ELEGANT EXTRACTS,
To be the dowry of a fecond head,
The fcull that bred them, in the fepulchre.
Thus ornament is but the guiled thore
To a most dangerous fea; the beauteous fcarf
Veiling an Indian beauty; in a word,
The feeming truth which cunning times put on
T'entrap the wifeft-Therefore, thou gaudy gold,
Hard food for Midas, I will none of thee:
Nor none of thee, thou pale and common drudge
'Tween man and man: but thou, thou meagre lead,
Which rather threat'neft than doft promife aught,
Thy plainnefs moves me more than eloquence,
And here choofe I; joy be the confequence!
Joy on Saccess.
How all the other paffions fleet to air,
As doubtful thoughts, and rash embrac'd defpair,
And shuddering fear, and green-ey'd jealoufy!
O love, be moderate, allay thy ccftafy,
In meafure rein thy joy, fcant this excefs;
I feel too much thy bleffing, make it lefs,
For fear I furfeit!
What find I here?
Fair Portia's counterfeit? What demi-goď
eyes?
Hath come fo near creation? Move thefe
Or whether, riding on the balls of mine,
Seem they in motion? Here are fever'd lips
Parted with fugar breath; fo fweet a bar [hairs
Should funder fuch fweet friends: Here in her
The painter plays the spider; and hath woven
A golden meth t'intrap the hearts of
Fafter than gnats in cobwebs: but her eyes,—
How could he fee to do them? Having made one,
Methinks it fhould have power to steal both his,
And leave itself unfurnished.
Successful Lover compared to a Conqueror.
Like one of two contending in a prize,
That thinks he hath done well in peoples' eyes,
Hearing applaufe and univerfal shout,"
Giddy in fpirit, ftill gazing in a doubt,
Whether thofe peals of praife be his or no;
So, thrice fair lady, stand I, even fo.
An amiable Bride.
Portia. Tho' for myself alone
I would not be ambitious in my wifh,
To with myself much better; yet for you
I would be trebled twenty times myfelf; [rich;
Athousand times more fair,ten thousand timesmore
That only to stand high in your account,
I might in virtues, beauties, livings, friends,
Exceed account: but the full fum of me
Is fum of fomething; which, to term in grofs,
Is an unleffon'd girl, unfchool'd, unpractis'd:
Happy in this, the is not yet fo old
But the may learn; happier than this, in that
She is not bred fo dull but the can learn;
Happiest of all is, that her gentle fpirit
Commits itself to yours to be directed,
As from her lord, her governor, her king.
Lovers Thoughts compared to the inarticulate
Joys of a Crowd.
Ba. Madam, you have bereft me of all words;
Only my blood fpeaks to you in my veins:
And there is fuch confufion in my powers,
As, after some oration fairly spoke
By a beloved prince, there doth appear
Among the buzzing, pleafed multitude;
Where every fomething, being blent together,
Turns to a wild of nothing, fave of joy
Expreft, and not expreft.
Por. Is it your dear friend that is thus in
trouble?
Ba. The dearest friend to me, the kindest man,
The beft condition'd, and unwearied fpirit
In doing courtefies; and one in whom
The ancient Roman honour more appears,
Than any that draws breath in Italy.
Por. What fum owes he the Jew?.
Ba. For me, three thousand ducats.
Por. What, no more?
Pay him fix thoufand, and deface the bond;
Double fix thousand, and then treble that,
Before a friend of this description
Should lofe a hair thro' my Baffanio's fault.
Implacable Revenge.
will not hear thee speak, and therefore fpeak no more. I'll have my I'll not be made a foft and dull-eyed fool To shake the head, relent, and figh and yield To chriftian interceffors.
Lor. Madam, although I speak it in your pre-
[fence,
You have a noble and a true conceit
Of godlike amity: which appears most strongly
In bearing thus the abfence of your lord.
But, if you knew to whom you thew this honour,
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 cuftomary bounty can enforce you.
Por. I never did repent for doing good,
Nor fhall not now: for in companions
That do converfe and wafte the time together,
Whofe fouls 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 Anthonio,
Being the bofom lover of my lord,
Muft needs be like my lord: if it be so,
How little is the coft I have bestow'd,
In purchafing the femblance of my foul
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 fpeak, between the change of man and boy,
With a reed voice; and turn two mincing steps
Into a manly ftride; and speak of frays,
Like a fine bragging youth: and tell quaint lies,
How honourable ladies fought my love,
Which I denying, they fell fick and died;
I could not do with all; then I'll repent,
And wish, for all that, that I had not kill'd them!
