QUOTES FROM THE BARD

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 3.6
SPEAKER: Second Lord
CONTEXT:
FIRST LORD
It were fit you knew him; lest, reposing too far in
his virtue, which he hath not, he might at some
great and trusty business in a main danger fail you.
BERTRAM
I would I knew in what particular action to try him.
FIRST LORD
None better than to let him fetch off his drum,
which you hear him so confidently undertake to do.
SECOND LORD
I, with a troop of Florentines, will suddenly
surprise him; such I will have, whom I am sure he
knows not from the enemy: we will bind and hoodwink
him so, that he shall suppose no other but that he
is carried into the leaguer of the adversaries, when
we bring him to our own tents. Be but your lordship
present at his examination: if he do not, for the
promise of his life and in the highest compulsion of
base fear, offer to betray you and deliver all the
intelligence in his power against you, and that with
the divine forfeit of his soul upon oath, never
trust my judgment in any thing.

DUTCH:
Dat uwe edelheid dan bij zijn verhoor tegenwoordig zij;
zoo hij dan niet, als hem het leven geschonken wordt,
en onder den sterksten aandrang van lage vrees, zich
bereid verklaart u te verraden en al de inlichtingen, die
hij in zijn bezit heeft, tegen u te geven, en wel terwijl
hij zijn ziel en zaligheid bij eede op het spel zet, behoeft
gij mij nimmermeer in iets ter wereld te vertrouwen.

MORE:
Fit=Suitable
Trusty=Requiring trust
Fetch off=Bring back
Surprise=Capture
Hoodwink=Blindfold
Leaguer=Camp (from Dutch ‘leger’)
Intelligence=Information
Compleat:
To fit=Passen, pas maaken, gereedmaaken, voegen
To fetch off=Afhaalen
Surprise=Overval, verrassing, overyling, ontsteltenis, onverwacht voorval
To hoodwink=Blinddoeken, blindhokken, verblinden
Leaguer=Leger
Intelligence=Kundschap, verstandhouding

Topics: trust, perception, caution, betrayal, judgment, evidence

PLAY: All’s Well that Ends Well
ACT/SCENE: 3.6
SPEAKER: First Lord
CONTEXT:
SECOND LORD
I, with a troop of Florentines, will suddenly
surprise him; such I will have, whom I am sure he
knows not from the enemy: we will bind and hoodwink
him so, that he shall suppose no other but that he
is carried into the leaguer of the adversaries, when
we bring him to our own tents. Be but your lordship
present at his examination: if he do not, for the
promise of his life and in the highest compulsion of
base fear, offer to betray you and deliver all the
intelligence in his power against you, and that with
the divine forfeit of his soul upon oath, never
trust my judgment in any thing.
FIRST LORD
O, for the love of laughter, let him fetch his drum;
he says he has a stratagem for’t: when your
lordship sees the bottom of his success in’t, and to
what metal this counterfeit lump of ore will be
melted, if you give him not John Drum’s
entertainment, your inclining cannot be removed.
Here he comes.

DUTCH:
Als uwe edelheid den uitslag doorziet en opmerkt, tot
welk metaal die valsche goudklomp smelt, en hem dan niet
een roffel geeft, dat hij nooit terugkomt, dan is uwe liefde
voor hem inderdaad niet uit te roeien.

MORE:
Proverb: Jack (John) Drum’s entertainment

Surprise=Capture
Hoodwink=Blindfold
Leaguer=Camp (from Dutch ‘leger’)
Intelligence=Information
John Drum’s entertainment=To be thrown out
Compleat:
Surprise=Overval, verrassing, overyling, ontsteltenis, onverwacht voorval
To hoodwink=Blinddoeken, blindhokken, verblinden
Leaguer=Leger
Intelligence=Kundschap, verstandhouding

Topics: trust, perception, caution, betrayal, judgment, evidence, proverbs and idioms