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Ben Jonfon with fome warmth; Mr. Hales, who had fat ftill for fome time, told them, That if Mr. Shakspeare had not read the ancients, he had likewife not ftolen any thing from them; and that if he would produce any one topick finely treated by any one of them, he would undertake to fhew fomething upon the fame fubject, at least as well written, by Shakspeare.

The latter part of his life was fpent, as all men of good fenfe will wifh theirs may be, in ease, retirement, and the conversation of his friends. He had the good fortune to gather an estate equal to his occafion, and, in that, to his wifh; and is faid to have spent fome years before his death at his native Stratford.

He died in the 53d year of his age, leaving three daughters, of which two lived to be married; Judith, the elder, to one Mr. Thomas Quiney, by whom the had three fons, who all died without children; and Sufannah, who was his favourite, to Dr. John Hall, a phyfician of good reputation in that country. She left one child only, a daughter, who was married, first, to Thomas Nafh, Efq. and afterwards to Sir John Bernard of Abbington, but died likewife without iffue.

B 2

Α

SELECT COLLECTION

OF

The BEAUTIES of SHAKSPEARE.

SWEET

ADVERSITY.

WEET are the uses of adversity;

Which, like the toad, ugly and venemous,
Wears yet a precious jewel in its head.

As You Like It, A. 2. Sc. I.

ANGER.

Anger is like

A full hot horse, who being allowed his way,

Self-mettle tires him..

K. Henry VIII. A. 1. Sc. 2.

ART

ART AND NATURE.

-Nature is made better by no mean,

But Nature makes that mean: fo over that Art
Which, you fay, adds to Nature, is an Art
That Nature makes. You fee, fweet maid, we marry
A gentler fcyon to the wildest stock;

And make conceive a bark of bafer kind
By buds of nobler race. This is an Art

Which does mend Nature, change it rather; but

The Art itself is Nature.

The Winter's Tale, A. 4. Sc. 3.

AUTHORITY.

-O, but man! proud man!

Dreft in a little brief authority,

Moft ignorant of what he's moft afsured,

His glafly effence, like an angry ape,

Plays fuch fantastic tricks before high heav'n,
As makes the angels weep; who, with our fpleens,

Would all themselves laugh mortal.

Meafure for Measure, A. 2. Sc. 4.

-Plate fin with gold,

And the strong lance of justice hurtless breaks;
Arm it in rags-a pigmy's ftraw doth pierce it.

King Lear, A. 4. Sc. 6.

BEAUTY.

BEAUTY.

O, the doth teach the torches to burn bright!
Her beauty hangs upon the cheek of night
Like a rich jewel in an Æthiop's ear.

Romeo and Juliet, A. 1. Sc. 4.

BLESSING.

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Longer than I have time to tell his years!

King Henry VIII. A. 2. Sc. 2.

COMPASSION.

-Mine enemy's dog,

Though he had bit me, should have stood that night

Against my fire.

King Lear, A. 4. Sc. 7.

CONSCIENCE.

What ftronger breast-plate than a heart untainted?
Thrice is he arm'd that hath his quarrel juft;
And he but naked, though lock'd up in fteel,
Whose conscience with injuftice is corrupted.

Henry VI. Part II. A. 3. Sc. 3.

CONTENT.

-Verily,

I fwear, 'tis better to be lowly born,
And range with humble livers in content,
Than to be perk'd up in a glistening grief,
And wear a golden forrow.

Henry VIII. A. 2. Sc.

3:

COUNSEL.

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