Portia's Merit.
It is very meet
The lord Baffanio live an upright life;
For, having fuch a bleffing in his lady,
He finds the joys of heaven here on earth;
And, if on earth he do not mean it, it
Is reafon he should never come to heaven.
Why, if two gods fhould play fome heavenly match,
And on the wager lay two earthly women,
And Portia one-there must be fomething else
Pawn'd with the other; for the poor rude world
Hath not her fellow.
The Jew's Reafon for bis Revenge.
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You have among you many a purchas'd flave,
Which, like your affes, and your dogs, and mules,
You use in abject and in slavish parts,
Because you bought them: fhall I fay to you,
Let them be free, marry them to your heirs;
Why fweat they under burdens let their beds
Be made as foft as yours, and let their palates
Be feafon'd with fuch viands? you will answer,
The flaves 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 deerees of Venice:
I ftand for judgment: answer; fhall I have it?
Jew's wolffb Spirit, an Argument for Tranf-
migration.
Gra. Oh, be thou damn'd, inexorable dog!
And for thy life, let juftice be accus'd.
Shyl. I have poffefs'd your grace of what I Thou almoft mak'ft me waver in my faith,
And by our holy fabbath have I fworn,
To have the due and forfeit of my bond,
If you deny it, let the danger light
Upon your charter, and your city's freedom,
You'll ask me, why I rather chufe to have
A weight of carrion flesh, than to receive
Three thousand ducats: I'll not answer that;
But, fay, it is my humour. Is it answer'd?
What if my houfe be troubled with a rat,
And I be pleas'd to give ten thousand ducats
To have it baned? What, are you anfwer'd 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 fings i' th' nofe,
Cannot contain their urine for affection:
Mafters of paffion fway it to the mood
Of what it likes, or loaths. Now, for your anfwer:
As there is no firm reason to be render'd,
Why he cannot abide a gaping pig;
Why he, a harmless neceffary cat;
Why he, a woollen bag-pipe; but of force
Muft yield to fuch inevitable fhame
As to offend, himself being offended;
So can I give no reafon, nor I will not,
More than a lodg'd hate and a certain loathing
I bear Anthonio, that I follow thus
A lofing fuit against him. Are
you anfwer'd?
Unfeeling Revenge.
You may as well go stand upon the beach,
And bid the main flood bate his ufual height;
You may as well ufe queftions with the wolf,
Why he hath made the ewe bleat for the lamb;
You may as well forbid the mountain pines
To wag their high tops, and to make no noife,
When they are fretted with the gufts of heaven;
You may as well do any thing moft hard,
To hold opinion with Pythagoras,
That fouls of animals infufe themselves
Into the trunks of men; thy currish spirit
Govern'd a wolf, who, hang'd for human flaughter,
Even from the gallows did his fell foul fleet,
And, whilft thou lay'ft in thy unhallow'd dam,
Infus'd itself in thee; for thy defires
Are wolfish, bloody, starv'd, and ravenous.
Shyl. Till thou canst rail the feal from off my
bond,
Thou but offend'ft thy lungs to speak fo loud;
Repair thy wit, good youth, or it will fall
To curelets ruin.- -I ftand here for law.
Mercy.
The quality of mercy is not ftrain'd;
It droppeth, as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice bleffed;
It blefleth him that gives, and him that takes.
'Tis mightiest in the mightieft; it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown:
His fceptre fhews the force of temporal pow'r,
The attribute to awe and majefty,
Wherein doth fit the dread and fear of kings;
But mercy is above the fceptred fway.
It is enthroned in the hearts of kings;
It is an attribute to God himself;
And earthly pow'r doth then thew likeft God's,
When mercy feafons juftice. Therefore, Jew,
Though juftice be thy plea, confider this-
That, in the courfe of juftice, none of us
Should fee falvation: we do pray for mercy;
And that fame prayer doth teach us all to render
The deeds of mercy.
Justice must be impartial.
I beseech you,
Wreft once the laws to your authority:
To do a great right, do a little wrong;
And curb this cruel devil of his will.
Por. It must not be; there is no pow'r in Venice | But in his motion like an angel fings,
Can alter a decree established:
'Twill be recorded for a precedent;
And many an error, by the fame example,
Will ruth into the ftate: it cannot be.
Cheerful Refignation, with friendly Tenderness.
