ページの画像
PDF
ePub

That had not God, for some strong purpose, steel'd

The hearts of men, they must perforce have melted,

And barbarism itself have pitied him.

But heaven hath a hand in these events;

To whose high will we bound our calm contents. To Bolingbroke are we sworn subjects now, Whose state and honour I for aye allow.

K. RICHARD II., A. 5, s. 2.

IMPRUDENCE.

To wilful men,

The injuries, that they themselves procure,
Must be their schoolmasters.

KING LEAR, A. 2, s. 4.

IN CIVIL WAR NICE CALCULA-
TIONS ARE REQUIRED.

YES, in this present quality of war ;-
Indeed the instant action, (a cause on foot,)
Lives so in hope, as in an early spring

We see the appearing buds; which, to prove fruit,

Hope gives not so much warrant, as despair, That frosts will bite them. When we mean to

build,

We first survey the plot, then draw the model;
And when we see the figure of the house,
Then must we rate the cost of the erection :
Which if we find outweighs ability,

What do we then, but draw anew the model

In fewer offices; or, at least, desist

To build at all? Much more, in this great work,
(Which is, almost, to pluck a kingdom down,
And set another up,) should we survey
The plot of situation, and the model;
Consent upon a sure foundation;
Question surveyors; know our own estate,
How able such a work to undergo,
To weigh against his opposite; or else,
We fortify in paper, and in figures,
Using the names of men, instead of men:
Like one, that draws the model of a house
Beyond his power to build it; who, half through,
Gives o'er, and leaves his part-created cost
A naked subject to the weeping clouds,
And waste for churlish winter's tyranny.

K. HENRY IV., PART II., A. 1, s. 3.

INCONSISTENCY OF THE BISHOP TURNING GENERAL.

You are well encounter'd here, my cousin
Mowbray :

Good day to you, gentle lord archbishop:
And so to you, lord Hastings, and to all.-
My lord of York, it better show'd with you,
When that your flock, assembled by the bell,
Encircled you, to hear with reverence
Your exposition on the holy text;
Than now to see you here an iron man,
Cheering a rout of rebels with your drum,
Turning the word to sword, and life to death.
That man, that sits within a monarch's heart,
And ripens in the sunshine of his favour,

Would he abuse the countenance of the king,
Alack, what mischiefs might he set abroach,
In shadow of such greatness! With you, lord
bishop,

It is even so:-Who hath not heard it spoken,
How deep you were within the books of God?
To us, the speaker in his parliament;

To us, the imagin'd voice of God himself;
The very opener and intelligencer,

Between the grace, the sanctities of heaven,
And our dull workings: O, who shall believe,
But you misuse the reverence of your place;
Employ the countenance and grace of heaven,
As a false favourite doth his prince's name,
In deeds dishonourable? You have taken up,
Under the counterfeited zeal of God,
The subjects of his substitute, my father;
And, both against the peace of heaven and him,
Have here up-swarm'd them.

K. HENRY IV., PART II., A. 4, s. 2.

INCONSTANCY.

PANDARUS. What says she there?
TROILUS. Words, words, mere words, no
matter from the heart;

[Tearing the letter.

The effect doth operate another way.

[ocr errors]

Go, wind, to wind, there turn and change together.

My love with words and errors still she feeds; But edifies another with her deeds.

TROILUS AND CRESSIDA, A. 5, s. 3.

INCONSTANCY OF BLIND FORTUNE. By your patience, ancient Pistol. Fortune is painted blind, with a muffler before her eyes, to signify to you that fortune is blind: And she is painted also with a wheel; to signify to you, which is the moral of it, that she is turning, and inconstant, and variations, and mutabilities: and her foot, look you, is fixed upon a spherical stone, which rolls, and rolls, and rolls;-In good truth, the poet is make a most excellent description of fortune: fortune, look you, is an excellent moral.

K. HENRY V., A. 3, s. 6.

INFECTION OF COMPANIONSHIP. IF I were sawed into quantities, I should make four dozen of such bearded hermit's-staves as master Shallow. It is a wonderful thing, to see the semblable coherence of his men's spirits and his They, by observing him, do bear themselves like foolish justices; he, by conversing with them, is turned into a justice-like servingman; their spirits are so married in conjunction with the participation of society, that they flock together in consent, like so many wild-geese. If I had a suit to master Shallow, I would humour his men, with the imputation of being near their master: if to his men, I would curry with master Shallow, that no man could better command his servants. It is certain, that either wise bearing, or ignorant carriage, is caught as men take diseases, one of another: therefore, let men take heed of their company.

K. HENRY IV., PART II., A. 5, s. 1.

INFIRMITIES OF HONESTY.
My gracious Lord,

I may be negligent, foolish, and fearful;
In every one of these no man is free,
But that his negligence, his folly, fear,
Amongst the infinite doings of the world,
Sometime puts forth: In your affairs, my lord,
If ever I were wilful-negligent,

It was my folly; if industriously

I play'd the fool, it was my negligence,
Not weighing well the end; if ever fearful
To do a thing, where I the issue doubted,
Whereof the execution did cry out

Against the non-performance, 'twas a fear
Which oft affects the wisest: these, my lord,
Are such allow'd infirmities, that honesty
Is never free of.

But, 'beseech your grace,
Be plainer with me: let me know my trespass
By its own visage: if I then deny it,

'Tis none of mine.

WINTER'S TALE, A. 1, s. 2.

INNOCENCE.

A HEART unspotted is not easily daunted.
The purest spring is not so free from mud,
As I am clear from treason to my sovereign:
Who can accuse me? wherein am I guilty?

K. HENRY VI., PART II., A. 3, s. 1.

INSCRUTABILITY OF PROVIDENCE. You snatch some hence for little faults; that's love,

To have them fall no more: you some permit

« 前へ次へ »