Imatges de pàgina
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Glory grows guilty of detested crimes;

When, for fame's sake, for praise, an outward part, We bend to that the working of the heart.

345.

Fame, where dangerous.

8-iv. 1.

Better leave undone, than by our deed acquire
Too high a fame, when him we serve 's away.

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30-iii. 1.

Let fame, that all hunt after in their lives,
Live register'd upon our brazen tombs,
And then grace us in the disgrace of death;
When, spite of cormorant devouring time,
The endeavour of this present breath may buy

That honour which shall bate his scythe's keen edge,
And make us heirs of all eternityk.

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8-i. 1.

If a man do not erect in this age his own tomb ere he dies, he shall live no longer in monument than the bell rings, and the widow weeps.

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O mighty Cæsar! dost thou lie so low?

6-v. 2.

Are all thy conquests, glories, triumphs, spoils,
Shrunk to this little measure?

29-iii. 1.

349.

Vanity of earthly dignities.

I have ventured,

Like little wanton boys that swim on bladders,
This many summers in a sea of glory;
But far beyond my depth: my high-blown pride
At length broke under me; and now has 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.

k i. e. Through all succeeding ages.

F

I know myself now; and I feel within me
A peace above all earthly dignities,

A still and quiet conscience.

350.

Earthly crosses and cares.

25-iii. 2.

Comfort 's in heaven; and we are on the earth,
Where nothing lives but crosses, care, and grief.

351.

Glory and wealth, their temptation.

17-ii. 2.

O, the fiercel wretchedness that glory brings us!
Who would not wish to be from wealth exempt,
Since riches point to misery and contempt?
Who'd be so mock'd with glory? or to live
But in a dream of friendship?

To have his pomp, and all what state compounds,
But only painted, like his varnish'd friends?

352.

Instability of worldly glory.

27-iv. 2.

Like madness is the glory of this life,
As this pomp shews to a little oil, and root m ̧
We make ourselves fools, to disport ourselves;
And spend our flatteries, to drink those men,
Upon whose age we void it up again
With poisonous spite and envy.

27-i. 2.

353.

Honours not hereditary.

Honours best thrive,

When rather from our acts we them derive
Than our fore-goers: the mere word 's a slave,
Debauch'd on every tomb; on every grave,
A lying trophy, and as oft is dumb,

Where dust, and damn'd oblivion, is the tomb
Of honour'd bones indeed.

11-ii. 3.

354.

Decay of pomp.

Vast confusion waits

16-iv. 3.

(As doth a raven on a sick-fallen beast) T'he imminent decay of wrested pomp".

1 Hasty, precipitate.

i. e. The glory of this life is just as much madness in the eye of reason, as pomp appears to be when compared to the frugal repast of a philosopher.

Greatness arrested from its possessor.

355.

Pomp and power, their end.

Why, what is pomp, rule, reign, but earth and dust? And, live we how we can, yet die we must. 23-v. 2.

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When fortune means to men most good,

She looks upon them with a threatening eye.

357.

Capriciousness of fortune.

16-iii. 4.

Will fortune never come with both hands full,
But write her fair words still in foulest letters ?
She either gives a stomach, and no food,-
Such are the poor, in health; or else a feast,
And takes away the stomach,-such are the rich,
That have abundance, and enjoy it not.

358.

Imperfections belong to the best.

Thou art noble; yet, I see,

19-iv. 4.

Thy honourable metal may be wrought
From that it is disposed: Therefore 't is meet
That noble minds keep ever with their likes:
For who so firm, that cannot be seduced?

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Dare do all that may become a man; Who dares do more, is none.

29-i. 2.

15-i. 7.

360.

Oppression to be avoided.

Press not a falling man too far; 't is virtue:

His faults lie open to the laws; let them,

Not you, correct them.

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Let us be keen, and rather cut a little,
Than fall, and bruise to death.

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25-iii. 2.

5-ii. 1.

To be called into a huge sphere, and not to be seen

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to move in it, are the holes where eyes should be, which pitifully disaster the cheeksP.

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30-ii. 7.

There have been many great men that have flattered the people, who never loved them; and there be many that they have loved, they know not wherefore: so that, if they love they know not why, they hate upon no better ground. 28-ii. 2.

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The age is grown so picked, that the toe of the peasant comes so near the heel of the courtier, he galls his kibe.

365.

Appearances often deceitful.

36-v. 1.

It is the bright day that brings forth the adder;
And that craves wary walking.

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Within the hollow crown,

29-ii. 1.

That rounds the mortal temples of a king,
Keeps Death his court: and there the antic sits,
Scoffing his state, and grinning at his pomp;
Allowing him a breath, a little scene

To monarchize, be fear'd, and kill with looks;
Infusing him with self and vain conceit,—
As if this flesh, which walls about our life,
Were brass impregnable, and, humour'd thus,
Comes at the last, and with a little pin

Bores through his castle wall, and farewell, king!
17-iii. 2.

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The king is but a man, as I am: the violet smells to him, as it doth to me; the element shews to him, as it doth to me; all his senses have but human conditions: his ceremonies laid by, in his nakedness he

"The being called into a huge sphere, and not being seen to move in it," resembles sockets in a face where eyes should be [but are not]; which empty sockets, or holes without eyes, pitifully disfigure the countenance.

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Qualities.

appears but a man; and though his affections are higher mounted than curs, yet, when they stoop, they stoop with the like wing. 20-iv. 1.

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Kings are no less unhappy, their issue not being gracious, than they are in losing them, when they have approved their virtues.

369.

Obedience to princes.

The hearts of princes kiss obedience,

13-iv. 1.

So much they love it; but, to stubborn spirits,
They swell, and grow as terrible as storms. 25—iii. 1.

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It is the curse of kings to be attended

By slaves, that take their humours for a warrant ;And, on the winking of authority,

To understand a law; to know the meaning

Of dangerous majesty, when, perchance, it frowns
More upon humour than advised respect.

371.

Treason.

Treason is but trusted like the fox;

16-iv. 2.

Who, ne'er so tame, so cherish'd, and lock'd up,
Will have a wild trick of his ancestors.

372. Treason, silent in its operations.

18-v. 2.

Smooth runs the water where the brook is deep;
And in his simple show he harbours treason.
The fox barks not, when he would steal the lamb.

373.

22-iii. 1.

Treason and murder, handmaids.
Treason and murder ever kept together,
As two yoke-devils sworn to either's purpose.

374.

20-ii. 2.

Content and discontent.

Willing misery

Outlives incertain pomp, is crown'd before:
The one is filling still, never complete;

* i. e. Arrives sooner at the completion of his wishes.

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