Ant. I am arm'd and well prepar'd-
Give me your hand, Baffanio; fare you well!
Grieve not that I am fallen to this for
you;
For herein fortune fhews herself more kind
Than is her cuftom.-It is still her ufe,
To let the wretched man outlive his wealth,
To view with hollow eve, and wrinkled brow,
An age of poverty; from which ling ring penance
Of fuch mifery doth the cut me off.
Commend me to your honourable wife :
Tell her the procefs of Anthonio's end;
Say, how I lov'd you, fpeak me fair in death;
And, when the tale is told, bid her be judge,
Whether Baffanio had not once a love.
Repent not you that you fhall lofe your friend,
And he repents not that he pays your debt.
Ample Payment.
He is well paid, that is well fatisfied. Defcription of a Moon-light Night, with fine Mufic. Lor. The moon shines bright: in such a night as this,
When the fweet wind did gently kifs the trees, And they did make no noife; in fuch a night, Troilus, methinks, mounted the Trojans wall, And figh'd his foul toward the Grecian tents, Where Creffid lay that night.
fef. In fuch a night,
Did Thisbe fearfully o'ertrip the dew;
And faw the lion's hadow ere himself,
And ran difmay'd away.
Lor. In fuch a night,
Stood Dido with a willow in her hand
Upon the wild-fea banks, and waft her love To come again to Carthage.
Jef. In fuch a night,
Medea gather'd the enchanted herbs,
That did renew old Efon.
Lor. In fuch a night,
Did Jeffica fteal from the wealthy Jew;
And with an unthrift love did run from Venice, As far as Belmont.
Jef. And in fuch a night,
Did young Lorenzo fwear, he lov'd her well; Stealing her foul with many vows of faith,
And ne'er a true one.
Lor. And in fuch a night,
Did pretty Jeffica, like a little fhrew,
Slander her love, and he forgave it her.
How fweet the moon-light fleeps upon this bank!
Here will we fit, and let the founds of mufic
Creep in our cars; foft ftillness and the night
Become the touches of fweet harmony.
Sit, Jeffica; look, how the floor of heaven
Is thick inlaid with patines of bright gold;
There's not the fmalleft orb, which thou behold'ft,
Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubins:
Such harmony is in immortal fouls ;
But, whilft this muddy vefture of decay
Doth grofsly clofe it in, we cannot hear it.-
Come, ho, and wake Diana with a hymn;
With sweetest touches pierce your mistress' car,
And draw her home with mufic.
Jef. I am never merry when I hear sweet mufic.
Lor. The reafon is, your fpirits are attentive:
For do but note a wild and wanton herd,
Or race of youthful and unhandled colts,
Fetching mad bounds,bellowing and neighingloud,
Which is the hot condition of their blood;
If they perchance but hear a trumpet found,
Or any air of mufic touch their ears,
You fhall perceive them make a mutual stand,
Their favage eyes turn'd to a modest gaze,
By the fweet pow'r of mufic. Therefore, the poet
Did feign that Orpheus drew trees, ftones, and
Hoods;
Since nought fo stockifh, hard, and full of rage,
But mufic for the time doth change his nature.
The man that hath not mufic in himself,
Nor is not mov'd with concord of fweet founds,
Is fit for treafons, ftratagems, and spoils;
The motions of his fpirit are dull as night,
And his affections dark as Erebus:
Let no fuch man Be trufted.
A good Deed compared to a Candle, and the Effects of Time, Circumftance, &c.
Por. How far that little candle throws his beams! So fhines a good deed in a naughty world. Ner. When the moon fhone, we did not fee the candle.
Por. So doth the greater glory dim the lefs: A fubftitute shines brightly as a king, Until a king be by; and then his state Empties itfel, as doth an inland brook Into the main waters. Mufic! hark!
Ner. It is your mufic, madam, of the house.
Por. Nothing is good, I fee, without refpe&t;
Methinks it founds much fweeter than by day.
Ner. Silence beftows that virtue on it, madam.
Por. The crow does fing as tweetly as the lark
When neither is attended; and, I think,
The nightingale, if the thould fing by day,
When ev'ry goofe is cackling, would be thought
No better a musician than the wren.
How many things by feafon feafon'd are
To their right praife, and true perfection!
Peace, hoa the moon fleeps with Endymion,
And would not be awak'd!
This night, methinks, is but the day-light fick; It looks a little paler; 'tis a day, Such as the day is when the fun is hid. Profeffions needless, where Intentions are fincere.
