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22.

without pride; firm, without obduracy; beneficent in each preference; lovely, though in her frown!

On that justice I rely; deliberate and sure, abstracted from all party purpose and political speculations; not on words, but on facts! You, my lords, who hear me, I conjure, by those rights it is your privilege to preserve; by that fame it is your best pleasure to inherit; by all those feelings which refer to the first term in the series of existence, the original compact of our nature, our controlling rank in the creation. This is the call on all, to administer to truth and equity, as they would satisfy the laws and satisfy themselves, with the most exalted bliss possible or conceivable for our nature; the self-approving consciousness of virtue, when the condemnation we look for will be one of the most ample mercies accomplished for mankind since the creation of the world!

Sheridan: Speech at the Trial of Warren Hastings.

They pass me by like shadows, crowds on crowds,
Dim ghosts of men, that hover to and fro,
Hugging their bodies round them like thin shrouds
Wherein their souls were buried long ago:
They trampled on their youth, and faith, and love,
They cast their hope of human-kind away,

With Heaven's clear messages they madly strove,
And conquered, and their spirits turned to clay:
Lo! how they wander round the world, their grave,
Whose ever-gaping maw by such is fed,
Gibbering at living men, and idly rave,
"We only truly live, but ye are dead."

Alas! poor fools, the anointed eye may trace

A dead soul's epitaph in every face!

Lowell: The Street.

23.

7. Median Stress

Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them;

While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain:

24.

In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those that look out of the windows be darkened,

And the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of the grinding is low, and he shall rise up at the voice of the bird, and all the daughters of musick shall be brought low;

Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fear shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail: because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets :

Or ever the silver cord be loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the cistern.

Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it.

Ecclesiastes, XII, 1–7.

And slowly answer'd Arthur from the barge:
"The old order changeth, yielding place to new,
And God fulfils himself in many ways,

Lest one good custom should corrupt the world.
Comfort thyself; what comfort is in me?

I have lived my life, and that which I have done
May He within himself make pure! but thou,

If thou shouldst never see my face again,

Pray for my soul. More things are wrought by prayer
Than this world dreams of. Wherefore, let thy voice
Rise like a fountain for me night and day.
For what are men better than sheep or goats

That nourish a blind life within the brain,

If, knowing God, they lift not hands of prayer

Both for themselves and those who call them friend?
For so the whole round earth is every way

Bound by gold chains about the feet of God.
But now farewell. I am going a long way
With these thou seest if indeed I go.
For all my mind is clouded with a doubt -

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25.

To the island-valley of Avilion ;

Where falls not hail, or rain, or any snow,
Nor ever wind blows loudly; but it lies

Deep-meadow'd, happy, fair with orchard lawns
And bowery hollows crown'd with summer sea,
Where I will heal me of my grievous wound."
Tennyson: The Passing of Arthur.

8. Final Stress

The train from out the castle drew;

But Marmion stopped to bid adieu :—

"Though something I might plain," he said, "Of cold respect to stranger guest,

Sent hither by your king's behest,

While in Tantallon's towers I stayed,
Part we in friendship from your land,
And, noble Earl, receive hand.".
my
But Douglas round him drew his cloak,
Folded his arms, and thus he spoke :—
“My manors, halls, and bowers, shall still
Be open at my sovereign's will,

To each one whom he lists, howe'er
Unmeet to be the owner's peer,
My castles are my king's alone,
From turret to foundation-stone -
The hand of Douglas is his own,
And never shall in friendly grasp
The hand of such as Marmion clasp." -

Burned Marmion's swarthy cheek like fire,
And shook his very frame for ire,

And- "This to me!" he said, —

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"An 't were not for thy hoary beard,
Such hand as Marmion's had not spared
To cleave the Douglas' head!

And, first, I tell thee, haughty Peer,
He who does England's message here,
Although the meanest in her state,
May well, proud Angus, be thy mate:

26.

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On the Earl's cheek the flush of rage

O'ercame the ashen hue of age:

Fierce he broke forth: "And darest thou then
To beard the lion in his den,

The Douglas in his hall?

And hopest thou hence unscathed to go?

No, by Saint Bride of Bothwell, no!

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Up drawbridge, grooms-what, Warder, ho!
Let the portcullis fall."

Scott: Marmion, VI, xiii, xiv.

Petruchio. Come on, i' God's name; once more toward
our father's.

Good Lord, how bright and goodly shines the moon!
Katharina. The moon! the sun: it is not moonlight

now.

Pet. I say it is the moon that shines so bright.
Kath. I know it is the sun that shines so bright.
Pet. Now, by my mother's son, and that's myself,
It shall be moon, or star, or what I list,
Or ere I journey to your father's house.
Go one and fetch our horses back again.

Evermore cross'd and cross'd; nothing but cross'd!
Hortensio. Say as he says, or we shall never go.
Kath. Forward, I pray, since we have come so far,
And be it moon, or sun, or what you please.
And if you please to call it a rush-candle,
Henceforth I vow it shall be so for me.

Pet. I say it is the moon.

27.

Kath. I know it is the moon.

Pet. Nay, then you lie; it is the blessed sun.

Kath. Then God be bless'd, it is the blessed sun:
But sun it is not when you say it is not,

And the moon changes even as your mind.
What you will have it nam'd, even that it is;

And so, it shall be so for Katharine.

Hor. Petruchio, go thy ways; the field is won.

Pet. Well, forward, forward! thus the bowl should run, And not unluckily against the bias.

Shakespeare: The Taming of the Shrew, IV, v.

9. For general reading

"A merry Christmas, uncle! God save you!" cried » cheerful voice. It was the voice of Scrooge's nephew, who came upon him so quickly that this was the first intimation he had of his approach.

"Bah!" said Scrooge. "Humbug!"

"Christmas a humbug, uncle!" said Scrooge's nephew. "You don't mean that, I am sure?”

"I do," said Scrooge. "Merry Christmas! What right have you to be merry ? What reason have you to be merry ? You're poor enough.”

"Come, then," returned the nephew gayly. "What right have you to be dismal? What reason have you to be morose? You 're rich enough."

Scrooge, having no better answer ready on the spur of the moment, said "Bah!" again; and followed it up with "Humbug!"

“Don't be cross, uncle!" said the nephew.

"What else can I be," returned the uncle, "when I live in such a world of fools as this? Merry Christmas! Out upon merry Christmas! What's Christmas-time to you but a time for paying bills without money; a time for finding yourself a year older, and not an hour richer; a time for balancing your books, and having every item in 'em through a round dozen of months presented dead against you? If I could work my will," said Scrooge indignantly, "every idiot who goes about with 'Merry Christmas' on his lips should be boiled with

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