Of kings, of beggars, old men, young men, maids. That smooth-faced gentleman, tickling commodity ;- The world, who of itself is peised well, 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; Our thighs packed with wax, our mouths with honey, Are murdered for our pains. 2nd part King Henry IV. Act iv. Scene 4. King Richard III. Know'st thou not any, ing gold Would tempt into a close exploit of death? Page. I know a discontented gentleman, whom corrupt Whose humble means match not his haughty mind: * Obtained in foreign lands. Gold were as good as twenty orators, And will, no doubt, tempt him to anything. 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. MOURNING. 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 And, to survey his dead and earthy image, 2nd part King Henry VI. Act iii. Scene 2. King. 'Tis sweet and commendable in your nature, To do obsequious sorrow. But to perséver Of impious stubbornness; 'tis unmanly grief: 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, correct. Angelo. When I would pray and think, I think and pray And in my heart the strong and swelling evil 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 *Meaning the imagination, or mind generally. |