Page:Works of Sir John Suckling.djvu/146

126 My sword ne'er stay'd thus long to find an entrance.

Zir. To guilty men all that appears is devil;

Come, trifler, come.

Ari. Whither, whither,

Thou fleeting coward life? Bubble of time,

Nature's shame, stay a little, stay, till I

Have look'd myself into revenge, and star'd

This traitor to a carcass first!

It will not be

The crown,

The crown, too,

Now is lost, for ever lost.

O! ambition's but an ignis fatuus,

I see, misleading fond mortality,

That hurries us about, and sets us down

Just—where—we—first—begun

Zir. What a great spreading mighty thing this was,

And what a nothing now! how soon poor man

Vanishes into his noontide shadow!

But hopes o'erfed have seldom better done.

Take up this lump of vanity and honour,

And carry it the back way to my lodging;

There may be use of statesmen when they're dead:

So. For the Citadel now; for in such times

As these, when the unruly multitude

Is up in swarms, and no man knows which way

They'll take, 'tis good to have retreat.

Ther. The dog-star's got up high: it should be late;

And sure by this time every waking ear

And watchful eye is charm'd; and yet methought

A noise of weapons struck my ear just now!

'Twas but my fancy, sure; and, were it more,

I would not tread one step that did not lead

To my Aglaura, stood all his guard betwixt,

With lightning in their hands.

Danger! thou dwarf dress'd up in giant's clothes,

That shew'st far off still greater than thou art,

Go, terrify the simple and the guilty, such

As with false optics still do look upon thee.

But fright not lovers: we dare look on thee