A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 09
General
A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 09
English drama
MEM. You might have been here long ere this. Come hither, sirrah, come
hither: what, must you go round about? Goodly, goodly, you are full of
circumstances.
ANA. In truth, sir, I was here before, and missing you, went back into
the city, sought you in every alehouse, inn, tavern, dicing-house,
tennis-court, stews, and such like places, likely to find your worship
in.
MEM. Ha, villain! am I a man likely to be found in such places, ha?
ANA. No, no, sir; but I was told by my Lady Lingua's page that your
worship was seeking me; therefore I inquired for you in those places,
where I knew you would ask for me, an it please your worship.
MEM. I remember another quarrel, sirrah; but--well, well, I have no
leisure.
SCAENA QUINTA.
COMMUNIS SENSUS, LINGUA, PHANTASTES, MEMORY, ANAMNESTES.
COM. SEN. Lingua, the Senses, by our appointment, anon are to present
their objects before us. Seeing, therefore, they be not in readiness, we
license you in the meanwhile, either in your own person or by your
advocate, to speak what you can for yourself.
LIN. My lord, if I should bring before your honour all my friends, ready
to importune you in my behalf, I should have so many rhetoricians,
logicians, lawyers, and (which is more) so many women, to attend me,
that this grove would hardly contain the company; wherefore, to avoid
the tediousness, I will lay the whole cause upon the tip of mine own
tongue.
COM. SEN. Be as brief as the necessity of our short time requires.
LIN. My lord, though the _imbecillitas_ of my feeble sex might draw me
back from this tribunal, with the _habenis_, to wit _timoris_ and the
_Catenis pudoris_, notwithstanding being so fairly led on with the
gracious [Greek: epiecheia] of your _justissime_ [Greek: dikaiosynaes].
Especially so _aspremente spurd' con gli sproni di necessita mia
pugente_, I will without the help of orators commit the _totam salutem_
of my action to the _volutabilitati_ [Greek: ton gynaicheion logon],
which _avec vostre bonne plaisir_, I will finish with more than
_Laconicâ brevitate_.
COM. SEN. What's this? here's a gallimaufry of speech indeed.
MEM. I remember about the year 1602 many used this skew kind of language
which, in my opinion, is not much unlike the man Platony,[251] the son
of Lagus, king of Egypt, brought for a spectacle, half-white, half-black.
COM. SEN. I am persuaded these same language-makers have the very
quality of cold in their wit, that freezeth all heterogeneal languages
together, congealing English tin, Grecian gold, Roman latten[252] all in
a lump.
PHA. Or rather, in my imagination, like your fantastical gull's apparel,
wearing a Spanish felt, a French doublet, a Granado stocking, a Dutch
slop, an Italian cloak, with a Welsh freeze jerkin.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account