EAGERNESS. My desire, More sharp than filed steel, did spur me forth. T. N. iii. 3.
EARTHQUAKES. Diseased nature oftentimes breaks forth In strange eruptions : and the teeming earth Is with a kind of
cholic pinch' d and vex'd By the imprisoning of unruly wind Within her womb ; which, for enlargement striving, Shakes the old beldame earth, and topples down Steeples and moss-grown towers. H. IV. pt. I. iii. 1.
ECHO. Let us sit, And, whilst the babbling echo mocks the hounds, Replying shrilly to the well-tun' d horns, As if a double hunt were heard at once. Tit. And. ii. 3.
My hounds shall make the welkin answer them, And fetch shrill echoes from the hollow earth. T. S. Ind. 2.
The reverberate hills. T. N. i. 5.
The babbling gossip of the air T. N. i. 5.
EFFORTS, Abortive. How my achievements mock me ! T. C. iv. 2.
EGOTISM. There's not one wise man among twenty that will praise himself. M. A. v. 4.
ELEPHANT. The Elephant hath joints, but none for courtesy : his legs are legs for necessity, not for flexure. T. C. ii. 3 .
ELEVATION of Soul. I have Immortal longings, in me. A. C. v. 2.
ELOQUENCE. Some there are Who on the tip of their persuasive tongue Carry all arguments and questions deep ; And replication prompt, and reason strong, To make the weeper smile, the laugher weep. They have the dialect and different skill, Catching all passions
in their craft of will. That in the general bosom they do reign Of young and old, and either sex enchain. Poems.
When rank Thersites opes his mastiff jaws We shall hear music, wit and oracle. T.C. i. 3.
ELVES (See also Faries, Spirits). Ye elves of hills, brooks, standing lakes, and groves ; And ye, that on the sands with printless foot
Do chace the ebbing Neptune, and do fly him, When he comes back ; you demi-puppets, that By moonshine do the green-sour ringlets make, . Whereof the ewe not bites ; and you, whose pastime Is to make midnight mushrooms ; that rejoice To hear the solemn curfew ;
by whose aid (Weak masters though you be) I have be-dimm'd The noontide sun, call'd forth the mutinous winds, And 'twixt the green sea and the azur'd vault Set roaring war : to the dread rattling thunder Have I given fire, and rifted Jove's stout.oak With his own bolt : the
strong bas'd promontory Have I made shake ; and by the spurs pluck'd up The pine and cedar : graves at my command, Have wak'd
their sleepers ; ope'd and let them forth By my so potent art : but this rough magic I here abjure : and, when I have requir'd Some heav'nly music (which even now I do) To work mine end upon their senses, that This airy charm is for, I'll break my staff, Bury it certain fathoms in
the earth, And deeper than did ever plummet sound, I'll drown my book. T.v.1.
EMBLEM (See Roses of York and Lancaster).
EMOTION (See also Passions). Alternating. I have felt so many quirks of joy, and grief, That the first face of neither, on the start, Can woman me unto't. A. W. iii. 2.
Conflicting. You have seen Sunshine and rain at once. Those happy smiles That play'd on her ripe lip, seem'd not to know What guests were in her eyes ; which parted thence, As pearls from diamonds dropp'd. K. L. iv. 3.
But, 0, the noble combat, that, 'twixt joy and sorrow was fought in Paulina ! She had one eye declined for the loss of her husband ; another elevated that the oraole was fulfilled ; she lifted the princes from the earth ; and so locks her in embracing, as if she would pin her to her heart. W.T. v. 2.
Silent. He has strangled His language in his tears. H. VIII. v. 1.
Silence is the perfectest herald of joy. I were but little happy if I could say how much. M. A. ii. 1.
EMULATION. For honour travels in a strait so narrow, Where one but goes abreast ; keep then the path : For emulation hath a thousand sons, That one by one pursue : If you give way, Or hedge aside from the direct forthright, Like to an entered tide, they all rush by, And leave you hindmost : — - Or, like a gallant horse fallen in first rank, Lies there for pavement to the abject rear,
O'er-run and trampled on : Then what they do in present, Though less than yours in past, must o'er-top yours. T.C.iii.3.
END. The long day's task is done, And we must sleep. A.C. iv. 12.
(the) Crowns the Means. Near, or far off, well won is still well shot. K. J. i. 1.
The end crowns all ; And that old common arbitrator, Time, Will one day end it. T.C. iv. 5.
ENDLESS. What ! will the line stretch out to the crack of doom ? M. iv. 1.
ENEMIES. You have many enemies, that know not Why they are so ; but, like to village curs, Bark when their fellows do.
H.VIII. ii. 4.
If the enemy is an ass, and a fool, and a prating cox« comb, is it meet, think you, that we should also, look you, be an ass, and a fool, and
a prating coxcomb ? H.V. iv. 1.
