Mojo, The Bard, & Me

 Today’s Totally Random Line 

 

First, the fair reverence of your highness curbs me

From giving reins and spur to my free speech;

Which else would post until it had return’d

These terms of treason doubled down his throat.

 

Thomas Mowbray

King Richard the Second        Act I, Scene i,  Line 54

 

This is a pretty familiar scene to me. Surprised? Anyway, it’s the first scene of King Richard the Second, the one where Bolingbroke and Mowbray are brought before the king to settle their dispute with each other.  Richard asks them to state their cases, Bolingbroke calls Mowbray a traitor and miscreant, and Mowbray starts his long winded response. Apparently this response is going to be a bit diluted because Mowbray is afraid to speak frankly in the king’s presence. Though, to be fair, talking about shoving the words back down Bolingbroke’s throat is not in the most polite terms possible.

One thing I find a little odd about this scene is the fact that Bolingbroke calls Mowbray a traitor, and yet it is Bolingbroke who’s going to come back and overthrow King Richard.
So…. Who’s the traitor?

And now for something completely different.

In the most stupendous scenes you will see delicate and fragile features, as slight wreathes of vapor, dew-lines, feathery sprays, which suggest a high refinement, a noble blood and breeding, as it were. It is not hard to account for elves and fairies; they represent this light grace, this ethereal gentility. Bring a spray from the wood, or a crystal from the brook, and place it on your mantel, and your household ornaments will seem plebeian beside its nobler fashion and bearing. It will wave superior there, as if used to a more refined and polished circle. It has a salute and a response to all your enthusiasm and heroism.

There you go. I’ve tossed a little Thoreau at you this morning. Why? It’s because I was reading a bit of him just now, and I ran into the passage assigning royal status to wreaths of vapor, dew-lines, and feathery sprays. I couldn’t help but think of Mowbray’s comments about curbing his speech because of the fair reverence of your highness.
What terribly different examples of how to look at, or treat, the symbols of royalty.

That aside, I thought Thoreau’s passage was really quite nice, and I wanted to share it with you. I just started reading him recently, having never spent any time with him before. I find his writing (at least so far) very soothing. So far it’s all about nature, pretty much appreciating nature above all else.
Seems like a pretty good attitude. 

Sometimes the little guy actually does listen to me. When I finished reading the Thoreau passage about nature, he decided he needed to look outside to check out nature for himself. 

What did he see? Well, you'll have to ask him yourself. He didn't tell me.