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Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more,
Men were deceivers ever,รน
One foot in sea and one on shore,
To one thing constant never.

      — Much Ado about Nothing, Act II Scene 3

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1-20 of 37 total

KEYWORD: reading

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# Result number

Work The work is either a play, poem, or sonnet. The sonnets are treated as single work with 154 parts.

Character Indicates who said the line. If it's a play or sonnet, the character name is "Poet."

Line Shows where the line falls within the work.

The numbering is not keyed to any copyrighted numbering system found in a volume of collected works (Arden, Oxford, etc.) The numbering starts at the beginning of the work, and does not restart for each scene.

Text The line's full text, with keywords highlighted within it, unless highlighting has been disabled by the user.

1

All's Well That Ends Well
[I, 3]

Helena

548

I will tell truth; by grace itself I swear.
You know my father left me some prescriptions
Of rare and proved effects, such as his reading
And manifest experience had collected
For general sovereignty; and that he will'd me
In heedfull'st reservation to bestow them,
As notes whose faculties inclusive were
More than they were in note: amongst the rest,
There is a remedy, approved, set down,
To cure the desperate languishings whereof
The king is render'd lost.

2

All's Well That Ends Well
[IV, 3]

Second Lord

2094

I have delivered it an hour since: there is
something in't that stings his nature; for on the
reading it he changed almost into another man.

3

Antony and Cleopatra
[I, 4]

(stage directions)

422

[Enter OCTAVIUS CAESAR, reading a letter, LEPIDUS,]
and their Train]

4

Antony and Cleopatra
[IV, 1]

(stage directions)

2494

[Enter OCTAVIUS CAESAR, AGRIPPA, and MECAENAS, with]
his Army; OCTAVIUS CAESAR reading a letter]

5

As You Like It
[III, 2]

(stage directions)

1198

Enter ROSALIND, reading a paper

6

As You Like It
[III, 2]

Rosalind

1235

Peace!
Here comes my sister, reading; stand aside.

7

As You Like It
[III, 2]

Orlando

1361

I pray you mar no more of my verses with reading them
ill-favouredly.

8

Cymbeline
[II, 2]

(stage directions)

918

[IMOGEN in bed, reading; a Lady attending]

9

Cymbeline
[II, 2]

Iachimo

933

The crickets sing, and man's o'er-labour'd sense
Repairs itself by rest. Our Tarquin thus
Did softly press the rushes, ere he waken'd
The chastity he wounded. Cytherea,
How bravely thou becomest thy bed, fresh lily,
And whiter than the sheets! That I might touch!
But kiss; one kiss! Rubies unparagon'd,
How dearly they do't! 'Tis her breathing that
Perfumes the chamber thus: the flame o' the taper
Bows toward her, and would under-peep her lids,
To see the enclosed lights, now canopied
Under these windows, white and azure laced
With blue of heaven's own tinct. But my design,
To note the chamber: I will write all down:
Such and such pictures; there the window; such
The adornment of her bed; the arras; figures,
Why, such and such; and the contents o' the story.
Ah, but some natural notes about her body,
Above ten thousand meaner moveables
Would testify, to enrich mine inventory.
O sleep, thou ape of death, lie dull upon her!
And be her sense but as a monument,
Thus in a chapel lying! Come off, come off:
[Taking off her bracelet]
As slippery as the Gordian knot was hard!
'Tis mine; and this will witness outwardly,
As strongly as the conscience does within,
To the madding of her lord. On her left breast
A mole cinque-spotted, like the crimson drops
I' the bottom of a cowslip: here's a voucher,
Stronger than ever law could make: this secret
Will force him think I have pick'd the lock and ta'en
The treasure of her honour. No more. To what end?
Why should I write this down, that's riveted,
Screw'd to my memory? She hath been reading late
The tale of Tereus; here the leaf's turn'd down
Where Philomel gave up. I have enough:
To the trunk again, and shut the spring of it.
Swift, swift, you dragons of the night, that dawning
May bare the raven's eye! I lodge in fear;
Though this a heavenly angel, hell is here.
[Clock strikes]
One, two, three: time, time!

10

Cymbeline
[III, 2]

Pisanio

1507

How? of adultery? Wherefore write you not
What monster's her accuser? Leonatus,
O master! what a strange infection
Is fall'n into thy ear! What false Italian,
As poisonous-tongued as handed, hath prevail'd
On thy too ready hearing? Disloyal! No:
She's punish'd for her truth, and undergoes,
More goddess-like than wife-like, such assaults
As would take in some virtue. O my master!
Thy mind to her is now as low as were
Thy fortunes. How! that I should murder her?
Upon the love and truth and vows which I
Have made to thy command? I, her? her blood?
If it be so to do good service, never
Let me be counted serviceable. How look I,
That I should seem to lack humanity
so much as this fact comes to?
[Reading]
'Do't: the letter
that I have sent her, by her own command
Shall give thee opportunity.' O damn'd paper!
Black as the ink that's on thee! Senseless bauble,
Art thou a feodary for this act, and look'st
So virgin-like without? Lo, here she comes.
I am ignorant in what I am commanded.

11

Hamlet
[II, 2]

(stage directions)

1271

Enter Hamlet, reading on a book.

12

Hamlet
[II, 2]

Gertrude

1272

But look where sadly the poor wretch comes reading.

13

Henry IV, Part I
[II, 3]

(stage directions)

857

[Enter HOTSPUR, solus, reading a letter]

14

Henry V
[I, 2]

Henry V

153

Sure, we thank you.
My learned lord, we pray you to proceed
And justly and religiously unfold
Why the law Salique that they have in France
Or should, or should not, bar us in our claim:
And God forbid, my dear and faithful lord,
That you should fashion, wrest, or bow your reading,
Or nicely charge your understanding soul
With opening titles miscreate, whose right
Suits not in native colours with the truth;
For God doth know how many now in health
Shall drop their blood in approbation
Of what your reverence shall incite us to.
Therefore take heed how you impawn our person,
How you awake our sleeping sword of war:
We charge you, in the name of God, take heed;
For never two such kingdoms did contend
Without much fall of blood; whose guiltless drops
Are every one a woe, a sore complaint
'Gainst him whose wrong gives edge unto the swords
That make such waste in brief mortality.
Under this conjuration, speak, my lord;
For we will hear, note and believe in heart
That what you speak is in your conscience wash'd
As pure as sin with baptism.

15

Henry VI, Part II
[I, 3]

Queen Margaret

401

[Reading] 'To my Lord Protector!' Are your
supplications to his lordship? Let me see them:
what is thine?

16

Henry VI, Part II
[I, 4]

(stage directions)

661

[Reading out of a paper]

17

Henry VIII
[II, 2]

(stage directions)

1016

[Enter Chamberlain, reading a letter]

18

Henry VIII
[II, 2]

Duke of Norfolk

1087

Thanks, my good lord chamberlain.
[Exit Chamberlain; and KING HENRY VIII draws the]
curtain, and sits reading pensively]

19

Henry VIII
[III, 2]

(stage directions)

1970

[Enter KING HENRY VIII, reading of a schedule, and LOVELL]

20

Julius Caesar
[II, 3]

(stage directions)

1120

Enter ARTEMIDORUS, reading a paper

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