Here will I hold. If there's a power above us, |
And that there is all nature cries aloud

Through all her works, he must delight in virtue; | And that which he delights in, I must be happy. I

But when! or where! this world was made for

this must end, them. [

[Laying his hand on his sword.

Thus am I doubly arm'd: my death, and life,
My bane', and antidote | are both before me: |
This in a moment brings me to an end; |
But this informs me, I shall never die. !

The soul, secured in her existence, | smiles
At the drawn dagger, and defies its point. [
The stars shall fade away, the sun himself
Grow dim with age, and nature sink in
But thou shalt flourish in immortal youth', |
Unhurt amidst the war of elements, |
The wreck of mat'ter, and the crush of worlds. I

HAMLET'S SOLILOQUY.

(SHAKSPEARE.)

years; |

To be, or not to be that is the question: |
Whether 't is nobler in the mind to suffer

The slings, and arrows of outrageous fortune; |
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles,

And, by opposing, end them? | To die' to sleep |
No more、
| and, by a sleep, | to say we end
The heart-ache, and the thousand natural shocks |
That flesh is heir to: 't is a consummation

Devoutly to be wish'd. |

To die' to sleep,- |

-

To sleep! perchance to dream-ay, there's the rub、 ; | For, in that sleep of death, what dreams may come, | When we have shuffled off this mortal coil,a

Must give us pause. There's the respect |
That makes calamity of so long life: |

For who would bear the whips, and scorns of time',
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely," ¡
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay', [
The insolence of of fice, and the spurns,

That patient merit of the unworthy takes, |
When he himself might his quietus make |
With a bare bod.kin? |

Who would far delsd bear,

To groan, and sweat under a weary life, |
But that the dread of something after death |
(That undiscover'd country | from whose bourne
No traveller returns), puzzles the will. ; |
And makes us rather bear those ills we have`, |
Than fly to others that we know not of? |

Thus conscience does make cowards of us all; |
And thus the native hue of resolution, |
Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought、 ; |
And enterprises of great pith, and moment, |
With this regard, their currents turn awry`, }
And lose the name of action. |

BRUTUS' ORATION ON THE DEATH OF CÆSAR.

(SHAKSPEARE.)

Ro'mans, coun'trymen, and lovers! | hear me for my cause; and be silent that you may hear. | Believe me for mine honour; and have respect' unto mine honour that you may believe. | Censure me in your wisdom; and awake your sen'ses that you may the better judge. |

e

a Consideration. + Kỏn′tủ-mề-lẻ, rudeness. for a small dagger. Packs, burdens. f Mine honour; not mine-non'nur.

The ancient term Born, boundary, limit.

If there be any in this assembly, any dear friend of Cæsar's, to him I say that Bru'tus' love to Cæsar, was no less than his. | If, then, that friend demand why Brutus rose against Cæsar, this is my answer : Not that I loved Cæsar, less, but that I loved Rome, more. Had you rather Cæsar were living, and die all slaves', than that Cæsar were dead, and live all free men? |

As Cæsar loved me, I weep, for him; as he was fortunate, I rejoice' at it; as he was valiant, | I honour him; but, as he was ambitious, I slew、 him. | There are tears for his love, joy' for his for'tune, | hon our for his valour, and death, for his ambition. |

Who is here so base that [he] would be a bondman? If any, speak; | for him have I offend ed. Who is here so rude that [he] would not be a Ro'man? If any, speak; for him have I offended. | Who is here so vile that [he] will not love his coun'try? | If any, | speak for him' have I offended. I pause for a reply.

None'! Then none have I offended. I have done no more to Cæsar, than you should do to Brutus. | The question of his death is enrolled in the Ca'pitol; | his glory not extenuated, wherein he was worthy; | nor his offences enforced', for which he suffered death. I

Here comes his body, I mourned by Mark Antony | who, though he had no hand in his death, | shall receive the benefit of his dying, | a place in the com`monwealth; as which of you' shall not? | With this, I depart: That, as I slew my best lover for the good of Rome, I have the same dagger for myself, when it shall please my country to need, my death. |

a

Cesar less; not Cæ'sar-less. The words in brackets are not in the original; they are introduced to make the language good English.

ANTONY'S ORATION OVER CESAR'S BODY.
(SHAKSPEARE.)

Friends', Ro'mans, countrymen! | lend me your ears.
I come to bury Cæsar, not to praise, him. |
The evil that men do, lives after them;}
The good is oft interred with their bones、 : |
So let it be with Cæsar. The noble Brutus
Hath told you, Cæsar was ambitious. [
If it were so, it was a grievous fault; |
And grievously hath Caesar answer'd it. I
Here, under leave of Brutus, and the rest, |
(For Brutus is an honourable man; |
So are they all, all honourable men) |
Come I to speak in Cæsar's funeral. |

He was my friend, | faithful, and just to me.
But Brutus, says, he was ambitious ; |

And Brutus is an honourable man. |

He hath brought many cap'tives home to Rome, |
Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill:

Did this in Cæsar seem ambitious? |

:|

When that the poor have cried, | Cæsar hath wept. |
Ambition should be made of sterner stuff. |

Yet Brutus says, he was ambitious ; |
And Brutus is an honourable man. |

You all did see that, on the Lupercal,a |
I thrice presented him a kingly crown', |

Which he did thrice refuse. Was this ambition? |
Yet Brutus says, he was ambitious; |

And Brutus is an honourable man. |

I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke ; |
But here I am to speak what I do know. |

You all did love him once, not without cause, |

What cause withholds you then to mourn for him? | O judgment thou art fled to brutish beasts'; |

a

Lupercalia, solemn sacrifices, and plays, dedicated to Pan, kept the 15th of February.-CICERO.

And men have lost their reason! | Bear with me; | My heart is in the coffin there with Cæsar; |

And I must pause till it come back to me. |

But yesterday, the word of Cæsar, might
Have stood against the world': now lies he there'; [
And none so poora to do him reverence. |
O masters! if I were disposed to stir
Your hearts and minds to mutiny and rage, |
I should do Brutus wrong, and Cassius wrong, |
Who, you all know, are honourable men. |
I will not do them wrong; | I rather choose
To wrong the dead', to wrong myself, and you', |
Than I will wrong such honourable men. |

But here's a parchment, | with the seal of Cæsar.
I found it in his closet: 't is his will. |
:|

Let but the commons hear this testament; |
(Which, pardon me, I do not mean to read) |

And they would go, and kiss dead Cæsar's wounds', |
And dip their napkins in his sacred blood. ; |
Yea, beg a hair of him for memory, |

And, dying, mention it within their wills,
Bequeathing it, as a rich legacy,

Unto their issue. I

If you have tears, | prepare to shed them now. |
You all do know this mantle; I remember

The first time ever Cæsar put it on; |

'T was on a summer's eve'ning, | in his tent、 : | That day he overcame the Ner'viib,

Look! in this place, ran Cassius' dag ger through: |
See what a rent the envious Casca, made:|

Through this, the well-beloved Bru'tus, stabb'd ; |
I
And as he pluck'd his cursed steel away, I
Mark how the blood of Cæsar follow'd it! |
This was the most unkindest cut of all. ; |
For when the noble Cæsar saw him stab, |

a The meanest man is now too high to do reverence to Cæsar.JOHNSON. b Nér'vè-l.