Who now is Sovran can dispose and bid
What shall be right: farthest from him is best, Whom reason hath equal'd, force hath made supreme Above his equals. Farewell happy Fields
Where Joy for ever dwells: Hail horrors, hail Infernal world, and thou profoundest Hell Receive thy new Possessor; One who brings A mind not to be changed by Place or Time. The mind is its own place, and in itself Can make a Heav'n of Hell, a Hell of Heav'n. What matter where, if I be still the same, And what I should be, all but less than He Whom Thunder hath made greater? Here at least We shall be free; th' Almighty hath not built Here for his envy, will not drive us hence : Here we may reign secure, and in my choice To reign is worth ambition though in Hell: Better to reign in Hell, than serve in Heav'n. But wherefore let we then our faithful friends, Th' associates and co-partners of our loss, Lie thus astonish'd on th' oblivious Pool, And call them not to share with us their part In this unhappy Mansion, or once more With rallied Arms to try what may be yet Regain'd in Heav'n, or what more lost in Hell?
THE expense of Spirit in a waste of shame Is lust in action; and till action, lust
Is perjured, murderous, bloody, full of blame, Savage, extreme, rude, cruel, not to trust;
all but less] expression confusing 'only less than' and 'all but equal to.'
oblivious] causing oblivion.
Enjoy'd no sooner but despised straight; Past reason hunted; and no sooner had, Past reason hated, as a swallow'd bait
purpose laid to make the taker mad : Mad in pursuit, and in possession so ; Had, having, and in quest to have, extreme ; A bliss in proof, and proved, a very woe ;
Before, a joy proposed; behind, a dream.
All this the world well knows; yet none knows well To shun the heaven that leads men to this hell.
From the Trial Scene in The Merchant of Venice.
PORTIA. Which is the merchant here, and which the Jew?
DUKE. Antonio and old Shylock, both stand forth. PORTIA. Is your name Shylock?
PORTIA. Of a strange nature is the suit you follow ; Yet in such rule that the Venetian law Cannot impugn you as you do proceed. You stand within his danger, do you not?
Then must the Jew be merciful.
SHYLOCK. On what compulsion must I? tell me that.
PORTIA. The quality of mercy is not strain'd,
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven Upon the place beneath; it is twice blest ; It blesseth him that gives and him that takes :
'Tis mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes The throned monarch better than his crown; His sceptre shows the force of temporal power, The attribute to awe and majesty,
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings; But mercy is above this sceptred sway;
It is enthroned in the hearts of kings,
It is an attribute to God himself;
And earthly power doth then show likest God's When mercy seasons justice. Therefore, Jew, Though justice be thy plea, consider this, That, in the course of justice, none of us Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy; And that same prayer doth teach us all to render The deeds of mercy. I have spoke thus much To mitigate the justice of thy plea;
Which if thou follow, this strict court of Venice
Must needs give sentence 'gainst the merchant there. SHYLOCK. My deeds upon my head! I crave the law, The penalty and forfeit of my bond. . . .
FOR Mercy, Courage, Kindness, Mirth, There is no measure upon earth.
Nay, they wither, root and stem, If an end be set to them.
Overbrim and overflow,
If your own heart you would know ; For the spirit, born to bless,
Lives but in its own excess.
Ministering Angels
AND is there care in heaven? And is there love
In heavenly spirits to these creatures base, That may compassion of their evils move?
There is :-else much more wretched were the case Of men than beasts. But O! th' exceeding grace Of Highest God that loves his creatures so, And all his works with mercy doth embrace, That blessed Angels he sends to and fro To serve to wicked man, to serve his wicked foe!
How oft do they their silver bowers leave, To come to succour us that succour want! How oft do they with golden pinions cleave The flitting skies like flying pursuivant, Against foul fiends to aid us militant!
They for us fight; they watch and duly ward, And their bright squadrons round about us plant; And all for love, and nothing for reward:
O! why should heavenly God to man have such regard ?
Prologue of the Attendant Spirit in Comus'
BEFORE the starry threshold of Jove's Court My mansion is, where those immortal shapes Of bright aëreal Spirits live insphered
In Regions mild of calm and sérene air,
Above the smoke and stir of this dim spot,
Which men call Earth, and, with low-thoughted care Confined and pester'd in this pin-fold here,
Strive to keep up a frail and feverish being, Unmindful of the crown that Virtue gives After this mortal change to her true Servants, Amongst the enthron'd gods on sainted seats. Yet some there be that by due steps aspire To lay their just hands on that Golden Key That opes the Palace of Eternity :
To such my errand is, and but for such
I would not soil these pure ambrosial weeds With the rank vapours of this sin-worn mould. . .
Satan's First Meeting with
Whence and what art thou, execrable shape, That dar'st, though grim and terrible, advance Thy miscreated Front athwart my way
To yonder Gates? through them I mean to pass,- That be assured, without leave ask'd of thee: Retire, or taste thy folly, and learn by proof, Hell-born, not to contend with Spirits of Heav'n. To whom the Goblin full of wrath reply'd, Art thou that Traitor Angel, art thou he, Who first broke peace in Heav'n and Faith, till then Unbroken, and in proud rebellious Arms Drew after him the third part of Heav'n's Sons, Conjured against the highest, for which both Thou And they, outcast from God, are here condemn'd To waste Eternal days in woe and pain?
And reckonest thou thyself with Spirits of Heav'n, Hell-doom'd, and breath'st defiance here and scorn, Where I reign King, and to enrage thee more, Thy King and Lord? Back to thy punishment, False fugitive, and to thy speed add wings,
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