conscience of him that is Chancellor, and as that is larger or narrower, so is Equity. 'Tis all one as if they should make the standard for the measure we call a "foot" a Chancellor's foot; what an uncertain measure would this be! One Chancellor has a long foot, another a short foot, a third an indifferent foot. 'Tis the same thing in the Chancellor's conscience. Table Talk. Equity.

Old friends are best. King James used to call for his old shoes; they were easiest for his feet.1

Friends.

Humility is a virtue all preach, none practise; and yet everybody is content to hear.

Humility.

'Tis not the drinking that is to be blamed, but the

excess.

Ibid.

Commonly we say a judgment falls upon a man for something in him we cannot abide.

Judgments.

Ignorance of the law excuses no man; not that all men know the law, but because 't is an excuse every man will plead, and no man can tell how to refute him.

No man is the wiser for his learning.

Wit and wisdom are born with a man.

Law.

Learning.

Ibid.

Few men make themselves masters of the things they write or speak.

Take a straw and throw it up into the air, see by that which way the wind is.

Philosophy is nothing but discretion.

Marriage is a desperate thing.

Ibid.

you may

Libels.

Philosophy.

Marriage.

Thou little thinkest what a little foolery governs the

world.2

Pope.

1 See Bacon, page 171.

2 Behold, my son, with how little wisdom the world is governed. — OXENSTIERN (1583-1654).

196

SELDEN. DRUMMOND. — BEAUMONT.

They that govern the most make the least noise.

Table Talk. Power.

Syllables govern the world.

Ibid.

Never king dropped out of the clouds.

Ibid.

Never tell your resolution beforehand.
Wise men say nothing in dangerous times.

Wisdom.

Ibid.

WILLIAM DRUMMOND. 1585-1649.

God never had a church but there, men say,
The Devil a chapel hath raised by some wyles.1

I doubted of this saw, till on a day

I westward spied great Edinburgh's Saint Gyles.

Posthumous Poems

FRANCIS BEAUMONT. 1586–1616.

What things have we seen

Done at the Mermaid! heard words that have been
So nimble and so full of subtile flame

As if that every one from whence they came

Had meant to put his whole wit in a jest,

And resolved to live a fool the rest

BEAUMONT AND FLETCHER.

(FRANCIS BEAUMONT and JOHN FLETCHER.)

All your better deeds

Shall be in water writ, but this in marble.1

Philaster. Act v. Sc. 3

Upon my burned body lie lightly, gentle earth.

The Maid's Tragedy. Act i. Sc. 2.

A soul as white as heaven.

But they that are above

Act iv. Sc. 1.

Have ends in everything.2

It shew'd discretion, the best part of valour.*

Act v. Sc. 1.

A King and No King. Act iv. Sc. 3

There is a method in man's wickedness,

It grows up by degrees.1

As cold as cucumbers.

Act v. Sc. 4.

Cupid's Revenge. Act i. Sc. 1

Calamity is man's true touchstone.5

Four Plays in One: The Triumph of Honour. Sc 1.

Kiss till the cow comes home.

Scornful Lady. Act iii. Sc. 1.

It would talk, –
Lord! how it talked!

Beggars must be no choosers."

No better than you should be.8

1 See Shakespeare, page 100.

8 See Shakespeare, page 87.

The Coxcomb. Act iv. Sc. 3.

2 See Shakespeare, page 145.

* Nemo repente fuit turpissimus (No man ever became extremely wicked

all at once). —JUVENAL: ii. 83.

Ainsi que la vertu, le crime a ses degrés (As virtue has its degrees, so

has vice).-RACINE: Phédre, act iv. sc. 2.

6 Ignis aurum probat, miseria fortes viros (Fire is the test of gold; adversity, of strong men). - SENECA: De Providentia, v. 9.

Then he will talk - good gods! how he will talk! - LEE: Alexander the Great, act i. sc. 3.

7 See Heywood, page 14.

She is no better than she should be. - FIELDING: The Temple Beau act iv. sc. 3.

From the crown of the head to the sole of the foot.1
The Honest Man's Fortune. Act ii. Sc. 2.
The Little French Lawyer. Act i. Sc. 1.

One foot in the grave.2

Go to grass.

There is no jesting with edge tools.
Though I say it that should not say it.

I name no parties.*

Act iv. Sc. 7

Ibid.

Wit at Several Weapons. Act ii. Sc. 2.

Sc. 3.

The Widow. Act i. Sc. 1.

He comes not in my books."

Death hath so many doors to let out life.

The Customs of the Country. Act ii. Sc. 2.

Of all the paths [that] lead to a woman's love
Pity's the straightest."

The Knight of Malta. Act i. Sc. 1.

Nothing can cover his high fame but heaven;
No pyramids set off his memories,

But the eternal substance of his greatness,
To which I leave him.

1 See Shakespeare, page 51.

The False One. Act ii. Sc. 1.

2 An old doting fool, with one foot already in the grave.

On the Training of Children.

3 It is no jesting with edge tools.

11594.)

PLUTARCH:

The True Tragedy of Richard III.

4 The use of "party" in the sense of "person" occurs in the Book of Common Prayer, More's "Utopia," Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, Fuller, and other old English writers.

5 Whistle, and I'll come to ye. - BURNS: Whistle, etc.

6 See Shakespeare, page 72.

8 See Webster, page 180.
9 Pity's akin to love.
Pity swells the tide of love.

line 107.

7 See Shakespeare, page 50.

SOUTHERNE: Oroonoka, act ii. sc. 1.

Thou wilt scarce be a man before thy mother.1

Love's Cure. Act ii. Sc. 2.

What's one man's poison, signor,
Is another's meat or drink.'

Primrose, first-born child of Ver,
Merry springtime's harbinger.

Act iii. Sc. 2.

The Two Noble Kinsmen. Act i. Sc. 1.

O great corrector of enormous times,
Shaker of o'er-rank states, thou grand decider
Of dusty and old titles, that healest with blood
The earth when it is sick, and curest the world
O' the pleurisy of people!

Act v. Sc. 1.

2 Quod ali cibus est aliis fuat acre venenum (What is food to one may be fierce poison to others). - LUCRETIUS: io. 637.

3 See Raleigh, page 26.

4 See Jonson, page 177.