upon which the monarch, it is said, ordered his chair to be set on the sea shore while the tide was rising; and as the waters approached, he commanded them to retire, and to obey the voice of him who was lord of the ocean. He feigned to sit some time in expectation of their submission; but when the sea still advanced towards him, and began to wash him with its billows, he turned to his courtiers, and remarked to them, that every creature in the universe was feeble and impotent, and that power resided with one being alone, in whose hands were all the elements of nature; who could say to the ocean, Thus far shalt thou go and no farther; and who could level with his nod the most towering piles of human grandeur and ambition.

HUME.

History of England, vol. i. p. 152.

UNBOUNDED power and height of greatness

give

To kings that lustre, which we think divine;

The wise who know them, know they are but men Nay sometimes weak ones too.

ROWE.

Ambitious Step-Mother, Act. 2.

COULD I forget I am a man, as thou art, Would not the winter's cold, or summer's heat, Sickness or thirst, and hunger, all the train Of nature's clamorous appetites, asserting An equal right in kings and common men, Reprove me daily?

IDEM. Tamerlane, Act 2.

HA Regan! ha Goneril! they flattered me like a dog, and told me I had white hairs in my beard, ere the black ones were there. To say, ay, and no, to every thing that I said-ay and no, too, was no good divinity. When the rain came to wet me once, and the wind to make me chatter; when the thunder would not peace at my bidding; there I found 'em, there I smelt 'em out. Go to, they are not men of their words: they told me I was every thing: 'tis a lie, I am not ague-proof.

SHAKESPEAR.

Lear, Act. 4.

COVER your heads, and mock not flesh and

blood

With solemn rev'rence: throw away respect,
Tradition, form, and ceremonious duty,
For you have but mistook me all this while.
I live on bread like you, feel want like you;
Taste grief, need friends, like you: subjected
thus,

How can you say to me I am a king?

IDEM.

Richard II. Act. III, Sc. 2.

I CANNOT tell what you and other men
Think of this life; but for my single self,
I had as lief not be, as live to be
In awe of such a thing as I myself.

I was born free as Cæsar; so were you;
We both have fed as well; and we can both
Endure the winter's cold as well as he.

For once upon a raw and gusty day,

The

The troubl'd Tyber chafing with his shores,
Cæsar says to me, Dar'st thou, Cassius, now
Leap in with me into this angry flood,

And swim to yonder point ?-Upon the word,
Accoutr❜d as I was, I plunged in,

And bid him follow; so indeed he did.
The torrent roar'd, and we did buffet it
With lusty sinews; throwing it aside,
And stemming it with hearts of controversy.
But ere we could arrive the point propos'd,
Cæsar cried, Help me, Cassius, or I sink!
I, as Eneas, our great ancestor,

Did from the flames of Troy upon his shoulder

The old Anchises bear; so from the waves of

Tyber

Did I the tired Cæsar.

And this man

Is now become a God; and Cassius is

A wretched creature, and must bend his body,
If Cæsar carelessly but nod on him.

He had a fever when he was in Spain,

And when the fit was on him, I did mark

How he did shake. 'Tis true, this God did shake;

His coward lips did from their colour fly,

And that same eye whose bend does awe the world,

Did lose its lustre; I did hear him groan :

Ay, and that tongue of his, that bade the Romans

Mark him, and write his speeches in their books, Alas! it cried, Give me some drink, Titinius, As a sick girl! Ye Gods, it doth amaze me,

A man

A man of such a feeble temper should

So get

the start of the majestic world,

And bear the palm alone.

Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world
Like a Colossus; and we petty men

Walk under his huge legs, and peep about
To find ourselves dishonourable graves.

Brutus and Cæsar-What should be in that
Cæsar?

Why should that name be sounded more than yours?

Write them together, your's is as fair a name :
Sound them, it doth become the mouth as well:
Weigh them, it is as heavy: conjure with 'em,
Brutus will start a spirit as soon as Cæsar.
Now, in the name of all the gods at once,
Upon what meats does this our Cæsar feed
That he is grown so great? Age, thou art sham'd,
Rome thou hast lost the breed of noble bloods.
When went there by an age since the great flood,
But it was fam'd with more than one man ?

Oh

you and I have heard our fathers say!!

IDEM.

Julius Caesar, Act. 1.

WHEREFORE pay you

This adoration to a sinful creature?

I'm flesh and blood as you are; sensible
Of heat and cold; as much a slave unto

of

The tyranny
my passions, as the meanest
Of my poor subjects. The proud attributes

By oil'd tongue flattery impos'd upon us,

As

As sacred, glorious, high, invincible,
The deputy of heaven, and in that
Omnipotent; with all false titles else,

Coin'd to abuse our frailty, though compounded,
And by the breath of sycophants apply'd,
Cure not the least fit of an ague in us.

We may give poor men riches; confer honours
On undeservers; raise or ruin such

As are beneath us; and with this puffed up
Ambition would persuade us to forget

That we are men. but he that sits above us,
And to whom, at our utmost rate, we are
But pageant properties, derides our weakness:
In me, to whom you kneel, 'tis most apparent.
Can I call back yesterday, with all their aids
That bow unto my sceptre? or restore

My mind to that tranquility and peace

It then enjoyed?

MASSINGER.

Emperor of the East, Act. 5.

King. I WISH to see my daughter, shew her me; I do command you all, as you are subjects, To shew her me: What, am I not your king? If ay, then am I not to be obeyed?

Dion, Yes, if you command things possible and honest.

King. Things possible and honest! Hear me, thou

Thou traitor, that darest confine thy king to things Possible and honest; shew her me!

Or let me perish, if I cover not all Sicily with

blood.

Dion.