Ah, be not those most miferable fouls, Their judgments to refine, who never strive! Nor will not look upon the learned fcrouls, Which without practice do experience give : But whilft base floth each better care controuls, Are dead in ignorance, intomb'd alive : 'Twixt beafts, and fuch, the diff'rence is but small ; They, ufe not reason, beasts have none at all. E. of Sterline to Prince Henry. Yet regifters of memorable things Would help, great prince, to make thy judgment found; Which to the eye a perfect mirror brings, Where all fhould glafs themselves, who would be crown'd: Read these rare parts, that acted were by kings, And do not, do not thou the means omit, Times match'd with times, what they beget to spy; Since history may lead thee unto it; A pillar whereupon good fp'rites rely; Of time the table, and the nurse of wit; The fquare of reason, and the minds clear eye: Which leads the curious reader through huge harms, Who stands fecure, whilft looking on alarms. E. of Sterline to Prince Henry. Hiftorians to fome courts have had recourse By kings commands; who did of them explore The former age: That they might steer their course, As skilful pilots of great ftates before; And cut out all their actions by the thread Aleyn's Poitiers. I remember in the age of Affaracus And And the fiege of Troy, there were few things committed Must be wrapp'd up in the volume of eternity: An epitaph: A dog cannot pifs in A nobleman's fhoe, but it must be fprinkled Could remember my treas'ry more full, and And true heroical actions. This is a great fault in a chronologer Should be in fear of none; neither should he Chronologers, many of them, are fo fantastick, He strikes. The ftile is full, and princely, Stately, and abfolute, beyond what e'er Lingua. Lingua. Lingua. Thefe eyes have feen; and Rome, whofe majesty When When ruft fhall eat her brafs, when times ftrong hand May's Agrippina. John Hall on Charles Aleyn. Hiftorians, only things of weight, Briefly, with truth and clearness should relate : HONESTY. 1. Take note, Oh world, To be direct and honest, is not safe. I thank you for this profit, and from hence, A good man fhould and must Heath. Shakespear's Othello. Sit rather down with lofs, than rife unjust. Johnfon's Sejanus. Lands Lands mortgag'd may return, and more esteem'd ; Middleton's Trick to catch the Old One. Good honourable fool, That would'st be honest, 'cause thou wouldst be fo; And't has a good report, prettily commended, And by what rule fhould we fquare our lives, But by our betters actions? Tourneur's Revenger's Tragedy. 'Tis honefty you urge; what's honesty? 'Tis but heav'n's beggar; and what woman is So foolish to keep honesty, And be not able to keep her self? no, Times are grown wifer, and will keep lefs charge: A maid that has small portion, now intends To break up house, and live upon her friends. For if charity Be an effential part of honefty, Tourneur, Ibid. And fhould be practis'd firft upon ourselves, Uncharitable to the man, whom he Should moft respect. Tourneur's Atheift's Tragedy. An honeft foul is like a fhip at sea, 'That fleeps at anchor when the ocean's calm ; But when the rages, and the wind blows high, He cuts his way with skill and majesty. Beaumont and Fletcher's Honeft Man's Fortune. He that would mount to honour, must not make Dainty to use the head of his mother, Back of his father, or neck of his brother, For ladders to his preferment: for, but observe, And you fhall find for the most part, cunning Villany Villany fit at a feast as principal gueft, Beaumont and Fletcher's Honeft Man's Fortune. Virtue and honour, I allow you names; Man is like pliant wax, Shirley's Impofture. That yields unto a fair impreffion, Sir Robert Howard's Blind Lady. An honeft man is ftill an unmov'd rock, Wash'd whiter, but not fhaken with the shock: Davenport's City Night-Cap. He fays he'll keep his honefty; damn'd fot! Crown's Ambitious Statesman. HONOUR. Who fo in pomp of proud eftate, quoth fhe, Does fwim, and bathe himself in courtly bliss, Does wafte his days in dark obfcurity, And in oblivion ever buried is: VOL. II. |