Tusser's _Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry. Of Wiving and
Thriving. 1573._
Thou shouldst have looked before thou hadst leapt.--JONSON,
CHAPMAN, MARSTON: _Eastward Ho, act v. sc. 1._
Look before you ere you leap.--BUTLER: _Hudibras, pt. ii. c. ii.
l. 502._
[9-6]
He that will not when he may,
When he will he shall have nay.
BURTON: _Anatomy of Melancholy, pt. iii. sec. 2, mem. 5, subs. 5._
He that wold not when he might,
He shall not when he wolda.
_The Baffled Knight._ PERCY: _Reliques_.
[9-7] All the fatt 's in the fire.--MARSTON: _What You Will.
1607._
[10-1] You should hammer your iron when it is glowing
hot.--PUBLIUS SYRUS: _Maxim 262._
Strike whilst the iron is hot.--RABELAIS: _book ii. chap. xxxi._
WEBSTER: _Westward Hoe._ _Tom A'Lincolne._ FARQUHAR: _The Beaux'
Stratagem, iv. 1._
[10-2]
Hoist up saile while gale doth last,
Tide and wind stay no man's pleasure.
ROBERT SOUTHWELL: _St. Peter's Complaint. 1595._
Nae man can tether time or tide.--BURNS: _Tam O' Shanter._
[10-3]
Fast bind, fast find;
A proverb never stale in thrifty mind.
SHAKESPEARE: _Merchant of Venice, act ii. sc. 5._
Also in _Jests of Scogin. 1565._
[10-4] It is this proverb which Henry V. is reported to have
uttered at the siege of Orleans. "Shall I beat the bush and
another take the bird?" said King Henry.
[10-5] Entre deux arcouns chet cul à terre (Between two stools one
sits on the ground).--_Les Proverbes del Vilain, MS. Bodleian.
Circa 1303._
S'asseoir entre deux selles le cul à terre (One falls to the
ground in trying to sit on two stools).--RABELAIS: _book i. chap.
ii._
[10-6] As many men, so many minds.--TERENCE: _Phormio, ii. 3._
As the saying is, So many heades, so many wittes.--QUEEN
ELIZABETH: _Godly Meditacyon of the Christian Sowle. 1548._
So many men so many mindes.--GASCOIGNE: _Glass of Government._
[10-7] Hanging and wiving go by destiny.--_The Schole-hous for
Women. 1541._ SHAKESPEARE: _Merchant of Venice, act 2. sc. 9._
Marriage and hanging go by destiny; matches are made in
heaven.--BURTON: _Anatomy of Melancholy, part iii. sec. 2, mem. 5,
subs. 5._
[11-1] Happy man be his dole--SHAKESPEARE: _Merry Wives, act iii.
sc. 4_; _Winter's Tale, act i. sc. 2_. BUTLER: _Hudibras, part i.
canto iii. line 168._
[11-2] Si les nues tomboyent esperoyt prendre les alouettes (If
the skies fall, one may hope to catch larks).--RABELAIS: _book i.
chap. xi._
[11-3] To cast beyond the moon, is a phrase in frequent use by the
old writers. LYLY: _Euphues, p. 78._ THOMAS HEYWOOD: _A Woman
Killed with Kindness._
[11-4] Let the world slide.--SHAKESPEARE: _Taming of the Shrew,
ind. 1_; and, Let the world slip, _ind. 2_.
[11-5] Shall I not take mine ease in mine inn?--SHAKESPEARE: _1
Henry IV. act iii. sc. 2._
[11-6] See Skelton, page 8. SHAKESPEARE: _2 Henry VI. act i. sc.
1._ THOMAS HEYWOOD: _History of Women._
[11-7] Hold their noses to the grindstone.--MIDDLETON: _Blurt,
Master-Constable, act iii. sc. 3._
[11-8] It is more blessed to give than to receive.--_John xx. 35._
[11-9] This proverb occurs in Rabelais, book i. chap. xi.; in
_Vulgaria Stambrigi, circa 1510_; in Butler, part i. canto i. line
490. Archbishop Trench says this proverb is certainly as old as
Jerome of the fourth century, who, when some found fault with
certain writings of his, replied that they were free-will
offerings, and that it did not behove to look a gift horse in the
mouth.
