And memory, like a drop that night and day
Falls cold and ceaseless, wore my heart away!
Lalla Rookh. T. MOORE.
Of all affliction taught the lover yet,
'T is sure the hardest science to forget.
Eloisa to Abélard. A. POPE.
Ere such a soul regains its peaceful state,
How often must it love, how often hate.
How often hope, despair, resent, regret,
Conceal, disdain,—do all things but forget.
Eloisa to Abélard. A. POPE.
To live with them is far less sweet
Than to remember thee!
I saw thy form. T. MOORE.
The heart hath its own memory, like the mind
And in it are enshrined
The precious keepsakes, into which is wrought
The giver's loving thought.
From my Arm-chair. H.W. LONGFELLOW.
MERCY.
The quality of mercy is not strained,—
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath: it is twice blessed,—
It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes:
'T is mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes
The thronèd monarch better than his crown;
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty,
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings:
But mercy is above this sceptred sway,—
It is enthroned in the hearts of kings,
It is an attribute to God himself;
And earthly power doth then show likest God's,
When mercy seasons justice….
We do pray for mercy;
And that same prayer doth teach us all to render
The deeds of mercy.
Merchant of Venice, Act iv. Sc. 1. SHAKESPEARE.
Who will not mercie unto others show,
How can he mercie ever hope to have?
Faërie Queene, Bk. VI. Canto I. E. SPENSER.