As if we had them not. Spirits are not finely touch'd,

But to fine iffues: nor nature never lends
The smallest fcruple of her excellence,
But, like a thrifty goddefs, fhe determines.
Herself the glory of a creditor,
Both thanks and use.

What ftronger breaft-plate than a heart untainted?
Thrice is he arm'd that hath his quarrel juft:

And he but naked (tho' lock'd up in steel)
Whose conscience with unjuftice is corrupted.

CHAPTER IX.

Он, world, the flippery turns! friends now fast sworn,
Whofe double bofoms feem to wear one heart,
Whofe hours, whose bed, whose meal, and exercise
Are still together; who twine, as 'twere, in love
Infeperable; fhall within this hour,

On a diffention of a doit, break out
To bittereft enmity. So felleft foes,

Whose passions and whofe plots have broke their fleep,
To take the one the other, by fome chance,
Some trick not worth an egg, fhall grow dear friends,
And interjoin their iffues.

So it falls out,

That what we have we prize not to the worth,
While we enjoy it; but being lack'd and loft,
Why then we wreak the value; then we find
The virtue that poffeffion would not fhew us
Whilst it was ours.

Cowards die many times before their deaths; The valiant never taste of death but once.

Of all the wonders that I yet have heard,

It seems to me most strange that men fhould fear; Seeing that death, a necessary end,

Will come, when it will come.

There is fome foul of goodness in things evil,
Would men observingly distil it out,

For our bad neighbour makes us early flirrers;
Which is both healthful and good husbandry:
Besides, they are our outward confciences,
And preachers to us all; admonishing,
That we should drefs us fairly for our end.

O momentary grace of mortal men,

Which we more hunt for than the grace of God! Who builds his hope in th' air of men's fair looks, Lives like a drunken failor on a mast,

Ready with every nod to tumble down

Into the fatal bowels of the deep./

-Who fhall go about

To cozen fortune, and be honourable
Without the stamp of merit? let none prefume
To wear an undeserved dignity.

O that estates, degrees, and offices

Were not deriv'd corruptly!-that clear honour Were purchased by the inerit of the wearer! How many then should cover that ftand bare! How many be commanded that command!

Oh, who can hold a fire in his hand, By thinking on the frofty Caucasus ? Or cloy the hungry edge of appetite, By bare imagination of a feast ?

Or wallow naked in December's (now,

By thinking on fantaftic fummer's heat?
Oh, no! the apprehenfion of the good
Gives but the greater feeling to the worfe;
Fall forrow's tooth doth never rankle more,
Than when it bites, but lanceth not the fore.

-'Tis flander;

Whofe edge is fharper than the fword; whofe tongue
Outvenoms all the worms of Nile; whofe breath
Rides on the posting winds, and doth belie

All corners of the world. Kings, queens, and states,
Maids, matrons, nay, the fecrets of the grave,
This vip'rous flander enters.

There is a tide in the affairs of men,
Which taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life

Is bound in fhallows and in miferies.

To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day,
To the last syllable of recorded time;
`And all our yesterdays have lighted fools
The way to dufky death. Out, out brief candle!!
Life's but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets his hour upon the flage,

And then is heard no more! It is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of found and fury,
Signifying nothing.

BOOK II.

NARRATIVE PIECES.

CHAPTER I.

THE DERVISE.

A DERVISE, travelling through Tartary, being arrived at the town of Balk, went into the king's palace by a mistake, as thinking it to be a public inn or caravanfary. Having looked about him for fome time, he entered into a long gallery, where he laid down his wallet, and fpread his carpet, in order to repofe himself upon it after the manner of the eastern nations. He had not been long in this pofture, before he was difcovered by fome of the guards, who asked him, what was his business in that place? The Dervise told them, he intended to take up his night's lodging in that caravanfary. The guards let him know in a very angry manner, that the house he was in was not a caravansary, but the king's palace. It happened that the king himself paffed through the gallery during this debate, and finiling at the mistake of the Dervife, asked him, how he could poffibly be fo dull as not to diftinguish a palace from a caravanfary? Sir, fays the Dervife, give me leave. to ask your majefty a question or two. Who were the perfons that lodged in this house when it was first built ? The king replied, his ancestors. And who, faid the Dervife, was the last person that lodged here? The king replied, His father. And who is it fays the Dervise, that. lodges here at prefent? The king told him, That it was he himself. And who, fays the Dervife, will be here after

you? The king anfwered, The young prince his fon."Ah, Sir," faid the Dervife," a houfe that changes its inhabitants fo often, and receives fuch a perpetual fucceffron of guests, is not a palace, but a caravanfary.”

SPECTATOR.

CHAPTER II.

A TURKISH TALE.

We are told, that the Sultan Mahmoud, by his perpetual wars abroad, and his tyranny at home, had filled his dɔminions with ruin and desolation, and half unpeopled the Perfian empire. The vifier to this great fultan (whether an humourist, or an enthusiast, we are not informed) pretended to have learned of a certain Dervise to understand the language of birds, fo that there was not a bird that could open its mouth, but the vifier knew what it was it faid. As he was one evening with the emperor, in their return from hunting, they faw a couple of owls upon a tree that grew near an old wall out of a heap of rubbish. I would fain know, fays the fultan, what these two owls are faying to one another: liften to their difcourfe and give me an account of it. The vifier approached the tree, pretending to be very attentive to the two owls. Upon his return to the fultan, Sir, fays he, I have heard part of their converfation, but dare not tell you what it is. The fultan would not be fatisfied with fuch an answer, but forced him to repeat, word for word, every thing the owls had faid. You must know, then, faid the vifier, that one of thefe owls has a fon, and the other a daughter, between whom they are now upon a treaty of marriage. The father of the fon faid to the father of the daughter, in my hearing, Brother, I confent to this marriage, provided you will fettle upon your daughter fifty ruined villages for her portion. To which the father of the daughter replied,