FRIENDS TO BE EXAMINED.

Turn him, and see his threads: look, if he be Friend to himself, that would be friend to thee: For that is first required, a man be his own; But he that's too much that, is friend to none. Ben Jonson.

DEPENDENCE ON THE WILL OF ANOTHER.
I hate dependence on another's will,
Which changes with the breath of every whisper
Just as the sky and weather with the winds:
Nay with the winds as they blow east or west,
To make his temper pleasant or unpleasant:
So are our wholesome or unwholesome days.

Crown.

DEATH HONOURABLE, ADVANTAGEOUS, AND

NECESSARY.

Death is honourable, advantageous,

And necessary; honourable in

Old men to make room for younger;
Advantageous to those that get legacies
By it; and necessary for married
People, that have no other gaol-delivery.

Fane.

EVIL EXAMPLE.

If men of good lives,

Who, by their virtuous actions, stir up others To noble and religious imitation,

Receive the greater glory after death,

As sin must needs confess; what may they feel In height of torments, and in weight of vengeance,

Not only they themselves not doing well,
But set a light up to show men to hell?

Middleton.

APPEARANCE DECEITFUL.

Every man in this age has not a soul
Of crystal, for all men to read their actions
Through men's hearts and faces are so far

asunder

That they hold no intelligence.

Beaumont and Fletcher.

NOBILITY OF MIND.

Brave spirits are a balsam to themselves :
There is a nobleness of mind, that heals
Wounds beyond salves.

Cartwright.

HOPE DECEPTIVE.

Hope! fortune's cheating lottery!

Where for one prize a hundred blanks there be; Fond archer, hope! who takest thy aim so far, That still or short or wide thine arrows are!

Cowley.

THE WORLD A MINT.

This world is like a mint; we are no sooner
Cast into the fire, taken out again,

Hammer'd, stamp'd, and made current, but
Presently we are changed.

Decker and Webster.

THE POWER OF WORDS.

Words have wings, and, as soon as their cage, the

Mouth, is open'd, out they fly, and mount beyond

Our reach, and past recovery: like lightning They can't be stopt, but break their passage through

The smallest crannies, and penetrate

Sometimes the thickest walls; their nature's as Expansive as the light.

Nevile.

WIT MUST BE FOSTERED.

You can't expect that they should be great wits,
Who have small purses, they usually

Sympathise together; wit is expensive,
It must be dieted with delicacies,

It must be suckled with the richest wines,
Or else it will grow flat and dull,

THE SANCTITY OF HONOUR.

Nevile.

Honour's a sacred tie-the law of kings,
The noble mind's distinguishing perfection,
That aids and strengthens virtue where it meets
her,

And imitates her actions where she is not:
It is not to be sported with.

UNBRIBED PETITIONS UNWELCOME.

Petitions not sweeten'd

Addison.

With gold, are but unsavoury, oft refused;
Or if received, are pocketed, not read.

A suitor's swelling tears by the glowing beams
Of choleric authority are dried up

Before they fall; or if seen, never pitied.

Massinger.

G

NOBILITY OF MIND ABOVE FLATTERY.

Minds,

By nature great, are conscious of their greatness, And hold it mean to borrow aught from flattery.

Rowe.

UNFOLDING THE FLOCKS.

Shepherds, rise, and shake off sleep—
See the blushing morn doth peep
Through your windows, while the sun
To the mountain-tops has run,
Gilding all the vales below

With his rising flames, which grow
Brighter with his climbing still-
Up! ye lazy swains, and fill

Bag and bottle for the field;

Clasp your cloaks fast, lest they yield
To the bitter north-east wind;
Call the maidens up, and find
Who lies longest, that she may
Be chidden for untimed delay.
Feed your faithful dogs, and pray
Heaven to keep you from decay;
So unfold, and then away.

Beaumont and Fletcher.