And in that very line, Harry, standst thou;
For thou haft loft thy princely privilege
With vile participation. Not an eye,
But is a-weary of thy common fight,
Save mine, which hath defir'd to fee thee more;
Which now doth, what I would not have it do,
Make blind itself with foolish tenderness.
Shakespear's Firft Part of King Henry IV. He march'd before report: Where what he meant, Fame never knew herself, till it was done; His drifts and rumour seldom b'ing all one.
Daniel on the Death of the E. of Devonshire. We deem thofe things our fight doth most frequent, To be but mean, although melt excellent : For ftrangers still the streets are fwept and ftrow'd ; Few look on fuch as daily come abroad:
Things much restrain'd, do make us much defire them; And beauties feldom feen, make us admire them. Drayton's Edward IV. to Mrs. Shore:
Of fuch and fo good parts, do you destroy them
With felf-opinion? or, like a rich miser,
Hoard up the treasures you poffefs, imparting
Nor to yourself nor others, the use of them?
They are to you, but like inchanted viands,
On which you feem to feed, yet pine with hunger.
Beaumont and Fletcher's Cuftom of the Country.
Your nat❜ral greatness, never artful made,
Nor fo retir'd as if you fought a fhade;
And by referv'dness would misterious feem;
As formal men retire to get efteem.
you would fo be visible and free,
As truth and valour ftill fhould publick be.
Those hate obfcurenefs and would still be fhown;
They grow more lov'd, as they become more known.
Sir W. Davenant on the Reftauration
Some princes, that they may the rumour gain
Of minding bus'nefs, mighty bus'nefs feign;
F 5
And are lock'd up, to have it then fuppos'd
They are more thoughtful when they are inclos'd:
But they from concourfe privately remove,
Only to fhun what they pretend to love.
Pow'r which itself does fo referv'dly keep
As if the being feen would make it cheap,
Should use the proper feafons for retreat:
For though decrepid age may think it meet
To hide ftale objects from the people's fight;
Yet in a throne's new glory all delight:
All love young princes in their flourishing,
As all with joy, walk out to see the spring.
Sir W. Davenant on the Reftauration.
RESOLUTION.
When refolution hath prepar'd the will;
It wants no helps to further any ill.
Mirror for Magißrates
Let come what will, I mean to bear it out,
And either live with glorious victory,
Or die with fame, renown'd for chivalry :
He is not worthy of the honey-comb,
That fhuns the hives because the bees have ftings.
That likes me beft that is not got with ease,
Which thousand dangers do accompany :
For nothing can difmay our regal mind,
Which aims at nothing but a golden crown,
The only upfhot of mine enterprizes.
Were they inchanted in grim Pluto's court,
And kept for treasure 'mong his hellish crew,
I'ld either quell the triple Cerberus,
And all the army of his hateful hags,
Or roll the ftone with wretched Sifyphus.
That refolution's a fole help at need :
And this, my lord, our honour teacheth us,
That we be bold in ev'ry enterprize :
Then fince there is no way, but fight or dye,
Be refolute, my lord, for victory.
Be great in act, as you have been in thought:
Let not the world fee fear, and fad diftruft
Govern the motion of a kingly eye:
Be ftirring as the time; be fire with fire;
Threaten the threat'ner, and out-face the brow
Of bragging horror: So fhall inferior eyes,
That borrow their behaviour from the great,
Grow great by your example; and put on.
The dauntless fpirit of refolution.
Away, and glifter like the god of war,
When he intendeth to become the field;
Shew boldness and afpiring confidence.
What, fhall they seek the lion in his den,
And fright him there? And make him tremble there?
Oh, let it not be faid! Forage, and run
To meet difpleasure farther from the doors;
And grapple with him, ere he come fo nigh.
Shakespear's King John.
And thofe effem'nate cowards that do dream
Of those fantastick other worlds: There is
Not fuch a thing in nature; all the foul
Of man is refolution; which expires
Never from valiant men, till their laft breath;
And then with it, like to a flame extinguifh'd,
For want of matter, it does not dye, but
Rather ceases to live.
Chapman's Revenge for Honour.
Thy refolution would steel a coward
Beaumont and Fletcher's Little French Lawyer.
Brave refolution! I am proud to fee
So sweet a graft upon a worm-wood tree ;·
Whofe juice is gall, but yet the fruit most rare:
Who wreaks the tree, if that the fruit be fair?
Heywood's Fair Maid of the Exchange.
She beheld the shepherd on his way,
Much like a bridegroom on his marriage-day;
Increasing not his mifery with fear:
Others for him, but he shed not a tear.
His knitting finews did not tremble ought,
Nor to unufual palpitation brought
Was or his heart, or liver; nor his eye,
Nor tongue, nor colour fhew'd a dread to dye.
His refolution keeping with his fpirit,
Both worthy him that did them both inherit,
Held in fubjection ev'ry thought of fear,
Scorning fo bafe an executioner.
My refolution, grounded on his fervice,
Ties more than formal contracts.
Habbington's Queen of Arragon.
His refolution's like
A skillful horfeman, and reason is the stirrup;
Which though a fudden fhock may make it loose,
Yet does it meet it handfomely again.
Intice the trusty fun
From his ecliptick line, he fhall obey
Your beck, and wander from his sphere, ere I
From my refolves.
My refolution's firm, for all my fhakings;
They are but starts which fometimes nature makes;
As wolves kept tame may, now and then,
Provok'd by appetite, or fome displeasure,
Start into actions like their ufual wildness,
Before they were reduc'd to an obedience :
So 'tis with me; though I have brought my nature
To a tamenefs and fubmiffion;
Yet, at the unwelcome profpect that it takes
Of my intended diffolution,
It starts within me; and would fain break
Thofe fevere fetters, virtue and reafon ties them up with.
Sir R. Howard's Surprizal.
But if your refolutions be like mine,
We will yet give our forrows a brave end.
Juftice is for us, fo may fortune be:
I'm a bright proof of her inconftancy.
But if no god will lend us any aid,
Let us be gods, and fortune to ourselves.
RETIREMENT.
The wisdom, madam, of your private life,
Where, with this wile you liv'd a widow'd wife,
And the right ways you take unto the right,
To conquer rumour, triumph over fpight;
Not only fhunning, by your act, to do
Ought that is ill, but the fufpicion too :
Is of fo brave example, as he were
No friend to virtue could be filent here.
A man of fp'rit beyond the reach of fear,
Who, difcontent with his neglected worth,
Neglects the light, and loves obfcure abodes:
But he is young and haughty, apt to take
Fire at advancement; to bear ftate, and flourish;
In his rife therefore shall my bounties shine :
None loaths the world fo much, nor loves to fcoff it;
But gold and grace will make him furfeit of it.
Chapman's Buffey D'ambois. Who would believe thy metal could let floth Ruft and confume it? If Themistocles Had liv'd obfcure thus in th' Athenian state, Xerxes had made both him and it his flaves. If brave Camillus had lurk'd fo in Rome, He had not been five times dictator there, Nor four times triumph'd. If Epaminondas, Who liv'd twice twenty years obícur'd in Thebes, Had liv'd fo ftill, he had been still un-nam'd ; And paid his country nor himself their right: But putting forth his ftrength, he refcu'd both
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