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Parted with sugar breath; so sweet a bar To shake the head, relent, and sigh, and yield Should sunder such sweet friends: Here in To Christian intercessors.

her hairs

The painter plays the spider; and hath woven
A golden mesh t'intrap the hearts of men,
Faster than gnats in cobwebs : but her eyes,-
How could he see to do them? Having made
one,
[his,
Methinks it should have power to steal both
And leave itself unfurnished.

An amiable Bride.

Portia. Though for myself alone
I would not be ambitious, in my wish,
To wish myself much better: yet for you
I would be trebled twenty times myself;
A thousand times more fair, ten thousand
times more rich;

That only to stand high in your account,
I might in virtues, beauties, livings, friends,
Exceed account: but the full sum of me
Is sum of nothing; which, to term in gross,
Is an unlesson'd girl, unschool'd, unpractis'd:
Happy in this she is not yet so old
But she may learn; happier than this, in that
She is not bred so dull but she can learn ;
Happiest of all is, that her gentle spirit
Commits itself to yours to be direct,
As from her lord, her governor, her king.
Lovers' Thoughts compared to the inarticulate
Joys of a Crowd.

Bass. Madam, you have bereft me of all
words;

Only my blood speaks to you in my veins.
And there is such confusion in my powers,
As, after some oration fairly spoke

By a beloved prince, there doth appear
Among the buzzing, pleased multitude;
Where every something, being blent together,
Turns to a wild of nothing, save of joy
Exprest and not exprest.

Valuable Friend.

Por. Is it your dear friend that is thus in
trouble?
[man,
Bass. The dearest friend to me, the kindest
The best condition'd and unwearied spirit
In doing courtesies; and one in whom
The ancient Roman honor more appears
Than any that draws breath in Italy.

Por. What sum owes he the Jew?
Bass. For me three thousand ducats.
Por. What, no more?

Pay him six thousand, and deface the bond;
Double six thousand, and then treble that,
Before a friend of this description

Generous Friendship.

Lor. Madam, although I speak it in your

presence,

You have a noble and a true conceit [ly
Of godlike amity: which appears most strong-
In bearing thus the absence of your lord.
But, if you knew to whom you show this
honor,

How true a gentleman you send relief,
How dear a lover of my lord your husband,
I know you would be prouder of the work
Than customary bounty can enforce you.

Por. I never did repent for doing good,
Nor shall not now: for in companions
That do converse and waste the time together,
Whose souls do bear an equal yoke of love,
There must be needs a like proportion
Of lineaments, of manners, and of spirit;
Which makes me think that this Antonio,
Being the bosom lover of my lord,
Must needs be like my lord; if it be so,
How little is the cost I have bestow'd
In purchasing the semblance of my soul
From out the state of hellish cruelty!
This comes too near the praising of myself:
Therefore no more of it.

A pert, bragging Youth.

I'll hold thee any wager, When we are both accoutred like young men, I'll prove the prettier fellow of the two, And wear my dagger with a braver grace; And speak, between the change of man and boy,

[steps

With a reed voice and turn two mincing
Into a manly stride; and speak of frays,
Like a fine bragging youth and tell quaint
lies,

How honorable ladies sought my love,
Which I denying, they fell sick and died;
I could not do with all; then I'll repent,
And wish, for all that, that I had not kill'd
And twenty of these puny lies I'll tell; ['em!
That men shall swear I've discontinued school
Above a twelvemonth: I have within my

mind

A thousand raw tricks of these bragging jacks Which I will practise.

The Jew's Reason for his Revenge. Shyl. I have possess'd your grace of what I purpose;

And by our holy sabbath have I sworn
To have the due and forfeit of my bond.

Should lose a hair through my Bassanio's fault. If you deny it, let the danger light

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Upon your charter and your city's freedom.
You'll ask me, why I rather choose to have
A weight of carrion flesh, than to receive
Three thousand ducats: I'll not answer that;
Bút, say, it is my humor. Is it answer'd ?
What if my house be troubled with a rat,
And I be pleas'd to give ten thousand ducats

C

To have it ban'd? What, are you answer'd | Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings: yet?

