Today’s Totally Random
Line(s)
These should be the hours for necessities,
Not for delights; times to repair our nature
With comforting repose, and not for us
To waste these times.
-Gardiner, bishop of Winchester
King Henry the Eighth Act V, Scene i, Line 4
It’s one o’clock in the morning, and the bishop is walking through the halls of the palace with his page. He’s about to run into Sir Thomas Lovell with whom he’ll have a conversation about the king and queen.
Since this is a drama, not a novel, we never get an explanation as to why the bishop is up and about at one in the morning. By his own words, he should be repairing his nature with comforting repose.
You know, comforting repose is so important, and it really does repair our nature. I think a lot of people seriously underestimate the importance of comforting repose. When your doctor tells you to get rest, he means get rest. And it’s because the body needs rest to properly heal itself.
But getting back Today’s Totally Random Line (I know, you’re saying to yourself, holy moley, he’s actually going to get back to the line?!), it makes one wonder why the bishop has this line, why he’s talking about the restorative powers of sleep. Or is he simply drawing attention to what time of night it is. Seeing as I don’t know this play very well I’m going to have to pass on the answer to my own question.
Pass.