Page:Wit, humor, and Shakspeare. Twelve essays (IA cu31924013161223).pdf/101

 and when Ulysses replies to the complaint of Achilles that his deeds are forgotten,—

"Time hath, my lord, a wallet at his back, Wherein he puts alms for oblivion; A great-sized monster of ingratitudes: Those scraps are good deeds past, which are devour'd As fast as they are made, forgot as soon As done. Perseverance, dear my lord, Keeps honor bright: to have done, is to hang Quite out of fashion, like a rusty mail In monumental mockery. Take the instant way; For honor travels in a strait so narrow, Where one but goes abreast; keep then the path, For emulation hath a thousand sons, That one by one pursue. If you give way, Or hedge aside from the direct forthright, Like to an enter'd tide, they all rush by, And leave you hindmost. For time is like a fashionable host, That slightly shakes his parting guest by the hand, And with his arms outstretch'd, as he would fly, Grasps in the comer: welcome ever smiles, And farewell goes out sighing,"—

we need no help in recognizing the pen of Shakspeare. This is the speech that holds embedded the world's household line,

"One touch of nature makes the whole world kin."

But we should need sore helping to discover a touch of nature's style in the lines of Troilus replying to the question, "Why stay we, then?"—

"To make a recordation to my soul Of every syllable that here was spoke. But if I tell how these two did co-act, Shall I not lie in publishing a truth? Sith yet there is a credence in my heart,