Page 29

Edmund Spenser. (1552?–1599) (continued)

263

For all that Nature by her mother-wit 1
Could frame in earth.

Faerie Queene. Book iv. Canto x. St. 21.

264

Ill can he rule the great that cannot reach the small.

Faerie Queene. Book v. Canto ii. St. 43.

265

Who will not mercie unto others show,
How can he mercy ever hope to have? 2

Faerie Queene. Book v. Canto ii. St. 42.

266

The gentle minde by gentle deeds is knowne;
For a man by nothing is so well bewrayed
As by his manners.

Faerie Queene. Book vi. Canto iii. St. 1.

267

For we by conquest, of our soveraine might,
And by eternall doome of Fate’s decree,
Have wonne the Empire of the Heavens bright.

Faerie Queene. Book vii. Canto vi. St. 33.

268

For of the soule the bodie forme doth take;
For soule is forme, and doth the bodie make.

An Hymne in Honour of Beautie. Line 132.

269

For all that faire is, is by nature good; 3
That is a signe to know the gentle blood.

An Hymne in Honour of Beautie. Line 139.

270

    To kerke the narre from God more farre, 4
  Has bene an old-sayd sawe;
And he that strives to touche a starre
  Oft stombles at a strawe.

The Shepheardes Calender. July. Line 97.

271

Full little knowest thou that hast not tride,
What hell it is in suing long to bide:
To loose good dayes, that might be better spent;
To wast long nights in pensive discontent;
To speed to-day, to be put back to-morrow;
To feed on hope, to pine with feare and sorrow.
. . . . . . . . .

Note 1.
Mother wit.—Christopher Marlowe: Prologue to Tamberlaine the Great, part i. Thomas Middleton: Your Five Gallants, act i. sc. 1. William Shakespeare: Taming of the Shrew, act ii. sc. 1. [back]

Note 2.
Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.—Matthew v. 7. [back]

Note 3.
The hand that hath made you fair hath made you good.—William Shakespeare: Measure for Measure, act iii. sc. 1. [back]

Note 4.
See Heywood, Quotation 40. [back]

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