The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1911-04-20

beth. English literature is enriched
by the life Of Falstaff. his love Of
the good things Of life fascinate us.
even when we condemn his morals.
Cervante. in Don Quixote. has por-
trayed the romantic Knight of La
Mancha in similar manner to laugh
away old customs and manners.
Carlyle says that Shakespeare is
the greatest intellect. who, in our
recorded world, has left record of
himself in the way of Literature. J,
On the scroll in Westminster ABBY
may be read, Weare such stuff as
dreams are made Of" Shakespeare's
soul could dream of the world as a
stage and all people the actors there
on performing each his little part.
How true this is we all know. To-
day our greatest actors and actresses
deem it the climax Of their careers
to appear in this mighty mans dra-
mas, tragedies and comedies. Shake
sspeare ranks with the Greek poets.
Hschylus and Homer; the French
Corneille, and the German Goethe
and all having Anglo-Saxon ances-
try may well feel proud of the man
who has done so much to bring the
best OF human nature on the stage
where we may learn to love and
honor it. Byron said of him: A
truer, nobler. trustier heart. more
loving, or more loyal, never beat
within human breast There is
nothing new under the sun" declares
the psalmist, and how very human
Shakespeare is will be realized in
these short quotations illustrating the
above:
In part king Henry ", Sir
John Falstaff and Prince Hal who
later was King Henry V, meet in
the Princes apartne ate.
Falstaff =" Now, Hal, what time
of day is it, lad?
Prince Hal-Thou art SO fat
witted, with drinking Of old sack
and unbuttoning thee after supper.
that thou hast forgotten to demand
that truly. which thou wouldst truly
know. What devil has thou to
do with the time of the day? Tn
less hours were cups of sack and min
utes capons and rounds of beef
We see in this that it was the
same naughty world three hundred
years ago and that this type of good
fellow will always be with us-world
without end.
In order to prove that women
lawyers and possibly suffragettes
are no new thing, listen to Portia
as she pleads in the court of Justice.
Let Shylock state his side of the
case first: So do answer you: the
pound of flesh which | demand is
dearly bought; It's mine and will
have it. II you deny me, fe upon
your law; there is no force in the
DEGREES of Venice. / stand for
judgement; answer; shall | have it:''
Portia. dressed like doctor Of
laws pleads her clients cause and
sums up.
Portia larry little. There is
something else. This bond doth
give Shylock here no jot of blood;
the words expressly are pound of
flesh. : Take then thy bond, take
thou thy pound of flesh. But, in
the cutting it, if thou doth shed one
drop of Christian blood, thy lands
and goodsare, by the laws Of Venice,
confiscated unto the state of Venice
this Jew shall have all JUSTICE
This little scene from the Mer-
chant of Venice gives only glimpse
of the beautiful Portia, Shakespeare
paragon, who was at once highly in
tellectual and also the model for all
that was good and true. In Julius
Caesar we have the funeral grafton Z.
Of Mare Antony, beginning:
Friends, Romans, countrymen,
END me your ears; come to bury
Caesar, not to praise him. The evil
hat men do lives after them, the
good is oft Inferred in their bones;
you all did love him once, not with
out cause; what cause withholds you