Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About Hesperian student / (Lincoln [Neb.]) 1872-1885 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 1, 1879)
11)11 ClIAHACTKK OK KAI.STAKK. VOIj VIU, iltcis of Florence close upon devil hast thou to do with tho tlmoorday? unless .'1 hours were cups of sack, nml minutes capons , exile the gates of the unseen ld c)ocka lho t0 ueof ,mwilll i gcc But us the gate the unhappy world opon before him, und through the dark portal of Hell and the "milder shades" of Purgatory he wandered, and stood in the cleft of the rock with the sinning and suHering soul of man as none other ever did. But at the close, the di- vine smile of Beatrice leads him up the lighted steeps to the very gates of Heav en. When he was dead, Florence relented wholly and begged of Ravenna (he ashes of the man whom living she had threat ened literally to make ashes of, if she could catch him,but Ravenna, cherishing, the memory of the man she had befr'end. cd in exile and who had made her soli tudes immortal by his presence, refused to give him up. Florence had spurned him from her bosom and henceforth he became the adopted child of Ravenna ami still "On thy shores, fortress of fallen empire. Honored sleeps thu Immortal exile." OIlAllAGTEli OF FALSTAFF. m E hare a character Falstall intro duced in three of Shakspcre's plays Henry IV in both the tlrsl and second pari, and in the Merry Wives of Windsor, where Falstall' is the central fig. ure. The play of Henry IV is based on the war of the Roses. In the first part, surrounded by headstrong, daring, ndven. turous youths of dissapated habits, Prince Henry is represented as leading a life of turbulence and riot. Among the number whom he hud gath ered around him, although of maturcr years, was Falstall'. In one of the inner rooms of the castle, amid their bottles of liquor swayed by evil thoughts, we hear the Prince and FalstafTthus discourso: Fal.i Now, Hnl, what time of day Is It, lad? I'. Hen.: Thou art bo fat-witted with drinking of old sack aud sleeping on benches after noon, that thou hast forgotten to demand that truly, which thou would'st truly know. Whnt'a tongue no reason why thou should'st ho so superfluous to demand the time of day. With these worthy remarks, is Falsi till first introduced to us by tho Prince. Nor is the tributn paid him Haltering. As lie is first represented, so is he at all times. And this seems to me to clearly depict the character of Falstall'. But let us hear the Prince give his opinion concerning the illustrious knight once more. Prince Henry had received a summons to attend court on the following day. So Falstall" suggests that he practise the part he will play, when he first meets his liither. Fid. stall' representing King Henry, thus dis, courses with the Prince: There Ih a thing, Henry, which thou has often heard of, and It Is known to many In our land by the name ot pitch; this pitch, as ancient writers do report, doth dellle; so doth tho company thou keenest: and yet there Is a virtuous man whom 1 have often noted In thy company, but I know not his name. A goodly portly man I'falth and a corpulent; of cheerful look, u pleasing eye and most noble carriage and now I re member me, his name Is Falstaft"; If that man should be lewdly given, ho dccelveth me: for. Harry, I see virtue in his looks. The Prince here interrupts bv saying: Dost thou speak like a king? Do thou stand for me, and I'll play my father Swearust thou ungracous boy Thenceforth ne'er look on me. Thou art violently carried away from grace. There is a devil haunts thee, in the shape of a fat old man, a tun of man is thy companion. Why dost thou converse with that reverend Vice, that grey Iniquity, that father rufllau, that Vanity In years? Wherein is he good, but to taste sack and drink it? wherein neat ami cleanly, but to carve a capon and eat it? wherein cunning hut in craft? wherein crafty but in villany? wherein vil lanoiis but in all things? wherein worthy but In nothing? Although the Prince had sunken into the dephts of iniquity as deep as Falstall, governed often by the same motives, yet could he not see the faults of his boon companion? And expressed in that loose careless manner when uo one was near to hear him pronounce hir opinion we may take this as his true judgement. In the analysis of such a character, we
