Of kings, of beggars, old men, young men, maids.

That smooth-faced gentleman, tickling commodity;-
Commodity, the bias of the world;

The world, who of itself is peised well,
Made to run even, upon even ground;
Till this advantage, this vile drawing bias,
This sway of motion, this commodity,
Makes it take head from all indifferency,
From all direction, purpose, course, intent.

King John. Act ii. Scene 2.

LOVE OF MONEY OVERPOWERS NATURAL AFFECTION.

K. Henry. How quickly nature falls into revolt When gold becomes her object!

For this the foolish over-careful fathers

Have broke their sleep with thoughts, their brains with

care,

Their bones with industry;

For this they have engross'd and piled up

The canker'd heaps of strange-achieved * gold;

For this they have been thoughtful to invest
Their sons with arts, and martial exercises :
When, like the bee, tolling from every flower

The virtuous sweets,

Our thighs packed with wax, our mouths with honey,

We bring it to the hive; and like the bees,

Are murdered for our pains.

2nd part King Henry IV. Act iv. Scene 4.

King Richard III. Know'st thou not any, whom corrupting gold

Would tempt into a close exploit of death ?

Page. I know a discontented gentleman,

Whose humble means match not his haughty mind:

Gold were as good as twenty orators,
And will, no doubt, tempt him to anything.

King Richard III. Act iv. Scene 2.

THE last passage is fraught with subjects of most melancholy character. "A discontented gentleman, whose humble means match not his haughty mind!" Look around in the world, and behold how much crime is committed to procure money-for what? to supply the necessities of life? No! To keep up caste! to remain " the gentleman." The weakness pervades the whole ramification of society, and many a prejudice remains to be broken down ere this fertile source of self-inflicted misery is destroyed.

M

NIN

IMMODERATE GRIEF OVER THE DEAD UNREASONABLE.

Lafeu. Moderate lamentation is the right of the dead; excessive grief the enemy to the living.

All's well that ends well. Act i. Scene 1.

Mortimer. But now thy uncle is removing hence;

As princes do their courts, when they are cloy'd
With long continuance in a settled place.

Plantagenet. Oh, uncle, would some part of my young

years

Might but redeem the passage of your age !

Mortimer. Thou dost then wrong me; as the slaughterer doth,

Which giveth many wounds when one will kill.
Mourn not, except thou sorrow for my good, &c., &c.

(Mortimer dies.)

1st part King Henry VI. Act ii. Scene 5.

K. Hen. VI. Fain would I go to chafe his paly lips
With twenty thousand kisses, and to drain
Upon his face an ocean of salt tears;
To tell my love unto his dumb deaf trunk,
And with my fingers feel his hand unfeeling;
But all in vain are these mean obsequies ;

And, to survey his dead and earthy image,
What were it but to make my sorrow greater ?

2nd part King Henry VI. Act iii. Scene 2.

King. 'Tis sweet and commendable in your nature,
To give these mourning duties to your father ;
But, you must know, your father lost a father,
That father lost, lost his; and the survivor bound
In filial obligation, for some term

To do obsequious sorrow. But to perséver
In obstinate condolement, is a course

Of impious stubbornness; 'tis unmanly grief:
It shows a will most incorrect to heaven;
A heart unfortified, or mind impatient ;
An understanding simple and unschool'd;
For what we know must be, and is as common
As any the most vulgar thing to sense,
Why should we, in our peevish opposition,
Take it to heart? Fie! 'tis a fault to heaven,
A fault against the dead, a fault to nature,
To reason most absurd.

Hamlet. Act i. Scene 2.

If we have a true faith in Christianity, undue mourning for the dead must, on strict examination, be found to arise chiefly from selfishness: but it is selfishness of an amiable hue, which neither philosophy nor religion are disposed to be too harsh upon. Shakspere's views seem, as usual,

Angelo. When I would pray and think, I think and pray To several subjects: heaven hath my empty words Whilst my invention, hearing not my tongue, Anchors on Isabel: Heaven in my mouth, As if I did but only chew his name; And in my heart the strong and swelling evil Of my conception.

Measure for Measure. Act ii Scene 4.

AGITATION AND ITS PHYSICAL EFFECTS.

Angelo. Why does my blood thus muster to my heart; Making both it unable for itself,

And dispossessing all the other parts

Of necessary fitness ?

So play the foolish throngs with one that swoons ;
Come all to help him, and so stop the air