[12-1] RABELAIS: _book iv. chap. liv._ At my fingers'
ends.--SHAKESPEARE: _Twelfth Night, act i. sc. 3._
[12-2] The origin of the word "sleveless," in the sense of
unprofitable, has defied the most careful research. It is
frequently found allied to other substantives. Bishop Hall speaks
of the "sleveless tale of transubstantiation," and Milton writes
of a "sleveless reason." Chaucer uses it in the _Testament of
Love_.--SHARMAN.
[12-3] At their wit's end.--_Psalm cvii. 27._
[12-4] THOMAS HEYWOOD: _If you know not me, etc., 1605._ TARLTON:
_Jests, 1611._
[12-5] A relic of the Sumptuary Laws. One of the earliest
instances occurs, 1530, in the interlude of _Godly Queene Hester_.
[12-6] Qui est près de l'église est souvent loin de Dieu (He who
is near the Church is often far from God).--_Les Proverbes
Communs. Circa 1500._
[12-7]
Rather to bowe than breke is profitable;
Humylite is a thing commendable.
_The Morale Proverbs of Cristyne_; translated from the French
(1390) by Earl Rivers, and printed by Caxton in 1478.
[12-8] Fair words never hurt the tongue.--JONSON, CHAPMAN,
MARSTON: _Eastward Ho, act iv. sc. 1._
[12-9] FLETCHER: _Valentinian, act ii. sc. 1._
[12-10] HUMPHREY ROBERT: _Complaint for Reformation, 1572._ LYLY:
_Euphues, 1579_ (Arber's reprint), _p. 107_.
[13-1] Neither fish nor flesh, nor good red herring.--SIR H.
SHERES: _Satyr on the Sea Officers._ TOM BROWN: _Æneus Sylvius's
Letter._ DRYDEN: _Epilogue to the Duke of Guise._
[13-2] Si finis bonus est, totum bonum erit (If the end be well,
all will be well).--_Gestæ Romanorum. Tale lxvii._
[13-3]
Who that well his warke beginneth,
The rather a good ende he winneth.
GOWER: _Confessio Amantis._
[13-4] LYLY: _Euphues_ (Arber's reprint), _p. 288_.
[13-5] TUSSER: _Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry, An
Habitation Enforced._ BUNYAN: _Pilgrim's Progress._ MATHEW HENRY:
_Commentaries, Matthew xxi._ MURPHY: _The School for Guardians._
Potius sero quam nunquam (Rather late than never).--LIVY: _iv. ii.
11._
[13-6] Quant le cheval est emblé dounke ferme fols l'estable (When
the horse has been stolen, the fool shuts the stable).--_Les
Proverbes del Vilain._
[13-7] Pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before
a fall.--_Proverbs xvi. 18._
Pryde goeth before, and shame cometh behynde.--_Treatise of a
Gallant. Circa 1510._
[13-8] She looks as if butter would not melt in her mouth.--SWIFT:
_Polite Conversation._
[13-9] 'T is old, but true, still swine eat all the
draff.--SHAKESPEARE: _Merry Wives of Windsor, act iv. sc. 2._
[13-10] Ewyl weed ys sone y-growe.--_MS. Harleian, circa 1490._
An ill weed grows apace.--CHAPMAN: _An Humorous Day's Mirth._
Great weeds do grow apace.--SHAKESPEARE: _Richard III. act ii. sc.
4._ BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER: _The Coxcomb, act iv. sc. 4._
[14-1] God knows thou art a collop of my flesh.--SHAKESPEARE: _1
Henry VI. act v. sc. 4._
[14-2] Beggars must be no choosers.--BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER: _The
Scornful Lady, act v. sc. 3._
[14-3] Þet coc is kene on his owne mixenne.--_Þe Ancren Riwle.