Sir, you are very welcome to our houfe: It must appear in other ways than words, Therefore I feant this breathing courtefy.
Fair ladies, you drop manna in the way
Of ftarved people.
§ 7. MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR. SHAKSPEARE. Defcription of Spendthrifts, who seek to better
their Fortunes by rich Wives,
E doth object, I am too great of birth;
And that, my ftate being gall'd with my ex-
I feek to heal it only by his wealth: [pence,
Befides thefe, other bars he lays before me-
My riots paft, my wild focieties;
And tells me, 'tis a thing impotlible
I fhould love thee, but as a property.
Valuable Woman loved for her own Sake.
Wooing thee, I found thee of more value
Than ftamps in gold, or fums in fealed bags;
And 'tis the very riches of thyfelf
That now I aim at.
Fairies, their Rewards and Punishments.
Cricket, to Windfor's chimneys thalt thou leap:
Where fires thou find'st unrak'd, and hearths
uniwept,
There pinch the maids as blue as bilberry:
Our radiant queen hates fluts and fluttery.
Where's Pede? Go you, and where you find a maid
That, ere the fleep, hath thrice her prayers faid,
Raife up the organs of her fantafy,
Sleep the as found as carelef's infancy;
But thofe, as fleep, and think not on their fins,
Pinch them, arms, legs, back, fhoulders, fides,
This hath bewitch'd the bofom of my child:
-Thou, thou, Lyfander, thou haft given her
rhimes,
And interchang'd love-tokens with my child:
Thou haft by moon-light at her window fung,
With feigning voice, verfes of feigning love;
And ftol'n the impreffion of her fantaty
With bracelets of thy hair, rings, gawds, conceits,
Knacks, trifles, nofegays, fweetmeats; effengers
Of strong prevailment in unharden'd youth:
With cunning haft thou filch'd my daughter's heart;
Turn'd her obedience, which is due to me,
To ftubborn harshness.
Thef. Therefore, fair Hermia, queftion your
Know of your youth, examine well your blood,
Whether, if you yield not to your father's choice,
You can endure the livery of a.nun;
For
ayc
to be in fhady cloifter mew'd,
To live a barren fifter all your life,
Chanting faint hymns to the cold fruitless moon.
To undergo fuch maiden pilgrimage!
Thrice bleffed they, that mafter fo their blood,
But carthlier happy is the rofe diftill'd,
Than that which, withering on the virgin thorn,
Grows, lives, and dies, in fingle bletfedness.
Herm. So will I grow, fo live, fo die, my lord,
Ere I will yield my virgin-patent up
Unto his lordship, to whofe unwith'd yoke
My foul confents not to give fovereignty.
True Love ever crossed.
Lyf. Ah me for aught that ever I could read,
Could ever hear by tale or hiftory,
The courfe of true love never did run smooth;
But either it was different in blood;
Or elfe mifgrafted in refpect of years;
Or else it flood upon the choice of friends.
Or, if there were a fympathy in choice,
War, death, or fickness, did lay fiege to it;
Making it momentary as a found,
Swift as a fhadow, fhort as any dream;
Brief as the lightning in the colly'd night,
That, in a spleen, unfolds both heaven and earth,
And, ere a man hath pow'r to fay-Behold!
The jaws of darkness do devour it up:
So quick bright things come to confufion..
Herm. Then let us teach our trial patience,
Because it is a customary crofs;
As due to love, as thoughts, and dreams, and fighs,
Withes, and tears, poor fancy's followers.
Affignation.
I fwear to thee, by Cupid's strongest bow
By his best arrow with the golden head;
By the fimplicity of Venus' doves;
By that which knitteth fouls, and profpers loves;
And by that fire which burn'd the Carthage queen,
When the falle Trojan under fail was feen;
By all the vows that ever men have broke,
In number more than ever women spoke;
In that fame place thou haft appointed me,
To-morrow truly will I meet with thee,
Modeft and generous Eulogium of a Rival.
Demetrius loves you, fair: O happy fair!
Hel. Call you me fair› That fair again unfay :
Your eyes are lode-ftars, and your tongue's sweet
More tunable than lark to thepherd's ear,
When wheat is green, when hawthorn buds ap-
Sickness is catching: Oh, were favour fo!
Your words I'd catch, fair Hermia, ere I go;
My car fhould catch your voice, my eye your eye,
My tongue fhould catch your tongue's sweet
O teach me how you look; and with what art You fway the motion of Demetrius' heart.
