A Jester. This fellow is wise enough to play the fool; And to do that well, craves a kind of wit: He must observe their mood on whom he jests, The quality of persons and the time; And like the haggard, check at every feather That comes before his eye. This is a practice, As full of labour as a wise man's art: For folly, that he wisely shows, is fit; But wise men's folly fall'n quite taints their wit. Flattery, its ill Effects. My servant, Sir! 'Twas never merry world, Since lowly-feigning was call'd compliment. Unsought Love. Cesario, by the roses of the spring, By maidhood, honor, truth, and every thing, I love thee so, that, maugre all thy pride, Nor wit, nor reason, can my passion hide. Do not extort thy reasons from this clause, For that I woo, thou therefore hast no cause: But rather reason thus with reason fetter: Wer't not affection chains thy tender days Even as I would, when I to love begin. [adieu! Pro. Wilt thou begone? Sweet Valentine, Think on thy Protheus, when thou haply seest Some rare note-worthy object in thy travel: Wish me partaker in thy happiness, When thou dost meet good-hap; and, in thy If ever danger do environ thee, [danger, Commend thy grievance to my holy prayers, For I will be thy beadsman, Valentine. The Evils of being in Love. To be in love, where scorn is bought with [moment's mirth, Coy looks, with heart-sore sighs; one fading With twenty watchful, weary, tedious nights, If haply won, perhaps, a hapless gain; If lost, why then a grievous labor won; However, but a folly bought with wit, Or else a wit by folly vanquished. groans, Love commended and dispraised. Val. And writers say, as the most forward Love sought is good, but giv'n unsought is Is turn'd to folly; blasting in the bud, better. Ingratitude. Ant. Is't possible, that my deserts to you Can lack persuasion? Do not tempt my misery, Lest that it make me so unsound a man, As to upbraid you with those kindnesses That I have done for you. Vio. I know of none; Nor know I you by voice, or any feature: Than lying, vainness, babbling drunkeuness, Deformity in the Mind. Ant. But O, how vile an idol proves this god! Thou hast, Sebastian, done good feature shame. In nature there's no blemish but the mind; None can be call'd deform'd but the unkind: Virtue is beauty; but the beauteous evil Are empty trunks, o'erflourish'd by the devil. Ignorance of ourselves :-One Drunkard's Reflection on another. Then he's a rogue. After a passy-measure, I hate a drunken rogue. [or a pavin, Losing his verdure even in the prime, Pro. He after honor hunts, I after love: Made wit with musing weak, heart-sick with thought. [Ay. Love froward and dissembling. Maids, in modesty, say No, to that Which they would have the proff 'rer construe Fie, fie! how wayward is this foolish love, That, like a testy babe, will scratch the nurse, And presently, all humbled, kiss the rod ! The Advantages of Travel. He said, that Protheus, your son, was meet; Ant. Nor need'st thou much importune me to that Whereon this month I have been hammering, Love compared to an April Day. An accomplished young Gentleman. Contempt of Love punished. I have done penance for contemning love: Whose high imperious thoughts have punish'd With bitter fasts, with penitential groans, [me With nightly tears, and daily heart-sore sighs; For, in revenge of my contempt of love, Love hath chas'd sleep from my enthralled eyes, And made them watchers of my own heart's Not for the world: why, man, she is mine And I as rich in having such a jewel, [own: As twenty seas, if all their sands were pearl, The water nectar, and the rocks pure gold. True Love jealous. For love, thou know'st, is full of jealousy. Love compar'd to a waxen Image. Now my love is thaw'd, Which, like a waxen image 'gainst a fire, Bears no impression of the thing it was. Unheedful Vows to be broken. Unheedful vows may heedfully be broken; And he wants wit that wants resolved will To learn his wit to exchange the bad for better. Opposition to Love increases it. Jul. A true devoted pilgrim is not weary To measure kingdoms with his feeble steps; Much less shall she that hath love's wings to fly; And when the flight is made to one so dear, Of such divine perfection, as Sir Protheus. Luc. Better forbear, till Protheus make [soul's food? Jul. Oh, know'st thou not, his looks are my return. Pity the dearth that I have pined in, Luc. I do not seek to quench your love's But qualify the fire's extreme rage, [hot fire; Lest it should burn above the bounds of reason. Jul. The more thou damm'st it up, the more it burns: The current, that with gentle murmur glides, Giving a gentle kiss to every sedge love: A faithful and constant Lover. His words are bonds, his oaths are