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His arched brows, his hawking eye, his curls,
In our heart's table*; heart, too capable

Of every line and trick of his sweet favour‡:
But now he's gone, and my idolatrous fancy
Must sanctify his relics.

COWARDICE.

I know him a notorious liar,

Think him a great way fool, solely a coward;
Yet these fix'd evils sit so fit in him,

That they take place, when virtue's steely bones
Look bleak in the cold wind.

THE REMEDY OF EVILS GENERALLY IN OURSELVES.

Our remedies oft in ourselves do lie,

Which we ascribe to heaven: the fated sky
Gives us free scope; only, doth backward pull
Our slow designs, when we ourselves are dull.

CHARACTER OF A NOBLE COURTIER.

In his youth

He had the wit, which I can well observe
To-day in our young lords; but they may jest.
Till their own scorn return to them unnoted,
Ere they can hide their levity in honour.
So like a courtier, contempt nor bitterness
Were in his pride or sharpness; if they were,
His equal had awak'd them; and his honour,
Clock to itself, knew the true minute when
Exception bid him speak, and, at this time,
His tongue obey'd his hand §: who were below him
He us❜d as creatures of another place:

* Helena considers her heart as the tablet on which his resemblance was portrayed.

+ Peculiarity of feature. Countenance. § His is put for its.

And bow'd his eminent top to their low ranks,
Making them proud of his humility.

Such a man

Might be a copy to these younger times.

ACT II.

HONOR DUE TO PERSONAL VIRTUE ONLY, NOT TO BIRTH.

From lowest place when virtuous things proceed,
The place is dignified by the doer's deed:
Where great additions* swell, and virtue none,
It is a dropsied honour: good alone

Is good, without a name; vileness is so†:
The property by what it is should go,
Not by the title. She is young, wise, fair;
In these to nature she's immediate heir;
And these breed honour: that is honour's scorn,
Which challenges itself as honour's born,
And is not like the sire: Honours best thrive,
When rather from our acts we them derive
Than our foregoers: the mere word's a slave
Debauch'd on every tomb; on every grave,
A lying trophy, and as oft is dumb,

Where dust, and damn'd oblivion, is the tomb
Of honour'd bones indeed.

ACT III.

SELF-ACCUSATION OF TOO GREAT LOVE.

Poor lord! is 't I

That chase thee from thy country, and expose
Those tender limbs of thine to the event

* Titles.

Good is good independent of any worldly distinction, and so is vileness vile.

Of the none-sparing war? and is it I

That drive thee from the sportive court, where thou
Wast shot at with fair eyes, to be the mark
Of smoky muskets? O you leaden messengers,
That ride upon the violent speed of fire,
Fly with false aim; move the still-piercing air,
That sings with piercing, do not touch my lord!
Whoever shoots at him, I set him there;
Whoever charges on his forward breast,
I am the caitiff that do hold him to it;
And, though I kill him not, I am the cause
His death was so effected: better 'twere,
I met the ravin* lion when he roar'd

With sharp constraint of hunger; better 'twere
That all the miseries, which nature owes,

[lon,
Were mine at once: No, come thou home, Roussil-
Whence honour but of danger wins a scar,
As oft it loses all; I will be gone:

My being here it is that holds thee hence:
Shall I stay here to do't? no, no, although
The air of paradise did fan the house,
And angels offic'd all: I will be gone;
That pitiful rumour may report my flight,
To consolate thine ear.

A MAID'S HONOUR.

The honour of a maid is her name; and no legacy is so rich as honesty.

ADVICE TO YOUNG WOMEN,

Beware of them, Diana; their promises, enticements, oaths, tokens, and all these engines of lust, are not the things they go under†: many a maid

* Ravenous.

They are not the things for which their names would make them pass.

hath been seduced by them; and the misery is example, that so terrible shows in the wreck of maidenhood, cannot for all that dissuade succession, but that they are limed with the twigs that threaten them, I hope, I need not to advise you further; but, I hope, your own grace will keep you where you are, though there were no further danger known, but the modesty which is so lost.

ACT IV.

CUSTOM OF SEDUCERS.

Ay, so you serve us,

Till we serve you: but when you have our roses, You barely leave our thorns to prick ourselves, And mock us with our bareness.

CHASTITY.

Mine honour's such a ring:

My chastity's the jewel of our house,
Bequeathed down from many ancestors;
Which were the greatest obloquy i' the world
In me to lose.

LIFE CHEQUERED.

The web of our life is of a mingled yarn, good and ill together: our virtues would be proud, if our faults whipped them not; and our crimes would despair, if they were not cherished by our virtues.

A COWARDLY BRAGGART.

Yet am I thankful: if my heart were great, 'Twould burst at this: Captain, I'll be no more; But I will eat and drink, and sleep as soft As captain shall: simply the thing I am

Shall make me live. Who knows himself a braggart
Let him fear this; for it will come to pass,
That every braggart shall be found an ass.
Rust, sword! cool, blushes! and, Parolles, live,
Safest in shame! being fool'd, by foolery thrive!
There's place, and means, for every man alive.

ACT V.

AGAINST. DELAY.

Let's take the instant by the forward top; For we are old, and on our quick'st decrees The inaudible and noiseless foot of time Steals, ere we can effect them.

EXCUSE FOR UNSEASONABLE DISLIKE.

At first

I stuck
my choice upon her, ere my heart
Durst make too bold a herald of my tongue:
Where the impression of mine eye infixing,
Contempt his scornful perspective did lend me,
Which warp'd the line of every other favour;
Scorn'd a fair colour, or express'd it stol'n;
Extended or contracted all proportions,
To a most hideous object: Thence it came,
That she, whom all men prais'd, and whom myself,
Since I have lost, have lov'd, was in mine eye
The dust that did offend it.

AS YOU LIKE IT.

ACT I.

MODESTY AND COURAGE IN YOUTH.

I BESEECH YOU, punish me not with

your hard

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