Nor the gait of christian, pagan, nor man,
Have so strutted, and bellow'd, that I have
Thought fome of nature's journeymen had made
Men, and not made them well; they imitated
Humanity so abominably !
2. I hope, we have reform'd that indiff'rently
With us,
1. Oh! reform it altogether.
And let those that play your clowns, speak no more
Than is fet down for them for there be of
Them, that will themselves laugh, to fet on fome
Quantity of barren spectators to
Laugh too; though, in the mean time, some
Neceffary question of the play be
Then to be confider'd: that's villainous;
And shews a most pitiful ambition
In the fool that uses it.
Were never more uncertain in their lives :
They know not when to play, where to play, nor
What to play; not when to play, for fearful fools;
Where to play, for puritan fools; nor what
To play, for critical fools.
Middleton's Mad World my Masters:
And say we live by vice, indeed 'tis true;
As the physicians by diseases do,
Only to cure them: they do live we fee
Like cooks by pamp'ring prodigality;
Which are our fond accusers. On the stage,
We set an usurer to tell this age
How ugly looks his soul; a prodigal,
Is taught by us how far from liberal
His folly bears him. Boldly I dare say,
There has been more by us in some one play
Laugh'd into wit, and virtue, than hath been
By twenty tedious lectures drawn from fin,
And foppish humours: hence the cause doth rise,
Men are not won by th' ears, so well as eyes.
Randolph's Muses Looking-Glass.
'Tis better in a play
Be Agamemnon, than himself indeed;
How oft with danger of the field beset,
Or with home mutinies, would he unbe
Himself? or over cruel altars weeping,
Wish, that with putting off a vizard, he
Might his true inward forrow lay aside?
The shews of things are better than themselves:
How doth it ftir this aiery part of us,
To hear our poets tell imagin'd fights,
And the strange blows that seigned courage gives?
When I'd Achilles hear upon the stage
Speak honour, and the greatness of his foul,
Methinks, I too could on a Phrygian spear
Run boldly, and make tales for after times:
But when we come to act it in the deed,
Death mars this bravery, and th' ugly fears
Of the other world, fit on the proudest brow;
And boafting valour loseth it's red cheek.
223.PLEASURE.
Ease dulls the sp'rit; each drop of fond delight
Allays the thirst, which glory doth excite.
All these fond pleasures, if fond things
Deserve so good a name,
Should not seduce a noble mind,
To stain itself with shame.
The time shall come, when all these same,
Which seem so rich with joy :
Like tyrants, shall torment thy mind,
And vex thee with annoy.
Brandon's Octavia to Antonius.
Pleasure is like a building, the more high,
The narrower still it grows; cedars die
Shakespear and Rowley's Birth of Merlin.
Since all earth's pleasures are so short and small;
The way t' enjoy 'em, is t' abjure 'em all.
Chapman's Buffy D'ambois.
* Long lull'd afleep with scornful fortune's lies,
A flave to pleasure, drown'd in base devights;
I made a cov'nant with my wand'ring eyes,
To entertain them still with pleasant fights;
My heart enjoy'd all that was wish'd of late,
Whilft it the height of happiness did cloy;
Still serv'd with dainty, but suspected meat,
My foul with pleasure fick, was faint for joy:
All, with much care, what might procure mine ease,
My will divin'd, obsequioufly devis'd;
And who my fancy any way could please,
As prais'd by me, was by all others priz'd!
Save serving me, none else could have deserv'd,
Of whom whatever came, was held of weight;
My words and looks were carefully observ'd,
And whom I grac'd, were had in honour straight;
For pomp and pow'r, far paffing other kings
Whilst too fecure with drowsy thoughts 1 slumber'd,
My coffers still were full of precious things,
Of which, as wealth least weigh'd, gold scarce was
I rear'd rare buildings, all emboss'd with gold;
Made ponds for fishes; forests for wild beasts;
And with vain thoughts which could not be controul'd,
Oft spent the day in sport, the night in feafts.
I toss'd the elements with pow'r like Jove's;"
Driv'd water up, air down; a pleasant change:
For stately fountains, artificial groves,
As common things, were not accounted strange.
With me; what more could any monarch crave
In all the parts of pomp, none could compare:
Myminions gallant, councellors were grave;
My guards were strong, my concubines were fair :
Yea, whilft light fortune my defects supply'd,
I had all that could breed, as now I find,
In others wonder, in the owner pride:
So puffing up the flesh to spoil the mind.
Thus with delight, long preffing pleasure's grapes,
With fortune I carous'd, what men dear hold:
But ah! from misery none always scapes;
One must be wretched once, or young, or old.
E. of Sterline's Cræfus.
Like dew upon the grass, when pleasure's sun
Shines on your virtues, all your virtue's done.
That pleasure is of all
Moft bountiful and kind,
Marston's Insatiate Countess.
That fades not straight, but leaves
A living joy behind.
T. Campion's Masque, at the E. of Somerset's Marriage.
Thus grief and gladness still by turns do come,
But pleasure leaft while doth possess the room:
Long nights of grief may last; but lo, one day
Of thining comfort flideth foon away.
Farewell to thy enticing vanity,
Thou round gilt box, that dost deceive man's eye!
The wife man knows, when open thou art broke,
The treasure thou includ'st, is dust and smoke.
Beaumont and Fletcher's Four Plays in One.
More than a lustful motion in the sense ?
The profecution full of anxious fears;
The end repentance. Though content be call'd
The foul of action, and licentious man
Propounds it as the reason of his life;
Yet if intemp'rate action pursue it,
The pure end's lost, and ruin must attend it.
Pleasures whose means are easy, in the end
Do lose themselves. Things only are esteem'd
And valu'd by their acquisition.
Should you win her delights without some pains,
They would not relish.
▲ As dogs of Nilus drink a snatch, and gone : Sweets must be taited, and not glutted on.
Henceforth, I'll strive to fly the fight of pleasure,
As of an harpy or a bafilisk;
And when the flatt'rers, seal my ears with wax,
Took from that boat, that row'd with a deaf oar,
From the sweet tunes of the Sicilian shore.
Marmyon's Holland's Leaguer.
Pleasure's a courtly mistress, a conceit
That smiles and tickles without worth or weight:
Whose scatter'd reck'ning, when 'tis to be paid,
Is but repentance, lavishly inlaid.
• Why? would not eating, drinking, sleeping,
Education of children be half neglected,
Were it not for pleasure? would understanding
Embrace the truth, if it took not pleasure
In it? what kind of men are those that oppugn
Pleasure? doth not the courtier take pleasure
In honour; the citizen in wealth; the
Countryman in delights of health; the
Academick in the mysteries of
Learning? is there not ev'n in angels, a
Certain incomprehensible pleasure?
Parthomachia: Or Love's Load-flone.
These short and empty pleasures, and how low
They stand in my esteem; which ev'ry peasant,
The meanest subject in my father's empire,
Enjoys as fully, in as high perfection
As he or I; and which are had in common
By beasts as well as men, wherein they equal,
If not exceed us. Pleasures to which we're led
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