oracles; His love sincere, his thoughts immaculate; His tears, pure messengers sent from his heart; His heart as far from fraud, as heaven from earth. Gifts prevalent with Woman. Win her with gifts, if she respect not words; Dumb jewels, often, in their silent kind, More than quick words, do move a woman's mind. Flattery prevalent with Woman. Flatter and praise, commend, extol their graces; That man that hath a tongue I say is no man, Tho' ne'er so black, say they have angels' faces. If with his tongue he cannot win a woman. A Lover's Banishment. And why not death, rather than live in tor To die is to be banished from myself: [ment! And Sylvia is myself. Banish'd from her, Is self from self; a deadly punishment! What light is light, if Sylvia be not seen? What joy is joy, if Sylvia be not by? Unless it be to think that she is by, And feed upon the shadow of perfection. Except I be by Sylvia in the night, There is no music in the nightingale: Unless I look on Sylvia in the day, There is no day for me to look upon. She is my essence; and I leave to be, If I be not by her fair influence Foster'd, illumin'd, cherish'd, kept alive. A beautiful Person petitioning (in vain). Ay, ay; and she hath offered to the doom (Which unrevers'd stands in effectual force) A sea of melting pearl, which some call tears: Those at her father's churlish feet she tender'd; With them, upon her knees, her humble selt; Wringing her hands, whose whiteness so be came them, As if but now they waxed pale for woe: Hope. Hope is a lover's staff; walk hence with that: And manage it against despairing thoughts. Love compared to a Figure on Ice. This weak impress of love is as a figure Trenched in ice, which, with an hour's heat, Dissolves to water, and doth lose his form. Three Things hated by Women. Pro. The best way is, to slander Valentine With falsehood, cowardice, and poor descent : Three things that women highly hold in hate. Duke. Ay, but she'll think, that it is spoke Pro. Ay, if his enemy deliver it; [in hate Therefore it must, with circumstance, be spoken By one whom she esteemeth as his friend. The Power of Poetry with Women. Say, that upon the altar of her beauty You sacrifice your tears, your sighs, your heart: Write, till your ink be dry; and with your tears Moist it again; and frame some feeling line, That may discover such integrity:— For Orpheus lute was strung with poet's sinews; [stones, Whose golded touch could soften steel and Make tigers tame, and huge leviathans Forsake unsounded deeps to dance on sands. Song. Who is Sylvia? what is she, That all our swains commend her? Holy, fair, and wise is she: The heavens such grace did lend her, That she might admired be. Is she kind as she is fair? For beauty lives with kindness: A Lover's Rest. Jul. And so, good rest. Pro. As wretches have o'er night, That wait for execution in the morn. True Love. Thyself hast lov'd: and I have heard thee say, No grief did ever come so near thy heart, As when thy lady and thy true love died, Upon whose grave thou vow'dst pure chastity. Beauty neglected and lost. But since she did neglect her looking-glass, And threw her sun-expelling mask away, The air hath starv'd the roses in her cheeks, And pinch'd the lily-tincture of her face. The Power of Action. And, at that time I made her weep a-good, For I did play a lamentable part: Madam, 'twas Ariadne, passioning For Theseus' perjury, and unjust flight; Which I so lively acted with my tears, How use doth breed a habit in a man! What dangerous action, stood it next to death, Would I not undergo for one calm look? O, 'tis the curse in love, and still approv'd, When women cannot love where they're belov'd. Infidelity in a Friend, and Reconciliation on Repentance. Vol. Treacherous man! [mine eye Thou hast beguil'd my hopes; nought but Could have persuaded me: now I dare not say, I have one friend alive; thou wouldst disprove me. Who should be trusted, when one's own right Is perjur'd to the bosom? Protheus, [hand I am sorry, I must never trust thee more, But count the world a stranger for thy sake. The private wound is deepest. Pro. My shame and guilt confound me.