The VANITY of TRUST in MAN.

[SHAKESPEARE.]

Momentary grace of mortal men,

Which we more hunt for than the grace of God! Who builds his hope in air of your fair looks, Lives like a drunken failor on a maft,

Ready with every nod to tumble down

Into the fatal bowels of the deep.

Queen MARGARET upbraiding Queen ANNE, the Confort of RICHARD III. [SHAKESPEARE.]

Call'd thee then poor fhadow, painted queen,
One heav'd on high, to be hurl'd down below:
A mother only mock'd with two fair babes;
A dream of what thou waft; a garish flag,
To be the aim of ev'ry dangerous fhot;
A fign of dignity, a breath, a bubble;
A queen in jeft, only to fill the scene.

Where is thy husband now, where be thy brothers?
Where be thy children? wherein doft thou joy?
Who fues and kneels, and fays, God fave the queen?
Where be the bending peers that flatter'd thee?
Where be the thronging troops, that follow'd thee?
Decline all this, and fee what now thou art.
For happy wife, a moft diftreffed widow;
For joyful mother, one that wails the name;
For one being fu'd to, one that humbly fues;
For queen, a very caitiff crown'd with care;
For one that fcorn'd at me, now fcorn'd of me :
For one being fear'd of all, now fearing one;
For one commanding all, obey'd of none.
Thus hath the courfe of juftice wheel'd about,
And left thee but a very prey to time;

Having no more but thought of what thou wert,
To torture thee the more, being what thou art.

O

On DREA MS.

[SHAKESPEARE.]

Then I fee queen Mab hath been with you.
She is the fancy's midwife, and she comes

In fhape no bigger than an agat-ftone
On the fore finger of an alderman,

Drawn with a team of little atomies,

Athwart

Athwart mens nofes as they lie afleep:
Her waggon-fpokes made of long spinners legs;
The cover, of the wings of grafhoppers;
The traces, of the fmalleft fpider's web;
The collars, of the moonshine's wat❜ry beam
Her whip, of cricket's bone; the lafh, of film;
Her waggoner, a fmall grey-coated gnat,
Not half fo big as a round little worm,
Prickt from the lazy finger of a maid.
Her chariot is an empty hazel-nut,
Made by the joiner fquirrel or old grub,
Time out of mind the fairies coach-makers:
And in this ftate fhe gallops night by night,
Thro' lovers brains, and then they dream of love:
On courtiers knees, that dream on curtfies ftraight:
O'er lawyers fingers, who ftraight dream on fees:
O'er ladies lips, who ftraight on kiffes dream,
Which oft the angry Mab with blifters plagues,
Because their breaths with fweet-meats tainted are.
Sometimes the gallops o'er a courtier's nofe,
And then dreams he of fmelling out a fuit:
And fometimes comes fhe with a tithe-pig's tail,
Tickling the parfon as he lies afleep;
Then dreams he of another benefice.
Sometimes the driveth o'er a foldier's neck,
And then dreams he of cutting foreign throats,
Of breaches, ambufcadoes, Spanish blades,
Of healths five fathom deep; and then anon
Drums in his ears, at which he starts and wakes,
And being thus frighted, fwears a prayer or two,
And fleeps again.

DESCRIPTION of an APOTHECARY and his SHOP. [SHAKESPEARE.]

Do remember an apothecary,

And hereabouts he dwells, whom late I noted
In tatter'd weeds, with overwhelming brows,
Culling of fimples; meagre were his looks;
Sharp mifery had worn him to the bones;
And in his needy fhop a tortoife hung,
An alligator ftuft, and other fkins
Of ill-fhap'd fifhes; and about his shelves
A beggarly account of empty boxes;

Green

Green earthen pots, bladders, and mufty feeds,
Remnants of packthread, and old cakes of rofes,
Were thinly fcattered to make up a fhow.

ADVERSITY the TEST of real MERIT, [SHAKESPEARE.]

HY then, you princes,

WH Do you with cheeks abafh'd behold our

works?

And think them fhame, which are, indeed, nought elfe But the protractive trials of great Jove,

To find perfiftive conftancy in man?

