Anne, thy
wife, often hath likened me to a great light upon a high hill-top,
shining in the darkness far away. I would not magnify my powers, but
not to all is it given to be mighty captains of a host. Yet,
according to thy gifts might thy work be, and a little candle
shining in a darkened valley hath its place.
In the light of these letters, some passages in "Richard III." and the
"Comedy of Errors," written in the same year (1609), have an added
significance. In "Richard III.," Gloster says to Anne:--
"Your beauty was the cause of that effect:
Your beauty, that did haunt me in my sleep,
To undertake the death of all the world,
So I might live one hour in thy sweet bosom."
In the "Comedy of Errors," the Abbess says to Adriana:--
"The venom clamors of a jealous woman
Poison more deadly than a mud dog's tooth.
It seems his sleep was hindered by thy railing.
* * * * *
In food, in sport, and life-preserving rest
To be disturbed, would mad or man or beast.
The consequence is, then, thy jealous fits
Have scared thy husband from the use of wits."
Note, too, the kindred thought:--
"Love hath chased sleep from my enthralled eyes."
And again this passage, called forth possibly by the letters of the
Rev. Walter Blaise:--
"Slander,
Whose edge is sharper than the sword; whose tongue
Outvenoms all the worms of Nile; whose breath
Rides on the posting winds and doth belie
All corners of the world.
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