themselves what other men think of them, and that other men would fain be as they are, then they are happy as it were by report; when perhaps they find the contrary within; for they are the first that find their own griefs, though they be the last that find their own faults.

* *

In place there is a licence to do good and evil, whereof the latter is a curse, for in evil the best condition is not to will; the second, not to can. But power to do good is the true and lawful end of aspiring; for good thoughts (though God accept them) yet towards men are little better than good dreams, except they be put in act, and that cannot be without power and place as the vantage and commanding ground. Merit and good works is the end of man's motion, and conscience of the same is the accomplishment of man's rest.

BACON. Essay On Great Place.

SONNET.

MARK when she smiles with amiable cheer,
And tell me whereto ye can liken it;
When on each eyelid sweetly do appear
An hundred Graces as in shade do sit.
Likest it seemeth, in my simple wit,
Unto the fair sunshine in summer day,
That when, a dreadful storm away is flit,*

Through the broad world doth spread its goodly ray :
At sight whereof each bird that sits on spray,

And every beast that to his den was fled,

Comes forth afresh out of their late dismay,
And to the light lift up their drooping head:
So my
storm-beaten heart likewise is cheer'd
With that sunshine when cloudy looks are clear'd.

SPENSER.

As when from mountain-tops the dusky clouds
Ascending, while the north wind sleeps, o'erspread
Heaven's cheerful face, the low'ring element
Scowls o'er the darken'd landscape snow, or shower;
If chance the radiant sun with farewell sweet
Extend his evening beam, the fields revive,
The birds their notes renew, and bleating herds
Attest their joy, that hill and valley rings.

Paradise Lost, Book II.

FLIGHT.

Falstaff. THE better part of valour is discretion; in the which better part I have saved my life.

Henry IV., Last Part.

For those that fly may fight again,
Which he can never do that's slain.
Hence timely running's no mean part
Of conduct in the martial art;

By which some glorious feats achieve,
As citizens by breaking thrive;
And cannons conquer armies, while
They seem to draw off and recoil;
Is held the gallantest course, and bravest
To great exploits, as well as safest;
That spares th' expense of time and pains,
And dangerous beating out of brains;
And in the end prevails as certain
As those that never trust to fortune;
But make their fear do execution
Beyond the stoutest resolution;
As earthquakes kill without a blow,
And, only trembling, overthrow.

If the ancients crown'd their bravest men
That only saved a citizen,

What victory could e'er be won,
If ev'ry one would save but one?
Or fight indanger'd to be lost,
Where all resolve to save the most?
By this means, when a battle's won,
The war's as far from being done;
For those that save themselves and fly,
Go halves, at least, i' th' victory;
And sometimes when the loss is small,
And danger great, they challenge all;
For those who run from th' enemy,
Engage them equally to fly;
And when the fight becomes a chace,
They win the day that win the race.

Hudibras, Part III., Canto 3.

SONG.

WHEN ye come to yon town end

Fu' mony a lass ye'll see ;

O WEDDING-GUEST! this soul hath been

Alone on a wide wide sea;
So lonely 'twas, that God himself
Scarce seemed there to be.

O sweeter than the marriage feast,
'Tis sweeter far to me,
To walk together to the kirk
With a goodly company!

To walk together to the kirk,

And all together pray,

While each to his great Father bends;
Old men and babes, and loving friends,
And youths and maidens gay.

Farewell! farewell! but this I tell
To thee, thou wedding-guest,
He prayeth well who loveth well
Both man, and bird, and beast.
He prayeth best, who loveth best
All things both great and small;
For the dear God who loveth us,
He made and loveth all.

COLERIDGE. The Ancient Mariner.

HARK! In what rings

And hymning circulations the quick world

Awakes and sings!

The rising winds,
And falling springs,

Birds, beasts, all things

Adore him in their kinds.

Thus all is hurl'd

In sacred hymns and order, the great chime
And symphony of Nature. Prayer is

The world in tune,

A spirit-voyce,

And vocall joyes,

Whose eccho is heaven's blisse.

O let me climbe

When I lye down. The pious soul by night
Is like a clouded starre, whose beames, though said
To shed their light

Under some cloud,

Yet are above,

And shine and move

Beyond that mistic shrowd.

So in my bed,

That curtain'd grave, though sleep, like ashes, hide
My lamp and life, both shall in thee abide.

H. VAUGHAN. Silex Scintillans.

FORBEARANCE.

I HAVE observed one ingredient somewhat necessary in a man's composition towards happiness, which people of feeling would do well to acquire-a certain respect for the follies of mankind: for there are so many fools whom the world entitles to regard, whom accident has placed in heights of which they are unworthy, that he who cannot restrain his contempt or indignation at the sight, will be too often quarrelling with the disposal of things to relish that share which is allotted to himself.

MACKENZIE. Man of Feeling.

FOR that man has no claim to sense,
Whose blood boils at impertinence;
Were I to scourge each fool I meet,
I ne'er must go into the street.

Syntax's Tour.

WERE I to be angry at men being fools, I could here find ample room for declamation; but, alas! I have been a fool myself; and why should I be angry with them for being something so natural to every child of humanity?

PATIENCE.

GOLDSMITH. Essays.

THE two powers which in the opinion of Epictetus constituted a wise man, were those of bearing and forbearing.

Chorus. MANY are the sayings of the wise,

Leonato.

In ancient and in modern books enroll'd,
Extolling patience as the truest fortitude;
And to the bearing well of all calamities,
All chances incident to man's frail life,
Consolatories writ

With studied argument, and much persuasion sought,
Lenient of grief and anxious thought:

But with the afflicted in his pangs their sound

Little prevails, or rather seems a tune

Harsh, and of dissonant mood from his complaint:

Unless he feel within

Some source of consolation from above,

Secret refreshings, that repair his strength,

And fainting spirits uphold.

MILTON. Samson Agonistes.

I PRAY thee, cease thy counsel,
Which falls into mine ears as profitless
As water in a sieve: give not me counsel;

Nor let no comforter delight mine ear,

But such a one whose wrongs do suit with mine.

Bring me a father that so loved his child,

Whose joy of her is overwhelm'd like mine,
And bid him speak of patience;

Measure his woe the length and breadth of mine,
And let it answer every strain for strain;
As thus for thus, and such a grief for such,

In every lineament, branch, shape, and form;
If such a one will smile, and stroke his beard;
Cry, sorrow wag! and hem, when he should groan;
Patch grief with proverbs; make misfortune drunk
With candle-wasters; bring him yet to me,
And I of him will gather patience.