That can therein tax any private party? That says, his bravery* is not on my cost, There then; How, what then? Let me see wherein A TENDER PETITION. But whate'er you are, Under the shade of melancholy boughs, THE SEVEN AGES. All the world's a stage, And all the men and women merely players! * Finery. And one man in his time plays many parts, And then, the whining school-boy, with his satchel, Even in the cannon's mouth. And then, the justice; INGRATITUDE. A SONG, Blow, blow, thou winter wind, Thou art not so unkind As man's ingratitude; Thy tooth is not so keen, Although thy breath be rude. * Violent. C Unnatural. Heigh, ho! sing, heigh, ho! unto the green holly: Freeze, freeze, thou bitter sky, As friend remember'd* not, Heigh, ho! sing, heigh, ho! &c. ACT III. A SHEPHERD'S PHILOSOPHY. I know, the more one sickens, the worse at ease he is; and that he that wants money, means, and content, is without three good friends:-That the property of rain is to wet, and fire to burn: That good pasture makes fat sheep: and that a great cause of the night, is lack of the sun: That he, that hath learned no wit by nature or art, may complain of good breeding, or comes of a very dull kindred. CHARACTER OF AN HONEST AND SIMPLE SHEPHERD. Sir, I am a true labourer; I earn that I eat, get that I wear; owe no man hate, envy no man's happiness; glad of other men's good, content with my harm: and the greatest of my pride is, to see my ewes graze, and my lambs suck. DESCRIPTION OF A LOVER. A lean cheek; which you have not: a blue eye, * Remembering. and sunken; which you have not: an unquestionable spirit*; which you have not: a beard neglected; which you have not:-but I pardon you for that; for, simply, your having in beard is a younger brother's revenue: Then your hose should be ungartered, your bonnet unbanded, your sleeve unbuttoned, your shoe untied, and every thing about you demonstrating a careless desolation. But you are no such man: you are rather point-device‡ in your accoutrements; as loving yourself, than seeming the lover of any other. REAL PASSION DISSEMBLED. Think not I love him, though I ask for him; "Tis but a peevish§ boy:-yet he talks well;But what care I for words? yet words do well, When he that speaks them pleases those that hear. It is a pretty youth:-not very pretty: [him: But, sure, he's proud; and yet his pride becomes He'll make a proper man: The best thing in him Is his complexion; and faster than his tongue Did make offence, his eye did heal it up. He is not tall; yet for his years he's tall; His leg is but so, so; and yet 'tis well: There was a pretty redness in his lip; A little riper and more lusty red [ence Than that mix'd in his cheek; 'twas just the differ- * A spirit averse to conversation. + Estate. + Over-exact. § Silly. I have more cause to hate him than to love him: He said, mine eyes were black, and my hair black; ACT IV. THE VARIETIES OF MELANCHOLY. I have neither the scholar's melancholy, which is emulation; nor the musician's, which is fantastical; nor the courtier's, which is proud; nor the soldier's, which is ambitious; nor the lawyer's, which is politic; nor the lady's, which is nice*; nor the lover's, which is all these. MARRIAGE ALTERS THE TEMPER OF BOTH SEXES. Say a day, without the ever: No, no, Orlando, men are April when they woo, December when they wed: maids are May when they are maids, but the sky changes when they are wives. I will be more jealous of thee than a Barbary cock-pigeon over his hen; more clamorous than a parrot against rain; more new-fangled than an ape; more giddy in my desires than a monkey; I will weep for nothing, like Diana in the fountain, and I will do that when you are disposed to be merry; I will laugh like a hyen, and that when thou art inclined to sleep. CUPID'S PARENTAGE. No, that same wicked bastard of Venus, that was begot of thought, conceived of spleen, and + Melancholy. * Trifling. |