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,
And birds sit brooding in the snow,

And Marian's nose looks red and raw,
When roasted 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.

HEAVEN

ACT I.

VIRTUE GIVEN TO BE EXERTED.

LEAVEN 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

As if we had them not. Spirits are not finely touch'd,
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 uset.

So

THE CONSEQUENCE OF LIBERTY INDULGED. As surfeit is the father of much fast,

every scope by the immoderate use

Turns to restraint: Our natures do pursue,

(Like rats that ravin† down their proper bane), A thirsty evil; and when we drink we die.

ELOQUENCE AND BEAUTY.

In her youth

There is a prone§ and speechless dialect,

Such as moves men; beside, she hath prosperous art 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.

*For high purposes.
Voraciously devour.

+ Interest.

§ Prompt.

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 shall we 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 working of your own affections,
Had time coherd § 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
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 not deny,

*On his defence. † Have.

Examine.

Suited.

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 jusThat justice seizes. What know the laws,

[tice, That thieves do pass* on thieves? Tis very pregnant†,

The jewel that we find, we stoop and take it,
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,
For 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
But judge you as you are? O, think on that;
And mercy then will breathe within your lips,
Like man new made.

* Pass Judgment.
Sentence.

+ Plain.

Because.

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.

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,

[der.

Would use his heaven for thunder; nothing but thun

Merciful heaven!

Thou rather, with thy sharp and sulphurous bolt,
Split'st the unwedgeable and gnarled+ oak,

Than the soft myrtle:-0, but man, proud man!
Drest in a little brief authority;

Most ignorant of what he's most assur'd,