...play. Equally important, he presents himself to the spectators and so acknowledges their presence: I would there were no age between ten and three-and-twenty,...wenches with child, wronging the ancientry, stealing, fighting — Hark you now! Would any but these boil'd brains of nineteen and two-and-twenty hunt this...

...Moments after Antigonus's exit an Old Shepherd enters complaining about the behaviour of the young: I would there were no age between ten and three-and-twenty,...wenches with child, wronging the ancientry, stealing, fighting — hark you now, would any but these boiled-brains of nineteen and two-and-twenty hunt this...

...shepherd worries over the population of boys as he waits for one of the younger shepherds to return: "I would there were no age between ten and three-and-twenty,...wenches with child, wronging the ancientry, stealing, fighting" (3.3.59—63). One historian gives a similar account of a rural boy's trajectory: "In his...

...[Enter bear] This is the chase; I am gone forever! Exit pursued by a bear [Enters. SHEPHERD] SHEPHERD I would there were no age between ten and three-andtwenty,...nothing in the between but getting wenches with child, wrong- 60 ing the ancientry, stealing, fighting - hark you now! Would any but these boiled-brains of...

...particular society. Young perpetrators of violence Shepherd: l would there were no age between sixteen and three-and-twenty, or that youth would sleep out...wenches with child, wronging the ancientry, stealing, fighting. (Shakespeare, The Winter's To/e, lll.iii. l533-57) The foregoing quotation serves as an excellent...

...pursued by a bear' (3.3.S7).6 It is probably the most radical shift of mood in all of Shakespeare. I would there were no age between ten and three-and-twenty,...wenches with child, wronging the ancientry, stealing, fighting [etc.]. (3.3.58-61) Aptly, he finds the bundle containing the baby Perdita and her worldly...

...twenties, but not until a decade later does it peak in females. "I would there were no age between sixteen and three-andtwenty, / or that youth would sleep out...wenches / with child, wronging the ancientry, stealing, fighting" — so saith the Shepherd in The Whiter'! Tale. Between ages 15 and 24, men are three times...