Nothing in his life
Became him like the leaving it; he died,
As one that had been studied in his death,
To throw away the dearest thing he owed,
As 't were a careless trifle.
Macbeth, Act i. Sc. 4. SHAKESPEARE.
The bad man's death is horror; but the just,
Keeps something of his glory in the dust.
Castara. W. HABINGTON.
Cut off even in the blossoms of my sin,
Unhouseled, disappointed, unaneled;
No reckoning made, but sent to my account
With all my imperfections on my head.
Hamlet, Act i. Sc. 1. SHAKESPEARE.
With mortal crisis doth portend
My days to appropinque an end.
Hudibras, Pt. I. Canto III. S. BUTLER.
Sure, 't is a serious thing to die!…
Nature runs back and shudders at the sight,
And every life-string bleeds at thought of parting;
For part they must: body and soul must part;
Fond couple! linked more close than wedded pair.
The Grave. B. BLAIR.
While man is growing, life is in decrease;
And cradles rock us nearer to the tomb.
Our birth is nothing but our death begun.
Night Thoughts, Night V. DR. E. YOUNG.
Put out the light, and then—put out the light.
If I quench thee, thou flaming minister,
I can again thy former light restore,
Should I repent me; but once put out thy light,
Thou cunningest pattern of excelling nature,
I know not where is that Promethean heat,
That can thy light relume. When I have plucked thy rose
I cannot give it vital growth again,
It needs must wither.
Othello, Act v. Sc. 2. SHAKESPEARE.
Death loves a shining mark, a signal blow.
Night Thoughts, Night V. DR. E. YOUNG.
Death aims with fouler spite
At fairer marks.
Divine Poems. F. QUARLES.
The ripest fruit first falls.
Richard II., Act ii. Sc. 1. SHAKESPEARE.