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CXXV



Were\'t aught to me I bore the canopy,

With my extern the outward honouring,

Or laid great bases for eternity,

Which proves more short than waste or ruining?

Have I not seen dwellers on form and favour

Lose all and more by paying too much rent

For compound sweet; forgoing simple savour,

Pitiful thrivers, in their gazing spent?

No; let me be obsequious in thy heart,

And take thou my oblation, poor but free,

Which is not mix\'d with seconds, knows no art,

But mutual render, only me for thee.

  Hence, thou suborned informer! a true soul

  When most impeach\'d, stands least in thy control.

 	--William Shakespeare

CXIX



What potions have I drunk of Siren tears,

Distill\'d from limbecks foul as hell within,

Applying fears to hopes, and hopes to fears,

Still losing when I saw myself to win!

What wretched errors hath my heart committed,

Whilst it hath thought itself so blessed never!

How have mine eyes out of their spheres been fitted,

In the distraction of this madding fever!

O benefit of ill! now I find true

That better is, by evil still made better;

And ruin\'d love, when it is built anew,

Grows fairer than at first, more strong, far greater.

  So I return rebuk\'d to my content,

  And gain by ill thrice more than I have spent.

 	--William Shakespeare

There is in true beauty, as in courage, something which narrow souls cannot dare to admire. -William
Congreve, 1693

I will stand on, and continue to use, the figures I have used, because I
believe they are correct. Now, I\'m not going to deny that you don\'t now
and then slip up on something; no one bats a thousand.
Ronald Reagan