H

And true she is, as she hath prov'd herself;
And therefore, like herself, wise, fair, and true,
Shall she be placed in my constant soul.

MERCHANT OF VENICE, A. 2, s. 6.

HEAVEN BEFORE EARTH.

I HELD it ever,

Virtue and knowledge were endowments greater
Than nobleness and riches: careless heirs
May the two latter darken and expend;
But immortality attends the former,
Making a man a god. 'Tis known, I ever
Have studied physick, through which secret art,
By turning o'er authorities, I have

(Together with my practice,) made familiar
To me and to my aid, the blest infusions
That dwell in vegetives, in metals, stones;
And I can speak of the disturbances

That nature works, and of her cures; which
gives me

A more content in course of true delight
Than to be thirsty after tottering honour,
Or tie my treasure up in silken bags,

To please the fool and death.

CYMBELINE, A. 3, s. 2.

HEAVEN PUNISHES WHERE THE
LAW FAILS.

No, no, my Escanes; know this of me,-
Antiochus from incest liv'd not free;

For which, the most high gods not minding
longer

To withhold the vengeance that they had in store, Due to this heinous capital offence;

Even in the height and pride of all his glory, When he was seated, and his daughter with him, In a chariot of inestimable value,

A fire from heaven came, and shrivell'd up Their bodies, even to loathing; for they so stunk, That all those eyes ador'd them ere their fall, Scorn now their hand should give them burial. 'Twas very strange. And yet but just; for though

This king were great, his greatness was no guard To bar heaven's shaft, but sin had his reward.

PERICLES, A. 2, s. 4.

HEAVEN OPERATING ON MAN. HORATIO. He waxes desperate with imagination.

MARCELLUS. Let's follow; 'tis not fit thus to obey him.

HOR. Have after:-To what issue will this
come?

MAR. Something is rotten in the state of
Denmark.

HOR. Heaven will direct it.

HAMLET, A. 1, s. 4.

HEAVEN WEEPS WHERE CRIME

ABOUNDS.

BIGOT.

Who kill'd this prince?

HUBERT. 'Tis not an hour since I left him

well:

I honour'd him, I lov'd him; and will weep

My date of life out, for his sweet life's loss. SALISBURY. Trust not those cunning waters of his eyes,

For villainy is not without such rheum;
And he, long traded in it, makes it seem
Like rivers of remorse and innocency.
Away, with me, all you whose souls abhor
The uncleanly savours of a slaughter-house;
For I am stifled with this smell of sin.

BIG. Away, toward Bury, to the Dauphin there.

PEMBROKE. There, tell the king, he may inquire us out.

[Exeunt Lords.

BASTARD. Here's a good world!-Knew you of this fair work?

Beyond the infinite and boundless reach
Of mercy, if thou didst this deed of death,
Art thou damn'd, Hubert.

HUB.

Do but hear me,

sir.

BAST. Ha! I'll tell thee what;

Thou art damn'd as black-nay, nothing is so

black;

Thou art more deep damn'd than prince Lucifer:
There is not yet so ugly a fiend of hell

As thou shalt be, if thou didst kill this child.
HUB. Upon my soul,-

BAST.

If thou didst but consent

To this most cruel act, do but despair,

And, if thou want'st a chord, the smallest thread That ever spider twisted from her womb

Will serve to strangle thee; a rush will be

A beam to hang thee on; or would'st thou drown thyself,

Put but a little water in a spoon,

And it shall be as all the ocean,

Enough to stifle such a villain up.-
I do suspect thee very grievously.

HUB. If I in act, consent, or sin of thought
Be guilty of the stealing that sweet breath
Which was embounded in this beauteous clay,
Let hell want pains enough to torture me!
I left him well.

BAST. Go, bear him in thine arms.I am amaz'd, methinks; and lose my way Among the thorns and dangers of this world.How easy dost thou take all England up! From forth this morsel of dead royalty, The life, the right, and truth of all this realm Is fled to heaven; and England now is left To tug and scramble, and to part by the teeth The unowed interest of proud-swelling state. Now, for the bare-pick'd bone of majesty, Doth dogged war bristle his angry crest, And snarleth in the gentle eyes of peace: Now powers from home, and discontents at home, Meet in one line; and vast confusion waits (As doth a raven on a sick-fallen beast,) The eminent decay of wrested pomp. Now happy he, whose cloak and cincture can Hold out this tempest. Bear away that child, And follow me with speed; I'll to the king: A thousand businesses are brief in hand, And heaven itself doth frown upon the land.

KING JOHN, A. 4, s. 3.

HELL UPON EARTH OF CIVIL WAR.

Q. MARGARET. What! were you snarling all, before I came,

Ready to catch each other by the throat,

And turn you all your hatred now on me?
Did York's dread curse prevail so much with
heaven,

That Henry's death, my lovely Edward's death,
Their kingdom's loss, my woful banishment,
Could all but answer for that peevish brat?
Can curses pierce the clouds, and enter heaven?-
Why, then give way, dull clouds, to my quick

curses!

Though not by war, by surfeit die your king!
As ours by murder, to make him a king!
Edward, thy son, that now is prince of Wales,
For Edward, my son, that was prince of Wales,
Die in his youth, by like untimely violence!
Thyself a queen, for me that was a queen,
Outlive thy glory, like my wretched self!
Long may'st thou live, to wail thy children's loss;
And see another, as I see thee now,

Deck'd in thy rights, as thou art stall'd in mine!
Long die thy happy days before thy death;
And, after many lengthen'd hours of grief,
Die neither mother, wife, nor England's queen!-
Rivers, and Dorset,-you were standers by,-
And so wast thou, lord Hastings, when my son
Was stabb'd with bloody daggers: God, I pray

him,

That none of you may live your natural age,
But by some unlook'd accident cut off!

GLOSTER. Have done thy charm, thou hateful wither'd hag.

Q. MAR. And leave out thee? stay, dog, for thou shalt hear me.

If heaven have any grievous plague in store,
Exceeding those that I can wish upon thee,
O, let them keep it, till thy sins be ripe,
And then hurl down their indignation