Some men there are love not a gaping pig;
Some that are mad if they behold a cat ;
And others, when the bag-pipe sings i' th'

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As there is no firm reason to be render'd,
Why he cannot abide a gaping pig;
Why he, a harmless necessary cat;
Why he, a woollen bag-pipe; but of force
Must yield to such inevitable shame
As to offend, himself being offended;
So can I give no reason, nor I will not,
More than a lodg'd hate, and a certain loath-
1 bear Antonio, that I follow thus [ing
A losing suit against him. Are you answer'd?

Unfeeling Revenge.

You may as well go stand upon the beach, And bid the main flood bate his usual height; You may as well use questions with the wolf, Why he hath made the ewe bleat for the lamb ;

But mercy is above the sceptred sway:
It is enthroned in the hearts of kings:
It is an attribute to God himself; [God's,
And earthly power doth then show likest
When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew,
Though justice be thy plea, consider this-
That in the course of justice, none of us
Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy;
And that same prayer doth teach us all to
The deeds of mercy.
[render

Cheerful Resignation, with friendly Tender

ness.

Ant. I am arm'd and well prepar❜d-
Give me your hand, Bassanio: fare you well!
Grieve not that I am fallen to this for you;
For herein fortune shows herself more kind
Than is her custom.-It is still her use
To let the wretched man outlive his wealth,
To view with hollow eye and wrinkled brow
An age of poverty; from which ling'ring pe-
Of such a misery doth she cut me off. [nance
Commend me to your honorable wife :
Tell her the process of Antonio's end!
Say how I loved you, speak me fair in death:
And, when the tale is told, bid her be judge,
Whether Bassanio had not once a love.
Repent not you that you shall lose your friend,

You may as well forbid the mountain pines
To wag their high tops, and to make no noise
When they are fretted with the gusts of hea-And he repents not that he pays your debt.
You may as well do any thing most hard, [ven?

As seek to soften that (than which what 's Description of a Moon-light Night, with fine

His Jewish heart.

Retaliation.

[harder?)

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You have among you many a purchas'd slave,
Which, like your asses, and your dogs and
You use in abject and in slavish parts, [mules,
Because you bought them: shall I say to you,
Let them be free, marry them to your heirs ;
Why sweat they under burthens ? let their
beds

Be made as soft as yours, and let their palates
Be season'd with such viands: you will an-
swer,

The slaves are yours. So do I answer you :
The pound of flesh, which I demand of him,
Is dearly bought, is mine, and I will have it :
If you deny me, fie upon your law!

There is no force in the decrees of Venice:
I stand for judgment; answer: shall I have it

Mercy.

?

The quality of mercy is not strain'd;
It droppeth as a gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blessed;
It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes.
"Tis mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown:
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty,

Music.

Lor. The moon shines bright in such a

night as this,

When the sweet wind did gently kiss the trees,
And they did make no noise; in such a night,
Troilus, methinks, mounted the Trojan wall,
And sigh'd his soul towards the Grecian tents,
Where Cressid' lay that night.

Jes. In such a night,

Did Thisbe fearfully o'ertrip the dew;
And saw the lion's shadow ere himself,
And ran away dismay'd.

Lor. In such a night,

Stood Dido, with a willow in her hand,
Upon the wild sea-banks, and waft her love
To come again to Carthage.

Jes. In such a night,
Medea gather'd the enchanted herbs
That did renew old

son.

Lor. In such a night

Did Jessica steal from the wealthy Jew;

And with an unthrift love did run from Venice
As far as Belmont.

Jes. And in such a night,

Did young Lorenzo swear he lov'd her well;
Stealing her soul with many vows of faith,
And ne'er a true one.

Lor. And in such a night,
Did pretty Jessica, like a little shrew, !
Slander her love, and he forgave it her.