Circa 1250._
[14-4] The stone that is rolling can gather no moss.--TUSSER:
_Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry._
A rolling stone gathers no moss.--PUBLIUS SYRUS: _Maxim 524._
GOSSON: _Ephemerides of Phialo._ MARSTON: _The Fawn._
Pierre volage ne queult mousse (A rolling stone gathers no
moss).--_De l'hermite qui se désespéra pour le larron que ala en
paradis avant que lui_, 13th century.
[14-5] To rob Peter and pay Paul is said to have derived its
origin when, in the reign of Edward VI., the lands of St. Peter at
Westminster were appropriated to raise money for the repair of St.
Paul's in London.
[14-6]
You know that love
Will creep in service when it cannot go.
SHAKESPEARE: _Two Gentlemen of Verona, act iv. sc. 2._
[14-7] Shakespeare alludes to this proverb in _Macbeth_:--
Letting I dare not wait upon I would,
Like the poor cat i' the adage.
Cat lufat visch, ac he nele his feth wete.--_MS. Trinity College,
Cambridge, circa 1250._
[14-8] Whylst grass doth grow, oft sterves the seely
steede.--WHETSTONE: _Promos and Cassandra. 1578._
While the grass grows--
The proverb is something musty.
SHAKESPEARE: _Hamlet, act iii. sc. 4._
[15-1] An earlier instance occurs in Heywood, in his "Dialogue on
Wit and Folly," _circa_ 1530.
[15-2] Two strings to his bow.--HOOKER: _Polity, book v. chap.
lxxx._ CHAPMAN: _D'Ambois, act ii. sc. 3._ BUTLER: _Hudibras, part
iii. canto i. line 1._ CHURCHILL: _The Ghost, book iv._ FIELDING:
_Love in Several Masques, sc. 13._
[15-3] See Chaucer, page 5.
[15-4] Naught venture naught have.--TUSSER: _Five Hundred Points
of Good Husbandry. October Abstract._
[15-5] 'T is an old saw, Children and fooles speake true.--LYLY:
_Endymion._
[15-6] Set all on sex and seven.--CHAUCER: _Troilus and Cresseide,
book iv. line 623_; also _Towneley Mysteries_.
At six and seven.--SHAKESPEARE: _Richard II. act ii. sc. 2._
[15-7] All 's fish they get that cometh to net.--TUSSER: _Five
Hundred Points of Good Husbandry. February Abstract._
Where all is fish that cometh to net.--GASCOIGNE: _Steele Glas.
1575._
[15-8] Him that makes shoes go barefoot himself.--BURTON: _Anatomy
of Melancholy. Democritus to the Reader._
[15-9] This phrase derives its origin from the custom of certain
manors where tenants are authorized to take fire-bote _by hook or
by crook_; that is, so much of the underwood as many be cut with a
crook, and so much of the loose timber as may be collected from
the boughs by means of a hook. One of the earliest citations of
this proverb occurs in John Wycliffe's _Controversial Tracts,
circa 1370_.--See Skelton, page 8. RABELAIS: _book v. chap. xiii._
DU BARTAS: _The Map of Man._ SPENSER: _Faerie Queene, book iii.
canto i. st. 17._ BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER: _Women Pleased, act. i.
sc. 3._
[16-1] See Chaucer, page 3.
[16-2] In old receipt books we find it invariably advised that an
inebriate should drink sparingly in the morning some of the same
liquor which he had drunk to excess over-night.
[16-3] See Chaucer, page 6.
[16-4] Ah, well I wot that a new broome sweepeth cleane--LYLY:
_Euphues_ (Arber's reprint), _p. 89._
[16-5]
Brend child fur dredth,
Quoth Hendyng.
_Proverbs of Hendyng. MSS._
A burnt child dreadeth the fire.--LYLY: _Euphues_ (Arber's
reprint), _p. 319._
[16-6] You do not speak gospel.--RABELAIS: _book i. chap. xiii._
[16-7] MARLOWE: _Jew of Malta, act iv. sc. 6._ BACON:
_Formularies._
[16-8] Sottes bolt is sone shote.--_Proverbs of Hendyng. MSS._
[16-9] It has been the Providence of Nature to give this creature
nine lives instead of one.--PILPAY: _The Greedy and Ambitious Cat,
fable iii._ B. C.
