Neglect him not, make use now, and provide Crom. Wol. Cromwell, I did not think to shed a tear And sleep in dull cold marble, where no mention Still in thy right hand carry gentle peace, To silence envious tongues. Be just, and fear not: Let all the ends thou aim'st at be thy country's, Thy God's, and truth's; then if thou fall'st, O Cromwell, Thou fall'st a blessed martyr. Serve the king; And, Pr'ythee, lead me in: There take an inventory of all I have, To the last penny; 'tis the king's; my robe, And my integrity to heaven, is all I dare now call mine own. O Cromwell, Cromwell, I served my king, he would not in mine age Crom. Good sir, have patience. So I have. Farewell The hopes of court! my hopes in heaven do dwell. Henry VIII, Act III. Scene II. QUEEN MAB, THE QUEEN OF THE FAIRIES. O, then, I see Queen Mab hath been with you. 1 Ambition here means a criminal and inordinate ambition, that endeavors to obtain honors by dis honest means. 2 This sentence was really uttered by Wolsey. 8 "The imagery which Shakspeare has employed in describing the persons, manners, and occupations of the Fairies, will be deemed not less his peculiar offspring, nor inferior in beauty, novelty, and wildness of painting, to that which the magic of his pencil has diffused over every other part of the visionary world."-Drake. In shape no bigger than an agate-stone Romeo and Juliet, Act I. Scene IV. LIFE AND DEATH WEIGHED. To be, or not to be, that is the question:- And, by opposing, end them? To die, to sleep,— The heart-ache, and the thousand natural shocks Devoutly to be wish'd. To die;-to sleep ; To sleep!-perchance to dream;-ay, there's the rub; For in that sleep of death what dreams may come, 1 Swords made of Spanish steel were thought the best. 2 That is, drinking deeply each other's health. When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,' For who would bear the whips and scorns of time, Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought, Hamlet, Act III. Scene I. MERCY. The quality of mercy is not strain'd; And earthly power doth then show likest God's And that same prayer doth teach us all to render Merchant of Venice, Act IV. Scene L. ACTIVITY NECESSARY TO KEEP FAME BRIGHT.3 Time hath, my lord, a wallet at his back, Wherein he puts alms for oblivion, A great-sized monster of ingratitudes: 1 Turmoil, bustle. 2 There's the consideration. * This admirable speech of Ulysses to Achilles, to induce him to leave his tent, and come again Inte the field of action, though not much read, is scarcely inferior to any thing in Shakspeare. Those scraps are good deeds past: which are devour'd As fast as they are made, forgot as soon As done: Perseverance, dear my lord, Keeps honor bright: To have done, is to hang In monumental mockery. Take the instant way; Where one but goes abreast: keep then the path; That one by one pursue: If you give way, Or, like a gallant horse fallen in first rank, Lie there for pavement to the abject rear, O'er-run and trampled on: Then what they do in present, Though less than yours in past, must o'ertop yours: For time is like a fashionable host, That slightly shakes his parting guest by the hand; And farewell goes out sighing. O, let not virtue seek For beauty, wit, High birth, vigor of bone, desert in service, Love, friendship, charity, are subjects all To envious and calumniating time. One touch of nature makes the whole world kin,- The present eye praises the present object: Then marvel not, thou great and complete man, Since things in motion sooner catch the eye Than what not stirs. The cry went once on thee, If thou wouldst not entomb thyself alive, And case thy reputation in thy tent; Whose glorious deeds, but in these fields of late, Made emulous missions2 'mongst the gods themselves, Troilus and Cressida, Act III. Scene II. THE COMMONWEALTH OF BEES. So work the honey bees; Creatures, that, by a rule in nature, teach 1 Dust that is a little gilt, means, ordinary performances ostentatiously displayed, and lauded by the favor of friends. Gilt o'er-dusted, means, splendid actions of preceding ages, the remembrance of which is weakened by time. 8 Emulous missions refers to the machinery of Homer, which makes the deities descend from heaven to engage on either side. 8 Law. 4 That is, of different degrees. Where some, like magistrates, correct at home; Who, busied in his majesty, surveys The singing masons building roofs of gold; Henry F., Act I. Scene II. BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER. THESE names, united in their lives by friendship and confederate genius, have always been considered together; for they wrote together, their works were published together, nor is it possible now to assign to each his specific share of their joint labors. Some of the productions of each, however, are distinctively known. Francis Beaumont was born in Leicestershire, in 1586. He studied at Oxford, and thence passed to the Inner Temple; but the law had few charms for him, and, in conjunction with his friend Fletcher, he devoted his short life to the drama, and died in 1616, in the thirtieth year of his age. John Fletcher was the son of Dr. Richard Fletcher, bishop of London, and was born in that city in 1576. He was educated at Cambridge: little, how ever, is known of his life. He survived his coadjutor nine years, dying of the plague in 1625. The plays of Beaumont and Fletcher consist of tragedies, comedies, and mixed pieces. That they have many and great merits is undoubtedly true; but there are two things which will ever be a bar to their being generally read: one is, that they have not that truthfulness to nature which alone can permanently please; and the other is, that they are filled with so much that is repulsive to a delicate and virtuous mind. Still, as has been justly remarked, a proper selection from the works of these dramatists would make a volume of refined sentiment, and of lofty and sweet poetry, combined with good sense, humor, and pathos. In lyrics they have not been surpassed, not even by Shakspeare or Milton; and to these, therefore, we shall confine our extracts.3 ADDRESS TO MELANCHOLY. Hence, all you vain delights; 1 Sober, grave. 2 Executioners. * Read-Hazlitt's "Age of Elizabeth," and Lamb's "Specimens of Dramatic Poets." |