A jest's prosperity lies in the ear

Of him that hears it, never in the tongue
Of him that makes it.

Song.

Spring. When daisies pied, and violets blue,
And lady-smocks all silver-white,
And Cuckoo-buds of yellow hue

Do paint the meadows with delight,
The cuckoo then, on every tree,
Mocks married men, for thus sings he,
Cuckoo ;

Cuckoo, cuckoo,-O word of fear,
Unpleasing to a married ear!

When shepherds pipe on oaten straws,

And merry larks are ploughmen's clocks,
When turtles tread, and rooks, and daws,
And maidens bleach their summer smocks,
The cuckoo then, on every tree,
Mocks married men, for thus sings he,
Cuckoo ;

Cuckoo, cuckoo,-O word of fear,
Unpleasing to a married ear!

Winter. When icicles hang by the wall,
And Dick the shepherd blows his nail,
And Tom bears logs into the hall,

And milk comes frozen home in pail,
When blood is nipp'd, and ways be foul,
Then nightly sings the staring owl,
To-who;

Tu-whit, to-who, a merry note,

While greasy Joan doth keel* the pot.

When all aloud the wind doth blow,
And coughing drowns the parson's saw,

* Cool.

And birds sit brooding in the snow,

And Marian's nose looks red and raw,
When roasting crabs* hiss in the bowl,
Then nightly sings the staring owl,
To-who;

Tu-whit, to-who, a merry note,
While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.

MEASURE FOR MEASURE.

ACT I.

Virtue given to be exerted.

HEAVEN 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 [touch'd,
As if we had them not. Spirits are not finely
But to fine issues:+ nor nature never lends
The smallest scruple of her excellence;
But, like a thrifty goddess, she determines
Herself the glory of a creditor,
Both thanks and use.‡

The Consequence of Liberty indulged.
As surfeit is the father of much fast,
So every scope by the immoderate use
Turns to restraint: our natures do pursue
(Like rats that raving down their proper bane)
A thirsty evil; and, when we drink, we die.

Eloquence and Beauty.

In her youth

There is a pronell and speechless dialect,

Such as moves men; beside, she hath prosperous art

*Wild apples.

Interest.

+For high purposes.

§ Voraciously devour.

C

Prompt.

When she will play with reason and discourse,
And well she can persuade.

Pardon the Sanction of Wickedness.

For we bid this be done,

When evil deeds have their permissive pass,
And not the punishment.

A severe Governor.

Lord Angelo is precise;

Stands at a guard* with envy; scarce confesses
That his blood flows, or that his appetite

Is more to bread than stone: hence we shall see,
If power change purpose, what our seemers be.
Resolution.

Our doubts are traitors,

And make us lose the good we oft might win,
By fearing to attempt.

The Prayers of Maidens effectual.

Go to lord Angelo,

And let him learn to know, when maidens sue,
Men give like gods; but when they weep and kneel,
All their petitions are as freely theirs
As they themselves would owe them.

ACT II.

All Men frail.

Let but your honour know,‡

(Whom I believe to be most strait in virtue) That, in the workings of your affections,

Had time cohered§ with place, or place with wishing, Or that the resolute acting of your blood

Could have attain'd the effect of your own purpose, Whether you had not sometime in your life

*On his defence. † Have. + Examine.

§ Suited.

Err'd in this point which now you censure him,
And pull'd the law upon you.

The Faults of others no Justification of our own. "Tis one thing to be tempted, Escalus, Another thing to fall. I do not deny, The jury, passing on the prisoner's life, May, in the sworn twelve, have a thief or two Guiltier than him they try: what's open made to That justice seizes. What know the laws, [justice, That thieves do pass* on thieves! 'Tis very preg The jewel that we find, we stoop and take it, [nant,t Because we see it; but what we do not see, We tread upon, and never think of it. You may not so extenuate his offence,

Fort I have had such faults; but rather tell me,
When I that censure§ him do so offend,

Let mine own judgment pattern out my death,
And nothing come in partial.

Mercy frequently mistaken.

Mercy is not itself that oft looks so ; Pardon is still the nurse of second woe.

Mercy in Governors commended.

No ceremony that to great ones 'longs,
Not the king's crown, nor the deputed sword,
The marshal's truncheon, nor the judge's robe,
Become them with one half so good a grace
As mercy does.

The duty of mutual Forgiveness.

Alas! alas!

Why, all the souls that were, were forfeit once;
And He that might the vantage best have took
Found out the remedy. How would you be,
If He, which is the top of judgment, should
* Pass judgment. + Plain. Because. § Sentence.

But judge you as you are? O, think on that;
And mercy then will breathe within your lips,
Like man new made.

Justice.

Yet show some pity.

Ang. I show it most of all when I show justice; For then I pity those I do not know,

Which a dismiss'd offence would after gall;
And do him right, that, answering one foul wrong,
Lives not to act another.

The Abuse of Authority.

O, it is excellent

To have a giant's strength: but it is tyrannous
To use it like a giant.

Could great men thunder

As Jove himself does, Jove would ne'er be quiet, For every pelting,* petty officer,

Would use his heaven for thunder; nothing but Merciful Heaven!

[thunder-
Thou rather, with thy sharp and sulphurous bolt,
Splitt'st the unwedgeable, and gnarled+ oak,
Than the soft myrtle: O, but man, proud man!
Drest in a little brief authority:

Most ignorant of what he's most assured,
His glassy essence,-like an angry ape,

Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven,
As make the angels weep: who, with our spleens,
Would all themselves laugh mortal.

The Privilege of Authority.

Great men may jest with saints: 'tis wit in them; But in the less, foul profanation.

That in the captain's but a choleric word,

Which in the soldier is flat blasphemy.