[16-10] LYLY: _Euphues_ (Arber's reprint), _p. 80._
[17-1] _Pryde and Abuse of Women. 1550. The Marriage of True Wit
and Science._ BUTLER: _Hudibras, part ii. canto i. line 698._
FIELDING: _The Grub Street Opera, act ii. sc. 4._ PRIOR: _Epilogue
to Lucius._
Lord Macaulay (_History of England, vol. i. chap. iii._) thinks
that this proverb originated in the preference generally given to
the gray mares of Flanders over the finest coach-horses of
England. Macaulay, however, is writing of the latter half of the
seventeenth century, while the proverb was used a century earlier.
[17-2] See Chaucer, page 6.
Two may keep counsel when the third 's away.--SHAKESPEARE: _Titus
Andronicus, act iv. sc. 2._
[17-3] Pitchers have ears.--SHAKESPEARE: _Richard III. act ii. sc.
4._
[17-4] See Chaucer, page 3.
[17-5] Thou shalt come out of a warme sunne into Gods
blessing.--LYLY: _Euphues._
Thou out of Heaven's benediction comest
To the warm sun.
SHAKESPEARE: _Lear, act ii. sc. 2._
[17-6] Ther can no great smoke arise, but there must be some
fire.--LYLY: _Euphues_ (Arber's reprint), _p. 153._
[17-7] One swallowe prouveth not that summer is
neare.--NORTHBROOKE: _Treatise against Dancing. 1577._
[17-8] See Chaucer, page 2.
[18-1] See Skelton, page 8.
[18-2] I have thee on the hip.--SHAKESPEARE: _Merchant of Venice,
act iv. sc. 1; Othello, act ii. sc. 7._
[18-3] See Chaucer, page 4.
[18-4]
A hardy mouse that is bold to breede
In cattis eeris.
_Order of Foles. MS. circa 1450._
[18-5] The same in _Don Quixote_ (Lockhart's ed.), _part i. book
iii. chap. iv._ BUNYAN: _Pilgrim's Progress._ FLETCHER: _The
Wild-Goose Chase, act iv. sc. 3._
[18-6] Time trieth truth.--_Tottel's Miscellany, reprint 1867, p.
221._
Time tries the troth in everything.--TUSSER: _Five Hundred Points
of Good Husbandry. Author's Epistle, chap. i._
[18-7] I saye, thou madde March hare.--SKELTON: _Replycation
against certayne yong scolers._
[18-8]
More water glideth by the mill
Than wots the miller of.
SHAKESPEARE: _Titus Andronicus, act ii. sc. 7._
[18-9] An earlier instance of this proverb occurs in Heywood's
_Johan the Husbande. 1533._
He must needs go whom the devil drives.--SHAKESPEARE: _All's Well
that Ends Well, act i. sc. 3._ CERVANTES: _Don Quixote, part i.
book iv. chap. iv._ GOSSON: _Ephemerides of Phialo._ PEELE:
_Edward I._
[18-10] Others set carts before the horses.--RABELAIS: _book v.
chap. xxii._
[19-1] GASCOIGNE: _Roses, 1575._ _Title of a Book of Epigrams,
1608._ BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER: _The Scornful Lady, act i. sc. 1_;
_The Sea Voyage, act i. sc. 2_.
[19-2] To the latter end of a fray and the beginning of a
feast.--SHAKESPEARE: _2 Henry IV. act iv. sc. 2._
[19-3]
Be the day short or never so long,
At length it ringeth to even song.
Quoted at the Stake by George Tankerfield (1555).
FOX: _Book of Martyrs, chap. vii. p. 346._
[19-4] _Jack Jugler, p. 46._ RABELAIS: _book i. chap. xi._
BLACKLOCH: _Hatchet of Heresies, 1565._ BUTLER: _Hudibras, part
ii. canto iii. line 263._
[19-5] What is bred in the bone will never come out of the
flesh.--PILPAY: _The Two Fishermen, fable xiv._
It will never out of the flesh that 's bred in the bone.--JONSON:
_Every Man in his Humour, act i. sc. 1._
[19-6] None so deaf as those that will not hear.--MATHEW HENRY:
_Commentaries. Psalm lviii._
[19-7] He has the wrong sow by the ear.--JONSON: _Every Man in his
Humour, act ii. sc. 1._
[19-8] See Chaucer, page 6.
