Henry Curling

“ The dense smoke on all sides is only relieved by the rapid volume of fire which seemed to pour out of every part of the Spaniard. The tearing of timbers, the shriek of agony, the cry of despair, and the deep curse, is answered by the wild joyous cheer of the jolly Briton. Amidst a storm of blows, the two leaders, the forlorn hope of the boarders, gaining the high deck of the Spanish craft, sprung upon the enemy's deck, where they were instantly followed by their strong-armed countrymen. What can resist, what can front them and live! Their blows are like the lightning's flash! ”

“ Shakespeare smiled. "Nay, 'tis but a fragment," he said. "My often rumination supplies many such. I shall perhaps adopt them in a play I have been thinking of writing."
"Thou wilt completely alter the old style of representation," said Southampton.
"'Tis my purpose so to do," returned Shakespeare.
"From what thou hast before shewn me," said Lord Southampton, "I think thou wilt do much. But bethink ye, William Shakespeare, albeit thou hast a quick wit and rapid pen, thou must not let things come hastily from thy hands. Good works, I take it, are plants of slow produce. ”

“ I pray you hold me excused in this Master Arderne."
"Not a whit," said Arderne, "the thought is a good one. Women oft-times are led to prize that which those they think well of value,—to open their eyes and see clearly the hugeness of an affection they have not before appreciated."
"But I know not how to woo a maid for myself," said his friend, "since I have never yet made suit to one, how, then, am I to play the suitor for so accomplished a cavalier; I who hath not ever seen the court?"
"Tush, tush, man," said Arderne, "there's ne'er a courtier of them all could match thee, I dare be sworn." ”

“ Sickness and misery are amongst the neighbours he leaves; sickness and sorrow are amongst those he seeks.
Yet still as that youth wends onwards, now crossing through the fern (laden and heavy with moisture,) now diving into the thick plantations which lead into the chase of Clopton, nothing escapes his notice. The crow, "as it wings to the rocky wood," in the thickening light,—the coney, as it flashes into the cover,—the darting lizard, as it disappears in the thick fern,—the stoat and weasel, as they pounce upon their prey in the brake, all are noted by him. ”

“ But I pry'thee come in, Snare, you look pale, and lack refreshment. Our meal is about to be served."
"Nay, but," said Snare, "your wife, Will,—she likes me not; nay, she forbade my coming hither last Martinmas."
"Heed it not," said Shakespeare, smiling; "believe me, she meant not what she said. A friend both tired, hungry, and in need of shelter, shall never be turned fasting from my door. Besides, hath not thy love brought thee hither to warn me? Tush, man! Do you tell me of a woman's tongue—
"That gives not half so great a blow to the ear,
As doth a chestnut in a farmer's fire." ”

“ The towns and villages, too, were then few, small, and far apart; and as Shakespeare inquired his weary way onwards, how sweet in remembrance seemed the bowery beauty of that sequestered spot he had quitted—sweet Stratford! and where he knew every face he met, where he saw and mixed with his own family every day, every hour. Sometimes, as he lay along, and rested beneath the shade of melancholy boughs, he loved to ponder upon those dearly-loved relatives, and imagine what they were doing, what they thought of his absence, and whether they missed him. ”

“ I shall but spoil your music: my voice is rugged. I am not gifted to sing squealingly with a lady. A psalm or so at church, or a quaver after supper I can execute; but my voice is like the howl of an Irish wolf when I sing a part with the lady Charlotte: blessings on her celestial throat."
"Nay, Martin," said Charlotte, as she seated herself, "thou wilt not refuse when I tell thee it is to pleasure our new friend, to whom we owe so much."
Martin glanced quickly upon Shakespeare, as she said this, and then slowly turned his eye upon the young lady. ”

“ The autumn wind sighs, and soughs, in this old dwelling, as it rushes through the long passages from the water side. In such room our Shakespeare sits and writes. Sometime he stops and considers for a space—thinks, and thinks deeply. Then again his pen glides swiftly over the paper before him, and he writes like the wind. The table at which he is seated is but little removed from the embayment of the window, and his eye, ever and anon, glances out upon the rushing tide, and wanders over the opposite landscape, then consisting of green meadows and stunted trees. ”

“ Amongst that gay and brilliant throng there was one whose whole soul seemed wrapped in melody. The soft tones of the floating minstrelsy seemed to steal upon his heart. He stood apart from all: aloof in person as in mind, leaning against one of the quaint-cut ornaments of the room. As his eye wandered amongst the gay dancers, his countenance was at times lighted up by an expression which seemed divine. The greatness of his soul shone out in his glorious countenance, and yet, save by two persons, he was all unmarked.
It was the boy poet, the youthful Shakespeare. ”

“ Nay, despite thy sober suit of homely cut and fashion, there is a superiority in every look, tone, and movement of thine, which I feel and wonder at."
"Nay," said Shakespeare, "this is something too much, good sir. 'Tis your love and friendship which makes you think thus. Be assured, the gay and gallant Walter Arderne can never be outshone by so quiet, so unobtrusive a wight as myself."
"Ah, so thou say'st," returned Arderne; "but why is it that I feel this veneration on so short an acquaintance with a mere boy? Thy converse is different from that of men even of learning and great attainments. ”

