Say, Wolsey, that once trod the ways of glory,
And sounded all the depths and shoals of honour,—
Found thee a way, out of his wreck, to rise in;
A sure and safe one, though thy master missed it.
Mark but my fall, and that that ruined me.
Cromwell, I charge thee, fling away ambition;
By that sin fell the angels, how can man then,
The image of his Maker, hope to win by't?
Love thyself last cherish those hearts that hate thee;
Corruption wins not more than honesty;

Still in thy right hand carry gentle peace,

To silence envious tongues. Be just, and fear not:
Let all the ends thou aim'st at, be thy country's,

Thy God's, and truth's; then if thou fall'st, O Cromwell,
Thou fall'st a blessed martyr. Serve the king;

And, Pr'ythee, lead me in:

There take an inventory of all I have,

To the last penny: 'tis the king's: my robe,

And my integrity to Heaven, is all

I dare now call mine own. O Cromwell, Cromwell,
Had I but served my God with half the zeal
I served my king, He would not in mine age
Have left me naked to mine enemies!

JULIUS CÆSAR.

Portents before CAESAR'S Death.

CASCA, CICERO.

Cicero. Good even, Casca: Brought you Cæsar home? Why are you breathless? and why stare you so?

Casca. Are you not moved, when all the sway of earth

Shakes, like a thing unfirm? O Cicero,

I have seen tempests, when the scolding winds
Have rived the knotty oaks; and I have seen
The ambitious ocean swell, and rage, and foam,
To be exalted with the threat'ning clouds:
But never till to-night, never till now,
Did I go through a tempest dropping fire.
Either there is a civil strife in heaven;
Or else the world, too saucy with the gods,
Incenses them to send destruction.

Cic. Why, saw you any thing more wonderful?

Cas. A common slave (you know him well by sight)
Held up his left hand, which did flame, and burn
Like twenty torches joined; and yet his hand,
Not sensible of fire, remained unscorched.
Besides (I have not since put up my sword),
Against the Capitol I met a lion,

Who glared upon me, and went surly by,
Without annoying me: And there were drawn
Upon a heap a hundred ghastly women,

Transformed with their fear; who swore they saw

Men, all on fire, walk up and down the streets.
And, yesterday, the bird of night did sit,
Even at noonday, upon the market-place,
Hooting, and shrieking. When these prodigies.
Do so conjointly meet, let not men say,
These are their reasons,—They are natural;
For, I believe, they are portentous things
Upon the climate that they point upon.

That lowliness is young ambition's ladder,
Whereto the climber-upward turns his face:
But when he once attains the upmost round,
He then unto the ladder turns his back,
Looks in the clouds, scorning the base degrees
By which he did ascend. . . .

MARK ANTONY's Apostrophe to CESAR's Body. O, pardon me, thou piece of bleeding earth, That I am meek and gentle with these butchers! Thou art the ruins of the noblest man,

That ever lived in the tide of times.

Woe to the hand that shed this costly blood!
Over thy wounds now do I prophesy,—
Which, like dumb mouths, do ope their ruby lips,
To beg the voice and utterance of my tongue;-
A curse shall light upon the limbs of men;
Domestic fury, and fierce civil strife,
Shall cumber all the parts of Italy:
Blood and destruction shall be so in use,
And dreadful objects so familiar,

That mothers shall but smile, when they behold
Their infants quartered with the hands of war;
All pity choked with custom of fell deeds:
And Cæsar's spirit, ranging for revenge,
With Atè by his side, come hot from hell,
Shall in these confines, with a monarch's voice,
Cry Havoc, and let slip the dogs of war;
That this foul deed shall smell above the earth
With carrion men, groaning for burial.

The Character of BRUTUS.

This was the noblest Roman of them all:
All the conspirators, save only he,

Did that they did in envy of great Cæsar;
He, only, in a general honest thought,

And common good to all, made one of them.
His life was gentle; and the elements
So mixed in him, that Nature might stand up,
And say to all the world, This was a man!

MERCHANT OF VENICE.

The Quality of Mercy.

THE quality of mercy is not strained;
It droppeth, as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath it is twice blessed;
Is blesseth him that gives, and him that takes:
'Tis mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown;
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty,
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;
But mercy is above this sceptred sway,

It is enthroned in the hearts of kings,
It is an attribute to God himself;

And earthly power doth then show likest God's
When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew,
Though justice be thy plea, consider this—
That in the course of justice, none of us
Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy;

And that same prayer doth teach us all to render

The deeds of mercy.

Lovers by Moonlight.

LORENZO and JESSICA.

Lor. The moon shines bright:-In such a night as this, When the sweet wind did gently kiss the trees, And they did make no noise; in such a night, Troilus, methinks, mounted the Trojan walls, And sighed his soul toward the Grecian tents Where Cressid lay that night.

Jes. In such a night,

Did Thisbe fearfully o'ertrip the dew,
And saw the lion's shadow ere himself,

And ran dismayed away.

Lor. In such a night,

Stood Dido with a willow in her hand

Upon the wild sea-banks, and waved her love

To come again to Carthage.

Jes. In such a night,

Medea gathered the enchanted herbs

That did renew old son.

Lor. In such a night,

Did Jessica steal from the wealthy Jew,

And with an unthrift love did run from Venice,

As far as Belmont.

Jes. And in such a night,

Did young Lorenzo swear he loved her well;
Stealing her soul with many vows of faith,

And ne'er a true one.

Lor. And in such a night,