A cap of flowers and a kirtle
Embroider'd all with leaves of myrtle;
A gown made of the finest wool,
Which from our pretty lambs we pull;
Slippers lin'd choicely for the cold,
With buckles of the purest gold;
A belt of straw and ivy-buds,
With coral clasps and amber studs ;
And if these pleasures may thee move,
Come live with me, and be my love.
The shepherd-swains shall dance and sing
For thy delight each May morning:
If these delights thy mind may move,
Then live with me, and be my love.

THE NYMPH'S REPLY.
If all the world and love were young,
And truth in every shepherd's tongue,
These pretty pleasures might me move
To live with thee, and be thy love.

But time drives flocks from field to fold,
When rivers rage or rocks grow cold;
Then Philomel becometh dumb,
And Age complains of care to come.
The flowers do fade and wanton fields
To wayward winter reckoning yields;
A honey tongue, a heart of gall,
Is fancy's spring, but sorrow's fall.

Thy gowns, thy shoes, thy beds of roses,
Thy cap, thy kirtle, and thy posies,
Soon break, soon wither, soon forgotten,
In folly ripe, in reason rotten.

Thy belt of straw and ivy-buds,
Thy coral clasps and amber studs,

All these in me no means can move,

To come to thee and be thy love.

But could youth last, and love still breed,
Had joys no date, nor Age no need,
Then these delights my mind might move,
To live with thee, and be thy love.

MARLOW.

SIR W. RALEIGH.

INN.

THERE is no private house, in which people can enjoy themselves so well as at a capital tavern. Let there be ever so great plenty of good things, ever so much grandeur, ever so much elegance, ever so much desire that everybody should be easy; in the nature of things it cannot be there must always be some degree of care and anxiety. The master of the house is anxious to entertain his guests; the guests are anxious to be agreeable to him; and no man, but a very imprudent dog indeed, can as freely command what is in another man's house as if it were his own: whereas at a tavern, there is a general freedom from anxiety. You are sure you are welcome; and the more noise you make, the more trouble you give, the more good things you call for, the welcomer you are. No servant will attend you with the alacrity which waiters do, who are incited by the prospect of an immediate reward in proportion as they please. No, sir; there is nothing which has yet been contrived by man, by which so much happiness is produced as by a good tavern or inn.

DR. JOHNSON.

WHOE'ER has travelled life's dull round,

Where'er his stages may have been,

May sigh to think he still has found

The warmest welcome at an inn.

STOCKS.

SHENSTONE.

IN circle magical confin'd

With walls of subtle air and wind,
Which none are able to break through,
Until they're freed by head of borough.

*

To dungeon they the wretch commit,
And the survivor of his feet:
But th' other, that had broke the peace
And head of knighthood, they release;
Though a delinquent false and forged,
Yet being a stranger, he's enlarged;
While his comrade, that did no hurt,
Is clapp'd up fast in prison for 't.
So Justice, while she winks at crimes,
Stumbles on innocence sometimes.

Hudibras, Part I., Canto 2.

DEFEAT.

'Tis not the least disparagement
To be defeated by th' event,

Nor to be beaten by main force ;
That does not make a man the worse.

*

But to turn tail, or run away,

And without blows give up the day,
Or to surrender ere th' assault,

That's no man's fortune, but his fault,
And renders men of honour less

Than all th' adversity of success.

Hudibras, Part II., Canto 2.

NAVIGATION.

NAVIGATION, that withstood
The mortal fury of the flood,
And prov'd the only means to save
All earthly creatures from the wave,
Has, for it, taught the sea and wind
To lay a tribute on mankind,
That by degrees has swallow'd more
Than all it drown'd at once before.

BUTLER. Miscellaneous Thoughts.

QUACKERY.

AND therefore met in cultivation,
To cant and quack upon the nation;
Not for the sickly patient's sake,

Not what to give, but what to take.

Hudibras, Part III., Canto 2.

LOVE OF NOVELTY,

THE world, that never sets esteem

On what things are, but what they seem;

And, if they be not strange and new,

They're ne'er the better for being true.

PROSELYTES.

Elephant in the Moon.

THE greatest saints and sinners have been made

Of proselytes of one another's trade.

Miscellaneous Thoughts

CHARACTERS.

Now, by two-headed Janus

Nature hath fram'd strange fellows in her time:
Some that will evermore peep through their eyes,
And laugh, like parrots, at a bagpiper;

And other of such vinegar aspect,

That they'll not show their teeth in way of smile,
Though Nestor swear the jest be laughable.

Merchant of Venice, Act I.

A Quarrelsome Character.

Mercutio. Thou art like one of those fellows, that, when he enters the confines of a tavern, claps me his sword upon the table, and says, God send me no need of thee! and, by the operation of the second cup, draws it on the drawer, when indeed there is no need.

Benvolio. Am I like such a fellow?

Mer. Come, come, thou art as hot a Jack in thy mood as any in Italy and as soon moved to be moody, and as soon moody to be moved.

Ben. And what to?

Mer. Nay, an there were two such, we should have none shortly, for one would kill the other. Thou! why thou wilt quarrel with a man that hath a hair more, or a hair less, in his beard, than thou hast. Thou wilt quarrel with a man for cracking nuts, having no other reason but because thou hast hazel eyes: what eye, but such an eye, would spy out such a quarrel? Thy head is as full of quarrels, as an egg is full of meat; and yet thy head hath been beaten as addle as an egg, for quarrelling. Thou hast quarrelled with a man for coughing in the street, because he hath wakened thy dog that hath lain asleep in the sun. Didst thou not fall out with a tailor for wearing his new doublet before Easter? with another, for tying his old shoes with new ribband? and yet thou wilt tutor me from quarrelling!

Romeo and Juliet, Act III,

Openness of Character.

AND manhood fused with female grace
In such a sort, the child would twine
A trustful hand unask'd in thine,

And find his comfort in thy face.

TENNYSON. In Memoriam.

POLITENESS AND GOOD BREEDING.

Ir is in praise and commendation as in gains; for as light gains make heavy purses by coming thick, whilst large ones come but seldom, so slender virtues procure great commendation because in continual use, whereas the opportunity of exercising any capital virtue comes but seldom, whence it adds greatly to a man's reputation, and is like perpetual letters of recommendation to have discreet and graceful forms of behaviour. And to attain these it almost suffices not to despise them: For thus a man will observe them in others, and let him trust himself with the rest: For if he endeavour too much to express them he will lose their grace which is to be natural and unaffected.*

BACON. Essays.

NOTHING (says Sancho Panza) costs less nor is cheaper than compliments of civility.

Its true Spirit

WAS shown by the Lacedæmonians who at the public games gave the shady seats to strangers.

Illustrating this Golden Rule.

NEVER to give any preference to oneself.

EXCESS of Ceremony shows want of Breeding: that Civility is best which excludes all superfluous formality.

THERE are two sorts of ill-breeding: the one a sleepish bashfulness, the other a misbecoming negligence and disrespect in our carriage, both which are avoided by duly observing this one rule-Not to think meanly of ourselves and not to think meanly of others. Cultivate a disposition of mind not to offend and the most agreeable way of expressing that disposition.

LOCKE.

Good manners is the art of making those people easy with whom we converse. Whoever makes the fewest persons uneasy, is the best bred in the company.

SWIFT.

ONE principal point of good-breeding is to suit our behaviour to the three several degrees of men-our superiors, our equals, and those below us.

Ibid.

Good breeding shows itself most, when to an ordinary eye it appears

the least.

Spectator, No. 119.