User:AlexKyrios

Things I've found in collection items worth sharing

1. "Epitaph upon Robespierre", from William Thomas Fitzgerald's Miscellaneous poems (PR4705 .F33 1801 Cage)

   Passant! ne pleure pas mon sort--

   Si Je vivois, Tu serois mort.

   Stranger! forbear to grieve that I am dead,

   For were I living, You would lose your head.

2. "The Trap", by Thomas Gilliland, is "dedicated to the ladies." The dedication is signed, "I am, LADIES, with every respect and admiration for your sex, The Author."

3. PR3639.P8 P6 1809 Cage contains the posthumous poems of William Preston, Esq. See, he really was a time traveler!

4. In OCLC, our copy of the 1913 silent film Marc'Antonio e Cleopatra had a summary that indicated, "Octavius, Antony's Roman wife, threatens the vengeance of Rome against Antony after he spurns her in Egypt." That's quite a plot twist, and certainly explains the enmity between Octavius and Antony!

5. Henry James Pye's Comments on the commentators on Shakespear is full of gems where Pye snipes at previous commentators. One of my favorites is on page 225. The original line, from Troilus and Cressida, is "O, when degree is shaked". Johnson commented, "I would read, so when degree is shaked". (Yeah, one extra letter; no real semantic difference.) Pye's response? "Then you would read wrong."

6. John Croft's Annotations on the plays of Shakespear (PR2968 .C7 1810 Cage) closes on a high note, its only one from Cymbeline: "The character of Imogen is a favorite with the ladies; it affords a full proof that a woman may feel and express a fond affection, without betraying want of delicacy; it shews also that Shakespear knew to draw such a character better than most of his age."

7. Macbeth travestie (PR2823.A72 M7 1820 Cage) is full of funny rhyming couplets telling the story of Macbeth. My favorite is probably from the beginning, where Banquo and Macbeth spy the witches. "Banquo: Not unlike are they to witches / Macbeth: Let's hold a parley with the bitches."

8. I was wondering why a Spanish edition of Henry VIII' (PR2796.S5 K4 1923 Sh.Col.) would be labeled a "tragedia". It confused me at first, until I considered how Elizabeth I could be viewed differently in Spain.

9. From a book of humo(u)r, a few lines that work just as well 200 years later (PN6173 .M7 1815 Cage):

   "Says sir John to my lady, as together they sat,

   My dear, shall we sup first, or do you know what?

   With an innocent smile, reply'd the good lady,

   Sir John what you please—but supper's not ready.