Fools and Mortals

by Bernard Cornwell

superstitions, whether it was climbing the tower, making the sign of the cross, or kissing the seamstress, were hardly meaningless, because we all believed that they kept the devils away from the playhouse; the devils that made us forget our words or brought us a sullen audience or made the trapdoor in the stage stick,

Pickles, the playhouse’s bad-tempered cat, waiting by the same door. Everyone using that door had to touch Pickles to keep the demons at bay and if Pickles lashed out with a spiteful claw and drew blood, that was regarded as an especially good omen.

“Thou, to a convent will conveniently convey,” my brother, playing Mordechaus, kicked me in the ribs, “there to contemplate and in constance pray.”

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Things base and vile, holding no quantity, Love can transpose to form and dignity: Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind, And therefore is wing’d Cupid painted blind. A Midsummer Night’s Dream Act I, Scene I, lines 232ff

“They believe they are doing good, Richard. When men do evil and claim that they are doing God’s work, then they are at their most dangerous. They are more than dangerous! They are the vilest of sinners.”

“He’s a cheeky little bleeder,”

And, most dear actors, eat no onions nor garlic, for we are to utter sweet breath; and I do not doubt but to hear them say, it is a sweet comedy. No more words. Away! Go, away! A Midsummer Night’s Dream Act IV, Scene 2, lines 39ff

H. L. Mencken’s definition of a Puritan was someone “who is haunted by the fear that someone, somewhere, might be happy,”

This in the hostorical accuracies portion after the book.