- I tender it here; I do as truly suffer, Val. Then I am paid: And once again I do receive thee honest.Who by repentance is not satisfied, Is nor of heaven nor earth. Inconstancy in Man. O heaven! were man But constant, he were perfect: that one error Fills him with faults. A worthy Gentleman. Now by the honor of my ancestry, I do applaud thy spirit, Valentine, And think thee worthy of an empress' love. Know then, I here forget all former griefs, Cancel all grudge, repeal thee home again, Plead a new state in thy unrivall'd merit To which I thus subscribe-Sir Valentine, Thou art a gentleman, and well deriv'd : Take thou thy Sylvia, for thou hast deserv'd Reformed Exiles. [her. These banished men Are men endued with worthy qualities; They are reformed, civil, full of good, And fit for great employment, worthy lord. § 14. THE WINTER'S TALE. My wife is nothing: nor nothing have these If this be nothing. [nothings, SHAKSPEARE. Youthful Friendship and Innocence. WE were, fair queen, [behind, Two lads that thought there was no more But such a day to-morrow as to-day, And to be boy eternal. [sun, We were as twinn'd lambs, that did frisk i' th' And bleat the one at th' other; what we chang'd, Was innocence for innocence; we knew not The doctrine of ill-doing; nor dream'd, That any did: had we pursued that life, And our weak spirits ne'er been higher rear'd, With stronger blood we should have answer'd Heaven Boldly" Not guilty;" the imposition clear'd, Hereditary ours. Praise, its Influence on Women. Cram us with praise, and make us As fat as tame things: "one good deed, dying tongueless, A Father's Fondness for his Child. Leon. Are you so fond of your young prince Do seem to be of ours? [as we Pol. If at home, Sir, Cam. In your affairs, my lord, Against the non-performance, 'twas a fear Jealousy. Is whispering nothing? Is leaning cheek to check? is meeting noses? Kissing with inside lip? stopping the career Of laughter with a sigh? (a note infallible Of breaking honesty:) horsing foot on foot? Skulking in corners? wishing clocks more swift? Hours, minutes? noon, midnight? and all eyes Blind with the pin and web, but theirs, theirs only [thing? That would, unseen, be wicked? Is this noWhy, then the world, and all that's in't, is nothing; The covering sky is nothing; Bohemia nothing; King-killing detestable. The Effects of Jealousy. Is for a precious creature! as she's rare, In that be made more bitter. Knowledge sometimes hurtful. A spider steep'd, and one may drink, depart, There may be in the cup And yet partake no venom; for his knowIs not infected: but if one present [ledge Th' abhorr'd ingredient to his eye, make known How he hath drunk, he cracks his gorge, his With violent hefts. Calumny. [sides, Praise her but for this her without-door form (Which, on my faith, deserves high speech) and straight [brands, The shrug, the hum, or ha; these pretty That calumny doth use:-O! I am out, That mercy does: for calumuy will fear Virtue itself these shrugs, these hums, and [tween, has, When you have said, she's goodly, come beEre you can say she's honest. Fortitude and Innocence. Has deserved prison, then abound in tears, Honesty and Honor. Here's a do, To lock up honesty and honor from The access of gentle visitors. The Silence of Innocence eloquent. The silence often of pure innocence Persuades, when speaking fails. Affectionate Child. To see his nobleness! Conceiving the dishonor of his mother, He straight declin'd, droop'd, took it deeply: Fasten'd and fix'd the shame on't in himself! Threw off his spirit, his appetite, his sleep, And downright languish'd. Child resembling his Father. Behold, my lords, Although the print be little, the whole matter copy of the father, eye, nose, lip, The trick of his frown, his forehead: nay the valley, [smiles; And The pretty dimples of his chin, and cheek; his The very mould and frame of hand, nail, finger: And thou, good goddess nature, which hast made it So like to him that got it, if thou hast The ordering of the mind too, 'mongst all colors No yellow in't; lest she suspect, as he does, Her children not her husband's! An Infant to be exposed. Come on, poor babe : [vens Some pow'rful spirit instruct the kites and raTo be thy nurses! Wolves and bears, they say, Casting their savageness aside, have done Like offices of pity. Το Hermione pleading her innocence. Behold our human actions (as they do), To nothing but despair. A thousand knees, Ten thousand years together, naked, fasting, Upon a barren mountain, and still winter, In storm perpetual, could not move the gods To look that way thou wert. An Account of a Ghost's appearing in a Dream. - I have heard (but not believ'd), the spirits of the dead May walk again: if such thing be, thy mother babe Is counted lost for ever, Perdita I pr'ythee call it: for this ungentle business, AWife's Loss of all Things dear, and Contempt Yet, for this once, yea superstitiously, of Death. Leo. Look for no less than death. Her. Sir, spare your threats; I will be squar'd by this. An Infant exposed. The bug, which you would fright me with, I That, for thy mother's fault, art thus expos'd seek. To loss, and what may follow! Weep I cannot, A lullaby too rough: I never saw Deities transformed for Love. tune A ram, and bleated; and the fire-rob'd god, |