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Here will we sit, and let the sounds of music.
Creep in our ears: soft stillness and the night
Become the touches of sweet harmony.
Sit, Jessica; look, how the floor of heav'n
Is thick inlaid with patines of bright gold;
There's not the smallest orb which thou be-
But in his motion like an angel sings, [hold'st,
Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubims:
Such harmony is in immortal souls;
But, whilst this muddy vesture of decay
Doth grossly close it in, we cannot hear it.-
Come, ho, and wake Diana with a hymn;
With sweetest touches pierce your mistress'
And draw her home with music.
[ear,

Jes. I am never merry when I hear sweet music.

Lor. The reason is, your spirits are attenFor do but note a wild and wanton herd, [tive: Or race of youthful and unhandled colts, Fetching mad bounds, bellowing and neighing

loud,

Which is the hot condition of their blood;
If they perchance but hear a trumpet sound,
Or any air of music touch their ears,
You shall perceive them make a mutual stand,
Their savage eyes turn'd to a modest gaze
By the sweet pow'r of music. Therefore the
poet
[floods;

Did feign that Orpheus drew trees, stones, and
Since nought so stockish, hard, and full of rage,
But music for the time doth change his nature.
The man that hath not music in himself,
Nor is not mov'd with concord of sweet sounds,
Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils ;
The motions of his spirit are dull as night,
And his affections dark as Erebus :
Let no such man be trusted.

A good Deed compared to a Candle, and the

Effects of Time, Circumstances, &c. Por. How far that little candle throws his beams!

So shines a good deed in a naughty world. Ner. When the moon shone we did not see the candle.

Por. So doth the greater glory dim the A substitute shines brightly as a king, [less: Until a king be by; and then his state Empties itself, as doth an inland brook Into the main of waters. Music! hark! Ner. It is your music, madam, of the house. Por. Nothing is good, I see, without respect;

Methinks it sounds much sweeter than by day. Ner. Silence bestows that virtue on it, madam. [lark

Por. The crow does sing as sweetly as the When neither is attended; and, I think, The nightingale, if she should sing by day, When ev'ry goose is cackling, would be thought No better a musician than the wren. How many things by season season'd are To their right praise, and true perfection! Peace, ho the moon sleeps with Endymion, And would not be awak'd!

Moon-light Night.

This night methinks, is but the day-light It looks a little paler; 'tis a day,

Such as the day is when the sun is hid.
Elegant Compliment.

[sick;

Fair ladies, you drop manna in the way Of starved people.

§ 7. MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR. SHAKSPEARE. Description of Spendthrifts, who seek to better their Fortunes by rich Wives.

HE doth object, I am too great of birth; And that, my state being gall'd with my exI seek to heal it only by his wealth: [pense, Beside these, other bars he lays before meMy riots past, my wild societies; And tells me, 'tis a thing impossible I should love thee but as a property.

A valuable Woman loved for her own sake. -Wooing thee, I found thee of more value And 'tis the very riches of thyself Than stamps in gold, or sums in sealed bags; That now I aim at.

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In a most hideous and dreadful manner :
You've heard of such a spirit; and well you
Received, and did deliver to our age,
The superstitious idle-headed eld [know,
This tale of Herne the Hunter for a truth.
Page. Why, yet there want not many, that
do fear い

But what of this?
In deep of night to walk by this Herne's oak

Fairies: their office.

Search Windsor castle, elves, within and

out:

[room, Strew good luck, ouphes, on every sacred That it may stand till the perpetual doom, In state as wholesome, as in state 'tis fit; Worthy the owner, and the owner it. The several chairs of order look you scour With juice of balm, and every precious flower Each fair instalment, coat, and several crest, With loyal blazon, evermore be blest! And nightly, meadow-fairies, look, you sing, Like to the Garter's compass, in a ring: The expressure that it bears, green let it be, More fertile-fresh than all the field to see; And, Honi soit qui mal y pense, write, [white; In emerald tufts, flowers purple, blue, and Like sapphire, pearl, and rich embroidery,

Buckled below fair knight hood's bending | War, death, or sickness, did lay siege to it; Fairies use flowers for their charactery. [knee; Making it momentary as a sound,

§ 8. A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM. SHAKSPEARE.

Tediousness of Expectation.

