英文名著分集阅读 詹妮弗·巴西特《威廉·莎士比亚》part5

William Shakespeare by Jennifer Bassett

单词提示

1.Earl 伯爵 2.plague 瘟疫 3.council 议会，委员会 4.sonnets 十四行诗 5.lodgings 暂住的房间 6.sworn 发誓 7.thee 第二人称，你

原文

Chapter 5: The plague years

Will wrote his play Richard Iii for Richard Burbage, and it was a great success. Richard Iii was a wicked king, a murderer, but he was wonderful on the stage with Burbage's,great voice and fine acting. Soon all London was saying King Richard's famous words when his horse is killed in war, “A horse, a horse. My kingdom for a horse.” All kinds of people came to see plays, and Will was making a lot of new friends. One day after the play, he was talking to a young man outside the Rose. He was a very beautiful young man, a bit like a girl perhaps, but still very good looking. Later,I asked Will who he was. “The Earl of Southampton.” Will said, “he's only 18, but he loves poetry and plays.” “Isn't he a friend of the Earl of Essex?” I asked. Everybody knew the Earl of Essex. He was young and good looking, and some people said that Queen Elizabeth was in love with him.” I don't know about that. The Queen was 59 years old and a very, very clever woman. But it was true that she liked to have good looking young men around her, and the Earl of Essex was her favorite. Then it all changed later, of course. “Yes,he is.” said Will, “but I think Essex is a dangerous man, Henry needs better friends than him.” “Henry?” I said surprised, “my word, do you really call him Henry, not Lord Southampton?” “Only when other people aren't there.” Will laughed,“I'm still just an actor from Stratford, Toby, not very important. Let's go and have a drink at the Boar's Head on our way home.” Will was always like that, quiet, never shouting about himself to the world. In the Boar's Head, we met some friends and started talking. The talk was all about the plague, which was coming back again into London. “Have you heard the latest news?” said one man, “They say that more than 30 people are dying every week now, and the city council said another man wants to close all the theatres. They always do that. When the play comes to London, there'll be no work for any of us actors.” “But the players can go on tour surely,” said Will. “Yes,”said the first man, “But it's a hard life, a different town, a different inn, a different play every night. I think I'll stay in London.” The plague is terrible in any place, but it was worst in London, in those narrow streets with houses so close together and the dirty water running down the middle of the street. There was no escape. When the plague came, it ran like fire through the town. If someone in a house got the plague, then the doors were shut and locked and a big red cross was put on the door. Nobody could leave the house. You had to stay inside and fight or die. If you were rich, you left London as fast as you could. In September 1592, the city council closed the theatres. “Are we going on tour, Will?.” I said to him one day, “or back to Stratford?” “We can't stay in London. You go back to Stratford, Toby.” he said slowly, “I'm going to Lord Southampton's home in Hampshire for a while. He's asked me to go and stay with him. I can do some writing there, read his books, meet a few people.” I looked at him, “There's a woman in this somewhere, isn't there? You've had a strange look in your eyes for weeks.” Will laughed, but didn't answer my question. The theatres in London didn't open again until June 1594. Will often visited Lord Southampton, but sometimes we went on tour with the company or spent time at home in Stratford. Will began to spend more time in Stratford, because it was quiet there and he could do his writing. I never heard what Anne thought about it all. During those years, Will wrote a lot of poetry. He wrote his beautiful long poem Venus and Adonis for his friend Lord Southampton, and he wrote many of his famous short poems, the sonnets. But they didn't go in a book, they were only for his friends to read. One day, when we were back in Lon