QUOTES FROM THE BARD

In cruelty will I seek out my fame

PLAY: King Henry VI Part 2 ACT/SCENE: 5.2 SPEAKER: Young Clifford CONTEXT: Meet I an infant of the house of York,
Into as many gobbets will I cut it
As wild Medea young Absyrtus did:
In cruelty will I seek out my fame. DUTCH: Mijn wreedheid zij het, die mij roem verwerve. MORE:
CITED IN E&W LAW: Siddiqui v The Chancellor, Masters & Scholars of the University of Oxford [2018] EWHC 184 (QB) (07 February 2018)

Gobbet=Small pieces of flesh
In Greek mythology, Medea cut her brother Absyrtus into small pieces which she scattered to slow her father down Topics: cited in law, ambition, good and bad

That winter lion, who in rage forgets
Agèd contusions and all brush of time

PLAY: King Henry VI Part 2
ACT/SCENE: 5.3
SPEAKER: York
CONTEXT:
Of Salisbury, who can report of him,
That winter lion, who in rage forgets
Aged contusions and all brush of time,
And, like a gallant in the brow of youth,
Repairs him with occasion? This happy day
Is not itself, nor have we won one foot,
If Salisbury be lost.

DUTCH:
Wie weet iets van den ouden Salisbury?
Dien winterleeuw, die in zijn fiere woede
Den storm en al het leed des tijds vergeet

MORE:

Aged contusions=The marks of age
Brow=Prime
Repair=Revive
Occasion=Action

Compleat:
Contusion=Kneuzing, plettering
The brow (of a hill)=De top van een berg
To occasion=Veroorzaaken

Topics: age/experience, conflict, failure

True; and yet it is said, labour in thy vocation;
which is as much to say as, let the magistrates be labouring men.

PLAY: King Henry VI Part 2
ACT/SCENE: 4.2
SPEAKER: Holland
CONTEXT:
HOLLAND
True; and yet it is said, labour in thy vocation; which is as much to say as, let the magistrates be labouring men; and therefore should we be magistrates.
BEVIS
Thou hast hit it; for there’s no better sign of a brave mind than a hard hand.

DUTCH:
Zoo is het; en toch is het zeggen: „werk in uw beroep”;
wat zoo veel wil zeggen als: „laat de overheden
werklieden zijn “; en daarom moesten wij eigenlijk overheden
zijn.

MORE:

Proverb: Everyone must walk (labour) in his own calling (vocation)

Labouring=Working
Hit it=Hit the nail on the head
Hard=Calloused

Topics: proverbs and idioms, work, satisfaction

Scarce can I speak, my choler is so great:
O, I could hew up rocks and fight with flint,
I am so angry at these abject terms

PLAY: King Henry VI Part 2
ACT/SCENE: 5.1
SPEAKER: York
CONTEXT:
Scarce can I speak, my choler is so great:
O, I could hew up rocks and fight with flint,
I am so angry at these abject terms;
And now, like Ajax Telamonius,
On sheep or oxen could I spend my fury.
I am far better born than is the king,
More like a king, more kingly in my thoughts:
But I must make fair weather yet a while,
Till Henry be more weak and I more strong,—
Buckingham, I prithee, pardon me,
That I have given no answer all this while;
My mind was troubled with deep melancholy.
The cause why I have brought this army hither
Is to remove proud Somerset from the king,
Seditious to his grace and to the state.

DUTCH:
Ik spreek met moeite, zoo vergramd ben ik.
0, rotsen kon ik kloven, keiën werpen,
Zoo toornig word ik bij die trotsche taal

MORE:

Proverb: To make fair weather

Choler=Anger
Make fair weather=Appear civil, friendly
Abject terms=Terrible words
Ajax Telamonius=Ajax, son of Telamon, who slaughtered a flock of sheep in a fit of anger

Compleat:
Cholerick=Oploopend, haastig, toornig. To be in choler=Toornig zyn
Abject=Veracht, gering, snood, lafhartig, verworpen
Term=Woord, uitdrukking

Topics: emotion and mood, loyalty, betrayal

The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.

PLAY: King Henry VI Part 2
ACT/SCENE: 4.2
SPEAKER: Dick the Butcher
CONTEXT:

CADE
Be brave, then; for your captain is brave, and vows
reformation. There shall be in England seven
halfpenny loaves sold for a penny: the three-hooped
pot; shall have ten hoops and I will make it felony
to drink small beer: all the realm shall be in
common; and in Cheapside shall my palfrey go to
grass: and when I am king, as king I will be,—
ALL
God save your majesty!
CADE
I thank you, good people. There will be no money. Everyone
will eat and drink on me, and I will dress them all in one
uniform, so that they may get on like brothers and worship
me, their lord.
DICK
The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers.
CADE
Nay, that I mean to do. Is not this a lamentable
thing, that of the skin of an innocent lamb should
be made parchment? that parchment, being scribbled
o’er, should undo a man? Some say the bee stings:
but I say, ’tis the bee’s wax; for I did but seal
once to a thing, and I was never mine own man
since. How now! who’s there?

DUTCH:
Als het eerste wat wij doen, willen wij alle advocaten
doodslaan.

MORE:

NYT: June 1990:
Shakespeare’s exact line ”The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers,” was stated by Dick the Butcher in ”Henry VI,” Part II, act IV, Scene II, Line 73. Dick the Butcher was a follower of the rebel Jack Cade, who thought that if he disturbed law and order, he could become king. Shakespeare meant it as a compliment to attorneys and judges who instill justice in society.

CITED IN E&W LAW: Miller, R (On the Application Of) v The College of Policing & Anor [2020] EWHC 225 (Admin) (14 February 2020)
CITED IN USE LAW;
Walters v. Nat’l Ass’n of Radiation Survivors, 473 U.S. 305 (U.S. 1985)
[The] statement (“The first thing we do, let’s kill all the lawyers”) was spoken by a rebel, not a friend of liberty. … As a careful reading of that text will reveal, Shakespeare insightfully realized that disposing of lawyers is a step in the direction of a totalitarian form of government;
Williams v. First Federal Savings and Loan Association of Arlington, 651 F.2d 910, 926 (4th Cir. 1981);
First Wisconsin Mortgage Trust v. First Wisconsin Corporation, 571 F.2d 390, 399 (7th Cir. 1978); Wagoner v. Wagoner, 176 Cal. App.3d 936, 943, 222 Cal. Rptr. 479, 483 (1986); Glenbrook Road Association v. District of Columbia Board of Zoning Adjustment, 605 A.2d 22 n.5 (D.C. 1992)(“In spite of the oft-quoted declaration by a follower of the outlaw Jack Cade that … we are not prepared to equate a reputable law school with a junk yard or with some other trade or industry ‘commonly known as objectionable and obnoxious.'”);
Thompson v. U.S., 546 A.2d 414 n.24 (D.C. 1988);
Greene v. Greene, 56 N.Y.2d 86, 96,436 N.E.2d 496,502,451 N.Y.S.2d 46 (1982);
People v. Hobson, 39 N.Y.2d 479, 485, 348 N.E.2d 894, 384 N.Y.S.2d 419, 42.3 (1976);
People v. Ryan, 204 Mise. 861,867, 124 N.Y.S.2d 690,696 (N.Y. Sup. Ct. 1953).

Three-looped=Ref to the hoops on a beer pot, often used as a measure
Small beer=Weak, diluted beer

Compleat:
Small beer=Dun bier

Topics: cited in law, , law/legal, misquoted, justice, evidence

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