[19-9] CHAPMAN: _Widow's Tears, 1612._
A proverb in the time of Saint Bernard was, Qui me amat, amet et
canem meum (Who loves me will love my dog also).--_Sermo Primus._
THOMAS TUSSER. _Circa_ 1515-1580.
God sendeth and giveth both mouth and the meat.[20-8]
_Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry._
Except wind stands as never it stood,
It is an ill wind turns none to good.
_Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry. A Description of the Properties
of Wind._
At Christmas play and make good cheer,
For Christmas comes but once a year.
_Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry. The Farmer's Daily Diet._
Such, mistress, such Nan,
Such master, such man.[21-1]
_Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry. April's Abstract._
Who goeth a borrowing
Goeth a sorrowing.
_Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry. June's Abstract._
'T is merry in hall
Where beards wag all.[21-2]
_Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry. August's Abstract._
Naught venture naught have.[21-3]
_Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry. October's Abstract._
Dry sun, dry wind;
Safe bind, safe find.[21-4]
_Five Hundred Points of Good Husbandry. Washing._
FOOTNOTES:
[20-1]
_Falstaff._ What wind blew you hither, Pistol?
_Pistol._ Not the ill wind which blows no man to good.
SHAKESPEARE: _2 Henry IV. act v. sc. 3._
[20-2] Give an inch, he 'll take an ell.--WEBSTER: _Sir Thomas
Wyatt._
[20-3] Wouldst thou both eat thy cake and have it?--HERBERT: _The
Size._
[20-4] Every man for himself, his own ends, the devil for
all.--BURTON: _Anatomy of Melancholy, part iii. sec. i. mem. iii._
[20-5] For buying or selling of pig in a poke.--TUSSER: _Five
Hundred Points of Good Husbandry. September Abstract._
[20-6] You have there hit the nail on the head.--RABELAIS: _bk.
iii. ch. xxxi._
[20-7] _Dives and Pauper, 1493._ GASCOIGNE: _Poesies, 1575._ POPE:
_Horace, book i. Ep. vii. line 24._ FIELDING: _Covent Garden
Tragedy, act v. sc. 1._ BICKERSTAFF: _Love in a Village, act iii.
sc. 1._
[20-8] God sends meat, and the Devil sends cooks.--JOHN TAYLOR:
_Works, vol. ii. p. 85_ (1630). RAY: _Proverbs._ GARRICK:
_Epigram on Goldsmith's Retaliation._
[21-1] On the authority of M. Cimber, of the Bibliothèque Royale,
we owe this proverb to Chevalier Bayard: "Tel maître, tel valet."
[21-2]
Merry swithe it is in halle,
When the beards waveth alle.
_Life of Alexander, 1312._
This has been wrongly attributed to Adam Davie. There the line
runs,--
Swithe mury hit is in halle,
When burdes waiven alle.
[21-3] See Heywood, page 15.
[21-4] See Heywood, page 10. SHAKESPEARE: _Merchant of Venice, act
ii. sc. 5._
RICHARD EDWARDS. _Circa_ 1523-1566.
The fallyng out of faithfull frends is the renuyng of loue.[21-5]
_The Paradise of Dainty Devices._
FOOTNOTES:
[21-5] The anger of lovers renews the strength of love.--PUBLIUS
SYRUS: _Maxim 24._
Let the falling out of friends be a renewing of affection.--LYLY:
_Euphues._
The falling out of lovers is the renewing of love.--BURTON:
_Anatomy of Melancholy, part iii. sec. 2._
Amantium iræ amoris integratiost (The quarrels of lovers are the
renewal of love).--TERENCE: _Andria, act iii. sc. 5._
EDWARD DYER. _Circa_ 1540-1607.
My mind to me a kingdom is;
Such present joys therein I find,
That it excels all other bliss
That earth affords or grows by kind:
Though much I want which most would have,
Yet still my mind forbids to crave.
