BEAUTY PETITIONING IN VAIN.

Ay, ay; and she hath offer'd 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 self; Wringing her hands, whose whiteness so became them,

As if but now they waxed pale for woe:
But neither bended knees, pure hands held up,
Sad sighs, deep groans, nor silver-shedding tears,
Could penetrate her uncompassionate sire.

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 IN MAN DISLIKED BY FEMALES.

The best way is to slander Valentine
With falsehood, cowardice, and poor descent;
Three things that women highly hold in hate.

THE POWER OF POETRY WITH FEMALES.

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;
Whose golden touch could soften steel and stones,
Make tigers tame, and huge leviathans

Forsake unsounded deeps to dance on sands.

* Cut.

ACT ÌV.

THE POWER OF ACTION.

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,
That my poor mistress, moved therewithal,
Wept bitterly; and, would I might be dead,
If I in thought felt not her very sorrow!

ACT V.

A LOVER IN SOLITUDE.

How use doth breed a habit in a man!
This shadowy desert, unfrequented woods,
I better brook than flourishing peopled towns:
Here can I sit alone, unseen of any,

And, to the nightingale's complaining notes,
Tune my distresses, and record + my woes.
O thou that dost inhabit in my breast,
Leave not the mansion so long tenantless;
Lest, growing ruinous, the building fall,
And leave no memory of what it was!
Repair me with thy presence, Silvia;
Thou gentle nymph, cherish thy forlorn swain!

LOVE UNRETURNED.

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.

Who should be trusted now, when one's right hand Is perjur'd to the bosom? Proteus,

I am sorry, I must never trust theé more,

But count the world a stranger for thy sake.
The private wound is deepest.

REPENTANCE.

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.

WINTER'S TALE.

ACT I.

YOUTHFUL INNOCENCE.

WE were, fair queen,

Two lads, that thought there was no more behiud,

But such a day to-morrow as to-day,

And to be boy eternal.

We were as twinn'd lambs, that did frisk i' the sun,
And bleat the one at the other; what we chang'd,
Was innocence for innocence; we knew not
The doctrine of ill-doing, no, 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*.

, FONDNESS OF A FATHER FOR HIS CHILD.

Leon. Are you so fond of your young prince as we Do seem to be of ours?

Pol.

If at home, sir,
He's all my exercise, my mirth, my matter:
Now my sworn friend, and then mine enemy:
My parasite, my soldier, statesman, all:
He makes a July's day short as December;
And, with his varying childness, cures in me
Thoughts that would thick my blood.

JEALOUSY.

Is whispering nothing?

Is leaning cheek to cheek? 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 t, but theirs, theirs only,
(That would unseen be wicked? is this nothing?
Why, then the world, and all that's in't, is nothing;
The covering sky is nothing; Bohemia nothing;
My wife is nothing; nor nothing have these nothings,
If this be nothing.

REGICIDES DETESTABLE.

To do this deed,

Promotion follows: If

could find example

Of thousands, that had struck anointed kings,
And flourish'd after, I'd not do't: but since

Nor brass nor stone, nor parchment, bears not one,
Let villany itself forswear't.

Setting aside original sin.

+ Disorders of the eye.

WINTER'S TALE.

ACT II.

KNOWLEDGE SOMETIMES HURTFUL.

There may be in the cup

A spider steep'd, and one may drink; depart,
And yet partake no venom; for his knowledge
Is not infected: but if one present

The abhorr'd ingredient to his eye, make known
How he hath drank, he cracks his gorge, his sides,
With violent hefts +.

ELOQUENCE OF SILENT INNOCENCE.

The silence often of pure innocence Persuades, when speaking fails.

EXPOSING AN INFANT.

Come on, poor babe:

Some powerful spirit instruct the kites and ravens,
To be thy nurses! Wolves, and bears, they say,
Casting their savageness aside, have done
Like offices of pity.

ACT III.

INNOCENCE.

Innocence shall make

False accusation blush, and tyranny

Tremble at patience.

DESPAIR OF PARDON.

But, O thou tyrant!

Do not repent these things; for they are heavier
Than all thy woes can stir: therefore betake thee
To nothing but despair. A thousand knees
Ten thousand years together, naked, fasting,

* Spiders were esteemed poisonous in our author's time.
+ Heavings.