n to cut down, and he invited all his friends in Athens,
high or low, of what degree soever, who wished to shun affliction, to
come and take a taste of his tree before he cut it down; meaning, that
they might come and hang themselves on it, and escape affliction that
way.

And this was the last courtesy, of all his noble bounties, which Timon
shewed to mankind, and this the last sight of him which his countrymen
had: for not many days after, a poor soldier, passing by the
sea-beach, which was at a little distance from the woods which Timon
frequented, found a tomb on the verge of the sea, with an inscription
upon it, purporting that it was the grave of Timon the man-hater, who
"While he lived, did hate all living men, and dying, wished a plague
might consume all caitiffs left!"

Whether he finished his life by violence, or whether mere distaste
of life and the loathing he had for mankind brought Timon to his
conclusion, was not clear, yet all men admired the fitness of his
epitaph, and the consistency of his end; dying, as he had lived, a
hater of mankind: and some there were who fancied a conceit in the
very choice which he had made of the sea-beach for his place of
burial, where the vast sea might weep for ever upon his grave, as
in contempt of the transient and shallow tears of hypocritical and
deceitful mankind.

ROMEO AND JULIET

(_By Charles Lamb_)

The two chief families in Verona were the rich Capulets and the
Mountagues. There had been an old quarrel between these families,
which was grown to such a height, and so deadly was the enmity between
them, that it extended to the remotest kindred, to the followers and
retainers of both sides, insomuch that a servant of the house of
Mountague could not meet a servant of the house of Capulet, nor a
Capulet encounter with a Mountague by chance, but fierce words and
sometimes bloodshed ensued; and frequent were the brawls from such
accidental meetings, which disturbed the happy quiet of Verona's
streets.

Old lord Capulet made a great supper, to which many fair ladies and
many noble guests were invited. All the admired beauties of Verona
were present, and all comers were made welcome if they were not of the
house of Mountague. At this feast of Capulets, Rosaline, beloved of
Romeo, son to the old lord Mountague, was present; and though it was
dangerous for a Mountague to be seen in this assembly, yet Benvolio,
a friend of Romeo, persuaded the young lord to g