Time and Time-TellersBenson, James W., active 1857-1887
Philosophy
Time and Time-Tellers
Benson, James W., active 1857-1887
Clocks and watches
Time is, in proverbial philosophy, the most churlish and
unaccommodating of acquaintances,--'Time and tide tarry for no man.'
Time is always liable to be chided, as we have said, when one feels
like Hamlet, 'The times are out of joint;' although our next door
neighbour may, with as much or more reason, be blessing the self-same
hour we are condemning. Time is indeed all things to all men, and
'travels divers paces with divers persons.' Sweet Rosalind described
long ago 'who Time ambles withal, who Time trots withal, and who he
stands still withal.' 'I prithee,' asks Orlando, 'who doth he trot
withal?' and no matter how often we overhear her reply, we shall
listen with delight to the quaint language of the pretty
rejoinder,--'Marry, he trots hard with a young maid between the
contract of her marriage and the day it is solemnized; if the interim
be but a se'nnight, Time's pace is so hard that it seems the length of
seven years.' 'And who ambles Time withal?' 'With a priest that lacks
Latin and a rich man that hath not the gout; for the one sleeps easily
because he cannot study; and the other lives merrily because he feels
no pain; the one lacking the burthen of lean and wasteful learning,
the other knowing no burthen of heavy tedious penury. These ambles
Time withal.' 'Who doth he gallop withal?' 'With a thief to the
gallows; for though he go as softly as foot can fall, he thinks
himself too soon there.' 'Who stays Time still withal?' 'With lawyers
in the vacation; for they sleep between term and term, and then they
perceive not how Time wags.'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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