Totally Random Daily Shakespeare

 

Today’s Totally Random Lines

 

To heave the traitor Somerset from hence;

And fight against the monstrous rebel Cade,

Who since I heard to be discomfited.

 

Duke of York

King Henry the Sixth Part II    Act V, Scene i, Line 61

Well now, per MW online, the word discomfited means to put in a state of perplexity, or to frustrate the plans of. However, MW gives the archaic meaning as to defeat in battle. I would suspect that Will is going for that latter meaning, since these lines are followed immediately by the stage direction

        Enter IDEN, with CADE’s head.

So, I won’t bother getting into who is Cade, or Iden, or Somerset, or even the Duke of York. Suffice to say that the three Henry the Sixth plays are full of civil strife and fighting twixt the factions of the royal family, and also that Cade has been sufficiently discomfited. 

We’re almost to the end of Henry VI Part II with this line, but the strife just continues into Part III and then into Richard the Third. It more or less ends in that latter play with Richard’s death, the last British Monarch to die in battle, if I’m not mistaken.   

Now, I'll bet you're wondering where I've been, seeing as this is the first Totally Random Daily Shakespeare post since mid-October? Well, I’ll tell you where I've been: I just returned yesterday from a three-week tour of Portugal. Yes, that’s right, Portugal.

Lovely Country! Wonderful people, stunning vistas, great wine and food… and the history! Castles, Cathedrals, Roman ruins, medieval town centers and walled cities. Fabulous! And, of course, I found Shakespeare, or at least his name, and it was in the most unlikeliest of places. 

Our last three nights in Portugal were spent in a fairly modern and very, very quirky place on the coast, north of Lisbon. The rooms didn’t have numbers, they had names. Ours was No Set Schedule. It was written in Portuguese, but I’m not going to try to remember that. You’ll have to settle for the English. Every time we wanted to charge something to the room we had to say No Set Schedule, and they understood. In addition, all the doors had different quotes or words of wisdom written on them. Ours had a quote from, believe it or not, William Shakespeare. If that’s just not amazing, what is?

To attest to the quirkiness of the place (as if Shakespeare on the door wasn’t enough), here are a few pics.

Here's Patrice walking down the stairs to our room. That's the Atlantic straight out above her. She was not fond of those stairs.

This is our bathroom. Yes, that's a fireplace at the end of a jacuzzi tub. This room reminded me a little of the Turkish prison in Midnight Express.

And this isn't quirky, but I had to include it. Patrice and I spent the better part of a late afternoon sitting on that bench and taking in the view of the Portuguese shoreline. Again, fabulous.

And here is the door to our room, No Set Schedule. I was able to find the English for this quote.

Time is too slow for those who wait, 

Too swift for those who fear, 

Too long for those who grieve, 

Too short for those who rejoice; 

But for those who love, 

Time is not.

Now here's the thing: It's not Shakespeare. Yes, I had to google it. Turns out that it's a quote from a fellow named Henry Van Dyke, written in Saratoga Springs, NY in 1904, and inspired by a sundial. Apparently it is often misattributed to Will. Some think it was inspired by a line from Richard II, a play that has a lot to do with time. 

In any event, I didn't have the heart to tell them at the hotel that it wasn't Will's lines. Besides, it's a really good quote, and the perfect words to sum up our vacation, and especially the afternoon spent on the bench looking out on the Portuguese Coast.

For those who love, Time is not.