The Sonnets
Sonnet 79
by William Shakespeare
Whilst I alone did call upon thy aid
Whilst I alone did call upon thy aid
The Dashwood family is introduced.
Were’t aught to me I bore the canopy
Victor grows up in a tight domestic circle, in which he flourishes, and is intrigued with the mysteries of the natural world. He begins his study of outdated alchemists and then electricity.
O call not me to justify the wrong
To me fair friend you never can be old
The rose did caper on her cheek
The Chorus recites a sonnet for the audience.
The last night that she lived
So is it not with me as with that muse
Since I left you, mine eye is in my mind
Let not my love be called idolatry
But do thy worst to steal thy self away
Jane and Rochester marry with no witnesses other than the parson and the church clerk. Jane writes to her cousins with the news. St. John never acknowledges what has happened, but Mary and Diana write back with their good wishes. Jane visits Adèle at her school, and finds her unhappy. Remembering her own childhood experience, Jane moves Adèle to a more congenial school, and Adèle grows up to be a very pleasant and mild-mannered young woman. Jane writes that she is narrating her story after ten years of marriage to Rochester, which she describes as inexpressibly blissful. They live as equals, and she helps him to cope with his blindness. After two years, Rochester begins to regain his vision in one eye, and when their first child—a boy—is born, Rochester is able to see the baby. Jane writes that Diana and Mary have both found husbands and that St. John went to India as he had planned. She notes that in his last letter, St. John claimed to have had a premonition of his own approaching death. She does not believe that she will hear from St. John again, but she does not grieve for him, saying that he has fulfilled his promise and done God’s work. She closes her book with a quote from his letter.
But be contented when that fell arrest
A couple makes personal sacrifices to give each other gifts for Christmas.
Let me not to the marriage of true minds
Be wise as thou art cruel, do not press
To know just how he suffered would be dear
A fortuitous run-in with Mr. Briggs, brings a positive change to Black Beauty's cab duties.
Or whether doth my mind being crowned with you
Against my love shall be as I am now
Say that thou didst forsake me for some fault
Thine eyes I love, and they as pitying me
He preached upon "breadth" till it argued him narrow, —