Part II
Symphony
(During which the audience is requested to think as follows:)
An aged lady taken ill
Desires to reconstruct her will;
I see the servants hurrying for
The family solicitor;
Post-haste he comes and with him brings
The usual necessary things.
With common form and driving quill
He draws the first part of the will,
The more sonorous solemn sounds
Denote a hundred thousand pounds,
This trifle is the main bequest,
Old friends and servants take the rest.
’Tis done! I see her sign her name,
I see the attestors do the same.
Who is the happy legatee?
In the next number you will see.
ix—A Translation
(Attempted in consequence of a challenge.)
“‘Mrs. Harris,’ I says to her, ‘dont name the charge, for if I could afford to lay all my feller creeturs out for nothink I would gladly do it; sich is the love I bear ’em. But what I always says to them as has the management of matters, Mrs. Harris,’”—here she kept her eye on Mr. Pecksniff—“‘be they gents or be they ladies—is, Dont ask me whether I wont take none, or whether I will, but leave the bottle on the chimley piece, and let me put my lips to it when I am so dispoged.’” (Martin Chuzzlewit, Chap. XIX).
“ως εφατ αυταρ εyώ μιν αμειβομένη προσέειπον,
‘δαιμονίη, Άρρισσιαδέω αλοχ' αντιθέοιο,
μη θην δη περι μίσθον ανείρεο, μήδ’ ονόμαζε
τοίη yάρ τοι εyων αyανη και ηπίη ειμί,
η κεν λαον απαντ’ ει μοι δύναμίς yε παρείη,
σίτου επηετανου βιότου θ’ αλις ενδον εόντος,
ασπασίως και αμισθος εουσα περιστείλαιμι
[εν λέκτρω λέξασα τανηλεyέος θανάτοιο
αυτή, ος κε θάνησι βροτων και πότμον επίσπη]
αλλ’ εκ τοι ερέω συ δ’ ενι φρεσι βάλλεο σησιν’”—
οσσε δέ οι Πεξνειφον εσέδρακον ασκελες αιεί—
“‘κείνοισιν yαρ πασι πιφαυσκομένη αyορεύω
ειτ’ ανδο’ ειτε yυναίχ’ οτέω τάδε ερyα μέμηλεν,
ω φίλε, τίπτε συ ταυτα μ’ ανείρεαι; ουδέ τί σε χρη
ιδμέναι η εθέλω πίνειν μέθυ, ηε και ουχί
ει δ’ αy’ επ’ εσχάροφιν κάταθες δέπας ηδέος οινου,
οφρ’ εν χερσιν ελω πίνουσά τε τερπομένη τε,
χείλεά τε προσθεισ’ οπόταν φίλον ητορ ανώyη.’”
x—In Memoriam
Feb. 14th, 1895