I will a round unvarnish'd tale deliver 15 Of my whole course of love; what drugs, what charms, What conjuration, and what mighty magic, (For such proceeding I am charged withal,) I won his daughter with. Her father loved me; oft invited me; Still question'd me the story of my life, From year to year; the battles, sieges, fortunes, 20 I ran it through, ev'n from my boyish days, To the very moment that he bade me tell it. 25 Wherein I spoke of most disastrous chances, Of hair-breadth 'scapes i' the imminent deadly breach; And sold to slavery; of my redemption thence, 30 [heaven, Rough quarries, rocks, and hills whose heads touch The Anthropophagi, and men whose heads 35 Do grow beneath their shoulders. These things to hear, Would Desdemona seriously incline: But still the house affairs would draw her thence; Which ever as she could with haste despatch, 40 She'd come again, and with a greedy ear Devour up my discourse: which I observing, 45 But not intentively: I did consent; 50 And often did beguile her of her tears, She wish'd she had not heard it; yet she wish'd 54 60 SHAKSPEARE. HENRY V. TO HIS SOLDIERS. WHAT's he that wishes for more men from England ? To do our country loss; and if to live, The fewer men, the greater share of honour. 5 Nor care I, who doth feed upon my cost; It yearns me not, if men my garments wear; Such outward things dwell not in my desires: 10 But, if it be a sin to covet honour, I am the most offending soul alive. No, 'faith, my coz, wish not a man from England: God's peace! I would not lose so great an honour, This day is call'd-the feast of Crispian : 20 25 Then will he strip his sleeve, and show his scars, 30 And say, These wounds I had on Crispin's day. Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot, But he'll remember, with advantages, What feats he did that day: Then shall our names, Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Glo'ster,- 40 From this day to the ending of the world, We few, we happy few, we band of brothers; 45 This day shall gentle his condition: And gentlemen in England, now a-bed, Shall think themselves accursed, they were not here; And hold their manhoods cheap, while any speaks, That fought with us upon St. Crispin's Day. 50 SHAKSPEARE. CASSIUS. I CANNOT tell what you and other men In awe of such a thing as I myself. I was born free as Cæsar; so were you: 5 We both have fed as well; and we can both For once, upon a raw and gusty day, The troubled Tyber chafing with her shores, Cæsar said to me, "Darest thou, Cassius, now 10 And swim to yonder point ?" Upon the word, And bade him follow: so, indeed, he did. 15 20 Did from the flames of Troy upon his shoulder The old Anchises bear, so, from the waves of Tyber Did I the tired Cæsar; And this man Is now become a god; and Cassius is A wretched creature, and must bend his body, 25 If Cæsar carelessly but nod on him. He had a fever when he was in Spain, And, when the fit was on him, I did mark 30 How he did shake: 't is true, this god did shake: SHAKSPEARE. 36 ALL THE WORLD'S A STAGE. ALL the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players: His acts being seven ages. At first, the Infant; 5 10 And then, the whining School-boy; with his satchel, |