ENGLAND (See also Britain). This royal throne of kings, this scepter'd isle, This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars, This other Eden, demi-paradise ; This fortress built by nature for herself, Against infection and the hand of war ; This happy breed of men, this little
world ; This precious stone set in the silver sea, Which serves it in the office of a wall, Or as a moat defensive to a house, Against the envy of less happy lands ; This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England, This nurse, this teeming womb of royal kings, Fear'd by their breed, and famous by their birth, Renowned for their deeds as far from home, (For Christian service, and true chivalry,) As is the sepulchre in stubborn Jewry, Of the world's ransom, blessed Mary's son : This land of such dear souls, this dear dear land, Dear for her reputation through the world, Is now leas' d out (I die pronouncing it,) Like to a tenement, or pelting farm : England, bound in with the triumphant sea, Whose rocky shore beats back the envious siege Of watery Neptune, is now bound in with shame, With inky blots, and rotten parchment bonds ; That England that was wont to conquer others, Has made a shameful conquest of itself. R. II. ii. 1.
Our sea-wall' d garden, the whole land, Is full of weeds, her fairest flowers choak'd up, Her fruit-trees all un-prun'd, her hedges ruin'd,
Her knots disorder'd, and her wholesome herbs Swarming with caterpillars. R. II. iii. 4.
I will no more return, Till Angiers, and the right thou hast in France, Together with that pale, that white-fac'd shore, Whose foot spurns
back the ocean's roaring tides, And coops from other lands her islanders ; Even till that England, hedg'd in with the main, That
water-walled bulwark, still secure And confident from foreign purposes, Even till that utmost corner of the west Salute thee for her king.
K.J.ii.1.
This England never did, (nor never shall) Lie. at the proud foot of a conqueror, But when it first did help to wound itself.**** Nought shall make us rue If England to herself do rest but true. K.J. v. 7.
O England, model to thy inward greatness, Like little body with a mighty heart, — What might'st thou do, that honour would thee do,
Were all thy children kind and natural ! But see thy fault ! H. V. ii. chorus.
O nation, that thou could'st remove ! That Neptune's arms, who clippeth thee about, Would bear thee from the knowledge of thyself, And grapple thee unto a pagan shore. K.J. v. 2.
's Defence. Let us be back'd with God, and with the seas, Which he hath given for fence impregnable, And with their helps, only, defend ourselves ; In them, and in ourselves, our safety lies. H. VI. pt. III. iv. 1.
ENGLISH, The. Would I had never trod this English earth, Or felt the flatteries that grow upon it ! Ye have angels' faces, but heaven knows your hearts ! H.VIII. iii. 1.
The men do sympathize with the mastiffs, in robustious and rough coming on, leaving their wits with their wives ; and then give them great meals of beef, and iron, and steel, they will eat like wolves, and fight like devils. H. V. iii. 7.
Wranglers. Be friends, you English fools, be friends ; we have French quarrels enough, if you could tell how to reckon. H. V. iv. 1.
ENJOYMENT, Frequency of, diminishes Pleasure. The nightingale in summer's front doth sing, And stops his pipe in growth of riper
days ; Not that the summer is more pleasant now Then when his mournful hymns did hush the night, But that wild music burdens every bough, And sweets grown common lose their dear delight. Poems.
ENLARGEMENT. Ay, marry, now my soul hath elbow room. K. J. v. 7.
ENMITY. If I had a thunderbolt in mine eye, I can tell who should down. A. Y. i. 2.
ENTERPRISE. Impossible be strange attempts, to those That weigh their pains in sense ; and do suppose What hath been
cannot be. A. W. i. 1.
Of all exploits since first I follow'd arms, Ne'er heard I of a warlike enterprise More venturous or desperate than this. H. VI. pt. I. ii. 1.
ENVY. Know you not, master, to some kind of men Their graces serve them but as enemies ? No more do yours ; your virtues, gentle master, Are sanctified and holy traitors to you. 0, what a world is this, when what is comely Envenoms him that bears it !
A. Y. ii. 3.
Lean-fac'd Envy in her loathsome cave. H. VI. pt. II. iii. 2.
Now I feel Of what coarse metal ye are moulded, — envy. How eagerly ye follow my disgraces, As if it fed ye ! and how sleek and wanton Ye appear in every thing may bring my ruin ! Follow your envious courses, men of malice ; You have Christian warrant for them, and, no doubt, In time will find their fit rewards. H. VIII. iii. 2.
My heart laments, that virtue cannot live Out of the teeth of emulation. J.C. ii. 3.
Men, that make Envy, and crooked malice, nourishment, Dare bite the best. H. VIII. v. 2.
EPITHETS. Truly, master Holofernes, the epithets are sweetly varied, like a scholar at the least. L. L. iv. 2.
Fond. A world Of pretty, fond, adoptious Christendoms, That blinking Cupid gossips. A. W. i. 1.
EQUANIMITY. Nobly he yokes A smiling with a sigh ; as if the sigh Was that it was, for not being such a smile ; The smile, mocking the sigh, that it would fly From so divine a temple, to commix With winds, that sailors rail at. Cym. iv. 2.
Thus ready for the way of life or death, I wait the sharpest blow. P. P. i. 1.
EQUIVOCATION. 'Faith, here's an equivocator, that could swear in both the scales against either scale ; who committed treason enough for God's sake, yet could not equivocate to heaven. M. ii. 3.
How absolute the knave is ! we must speak by the card, or equivocation will undo us. H. v. 1.