_MS. Rawl. 85, p. 17._[22-1]
Some have too much, yet still do crave;
I little have, and seek no more:
They are but poor, though much they have,
And I am rich with little store:
They poor, I rich; they beg, I give;
They lack, I have; they pine, I live.
_MS. Rawl. 85, p. 17._
FOOTNOTES:
[22-1] There is a very similar but anonymous copy in the British
Museum. Additional MS. 15225, p. 85. And there is an imitation in
J. Sylvester's Works, p. 651.--HANNAH: _Courtly Poets._
My mind to me a kingdom is;
Such perfect joy therein I find,
As far exceeds all earthly bliss
That God and Nature hath assigned.
Though much I want that most would have,
Yet still my mind forbids to crave.
BYRD: _Psalmes, Sonnets, etc. 1588._
My mind to me an empire is,
While grace affordeth health.
ROBERT SOUTHWELL (1560-1595): _Loo Home._
Mens regnum bona possidet (A good mind possesses a
kingdom).--SENECA: _Thyestes, ii. 380._
BISHOP STILL (JOHN). 1543-1607.
I cannot eat but little meat,
My stomach is not good;
But sure I think that I can drink
With him that wears a hood.
_Gammer Gurton's Needle._[22-2] _Act ii._
Back and side go bare, go bare,
Both foot and hand go cold;
But, belly, God send thee good ale enough,
Whether it be new or old.
_Gammer Gurton's Needle. Act ii._
FOOTNOTES:
[22-2] Stated by Dyce to be from a MS. of older date than _Gammer
Gurton's Needle_. See Skelton's Works (Dyce's ed.), vol. i. pp.
vii-x, _note_.
THOMAS STERNHOLD. _Circa_ 1549.
The Lord descended from above
And bow'd the heavens high;
And underneath his feet he cast
The darkness of the sky.
On cherubs and on cherubims
Full royally he rode;
And on the wings of all the winds
Came flying all abroad.
_A Metrical Version of Psalm civ._
MATHEW ROYDON. _Circa_ 1586.
A sweet attractive kinde of grace,
A full assurance given by lookes,
Continuall comfort in a face
The lineaments of Gospell bookes.
_An Elegie; or Friend's Passion for his Astrophill._[23-1]
Was never eie did see that face,
Was never eare did heare that tong,
Was never minde did minde his grace,
That ever thought the travell long;
But eies and eares and ev'ry thought
Were with his sweete perfections caught.
_An Elegie; or Friend's Passion for his Astrophill._
FOOTNOTES:
[23-1] This piece (ascribed to Spenser) was printed in _The
Phoenix' Nest, 4to, 1593_, where it is anonymous. Todd has shown
that it was written by Mathew Roydon.
SIR EDWARD COKE. 1549-1634.
The gladsome light of jurisprudence.
_First Institute._
Reason is the life of the law; nay, the common law itself is
nothing else but reason. . . . The law, which is perfection of
reason.[24-1]
_First Institute._
For a man's house is his castle, _et domus sua cuique tutissimum
refugium_.[24-2]
_Third Institute. Page 162._
The house of every one is to him as his castle and fortress, as
well for his defence against injury and violence as for his
repose.
_Semayne's Case, 5 Rep. 91._
They (corporations) cannot commit treason, nor be outlawed nor
excommunicate, for they have no souls.
_Case of Sutton's Hospital, 10 Rep. 32._
Magna Charta is such a fellow that he will have no sovereign.
_Debate in the Commons, May 17, 1628._
Six hours in sleep, in law's grave study six,
Four spend in prayer, the rest on Nature fix.[24-3]
Translation of lines quoted by Coke.
FOOTNOTES:
[24-1] Let us consider the reason of the case. For nothing is law
that is not reason.--SIR JOHN POWELL: _Coggs_ vs. _Bernard, 2 Ld.
Raym. Rep. p. 911._
[24-2] _Pandects, lib. ii. tit. iv. De in Jus vocando._
[24-3]
Seven hours to law, to soothing slumber seven;
Ten to the world allot, and all to heaven.