The fineness of which metal is not found
In fortune's love; for then, the bold and coward,
The wife and fool, the artift and unread,
The hard and foft, feem all affin'd, and kin.
But in the wind and tempeft of her frown,
Diftinction with a broad and pow'rful fan,
Puffing at all, winnows the light away;
And what hath mafs, or matter by itself,
Lies rich in virtue, and unmingled."

The CHARACTER of TROILUS...

TH

[SHAKESPEARE.]

HE youngeft fon of Priam, a true knight;
Not yet mature, yet matchlefs; firm of word;
Speaking in deeds, and deedlefs in his tongue;

Not foon provok'd, nor being provok'd, foon calm'd.
His heart and hand both open, and both free;
For what he has he gives; what thinks, he fhews:
Yet gives he not, till judgment guide his bounty;
Nor dignifies an impair thought with breath:
Manly as Hector, but more dangerous;
For Hector in his blaze of wrath fubfcribes
To tender objects: but he in heat of action
Is more vindicative than jealous love.

SOLITUDE preferred to a COURT LIFE, and the
ADVANTAGES of ADVERSITY.

OW

[SHAKESPEARE.]

N Hath not old cuftom made this life more fweet

my co-mates and brothers in exile,

Than that of painted pomp? Are not these woods

More

More free from peril, than the envious court?
Here feel we but the penalty of Adam,
The feafon's difference; as the icy phang,
And churlish chiding of the winter's wind;
Which, when it bites and blows upon my body,
Even till I fhrink with cold, 1 fmile, and fay,
"This is no flattery;" thefe are counfellors,
That feelingly perfuade me what I am.
Sweet are the ufes of adverfity,

Which, like the toad, ugly and venomous,
Wears yet a precious jewel in his head:

And this our life, exempt from public haunt,
Finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks,
Sermons in ftones, and good in every thing.

GRATITUDE in an OLD SERVANT. [SHAKESPEARE.]

OUT do not fo; I have five hundred

B

crowns,

The thrifty hire I fav'd under your father,
Which I did ftore, to be my foster nurse
When service fhould in my old limbs lie lame,
And unregarded age in corners thrown :
Take that; and he that doth the ravens feed,
Yea, providently caters for the fparrow,
Be comfort to my age! here is the gold;
All this I give you, let me be your fervant:
Tho' I look old, yet I am ftrong and lufty;
For in my youth I never did apply
Hot and rebellious liquors in my blood:
Nor did I with unbashful forehead woo
The means of weaknefs and debility:
Therefore my age is as a lufty winter,
Frofty but kindly; let me go with you,
I'll do the fervice of a younger man
In all your bufinefs and neceffities.

A Merrier man,

MAN.

Within the limit of becoming mirth,

I never spent an hour's talk withal.

His eye begets occafion for his wit,

For every object that the one doth catch

The

The other turns to a mirth-moving jeft;
Which his fair tongue (conceit's expofitor)
Delivers in fuch apt and gracious words,
That aged ears play truant at his tales;
And younger hearings are quite ravish'd;
So fweet and voluble is his discourse.

VIRTUE given to be EXERTED.
[SHAKESPEARE.]

HEAYIN doth with us as we with torches do,
Not light them for themselves: for if our virtues

Did not go forth of us, 'twere all alike

As if we had them not. Spirits are not finely touch'd,
But to fine iffues: nor nature never lends
The smalleft fcruple of her excellence,
But, like a thrifty goddefs, fhe determines
Herfelf the glory of a creditor,

Both thanks and ufe.

I

AFFECTED GRAVITY.

[SHAKESPEARE.]

Tell thee what, Antonio,

There are a fort of men whofe vifages
Do cream and mantle like a ftanding pond;
And do a wilful ftillnefs entertain,
With purpose to be dreft in an opinion
Of wifdom, gravity, profound conceit;
As who fhou'd fay, I am Sir Oracle,
And when I ope my lips, let no dog bark.
O, my Antonio, I do know of thofe,
That therefore only are reputed wife,
For faying nothing.-

The DECEIT of ORNAMENT or APPEARANCES. [SHAKESPEARE.]

THE world is fill deceiv'd with ornament.

In law, what plea fo tainted and corrupt,
But being feafon'd with a gracious voice,
Obfcures the fhow of evil? In religion,
What damned error, but fome fober brow
Will blefs it, and approve it with a text,
Hiding the groffnefs with fair ornament?
There is no vice fo fimple, but affumes

Some