That unaffailable holds on his rank,

Unfhak'd of motion.

Shakespear's Julius Cæfar.

Sooner I'll think the fun would cease to cheer
The teeming earth, and then forget to bear;
Sooner that rivers would run back, or Thames
With ribs of ice in June would bind his streams:
Or nature, by whose strength the world endures,
Would change her course, before you alter yours.

It is a noble conftancy you fhew

To this afflicted house: That not like others,
The friends of feafon, you do follow fortune,
And in the winter of their fate, forfake
The place, whofe glories warm'd you.

Love but one,

Johnson.

Johnson's Sejanus,

Daniel's Arcadia.

Who hunts two hares at one time, catcheth none.

1. I made a deed of gift,

And gave my oath unto the king; I swore

By thy true constancy.

2. Then keep that word

To fwear by ; O let me be constant still.

1. What fhall I cancel faith, and break my oath ?
2. In breaking conftancy, thou break'st them both.
1. Thy conftancy, no evil can pursue.

2. I may be constant still, and yet not true.
1. As how?

2. As thus, by violence detain'd;

They may be constant still, that are constrain'd.
Dekker's Satiro-maflix.
But his fair Gordon would not leave him there,
But to himself, and to his fortunes cleave ;
Her kindred fhe forfook, and did adhere
Ta ftranger Thus a loadstone will not leave

The

CON

The kiffes of the iron's lov'd embrace,
Although a thousand loadstones were in place.
Aleyn's Henry VII,
Do you profefs conftancy, and yet live alone?
How can that hold? y'are constant then to none.
That's a dead virtue, goodness must have practice,
Or else it ceases; then is woman faid

To be love-chafte, knowing but one man's bed:
A mighty virtue; befide fruitfulness

Is part of the falvation of your fex ;
And the true ufe of wedlock's time and space,
Is woman's exercise for faith and grace.

Middleton's More Diffemblers befides Women

When all things have their trial, you shall find
Nothing is constant, but a virtuous mind.

Shirley's Witty Fair One.

First shall the heav'ns bright lamp forget to shine,
The ftars fhall from the azur'd sky decline:
Firft fhall the orient with the weft fhake hand,

The centre of the world fhall cease to stand:

First wolves shall league with lambs, the dolphins fly;
The lawyer and phyfician fees deny :

The Thames with Tagus fhall exchange her bed,
My mistress' locks with mine fhall first turn red:
First heav'n fhall lie below, and hell above,
Ere I inconftant to my Delia prove.

1. Such be the difgrace of their fex,
Whofe appetites change with variety;
And taint the general name of women
With the vicious note of inconftancy.

Howell,

2. That is the folly of men, to term inconftancy Vicious in us; for were they not fo

prone

To wrong us, they would ne'er expect it; but
Know that to be too conftant to them, were
To be too difloyal to ourselves, which
I hope ne'er came nigh a woman's wit.
1. Yet it is the perfection of virtue,

H 2

ΤΟ

CON

To lose by the exercise.

2. By the pleasures of change, I fwear, this conftancy' Is a mortal fin, and not a virtue

In any of us.

1. A fin! and mortal!

2. A fin, and most mortal, because
of
Most against nature, and brings many
Us to lead apes in hell. To lose the fweets
Of youth, the very nectar of nature,
And fruftrate the end of our creation;
Can this be less than a mortal fin?

1. 'Tis a work of merit, and they be faints
Worthy to have their names written upon
The altar of chastity. Tis belov❜d
Of heav'n, and fometimes fortunately
Rewarded here.

John Jones's Adrafta.

Is there in martyrdom no jufter way,
But he that holds a finger in the fire
A little time, fhou'd have the crown from them
That have endur'd the flame with constancy?

Suckling's Brennoralt. We call men constant when they're dull and tame; Thus imperfection gets a noble name.

Crown's Caligula.

CONTENT.

Who hath the mean with a contented mind,

Moft perfect bliss his God hath him affign'd.

Thomas Blener Haffet in the Mirror for Magiftrates.

Lord, who would live turmoiled in the court,
And may enjoy fuch quiet walks as these ?
'I his fmall inheritance, my father left me,
Contenteth me, and's worth a monarchy.
I feek not to wax great by other's waining;
Or gather wealth, I care not with what envy;
ftate;
Sufficeth, that I have, maintains my
And fends the poor well pleased from my gate.
Shakespear's Second Part of King Henry VI.

O happy

happy he who far from fame, at home Securely fitting by a quiet fire,

Though having little, doth not more defire; But first himself, then all things doth o'ercome : His purchase weigh'd, or what his parents left, He fquares his charges to his ftore,

And takes not what he must restore,

Nor eats the spoils that from the poor were reft :
Not proud, nor bafe, he, fcorning creeping art,
From jealous thoughts and envy free,
No poifon fears in cups of tree;

No treafon harbours in fo poor a part:

No heavy dream doth vex him when he fleeps,
A guiltless mind the guardless cottage keeps.
He doth not ftudy much what ftorms may blow,
Whofe poverty can hardly be impair'd;

He fears no foreign force, nor craves no guard;
None doth defire his fpoil, none looks fo low.

E. of Sterline's Darius.

-Oh calm, hufh'd, rich content,

Is there a being, bleffedness, without thee?

How foft thou down'ft the couch where thou dost rest, Nectar to life, thou sweet ambrosian feast.

Marfton's First Part of Antonio and Mellida.
Yet oft we fee that fome in humble ftate,
Are chearful, pleasant, happy, and content :
When those indeed that are of higher ftate,

With vain additions do their thoughts torment.
The one would to his mind his fortune bind,
The other to his fortune frames his mind.
To wish variety, is fign of grief;

For if you like your ftate as now it is,
Why should an alteration bring relief?

Nay, change would then be fear'd, as lofs of blifs, That man is only happy in his fate,

That is delighted in a fettled ftate.

Lady Carew's Mariam. H 3

How

How man's defire

Purfues contentment? 'Tis the foul of action,
And the propounded reason of our life :

Yet as the choice appears, or grofs, or excellent,
We fly not from th'enjoying, but are chang'd
In our opinion, either of the object,

Or of the means that work it.

The mind's content

Nabbs's Tottenham-Court.

Sweetens all fuff'rings of th'afflicted fenfe.
Thofe that are bred in labour, think it sport,
Above the foft delight which wanton appetite
Begets for others, whom indulgent fortune
Prefers in her degrees, though equal nature
Made all alike.

Nabbs's Tottenham Court.

He that from duft of worldly tumults flies,
May boldly open his undazzled eyes,
To read wife nature's book; and with delight,
Survey the plants by day, the stars by night.
We need not travel, feeking ways to blifs;
He that defires contentment, cannot miss:
No garden walls this precious flow'r embrace,
It common grows in ev'ry defart place.
Large scope of pleasure drowns us like a flood,
To reft in little, is our greatest good.

Sir John Beaumont.
Each good mind doubles his own free content,
When in another's use they give it vent.

Contentment gives a crown,

Sir Giles Goofecap.

Where fortune hath deny'd it.

Thomas Ford's Love's Labyrinth.

CORRUPTION.

Since the corruption of one

Muft conclude the generation of

Another, though not always in the fame
Profeffion; the corruption of an apothecary,

May