DXVII.

A shoemaker is the fittest man in the parish to make a constable: for he (virtute officii) may put a man into the stocks, and ease him at last.-Sir T. Overbury.

DXVIII.

Swimming may save a man, in case of necessity; though it loseth many when practised in wantonness, by increasing their confidence; therefore, for pleasure exceed not your depth; and in seeking to save another, beware of drowning yourself.-F. Osborn-to his Son.

DXIX.

Every man knows that he understands religion and politics, though he never learned them; but many people are conscious they do not understand many other sciences from having never learned them.-Swift.

DXX.

Love warms our fancy with enliv'ning fires,
Refines our genius, and our verse inspires;
From him Theocritus, on Enna's plains,
Learnt the wild sweetness of his Doric strains;
Virgil by him was taught the moving art,

That charm'd each ear, and soften'd ev'ry heart.

DXXI.

Littleton.

The ungrateful are sparing of thanks, for fear that thankfulness may be an introduction to reward.-Sir P. Sidney.

DXXII.

As full ears load and lay corn, sc does too much fortune bend and break the mind. It deserves to be considered, too, as another disadvantage, that affliction inoves pity, and reconciles our very enemies; but prosperity provokes envy, and loses us our very friends. Again, adversity is a desolate and abandoned state: the generality of the people are like those infamous animals that live only upon plenty and repine; and as rats and

mice forsake a tottering house, so do these the falling man.-Charron.

DXXIII.

Women have more strength in their looks, than we have in our laws, and more power by their tears, than we have by our arguments.-Saville.

DXXIV.

I pray thee, cease thy counsel,

Which falls into mine ears as profitless
As water in a sieve: give not me counsel;
Nor let no comforter delight mine ear

But such a one whose wrongs do suit with mine;
Bring me a father, that so loved his child,

Whose joy of her is overwhelm'd like mine,
And bid him speak of patience;

Measure his wo the length and breadth of mine,
And let it answer every strain for strain;
As thus for thus, and such a grief for such,
In every lineament, branch, shape and form:
If such a one will smile, and stroke his beard;
Cry-sorrow, wag! and hem, when he should groan;
Patch grief with proverbs; make misfortune drunk
With candle-wasters; bring him yet to me,
And I of him will gather patience.

But there is no such man: for, brother, men
Can counsel, and speak comfort to that grief
Which they themselves not feel; but, tasting it,
Their counsel turns to passion, which before
Would give preceptial medicine to rage,
Fetter strong madness in a silken thread,
Charm ache with air, and agony with words,
No, no; 'tis all men's office to speak patience
To those that wring under the load of sorrow;
But no man's virtue, nor sufficiency,

To be so moral, when he shall endure
The like himself: therefore give me no counsel:
My griefs cry louder than advertisement.
Therein do men from children nothing differ.
I pray thee peace; I will be flesh and blood;

For there was never yet philosopher,
That could endure the tooth-ache patiently;
However they have writ the style of gods,
And made a pish at chance and sufferance.

"Much ado about Nothing-Shakspeare.

DXXV.

He that lends money upon public faith is security for his own money, and can blame none more than himself, if never paid; common debts, like common lands, lying ever most neglected.-F. Osborn.

DXXVI.

The miser true,

Starves 'midst his plenty, from the slavish fear
Of wasting what he heaps.

DXXVII.

Harvard.

(Miser.)-Good morning to the day; and next, my gold; Open the shrine that I may see my saint:

Hail the world's soul and mine! more than glad is
The teeming earth to see the long'd-for sun
Peep thro' the horns of the celestial ram,
Am I to view thy splendour, dark'ning his;
That lying here amongst my other hoards,
Show'st like a flame by night, or like the day,
Struck out of chaos, when all darkness fled
Unto the centre. O thou son of Sol!
But brighter than thy father, let me kiss
With adoration thee, and every relict
Of sacred treasure in this blessed room.
Well did wise poets by thy glorious name
Title that age, which they would have the best;
That being the best of things, and far transcending
All still, of joy in children, parents, friends,
Or any other waking dreams on earth.

Thy looks, when they to Venus did ascribe,
They should have given twenty thousand cupids;
Such are thy beauties, and our loves, dear saint,
Riches, the dumb god, that givest all men tongues,

That canst do naught, yet mak'st men do all things;
The price of souls! ev'n hell, with thee to boot,
Is made worth heav'n! thou art virtue, fame,
Honour, and all things else; who can get thee,
He shall be noble, valiant, honest, wise.

DXXVIII.

Ben Johnson.

As the sun disdains not to give light to the smallest worm, so a virtuous prince protects the life of his meanest subject.-Sir P. Sidney.

DXXIX.

When I consider Life, 'tis all a cheat:

Yet, fool'd with hope, men favour the deceit;
Trust on, and think to-morrow will repay;
To-morrow's falser than the former day;

Lies more, and while it says we shall be bless'd
With some new joys; cuts off what we possess'd:
Strange cozenage! none would live past years again,
Yet all hope pleasure in what yet remain:
And from the dregs of life think to receive
What the first sprightly running could not give.
I'm tir'd with waiting for this chymic gold,
Which fools us young, and beggars us when old.
Dryden.

DXXX.

Two rival actresses are capable of dividing a town. Men have a secret propensity for factions: if we cannot cabal, pursue, and do one another a prejudice for crowns, tiaras, and mitres: we fall together by the ears for a dancer or musician.-Voltaire.

DXXXI.

I do much wonder, that one man seeing how much another man is a fool when he dedicates his behaviours to love, will, after he hath laugh'd at such shallow follies in others, become the argument of his own scorn, by falling in love: and such a man is Claudio. I have known, when there was no music with him but the drum and fife; and now had he rather hear the tabor and the

pipe; I have known when he would have walk'd ten miles a-foot, to see a good armour; and now will he lie ten nights awake, carving the fashion of a new doublet. He was wont to speak plain, and to the purpose, like an honest man, and a soldier; and now he is turn'd orthographer; his words are a very fantastical banquet, just so many strange dishes. May I be so converted and see with these eyes? I cannot tell; I think not: I will not be sworn, but love may transform me to an oyster: but I'll take my oath on it, till he have made an oyster of me, he shall never make me such a fool. One woman is fair; yet I am well; another is wise; yet I am well: another is virtuous; yet I am well: but till all graces be in one woman, one woman shall not come in my grace. Rich she shall be, that's certain; wise, or I'll none; virtuous, or I'll never cheapen her; fair, or I'll never look on her; mild, or come not near me; noble, or not I for an angel; of good discourse, an excellent musician, and her hair shall be of what colour it please God.-Benedict-Much Ado about Nothing.Shakspeare.

DXXXII.

Hear, ye virgins, and I'll teach,
What the times of old did preach:
Rosamond was in a bower
Kept, as Danae in a tower;
But yet love, who subtle is,
Crept to that, and came to this:
Be ye lock'd up like to these:
Or the rich Hesperides:
Or those babies in your eyes,
In their crystal nurseries;
Notwithstanding love will win,
Or else force a passage in:
And as coy be as you can,
Gifts will get ye, or the man.

DXXXIII.

Herrick.

The best time for marriage will be towards thirty, for as the younger times are unfit, either to chose or to go.