBAND.
FROM THE TAMING OF THE SHREW.'
Fie! fie! unknit that threat'ning unkind brow,
And dart not scornful glances from those eyes,
To wound thy lord, thy king, thy governor.
It blots thy beauty, as frosts do bite the meads;
Confounds thy fame, as whirlwinds shake fair buds;
And in no sense is meet or amiable.
A woman moved is like a fountain troubled,
Muddy, ill-seeming, thick, bereft of beauty;
And while it is so, none so dry or thirsty
Will deign to sip, or touch one drop of it.
Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper,
Thy head, thy sovereign; one that cares for thee,
And for thy maintenance: commits his body
To painful labour, both by sea and land,
To watch the night in storms, the day in cold,
Whilst thou liest warm at home, secure and safe,
And craves no other tribute at thy hands,
But love, fair looks, and true obedience;
Too little payment for so great a debt.
Such duty as the subject owes the prince,
Even such a woman oweth to her husband;
And when she is froward, peevish, sullen, sour,
And not obedient to his honest will,
What is she but a foul contending rebel
And graceless traitor to her loving lord?
I am asham'd that women are so simple
To offer war where they should kneel for peace,
Or seek for rule, supremacy, and sway,
When they are bound to serve, love, and obey.
What shall I do to win my lord again?
Good friend, go to him; for by this light of heaven,
I know not how I lost him. Here I kneel :-
If e'er my will did trespass 'gainst his love,
Either in discourse of thought, or actual deed,
Or that mine eyes, mine ears, or any sense,
Delighted them in any other form;
Or that I do not yet, and ever did,
And ever will-though he do shake me off
To beggarly divorcement-love him dearly,
Comfort forswear me !
Unkindness may do much;
And his unkindness may defeat my life,
But never taint my love.
We adduce the gentle Desdemona as an example of conjugal fidelity and obedience, and as a model of patience under calamities of the most grievous and perplexing character.
Our own history, however, presents a character which in the pages of Shakspere is drawn with uncommon vigour and truthfulness. We allude to Queen Katharine who suffers the King's displeasure, while at the same time, her husband tells us that no man in the world possessed a better wife.
That man i' the world, who shall report he has
A better wife, let him in nought be trusted,
For speaking false in that. Thou art, alone,
(If thy rare qualities, sweet gentleness,
Thy meakness saint-like, wife-like government,—
Obeying in commanding,-and thy parts
Sovereign and pious else could speak thee out,)
The queen of earthly queens.
It will be perceived by the following lines extracted from the Play of King Henry the Eighth, that Queen Katharine in very striking and forcible language justifies her conduct during twenty years of wedded life.
In what have I offended you? what cause
Hath my behaviour given to your displeasure,
That thus you should proceed to put me off,
And take your good grace from me? Heaven
Witness,
I have been to you a true and humble wife,
At all times to your will conformable;
Ever in fear to kindle your dislike,
Yea, subject to your countenance; glad or sorry,
As I saw it inclined.
I ever contradicted your desire,
Or made it not mine too? Or which of your friends
Have I not strove to love, although I knew
He were mine enemy? What friend of mine
That had to him derived your anger, did I
Continue in my liking? nay, gave notice
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