In thy Hands clutch'd as many millions,
In thy lying tongue both numbers; I would fay,
Thou ly'ft! unto thee, with a voice as free
As I do pray the gods.
No ceremony that to great ones 'longs,
Not the King's crown, nor the deputed fword,
The Marshal's truncheon, nor the Judge's robe,
Become them with one half fo good a grace,
As mercy does: if he had been as you,
And you as he, you would have flipt like him;
But he, like you, would not have been fo kern.
Measure for Meafure, A. 2. Sc. 1.
Why, all the fouls that are were forfeit once;
And he, that might the 'vantage beft have took,.
Found out the remedy. How would you be,
If he, which is the top of judgment, should
But judge you as you are? Oh, think on that;
And mercy then will breathe within your lips,
The quality of mercy is not ftrain'd;
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath. It is twice bless'd;
It bleffeth him that gives, and him that takes.
'Tis mightieft in the mightieft; it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown:
His fceptre fhews the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majefty,
Wherein doth fit the dread and fear of kings:,
But mercy is above this fceptred fway;
It is enthroned in the hearts of kings;
It is an attribute to God himself;
And earthly power doth then fhew likeft God's,
When mercy feafons juftice. Therefore, Jew,
Tho' juftice be thy plea, confider this,
That in the courfe of juftice none of us
And that fame prayer doth teach us all to render
The deeds of mercy. The Merchant of Venice, A. 4. Sc. 1.
Wilt thou draw near the nature of the gods?
Draw near them then in being merciful.
Sweet mercy is nobility's true badge.
Titus Andronicus, A. 1. Sc. 2.
MERMAID..
Thou remember'ft,.
Since once I fat upon a promontory,
And heard a mermaid on a dolphin's back,
That the rude fea grew civil at her fong,
And certain ftars fhot madly from their spheres,
To hear the fea-maid's mufic.
A Midsummer Night's Dream, A. 2. Sc. I..
-A merrier man, Within the limit of becoming mirth, I never spent an hour's talk withal. His eye begets occafion for his wit;
every object that the one doth catch, The other turns to a mirth-moving jeft; Which his fair tongue (conceit's expofitor) Delivers in fuch apt and gracious words, That aged ears play truant at his tales, And younger hearings are quite ravished; So fweet and voluble is his discourse.
Love's Labour Loft, A. 2. Sc. 1.
MESSENGER.
After him came fpurring hard
A gentleman almoft forefpent with speed,
That ftopp'd by me to breathe his bloodied horfe:
He afk'd the way to Chefter; and of him
I did demand the news from Shrewsbury.
He told me that rebellion had ill-luck,
And that young Harry Percy's fpur was cold.
With that he gave his able horfe the head,
And, bending forward, ftruck his agile heels
Up to the rowel-head; and starting fo,
He feem'd in running to devour the way,
Staying no longer queftion. Henry IV. Part II. A. 1. Sc. 3.
M'ESSENGER WITH BAD NEW S.
Yea, this man's brow, like to a title-leaf,
Foretells the nature of a tragic volume.
So looks the ftrond, whereon th' imperious flood
Hath left a witnefs'd ufurpation.
Thou trembleft, and the whitenefs in thy cheek‹
Is apter than thy tongue to tell thy errand.
Ev'n such a man, fo faint, fo fpiritlefs,
So dull, fo dead in look, fo woe-begone,
Uttering fuch dulcet and harmonious breath,
Drew Priam's curtain in the dead of night,
And would have told him half his Troy was burn'd
I fee a ftrange confeffion in thine eye:
Thou shak'ft thy head, and hold'st it fear or fin -
To speak a truth: if he be flain, say fo;
The tongue offends not, that reports his death::
And he doth fin, that doth belie the dead; .
Not he which fays the dead is not alive.
Yet the firft bringer of unwelcome news.
Hath but a lofing office; and his tongue
Sounds ever after as a fullen bell,
Remember'd tolling a departed friend.
Henry IV. Part II. 'A. 1. Sc. 3è
Then let's fay you are fad,
Because you are not merry; and 'twere as eafy •
For you to laugh and leap, and fay you're merry,
Because you are not fad.. Now, by two-headed Janus
Nature hath fram'd ftrange fellows in her time!
Some that will evermore peep through their eyes,
And laugh like parrots at a bagpiper;
And others of fuch vinegar afpect,
That they'll not fhew their teeth in way of fmile,
Though Neftor fwear the jeft be laughable.
The Merchant of Venice, A. 1. Sc. 17:
Mifery acquaints a man with ftrange bedfellows.
The Tempest, A. 2. Sc. 2.
Her vine, the merry cheerer of the heart,
Unpruned dies; her hedges even pleach'd,
Like prisoners wildly overgrown with hair,
Put forth disorder'd twigs: her fallow leas
The darnel, hemlock, and rank fumitory,
Doth root upon while that the coulter rufts,
That fhould deracinate fuch favag'ry :
The even mead, that erft brought fweetly forth
The freckled cowflip, burnet, and green clover,
Wanting the scythe, all uncorrected, rank,
Conceives by idleness; and nothing teems,
But hateful docks, rough thiftles, keckfies, burs,
Lofing both beauty and utility;
And all our vineyards, fallows, meads, and hedges,
Defective in their nurtures, grow to wildness.
King Henry V. A. 5. Sc. 3.
And I as rich in having fuch a jewel,
As twenty feas, if all their fand were pearl,
The water nectar, and the rocks pure gold.
Forgive me that I do not dream on thee,
Because thou fee'ft me doat upon my love.
The Two Gentlemen of Verona, A. 2. Sc. 4.
Look, as I blow this feather from my face,
And as the air blows it to me again,
Obeying with my wind when I do blow,
And yielding to another when it blows,
Commanded always by the greater gust,
Such is the lightness of you common men.
King Henry VI. Part III. A. 3. Sc. ..
What would you have, ye curs,
That like not peace nor war? The one affrights you,
The other makes you proud. He that trufts to you,
Where he should find you lions, finds you hares;
Where foxes, geefe: you are no furer, no,
Than is the coal of fire upon the ice,
Or hailstone in the fun. Your virtue is,
To make him worthy, whofe offence subdues him,
And curfe that juftice did it. Who deferves greatnefs
Deferves your hate; and your affections are
A fick man's appetite, who defires moft that
Which would increase his evil. He that depends
Upon your favours, fwims with fins of lead,
And hews down oaks with rushes. Hang ye-Trust ye?
With every minute you do change a mind,
And call him noble that was now your hate;
Him vile that was your garland.
MODERATION..
Noble friends,
That which combin'd us was moft great; and let not
A leaner action rend us. What's amifs,
May it be gently heard: When we debate
Our trivial difference loud, we do commit
Murder in healing wounds. Thou noble partner,
(The rather for I earnestly befeech)
Touch you the foureft points with sweetest terms,
Nor curftness grow to the matter.
Antony and Cleopatra, A. 2. Sc. z.
Thefe violent delights have violent ends,
And in their triumph die; like fire and powder,
Which, as they kifs, confume. The fweeteft honey
Is loathfome in its own delicioufnefs,
And in the tafte confounds the appetite :
Therefore love moderately; long love doth fo:
Too fwift arrives as tardy as too flow.
Romeo and Juliet, A. 2. Sc. 6.
It is the witnefs ftill of excellency,
To put a strange face on his own perfection.
Much Ado About Nothing, A. 2. Sc. 3,
What fool is fhe, that knows I am a maid,
And would not force the letter to my view?.
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