ERROR. O hateful error, melancholy's child ! Why dost thou show to the apt thoughts of men The things that are not ? O error, soon conceiv'd, Thou never com'st unto a happy birth, But kill'st the mother that engender'd thee. J.C. v. 3.
But we worldly men Have miserable, mad, mistaking eyes. Tit. And. v. 2.
0, what men dare do ! what men may do ! what men daily do ! not knowing what they do ! M. A. iv. 1.
When from things true, the heart and eyes have err'd, To a false plague they often are transferr'd. Poems.
In your affairs, my lord, If ever I were wilful-negligent, It was my folly ; if industriously I play'd the fool, it was my negligence, Not weighing well the end ; if ever fearful To do a thing, where I the issue doubted, Whereof the execution did cry out Against the non-performance,
'twas a fear Which oft affects the wisest : these, my lord, Are such allow'd infirmities, that honesty Is never free of.
W.T. i. 2.
Popular. 'Tis the time's plague, when madmen lead the blind. K.L. iv. 1.
ESCAPE. You may thank the unquiet time for your quiet o'er- posting that action. H. IV. pt. II. i. 2.
I have been in such a pickle since I saw you last, that, I fear me, will never out of my bones : I shall not fear fly- blowing. T. v. 1.
ESPOUSALS (See also Wife). Let still the woman take An elder than herself; so wears she to him, So sways she level in her
husband's heart. For, boy, however we do praise ourselves, Our fancies are more giddy and unfirm, More longing, wavering, sooner lost and won, Than women's are. T.N.ii.4.
Then let thy love be younger than thyself, Or thy affection cannot hold the bent : For women are as roses, whose fair flower, Being once display'd, doth fall that very hour. T. N. ii. 4.
EVASION. What trick, what device, what starting hole, canst thou now find out, to hide thee from this open and apparent shame.
H. IV. pt. I. ii. 4.
For, well you know, we of th' offending side Must keep aloof from strict arbitrement : And stop all sight-holes ; every loop, from whence
The eye of reason may pry in upon us. H. IV. pt. I. iv. 1.
Worn-out. I ne'er had worse luck in my life, in my, — Lord, Sir: I see, things may serve long, but not serve ever. A.W.ii.2.
EVENING. Light thickens ; and the crow Makes wing to the rooky wood. M. iii. 2.
The west yet glimmers with some streaks of day : Now spurs the lated traveller apace, To gain the timely inn. M.iii.3.
Good things of day begin to droop and drowze. M. iii. 2.
EVIL. There is some soul of goodness in things evil Would men observingly distil it out : For our bad neighbour makes us early
stirrers, Which is both healthful, and good husbandry ; Besides, they are our outward consciences, And preachers to us all ; admonishing, That we should dress us fairly for our end. Thus may we gather honey from the weed, And make a moral of the devil himself. H. V. iv. 1.
EXALTATION. Now climbeth Tamora Olympus' top ; Safe out of fortune's shot : and sits aloft, Secure of thunder's crack, or lightning's flash ; Advanc'd above pale Envy's threat'ning reach. Tit. And. ii. 1.
EXAMINATION. Peace ; sit you down, And let me wring your heart ; for so I shall, If it be made of penetrable stuff; If damned custom have not braz'd it so, That it be proof and bulwark against sense. H. iii. 4.
You go not, till I set you up a glass, Where you may see the inmost part of you. H. iii. 4.
EXAMPLE. Thieves for their robbery have authority When judges steal themselves. M. M. ii. 2.
More authority, dear boy, name more ; and, sweet my child, let them be even of good repute and carriage. L.L. i.1.
EXASPERATION. Why, look you, I am whipp'd and scourg'd with rods, Nettled, and stung with pismires, when I hear Of this vile politician, Bolingbroke. H. IV. pt. I. i. 3.
EXCELLENCE. They are worthy To inlay heaven with stars. Cym. v. 5.
The top of admiration ; worth What's dearest to the world. T. iii. 1.
But you, O you So perfect and so peerless, are created Of every creature's best. T. iii. 1.
EXCESS. As surfeit is the father of much fast, So every scope by the immoderate use Turns to restraint : our natures do pursue
(Like rats, that ravin down their proper bane) A thirsty evil ; and when we drink, we die. M. M. i. 3.
Allow not nature more than nature needs. K. L. ii. 4.
EXCITEMENT. And thereof came it that the man was mad. C. E. v. 1.
EXCUSES sometimes Improper. When workmen strive to do better than well, They do confound their skill in covetousness : And, oftentimes, excusing of a fault, Doth make the fault the worse by the excuse ; As patches set upon a little breach, Discredit more in
hiding of the fault, Than did the fault before it was so patch'd. K. J. iv. 2.
EXPECTATION. Oft expectation fails, and most oft there Where most it promises ; and oft it hits, Where hope is coldest, and
despair most sits. A. W. ii. 1.
For now sits Expectation in the air. H. V. ii. chorus.
So tedious is this day, As is the night before some festival To an impatient child, that hath new robes, And may not wear them.
R. J. iii. 2.
Now expectation, tickling skittish spirits, On one and other side, Trojan and Greek Sets all on hazard. T. C. Prologue.
