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These paintings each represent one of the 'seven ages' Jaques discusses towards the end of Act 2, Scene 7 in the speech that begins with the famous line "All the world's a stage."
"At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse's arms."
"Then the whining schoolboy with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like a snail
Unwillingly to school."
"And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress' eyebrow."
"Last scene of all,
That ends this strange, eventful history,
In second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything."
"Then, a soldier,
Full of strange oaths, and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honour, sudden, and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon's mouth."
"And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lined,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part."
"The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slippered pantaloon,
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side,
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank, and his big, manly voice,
Turning again toward his childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound."
All seven ages were painted by R. Smirke, R. A.
Engravers are:
Age 1: P. W. Tompkins
Age 2: J. P. Simon
Age 3: R. Thew
Age 4: J. Ogborn
Age 5: J. P. Simon
Age 6: W. Laney
Age 7: J. P. Simon
Quotations were taken from The Norton Shakespeare, 2nd edition. Eds. Stephen Greenblatt, Walter Cohen, Jean E. Howard, and Katherine Eisama Maus. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2008.
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