LOVE INCREASED BY ATTEMPTS TO SUPPRESS IT.

Didst thou but know the inly touch of love, Thou would'st as soon go kindle fire with snow, As seek to quench the fire of love with words. Luc. I do not seek to quench your love's hot fire; But qualify the fire's extreme rage,

Lest it should burn above the bounds of reason. Jul. The more thou dam'st* it up, the more it burns;

The current that with gentle murmur glides,

Thou know'st, being stopp'd, impatiently doth rage,
But, when his fair course is not hindered,

He makes sweet music with the enamel'd stones,
Giving a gentle kiss to every sedge

He overtaketh in his pilgrimage;

And so by many winding nooks he strays,
With willing sport to the wild ocean.
Then let me go, and hinder not my course:
I'll be as patient as a gentle stream.

And make a pastime of each weary step,
Till the last step have brought me to my love;
And, there I'll rest, as, after much turmoil,†
A blessed soul doth in Elysium.

A FAIFHFUL AND CONSTANT LOVER.

His words are bonds, his oaths are oracles; His love sincere, his thoughts immaculate; His tears, pure messengers sent from his heart; His heart as far from fraud as heaven from earth.

ACT III.

PRESENTS PREVAIL WITH WOMEN.

Win her with gifts, if she respect not words; Dumb jewels often, in their silent kind,

More than quick words do move a woman's mind.

A LOVER'S BANISHMENT.

And why not death, rather than living torment? To die, is to be banish'd from myself:

And Silvia is myself: banished from her,
Is self from self: a deadly banishment!
What light is light, if Silvia be not seen?
What joy is joy, if Silvia be not by?
Unless it be to think that she is by,
And feed upon the shadow of perfection.
Except I be by Silvia in the night,
There is no music in the nightingale;
Unless I look on Silvia in the day,
There is no day for me to look upon.

BEAUTY PETITIONING IN VAIN.

Ay, ay; and she hath offer'd to the doom, (Which, unreserv'd, stands in effectual force,) A sea of melting pearl, which some call tears: Those at her father's churlish feet she tender'd; With them, upon her knees, her humble self; Wringing her hands, whose whiteness so became them,

As if but now they waxed pale for wo:

But neither bended knees, pure hands held up, Sad sighs, deep groans, nor silver-shedding tears Could penetrate her uncompassionate sire.

HOPE.

Hope is a lover's staff; walk hence with that, And manage it against despairing thoughts.

LOVE COMPARED TO A FIGURE ON ICE.

This weak impress of love is as a figure 'Trenched in ice; which with an hour's heat Dissolves to water, and doth lose his form.

THREE THINGS IN MAN DISLIKED BY FEMALES.

The best way is to slander Valentine
With falsehood, cowardice, and poor descent;
Three things that women highly hold in hate.

THE POWER OF POETRY WITH FEMALES.

Say, that upon the altar of her beauty
You sacrifice your tears, your sighs, your heart.

* Cut.

Write till your ink be dry: and with your tears
Moist it again; and frame some feeling line;
That may discover such integrity:-

For Orpheus' lute was strung with poet's sinews;
Whose golden touch could soften steel and stones,
Make tigers tame, and huge leviathans
Forsake unsounded deeps to dance on sands.

ACT IV.

THE POWER OF ACTION.

At that time I made her weep a-good,*
For I did play a lamentable part:
Madam, 'twas Ariadne, passioning
For Theseus' perjury, and unjust flight;
Which I so lively acted with my tears,
That my poor mistress, moved there withal,
Wept bitterly; and, would I might be dead;
If I in thought felt not her very sorrow!

ACT V.

A LOVER IN SOLITUDE.

How use doth breed a habit in a man!
This shadowy desert, unfrequented woods,
I better brook than flourishing peopled towns.
Here can I sit alone, unseen of any,

And to the nightingale's complaining notes,
Tune my distresses, and recordf my woes,
O thou that dost inhabit in my breast,
Leave not the mansion so long tenantless;
Lest growing ruinous, the building fall,
And leave no memory of what it was!
Repair me with thy presence, Silvia;
Thou gentle nymph, cherish thy forlorn swain!

LOVE UNRETURNED.

What dangerous action, stood it next to death, Would I not undergo for one calm look?

O, 'tis the curse in love, and still approv❜d,* When women cannot love where they're belov'd.

INFIDELITY IN A FRIEND.

Who should be trusted now, when one's right hand

Is perjur'd to the bosom? Proteus,

I am sorry, I must never trust thee more,
But count the world a stranger for thy sake.
The private wound is deepest.

REPENTANCE.

Who by repentance is not satisfied, Is nor of heaven, nor earth.

INCONSTANCY IN MAN.

O heaven! were man

But constant, he were perfect: that one error
Fills him with faults.

WINTER'S TALE.

ACT I.

YOUTHFUL INNOCENCE.

WE were, fair queen,

Two lads, that thought there was no more behind, But such a day to-morrow as to-day,

And to be boy eternal.

We were as twinn'd lambs, that did frisk i' the sun
And bleat the one at the other: what we chang'd,
Was innocence for innocence; we knew not
The doctrine of ill-doing, no, nor dream'd
That any did: Had we pursued that life,
And our weak spirits ne'er been higher rear'd
With stronger blood, we should have answer'd hea-

ven

1

Boldly, Not guilty; the imposition cleared,
Hereditary ourst

Felt, experienced. † Setting aside original sin.

FONDNESS OF A FATHER FOR HIS CHILD.

Leon. Are you so fond of your young prince as we Do seem to be of ours?

Pol.

If at home, sir,

He's all my exercise, my mirth, my matter:
Now my sworn friend, and then mine enemy:
My parasite, my soldier, statesman, all:
He makes a July's day short as December;
And, with his varying childness cures in me
Thoughts that would thick my blood.

JEALOUSY.

Is whispering nothing?

Is leaning cheek to cheek? is meeting noses?
Kissing with inside lip? stopping the career
Of laughter with a sigh? (a note infallible
Of breaking honesty:) horsing foot on foot?
Skulking in corners? wishing clocks more swift?
Hours, minutes? noon, midnight? and all eyes blind
With the pin and web,* but theirs, theirs only,
That would unseen be wicked? is this nothing?
Why, then the world, and all that's in't, is nothing;
The covering sky is nothing; Bohemia nothing;
My wife is nothing; nor nothing have these nothings,
If this be nothing

REGICIDES DETESTABLE.

To do this deed,

Promotion follows: If I could find example
Of thousands that had struck anointed kings,
And flourish'd after, I'd not do't: but since
Nor brass, nor stone, nor parchment, bears not one,
Let villany itself forswear't.

ACT II.

KNOWLEDGE SOMETIMES HURTFUL.

There may be in the cup

A spidert steep'd, and one may drink: depart,

* Disorders of the eye.

† Spiders were esteemed poisonous in our author's time.