The town is empty ; on the brow o' the sea Stand ranks of people, and they cry, — a sail. 0. ii. 1.
For every minute is expectancy Of more arrivance. O.ii.1.
It is a high-wrought flood ; I cannot, 'twixt the heaven and the main, Descry a sail. O.ii.1.
Even till we make the main, and the aerial blue An indistinct regard. 0. ii. 1.
EXPEDIENCY. Construe the times to their necessities. H. IV. pt. II. iv. 1.
EXPERIENCE. Experience is by industry achiev'd, And perfected by the swift course of time. T.G. i. 3.
Experience, 0, thou disprov'st report ! Cym. v. 2.
EXPIRING. Vex not his ghost ; O let him pass, he hates him, That would upon the rack of this tough world Stretch him out longer.
K.L. v. 3.
EXPLANATION. To my unfolding lend a gracious ear ; And let me find a charter in your voice, To assist my simpleness. O. i. 3.
EXPLOSION. It shall go hard, But I will delve one yard below their mines, And blow them to the moon. H. iii. 4.
EXPOSURE. Come, come ; Lend me a light. Know we this face, or no ? O. v. 1.
EXPRESSION, Lascivious. Fie, fie upon her ! There's language in her eye, her cheek, her lip ; Nay, her foot speaks ; her wanton
spirits look out, At every joint and motion of her body. 0, these encounterers, so glib of tongue, That give a coasting welcome ere it
comes, And wide unclasp the tables of their thoughts To every ticklish reader ! set them down For sluttish spoils of opportunity, And daughters of the game. T. C. iv. 5.
EXPULSION. I cannot tell, good Sir, for which of his virtues it was, but he was certainly whipped out of the court. W. T. iv. 2.
EXTACY. Helicanus, strike me, honor'd Sir ; Give me a gash, put me to present pain ; Lest this great sea of joys rushing upon me, O'erbear the shores of my mortality, And drown me with their sweetness. P. P. v. 1.
EXTENUATION. I would, I could Quit all offences with as clear excuse, As well as, I am doubtless, I can purge Myself of many I am charg'd withal : Yet such extenuation let me beg, As, in reproof of many tales devis'd,— Which oft the ear of greatness needs must
hear, — By smiling pick-thanks and base newsmongers, I may, for some things true, wherein my youth Hath faulty wander'd and
irregular, Find pardon on my true submission. H. IV. pt. I. iii. 2.
EXTERIOR, Plausible. _ There is a fair behaviour in thee, captain ; And though that nature, with a beauteous wall, Doth oft close in pollution, yet of thee I will believe, thou hast a mind that suits With this thy fair and outward character. T.N. i. 2 .
EYE. Men's eyes were made to look, and let them gaze. R. J. iii. 1.
The eye sees not itself, But by reflection, by some other things. J. C. i. 2.
Let every eye negociate for itself, and trust no agent. M.A.ii.1.
An eye like Mars, to threaten and command. H. iii. 4.
What an eye she hath ! methinks it sounds a parley of provocation. 0. ii. 3.
For his ordinary, pays his heart, For what his eyes eat only. A. C. ii. 2.
From women's eyes this doctrine I derive : They sparkle still the right Promethean fire ; They are the books, the arts, the academies,
That show, contain, and nourish all the world ; Else, none at all in aught proves excellent. L. L. iv. 3.
Thou tell'st me there is murder in mine eye : 'Tis pretty, sure, and very probable, That eyes, — that are the frail'st and softest things, Who shut their coward gates on atomies, — Should be call'd tyrants, butchers, murderers ! Now I do frown on thee with all my heart ; And, if
mine eyes can wound, now let them kill thee ; Now counterfeit to swoon ; why now fall down ; Or, if thou can'st not, 0, for shame, for
shame, Lie not, to say mine eyes are murderers. Now show the wound mine eyes have made in thee : Scratch thee but with a pin, and there remains Some scar of it ; lean but upon a rush, The cicatrice and capable impressure Thy palm some moment keeps : but now
mines eyes, Which I have darted at thee, hurt thee not ; Nor, I am sure, there is no force in eyes, That can do hurt.
A.Y. iii. 5.
She speaks, yet she says nothing; — what of that? Her eye discourses, I will answer it. I am too bold, 'tis not to me she speaks :
Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven, Having some business, do entreat her eyes To twinkle in their spheres till they return.
R. J. ii. 2.
I perceive, these lords, At this encounter, do so much admire, That they devour their reason ; and scarce think Their eyes do offices of
truth, their words Are natural breath. T. v. 1.
The beauty that is borne here in the face The bearer knows not, but commends itself To others' eyes : nor doth the eye itself (That most pure spirit of sense) behold itself, Not going from itself; but eye to eye oppos'd Salute each other with each other's form.
T. C.iii.3.
EYE-brows. Your brows are blacker ; yet black brows, they say, Become some women best ; so that there be not Too much hair
there, but in a semi-circle, Or half moon made with a pen. W.T. ii. 1.
and Ears. My will enkindled by mine eyes and ears, Two traded pilots 'twixt the dangerous shores Of will and judgment. T. C. ii. 2.
