I have feen fudden ftarts to mifchief grow;
But turns to good, are ufually more flow.
Sir R. Howard's Veftal Virgin.
MISFORTUNE.
Tempestuous fortune hath spent all her fpight,
And thrilling forrow thrown his utmost dart.
Thy fad tongue cannot tell more heavy plight
Ihan that I feel, and harbour in mine heart:
Who hath endur'd the whole, can bear each part.
If death it be, it is no the first wound
That launced hath my breaft with bleeding smart.
Begin and end the bitter baleful found;
If less than that I fear, more favour have I found.
Spenfer's Fairy Queen.
If fortune were fo firm as fhe is frail,
Or glozing glory were fill permanent :
If no mishap mens doings did affail,
Or that their acts and facts were innocent: If they in hope no hurt nor hatred meant, Or dealings ay were done with duty due; They never need their great misfortunes rue.
'Tis fond to wail inevitable firokes,
As 'tis to laugh at them.
He jefts at fcars, that never felt a wound.
Shakespear's Romeo and Juliet.
Where is your ancient courage? You were us'd
To fay, extremity was the trier of fpirits ;
That common chances common men could bear;
That, when the fea was calm, all boats alike
Shew'd masterfhip in floating. Fortune's blows,
When moft ftruck home, being gently warded, craves
A noble cunning.
Whom fortune hath made faulty by their fall; They who are vanquished, may not refuse
The titles of reproach they're charg'd withal:
The conq'ring caufe hath right, wherein thou art;
The vanquish'd ftill is judg'd the worfer part.
Daniel's Cleopatra.
What pow'r can make me wretched? What evil
Is there in life to him, that knows life's lofs
To be no evil? Shew, fhew thy ugliest brow,
Oh most black chance! Make me a wretched ftory;:
Without misfortune, virtue hath no glory:
Oppofed trees make tempefts fhew their pow'r;
And waves forc'd back by rocks, make Neptune tow'r.
Marfion's Sophonisba.
-Nothing is a mifery,
Unless our weaknefs apprehend it fo:
We cannot be more faithful to ourselves
In any thing that's manly, than to make
Ill fortune as contemptible to us,
As it makes us to others.
Beaumont and Fletcher's Honeft Man's Fortune.
pray, fir, deal with men in mifery,
Like one that may himself be miferable:
Infult not too much upon men diftreft;
Play not too much upon my wretchedness;
The noble minds ftill will not, when they can.
If that a man be thrust into a well,
No matter who fets hand to't; his own weight
Will bring him the fooner to the bottom.
Fortune makes this conclufion general;
All things do help th'unhappy man to fall.
Webster's Dutchess of Malf We worldly men, when we fee friends, and kinfmen Paft hope funk in their fortunes; lend no hand
To lift them up: But rather fet our feet.
Upon their heads, to prefs them to the bottom.
Mafinger's New Way to pay old Debts.
We lay afide diftinctions; if our fates.
Make us alike in our misfortunes.
Sorrow enough: 'Tis envy to ourselves,
To augment it by prediction.
Habbington's Queen of Arragon.
Ill luck, for fpeed, of all things elfe is chief:
For as the blind man fung, time fo provides,
That joy goes ftill on foot, and forrow rides.
Brown's Paftorals. The thrifty heav'ns mingle our fweets with gall, Left being glutted with excefs of good,
We should forget the giver.
Thomas Rarylins's Rebellion.
Know how t'afford good counfel unto others;
Whofe forces being too weak, to bear the blows
Of their difeafes, yield and languish under
The weight that's infupportable.
Their minds are, the more they yield beyond
Neceffity: And thereby become chief
Actors in their own tragedy.
Henry Burnell's Landgartha,
Though good things answer many good intents;
Croffes do ftill bring forth the best events.
-The difgrace that waits upon misfortune;
The mere reproach, the fhame of being miferable,
Expofes men to fcorn and bafe contempt,
Even from their nearest friends.
Death waits at home, difgrace and ruin here;
Like a poor fhip thus lab'ring in a storm,
I view the angry ocean o'er and o'er,
And fee a thoufand waves, but not one shore.
From this unhappy palace let us fly!
But whither fhall we leave our mifery?
Who to th'unfortunate will kind appear?
The wretched are unwelcome ev'ry where.
MISTRESS.
Yourself and all the world
That talk'd of her, have talk'd amifs of her;
If the be curft, it is for policy;
For fhe's not froward, but modeft as the dove:
She is not hot, but temp'rate as the morn :
For patience, fhe will prove a fecond Griffel;
And Roman Lucreece for her chastity.
Shakespear's Taming of the Shrew. 'Twas told me you were rough, and coy, and fullen, And now I find report a very liar;
For thou art pleafant, gamefome, paffing courteous,
But flow in fpeech; yet fweet as fpring-time flow'rs.
Thou canst not frown, thou canst not look afcance,
Nor bite the lip, as angry wenches will;
Nor haft thou pleasure to be crofs in talk:
But thou with mildness entertain't thy wooers,
With gentle conference, foft and affable.
Why doth the world report that Kate doth limp?
Oh fland'rous world! Kate, like the hazle-twig
Is ftrait and flender; and as brown in hue,
As hazle nuts, and sweeter than the kernels.
Moft honour to his miftrefs; well may boaft,
Without least question, that he loves her most.
Chapman's Cæfar and Pompey.
As in fome countries far remote from hence,
The wretched creature, deftined to die,
Having the judgment due to his offence;
By furgeons begg'd, their art on him to try,
Which on the living work without remorse;
Firft make incifion on each maft'ring vein,
Then stanch the bleeding, then tranfpierce the coarse,
And with their balms recure the wounds again;
Then poison, and with phyfick him reftore:
Not that they fear the hopeless man to kill;
But their experience to encrease the more:
Ev'n fo my mistress works upon my ill,
By curing me, and killing me each hour;
Only to fhew her beauty's fovereign pow'r.
Among the gods she hath her place,
They all ftand gazing on her face.
The clouds do from her prefence fly,
'Tis fun-fhine where the cafts her eye.
Where-e'er fhe treads on earth below,
A rofe or lily up doth grow.
Her breath a gale of spices brings;
Mute are the mufes when the fings.
William Hawkins's Apollo Shroving.
You do not know what it is to be a
Duke's mistress; to enjoy the pleasures of
The court; to have all heads bare, the knees bow.
Το you, ev'ry door fly open as you tread ;
With your breath to raife this gentleman; pull
Down that lord; and new mould th' other lady;
Wear upon a tire the wealth of a province;
Have all the fashions brought first to you; all
Courtiers fue to you; tilts and tournaments
For you; to have the air you live in, nay
Your very breath perfum'd; the pavement you
Tread upon kits'd; nay your dog, or monkey,
Not faluted without an officious leg,
And fome title of rev'rence.
Shirley's Love's Cruelty.
1. Here's a health to her that best deserves
The attribute of fair; whole white and red
Prove what's life's mixture: From whose form, exactness,
Rules of proportion, might be better drawn
Than from art's principles: to her, whofe youth
Warms winter's icy bofom with her spring:
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