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Death’s Jest-Book

Wilt thou desert our brotherhood, fool sublimate? Shall the motley chapter no longer boast thee? Wilt thou forswear the order of the bell, and break thy vows to Momus? Have mercy on Wisdom and relent.

MANDRAKE Have reverence, I pray thee. To-morrow I know thee not. In truth, I mark our noble faculty is in decay. The world will see its ears in a glass no longer; so we are laid aside and shall soon be forgotten; for why should the feast of asses come but once a year, when all the days are foaled of one mother? O world, world! The gods and fairies left thee, for thou wert too wise; and now, thou Socratic star, thy demon, the great Pan, Folly, is parting from thee. The oracles still talked in their sleep, shall our grandchildren say, till Master Merriman’s kingdom was broken up: now is every man his own fool, and the world’s cheerless.

ISBRAND Farewell, thou great-eared mind: I mark, by thy talk, that thou commencest philosopher, and then thou art only a fellow-servant out of livery. But lo! here come the uninitiated — now avaunt, wise spirit, thou hast no portion in me.

Enter TORWALD, AMALA, WOLFRAM, Knights and Ladies TORWALD The turning tide; the sea’s wide leafless wind, Wherein no birds inhabit and few traffic, Making his cave within your sunny sails; The eager waves, whose golden, silent kisses Seal an alliance with your bubbling oars; And our still-working wishes, that impress Their meaning on the conscience of the world, And prompt the unready Future, — all invite you Unto your voyage. And prosperous be the issue, As is the promise, and the purpose good! Are all the rest aboard?

WOLFRAM

All. ’Tis a train

Of knights whose bosoms pant with one desire, Bold hearts and ardent all; their high resolve So rocky and embattled in the flood Of their desire: a flaming ghost-walked sea: That Fate’s decrees against us, shod in iron With sails of dragon’s wings, and manned with devils, Would scarce escape a wreck. All hearts are ready.

MANDRAKE All, sir Knight; but the pigs are just going

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