Sir WILLIAM JONES.
GEORGE PEELE. 1552-1598.
His golden locks time hath to silver turned;
O time too swift! Oh swiftness never ceasing!
His youth 'gainst time and age hath ever spurned,
But spurned in vain; youth waneth by encreasing.
_Sonnet. Polyhymnia._
His helmet now shall make a hive for bees,
And lovers' songs be turned to holy psalms;
A man-at-arms must now serve on his knees,
And feed on prayers, which are old age's alms.
_Sonnet. Polyhymnia._
My merry, merry, merry roundelay
Concludes with Cupid's curse:
They that do change old love for new,
Pray gods, they change for worse!
_Cupid's Curse._
SIR WALTER RALEIGH. 1552-1618.
If all the world and love were young,
And truth in every shepherd's tongue,
These pretty pleasures might me move
To live with thee, and be thy love.
_The Nymph's Reply to the Passionate Shepherd._
Fain would I, but I dare not; I dare, and yet I may not;
I may, although I care not, for pleasure when I play not.
_Fain Would I._
Passions are likened best to floods and streams:
The shallow murmur, but the deep are dumb.[25-1]
_The Silent Lover._
Silence in love bewrays more woe
Than words, though ne'er so witty:
A beggar that is dumb, you know,
May challenge double pity.
_The Silent Lover._
Go, Soul, the body's guest,
Upon a thankless arrant:
Fear not to touch the best,
The truth shall be thy warrant:
Go, since I needs must die,
And give the world the lie.
_The Lie._
Methought I saw the grave where Laura lay.[26-1]
_Verses to Edmund Spenser._
Cowards [may] fear to die; but courage stout,
Rather than live in snuff, will be put out.
_On the snuff of a candle the night before he died._--Raleigh's _Remains,
p. 258, ed. 1661._
Even such is time, that takes in trust
Our youth, our joys, our all we have,
And pays us but with age and dust;
Who in the dark and silent grave,
When we have wandered all our ways,
Shuts up the story of our days.
But from this earth, this grave, this dust,
My God shall raise me up, I trust!
_Written the night before his death.--Found in his Bible in the
Gate-house at Westminster._
Shall I, like an hermit, dwell
On a rock or in a cell?
_Poem._
If she undervalue me,
What care I how fair she be?[26-2]
_Poem._
If she seem not chaste to me,
What care I how chaste she be?
_Poem._
Fain would I climb, yet fear I to fall.[26-3]
[History] hath triumphed over time, which besides it nothing but
eternity hath triumphed over.
_Historie of the World. Preface._
O eloquent, just, and mightie Death! whom none could advise, thou
hast perswaded; what none hath dared, thou hast done; and whom
all the world hath flattered, thou only hast cast out of the
world and despised. Thou hast drawne together all the farre
stretchèd greatnesse, all the pride, crueltie, and ambition of
man, and covered it all over with these two narrow words, _Hic
jacet!_
_Historie of the World. Book v. Part 1._
FOOTNOTES:
[25-1] Altissima quæque flumina minimo sono labi (The deepest
rivers flow with the least sound).--Q. CURTIUS, vii. 4. 13.
Smooth runs the water where the brook is deep.--SHAKESPEARE: _2
Henry VI. act iii. sc. i._
[26-1] Methought I saw my late espoused saint.--MILTON: _Sonnet_
xxiii.
Methought I saw the footsteps of a throne.--WORDSWORTH: _Sonnet._
[26-2]
If she be not so to me,
What care I how fair she be?
GEORGE WITHER: _The Shepherd's Resolution._
[26-3] Written in a glass window obvious to the Queen's eye. "Her
Majesty, either espying or being shown it, did under-write, 'If
thy heart fails thee, climb not at all.'"--FULLER: _Worthies of
England, vol. i. p. 419._
EDMUND SPENSER. 1553-1599.
Fierce warres and faithful loves shall moralize my song.[27-1]
_Faerie Queene. Introduction. St. 1._
A gentle knight was pricking on the plaine.
_Faerie Queene. Book i. Canto i. St. 1._