Volume III Part 32 (2/2)
”The youth of these our times that did behold This motion strange of this unwieldy plant Now boldly brag with us that are men old, That of our age they no advantage want, Though in our youth we saw an elephant.”
--_Cunningham_.
IN FAUSTUM. VII.
Faustus, nor lord nor knight, nor wise nor old, To every place about the town doth ride; He rides into the fields[470] plays to behold, He rides to take boat at the water-side, He rides to Paul's, he rides to th' ordinary, He rides unto the house of bawdry too,-- Thither his horse so often doth him carry, That shortly he will quite forget to go.
FOOTNOTES:
[470] See the admirable account of ”The Theatre and Curtain” in Mr.
Halliwell-Phillipps' _Outlines of the Life of Shakespeare_, ed. 3, pp.
385-433. It is there shown that the access to the _Theatre_ play-house was through Finsbury Fields to the west of the western boundary-wall of the grounds of the dissolved Holywell Priory.
IN KATAM.[471] VIII.
Kate, being pleas'd, wish'd that her pleasure could Endure as long as a buff-jerkin would.
Content thee, Kate; although thy pleasure wasteth, Thy pleasure's place like a buff-jerkin lasteth, For no buff-jerkin hath been oftener worn, Nor hath more sc.r.a.pings or more dressings borne.
FOOTNOTES:
[471] Not in MS.
IN LIBRUM. IX.
Liber doth vaunt how chastely he hath liv'd Since he hath been in town, seven years[472] and more, For that he swears he hath four only swiv'd, A maid, a wife, a widow, and a wh.o.r.e: Then, Liber, thou hast swiv'd all womenkind, For a fifth sort, I know, thou canst not find.
FOOTNOTES:
[472] MS. ”knowen this towne 7 yeares.”
IN MEDONTEM. X.
Great Captain Medon wears a chain of gold Which at five hundred crowns is valued, For that it was his grandsire's chain of old, When great King Henry Boulogne conquered.
And wear it, Medon, for it may ensue, That thou, by virtue of this ma.s.sy chain, A stronger town than Boulogne mayst subdue, If wise men's saws be not reputed vain; For what said Philip, king of Macedon?
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