Friday, October 6, 2023

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

  

                        Stay, my lord,

And let your reason your choler question

What ‘tis you go about: to climb steep hills

Requires slow pace at first: anger is like

A full-hot horse, who being allowed his way,

Self-mettle tires him. Not a man in England

Can advise me like you: be to yourself

As you would to your friend.  

  

Duke of Norfolk
King Henry the Eighth          Act I, Scene i, Line 133

 

Well, here we are again, two days in a row in King Henry the Eighth, and two days in a row dealing with Cardinal Wolsey fallout. Today we’re at the very beginning of the play. This fellow in red seems to have everybody seeing red. How about that pun, eh?

The Duke of Norfolk is talking to Buckingham, trying to calm him down. The latter is fuming because who just left the room? Of course, Cardinal Wolsey.

I think today’s lines are a little hard, so I’ll give you Pete’s Version. Keep in mind that Wolsey just left the room and  Buckingham, really pissed off, is about to go chase after him because he’s sure the Wolsey is up to no good (spoiler alert: Buckingham is right). Norfolk wants Buckingham to calm down and slow down.

Slow down buddy, let your good sense prevail over your anger in what you’re about to do. If you’re going to climb a steep hill you need to start slow; anger is like a wild horse, who if you let him loose will quickly be tired out and not make it to the top of the steep hill. There’s no one in England who’s ever given me better advice than you. Advise yourself as well as you would advise me, and listen to that advice.

Questions?

No, that's not a horse that the mother of my child is sitting on; it's Tex, the mascot of the University of Texas. I'm guessing that Tex is a longhorn steer?
 Thankfully, Tex didn't go full-hot on her, because that wouldn't be a very good thing, and any self-mettling would have done a lot more than just tire Tex.  


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