Contents
-BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD
Andrew Macphail, comp. The Book of Sorrow. 1916.
‘The mad days that I have spent’
William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
From ‘The Second Part of Henry
IV’, Act
III. Scene 2.
S
HALLOW.The mad days that I have spent; and to see how many of mine old acquaintance are dead!
SILENCE.We shall all follow, cousin.
SHALLOW.Certain, ’tis certain; very sure, very sure: death, as the Psalmist saith, is certain to all; all shall die. How a good yoke of bullocks at Stamford fair?
SILENCE.Truly, cousin, I was not there.
SHALLOW.Death is certain. Is old Double of your town living yet?
SILENCE.Dead, sir.
SHALLOW.Jesu! Jesu! dead! a’ drew a good bow; and dead! a’ shot a fine shoot: John a Gaunt loved him well, and betted much money on his head. Dead! a’ would have clapped i’ the clout at twelve score; and carried you a forehand shaft a fourteen and fourteen and a half, that it would have done a man’s heart good to see. How a score of ewes now?
SILENCE.Thereafter as they be: a score of good ewes may be worth ten pounds.
SHALLOW.And is old Double dead!
