A PRISON A GRAVE.

How like

A prison's to a grave! When dead, we are With solemn pomp brought thither; and our

heirs,

Mastering their joy in false dissembled tears,

Weep o'er the hearse: but earth no sooner

covers

The earth brought thither, but they turn away With inward smiles, the dead no more remem

ber'd.

So, enter'd into a prison.

THE FANTASIES OF DREAMS.

Massinger.

Still, when the golden sun withdraws his beams, And drowsy night invades the weary world, Forth flies the god of dreams, fantastic Morpheus,

Ten thousand mimic phantoms fleet around him,

Subtle as air, and various in their natures; Each has ten thousand thousand diff'rent forms, In which they dance confused before the sleeper, While the vain god laughs to behold what pain Imaginary evils give mankind. Rowe.

TRUE DIGNITY.

True dignity is never gain'd by place,

And never lost when honours are withdrawn.

TRUE FRIENDSHIP.

Massinger.

Dost thou know what friendship is?

'Tis not the fawning cringe, the studied smile, The oil-smooth speech, big word, or solemn vow, It is a sacred ray of heav'nly love :

Like that, rejoicing in the good of others,
It scorns the narrow bounds of selfishness,
And knows no bliss sincere, but social joy:
Simple and plain, it shines in naked truth,
And opens all the sluices of the heart.

Hawkins.

CARES OF GREATNESS.

Great honours are great burdens; but on whom They're cast with envy, he doth bear two loads; His cares must still be double to his joys

In any dignity; where, if he err,

He finds no pardon; and, for doing well,

A most small praise, and that wrung out by

force.

Ben Jonson.

GUILT.

Guilt is the source of sorrow! 'tis the fiend,
Th' avenging fiend, that follows us behind,
With whips and stings. The blest know none
of this,

But rest in everlasting peace of mind,

And find the height of all their Heav'n is good

ness.

Rowe.

THE FIRST FALSE STEP.

Henceforth let no man trust the first false step Of guilt; it hangs upon a precipice,

Whose steep descent in last perdition ends! Young.

ΜΑΝ.

Men are but children of a larger growth,
Our appetites as apt to change as theirs,
And full as craving too, and full as vain ;
And yet the soul, shut up in her dark 100m,
Viewing so clear abroad, at home sees nothing;
But, like a mole in earth, busy and blind,
Works all her folly up, and casts it outward
To the world's open view.

Dryden.

GUILT BETRAYED BY FEAR.

All fear, but fear of Heaven, betrays a guilt, And guilt is villany.

Lee.

TRUE AND FALSE HONOur.

False honour, like a comet, blazes broad, But blazes for extinction. Real merit Shines like th' eternal sun, to shine for ever.

Hill.

THE HEIGHT OF HONOUR.

No man to offend

Ne'er to reveal the secrets of a friend;
Rather to suffer, than to do a wrong,
To make the heart no stranger to the tongue;
Provoked, not to betray an enemy,

Nor at his meat I choke with flattery;
Blushless to tell wherefore I wear my scars,
Or for my conscience, or my country's wars;
To aim at just things, if we've wildly run
Into offences, wish them all undone,
'Tis poor, in grief for a wrong done, to die,
Honour to dare to live, and satisfy.

Massinger.

HOPE DECEItful.

Hope is the fawning traitor of the mind,

Which while it cozens with a colour'd friend

ship,

Robs us of our last virtue, resolution.

Lee.

THE VANITY OF HOPE.

Hope, thou hast told me lies from day to day,
For more than twenty years; vile promiser!
None here are happy, but the very fool,
Or very wise: I am not fool enough
To smile in vanities, and hug a shadow;
Nor have I wisdom to elaborate

An artificial happiness from pains:

Ev'n joys are pains, because they cannot last. How many lift the head, look gay, and smile, Against their consciences? And this we know, Yet, knowing, disbelieve, and try again

What we have tried, and struggle with conviction.

Each new experience gives the former credit; And rev'rend gray threescore is but a voucher, That thirty told us true.

Young.