The cuckoo then, on every tree,
Mocks married men, for thus sings he,

Cuckoo ;
Cuckoo, cuckoo,-0 word of fear,
Unpleasing to a married ear!
When shepherds pipe on oaten straws,

And merry larks are ploughmen's clocks,
When turtles tread, and rooks, and daws,

And maidens bleach their summer smocks,
The cuckoo thenson every tree,
Mocks married men, for thus sings he,

Cuckoo;
Cuckoo, cuckoo,–0 word of fear,

Unpleasing to a married ear!
Winter. When icicles hang by the wall,

And Dick the shepherd blows his nail,
And Tom bears logs into the hall,

And milk comes frozen home in pail,
When blood is nipp'd, and ways be foul,
Then nightly sings the staring owl,

To-who;
Tu-whit, to-who, a merry note,
While greasy Joan doth keel * the pot.
When all aloud the wind doth blow,

And coughing drowns the parson's saw,
And birds sit brooding in the snow,

And Marian's nose looks red and raw,
When roasted crabst hiss in the bowl,
Then nightly sings the staring owl,

To-who;
Tu-wbit, to-who, a merry note,
While greasy Joan doth keel the pot.

Measure for Measure.

ACT I.

VIRTUE GIVEN TO BE EXERTED.

Heaven doth with us, as we with torches do;
Not light them for themselves: for if our virtues
Did not go forth of us, 'twere all alike
As if we had them not. Spirits are not finely touchd,
But to fine issues * ; nor nature never lends
The smallest scruple of her excellence,
But, like a thrifty goddess, she determines
Herself the glory of a creditor.
Both thanks and uset.

THE CONSEQUENCE OF LIBERTY INDULGED.
As surfeit is the father of much fast,
So every scope by the immoderate use
Turns to restraint: Our natures do pursue,
(Like rats that ravin | down their proper bane),
A thirsty evil; and when we drink we die.

ELOQUENCE AND BEAUTY.

In her youth
There is a prones and speechless dialect,
Such as moves men; beside, she hath prosperous art
When she will play with reason and discourse,
And well she can persuade.

PARDON THE SANCTION OF WICKEDNESS.

For we bid this be done,
When evil deeds have their permissive pass,
And not the punishment.

A SEVERE GOVERNOR.

Lord Angelo is precise ; Stands at a guard * with envy; scarce confesses That his blood flows, or that his appetite Is more to bread than stone: Hence shall we see, If power change purpose, what our seemers be.

RESOLUTION.

Our doubts are traitors, And make us lose the good we oft might win, By fearing to attempt.

THE PRAYERS OF MAIDENS EFFECTUAL.

Go to lord Angelo, And let him learn to know, when maidens sue, Men give like gods; but when they weep and kneel, All their petitions are as freely theirs As they themselves would owet them.

ACT II.

ALL MEN FRAIL.

Ler but your honour knows, (Whom I believe to be most strait in virtue), That in the working of your own affections, Had time coherd § with place, or place with wishing, Or that the resolute acting of your blood Could have attain'd the effect of your own purpose, Whether yon bad not sometime in your life Err’d in this point which now you censure him, And pull'd the law upon you.

THE FAULTS OF OTHERS NO JUSTIFICATION OF OUR OWN.

'Tis one thing to be tempted, Escalus, Another thing to fall. I not deny,

* On his defence.

+ Have.

# Examine.

$ Suited.

The jury, passing on the prisoner's life,
May, in the sworn twelve, have a thief or two
Guiltier than him they try: What's open made to jus-
That justice seizes. What know the laws, [tice,
That thieves do pass* on thieves? 'Tis very pregnantt,
The jewel that we find, we stoop and take it,
Because we see it; but what we do not see,
We tread upon, and never think of it.
You may not so extenuate his offence,
Forf I have had such faults: but rather tell me,
When I, that censureş him, do so offend,
Let mine own judgment pattern out my death,
And nothing come in partial.

MERCY FREQUENTLY MISTAKEN. Mercy is not itself, that oft looks so; Pardon is still the nurse of second woe.

MERCY IN GOVERNORS COMMENDED.

No ceremony that to great ones ’longs,
Not the king's crown, nor the deputed sword,
The marshal's truncheon, nor the judge's robe,
Become them with one half so good a grace,
As mercy does.

THE DUTY OF MUTUAL FORGIVENESS.

Alas! alas !
Why, all the souls that were, were forfeit once;
And He that might the vantage best have took,
Found out the remedy: How would you be,
If he, which is the top of judgment, should
But judge you as you are! O, think on that;
And mercy then will breathe within your lips,
Like man new made.

+ Plain.

* Pass Judgment.
♡ Sentence.

# Because.

Yet show some pity. Ang. I show it most of all, when I show justicc; For then I pity those I do not know, Which a dismiss'd offence would after gall; And do him right, that, answering one foul wrong, Lives not to act another.

THE ABUSE OF AUTHORITY.

0, it is excellent To have a giant's strength; but it is tyrannous To use it like a giant. Could great men thunder, As Jove himself does, Jove would ne'er be quiet, For every pelting *, petty officer,

[der.Would use his heaven for thunder; nothing but thunMerciful heaven ! Thou rather, with thy sharp and sulphurous bolt, Split'st the unwedgeable and gnarledt oak, Than the soft myrtle:-0, but man, proud man! Drest in a little brief authority ; Most ignorant of what he's most assurd,