Thes. How slow

Swift as a shadow, short as any dream;

Brief as the lightning in the collied night,
That, in a spleen, unfolds both heav'n and

earth:

And, ere a man hath pow'r to say-Behold!

This old moon wanes! she lingers my desires, The jaws of darkness do devour it up :

Like to a step-dame, or a dowager,
Long withering out a young man's revenue.

The Witchcraft of Love.
My gracious duke,

This man hath witch'd the bosom of my child
Thou, thou, Lysander, thou hast given her
rhymes,

And interchang'd love tokens with my child:
Thou hast by moon-light at her window sung,
With feigning voice, verses of feigning love;
And stol'n the impression of her fantasy
With bracelets of thy hair, rings, gauds, con-
ceits,

:

So quick bright things come to confusion!
Her. Then let us teach our trial patience,
Because it is a customary cross,

[sighs,
As due to love, as thoughts and dreams, and
Wishes, and tears, poor fancy's followers.
Assignation.

I swear to thee, by Cupid's strongest bow,
By his best arrow with the golden head,
By the simplicity of Venus' doves, [loves ;
By that which knitteth souls, and prospers
And by that fire which burnt the Carthage

queen,

When the false Trojan under sail was seen; [sengers By all the vows that ever men have broke, Knacks, trifles, nosegays, sweetmeats, mes-In number more than ever women spoke; Of strong prevailment in unharden'd youth: With cunning hath thou filch'd my daughter's

heart:

Turn'd her obedience, which is due to me,
To stubborn harshness.

A Father's Authority.

To you your father should be as a god :
One that compos'd your beauties; yea, and one
To whom you are but as a form in wax
By him imprinted; and within his power
To leave the figure, or disfigure it.

Nun.

Thes. Therefore, fair Hermia, question
your desires,

Know of your youth, examine well your blood,
Whether, (if you yield not to your father's
You can endure the livery of a nun; [choice)
For aye to be in a shady cloister mew'd;
To live a barren sister all your life,
Chanting faint hymns to the cold fruitless

moon.

Thrice blessed they, that master so their blood,
To undergo such maiden pilgrimage!
But earthlier happy is the rose distill'd,
Than that which, withering on the virgin
thorn,

In that same place thou hast appointed me,
'To-morrow truly will I meet with thee.
Modest and generous Eulogium of a Rival.
Hel. Call you me fair? That fair again

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Things base and vile, holding no quantity, Grows, lives, and dies, in single blessedness. Love can transpose to form and dignity: Her. So will I grow, so live, so die, my Love looks not with the eyes, but with the Ere I will yield my virgin-patent up [lord, mind, Unto his lordship, to whose unwish'd yoke My soul consents not to give sovereignty. True Love ever crossed.

Lys. Ah me! for aught that ever I could
Could ever hear by tale or history, [read,
The course of true love never did run smooth;
But either it was different in blood,
Or else misgrafted in respect of years;
Or else it stood upon the choice of friends:
Or if there were a sympathy in choice,

And therefore is wing'd Cupid painted blind;
Nor hath Love's mind of any judgment taste:
Wings, and no eyes, figure unheedy haste;
And therefore is Love said to be a child,
Because in choice he is so oft beguil'd:
As waggish boys in games themselves forswear;
So the boy Love is perjur'd every where.

Cowslips, and Fairy Employment.
The cowslips tall her pensioners be;
In their gold coats spots you see;

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Those be rubies, fairy favors;
In those freckles live their savors;
I must go seek some dew-drops here,
And hang a pearl in every cowslip's ear.

Puck, or Robin Good-fellow.

I am that merry wand'rer of the night. I jest to Oberon, and make him smile, When I a fat and bean-fed horse beguile, Neighing in likeness of a filly foal; And sometimes lurk I in a gossip's bowl, In very likeness of a roasted crab; And when she drinks, against her lips I bob, And on her wither'd dewlap pour the ale; The wisest aunt, telling the saddest tale, Sometime for three-foot-stool mistaketh me; Then slip I from her bum, down topples she, And rails or cries, and falls into a 'cough: And then the whole quire hold their hips and loffe ; [swear And waxen in their mirth, and neeze, and A merrier hour was never wasted there.

