MERCY FREQUENTLY MISTAKEN. Mercy is not itself, that oft looks so; Pardon is still the nurse of second wo. MERCY IN GOVERNORS COMMENDED. No ceremony that to great ones 'longs, THE DUTY OF MUTUAL FORGIVENESS. Alas! alas! Why, all the souls that were, were forfeit once; Yet show some pity. JUSTICE. Ang. I show it most of all, when I show justice, For then I pity those I do not know, gan Which a dismiss'd offence would after gall; Lives not to act another. THE ABUSE OF AUTHORITY. O, it is excellent To have a giant's strength; but it is tyrannous To use it like a giant. Could great men thunder, As Jove himself does, Jove would ne'er be quiet, Would use his heaven for thunder; nothing but thunder. Merciful heaven! Thou rather, with thy sharp and sulphurous bolt, Split'st the unwedgeable and gnarledt oak, 'Than the soft myrtle-O, but man, proud man! Most ignorant of what he's most assur'd, THE PRIVILEGE OF AUTHORITY. Great men may jest with saints: 'tis wit in them, But, in the less, foul profanation. That in the captain's but a choleric word, HONEST BRIBERY. Hark, how I'll bribe you.. Ang. How! bribe me? Isab. Ay, with such gifts, that heaven shall share with you. Lucio. You had marr'd all else. Isab. Not with fond shekels of the tested* gold, Or stones, whose rates are either rich, or poor, As fancy values them: but with true prayers, That shall be up at heaven, and enter there, Ere sun-rise; prayers from preservedt souls, From fasting maids, whose minds are dedicate To nothing temporal. THE POWER OF VIRTUOUS DUTY. Is this her fault, or mine? The tempter, or the tempted, who sins most? Ha! Than woman's lightness? Having waste ground enough, Shall we desire to raze the sanctuary, And pitch our evils there? O, fy, fy, fy! * Attested, stamped. † Preserved from the corruption of the world. See 2 Kings, x. 27. What dost thou? or what art thou, Angelo? Dost thou desire her foully, for those things That make her good? O, let her brother live. Thieves for their robbery have authority, When judges steal themselves. What? do I love her, That I desire to hear her speak again, And feast upon her eyes? What is't I dream on? O cunning enemy, that, to catch a saint, With saints dost bait thy hook! Most dangerous Is that temptation, that doth goad us on To sin in loving virtue: never could the strumpet, With all her double vigour, art, and nature, Once stir my temper; but this virtuous maid Subdues me quite. LOVE IN A GRAVE SEVERE GOVERNOR. When I would pray and think, I think and pray To several subjects: heaven hath my empty words; Whilst my invention hearing not my tongue, Anchers on Isabel: Heaven in my mouth, As if I did but only chew his name; And in my heart, the strong and swelling evil Of my conception: The state, whereon I studied, Is like a good thing, being often read, Grown fear'd and tedious; yea, my gravity, Wherein (let no man hear me) I take pride, Could I, with boot,* change for an idle plume, Which the air beats for vain. O place! O form! How often dost thou with thy case,† thy habit, Wrench awe from fools, and tie the wiser souls To thy false seeming? FORNICATION AND MURDER EQUALLED. It were as good To pardon him, that hath from nature stolen Their saucy sweetness, that do coin heaven's image Falsely to take away a life true made, As to put mettle in restrained means, To make a false one. * Profit. † Outside. LOWLINESS OF MIND. Let me be ignorant, and in nothing good, But graciously to know I am no better. 1 Ang. Thus wisdom wishes to appear most bright, When it doth tax itself. TEMPORAL FAR BETTER THAN ETERNAL DEATH. Better it were, a brother died at once, Than that a sister by redeeming him, WOMEN'S FRAILTY. Nay, women are frail too. Isab. Ay, as the glasses where they view them selves; Which are as easy broke as they make forms. And credulous to false prints.* ACT III. HOPE. 1 The miserable have no other medicine, But only hope.. REFLECTIONS ON THE VANITY OF LIFE. Reason thus with life, If I do lose thee, I do lose a thing That none but fools would keep; a breath thou art, That dost this habitation, where thou keep'st, valiant; For thou dost fear the soft and tender fork * Impressions. And that thou ost provok'st: yet grossly fear'st nor age: But, as it were, an after-dinner's sleep, THE TERRORS OF DEATH MOST IN APPREHENSION, O, I do fear thee, Claudio; and I quake, RESOLUTION FROM A SENSE OF HONOUR. Why give you me this shame? *Affects, affections. + Old age. † Leprous eruptions. 4 |