his stores, and soon sluggish winter comes again.”
These, however, the artist makes (Henry V., act iv. sc. 1, l. 9, vol. v. p. 555),—
“Preachers to us all, admonishing
That we should dress us fairly for our end.”
Youthful Time (see [Plate XVII.]) is leading on the seasons,—a childlike spring, a matured summer wreathed with corn, an autumn crowned with vines, and a decrepid winter,—and yet the emblem of immortality lies at their feet; and the lesson is taught, as our Dramatist expresses it (Hamlet, act i. sc. 2, l. 71, vol. viii. p. 14),—
“All that lives must die
Passing through nature to eternity.”
The irrevocable time flies on, and surely it has its comment in Macbeth (act v. sc. 5, l. 19, vol. vii. p. 512),—
“To-morrow, and to-morrow, and to-morrow,
Creeps in this petty pace from day to day