EARTHQUAKES. Diseased nature oftentimes breaks forth In strange eruptions : and the teeming earth Is with a kind of
cholic pinch' d and vex'd By the imprisoning of unruly wind Within her womb ; which, for enlargement striving, Shakes the old beldame earth, and topples down Steeples and moss-grown towers. H. IV. pt. I. iii. 1.
ECHO. Let us sit, And, whilst the babbling echo mocks the hounds, Replying shrilly to the well-tun' d horns, As if a double hunt were heard at once. Tit. And. ii. 3.
My hounds shall make the welkin answer them, And fetch shrill echoes from the hollow earth. T. S. Ind. 2.
The reverberate hills. T. N. i. 5.
The babbling gossip of the air T. N. i. 5.
EFFORTS, Abortive. How my achievements mock me ! T. C. iv. 2.
EGOTISM. There's not one wise man among twenty that will praise himself. M. A. v. 4.
ELEPHANT. The Elephant hath joints, but none for courtesy : his legs are legs for necessity, not for flexure. T. C. ii. 3 .
ELEVATION of Soul. I have Immortal longings, in me. A. C. v. 2.
ELOQUENCE. Some there are Who on the tip of their persuasive tongue Carry all arguments and questions deep ; And replication prompt, and reason strong, To make the weeper smile, the laugher weep. They have the dialect and different skill, Catching all passions
in their craft of will. That in the general bosom they do reign Of young and old, and either sex enchain. Poems.
When rank Thersites opes his mastiff jaws We shall hear music, wit and oracle. T.C. i. 3.
ELVES (See also Faries, Spirits). Ye elves of hills, brooks, standing lakes, and groves ; And ye, that on the sands with printless foot
Do chace the ebbing Neptune, and do fly him, When he comes back ; you demi-puppets, that By moonshine do the green-sour ringlets make, . Whereof the ewe not bites ; and you, whose pastime Is to make midnight mushrooms ; that rejoice To hear the solemn curfew ;
by whose aid (Weak masters though you be) I have be-dimm'd The noontide sun, call'd forth the mutinous winds, And 'twixt the green sea and the azur'd vault Set roaring war : to the dread rattling thunder Have I given fire, and rifted Jove's stout.oak With his own bolt : the
strong bas'd promontory Have I made shake ; and by the spurs pluck'd up The pine and cedar : graves at my command, Have wak'd
their sleepers ; ope'd and let them forth By my so potent art : but this rough magic I here abjure : and, when I have requir'd Some heav'nly music (which even now I do) To work mine end upon their senses, that This airy charm is for, I'll break my staff, Bury it certain fathoms in
the earth, And deeper than did ever plummet sound, I'll drown my book. T.v.1.
EMBLEM (See Roses of York and Lancaster).
EMOTION (See also Passions). Alternating. I have felt so many quirks of joy, and grief, That the first face of neither, on the start, Can woman me unto't. A. W. iii. 2.
Conflicting. You have seen Sunshine and rain at once. Those happy smiles That play'd on her ripe lip, seem'd not to know What guests were in her eyes ; which parted thence, As pearls from diamonds dropp'd. K. L. iv. 3.
But, 0, the noble combat, that, 'twixt joy and sorrow was fought in Paulina ! She had one eye declined for the loss of her husband ; another elevated that the oraole was fulfilled ; she lifted the princes from the earth ; and so locks her in embracing, as if she would pin her to her heart. W.T. v. 2.
Silent. He has strangled His language in his tears. H. VIII. v. 1.
Silence is the perfectest herald of joy. I were but little happy if I could say how much. M. A. ii. 1.
EMULATION. For honour travels in a strait so narrow, Where one but goes abreast ; keep then the path : For emulation hath a thousand sons, That one by one pursue : If you give way, Or hedge aside from the direct forthright, Like to an entered tide, they all rush by, And leave you hindmost : — - Or, like a gallant horse fallen in first rank, Lies there for pavement to the abject rear,
O'er-run and trampled on : Then what they do in present, Though less than yours in past, must o'er-top yours. T.C.iii.3.
END. The long day's task is done, And we must sleep. A.C. iv. 12.
(the) Crowns the Means. Near, or far off, well won is still well shot. K. J. i. 1.
The end crowns all ; And that old common arbitrator, Time, Will one day end it. T.C. iv. 5.
ENDLESS. What ! will the line stretch out to the crack of doom ? M. iv. 1.
ENEMIES. You have many enemies, that know not Why they are so ; but, like to village curs, Bark when their fellows do.
H.VIII. ii. 4.
If the enemy is an ass, and a fool, and a prating cox« comb, is it meet, think you, that we should also, look you, be an ass, and a fool, and
a prating coxcomb ? H.V. iv. 1.
