But that I am forbid
To tell the secrets of my prison-house,
I could a tale unfold, whose lightest word
Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood,
Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres,
Thy knotted and combined locks to part,
And each particular hair to stand on end,
Like quills upon the fretful porcupine:
But this eternal blazon must not be
To ears of flesh and blood.
Hamlet, Act i. Sc. 5. SHAKESPEARE.
Silence that dreadful bell: it frights the isle
From her propriety.
Othello, Act ii. Sc. 3. SHAKESPEARE.
FUTURE.
Often do the spirits
Of great events stride on before the events,
And in to-day already walks to-morrow.
The Death of Wallenstein. S.T. COLERIDGE.
When I consider life, 't is all a cheat.
Yet, fooled with hope, men favor the deceit;
Trust on, and think to-morrow will repay:
To-morrow's falser than the former day;
Lies worse; and, while it says we shall be blest
With some new joys, cuts off what we possest.
Strange cozenage! none would live past years again.
Yet all hope pleasure in what yet remain.
Aureng-Zebe; or, The Great Mogul, Act iv. Sc. 1. J. DRYDEN.
As though there were a tie,
And obligation to posterity.
We get them, bear them breed and nurse.
What has posterity done for us,
That we, lest they their rights should lose,
Should trust our necks to gripe of noose?
McFingal, Canto II. J. TRUMBULL.
The best of prophets of the Future is the Past.
Letter, Jan. 28, 1821. LORD BYRON.
GENTLEMAN.
He is gentil that doth gentil dedis.
Canterbury Tales: The Wyf of Bathes Tale. CHAUCER.
The gentle minde by gentle deeds is knowne;
For a man by nothing is so well bewrayed
As by his manners.
Faërie Queene, Bk. VI. Canto IV. E. SPENSER.