Shakespeare's Christmas and Other Stories

Nonfiction, Religion & Spirituality, New Age, History, Fiction & Literature
Cover of the book Shakespeare's Christmas and Other Stories by Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch, Library of Alexandria
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch ISBN: 9781465614704
Publisher: Library of Alexandria Publication: March 8, 2015
Imprint: Language: English
Author: Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
ISBN: 9781465614704
Publisher: Library of Alexandria
Publication: March 8, 2015
Imprint:
Language: English
The pace of the performance (it had begun at one o'clock) dragged sensibly with all this, and midway in Act IV., as the edge of a grey river-fog overlapped and settled gradually upon the well of the unroofed theatre, voices began to cough and call for lanterns. Two lackeys ran with a dozen. Some they hung from the balcony at the back, others they disposed along both sides of the stage, in front of the sixpenny stools, the audience all the while chaffing them by their Christian names and affectionately pelting them with nuts. Still the fog gathered, until the lantern-rays criss-crossed the stage in separate shafts, and among them the actors moved through Act V. in a luminous haze, their figures looming large, their voices muffled and incredibly remote. An idle apprentice, seated on the right of the cutpurse, began for a game to stop and unstop his ears. This gave the cutpurse an opportunity to search his pockets. Cantat vacuus: the apprentice felt him at it and went on with his game. Whenever he stopped his ears the steaming breath of the players reminded him of the painted figures he had seen carried in my Lord Mayor's Show, with labels issuing from their mouths. He had stopped his ears during the scene of King Henry's reconciliation with Chief Justice Gascoigne, and unstopped them eagerly again when his old friends reappeared—Falstaff and Bardolph and Pistol, all agog and hurrying, hot-foot, boot-and-saddle, to salute the rising sun of favour. "Welcome these pleasant days!" He stamped and clapped, following his neighbours' lead, and also because his feet and hands were cold. Eh? What was the matter? Surely the fog had taken hold of the rogues! What was happening to Mistress Quickly and Doll Tearsheet? Poor souls, they were but children: they had meant no harm. For certain this plaguy fog was infecting the play; and yet, for all the fog, the play was a play no longer, but of a sudden had become savagely real. Why was this man turning on his puppets and rending them? The worst was, they bled—not sawdust, but real blood. The apprentice cracked a nut and peeled it meditatively, with a glance along the bench. The countryman still fugled; the cutpurse cackled, with lips drawn back like a wolf's, showing his yellow teeth.
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
The pace of the performance (it had begun at one o'clock) dragged sensibly with all this, and midway in Act IV., as the edge of a grey river-fog overlapped and settled gradually upon the well of the unroofed theatre, voices began to cough and call for lanterns. Two lackeys ran with a dozen. Some they hung from the balcony at the back, others they disposed along both sides of the stage, in front of the sixpenny stools, the audience all the while chaffing them by their Christian names and affectionately pelting them with nuts. Still the fog gathered, until the lantern-rays criss-crossed the stage in separate shafts, and among them the actors moved through Act V. in a luminous haze, their figures looming large, their voices muffled and incredibly remote. An idle apprentice, seated on the right of the cutpurse, began for a game to stop and unstop his ears. This gave the cutpurse an opportunity to search his pockets. Cantat vacuus: the apprentice felt him at it and went on with his game. Whenever he stopped his ears the steaming breath of the players reminded him of the painted figures he had seen carried in my Lord Mayor's Show, with labels issuing from their mouths. He had stopped his ears during the scene of King Henry's reconciliation with Chief Justice Gascoigne, and unstopped them eagerly again when his old friends reappeared—Falstaff and Bardolph and Pistol, all agog and hurrying, hot-foot, boot-and-saddle, to salute the rising sun of favour. "Welcome these pleasant days!" He stamped and clapped, following his neighbours' lead, and also because his feet and hands were cold. Eh? What was the matter? Surely the fog had taken hold of the rogues! What was happening to Mistress Quickly and Doll Tearsheet? Poor souls, they were but children: they had meant no harm. For certain this plaguy fog was infecting the play; and yet, for all the fog, the play was a play no longer, but of a sudden had become savagely real. Why was this man turning on his puppets and rending them? The worst was, they bled—not sawdust, but real blood. The apprentice cracked a nut and peeled it meditatively, with a glance along the bench. The countryman still fugled; the cutpurse cackled, with lips drawn back like a wolf's, showing his yellow teeth.

More books from Library of Alexandria

Cover of the book The Christian Church in These Islands Before the Coming of Augustine: Three Lectures Delivered at St. Paul's in January 1894 by Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
Cover of the book Buddhist Mahâyâna Texts by Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
Cover of the book The Life of Columbus by Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
Cover of the book The Ballad of the Harp-Weaver by Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
Cover of the book The Story of a Cannoneer Under Stonewall Jackson In Which is Told the Part Taken by the Rockbridge Artillery in the Army of Northern Virginia by Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
Cover of the book Irish Books and Irish People by Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
Cover of the book The Wonder Book of Knowledge: The Marvels of Modern Industry and Invention the Interesting Stories of Common Things the Mysterious Processes of Nature Simply Explained by Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
Cover of the book Australia in Arms: A Narrative of the Australian Imperial Force and Their Achievement at Anzac by Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
Cover of the book Architecture: Gothic and Renaissance by Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
Cover of the book Venice and its Story by Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
Cover of the book Francisco Ferrer and the Modern School by Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
Cover of the book Every Girl's Book by Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
Cover of the book The Blessed Hope: A Sermon on the Death of Mrs. Francis Cunningham by Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
Cover of the book The Drama of Love and Death: A Study of Human Evolution and Transfiguration by Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
Cover of the book "Fin Tireur" by Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy