Our meeting is Bridgenorth: and , Harry, you

Shall march through Glostershire; by which account,

Our business valued, some twelve days hence

Our general forces at Bridgenorth shall meet.



-King Henry



King Henry The Fourth Part I             Act III, scene ii, line 177



So they are apparently going to hook up in Bridgenorth. Well I’m from a town called Bridgeport. So should we assume that these are both towns named for Bridges? One with a bridge in the north and one with a bridge in, on or near a port? I'm not familiar with the bridge in my hometown that it's named after. 
In any event, King Henry is being somewhat emphatic that they are going to all meet in Bridgenorth. He starts the sentence saying such and ends the sentence repeating it. Bridgenorth folks. It's going to be Bridgenorth. Need I repeat it one more time? Yes, Bridgenorth.

These four are from Bridgeport: and a quartet of first cousins they are; living now in Tennessee, Tucson, Bethlehem, and Sydney, but all originally from Bridgeport.

There, I started and ended the sentence with Bridgeport, but not Bridgenorth. Got it? Bridgeport.

What other

Would you expect? You are strangely

        troublesome.—



-Gardiner



King Henry The Eighth              Act V, scene ii, line 128



Gardiner is talking to Cranmer who’s about to be led away to the Tower of London, and we all know what that means. He’s pleading for mercy and this is Gardiner’s response. That is to say, Cranmer is pleading for his life and Gardiner is finding it all a bit annoying. How strange it is that someone being condemned would plead for their life. This Gardiner fellow seems like quite the understanding and caring guy, doesn’t he? 
NOT!

I figured that this is one of those lines that would take me forever to find a picture for. So to save time, and since this is a Totally Random thing, I went in and just picked a Totally Random picture. I guess we can think of it as where Cranmer is picturing his next home to be after his short stay in the Tower (beneath a gravestone), and so that's why he's being so strangely troublesome. That kind of works, right?

Good Sir John, I sue for yours: not to charge you; for I must let you understand I think myself in better plight for a lender than you are: the which hath something embolden’d me to this unseason’d intrusion; for they say, if money go before, all ways do lie open.



-Ford



The Merry Wives Of Windsor        Act II, scene ii, line 167



Do they really say that, the last part there? If money do go before, all ways do lie open. What do you think of that? I’ve never heard it put quite like that. They do say that anything can be bought. They say it’s all about the Benjamins, and money makes the world go round. And there’s probably a lot of other money expressions. But the one in today’s Totally Random line is pretty good. In fact, I think this one is worth us trying to get it into the vernacular. 
        They say, if money go before, all ways do lie open. 
Yeah, we’ll try to work that one in at least once today. You should try too.

This is a picture of the first dollar I ever made from writing. Actually, it's the only dollar I ever made from writing. So this goes completely against today's line. Writing is important to me and I'm going to try to do a second book. And money? Well maybe that will come. Maybe it won't. What do you think of that?

No.

-Parolles

 All’s Well That Ends Well           Act I, scene i, line 108

That’s right; today’s Totally Random line is No. Nothing more, nothing less.

Are we going to delve into context? No.

Will we parse the syntax or spelling? No.

Do we have anything of any substance at all to say about today’s line? No.

How about a picture for today? No.

‘Tis but thy name that is my enemy;--

Thou art thyself though, not a Montague.

What’s Montague? It is nor hand, nor foot,

Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part

Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!

What’s in a name? that which we call a rose

By any other name would smell as sweet;

So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call’d,

Retain that dear perfection which he owes

Without that title:--Romeo, doff thy name;

And for that name, which is no part of thee,

Take all myself.



-Juliet



 Romeo And Juliet                    Act II, scene i, line 82



Well, since this is one of the most famous scenes in the history of drama, I gave you the whole paragraph, or whatever you want to call it. It’s where Romeo sneaks into the garden beneath Juliet’s balcony. He begins with But, soft! What light, yada yada. And then Juliet comes out on the balcony and does her O Romeo. Romeo! Wherefore art thou Romeo? bit. Romeo is still hiding in the shadows when she gives the speech above but then he steps out and answers,

Call me but love, and I’ll be new baptized;

Henceforth I never will be Romeo.

And then it goes on from there. I think it’s easy to see why this scene is so famous.

This balcony in Verona that has been declared Juliet's balcony. Of course, Will's play is a piece of fiction, but since it was set in Verona I guess they decided that they needed to have Juliet's balcony. And so here it is. What do you think of that?

He seems indifferent;

Or, rather, swaying more upon our part

Than cherishing th’exhibitors against us:



-Archbishop of Canterbury



 King Henry The Fifth                        Act I, scene i, line 72



Okay, the first scene of the play and the Bishop of Ely and the Archbishop of Canterbury are discussing a bill that’s circulating that would force the church to give up much of its riches and possessions. Obviously, these two guys don’t want that. Today’s line is in answer to the Bishop of Ely’s question as to how King Henry feels about this bill. Apparently he’s somewhat more inclined to the side of the church, but not completely. He’s swaying. 

Apparently the church has managed to hold onto quite a bit of it's riches and possessions; right or wrong. Which way are you swayed?

Well, sir, there rest in your foolery. Is there any ship puts forth to-night? may we be gone?


-Antipholus of Syracuse


 The Comedy Of Errors             Act IV, scene iii, line 35


Today I looked at this line and wondered why the ‘may’ in ‘may we be gone?’ was not capitalized. It comes after a question mark and the apparent end of a sentence, so what's up? I decided to go back to my First Folio to see what it had.

Well, fir, there reft in your foolerie:

Is there any fhips puts forth to night? may we be gone?

That’s exactly what the First Folio has. Or at least, that’s what my copy has.

So let’s look at this. We know that they used f for s, and so it’s easy to see why the modern editors replace all those f’s with s. I think we can also understand using the modern spelling of foolery, and maybe adding the hyphen in to night. Further, I suppose we can forgive the editors for turning ‘ships’ into the singular since that makes more sense, and it does go with the singular verbs ‘is’ and ‘puts’. Turning the colon into a period? That’s starting to get a bit iffy. But then, if they’re going to make all these edits for the modern version, why leave the uncapitalized ‘may’?

I’m not sure why I find that so irksome, but I do. I can't help it.

My associate and I happened to be talking about this editing issue whilst sitting outside the hotdog stand at the Frognerbadet in Oslo. His keen interest in the subject matter is written all over his face.