ENGLAND (See also Britain). This royal throne of kings, this scepter'd isle, This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars, This other Eden, demi-paradise ; This fortress built by nature for herself, Against infection and the hand of war ; This happy breed of men, this little
world ; This precious stone set in the silver sea, Which serves it in the office of a wall, Or as a moat defensive to a house, Against the envy of less happy lands ; This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, this England, This nurse, this teeming womb of royal kings, Fear'd by their breed, and famous by their birth, Renowned for their deeds as far from home, (For Christian service, and true chivalry,) As is the sepulchre in stubborn Jewry, Of the world's ransom, blessed Mary's son : This land of such dear souls, this dear dear land, Dear for her reputation through the world, Is now leas' d out (I die pronouncing it,) Like to a tenement, or pelting farm : England, bound in with the triumphant sea, Whose rocky shore beats back the envious siege Of watery Neptune, is now bound in with shame, With inky blots, and rotten parchment bonds ; That England that was wont to conquer others, Has made a shameful conquest of itself. R. II. ii. 1.
Our sea-wall' d garden, the whole land, Is full of weeds, her fairest flowers choak'd up, Her fruit-trees all un-prun'd, her hedges ruin'd,
Her knots disorder'd, and her wholesome herbs Swarming with caterpillars. R. II. iii. 4.
I will no more return, Till Angiers, and the right thou hast in France, Together with that pale, that white-fac'd shore, Whose foot spurns
back the ocean's roaring tides, And coops from other lands her islanders ; Even till that England, hedg'd in with the main, That
water-walled bulwark, still secure And confident from foreign purposes, Even till that utmost corner of the west Salute thee for her king.
K.J.ii.1.
This England never did, (nor never shall) Lie. at the proud foot of a conqueror, But when it first did help to wound itself.**** Nought shall make us rue If England to herself do rest but true. K.J. v. 7.
O England, model to thy inward greatness, Like little body with a mighty heart, — What might'st thou do, that honour would thee do,
Were all thy children kind and natural ! But see thy fault ! H. V. ii. chorus.
O nation, that thou could'st remove ! That Neptune's arms, who clippeth thee about, Would bear thee from the knowledge of thyself, And grapple thee unto a pagan shore. K.J. v. 2.
's Defence. Let us be back'd with God, and with the seas, Which he hath given for fence impregnable, And with their helps, only, defend ourselves ; In them, and in ourselves, our safety lies. H. VI. pt. III. iv. 1.
ENGLISH, The. Would I had never trod this English earth, Or felt the flatteries that grow upon it ! Ye have angels' faces, but heaven knows your hearts ! H.VIII. iii. 1.
The men do sympathize with the mastiffs, in robustious and rough coming on, leaving their wits with their wives ; and then give them great meals of beef, and iron, and steel, they will eat like wolves, and fight like devils. H. V. iii. 7.
Wranglers. Be friends, you English fools, be friends ; we have French quarrels enough, if you could tell how to reckon. H. V. iv. 1.
ENJOYMENT, Frequency of, diminishes Pleasure. The nightingale in summer's front doth sing, And stops his pipe in growth of riper
days ; Not that the summer is more pleasant now Then when his mournful hymns did hush the night, But that wild music burdens every bough, And sweets grown common lose their dear delight. Poems.
ENLARGEMENT. Ay, marry, now my soul hath elbow room. K. J. v. 7.
ENMITY. If I had a thunderbolt in mine eye, I can tell who should down. A. Y. i. 2.
ENTERPRISE. Impossible be strange attempts, to those That weigh their pains in sense ; and do suppose What hath been
cannot be. A. W. i. 1.
Of all exploits since first I follow'd arms, Ne'er heard I of a warlike enterprise More venturous or desperate than this. H. VI. pt. I. ii. 1.
ENVY. Know you not, master, to some kind of men Their graces serve them but as enemies ? No more do yours ; your virtues, gentle master, Are sanctified and holy traitors to you. 0, what a world is this, when what is comely Envenoms him that bears it !
A. Y. ii. 3.
Lean-fac'd Envy in her loathsome cave. H. VI. pt. II. iii. 2.
Now I feel Of what coarse metal ye are moulded, — envy. How eagerly ye follow my disgraces, As if it fed ye ! and how sleek and wanton Ye appear in every thing may bring my ruin ! Follow your envious courses, men of malice ; You have Christian warrant for them, and, no doubt, In time will find their fit rewards. H. VIII. iii. 2.
My heart laments, that virtue cannot live Out of the teeth of emulation. J.C. ii. 3.
Men, that make Envy, and crooked malice, nourishment, Dare bite the best. H. VIII. v. 2.
EPITHETS. Truly, master Holofernes, the epithets are sweetly varied, like a scholar at the least. L. L. iv. 2.
Fond. A world Of pretty, fond, adoptious Christendoms, That blinking Cupid gossips. A. W. i. 1.
EQUANIMITY. Nobly he yokes A smiling with a sigh ; as if the sigh Was that it was, for not being such a smile ; The smile, mocking the sigh, that it would fly From so divine a temple, to commix With winds, that sailors rail at. Cym. iv. 2.
Thus ready for the way of life or death, I wait the sharpest blow. P. P. i. 1.
EQUIVOCATION. 'Faith, here's an equivocator, that could swear in both the scales against either scale ; who committed treason enough for God's sake, yet could not equivocate to heaven. M. ii. 3.
How absolute the knave is ! we must speak by the card, or equivocation will undo us. H. v. 1.