“ There is no farther cause for them. Believe me, he you call your friend, is one who, if I mistake not, will some day rise to great eminence. And he live to any age, the world will hear something of him, for he hath the brains of half a score of us common mortals, with all his modest look, and beardless cheek."
"Then to you I will intrust the task of saying farewell to him," said Arderne, "for, methinks, on reflection, it will but aggravate my feelings to see him again, since I am so suddenly to depart."
"Be it so," said Martin; "I accept the office." ”

“ The Countess marked that glance as she sat opposite to her friend and beneath the huge chimney, for the coldness of the season, and the size of the room, made the blazing fire upon the hearth anything but disagreeable.
"And after enduring so much," said the Countess, "you mean then, to retire for ever from the world—you will forsake him for whom you have adventured life, fortune, reputation."
"I forsake none," said Clara. "Who knows or cares for one so solitary in the world! I bequeath to him I most love, all my worldly goods—myself I dedicate to heaven." ”

“ It is evening—damp, dreary, and heavy, like the day which has preceded it.
An unwholesome closeness pervades the air; a heavy drizzling rain descends from the clouds upon the earth, enveloping all around in a dense mist, which hides the surrounding scenery.
Leaving his home, the youthful Shakespeare takes his way across the meadows, in which our readers may remember to have first seen him in the opening chapter of this story. His step, however, is less buoyant, and his heart is heavier than on that occasion. The clouds, which drive steadily on, are not less gloomy than his presentiments. ”

“ The thoughts and imaginings which pervaded the mind of the youthful Shakespeare, during these moments, were what perhaps he himself would have failed in describing.
Few of us can convey in words the heavenly images which float in celestial ether, as it were, through the brain. We feel in the feeble attempt the unsufficing medium of language. Words are but the clayed embodiment of the swift thought. The thought itself is the essence of the soul—poetry unspeakable. We cannot word that which is divine. Language has no power to render again the shadowy dream—the musing reverie. ”

“ To men of the wild and peculiar disposition of the assembled party, nothing could be more pleasant than an excursion of the sort.
A midnight visit to the woodlands was by no means an uncommon circumstance in their lives; but hitherto they had pursued their sport in localities somewhat more removed from the town in which they dwelt. To the bold and imaginative Shakespeare, as his eye glanced into the moonlit orchard, the excursion had charms known only to himself. He had once or twice before watched the deer in the glades of Fulbrook, and he now joined in the expedition heart and hand. ”

“ On the present occasion the old Knight felt inclined to drink deep and sit late. He seemed resolved for a carouse. Martin and Shakespeare banded about their quaint sayings, and Sir Hugh seemed to revel in the idea of a merry Christmas at Clopton, observed with all due observance of the time; an observance, which in Warwickshire at that day was looked upon by old and young, rich and poor, with a feeling of enjoyment and love amounting to a passion. Every sport was got up with religious fervour; every old-world custom regarded with a veneration unknown to our own squalid days. ”

“ It was night when the Earl finished his business with Grasp, and the bleak winds of September sounded through the park of Cornbury, as the lawyer, after the interview, sat with the before-named client and the Templar, in a small apartment of the mansion. It was a dark hour, and a certain feeling of awe seemed to pervade that household.
The overgrown and fallen courtier lying helpless and hopeless, alike body and soul. His "ill-weaved ambition" shrank to the smallest span—his parks, his walks, his manors forsaking him. His swollen body, a thing abhorrent even to himself. ”

“ Those who have left the home and haunts of their childhood, and all there so dearly loved, can best describe the feeling of desolation which the one solitary wanderer for the first time feels, and which each mile seems to add to. He who has first embarked for a distant clime, leaving all worth living for, to "make a hazard of new fortunes in the world," can best remember "how slow his soul sailed on, how swift his ship."
When Shakespeare left the neighbourhood of Kenilworth, all was strange and new to him; and he might then be said to have entered upon "the wide and universal theatre." ”

“ Never durst poet touch a pen to write,
Until his ink were temper'd with love's sighs."
"That is indeed a singular being!" said the lady, gazing after the youth as he passed through the crowd and quitted the room. "Who and what is he?"
"'Tis him of whom I just now spoke," said Arderne; "but come, let us seek Charlotte Clopton; I thought I saw her leave the room but now to seek the purer air of the gardens. I will tell thee more of our acquaintance with this youth as we go." ”

“ He therefore, after the knight's departure, urged upon Walter the necessity there was for his not wearing out his youth in shapeless idleness. "There be many ways for a man to rise to distinction in the world at the present moment," said Martin, "and let ambition be now your mistress, good Walter."
"Alas!" said Arderne, "thou canst not feel for me, good friend, because thou hast never felt the desolation I feel. Ambition and all other passions are dead within me."
"Go to," said Martin. "Men that live in the world must be of the world. ”

