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NATURE POISONED.

THAT nature, being sick of man's unkindness, Should yet be hungry!-Common mother, thou, [Digging.

Whose womb unmeasurable, and infinite breast,
Teems, and feeds all; whose self-same mettle,
Whereof thy proud child, arrogant man, is puff'd,
Engenders the black toad, and adder blue,
The gilded newt, and eyeless venom'd worm,
With all the abhorred births below crisp heaven
Whereon Hyperion's quickening fire doth shine;
Yield him, who all thy human sons doth hate,
From forth thy plenteous bosom, one poor root!
Ensear thy fertile and conceptious womb,
Let it no more bring out ingrateful man!
Go great with tigers, dragons, wolves, and bears;
Teem with new monsters, whom thy upward face
Hath to the marbled mansion all above
Never presented!-O, a root,-Dear thanks!
Dry up thy marrows, vines, and plough-torn leas;
Whereof ingrateful man, with liquorish draughts,
And morsels unctuous, greases his pure mind,
That from it all consideration slips!

TIMON OF ATHENS, A. 4, s. 3.

NATURE'S PROGNOSTICS.

THE night has been unruly: Where we lay,
Our chimneys were blown down: and, as they

say,

Lamentings heard i' the air; strange screams of death;

And prophesying, with accents terrible,

Of dire combustion, and confus'd events,

New hatch'd to the woeful time. The obscure bird

Clamour'd the livelong night: some say, the earth

Was feverous, and did shake. 'Twas a rough night.

My young remembrance cannot parallel

A fellow to it.

MACBETH, A. 2, s. 3.

NATURE'S SYMPATHY WITH THE

MISFORTUNES OF GREATNESS.

CÆSAR, I never stood on ceremonies,

Yet now they fright me.

There is one within,

Besides the things that we have heard and seen, Recounts most horrid sights seen by the watch. A lioness hath whelped in the streets;

And graves have yawn'd, and yielded up their dead:

Fierce fiery warriors fight upon the clouds,
In ranks, and squadrons, and right form of war,
Which drizzled blood upon the Capitol:
The noise of battle hurtled in the air,

Horses did neigh, and dying men did groan;
And ghosts did shriek, and squeal about the

streets.

O Cæsar! these things are beyond all use,

And I do fear them.

JULIUS CÆSAR, A. 2, s. 2.

NATURE'S TIES.

THAT drop of blood, that's calm, proclaims me

bastard;

Cries, cuckold, to my father; brands the harlot

Even here, between the chaste unsmirched brow Of my true mother.

HAMLET, A. 4, s. 5.

NECESSITY OF THE GOVERNING POWERS KEEPING A CONSCIENCE. HERE is the indictment of the good lord Hastings; Which in a set hand fairly is engross'd, That it may be to-day read o'er in Paul's. And mark how well the sequel hangs together:Eleven hours I have spent to write it over, For yesternight by Catesby was it sent me; The precedent was full as long a doing: And yet within these five hours Hastings liv'd, Untainted, unexamin'd, free, at liberty. Here's a good world the while!-Who is so gross,

That cannot see this palpable device?

Yet who so bold, but says he sees it not?
Bad is the world; and all will come to nought,
When such bad dealing must be seen in thought.

K. RICHARD III., A. 3, s. 6.

NEVER LOSE FEAR OF THE
INVISIBLE.

THEY say, miracles are past; and we have our philosophical persons, to make modern and familiar things, supernatural and causeless. Hence is it, that we make trifles of terrors ; ensconcing ourselves into seeming knowledge, when we should submit ourselves to an unknown fear.

ALL'S WELL THAT ENDS WELL, A. 2, s. 3.

NEVER MAKE LOVE BY PROXY.

D. PEDRO. Now, signior, where's the count; Did you see him? BENEDICK.

Troth, my lord, I have played. the part of lady Fame. I found him here as melancholy as a lodge in a warren; I told him, and, I think, I told him true, that your grace had got the good will of this young lady; and I offered him my company to a willow tree, either to make him a garland, as being forsaken, or to bind him up a rod, as being worthy to be whipped.

D. PEDRO. To be whipped! What's his fault? BENE. The flat transgression of a school-boy; who, being overjoy'd with finding a bird's nest, shows it his companion, and he steals it.

D. PEDRO. Wilt thou make a trust a transgression? The transgression is in the stealer.

BENE. Yet it had not been amiss, the rod had been made, and the garland too; for the garland he might have worn himself; and the rod he might have bestow'd on you, who, as I take it, have stol'n his bird's nest.

D. PEDRO. I will but teach them to sing, and restore them to the owner.

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, A. 2, s. 1.

NIGHT, AND ITS SPECIAL COR-
RESPONDENTS.

LORENZO. The moon shines bright:-In such a night as this,

When the sweet wind did gently kiss the trees, And they did make no noise; in such a night,

Troilus, methinks, mounted the Trojan walls, And sigh'd his soul toward the Grecian tents, Where Cressid lay that night.

JESSICA.

In such a night,

Did Thisbe fearfully o'ertrip the dew;
And saw the lion's shadow ere himself,
And ran dismay'd away.

LOR.

In such a night, Stood Dido with a willow in her hand

Upon the wild sea-banks, and way'd her love

To come again to Carthage.

JES.

Medea gather'd the enchanted herbs,

That did renew old son.

LOR.

In such a night,

In such a night,

Did Jessica steal from the wealthy Jew:
And with an unthrift love did run from Venice,
As far as Belmont.

JES.

And in such a night,

Did young Lorenzo swear he lov'd her well;
Stealing her soul with many vows of faith,
And ne'er a true one.

LOR.

And in such a night,

Did pretty Jessica, like a little shrew,

Slander her love, and he forgave it her.

MERCHANT Of Venice, a. 5, s. 1.

NOBILITY IN DEATH.

NOTHING in his life

Became him, like the leaving it; he died
As one that had been studied in his death,
To throw away the dearest thing he ow'd,
As 'twere a careless trifle.

MACBETH, A. 1, s. 4.

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