Excerpt from Airy Nothings: Or What You Will A n antique fable, and thereto a preface on morals, such as Theseus, reputed sometime Duke of Athens, vowed he never could believe. And with good reason: poets, lovers and mad men have such seething brains, bodying forth the form of things unkwn, giving to airy th ing a local habitation and a name. And yet, what's in a name? The first recorded William Shakespeare was hanged for robbery in 1248; the latest Cleopatra dances in burlesque. Mary Fitton or Mistress Davenant - what odds the name? A poet loved a woman and wooed her frailty into immortal rhyme. You are content to read his verses; then why t I? Why must I see all Helen's beauty in a brow of Egypt? Because I kw there is a world of romance in a name; and when you whisper Guenevere to me, my soul harks back to Zrthur's court, mine eyes look on the queen, and in a dream I seem to see her walking 'mid the flowers of Camelot; I see her pause and raise her head as on the gravel-walk she hears the tread of Lancelot's mailed feet. And Mary? 'tis the name of the Mother of God. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art techlogy to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.