Слике страница
PDF
ePub

HUB. Go, stand within; let me alone with him.

1ST ATTENDANT. I am best pleas'd to be from
such a deed.
[Exeunt Attendants.
ARTH. Alas! I then have chid away my
friend;

He hath a stern look, but a gentle heart :-
Let him come back, that his compassion may
Give life to yours.

HUB.

Come, boy, prepare yourself.

ARTH. Is there no remedy?

HUB.

ARTH.

None, but to lose your eyes.

O heaven!-that there were but a

mote in yours,

A grain, a dust, a gnat, a wand'ring hair,
Any annoyance in that precious sense!

Then, feeling what small things are boist'rous there,

Your vile intent must needs seem horrible.

HUB. Is this your promise? go to, hold your tongue.

ARTH. Hubert, the utterance of a brace of tongues

Must needs want pleading for a pair of eyes:
Let me not hold my tongue; let me not, Hubert!
Or, Hubert, if you will, cut out my tongue,
So I may keep mine eyes; O, spare mine eyes;
Though to no use, but still to look on you!
Lo, by my troth, the instrument is cold,
And would not harm me.

HUB.

I can heat it, boy.

ARTH. No, in good sooth; the fire is dead

with grief,

Being create for comfort, to be us'd

In undeserv'd extremes: See else yourself:
There is no malice in this burning coal;

The breath of heaven hath blown his spirit out, And strew'd repentant ashes on his head.

HUB. But with my breath I can revive it, boy.

ARTH. And if you do, you will but make it blush,

And glow with shame of your proceedings,
Hubert:

Nay, it, perchance, will sparkle in your eyes;
And, like a dog that is compell'd to fight,
Snatch at his master that doth tarre him on.
All things, that you should use to do me wrong,
Deny their office: only you do lack

That mercy, which fierce fire, and iron, extends,
Creatures of note, for mercy-lacking uses.

HUB. Well, see to live; I will not touch thine eyes

For all the treasure that thine uncle owes :
Yet am I sworn, and I did purpose, boy,
With this same very iron to burn them out.
ARTH. O, now you look like Hubert! all
this while

You were disguised.

HUB. Peace: no more. Adieu; Your uncle must not know but you are dead : I'll fill these dogged spies with false reports. And, pretty child, sleep doubtless, and secure, That Hubert, for the wealth of all the world, Will not offend thee.

ARTH. O heaven! I thank you, Hubert. HUB. Silence; no more: Go closely in with

me.

Much danger do I undergo for thee.

KING JOHN, A. 4, s. 1.

THE TROUBLES OF THE SOUL

BEYOND NATURAL AID.

MACBETH. Canst thou not minister to a mind diseas'd;

Pluck from the memory a rooted sorrow;
Raze out the written troubles of the brain;
And, with some sweet oblivious antidote,
Cleanse the stuff'd bosom of that perilous stuff,
Which weighs upon the heart?

Достов.

Must minister to himself.

Therein the patient

MACBETH, A. 5, s. 3.

THE TRUE FRIEND OF KINGS.

PEACE, peace, my lords, and give experience

tongue.

They do abuse the king, that flatter him:

For flattery is the bellows blows up sin;
The thing the which is flatter'd, but a spark,
To which that breath gives heat and stronger
glowing;

Whereas reproof, obedient, and in order,
Fits kings, as they are men, for they may err.
When signior Sooth here does proclaim a peace,
He flatters you, makes war upon your
Prince, pardon me, or strike
me, if you please;
I cannot be much lower than my knees.

life:

PERICLES, A. 1, s. 2.

THE TRUE STRENGTH IN WAR
OR PEACE.

EVERY man's conscience is a thousand swords,
To fight against that bloody homicide.

He hath no friends, but who are friends for fear; Which, in his dearest need, will fly from him. Then, in God's name, march:

True hope is swift, and flies with swallow's wings,

Kings it makes gods, and meaner creatures kings.

[blocks in formation]

ANTONY. Octavius, I have seen more days than you:

And though we lay these honours on this man,
To ease ourselves of divers slanderous loads,
He shall but bear them as the ass bears gold,
To groan and sweat under the business,
Either led or driven, as we point the way;
And having brought our treasure where we will,
Then take we down his load, and turn him off,
Like to the empty ass, to shake his ears,

And graze in commons.

OCTAVIUS.

You may do your will;

But he's a tried and valiant soldier.

ANT. So is my horse, Octavius; and, for that,

I do appoint him store of provender.

It is a creature that I teach to fight,
To wind, to stop, to run directly on;
His corporal motion govern'd by my spirit.
And, in some taste, is Lepidus but so;

He must be taught, and train'd, and bid go forth:

A barren-spirited fellow; one that feeds
On objects, arts, and imitations;

Which, out of use, and stal'd by other men,
Begin his fashion: Do not talk of him,
But as a property. And now, Octavius,
Listen great things.-Brutus and Cassius
Are levying powers: we must straight make
head:

Therefore, let our alliance be combin'd,

Our best friends made, and our best means stretch'd out;

And let us presently go sit in council,

How covert matters may be best disclos'd,

And open perils surest answered.

JULIUS CESAR, A. 4, s. 1.

THE POWER OF HABIT.

O THROW away the worser part of it,
And live the purer with the other half.
Good night: but go not to my uncle's bed;
Assume a virtue, if you have it not.

That monster, custom, who all sense doth eat
Of habit's devil, is angel yet in this;
That to the use of actions fair and good
He likewise gives a frock, or livery,
That aptly is put on: Refrain to night:
And that shall lend a kind of easiness

To the next abstinence: the next more easy:
For use almost can change the stamp of nature,
And either curb the devil, or throw him out
With wondrous potency.

HAMLET, A. 3, s. 4.

« ПретходнаНастави »