Pol. Yet here, Laertes ! aboard, aboard, for shame, The wind sits in the shoulder of your sail, And you are staid for: There-my blessing with

you; (Laying his hand on LAERTES' head. And these few precepts in thy memory Look thou character. Give thy thoughts no tongue, Nor any unproportion'd thought his act. Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar. The friends thou hast, and their adoption tried, Grapple them to thy soul with hooks of steel; But do not dull thy palm with entertainment Of each new hatch'd, unfledgd comrade. Beware Of entrance to a quarrel : but, being in, Bear it that the opposer may beware of thee. Give every man thine ear, but few thy voice: Take each man's censure, but reserve thy judgment. Costly thy habit as thy purse can buy, But not express'd in fancy; rich, not gaudy: For the apparel oft proclaims the man: And they in France, of the best rank and station, Are most select and generous, chief in that. Neither a borrower nor a lender be: For loan oft loses both itself and friend ; And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry. This above all: to thine own self be true; And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man. Farewell; my blessing season this in thee!

Laer. Most humbly do I take my leave, my lord.
Pol. The time invites you; go, your servants

tend.
Laer. Farewell, Ophelia ; and remember well
What I have said to you.
Oph.

'Tis in my memory lock'd, And you yourself shall keep the key of it.

Laer. Farewell.

RETIRED thoughts enjoy their own delights,
As beauty doth in self-beholding eye:
Man's mind a mirror is of heavenly sights,
A brief wherein all miracles summed lie;
Of fairest forms, and sweetest shapes the store,
Most graceful all, yet thought may grace them more.

The mind a creature is, yet can create,
To nature's patterns adding higher skill
Of finest works; wit better could the state,
If force of wit had equal power of will.
Devise of man in working hath no end;
What thought can think, another thought can mend.

Man's soul of endless beauties image is,
Drawn by the work of endless skill and might:
This skilful might gave many sparks of bliss,
And, to discern this bliss, a native light,
To frame God's image as his worth required;
His might, his skill, his word, and will conspired.

All that he had, his image should present;
All that it should present, he could afford;
To that he could afford his will was bent;
His will was followed with performing word.
Let this suffice, by this conceive the rest,
He should, he could, he would, he did the best.

EDWARD VERE, EARL OF OXFORD. 1534–1604.

FANCY AND DESIRE.

When wert thou born, Desire ? In pride and pomp

of May. By whom, sweet boy, wert thou begot? By fond

conceit; men say. Tell me who was thy nurse ? Fresh youth, in su

gar'd joy. What was thy meat and daily food? Sad sighs with

great annoy: What hadst thou then to drink? Unsavoury lover's

tears. What cradle wert thou rock'd in? In hope devoid

of fears. What lull’d thee, then, asleep? Sweet sleep, which

likes me best. Tell me where is thy dwelling-place? In gentle

hearts I rest.

What thing doth please thee most? To gaze on

beauty still. What dost thou think to be thy foe? Disdain of my

good-will. Doth company displease? Yes, surely, many one. Where doth Desire delight to live ? He loves to

live alone. Doth either Time or Age bring him into decay? No, no, Desire both lives and dies a thousand times

a day. Then, fond Desire, farewell! thou art no mate for

me:

I should, methinks, be loth to dwell with such a one

as thee.

CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE. 1562–1593.

THE PASSIONATE SHEPHERD TO HIS LOVE.

Come live with me and be my love,
And we will all the pleasures prove,
That valleys, groves, and hills, and fields,
Woods, or steepy mountain yields.

And we will sit upon the rocks,
Seeing the shepherds feed their flocks,
By shallow rivers, to whose falls
Melodious birds sing madrigals.

And I will make thee beds of roses,
And a thousand fragrant posies;
A cap of flowers, and a kirtle,
Embroider'd all with leaves of myrtle.

A gown made of the finest wool,
Which from our pretty lambs we pull ;
Fair lined slippers for the cold,
With buckles of the purest gold

A belt of straw and ivy buds,
With coral clasps and amber studs :
And if these pleasures may thee move,
Come live with me and be my love.

The shepherd swains shall dance and sing,
For thy delight, each May morning.
If these delights thy mind may move,
Come live with me and be my love.

SAMUEL DANIEL. 1562-1619.

RICHARD THE SECOND, THE MORNING BEFORE HIS MURDE.

IN POMFRET CASTLE.

WHETHER the soul receives intelligence,
By her near genius, of the body's end,
And so imparts a sadness to the sense,
Foregoing ruin, whereto it doth tend;
Or whether nature else hath conference,
With profound sleep, and so doth warning send,
By prophetizing dreams, what hurt is near,
And gives the heavy, careful heart to fear:
However, so it is, the now sad king,
Toss'd here and there his quiet to confound,
Feels a strange weight of sorrows gathering
Upon his trembling heart, and sees no ground;
Feels sudden terror bring cold shivering;
Lists not to eat, still muses, sleeps unsound;
His senses droop, his steady eyes unquick;
And much he ails, and yet he is not sick.
The morning of that day which was his last,
After a weary rest, rising to pain,
Out at a little grate his eyes he cast
Upon those bordering hills and open plain,
Where other's liberty makes him complain
The more his own, and grieves his soul the more,
Conferring captive crowns with freedom poor.
Oh happy man, saith he, that lo I see,
Grazing his cattle in those pleasant fields,
If he but knew his good. How blessed he
That feels not what affliction greatness yields !
Other than what he is he would not be,
Nor change his state with him that sceptre wields.
Thine, thine is that true life: that is to live,
To rest secure, and not rise up to grieve.