ERROR. O hateful error, melancholy's child ! Why dost thou show to the apt thoughts of men The things that are not ? O error, soon conceiv'd, Thou never com'st unto a happy birth, But kill'st the mother that engender'd thee. J.C. v. 3.
But we worldly men Have miserable, mad, mistaking eyes. Tit. And. v. 2.
0, what men dare do ! what men may do ! what men daily do ! not knowing what they do ! M. A. iv. 1.
When from things true, the heart and eyes have err'd, To a false plague they often are transferr'd. Poems.
In your affairs, my lord, If ever I were wilful-negligent, It was my folly ; if industriously I play'd the fool, it was my negligence, Not weighing well the end ; if ever fearful To do a thing, where I the issue doubted, Whereof the execution did cry out Against the non-performance,
'twas a fear Which oft affects the wisest : these, my lord, Are such allow'd infirmities, that honesty Is never free of.
W.T. i. 2.
Popular. 'Tis the time's plague, when madmen lead the blind. K.L. iv. 1.
ESCAPE. You may thank the unquiet time for your quiet o'er- posting that action. H. IV. pt. II. i. 2.
I have been in such a pickle since I saw you last, that, I fear me, will never out of my bones : I shall not fear fly- blowing. T. v. 1.
ESPOUSALS (See also Wife). Let still the woman take An elder than herself; so wears she to him, So sways she level in her
husband's heart. For, boy, however we do praise ourselves, Our fancies are more giddy and unfirm, More longing, wavering, sooner lost and won, Than women's are. T.N.ii.4.
Then let thy love be younger than thyself, Or thy affection cannot hold the bent : For women are as roses, whose fair flower, Being once display'd, doth fall that very hour. T. N. ii. 4.
EVASION. What trick, what device, what starting hole, canst thou now find out, to hide thee from this open and apparent shame.
H. IV. pt. I. ii. 4.
For, well you know, we of th' offending side Must keep aloof from strict arbitrement : And stop all sight-holes ; every loop, from whence
The eye of reason may pry in upon us. H. IV. pt. I. iv. 1.
Worn-out. I ne'er had worse luck in my life, in my, — Lord, Sir: I see, things may serve long, but not serve ever. A.W.ii.2.
EVENING. Light thickens ; and the crow Makes wing to the rooky wood. M. iii. 2.
The west yet glimmers with some streaks of day : Now spurs the lated traveller apace, To gain the timely inn. M.iii.3.
Good things of day begin to droop and drowze. M. iii. 2.
EVIL. There is some soul of goodness in things evil Would men observingly distil it out : For our bad neighbour makes us early
stirrers, Which is both healthful, and good husbandry ; Besides, they are our outward consciences, And preachers to us all ; admonishing, That we should dress us fairly for our end. Thus may we gather honey from the weed, And make a moral of the devil himself. H. V. iv. 1.
EXALTATION. Now climbeth Tamora Olympus' top ; Safe out of fortune's shot : and sits aloft, Secure of thunder's crack, or lightning's flash ; Advanc'd above pale Envy's threat'ning reach. Tit. And. ii. 1.
EXAMINATION. Peace ; sit you down, And let me wring your heart ; for so I shall, If it be made of penetrable stuff; If damned custom have not braz'd it so, That it be proof and bulwark against sense. H. iii. 4.
You go not, till I set you up a glass, Where you may see the inmost part of you. H. iii. 4.
EXAMPLE. Thieves for their robbery have authority When judges steal themselves. M. M. ii. 2.
More authority, dear boy, name more ; and, sweet my child, let them be even of good repute and carriage. L.L. i.1.
EXASPERATION. Why, look you, I am whipp'd and scourg'd with rods, Nettled, and stung with pismires, when I hear Of this vile politician, Bolingbroke. H. IV. pt. I. i. 3.
EXCELLENCE. They are worthy To inlay heaven with stars. Cym. v. 5.
The top of admiration ; worth What's dearest to the world. T. iii. 1.
But you, O you So perfect and so peerless, are created Of every creature's best. T. iii. 1.
EXCESS. As surfeit is the father of much fast, So every scope by the immoderate use Turns to restraint : our natures do pursue
(Like rats, that ravin down their proper bane) A thirsty evil ; and when we drink, we die. M. M. i. 3.
Allow not nature more than nature needs. K. L. ii. 4.
EXCITEMENT. And thereof came it that the man was mad. C. E. v. 1.
EXCUSES sometimes Improper. When workmen strive to do better than well, They do confound their skill in covetousness : And, oftentimes, excusing of a fault, Doth make the fault the worse by the excuse ; As patches set upon a little breach, Discredit more in
hiding of the fault, Than did the fault before it was so patch'd. K. J. iv. 2.
EXPECTATION. Oft expectation fails, and most oft there Where most it promises ; and oft it hits, Where hope is coldest, and
despair most sits. A. W. ii. 1.
For now sits Expectation in the air. H. V. ii. chorus.
So tedious is this day, As is the night before some festival To an impatient child, that hath new robes, And may not wear them.
R. J. iii. 2.
Now expectation, tickling skittish spirits, On one and other side, Trojan and Greek Sets all on hazard. T. C. Prologue.
