Reading The Winters Tale — William Shakespeare

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Section 366

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Time.

I that please some, try all: both ioy and terror

Of good, and bad: that makes, and vnfolds error,

Now take vpon me (in the name of Time)

To vse my wings: Impute it not a crime

To me, or my swift passage, that I slide

Ore sixteene yeeres, and leaue the growth vntride

Of that wide gap, since it is in my power

To orethrow Law, and in one selfe‑borne howre

To plant, and ore‑whelme Custome. Let me passe

The same I am, ere ancient’st Order was,

Or what is now receiu’d. I witnesse to

The times that brought them in, so shall I do

To th’freshest things now reigning, and make stale

The glistering of this present, as my Tale

Now seemes to it: your patience this allowing,

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