“ As Shakespeare stood thus and gazed down upon the metropolis, he beheld many of those time-honoured edifices, yet remaining, which he had read of whilst studying the history of his native land.
Long did the future poet gaze upon the scene before him, and the setting sun was pouring down his softened glories, and bathing tower, and steeple, and wall, in a flood of molten gold, as he entered the suburbs. Suburbs which the traveller of the present day would have likened more to a row of hucksters' shops, or temporary buildings run up for a fair, than the outskirts of a great city. ”

“ Shall we go too far if we say the world had since nothing to compare with that representation? The life, the brilliancy, the style of the character was suited to the actor. He was all fire, energy and spirit,—Mercutio was Shakespeare's self,—the most mercurial and spirited of the production of his comic muse; and the impressive manner in which he gave the words of the character, and their fire and brilliancy, his exquisite intonation, nay, the very dash of his look was irresistible. ”

“ And is not thin oft-times the case? Do we not oft-times see in the world the most paltry portions of humanity, the most impudent and assuming? The moat common-place, the most vain, and the most unworthy, exacting the most homage? Nay, succeeding in life better than the good and virtuous?
Clara de Mowbray was one worthy of an emperor's love; a creature we do occasionally, but rarely, meet with in the world; a sort of descended angel amongst mortals, sent apparently as the pattern, the model, for the baser worldlings to "dress themselves by." ”

“ But how if a sudden twist were to dislocate that slim ancle, and the joint were ever after to be like the callous hock of a foundered steed? How then would you push your fortune?"
"Nay, then I should be utterly discomfited," said Sir Christopher, laughing; "foundered in good earnest—toe and heel—hip and thigh."
"And such is the condition of Sir Hugh," said Martin, "unless we can give a fresh fillip to his depressed spirits, and teach him to forget his griefs; he will despair, and despairing, die." ”

“ I have seen thee unknown, unthought of, unhonoured in the world. And then I saw thee enshrined in such a blaze of glory as no mortal ever before attained on earth:—the wonder of ages to come. Thy very name alone, whispered in thy lowly home, William Shakespeare, will make bearded men weep. Yes," she continued, vehemently, "I beheld thy figure standing upon an eminence so high above thy fellow-mortals, that, though all were striving to ascend towards thee, none could come beyond the plain on which that mountain stood." ”

“ But a few days had passed since all the out-door sports and diversions of the age and the season had been in full play. Those gay and jovial May-day games, in the quaint mazes of the wanton green; those rural fêtes and diversions—the wakes and revels—the May-pole dances—the parties of pleasure—into the shadowy desert unfrequented woods, and which the peasantry of old were so fond of, all had ceased as it were on the instant. The human mortals feared each other, a secret dread—however each member of a family kept the native colour of his cheek—was in the heart of each. ”

“ From the first moment of his introduction within the walls of the theatre, he had felt the fascination of the "scenic hour," and become captivated with the society of the actors, oven rude as the pieces were which he found them performing. To one of his own natural parts and brilliant wit, there was to be found an endless fund of amusement amongst such men. Their way of life also had its charm. How he loved those summer excursions amidst the sweet scenery of Old Windsor—those country revels in which he mingled amongst the rural throng, in all the sports and pastimes "of the old age." ”

“ At length he uplifted his voice, and in a loud tone, demanded instant admittance in the Queen's name. Upon this the lattice-window was thrown open, and a man's head appeared at it,—a pale, cadaverous-looking wretch, with long lank hair, and glassy and excited eye.
"What seek you here?" he said. "There is death in the house, and the doors are closed against visitors to-day."
"Let them open to those who come in the Queen's name," said Sir Thomas. "I come to seize the persons of all within this house. ”

“ And perhaps those who have lingered, and looked upon that sweet scene during night's silent reign, whilst the moon has silvered the tops of the surrounding trees, and the waters of the Avon mirrored the beautiful structure on its banks, will better understand the feelings of young Shakespeare in such a place. Things more than mortal seem to steal upon the heart, and thoughts of early and shadowy recollection to haunt the mind. ”

“ The very serving-men and maids, ranged in a long row at the lower end of the hall, seemed to add to the effect of the picture. The men in their rich liveries with heraldic badge upon the sleeve; the maids, all in one sort of costume, fitting and becoming for their station in life; nay, the orchestra itself was a picture, composed as it was of respectable personages from the town of Stratford, grave-looking, bearded, and staid, working away at their different instruments, as if it was a matter of national pride and import,—the celebration of the fair Charlotte's natal day. ”

“ We must, however, now again, after such brief excursion, return to the spot from whence we started, and as the sun shines brightly upon park and field, and wooded glade, once more look upon fair and fertile Warwickshire.
Sweet Stratford-upon-Avon! those who know thee, and know thee well—who have lingered in thy old-world streets, and wandered in thy neighbourhood, breathing the scented air which smells so wooingly amongst the shadowy groves and unfrequented glades around, will acknowledge that there is no place in England, for situation and beauty, thy superior. ”