The town is empty ; on the brow o' the sea Stand ranks of people, and they cry, — a sail. 0. ii. 1.
For every minute is expectancy Of more arrivance. O.ii.1.
It is a high-wrought flood ; I cannot, 'twixt the heaven and the main, Descry a sail. O.ii.1.
Even till we make the main, and the aerial blue An indistinct regard. 0. ii. 1.
EXPEDIENCY. Construe the times to their necessities. H. IV. pt. II. iv. 1.
EXPERIENCE. Experience is by industry achiev'd, And perfected by the swift course of time. T.G. i. 3.
Experience, 0, thou disprov'st report ! Cym. v. 2.
EXPIRING. Vex not his ghost ; O let him pass, he hates him, That would upon the rack of this tough world Stretch him out longer.
K.L. v. 3.
EXPLANATION. To my unfolding lend a gracious ear ; And let me find a charter in your voice, To assist my simpleness. O. i. 3.
EXPLOSION. It shall go hard, But I will delve one yard below their mines, And blow them to the moon. H. iii. 4.
EXPOSURE. Come, come ; Lend me a light. Know we this face, or no ? O. v. 1.
EXPRESSION, Lascivious. Fie, fie upon her ! There's language in her eye, her cheek, her lip ; Nay, her foot speaks ; her wanton
spirits look out, At every joint and motion of her body. 0, these encounterers, so glib of tongue, That give a coasting welcome ere it
comes, And wide unclasp the tables of their thoughts To every ticklish reader ! set them down For sluttish spoils of opportunity, And daughters of the game. T. C. iv. 5.
EXPULSION. I cannot tell, good Sir, for which of his virtues it was, but he was certainly whipped out of the court. W. T. iv. 2.
EXTACY. Helicanus, strike me, honor'd Sir ; Give me a gash, put me to present pain ; Lest this great sea of joys rushing upon me, O'erbear the shores of my mortality, And drown me with their sweetness. P. P. v. 1.
EXTENUATION. I would, I could Quit all offences with as clear excuse, As well as, I am doubtless, I can purge Myself of many I am charg'd withal : Yet such extenuation let me beg, As, in reproof of many tales devis'd,— Which oft the ear of greatness needs must
hear, — By smiling pick-thanks and base newsmongers, I may, for some things true, wherein my youth Hath faulty wander'd and
irregular, Find pardon on my true submission. H. IV. pt. I. iii. 2.
EXTERIOR, Plausible. _ There is a fair behaviour in thee, captain ; And though that nature, with a beauteous wall, Doth oft close in pollution, yet of thee I will believe, thou hast a mind that suits With this thy fair and outward character. T.N. i. 2 .
EYE. Men's eyes were made to look, and let them gaze. R. J. iii. 1.
The eye sees not itself, But by reflection, by some other things. J. C. i. 2.
Let every eye negociate for itself, and trust no agent. M.A.ii.1.
An eye like Mars, to threaten and command. H. iii. 4.
What an eye she hath ! methinks it sounds a parley of provocation. 0. ii. 3.
For his ordinary, pays his heart, For what his eyes eat only. A. C. ii. 2.
From women's eyes this doctrine I derive : They sparkle still the right Promethean fire ; They are the books, the arts, the academies,
That show, contain, and nourish all the world ; Else, none at all in aught proves excellent. L. L. iv. 3.
Thou tell'st me there is murder in mine eye : 'Tis pretty, sure, and very probable, That eyes, — that are the frail'st and softest things, Who shut their coward gates on atomies, — Should be call'd tyrants, butchers, murderers ! Now I do frown on thee with all my heart ; And, if
mine eyes can wound, now let them kill thee ; Now counterfeit to swoon ; why now fall down ; Or, if thou can'st not, 0, for shame, for
shame, Lie not, to say mine eyes are murderers. Now show the wound mine eyes have made in thee : Scratch thee but with a pin, and there remains Some scar of it ; lean but upon a rush, The cicatrice and capable impressure Thy palm some moment keeps : but now
mines eyes, Which I have darted at thee, hurt thee not ; Nor, I am sure, there is no force in eyes, That can do hurt.
A.Y. iii. 5.
She speaks, yet she says nothing; — what of that? Her eye discourses, I will answer it. I am too bold, 'tis not to me she speaks :
Two of the fairest stars in all the heaven, Having some business, do entreat her eyes To twinkle in their spheres till they return.
R. J. ii. 2.
I perceive, these lords, At this encounter, do so much admire, That they devour their reason ; and scarce think Their eyes do offices of
truth, their words Are natural breath. T. v. 1.
The beauty that is borne here in the face The bearer knows not, but commends itself To others' eyes : nor doth the eye itself (That most pure spirit of sense) behold itself, Not going from itself; but eye to eye oppos'd Salute each other with each other's form.
T. C.iii.3.
EYE-brows. Your brows are blacker ; yet black brows, they say, Become some women best ; so that there be not Too much hair
there, but in a semi-circle, Or half moon made with a pen. W.T. ii. 1.
and Ears. My will enkindled by mine eyes and ears, Two traded pilots 'twixt the dangerous shores Of will and judgment. T. C. ii. 2.