Fairy Jealousy, and the Effects of it.
These are the forgeries of jealousy;
And never, since the middle summer's spring,
Met we on hill, in dale, forest, or mead,
By paved fountain, or by rushy brook,
Or on the beached margent of the sea,
To dance our ringlets, to the whistling, wind,
But with thy brawls thou hast disturb'd our
sport:

Therefore the winds, piping to us in vain,
As in revenge, have suck'd up from the sea
Contagious fogs; which, falling in the land,
Have every pelting river made so proud,
That they have overborne their continents.
The ox has therefore stretch'd his yoke in vain,
The ploughman lost his sweat and the green

corn

Hath rotted, ere its youth attain'd a beard;
The fold stands empty in the drowned field,
And crows are fatted with the murrain stock;
The nine men's morris is filled up with mud,
And the quaint mazes in the wanton green,
For lack of tread is undistinguishable.
The human mortals want their winter here;
No night is now with hymn or carol blest;
Therefore the moon, the governess of floods,
Pale in her anger, washes all the air,
That rheumatic diseases do abound.
And, thorough this distemperature, we see
The seasons alter; hoary-headed frosts
Fall in the fresh lap of the crimson rose;
And on old Hyems' chin, and icy crown,
An od❜rous chaplet of sweet summer-buds
Is, as in mock'ry, set: the spring, the summer,
The chilling autumn, angry winter, change
Their wonted liveries, and the 'mazed world
By their increase now knows not which is
which.

Love in Idleness.
Thou remember'st
Since once I sat upon a promontory,

And heard a mermaid on a dolphin's back,
Uttering such dulcet and harmonious breath
That the rude sea grew civil at her song;
And certain stars shot madly from their spheres
To hear the sea-maid's music.

That very time I saw (but thou couldst not
Flying between the cold moon and the earth,
Cupid, all arm'd a certain aim he took
At a fair vestal, throned by the west;
And loos'd his love-shaft smartly from his bow,
As it should pierce a hundred thousand hearts.
But I might see young Cupid's fiery shaft
Quench'd in the chaste beams of the wat❜ry
And the imperial vot'ress passed on, [moon;
In maiden meditation, fancy free.
Yet mark'd I where the bolt of Cupid fell:
It fell upon a little western flow'r, [wound,
Before milk-white; now purpled with love's
And maidens call it, "Love in Idleness."

A Fairy Bank.

I know a bank, whereon the wild thyme blows,

Where ox-lips and the nodding violet grows; Quite over-canopy'd with luscious woodbine, With sweet musk-roses, and with eglantine; There sleeps Titania, sometime of the night, Lull'd in these flow'rs with dances and delight.

Fairy Courtesies.

Be kind and courteous to this gentleman : Hop in his walks, and gambol in his eyes; Feed him with apricots and dewberries; With purple grapes, green figs, and mulberries; The honey-bags steal from the humble bees, And for night-tapers crop their waxen thighs, And light them at the fiery glow-worm's eyes; To have my love to bed, and to arise; And pluck the wings from painted butterflies, To fan the moon-beams from his sleeping eyes; Nod to him, elves, and do him courtesies.

Swiftness of Fairy's Motion.

I go, I go, look how I go :
Swifter than arrow from the Tartar's bow.

Female Friendship.

Is all the council that we two have shar'd, The sister vows, the hours that we have spent, When we have chid the hasty-footed time For parting us: O! and is all forgot? All school-days' friendship, childhood innoWe, Hermia, like two artificial gods, [cence? Have with our needles created both one flower, Both on one sampler, sitting on one cushion; Both warbling of one song, both in one key; As if our hands, our sides, voices, and minds, Had been incorporate; so we grew together, Like to a double cherry, seeming parted, But yet an union in partition : Two lovely berries moulded on one stem; So with two seeming bodies, but one heart: Two of the first like coats in heraldry, Due but to one, and crowned with one crest. And will you rend our ancient love asunder,

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