William made a move to strike one of his accustomed dramatic attitudes, but I "pulled him off," remarking that he could not, in an impromptu way, do justice to the occasion, and intimated that when he arrived at the Red Lion in London, he could write up Cleopatra and Antony, and the ten-years' siege of Troy, with Helen, Agamemnon, Ulysses, Achilles, Pandarus, Paris, Troilus, Cressida and Hector as star performers in the plays.
It was not very often that I interfered with William in his personal movements and aspirations, but as he had given so much of his poetry in illustration of our recent travels, and knowing that I was in honor bound to report to posterity all he said and did as his mental stenographer, I begged him to "give us a rest," and "let it go at that."
The next day the Albion bore away for the Strait of Gibraltar, rounding Portugal, Spain and France, sailing into the Strait of Dover, passed Gravesend, until we anchored in safety under the shadow of the Blackfriars Theatre, where a jolly crowd of bohemians greeted our rapid and successful tour of continental and classic lands.
"This accident and flood of Fortune
So far exceed all instance, all discourse,
That I am ready to distrust mine eyes
And wrangle with my reason that
Persuades me to any other trust."
CHAPTER XIV.
WINDSOR PARK. "MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM."
"This is the fairy land; O spite of spites
We talk with goblins, owls, and elfish sprites.
'Tis still a dream, or else such stuff as
Madmen tongue and brain!"
"If music be the food of love, play on;
Give me excess of it."