Elements of Criticism, Volume II.Kames, Henry Home, Lord
Philosophy
Elements of Criticism, Volume II.
Kames, Henry Home, Lord
Criticism; Literary style
_Falstaff._ I would you had but the wit; ’twere better than your
dukedom. Good faith, this same young sober-blooded boy doth not
love me; nor a man cannot make him laugh; but that’s no marvel, he
drinks no wine. There’s never any of these demure boys come to any
proof; for thin drink doth so over-cool their blood, and making
many fish-meals, that they fall into a kind of male green-sickness;
and then, when they marry, they get wenches. They are generally
fools and cowards; which some of us should be too, but for
inflammation. A good sherris-sack hath a twofold operation in it;
it ascends me into the brain; dries me there all the foolish, dull,
and crudy vapours which environ it; makes it apprehensive, quick,
forgetive, full of nimble, fiery, and delectable shapes; which
deliver’d o’er to the voice, the tongue, which is the birth,
becomes excellent wit. The second property of your excellent
sherris, is, the warming of the blood; which before cold and
settled left the liver white and pale; which is the badge of
pusillanimity and cowardice: but the sherris warms it, and makes
it course from the inwards, to the parts extreme; it illuminateth
the face, which, as a beacon, gives warning to all the rest of this
little kingdom, man, to arm; and then the vital commoners and
inland petty spirits muster me all to their captain, the heart;
who, great, and puff’d up with this retinue, doth any deed of
courage: and this valour comes of sherris. So that skill in the
weapon is nothing without sack, for that sets it a-work; and
learning a mere hoard of gold kept by a devil, till sack commences
it, and sets it in act and use. Hereof comes it, that Prince Harry
is valiant; for the cold blood he did naturally inherit of his
father, he hath, like lean, steril, and bare land, manured,
husbanded, and till’d, with excellent endeavour of drinking good
and good store of fertil sherris, that he is become very hot and
valiant. If I had a thousand sons, the first human principle I
would teach them, should be to forswear thin potations, and to
addict themselves to sack.
_Second part of Henry_ IV. _act. 4. sc. 7_.
The trenchant blade, toledo trusty,
For want of fighting was grown rusty,
And ate into itself, for lack
Of some body to hew and hack.
The peaceful scabbard where it dwelt,
The rancor of its edge had felt:
For of the lower end two handful,
It had devoured, ’twas so manful;
And so much scorn’d to lurk in case,
As if it durst not shew its face.
_Hudibras, canto 1._
Speaking of physicians,
Le bon de cette profession est, qu’il y a parmi les morts une
honnêteté, une discretion la plus grande du monde; jamais on n’en
voit se plaindre du médicin qui l’a tué.
_Le medicin malgré lui._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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