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JUDGMENT.

Give ev'ry man thine ear; but few thy voice:
Take each man's cenfure, but referve thy judgment.
Shakespear's Hamlet.
Take our good meaning; for our judgment fits
Five times in that, e're once in our fine wits.

Shakespear's Romeo and Juliet.

Mens judgments fway, on that fide fortune leans.

Chapman's Widow's Fears.

Your reafon and your will are much the fame ;
You can defire nothing but what that does :
Firft, having weigh'd and ponder'd well each scruple
That may object itself, commend as good;
For whatsoever bounds our affection,
Muft first appear unto the judgment lovely;
It standing centinel, queftioning all
That pafs unto the closet of the will.

Mead's Combat of Love and Friendship.
You bring a judgment deeper than the fea :
And as in deepest feas we fafeft be,
So in your judgment's depths we may endure
All empire's fudden ftorms, and fleep fecure.

Sir W. Davenant on the Reftauration. How can your judgment, as profound as feas, Be lik'd by those whom fears of depth displease? That fo of deeper knowledge are afraid, As women are with depths of feas dismay'd: Who rather trust those rivers where they may Still fee the dreaded bottom of their way: Whilft more experienc'd feamen fhallows fhun, And hoist all fails, where deeper channels run. But as the Spaniards, whom mere wind and chance Did weftward lead, and to wild thrones advance, Thought to walk on with empire, till they came Where the declining fun does quench his flame; Till they did reach the utmoit bounds of light, And faw him fteal into the bed of night:

Then

Then thought, they could that fpacious empire sway,
Whilft lazily, they stretch'd in arbours lay.
Yet foon, unable grown to manage more

Than what with eafe grew fubject to their pow'r,
They check'd each pilot that would further go,
And feem'd fuffic'd with what they firft did know ;
Let yielding to know more, their knowledge might
To others walks become a happy light.

So when opinion, that outrageous wind,

Which fwells and drives the people's failing minds
And when fantastick chance which does it steer,
Had brought thefe in, to rule wild empire here,
They thought to fit at everlasting eafe
In clouds; and there from airy palaces,
Drop fruitful fhow'rs of edicts over all,
Softly as fnow that does in feathers fall:
But as cold fnow, when it a while is felt,
Does heat that hand that after does it melt;
So they, though cool at firft, did quickly draw
Forth heat, that did their pow'r as quickly thaw.
Then finding they lack'd knowledge to discharge
'That fway, which firft they promis'd to inlarge,
They poorly meant this empire to contract,
Lefs'ning their flage where few were fit to act:
Treating all thofe, as ftrangers and as fpies,
That boldly durft adventure to be wife:
Proudly confirming others knowledge, by
Bounds of their own confin'd capacity,

Sir W. Davenant on the Reftauration.
Juftice hath laid her fword within your reach:
And you have pow'r to fheath it fo; that where
You execute, you may a murder do, or facrifice.

Sir W. Davenant's Juft Italian. If judgment could in folemn dulness lie, Which weaker rulers wear for gravity,

Then those must needs tranfcendent judgments have, That would inftruct wife nature to be

grave.

A wel!

A well-establish'd judgment, fuch as yours,
By perfect strength as certainly fecures
The aims of pow'r, as what he does poffefs;
And empire ever must intend increase:
Empire, the tide of restlefs greatnesses,
Shov'd on at land, as rivers are from feas;
Which at no mark can any moment stay,
But when it cannot rife, must ebb away.
And as your judgment can fo greatly do,
Preferve poffeffion, and inlarge it too;
So can it boldly to great works proceed,
Without thofe fhifts which weaker judgments need:
In its known forces fafe, as armies are,
Whose fame before the battle, ends the war.
Not fpreading files to cover fpacious ground,
Whilt many drums beat loud, and trumpets found;
Whilft many feigned enfigns all the day
Their glorious colours to the foe difplay;
Yet bafely cautious, all at night lie close,
Arm'd and intrench'd in a contracted grofs.

Sir W. Davenant on the Reftauration.

Let none direct thee what to do or fay,
Till thee thy judgment of the matter fway;
Let not the pleafing many thee delight,

First judge, if those whom thou doft please, judge right.

JUSTICE.

Nought is on earth more facred or divine,

That gods and men do equally adore

Denham.

Than this fame virtue, that doth right define;
For th'heavens themselves, whence mortal men im-
plore

Right in their wrongs, are rul'd by righteous lore
Of highest Jove, who doth true juftice deal
To his inferior gods; and evermore
Therewith contains his heav'nly commonweal:
The skill whereof to princes hearts he doth reveal.

Well

Well therefore did the antique world invent,
That juftice was a god of fov'reign grace;
And altars unto him, and temples lent,
And heav'nly honours in the highest place:
Calling him great Ofyris, of the race

Of th'old Egyptian kings, that whilome were ;
With feigned colours fhading a true case :
For that Ofpris while he lived here,

The jufteft man alive, and truest did appear.

1. Yet fome fhew pity.

Spenfer's Fairy Queen.

2. I fhew it most of all, when I fhew justice;
For then I pity thofe, I do not know;

Which a difmifs'd offence, would, after gaul;
And do him right, that anfw'ring one foul wrong,
Lives not to act another.

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Shakespear's Meafure for Measure. May one be pardon'd, and retain th'offence? In the corrupted currents of this world, Offences gilded hand may shove by justice; And oft 'tis feen, the wicked prize itself Buys out the law; but 'tis not fo above: There, is no fhuffling; there, the action lies In his true nature, and we ourselves compell'd, Ev'n to the teeth and forehead of our faults, To give in evidence.

Shakespear's Hamlet. -The gods

Grow angry with your patience: 'Tis their care,
And must be yours, that guilty men escape not:
As crimes do grow, juftice fhould rouze itself.

Johnson's Catiline. Juft men are only free, the reft are flaves.

Chapman's Cæfar and Pompey.

-There's no needle

In a fun-dial, plac'd upon his fteel,

In fuch a tender pofture that doth tremble,

The

The timely dial being held amifs,
And will shake ever, till you hold it right,
More tender than himself, in any thing,
That he concludes in justice for the state:
For as a fever held him, he will shake
When he is figning any thing of weight,
Left human frailty fhould mifguide his justice.

Chapman and Shirley's Admiral of France.
Clear-ey'd Aftrea next, with rev'rend brow]
Clad in cœleftial hue, which beft fhe likes,
Comes with her balance, and her fword, to fhew
That firft her judgment weighs, before it ftrikes.
Daniel's Goddeffes.

Offences urg'd in publick, are made worse ;
The fhew of juftice aggravates defpight.
The multitude, that look not to the cause,
Reft fatify'd, so it seem done by laws.

Daniel's Civil War.

If but one virtue did adorn a king,
It would be justice; many great defects
Are veil'd thereby: Whereas each virtuous thing
In one who is not juft, the world fufpects.

E. of Sterline's Darius.

If what were best for them that do offend,
Laws did inquire, the answer muft be grace;
If mercy be fo large, where's juftice place?

Lord Brooke's Mustapha. 1. Justice that makes princes like the gods, draws Us unto the fenate,

That with impartial balance we may poize
The crimes and innocence of all offenders..
Our prefence, can chace brib'ry from the laws;
He best can judge, that hears himself the cause.
2. True, mighty duke, it beft becomes our places,
To have our light from you, the son of virtue :
Subject authority, for gain, love or fear,
Oft quits the guilty, and condemns the clear.
Marfton's Infatiate Countess.

Justice

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