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  • Title: Two Noble Kinsmen (Quarto, 1634)

    • Copyright Internet Shakespeare Editions. This text may be freely used for educational, non-proift purposes; for all other uses contact the Coordinating Editor.
    Author: William Shakespeare
    Not Peer Reviewed

    Two Noble Kinsmen (Quarto, 1634)

    The Two Noble Kinsmen.
    These hands shall never draw'em out like lightning
    725To blast whole Armies more.
    Arcite. No Palamon,
    Those hopes are Prisoners with us, here we are
    And here the graces of our youthes must wither
    Like a too-timely Spring; here age must finde us,
    730And which is heaviest (Palamon) unmarried,
    The sweete embraces of a loving wife
    Loden with kisses, armd with thousand Cupids
    Shall never claspe our neckes, no issue know us,
    No figures of our selves shall we ev'r see,
    735To glad our age, and like young Eagles teach'em
    Boldly to gaze against bright armes, and say
    Remember what your fathers were, and conquer.
    The faire-eyd Maides, shall weepe our Banishments,
    And in their Songs, curse ever-blinded fortune
    740Till shee for shame see what a wrong she has done
    To youth and nature; This is all our world;
    We shall know nothing here but one another,
    Heare nothing but the Clocke that tels our woes.
    The Vine shall grow, but we shall never see it:
    745Sommer shall come, and with her all delights;
    But dead-cold winter must inhabite here still.
    Pal. Tis too true Arcite. To our Theban houndes,
    That shooke the aged Forrest with their ecchoes,
    No more now must we halloa, no more shake
    750Our pointed Iavelyns, whilst the angry Swine
    Flyes like a parthian quiver from our rages,
    Strucke with our well-steeld Darts: All valiant uses,
    (The foode, and nourishment of noble mindes,)
    In us two here shall perish; we shall die
    755(which is the curse of honour) lastly,
    Children of greife, and Ignorance.
    Arc. Yet Cosen,
    Even from the bottom of these miseries
    From all that fortune can inflict upon us,
    760I see two comforts rysing, two meere blessings,
    If the gods please, to hold here abrave patience,
    And
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