551. MERCY.

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.

552. MERCY DIVINE.

All the Souls that are were forfeit once,
And he that might the 'vantage best have taken,
Found out the remedy.

553.

How should we be,

If he which is the top of judgment should

But judge us as we are.

O think on that,

And mercy then will breathe within our lips,
Like men new-made.

554. HEAVEN THE VENERATION WE OWE

TO IT.

Shall we serve Heaven

With less respect than we do minister

To our gross selves?

555. MERCY AND JUSTICE.

+Judges shew pity most when they shew justice: For then they pity those they do not know, Whom a dismiss'd offence would after gall*. 556. SMALL OFFENCES SHOULD BE CHECKT. to When crimes are small and punishments are Mercy is not itself that oft looks so;

And Pardon oft the nurse of second woe.

557. MERCY.

It is excellent

[light,

To have a Giant's strength; but it is tyrannous

To use it like a giant.

*This is most true were Punishments less extreme.
G

558.

Could great men thunder

As Jove himself does, Jove would ne'er be quiet: For every pelting petty officer

Would use his Heaven for thunder.

559.

Merciful Heaven!

Thou rather with thy sharp and sulphurous bolt
Splitt'st the unwedgeable and gnarled oak,
Than the soft myrtle!-O, but Man, proud Man,
(Drest in a little brief authority,

Most ignorant of what he's most assur❜d,
His glassy essence)-like an angry ape,

Plays such fantastic tricks before high Heaven,
As make the Angels weep.

560. PERSONS OF RANK APT TO FANCY EVERY THING ALLOWABLE TO THEM.

'Great men may jest with Saints. 'Tis wit in them, But in the rest foul profanation.

561. POWER-PRONE TO PUNISH & OFFEND.

Authority, although it err like others,

Hath yet a kind of medicine in itself,

That skins the vice o' the top.

562. SELF-EXAMINATION SHOULD PRE

CEDE CENSURE.

Go to your bosom,

Knock there; and ask your Heart, what it hath That's like a Brother's fault.

563. VIRTUE THE SOLE GOOD. All goods external may be rich or poor, As Fancy values-'tis not so with Virtue. 564. TEMPTATION.

[done

The Tempter or the tempted, who sins most?

565. MODESTY.

& Modesty does more betray the sense

Than woman's lightness.

566. MIND, AND IT'S ASSOCIATIONS.
+Circumstances and occasion

Are as the Mind and will-thus may our hearts
By good be wrought to evil; And too oft
By lying with the Violet in the Sun,

Do as the carrion doth, not as the flower,
Corrupt by virtuous Season,

567. INCONTINENCE.

Having waste ground enough,

Shall we desire to raze the Sanctuary
And pitch our evils there?

568. TEMPTATION-SPECIOUS.

Most dangerous

Is that Temptation which does goad us on
To Sin in loving Virtue.

569. HYPOCRISY.

§ Heaven oft is in the mouth,

And in the heart a strong and growing evil.

570. EXAMPLE ILL.

Thieves for their robbery have authority,
When Judges steal theirselves.

571. HYPOCRISY.

O, cunning enemy, that, to catch a Saint,
With Saints dost bait thy hook!

572. NO REPENTANCE without AMENDMENT. In sorrow for those crimes which we continue, Sorrow is always toward ourselves, not Heaven.

573. THE WORLD YIELDS TO PRETENCES. Let's write good Angel on the Devil's horn, Tis not the Devil's crest.

574. AUTHORITY.

O place! O form!

How often dost thou with thy case, thy habit, Wrench awe from fools, and tye the wiser souls To thy false seeming!

575. HUMILITY.

+ True Goodness in a mortal breast will say-— Let me be ignorant, and in nothing good, But graciously to know I am no better*. 576. HUMILITY AFFECTED.

¶ Craftiness wishes to appear more bright, When it doth tax itself.

577. PARDON.

An ignominious ransom, and free pardon
Are of two houses: lawful Mercy sure
Is nothing kin to foul Redemption.
578. SIMULATION.

Though it should never, yet it oft falls out
To have what we would have, we speak not what
579. JUDGMENT CAPRICIOUS. [we mean.
O perilous mouths,

That bear in them one and the self-same tongue, Either of Condemnation or Approof!

Bidding the Law make court'sy to their will; Hooking both right and wrong to the appetite, To follow as it draws!

580. VIRTUE ABOVE ALL.

Virtue and female Honor will say thusMore than our Brother is our Chastity. 581. HOPE.

The miserable have no other Medicine,
But only Hope ||.

There is none Good but one: that is, GOD.

The last Good left in Pandora's Box.

582.

WOMEN.

Women are frail

As are the glasses where they view themselves.

583. EDUCATION.

+In Childhood, a good thing too often read Grows fear'd and tedious.

584. DEATH-the true is loss of GOODNESS. Better to die at once than die for ever.

585. IMPERFECTION, HUMAN. Men, at the best, are made to be no stronger Than faults may shake their frame.

586. HOPE WITH FORTITUDE.

Have hope to live; but be prepar'd to die. 587. DEATH.

Be still prepar'd for Death: and Death or Life Shall thereby be the sweeter

588. LIFE HUMAN.

*

Reason thus with Life

A breath thou art,

Servile to all the skiey influences

That do this habitation, where thou keep'st,
Hourly afflict.-Thou art not thyself,

For thou exist'st on many a thousand grains
That issue out of dust: Happy thou art not:
For what thou hast not still thou striv'st to get;
And what thou hast forget'st. Thou art not cer-
For thy complexion shifts to strange effects. [tain:
Friend hast thou none:

For thine own bowels which do call thee Sire
Do curse the gout, serpigo, and the rheum, [rich,
For ending thee no sooner. When thou art old and

* Omnem crede Diem tibi diluxisse supremum:
Grata superveniet quæ non sperabitur Hora.

HOR.