Good name in man and woman

Is the immediate jewel of their souls.

Who steals our purse steals trash; 'tis something, nothing; 'Twas our's, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands : But he that filches from us our good name

Robs us of that which not enriches him,

But makes us poor indeed.”

HUMILITY.

"True goodness in a mortal breast will sayLet me be ignorant, and in nothing good, But graciously to know I am no better."

CONTENTMENT.

"The shepherd's homely curds,

His cold thin drink out of his leather bottle;
His wonted sleep under a fresh tree's shade;
(All which secure and sweetly he enjoys),
Is far beyond a prince's delicates;
His viands sparkling in a golden cup;
His body couchēd in a curious bed;
When care, mistrust, and treason wait on him."

INEQUALITY.

“O that estates, degrees, and offices,

Were not deriv'd corruptly; and that clear honour
Were purchas'd by the merit of the wearer!
How many then should cover that stand bare;

How many be commanded that command!

How much low peasantry would then be glean'd

From the true seed of honour; and how much honour
Pickt from the chaff and ruin of the times,

To be new varnish'd!"

66

COMMENT ON SWEAR NOT AT ALL."

"What other oath

Than honesty to honesty engag'd?

Swear priests and cowards, and such suffering souls
That welcome wrongs.-Unto bad causes swear
Such creatures as men doubt. But do not stain

The even virtue of a good emprize,

Nor the insuppressive* mettle of true spirits,
To think that, or the cause, or the performance,
Can need an oath."

MAN.

"What a piece of work is man! how noble in reason; how vast in faculties; in form and moving how express and admirable! in action how like an angel; in apprehension how like a god!"

SELF-CULTURE.

"Our bodies are our gardens, to the which our wills are gardeners so that if we will plant nettles, or sow lettuce, set hyssop, and weed up thyme, supply it with one gender of herbs or distract it with many, either have it steril with idleness or manur'd with industry, why the power, and corrigible authority of this, lies in our wills."

MIND ALONE IMMORTAL.

"The cloud-clapt towers; the gorgeous palaces;
The solemn temples; the great globe itself;
Yea all which it inherit, shall dissolve,

And, like an insubstantial pageant faded,
Leave not a rack behind."

* Insuppressible.

MERCY.

"The quality of mercy is not strain'd;
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice blest :
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes.
'Tis mightiest in the mighty; and becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown:
His sceptre shews the force of temporal power,
The attribute of awe and majesty,

Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings.
But Mercy is above this sceptre's sway:

It is enthroned in the hearts of kings:

It is an attribute to God himself!

And earthly power doth then shew likest God's

When mercy seasons justice. *** Consider this, That in the course of justice, none of us

Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy,

And that same prayer doth teach us all to render
The deeds of mercy."

MAN'S ARROGANCE.

"Merciful heaven!

Thou rather with thy sharp and sulphurous bolt
Splitt'st the unwedgeable and gnarled oak,
Than the soft myrtle!-O, but man, proud man,
(Drest in a little brief authority,

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

His glassy essence) —like an angry ape,

Plays such fantastic tricks before high heaven,
As make the angels weep."

FAREWELL TO GREATNESS.

"Nay, then, farewell!

I have touch'd the highest point of all my greatness;
And, from that full meridian of my glory,

I haste now to my setting. I shall fall
Like a bright exhalation in the evening,
And no man see me more.

Farewell! a long farewell, to all my greatness!
This is the state of man: to-day he puts forth
The tender leaves of hope, to-morrow blossoms,
And bears his blushing honours thick upon him:
The third day comes a frost, a killing frost;
And,-when he thinks, good easy man, full surely
His greatness is a ripening,-nips his root,
And then he falls, as I do. I have ventur'd,
Like little wanton boys that swim on bladders,
These many summers in a sea of glory,
But far beyond my depth: my high-blown pride
At length broke under me; and now hath left me
Weary, and old with service, to the mercy

Of a rude stream, that must for ever hide me.
Vain
pomp and glory of this world, I hate ye:
I feel my heart new open'd. O! how wretched
Is that poor man, that hangs on princes' favours.
There is, betwixt that smile we would aspire to,
That sweet aspect of princes, and our ruin,
More pangs and fears than war or women have;
And, when he falls, he falls like Lucifer,
Never to hope again."

THE DANGER OF AMBITION.

"Cromwell, I did not think to shed a tear
In all my miseries; but thou hast forc'd me,
Out of thy honest truth, to play the woman.

K

Let's dry our eyes; and thus far hear me, Cromwell:
And,-when I am forgotten, as I shall be,

And sleep in dull cold marble, where no mention
Of me more must be heard of,-say, I taught thee,
Say, Wolsey, that once trod the ways of glory,
And sounded all the depths and shoals of honour,
Found thee a way, out of his wreck, to rise in ;
A sure and safe one, though thy master miss'd it,
Mark but my fall, and that that ruin'd me.
Cromwell, I charge thee, fling away ambition:
By that sin fell the angels; how can man, then,
The image of his Maker, hope to win by 't?

Love thyself last: cherish those hearts that hate thee:
Corruption wins not more than honesty.

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 Crom-
well!

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 my own. O Cromwell, Cromwell!
Had I but serv'd my God with half the zeal
I serv'd my king, He would not in my age
Have left me naked to my enemies!"

The ethics of Shakspeare have been far less elucidated than the descriptive beauties that adorn his page. Many, also, have thought only of his faults-the occasional coarseness of expression that deforms his writings; a coarseness from