2. Rude am I in speech, peace: And little bless'd with the set phrase of Of my whole course of love; what drugs, what charms, (For such proceedings I am charg'd withal) I won his daughter with. 3. Her father lov'd me; oft invited me; Still question'd me the story of my life From year to year: the battles, sieges, fortunes, I ran it through, e'en from my boyish days Of moving accidents by flood and field: Of hair breadths 'scapes in the imminent deadly breach: Of being taken by the insolent foe, And sold to slavery; of my redemption thence, And with it all my travel's history. Would Desdemona seriously incline; But still the house affairs would draw her thence; 5. I did consent; And often did beguile her of her tears, When I did speak of some distressful stroke That my youth suffer'd. My story being done, She gave me for my pains a world of sighs. She swore in faith, 'twas strange, 'twas passing strange; "Twas pitiful; 'twas wond'rous pitiful; She wish'd she had not heard it; yet she wish'd 6. LESSON CLII. Soliloquy of Hamlet* on Death. -TRAGEDY OF HAMLET. 1. To be or not to be-that is the question, 2. 'Tis a consummation Devoutly to be wish'd.-To die-to sleep To sleep, perchance to dream-ay, there's the rub- Must give us pause. 3. There's the respect, For, who would bear the whips and scorns of time, 4. Who would fardels‡ bear, *A Prince of Denmark. + Quietus, rest, repose. + Fardel, a bundle, or little pack. And makes us rather bear those ills we have, 5. Thus conscience does make cowards of us all; And thus the native hue of resolution Is sicklied o'er with the pale cast of thought; LESSON CLIII. Cato's* Soliloquy on the Immortality of the Soul.-TRAGEDY OF CATO. 1. It must be so-Plato,† thou reasonest well! Else, whence this pleasing hope, this fond desire, This longing after immortality? Or, whence this secret dread, and inward horror, "Tis heaven itself that points out an hereafter, 2. Eternity!-thou pleasing, dreadful thought! Through what variety of untried being, Through what new scenes and changes must we pass? But shadows, clouds and darkness rest upon it. Here will I hold. If there's a Power above us, Through all her works,) he must delight in virtue; But when? Or where? This world was made for Cesar. Marcus Portius Cato, an eminent Roman, born 94 years B. C. He was a lover of Philosophy, and a brave general; a man of great integrity, and strong attachment to his country. He boldly opposed the conspiracy of Catiline, and the ambition of Julius Cesar. After the battle of Pharsalia, Cato fled to Utica, in Africa, and being pursued by Cesar, he advised his friends to flee, and his son to trust to Cesar's clemency. He then retired to his apartment, and read Plato on the IMMORTALITY OF THE SOUL, twice over; and then stabbed himself with his sword, and died, aged 48-B. C 46 years. A Grecian Philosopher. 3. Thus I am doubly arm'd. My death* and life,† The wreck of matter, and the crush of worlds. LESSON CLIV. Speech of Catiline‡ before the Roman Senate, on hearing his sentence of banishment.-CROLY'S CATILINE. 1. "BANISHED from Rome!"-what's banished, but set free From daily contact of the things I loathe? this? "Tried and convicted traitor!"-Who says Smile on, my lords; I scorn to count what feelings, withered hopes, I have within my heart's hot cells shut up, 2. But here I stand and scoff you :-here I fling Hatred and full defiance in your face. Your Consul's merciful. For this all thanks. He dares not touch a hair of Catiline. "Traitor!" I go—but I return. This-trial! Here I devote your senate! I've had wrongs, To stir a fever in the blood of age, Or make the infant's sinew strong as steel. 3. This day's the birth of sorrows!-This hour's work Will breed proscriptions.-Look to your hearths, my lords, For there henceforth shall sit, for household gods, Shapes hot from Tartarus !—all shames and crimes;— *The sword. † A book written by Plato. A Roman Senator accused of a conspiracy against the government, and banished. Marcus Tullius Cicero. Wan Treachery, with his thirsty dagger drawn ; LESSON CLV. The Rich Man and the Poor Man.-KHEMNITZER. 1. So goes the world;-if wealthy, you may call This friend, that-brother; friends and brothers all Though you are worthless-witless-never mind it; You may have been a stable boy-what then? 'Tis wealth, good Sir, makes honorable men. You seek respect, no doubt, and you will find it. 2. But if you are poor, heaven help you! though your sire Had royal blood within him, and though you Possess the intellect of angels too, 'Tis all in vain ;-the world will ne'er inquire 3. I once saw a poor fellow, keen and clever, Witty and wise :-he paid a man a visit, And no one noticed him, and no one ever Gave him a welcome. "Strange," cried I;"whence is it?" He walked on this side, then on that, He tried to introduce a social chat; Now here, now there, in vain he tried; Some formally and freezingly replied, And some Said by their silence-" Better stay at home." 4. A rich man burst the door, As Croesus* rich, I'm sure He could not pride himself upon his wit; And as for wisdom, he had none of it; He had what's better;-he had wealth. What a confusion!-all stand up erect * Pronounced Cré-zus, a king of Lydia, in Asia Minor, 548 B. C., supposed the richest of mankind. |