Imágenes de página
PDF
ePub

An evil king And fo muft fuch be ftill,
Who once hath got the habit to do ill.

Johnson on King James. He knew, that thofe, who would with love command, Muft with a tender, yet a ftedfaft hand

Suftain the reins; and in the check forbear

'To offer caufe of injury, or fear:

That kings, by their example, more do fway,
Than by their pow'r; and men do more obey,
When they are led, than when they are compell'd.

Good princes foar above their fame;

And in their worth

Come greater forth,

Than in their name.

Ibid.

Johnson's Mafques.

Princes that would their people fhould do well,
Muft at themselves begin, as at the head;
For men, by their example, patttern out
Their imitations, and regard of laws :
A virtuous court a world to virtue draws.

Johnfon's Cynthia's Revels.

That prince doth high in virtue's reck'ning stand;
That will intreat a vice, and not command.

Chapman's Buffey D'ambois.
What monftrous humours feed a prince's blood;
Being bad to good men, and to bad men good.

Chapman's First Part of Byron's Confpiracy.

Tell your king, that he neglects

Old friends for new; and fets his foothed ease
Above his honour; marfhals his policy
In rank before his juftice; and his profit
Before his royalty: His humanity gone,
To make me no repayment of mine own.

When fovereign princes dare

Do injury to thofe that live beneath them,
They turn worth pity, and their pray'rs; and 'tis

G 3

Ibid.

[blocks in formation]

In the free pow'r of those whom they opprefs
To pardon 'em Each foul has a prerogative,
And privilege royal, that was fign'd by heav'n.

:

Chapman and Shirley's Admiral of France. For great men over-grac'd, much rigour use; Prefuming fav'rites discontentment bring; And difproportions harmony do break: Minions too great, argue a king too weak.

Daniel's Civil War.

For tho' this bounty, and this lib'ralness,
A glorious virtue be; it better fits
Great men than kings: Who giving in excefs,
Give not their own, but others benefits:
Which calls up many's hopes, but pleasures lefs;
Destroying far more love, than it begets.

For juftice is their virtue.— That alone
Makes them fit fure, and glorifies the throne.

We fee, although the king be head,

The ftate will be the heart: This fov'reignty
Is but in place, not pow'r; and governed
By th' equal fceptre of neceffity:
And we have seen more princes ruined
By their immod❜rate fav'ring privately,
Than by feverity in general:

Ibid.

For beft he's lik'd, that is alike to all.

lbid.

Which, to himself, made him with grief inveigh
Againft diftemper'd kings; who often are

Ill warrants for their own affairs; and weigh
Their lufts more than their dignity by far:
And what a mifery they have, that fway

Their great defigns; what danger, and what care: And often must be forc'd, b'ing at their becks,

To crack their reputation, or their necks ?

How

How their high favours like as fig-trees are,
That grow upon the fides of rocks; where they
Who reach their fruit, adventure must so far,
As t'hazard their deep downfal and decay:
Their grace not fix'd; but as a blazing star,
Burns out the present matter, and away:
And how the world could too well witness bear,
That both their loves and hates like dang'rous were.
Daniel's Civil War.

And while they live, we fee their glorious actions
Oft wrested to the worft; and all their life,
Is but a ftage of endless toil and strife,
Of tumults, uproars, mutinies, and factions;
They rife with fear, and lie with danger down:
Huge are the cares, that wait upon a crown.

E. of Sterline's Darius.
O ftormy state of kings, vain mortals choice,
The glorious height, whence greatnefs groans to fall!
Ah! we, who courting fame, do hunt each voice,

To feem but fov'reign, must be flaves to all:
Yet blown like bladders, with ambition's wind,
On envy'd scepters weakly we rely;

And whilft fwoln fancies do betray the mind,
Not only th' earth, but heav'ns themselves defy.
Whilft lofty thoughts tumultuous minds do tofs,
Which are puff'd up with popular applause ;
A ftate extended by our neighbour's lofs,

For further trouble, but procures a cause.
If fortune's dark eclipfe cloud glory's light,
Then what avails that pomp, which pride doth
claim?

A mere illufion, made to mock the fight,
Whose best was but the fhadow of a dream.
Of glaffy scepters, let frail greatnefs vaunt ;
Not fcepters, no, but reeds, which rais'd up, break ;
And let eye-flatt'ring fhews our wits enchant,
All perish'd are, ere of their pomp men speak.
G 4

Thofe

Thofe golden palaces, thofe gorgeous halls,
With furniture fuperfluously fair;

Those stately courts, thofe skie-encountring walls,
Do vanish all like vapours in the air.
O what affliction jealous greatness bears,

Which ftill must travel to hold others down;
Whilft all our guards not guard us from our fears,
Such toil attends the glory of a crown!
Our painted pleasures but apparel pain:

We spend our nights in fear, our days in dangers; Sparks fhot by ftars, flaves bound to fortune's reign: Though known to all, yet to ourselves but ftrangers. A Golden crown doth cover leaden cares;

The scepter cannot lull their thoughts asleep, Whofe fouls are drown'd with floods of cold defpairs; Of which, base vulgars cannot found the deep. The bramble grows, altho' it be obfcure,

Whilft lofty cedars feel the bluft'ring winds; And mild plebeian fouls. may live fecure,

Whilft mighty tempefts tofs imperial minds. What are our days but dreams? our reign a glance? Whilt fortune's fever makes us rage and rave, Which with strange fits doth to a height advance; 'Till, e're pain us, we firft our life must leave. For glift'ring greatness by ambition lov'd, I was the wonder of all gazing eyes; But free from shadows, real effence, 'prov'd, States just proportion ruin only tries.

E. of Sterline's Darius Kings, govern people; over-rack them not : Fleece us, but do not clip us to the quick; Think not with good, and ill, to write, and blot : The good doth vanish, where the ill doth stick : Hope not with trifles to grow popular;

Wounds that are heal'd, for ever leave a scar.

Lord Brooke's Alaham.

Kings for their fafety, muft not blame mistrust;
Nor for furmifes, facrifice the juft.

Lord Brooke's Muftapha.

Ah hum'rous kings! how are you tofs'd, like waves,
With breaths, that from the earth beneath you move;
Obferved, and betray'd; known, and undone;
By being nothing, unto all things won.
Frail man! that woo'ft misfortune in thy wit;
By giving thy made idol leave to fashion
Thy ends to his. For mark, what comes of it:
Nature is loft, our being only chance,
Where grace alone, not merit, must advance.

Lord Brooke's Muftapha.
Like as ftrong winds do work upon the sea,
Stirring, and toffing waves to war each other
So princes do with peoples humours play:
As if confufion were the fcepter's mother.

But crowns, take heed; when humble things mount high, The winds oft calm, before those billows lie.

Lord Brooke's Alabam. Oh happy men! that know not, or else fear This fecond flipp'ry place of honours steep ; Which we with envy get, and danger keep. Unhappy state of ours, wherein we live; Where doubts give laws, which never can forgive: Where rage of kings not only ruins be, But where their very love works mifery. For princes humours, are not like the glass, Which in it fhews what shapes without remain, And with the body go, and come again : But like the wax, which firft bears but his own, Till it the feal in eafy mould receive, And by th' impreffion then, is only known.

Lord Brooke's Mustapha. Let him account his bondage from that day,

That he is with a diadem invested;
A glitt'ring crown hath made this hair fo gray,
Within whofe circle he is but arrested:

To true content, this is no certain way;

With fweeter cates the mean eftate is feafted:

[blocks in formation]
« AnteriorContinuar »