How often hope, despair, resent, regret,
Conceal, disdain,--do all things but forget.
_Eloisa to Abelard_. A. POPE.
To live with them is far less sweet
Than to remember thee!
_I saw thy form_. T. MOORE.
The heart hath its own memory, like the mind
And in it are enshrined
The precious keepsakes, into which is wrought
The giver's loving thought.
_From my Arm-chair_. H.W. LONGFELLOW.
MERCY.
The quality of mercy is not strained,--
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath: it is twice blessed,--
It blesseth him that gives, and him that takes:
'T is mightiest in the mightiest; it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown;
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty,
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings:
But mercy is above this sceptred sway,--
It is enthroned in the hearts of kings,
It is an attribute to God himself;
And earthly power doth then show likest God's,
When mercy seasons justice....
We do pray for mercy;
And that same prayer doth teach us all to render
The deeds of mercy.
_Merchant of Venice, Act iv. Sc. 1_. SHAKESPEARE.
Who will not mercie unto others show,
How can he mercie ever hope to have?
_Faerie Queene, Bk.
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