When Phoebe doth behold
Her filver vifage in the watry glafs, Decking with liquid pearl the bladed grass.
Things bafe and vile, holding no quantity,
Love can transpose to form and dignity.
Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind;
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 laid to be a child,
Because in choice he is fo oft beguil'd:
As waggish boys in game themselves forfwear,
So the boy Love is perjur'd every where.
Cowflips and Fairy Employment.
The cowflips tall her penfioners be;
In their gold coats fpots you fee;
Those be rubies, fairy favours;
In those freckles live their favours:
I must go feek fome dew-drops here,
And hang a pearl in ev'ry cowflip's ear.
Puck, or Robin Good-fellow.
I am that merry wand'rer of the night. I jeft to Oberon, and make him fmile, When I a fat and bean-fed horfe beguile, Neighing in likeness of a filly foal: And fometimes lurk I in a goffip's bowl, In very likeness of a roafted crab; And, when the drinks, against her lips I bob, And on her wither'd dewlap pour the ale. The wifeft aunt, telling the faddeft tale, Sometime for three-foot stool mistaketh me; Then flip I from her bum, down topples fhe, And Tailor cries, and falls into a cough; And then the whole quire hold their hips, and loffe; And waxen in their mirth, and neeze, and swear A merrier hour was never wasted there.
Fairy Jealousy, and the Effects of it. Thefe are the forgeries of jealoufy: And never, fince the middle fummer's fpring, Met we on hill, in dale, foreft, or mead, By paved fountain, or by rufhy brook, Or on the beached margent of the fea, To dance our ringlets to the whistling wind, But with thy brawls thou haft disturb'd our sport. Therefore the winds, piping to us in vain, As in revenge, have fuck'd up from the fea Contagious fogs; which falling in the land, Have ev'ry pelting river made fo proud, That they have overborne their continents: The ox has therefore ftretch'd his yoke in vain, The ploughman loft his fweat; and the green corn Hath rotted, ere its youth attain'd a beard: The fold ftands empty in the drowned field, And crows are fatted with the murrain flock: The nine-men's morris is fill'd up with mud, And the quaint mazes in the wanton green, For lack of tread, are undiitinguishable. The human mortals want their winter here;
No night is now with hymn or carol bleft: Therefore the moon, the governefs of floods, wafhes all the air,
Pale in her
That rheumatic difeafes do abound:
And, thorough this diftemperature, we fee
The feafons alter: hoary-headed frofts
Fall in the fresh lap of the crimson rose;
And, on old Hyems' chin, and icy crown,
An od rous chaplet of fweet fummer-buds
The childing autumn, angry winter, change
Is, as in mock'ry, fet: the spring, the fummer
Their wonted liveries, and the 'mazed world
By their increase now knows not which is which.
Love in Idleness.
Since once I fat upon a promontory,
And heard a mermaid, on a dolphin's back,
Uttering fuch dulcet and harmonious breath,
That the rude fea grew civil at her fong;
And certain ftars fhot madly from their spheres,
To hear the fea-maid's music.
That very time I faw (but thou could'st not),
Flying between the cold moon and the earth,
Cupid all arm'd a certain aim he took
At a fair veftal, throned by the weft;
And loos'd his love-fhaft fmartly from his bow,
As it fhould pierce a hundred thousand hearts.
But I might fee young Cupid's fiery shaft
Quencht in the chafte beams of the wat'ry moon;
And the imperial vot'refs passed on,
In maiden meditation, fancy free.
Yet mark'd I where the bolt of Cupid fell:
It fell upon a little western flow'r,
Before,milk-white; now purple with love's wound;
And maidens call it, "Love in idleness."
Virtuous Love's Protection and Reliance,
Your virtue is my privilege for that.
Therefore I think I am not in the night:
It is not night, when I do fee your face,
Nor doth this wood lack worlds of company
For you, in my refpect, are all the world:
Then how can it be faid, I am alone,
When all the world is here to look on me?
I know a bank, where the wild thyme blows, Where ox-lips and the nodding violet grows; Quite over-canopied with lufcious woodbine, With fweet mufk-rofes, and with eglantine: There fleeps Titania, fometime of the night, Lull'd in thefe flow'rs with dances and delight.
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 fteal 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 arife;
And pluck the wings from painted butterflies, To fan the moon-beams from his fleeping eyes: Nod to him, elves, and do him courtefies.
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